Lorne had a problem. He’d never had a vampire walk into his bar and timidly ask for sanctuary. Like his place in L.A., ‘Lorne’s’ was protected against violence of all kinds, including, that most violent of species - human. He did the only thing he could think of, gave the vampire a drink and phoned Spike.

The latest arrival from the other dimension was huddled in a dark-ish corner, crying quietly. Spike put a hand on his shoulder.

“You alright, mate?” He asked.

The vampire looked up at Spike.

“Dalton?” Spike asked, incredulous.

“Master William?” Dalton was equally shocked. “No, you’re not him. He could never be…” He gestured at Spike, managing to convey the notion that ‘Master William’ could never look the way Spike did.

“You are Dalton, though, aren’t you?” Spike had regretted Dalton, since his soul had given him a conscience. The bookish vampire had reminded him of his human self. Poor Dalton, happiest reading, researching; treated appallingly by Drusilla and finally burned to a cinder by ‘The Judge’ at Dru’s silly ‘end of the world’ party. Spike had been powerless - stuck in that damn wheelchair - but he still carried the guilt.

“Yes. Where are we? The Pylean said a different dimension.”

“Yeah but not to worry, you can go back through.”

“No!” Dalton sounded panicked, “I’ll dust first.”

“That bad? How do you know it’s better here?”

“No one seems to be afraid, I’ve got a free drink. Paradise. Is there a Dalton here, already?”

“There was, he was destroyed, by Drusilla…sort of.”

“Drusilla?”

“Vampire? Insane? Aurelian?”

“In my world there’s only one Aurelian that counts, Lilith. No offence.”

“None taken. What about Darla, Angel, The Master?”

“A slayer took out The Master.”

“Buffy?”

“Shush, we’re not allowed to say that name.” Dalton, whispered, clearly terrified. “Lilith burnt out the tongue of the last one she heard speak it. She’s insanely jealous.”

“What about ‘Master William‘.”

“You’re him but not. You’ve lived a different life - different choices - he understands the way the dimensions work. He’s studied, I’m not good enough to explain.”

“I’ve not been ‘William’ for a lot of years. Name’s Spike. Tell me about Lilith.”

“She’s strong, she can thrall other vampires as well as humans. After she was turned, she hunted down and killed the other Aurelians. Then she took down the Watcher’s Council. She rules this entire county, farms human slaves for food and sex. I know vampires are meant to be evil but Lilith? There are just no words…”

“So, why’d she spare this other version of me?” Spike wondered, aloud.

“She can’t kill him, he sired her.”

* * * * *

The phone rang in Giles’ office. Andrew Wells, calling from England.

“Mr. Giles, I think we’ve got trouble. It’s Buffy, she’s been accessing the database.” He said, slight panic in his voice.

“What, specifically has she been researching?” Giles asked, his usual unflappable self.

“Er…specifically? Angelus.”

“She’s not researched Spike?”

“Er…no but I think it’s only a matter of time.”

“You haven’t put anything recent about Spike, on line, have you?”

“No, of course not; I finished his entry with his heroic closure of the hell mouth. Everything he’s done since is hard copy, need to know, only. Buffy will only find out, if Spike calls her and he’s having far too much fun.”

“Then there’s no problem.” Giles said, with a sigh; Andrew was such a drama queen but at least his records of Spike’s activities would be meticulously accurate. “He and Lily are getting on?”

“Oh yeah; at first I couldn’t get a signal in Spike’s basement because, you know, bomb shelter and then I realized that with their broadband hook up I could…“

“I don’t need the technical stuff, the watch works, yes?“

“Yes, perfectly.” Andrew said, proudly, “She thinks it’s just the standard issue, slayer GPS watch. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve found out about slayer-vampire sexual practices…”

“Spare me the details and don’t phone again, unless you actually have something to report.” Giles hung up. “If I had my way,” He muttered, “There’d be no such thing as ‘slayer-vampire sexual practices’. Whatever happened to just staking them?”

Andrew was a mixed blessing. On the one hand, he was deeply annoying and not entirely stable. On the other, he came up with some really good ideas. The Slayer GPS watch, was a fantastic invention. With so many slayers in the world, keeping track was fraught with difficulty. So, every known slayer had a watch - virtually indestructible, to withstand the slayer lifestyle - it contained a tracking device; this meant that when locator spells showed up a slayer, the council could figure out if it was an ‘as yet unknown‘, or an ‘already registered‘. Each watch transmitted a different code, which was linked to the slayer’s identity. Every known slayer could be tracked and found; an excellent safety feature. Of course, Lily’s watch, did something quite different…

Giles was worried about Buffy; she seemed, if possible, more disconnected now, than she had been when Willow had snatched her out of heaven. Spike’s ‘death’ in the hell mouth had affected her, deeply and now Angel was gone, too… Giles wondered why she was researching Angelus but he knew he couldn’t ask, not without giving away that Andrew had been keeping tabs on her use of the database.

* * * * *

Spike had a lot to think about. As always, when he needed to think, he was tooling round the county on his motor bike. Lily had been right about helmet laws and the local police had finally quit stopping him, over it. Diplomatic immunity was a wonderful thing. With the Gem of Amara on his finger, he didn’t have to worry about sunrise, in fact it was his favourite time of the day.

He watched the first pink rays of dawn, as they came through the trees and marvelled at the staggering variety of reds and golds on the leaves. He’d forgotten how much he had loved the autumn, when he was human. Night had a beauty all its own, that human eyes couldn’t appreciate but he had missed the vividness of day.

His meeting with Dalton had shaken him. Somewhere, on the other side of the stone circle, was another version of him. Master William; a vampire who had sired a hugely powerful and spectacularly evil, woman: Lilith. So powerful that she was Master of the Aurelian line and William’s title ‘Master’ was used, by her, as a mockery. This other version of himself, was a scholar, an intellectual, who had had the bad luck to sire the wrong person.

There was no Watcher’s Council. This Lilith, had managed to track down and personally kill or have killed, every member. Slayers were called, who had no conception of what they were and had no one to train them. Spike had a fairly low opinion of watchers but he could imagine the chaos that would reign, without them.

Buffy was dead.

Dalton couldn’t give him details, just that she had died. Why? What had his Buffy done differently, to this other world’s Buffy, that enabled her to survive? He found himself shedding a tear over this other Buffy - better shacked up with The Immortal, than dead.

Dalton was fixed up with a room at Lorne’s place, to be revoked if he was found drinking any blood but the bagged stuff. He seemed happy enough with the conditions. Spike was keeping him in the dark about his relationship with Lily and about the slayer situation, in general. He didn’t want the poor fellow to be terrified that he’d end up staked. He was already worrying that vamps would come through the stones, looking for him, without finding out that the world abounded with slayers.

* * * * *

Buffy had finished her dossier on Angelus/Angel and, looking at it, wondered what she had compiled it for. It only dealt with the vampire’s past crimes, in relation to how they had impacted on Buffy’s life. The way his relationship with her, even with his soul, had harked back to the atrocities of his pre-soul days. It wasn’t really any use but it did show her how, if she had never met Angel, she might have given Spike more of a chance.

She drew up a list of main points.

1) Whistler - a demon, working for The Powers That Be - persuaded Angel to stalk Buffy, with the intention of ‘helping’ her.

This made Buffy angry because it implied that The Powers didn’t think that she would be a competent slayer, which was odd because, surely, The Powers had chosen her in the first place.

2) Angel had ‘fallen in love’ with her and had skilfully manipulated her into falling in love with him - the ‘forbidden’ nature of their love only made Buffy fall harder.

3) He had then tried to undermine her slayer identity - convincing her that she needed a normal life and a human boyfriend.

4) She had bought into this idea, fighting against her slayer-ness and trying to be normal. Why had she done this? She had had a taste of normalcy when Giles had put her through her Cruciamentum and she had hated it. She was going to be a slayer until she died, it’s not like it could be cured. The only explanation she could come up with, was, clever manipulation.

5) Angel hated what he was and, therefore, Buffy should hate what she was.

6) Angel and Giles had found the prophesy concerning Buffy’s death at The Master’s hand and had tried to keep it from her. Therefore:

7) Neither Giles nor Angel respected Buffy’s judgement, both of them considered her to be a child.

8) Angel was afraid of slayers and had no respect for women.

This was a conclusion that Buffy hadn’t expected but, given the evidence, she was certain she was right. Angelus had avoided slayers. Spike, on the other hand had sought them out. Why had Spike sought out slayers? For the challenge. For the dance. For the thrill of a fight that he could lose. To Spike, Buffy had never been a child, she had always been a respected foe; until she had been his respected love.

Spike had never tried to change her, even though he knew she wasn’t perfect. Angel had put her on a pedestal and chipped away at her, to try to make her into his ideal. Why bother? Why not go find his ideal woman and leave Buffy alone?

9) Angel had ‘loved’ an ideal. Spike had loved her.

It wasn’t until the writing on her printout started to blur, that Buffy realized she was crying. The tears were pouring silently down her face and soaking the paper. Her throat felt like it was closing up and the tears wouldn’t stop…

* * * * *

A large bucket of popcorn sat between them.

On the screen Captain Kronos: vampire hunter, was prancing about in a pair of girly tights and making a big thing out of burying a load of dead toads. He patiently explained to his friend that if a vampire walked over one of the toad-graves that the toad would be brought back to life by the vampire’s life force.

Spike chuckled.

“Can you really do that?” Lily asked, giggling.

“Never tried, pet but, I doubt it. It’s probably an old wives’ tale to explain how come live toads are dug up out of the ground, sometimes. Nice plot device, though. He can track the vampire, that way. It makes a change, seeing vampires that drain life instead of blood, too.”

“Yeah, I love these old Hammer films, so much more class than the recent stuff.”

“He’s a bit up himself, though; just coz he’s killed a few vampires…”

Spike leaned against Lily as he reached for the popcorn, then, abruptly, he froze. Picking up the remote control, he hit the mute button.

“Huh?” Lily turned to look at him.

“Shush!” Spike put his ear to her abdomen. The sound he was hearing was unmistakable.

“What did you do?” He asked, looking into her eyes, his voice a shocked whisper.

“What do you mean?”

“Some clinic, what?”

“Spike, you’re scaring me, what’s the matter?”

“I know your dad wants this but we should have talked, first.”

“Spike. What. Are. You. Talking. About?”

“The baby. Don’t deny it, I can hear the heart-beating.”

“Are you saying I’m pregnant?” She was incredulous and Spike realized that she really hadn’t known.

“Sorry, pet. I thought you’d been at the sperm bank or something.”

“Yuck. No, there’s only been you. How can there be a baby?” She whispered the question, tears running down her face.

“We’ll go see Lorne. It’s not the first time this has happened.”

“Not? You’ve got other kids?”

“No, Angel had one, though. With another vampire.” He added.

His mind raced, as they left for Lorne’s bar. He remembered how easily they had both dismissed the Orpheus dream. How could there be a child? If he was meant to have a child, he wanted it with Buffy. Damn. He so wasn’t over her. Lily deserved better but he was fairly sure he couldn’t give it to her. He had tried to love her the way she loved him but, although he did love her, he wasn’t in love with her. They got on so well and that was the problem, there was no conflict. He and Buffy, fought. He missed that.

There was a rowdy Halloween party, happening at Lorne’s, when they got there but, he took one look at the pair of them and ushered them into a back room.

“Well, kids,” He said, soberly, when they’d both sung for him, “There’s definitely a baby coming.” He looked at Spike, “It’s yours, Big Bad and she’s destined for great things.”

“She? You can tell that?” Lily asked.

“Oh, yeah. An ultrasound won’t, for a while yet but take my word, she’s a girl.”

“Human?” Spike asked.

“Probably not but that’s not really the issue, kiddiewinks. When Angel’s little tyke turned up, everybody bad wanted a piece. If I were you, Slay Belle, I’d put it about that you went for a frozen Papa.”

“Huh?”

“You know; you visit the bank, make a withdrawal, thaw it out…”

“Yeah, yeah, will do. Please stop talking, now.” Lily said, blushing.

“About Captain Forehead’s ‘tyke’,” Spike said, hurriedly changing the subject. “I met him at Wolfram and Hart - not so little and also not Angel’s. Then later…”

“Angelus’ past coming back to bite Angel in the ass. Long story short, Holtz, one of the many wronged by Angelus and Darla, took baby Conner out of this dimension and brought him back a few months later, as a stroppy teen and serious nutcase; Angel did a deal with Wolfram and Hart and psycho boy ends up living a different, well-balanced, sane life.”

“That was the carrot they dangled to get Angel to come on board.” Spike said, realization dawning.

“In one. Long and short, kids, you don’t have to worry about Slay Baby growing up too quick.”

“’Probably not’ you said. Probably not human.” Lily said, staring at Lorne.

“Well, Peach Pie, Conner sure looked human - passed the hospital blood tests with flying colours…”

“But?”

“He had a demon side,” Lorne said, gently. “Enhanced strength, speed - a lot like a slayer, actually. I’ll bet your added strengths don’t show up on blood tests, either.”

“No…”

“Besides, I’ve done a reading and I can feel nothing but good from the little sweetheart. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I‘ve got a party in full swing, out there.”

Watching Lorne head out to the bar, Spike stood behind Lily and wrapped his arms around her. Something about Lorne was bothering him but he didn’t want to say anything and risk upsetting Lily.

“See, pet, everything’s gonna be fine.”

“It’s all such a lot to take in. I never imagined this happening. I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“Yeah, I feel so stupid not to have taken precautions.”

“Don’t talk daft, pet. Neither of us would have even considered it.”

“You’re not angry? Earlier…”

“Well, yeah, coz I thought you sneaked off to some clinic without telling me.”

Lily started to laugh.

“Frozen Papa..” She gasped, between giggles.

“Yeah,” Spike laughed, “Lorne’s got such a way with words.”

Laughing, they made their way back home.