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Author's Chapter Notes:
Well, what can I say? It's been a wild ride and the popularity of this story still continues to amaze me. This went much further than I had originally planned, and in some ways I am glad. Mostly though, I'm just glad it is finally done.

Many thanks go to you, the reader. Without your enthusiasm and many reviews, I would unlikely have taken the completion of this fic seriously. I admit it was an experiment for reviews and now depresses me a little that now it is finished I will have to go back to my other works that garner much less interest. That, as they say, is my problem.

Much thanks must also go to those who have occassionally betaed this fic for me, and those close friends who offered encouragement and enthusiasm to keep it going. Holly, Tami, Schez, Rae and BSB, you guys keep me writing and happy. Thank you so much.

Now, this is the end. No sequels are likely. I hope you all enjoy and that you leave your kind end feelings about it in a review. Don't let me down now guys!
Chapter Twenty-Five

“Spike? Oh my God, Spike.” Buffy dropped to her knees, checking Spike over before grabbing his arms and quickly dragging him away from the sunlight that had started to singe the elbow of his duster.

She bumped her head against the door of Giles’s apartment, muttering a particularly feral curse word before a vicious kick almost had it put a hole in the internal wall with the violence of its swing back. Struggling through the opening, Buffy swung a look around the room behind her, noticing straight off that Lia wasn’t on the play gym or sitting up in her rocker. The only other option was that she was asleep—if there were any options beyond that option, she needed a couple of brandies to contemplate it.

Spike was coming around as his head hit the carpet and Buffy flew up the stairs to check the crib. The first thing that hit him was a scream that nearly pierced his eardrums, a thundering roar of a heartbeat, and pain enough to entice his demon to the fore. Only after the initial excitement of being a soulless demon that had once thrived on that scent had washed over him did he recognise that it belonged to Buffy. His mate was terrified and then the events between himself and Harmony’s new plaything came rushing back in technicolour.

“Spike?”

He started up the stairs at a bolt just as Buffy thumped her way back down, nearly knocking him off his feet as she launched herself at him with a terrified whimper. Only the impulsive grip at the stair rail stopped him from being knocked backwards, and the way his head throbbed right now, he didn’t believe that was the best thing to add to the confusion.

“Somebody took Lia. Please tell me you saw them? I’m gonna rip their arms off. That’s what they did to thieves, isn’t it?” she sobbed, face buried in his aching chest.

“Think it was hands, pet. I saw the wanker, but I don’t know him. Caught a whiff of who he’s hangin’ out with, though.” Spike cringed at the tightening band of Buffy’s arms that squeezed him right over the spot that had been singed by the taser.

She jerked away, her eyes wide, glistening and hopeful.

“Who? Tell me who and I’ll go and beat them into a mass of bloody limbs.” She sniffled through Spike’s burst of laughter, feeling impatient and wanting to smack him. “Spike, this is no time for hysterics. Some psycho has our daughter and God knows what they are going to do to her.”

Spike’s expression softened and he looked upon his mate with relief that she was in his life, within his arms. “Don’t think there’s any danger in that, luv. I’m thinking this is Harm’s harebrained scheme to get yours truly back. She prolly thinks that if she has my baby, I’ll go rushing off to her. Bint’s not right in the head.”

Buffy’s countenance changed in a terrifying instant. “Harmony? As in half-wit Harmony with the boob job? She is going to be so much dust!” Without another word, Buffy strode determinedly toward her chest of weapons and loaded up on stakes. She threw Spike a crossbow without even looking behind her, continuing with a short-handled sword as soon as she heard the smack of his hand catching it.

Marching back toward the door, she stopped in a furious rush. The sun shone down and turned her hair into a crown of light.

“Crap. The sun’s still out.” Buffy’s lip trembled as she thought of Lia, kidnapped and afraid of those that had taken her for no reason but to be a pawn in an undead woman’s games.

Not even realising how strung up she was, the tension suddenly dissipated the second Spike pulled her back into the shade and hugged her.

“It’s alright, Buffy. I know where they’ll be. Harm would have been using the boy just to do her dirty work, knowing she wouldn’t have much chance during the day with both of us around Lia. She’s not going to risk hurting her until she knows she can’t get me back. By that time you’ll have put a very elegantly carved stake straight through her unbeating heart. Sound good?”

Buffy sniffled but nodded, deciding to go back inside and round up the posse. Her mom and Giles would be so mad, and despite everything, she didn’t think Xander and Willow were so angry with her over the new path her life had taken with Spike that they wouldn’t help her get Lia back She was sure they’d still help her and just about all of them would love to give Harmony some of the hell she’d given them in High School.

Her friends were more enthusiastic about the prospect of Harmony payback than Buffy had expected, and without even asking they had all volunteered to gather and complete the group. Iron mask of anger in place, Buffy waited out the day. There was no way she was going to let that brainless bimbo steal her family. She may be using Lia as collateral to get Spike back, but Buffy was going to make her see the error of her ways—even if she would only have the lesson for seconds before the idiot dusted at Buffy’s feet.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Riley couldn’t believe his luck. The baby had stayed sleeping throughout his heroic dash into the sun and then a short period of college errands before he could take her to Harm. They’d arranged for Riley to take the baby to the caves where Harmony lived, the human having so much belief in his girlfriend and the satisfaction she got through being his lover that he didn’t even think back-up would be necessary. Being seized at the throat by her less than intelligent minions came as a bit of a shock.

For the first time since he’d felt the sharp sting of her fangs in his neck, the terrifying reality of being around vampires struck home and Riley found he was unable to stop the shakes that suddenly whipped through his large body. He was unused to facing the enemy without his fancy weapons and his crew. His level of strength seemed to be nothing against these, even if they were mostly brainless halfwits.

“Harm?” He couldn’t fully accept that this was her plan all along, not until his wrists were slapped in cuffs and he was chained to the cave wall, Harmony slinking forward in a candy pink negligee, her breasts bulging from the top.

“Oh Rileykins, I’m just taking precautions.” She smiled sweetly, her hand stroking his hard chest before she gently nibbled at his bottom lip. Then she stepped back and eyed him sadly before glancing at the carrier that held the baby. The baby who was much paler now and whose hair was a startling shade of white. “Oh, that is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she gushed, but then turned on that apologetic expression again as she tried to explain.

“You see, I love my Blondie Bear, and I just know he can’t possibly feel anything for that horrible slayer. And everyone knows that Buffy is like the kiss of death for any vampire. She sent her first boyfriend to Hell you know.” She paused, a little tiny scrap of justice making her feel a twinge of guilt before she shrugged it off and refocused on her objective. “Sure, he might have been trying to unleash Hell on earth, but what kind of girl kills the vamp she loves? It’s only a matter of time. If Spikey stays with her, he’ll end up in an urn. I just can’t let that happen.” She sniffed pathetically, rubbing her cheeks with a silky pink cloth before turning back to her hapless victim.

“He’ll be here soon, and then I can show him just how much I love him. If he wants the brat so bad, we can raise her together. With a bit of luck he won’t though, and then we can just eat her and get on with travelling to France.” Just like that she was happy and excited again, giggling and spinning in eager circles waiting for Spike to return to her. “I mean, it was nice. You know, you and me. I had fun. And if Spike wasn’t so old-fashioned and could go for a more open relationship, I’d probably like to keep you. I’m sorry.”

Now there was just one obstacle.

She turned to her minions and waved a dismissive hand. “Sic him, Rex.”

Riley screamed and let loose his bladder as the bigger most menacing vampire closed in and began chewing on his neck. The pain played on his erotic sensitivities and even as Riley felt his heart struggling against the loss of blood, his cock swelled and shot a last hurrah. His weakness was almost complete when the oaf sucking the life out of him disappeared in a hazy cloud of dust. Lazy eyelids barely allowed him to see his saviour before he blacked out. But there was no not recognising that mightily pissed off expression.

“Buffy,” he whispered and then promptly fainted.

“Want me to take him down, Buff?” called Xander, bouncing on the balls of his feet like he was in the middle of a hyper sugar fix and remarkably Spike-like.

“Nah. Let him hang.” And Buffy stomped up to Harmony and punched her hard on the nose.

Blood gushed and she shouted and cried, stumbling and accidentally kicking the baby carrier. “Ooh, ooh stay back. I have the baby…you, you vamp killer you.”

“Yeah, duh. Slayer! I’ll give you one chance to give me my baby back, then I’m making a really big hole where your heart used to be. Oh wait, you never really had one, did you?” Buffy’s face was set with lines of fury, every muscle tense and just aching for the chance to start making with the fighty.

Harmony picked up the baby, jostling her carelessly in an effort to step back and out of the way of Buffy’s possible fists. If she knew anything—other than she’d made a grave tactical error in trying to win back Spike—it was that Little Miss Dogooder wouldn’t attack her while she held a baby.

She just didn’t figure on anyone else being able to get to her first.

Lia woke with a blistering shriek, fear carrying her pitch higher and higher until the vampires in the room had fallen to their knees. Despite Harmony being the closest to the baby, she just cried her fear as she watched her minions’s heads swell like a balloon and then explode in spectacular fashion, one after the other.

The fear had momentarily masked the physical pain, but once the decibels had reached a certain level, there was no ignoring the destruction any longer. The subcutaneous layer of her face shifted—and not in a vampy way. Harmony let loose a bloodcurdling scream as her body jittered and shook, her head jerking side to side and her hair standing up on end. Spike darted forward and grabbed Lia, just as Harmony lost any control she might have had on her fate and her head went up in massive burst of flame, hair and finally, dust. Her body disintegrated and the group of fighters stood and watched stunned as the last clouds of dust rained gently down upon them, leaving them coughing and waving to clear the air.

Xander’s mouth flapped open before he snapped it shut, not being able to find one coherent thing to say about the ditzy girl who got to never grow up.

“Whoa,” gasped Willow, and Buffy found herself nodding in shocked agreement. “Oh hey, Spike, how come yours is the only vamp head that didn’t go kablooey?”

Spike looked up from checking all Lia’s fingers and toes to find all the Scoobies staring at him. The watcher was looking quite complexed, if not a little disappointed.

“What’s that?” he asked, happy now that Lia had calmed down as soon as she was in her daddy’s arms and that god awful screech had withered away and died.

Before the question could be repeated, and before the mystification could get any deeper, Buffy strolled over to her vampy mate and plucked out the earplugs from his ears.

Understanding dawned. “Neato,” Willow approved.

“Just can’t get rid of you now, can we?” Xander said with a smile, shrugging just as Buffy was about to share a piece of her not so complimentary mind with him. He seemed jovial though, so she let it go.

“Well, I guess now that the baddies have been taken care of, it’s time for the high calorie celebration party.” Enthusiastic nods met Xander’s suggestion and people filed out—until a groan from the hanging figure on the cave wall stopped them short.

“Isn’t that the TA from our psychology course?” Buffy asked, anger and fire making her move closer as she contemplated a swift and painful punishment, preferably with a sharp boot to the crotch.

Willow got up close, looking at his pale face and nodding sharply. “Yup. What should we do with him?”

Spike growled, and through their link Buffy felt exactly what he’d like to do to the naïve idiot.

Undoing the chains and smiling in satisfaction as Riley hit the deck hard, they left him, putting his life into his own hands. If fate thought he should be punished some more, they’d send a new rush of demons in on him. If not, he could get himself home and hopefully learn that vampires shouldn’t be played around with.

That thought put an evil glint in her eye and Buffy thought it was high time to rush out of there. She had her baby, she had her Spike and she had a life to get on with living. Was it her fault that she wanted to live it sweaty and writhing in pleasure?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Gahhhhhhh—“

They heard the scream just as a knuckle was about to scrape against the front door. True, the place was huge and wasn’t filled with much furniture yet, giving the sound more of an echo, but visitors had found to their detriment that dropping in unannounced was really really bad. High on the risky side of things to catch the couple naked. And sometimes even worse.

“How long is this newly mated sexiness thing going to go on?” Xander asked, exasperation making him pull at his hair.

The group had started walking back down the drive, Willow and Tara holding a walking Lia’s hand as they took her back to the car. Willow giggled nervously as she looked at the child that so resembled her parents, marvelling at how clear and blue her eyes were as she wobbled happily over the gravel.

“I have a sinking suspicion that their sexiness is never going to calm down so much as keep things interesting. Do you actually notice how they look at each other?” Willow was happy for them. She’d never thought Spike could be such a loving creature, or such a generous and thoughtful one. Nine months on and his help in fighting evil was nothing short of miraculous for the change. And he loved Buffy. There was nothing clearer or more dependable than that. This one time monster was devoted to his mate and his daughter. It sometimes robbed Willow of breath to see it.

“I don’t live in Sunnydale, Will. And to see THAT, I’d be living somewhere a little wetter than Egpyt. Please allow me to keep swimming in de river. I didn’t do anything to you!”

Willow giggled, knowing that by now Xander was as knowing and insightful on the strange relationship as the rest of them. It was just cute for him to keep pretending that he knew nothing.

“Well, as nice as it is for Buffy to live with multiple orgasms while we are babysitting, I’m missing out on many of mine. So, what are we going to do?” Anya tapped her foot as the girls placed Lia back in her carseat, waiting for their offer to take over kiddy duty so she could take Xander back home and teach him what all the fuss was about.

“Well, we can’t just drop her off with Giles. He and Joyce are just as bad as Buffy and Spike—“ Willow started before Tara interrupted with a kind smile.

“I-it’s okay. We’ll take her. I’m sure B-Buffy will come and pick her up pretty soon anyway. They probably just l-lost track of t-time.” Tara ducked behind Willow, waiting for the final decision.

“See Xander, they’ve offered, so there’s no need for guilt to put you off giving me orgasms. Now let’s go.”

Willow watched open mouthed as Anya dragged her male-shaped friend away and left her at the side of a giggling Tara. “O-kay…I guess we should go home too?”

“Uhuh,” Tara agreed and they bundled back into Giles’s new car and carefully drove back to campus. They were both convinced Buffy would be by some time that night. Really.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Did you hear something?” Buffy looked at Spike, exhaustion making it difficult to keep her eyes open but the thrumming of post-orgasmic tingles throughout her body kept her semi-alert.

“Before or after the ‘Spike, more, gahhhhhh’? Only bell I heard ringing was definitely not the doorbell.”

Buffy giggled and rolled over to rub her body against his, loving the feel of their nakedness and the zing of his touch on her skin. “I guess we’ve got time for some more lovin’ then before the guys bring Lia home.”

Spike smirked, his gaze burning hotly over Buffy’s exposed flesh. “I do like the way you think, luv.”

And Buffy never noticed when night snuck in to consume day, and then when the light fought against the night. When she did finally notice the time, and worked out what day it was, she was incredibly grateful that she a close enough relationship with her friends, her watcher and her mother that Lia wouldn’t mind so much if she spent longer than usual with any of them.

She’d come so far. From a slayer who hated with a passion the one vampire who never acted like he should, to being at one with him and allowing him to love her with an even greater passion.

Oh yeah, life was beyond good. It was perfect.





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