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Chapter Three

When Buffy finally made it back, Giles was happily strumming away on his guitar, a settled baby presumably cleaned and fed—judging by the empty bottle on the floor—and gurgling happily along with the entertainment. The last dregs of sunshine were chasing her heels as she shut the door behind herself and blocked it out.

“I…I guess we weren’t entirely helpful before. Or, well, you know, supportive?” She offered with her presence, feeling a little sheepish about earlier.

Giles smiled as Buffy came further into the room and peered down at the angelic face relaxed in sleep.

“She’s actually kinda cute.”

“Well, I suppose it was a bit of a shock for all of us.” Giles was forgiving, even if the too recent memory of nappy changing made him shudder involuntarily.

“And what’s with evil Spike knowing more about babies than any of us?” Buffy said with a pout, feeling unusually jealous of the vampire’s ease to adapt to the human world.

Giles chuckled, amused at the vampire’s contradictory nature.

It was a strange moment when both of their smiles slipped in unison.

“Er, where is Spike exactly?”

Buffy shuddered again, a feeling of dread clutching at her heart.

“He left,” she spoke, wondering at her own lack of Slayer responsibility. She had allowed herself to become so swept up in the event of avoiding the baby that she had not even blinked when Spike departed. He could be happily fattened now on fresh blood, draining the innocent.

Well, except for the chip. The chip they still knew so little about and which could easily have stopped working in the interim. Not like Spike had had a chance recently to test its boundaries out. He could be out there now, testing it out on a hundred vulnerable necks.

Buffy jumped to her feet, anxiety twisting her stomach into knots, and wondered why she’d let him out. If she had to dust him…well, it actually kind of hurt. Not that it would stop her from dusting him if she had to, but she had association now, had shared time with him other than fighting. She’d caught glimpses of non-vampire Spike, and secretly, she liked it.

Duty crawled along her arm as she reached behind to take out the stake tucked into her waistband. Hesitation kept her beside Giles while she settled her mind to the fact that ‘on the loose’ Spike could not be good for the Sunnydale community.

Completely unbidden her eyes fell upon the door, and an image of Spike’s look of shock and betrayal as he turned to dust hit her hard. Buffy gulped and took a step toward the door, stopping abruptly when it was flung open and a black blur streaked through.

Only small puffs of smoke escaped the leather covering as Spike threw his duster aside, stood up tall, and ran both slightly singed hands through his flattened peroxide locks.

“Evenin’ all,” he greeted, completely composed and without a hint of guilt. Until his appreciative glance swept over Buffy and rested on the stake gripped tightly in her hand. “Goin’ somewhere, pet?”

Buffy felt something settle in her throat and she squeaked out a response. “Was…” she cleared it and tried again. “Was going to go look for you. You’ve been gone all day,” she accused and he raised a brow in surprise.

“And you were gonna punish me with your fancy stick of wood? How bloody original.” He continued to study her, could sense the slight trembling of her body and let out a mouthful of useless air.

“You thought I’d been out feeding. What part of the excruciating pain from the chip did you miss during my little show and tell?” His voice had taken on a sarcastic edge and Buffy felt slightly ashamed for jumping to conclusions.

“So you weren’t out snacking?” She cringed at the bluntness of the question, but she had to know for sure.

His ‘pfft’ of irritation seemed to be all the reassurance she needed and she replaced her stake and went back to ‘ooing’ and ‘aahing’ over the baby.

“So, Giles. Do you think you can reveal this little mystery to us now?”

Even Spike took a seat, though he slumped back in a big show of being unconcerned.

“Please Watcher, tell the class how you managed to get yourself all tangled in this little web.”

“Yes, well, er, remember Buffy when I asked both you and Xander if you could take on Spike-minding for the weekend? That my friend Olivia was coming for a visit?”

“Uh huh!” replied Buffy while Spike scooted closer to the edge of the seat and leaned in for the big revelation.

“Yes well, apparently Olivia wasn’t coming over to…er, this is very difficult.”
“Take it one step at a time, Rupes,” calmed the vampire without a hint of derision in his voice.

Giles looked at him startled, yet smiled at him in gratitude; at least he would have some support in one corner, as bizarre as that concept was. And even stranger was the look of pleased confusion on his Slayer’s face as she contemplated the vampire. Oh, dear. He couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about it.

But for now, it was on with the details of his current predicament.

“O-Olivia came to see me early, and, well, she brought with her a little surprise.”

Three sets of eyes turned to the well-behaved little baby girl still fast asleep in her carrier.

“Can’t keep her sleepin’ in that thing, Watcher. Little tyke needs a cot. That thing will be bad for her posture. Can’t be too comfortable, either.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Buffy interrupted the baby lecture to stand with her feet planted firmly on the ground and her hands on hips in a show of…well…not defiance exactly. More like something akin to bravado.

It made Spike feel all warm and gooey on the inside.

“What’s it, luv?” he smirked, and thoroughly enjoyed the show of her flush as it crept up her neck.

“What’s with all the baby know-how?”

He kinked his head to the side and couldn’t help but picture her holding the baby earlier.

“Don’t know,” he told her honestly. “Just commonsense, really. Guess I remember a bit from when I was still human. Now, if I wasn’t mistaken, your Watcher was filling us in.”

Everything seemingly settled for the moment, they turned back to Giles. As he opened his mouth to resume the story, the little one dressed head to toe in pink started to wake, and the transition was loud.

Spike observed Buffy and Giles sitting in a state of indecision, and instead of barking orders or insults at their inept behaviour towards a baby, Spike stood and ambled toward the carrier and took the little one out.

Returning to his seat, he rocked and cooed until smiles broke out on her tiny face. Buffy and Giles watched, completely transfixed by the uncharacteristic gentleness—but said nothing.

“So, Rupert. What’s the little bit’s name?”

The older man looked rattled for a minute, then something seemed to come back to him and he beamed.

“Her name is Ophelia,” and didn’t even finish before Spike was laughing.

“What a bloody name to saddle a kid with!”

“Yeah, yay with the expectation of insanity in her future.” Buffy couldn’t resist the dig.

Something suddenly occurred to her and Buffy let out a whoop of merriment.

“Hey, that’s how you know how to deal with her! You’ve got an affinity with the sanity challenged.” She grinned and even winked, causing Spike to almost drop his handful.

“Laugh it up, Slayer. An’ how did you get with the big words? Crack open a dictionary lately?”

“Children, children. Let’s keep this calm for now, please.”

“So, this Olivia woman had your brat, and now she’s dumped her on you. When is she coming to pick her up?” Buffy looked at the baby out of the corner of her eye, wanting to ask Spike for a nurse but feeling too embarrassed to.

“Well, that would be the dilemma.” Giles paused and looked at the two watching him from his sofa and prepared for the reaction. Neither spoke, just watched him with an anticipation he was dreading.

“She…she isn’t coming back. She’s left little Ophelia here with me. Indefinitely.”


A/N...whoa...what a hornet's nest...before I go and thank everyone I just wanted to address a few things to Tammy. Tammy, your comments about Buffy and Giles were helpful and I went straight back and changed it. Luckily no one else has had the same problem. Your further comments, though...seem to have struck a nerve. I don't think it is so much the way these days for girls to automatically be all gushy around babies. This is a different world. As for who is the baby's mother? Try a little patience...must everything be revealed in the first chapter? Thre is such a thing as build-up. As for whether Americans know the term knickers or not, I asked a Californian if they would have known what they were before being exposed to Britishisms on recent tv, and she told me she would have thought knicker-bockers, and, well, not the thing!

I truly don't mind criticism, but what you yourself said was that you are opinionated. That attitude unfortunately gets people's backs up. I am sorry it has caused such a stir, but I hope you continue to read if you are enjoying the fic.

Thanks go to:- spikeslovebite, bloodshedbaby, Darla, Allison, Rain, Tammy ;), Rana, Starshine, CopyKween. Francesca, Melissa, HollyDB, Karen, songgal, Mefiant, Jessie, raemcn, shippy, Cordykitten. Alwaysjbj and AmyBnNYC.

You guys made my day!





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