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Chapter 8

Since the day Giles and the gang had completed the training room for her, Buffy had always thought of the room as a safe haven, the punching bags comforting, the weapons soothing. But for the first time since she'd been called as a Slayer, she didn't feel like using her fists to work out her frustrations. She didn't feel like hitting anything, didn't feel like throwing knives, didn't feel like doing aerobics or meditating. She felt like curling up in a ball and waiting for her conflicting emotions to sort themselves out. She was utterly exhausted, her brain on information overload. She believed Asher—why wouldn't she at this point? Truth spell, hello. Besides, she'd seen the little girl with her own eyes, hadn't she?

But still…disbelief. She was supposed to have a short Slayer shelf-life. She hadn't been happy when Asher had implied that she would be dead eight years in the future, but she hadn't been surprised, either. That's how it was supposed to happen. She would fight, and eventually, she would die. She wouldn't get married, wouldn't have children of her own. It just wasn't part of the Slayer package.

Except it was. For her.

She would have a child. She would be married.

But to Spike? The pain in her ass? The thorn in her side? The evil, soulless vampire who had killed two of her kind? There's no way anyone could have made her believe it, if she hadn't seen the proof of their union with her own two eyes.

Future Buffy and Spike loved each other, so much, apparently, that they'd been willing to resort to mystical means to create a child together.

Spike's shocking blue eyes, his cheekbones. Her own golden skin, hair the color hers had been when she'd been young. Beautiful, God, the most beautiful, most amazing thing she'd ever seen in her life. Hers.

Theirs. She couldn't help it—seeing their daughter had made her hate him a little less.

She heard the door open and close softly.

"Buffy?" Asher's voice, rich but tentative, made her wipe furiously at her eyes before turning to face him. She hadn't realized she'd been crying.

"Buffy, I realize this is all rather crazy and I'm sure quite shocking to you right now, and there isn't much more I can say, but, well, I guess I just hoped to maybe…help? Somehow?"

"Are we happy?" she asked.

"Pardon?"

"Spi—Spike and me? Are we happy together?" She cringed at the hope in her voice. Stupid Slayer.

Asher rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Nauseatingly so. The two of you make us all…quite jealous."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and was quiet for a moment, thinking this over. Somewhere in the future, she was happy.

Asher watched the Slayer. She was so different from the Buffy he knew. This Slayer looked older, weary. This Slayer looked like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, all by herself. His stomach had been in a hard knot, worried about all of this information he shouldn't be providing, but was anyway. In for a penny, in for a pound, he supposed. But even if he were to tell her everything, he knew he wouldn't be able to make her truly believe just how much things would change. The Buffy he knew was confident and content. Bad things still happened, but she had an entire army of Slayers at her command, she had a husband who was crazy about her (and, who, much to the embarrassment of others, couldn't seem to keep his hands off her), and she had a strong little girl who adored her. The Buffy he knew was full of life and laughter and happiness.

"He loves you," Asher said.

"In the future."

"And now."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows, but he looked certain. "He can't love. He doesn't have a soul. He hates me. We hate each other."

"Trust me," he said.

"You really are friends with him, aren't you?"

"And you. Where I come from, he's a good man, Buffy. He will be. You'll help him to become that. You'll see the good in him. The two of you are perfectly matched. It will all come together, in time."

She fought back her sarcastic response, and fell silent again, lost in her own conflicted mind.

"I'm a bad mother, aren't I? A Slayer shouldn't have kids. I couldn't protect her, or she wouldn't be here, in my time. They wouldn't have gotten to her, if I'd been better."

"Not at all," Asher said, hesitantly laying a hand on her shoulder. His voice was so soothing. She could easily imagine them being friends in the future. "You're a wonderful mum. You didn't fail her…the bad guy got to her, in spite of all of our best efforts. The whole Slayer Academy, and me, and Giles, and your friends, and your husband…we are all responsible for her protection. You should see the mystical barriers Willow has put up around her. And you know, alarm systems, too, the good old-fashioned kind. No one has ever gotten through before. It was the middle of the night, Buffy. It's scary, but it is not your fault."

"And she's a prophecy girl, like me," Buffy continued. "I don't want my daughter to have to fulfill some kind of terrifying destiny. She should make her own choices. I don't want another stupid prophecy telling us all what we have to do!" Her eyes were watery again, damnit. She thought back to the Master, and how afraid she'd been that night, knowing she was on her way to her death. Believing she didn't have a choice.

"She's strong, Buffy. You make her that way. Spike makes her that way. With parents like you, she'd fight the good fight anyway, you know that, right? She's just fortunate enough to have strength, and power, and magic on her side. She's amazing, Buffy. Because of you."

"Uggh!" Buffy stomped her feet, looking childlike herself. "I'm not ready for all of this."

"You know, you don't really have to help with this rescue," Asher said after a moment. Buffy looked at him like he had grown a second head. "I will need the assistance of your friends, the witches particularly, to get her back…but it's a lot for you to deal with, right now. I understand if you want to bow out, let me take care of it. She is my responsibility, after all. It's what I was sent here to do."

"You think I'm just going to sit on the sidelines while my…my daughter is out there, with the bad guys? No way."

He sighed. "I knew you would say that.

"What would they do with her?" she asked. "The Bringers? The First?"

"Turn her against you. We fear that they would take her to the dark priest of the First, to be taught by him. The First would wear your face, and Spike's as well, and it would trick her into believing that evil is what you want her to become. She would be a corporeal extension of the First. She would lead the Bringers. They would fight at her command."

"But she's just a child."

"Yes. Young, impressionable. And someone you'd never, ever hurt. You knew, the moment you saw her, didn't you? That she's yours? That she belongs to you?"

Buffy nodded.

"It's okay for this to be crazy-strange to you, for you to feel the way you do about Spike now. Things will happen to change all of that, but those things haven't happened yet. All in good time. Right now, the most important thing we can do is to get her back where she belongs."

"What if we don't find her?" Buffy asked.

"We will. We have to."

She nodded again. "Okay, I'm okay now. Let's go figure this thing out."

She opened the door to the training room, only to see Riley walking through the door to the Magic Box. "Hey guys," he said casually, checking out the somber faces around the room. "What's up?"

Spike groaned. "Great. Perfect timing, Iowa." He turned to the Scoobies. "Well, it's been nice knowing you all. Wait, no it hasn't." His head was too full of thoughts right now for him to give Riley the snark he deserved. How Spike would love to deliver the lines himself, let White Bread know that not only would he be unable to hold onto his woman, but that Spike himself would have her, would be married to her and would be inside her, would put a baby in her. That they would create a miracle. The whole idea of it made him want to turn all poncy William and run home and write about it in his journal. Or drink. He could really use a drink.

"Spike," Riley said, unable to disguise the hate in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Guess I'll be gettin' staked good and proper, then," Spike mumbled. "Undo the whole mess, right?"

Everyone in the room looked around uncomfortably. Giles finally spoke. "Riley, this is Asher Pritchett. He's a…Watcher, of sorts."

"Hello," Riley said, warily, picking up on the tension in the room.

Asher looked him up and down with a smirk, mirth in his dark eyes. "Captain Cardboard in the flesh," he muttered quietly. Spike snorted, and the two shared a bemused look.

"Riley." Buffy felt suddenly queasy. How had she managed to completely forget about Riley? How on earth could she explain this to him? She was still processing it all herself. She was surprised to feel a sudden desire to talk…to Spike. Alone. About…things. About her. But she couldn't, not yet. She had to deal with her boyfriend. She was startled to realize, then, fully realize, that Riley would not be part of her future. Sure, her feelings for him didn't run as deep as she'd wished, but she'd still given a future with him a fair amount of thought. A normal man, a normal life. Her eyes slid to Spike. She'd choose him. Why? And how could she give Riley the rundown on everything right now?

Giles cleared his throat. "Maybe Riley and I should talk…alone? In the training room, perhaps?"

"Buffy, what's going on?"

She nodded, relieved, and so grateful to Giles for taking over. "That would be a good idea."

"Uh…okay. Sure," Riley said, looking around the room. No one would meet his gaze, no one except for Buffy, and he couldn't read the wide-eyed expression on her face.

Giles and Riley disappeared into the training room and Buffy sighed audibly. "That's not going to go well," she said.

"Yeah, I've heard that being told about your girlfriend's future vampire baby can really do great things for a relationship," Xander said.

"Really?" Anya asked. "Because I would think it would be the opposite…oh, wait, that was sarcasm, right?" She looked around. Willow nodded vigorously.

"Bugger this," Spike said, standing up. "Can't sit around and wait for the big goon to come rushin' at me with a stake." He looked at Buffy. "You'll find me when it's time to rescue the girl?" She nodded, wanting to say so many things, but not here, not now. She latched on to the two words at the end of his sentence, and turned her attention back to Asher. The girl.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"Pardon?"

"Her name? What…what is it?" She tried to think of what they would have named her, of names she liked. Emily? Joan? Sarah? Spike stopped, head tilted to the side, obviously interested in hearing the answer as well.

"It's…" Asher panicked, uncertain as to whether or not it was safe to share the information.

"Jesus Christ, man, you've told us everything else already!" Xander exclaimed. "You might as well just spill!"

Asher looked resigned. "It's…Eden. Her name is Eden."

"Oh, bollucks," Spike said, rolling his eyes. "Who thought that was a good name? Had to have been your choice."

"It was not me!" she said. "I'm not religious! We…we're not religious, are we?" she asked Asher.

He chuckled. "It was Spike. He picked it."

"Oi! I did not!"

Asher nodded. "You did." He looked around, uncomfortable, as though he wanted to share more, but not with everyone else listening in. "I'll follow you out, shall I?"

Spike opened his mouth as though he might object, but thought better of it and nodded instead. He swirled around with a flourish of his leather coat, and stalked out the door, Asher behind him.

The second the door closed, Buffy followed them.

"Buffy, should you really-"

Buffy held up a silencing hand as she pulled the door open just wide enough to hear the conversation. The two men had rounded the corner nearest the shop's door, so she was in no danger of being seen. People meandered along the sidewalk, not a lot, but hopefully enough that Spike wouldn't' be able to pick up on her heartbeat in the melee.

"Eden," Spike said slowly, not with the snark Buffy expected. Instead, he sounded sort of...emotional.

"It was something you said. When Buffy was pregnant. About how paradise couldn't be any better."

"And then I came up with Eden. How very poetic of me."

"She loved it too. The name."

"You're not afraid of me," Spike commented.

"No. Although you can be very intimidating when you want."

"Thanks, mate."

"For example, right now, in my time, you're not terribly happy with me."

Spike snorted. "No shit. Probably worried sick about the lil' one, yeah?"

"Yes."

"It's just not possible," Spike said. "That a girl like the Slayer could ever love a thing like me. How does it happen?"

"I don't know," Asher said. "You two were together by the time I met you. You always joke about you two being sworn enemies, but I never realized the…um…depths of that sentiment. I just know that it does happen." After a pause, he continued. "Do you know that Slayers' bodies are built to fight vamps, even from the inside? It wasn't an easy pregnancy for her. But she was determined to have your baby. She loves you. Fiercely."

Buffy drew in a deep breath. She loved Spike. Fiercely.

"So we're…happy together?" Spike asked. "She's happy…with me?"

"Yeah, you are. Both of you."

"And I'm a white hat? All souled up?"

"You are."

"And I'm okay with that?"

"You're very okay with it."

"Bloody hell," he muttered, shaking his head. There was silence for a moment, and before Buffy realized that Spike had left, Asher rounded the corner and pushed the door open. Right into Buffy.

"Ouch!" she said.

"Sorry," he said. "You listened, then?"

She nodded, and he sighed for what must have been the fiftieth time that night. "Why am I even surprised?"





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