Chapter 3 - The Gift

 

 

The night was hot and steamy in the little beach town in Brazil. All of the townsfolk were out at the only local bar in town to have a few drinks to cool off.

 

Being the only bar in town also meant all of the demons who could get away with it were there also.

 

Spike leaned back in the chair and kicked his feet up on the table. It seemed no matter what he did or how drunk he got, it all came back to her. Buffy. She had crawled under his skin in that one night. No longer did he want to strangle the bint’s neck, he wanted to lavish it with his tongue, pierce her flesh with his fangs and take her as his mate.

 

He pouted in his chair as he remembered why he was thousands of miles away from her.

 

Buffy was finishing dressing as they both woke up from the spell. They had spent days making love. It was the most heavenly moment of his unlife. She had been his, truly his. Then the Powers That Be truly fucked with his life.

 

He had tried to pursued her, had given it his all. But, it had been for nothing.

 

‘Slayer, I know you feel it too. It isn’t because of the spell!’

 

‘Spike, I can’t!’

 

‘What do you mean you can’t? Buffy, luv please let’s just try.’

 

‘No. You’re an evil, vile, disgusting neutered vampire!’

 

‘Not what you said while I was plowed deep inside you. You didn’t want me to stop. You made future plans for us.’

 

‘It was a spell!’

 

‘It was a spell to work off of our feelings. Damn it, you told me you love me!’

 

‘Spike, even if I did love you, remember I’m the Slayer. You vampire!’

 

‘Stop being such a bitch about it. It can’t hurt to try; you didn’t even deny just now that you love me.’

 

Buffy looked away from him, she would neither deny nor confirm his love for him. She did the only thing she knew how to do to protect her heart. Spike knew this, but knew there was no getting around her walls.

 

‘You have to leave Sunnydale Spike. After what happened with Angel, I don’t know if I can risk my family and friends from being hurt again.’

 

‘I’m not sodden’ like Peaches!’

 

‘Spike if I date again, it will be a normal human boy. I can’t go through this again.’

 

Spike finally decided it was time to pull the wild card out. With desperation written all over his face, he laid it out on the table.

 

‘I won’t treat you like that. I respect what is mine. I love you!’

 

‘Spike, I don’t know if I can love you. Please go. Now.’

 

Spike grabbed his duster and stormed out the door with out looking back. He waited until he got to the old Desoto before he let the tears fall.

 

Spike quickly pulled back to the present when he felt a cold hand brush the lone teardrop from his eye.

 

“William, what has Sunshine done to my poor boy?”

 

Spike was shocked. He would have thought Drusilla would have been long gone from the continent by now. Unfortunately, the disgusting antler boy was also with her. Not that he cared about Dru having a fuck buddy; he did not want his sire like that anymore. The site of mucous dripping off the antlers was turning his stomach.

 

“Nothing Dru. Nothing at all”

 

Dru snarled at him. Even in her lovely white silken gown, she was still intimidating. Quickly, she went from angry to excited.

 

“Don’t lie to mummy William. I know the secret!”

 

“That she loves me but she pushed me aside for some normal fragile fucking boy? Not news here luv.”

 

Spike crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair again. He really wanted this little session of hide-and-go-seek to finish as quickly as possible. All he had to do was get her to tell her little secret.

 

“Sunshine she loves you, but she has something else of yours besides your heart.”

 

“For God sake Dru just spit it out!”

 

“Now. Now. You must be patient with mummy. Miss Edith hasn’t told me yet, but I do know that the boyfriend is gone.”

 

Spike’s interest peaked at that. Dru was often correct with her insane visions, so he knew to pay attention to her.

 

“William, look around here do you see those soldier boys?”

 

“Bloody hell! Those are the soddin’ chaps that neutered me!”

 

Spike began to panic. Drusilla laid her hand on his shoulder and chanted a few words under her breath.

 

“Don’t worry my Spike. When they look at you, they won’t recognize you as one of their ‘hostiles’. Now I want you to use that vampire nose of yours and inhale.”

 

Unable to refuse his sire, he deeply inhaled the air around him. That is when the smell hit him. It was faint, but enough to know someone in that room had been close with Buffy.

 

His Buffy.

 

“Now William, be patient. You listen in to what that soldier boy over there has to say, and you’ll find out what your present is back home.”

 

Dru gave him a kiss on the cheek, then turned and left the building, of course not without quickly grabbing one of the soldiers and leading him out to a premature death.

 

Whatever it was that would be his present intrigued Spike. He got up and moved closer to the bar where he recognized Riley, the white bread that had been trying to woo his Slayer.

 

He sat at the edge of the bar, in the seat closest to the round table the soldier boys were drinking and playing poker. He did not need to strain to hear the conversation.

 

“Finn, have you heard from your girl lately?”

 

“I told you, she’s not my girl.”

 

“Yeah but she’s knocked up!”

 

“Damn it. Stop bringing that up. I told you it’s not mine.”

 

“Finn. Gotta hand it to you. You could handle the Slayer!”

 

The rest of the guys laughed at Riley’s expense. Riley slammed his fist down on the table. His men knew they pushed him too far. All but one rose and left the table.

 

“Finn, man I’m sorry about that.”

 

“Nah Forrest, don’t worry about it. You guy’s don’t know what the worse part about all this is.”

 

“Well, until you told me on the way down here she was the Slayer; I didn’t think it could get any worse.”

 

“Forrest, remember that Billy Idol vampire we captured?”

 

“Oh yeah, he scared the shit out of me!”

 

Spike could smell the fear on the man. He was so glad that still all this time later, he had that effect on the ponce.

 

“We’ll apparently Buffy was protecting him from us.”

 

“Man, that’s jacked up. She’s the Slayer of Vampires, not their protector.”

 

“We’ll she didn’t like that we continued to pursue him even though he couldn’t defend himself. She said it wasn’t a fair fight.”

 

“What’s this got to do with her being pregnant Finn?”

 

“Well her little red head friend, Willow. She’s the witch. She did this spell, and well one thing led to another. Theyslepttogetherunderthespell.”

 

“Say that again Finn. Slowly.”

 

“They slept together under the spell.”

 

“Oh. Man that sucks.”

 

“Yeah. Well that is where the baby comes in.”

 

Forrest’s face lit up as he put two and two together.

 

“Don’t let Walsh get wind of this. If she finds out that the Slayer is pregnant with a vampire’s spawn….”

 

“She won’t find out.”

 

 

Spike abruptly left his spot at the bar and ran into the night. Smack into Dru.

 

“So, like your little prezzie, Daddy

My thoughts and prayers are to all of our friends whose lives have been impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Incidentally, many family pets have been displaced as a result of the hurrican and are currently looking for foster homes. If you have room and time in your home to open up your arms to these pets, please please please help out!

 

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Chapter 4 - Conversations



Spike sank to the ground and placed his head in his hands.

“Why, why …” He mumbled over and over again.

“It’s a gift Dearie, from the pixies for you.”

“Dru, how can having a child with the Slayer be a soddin’ gift? I’m evil, she’s sunshine.”

“William, she’s your sunshine. As you said, she just doesn’t know it yet.”

Spike shook his head. If she was still looking for normal, then what was Riley doing in South America?

Of course Dru was not going to be quiet long enough to let Spike gather his bearings.

“William, she won’t accept it’s yours until he is born, so you can’t run to her yet.”

“I protect what is MINE. Damn it. I should be there to protect her now, help make sure she’s taken care of while the sprog is in the uterus.”

Dru danced circles around Spike; humming to herself only a tune, she knew the words to.

“The pixies told me to cast a little spell protecting her, so I did. Miss Edith thought it was a wonderful idea. So see, you don’t need to go running off to make Sunshine’s day cloudy.”

“How will I know how she’s doing you daft bint?” Spike yelled.

Dru stopped her dance, and then slapped Spike across the face. Stunned, Spike looked up at her.

“Tut-Tut. Don’t be cross with mummy. You have soldier boy to keep you posted.”

Spike threw his hands up in frustration, and bit back his anger.

“Mummy dearest, then would you so kindly tell me how you expect me to sit back and listen to Captain Cardboard speak of her affections for him?”

“Spike, patience. Did you not hear the soldier boy say ‘She’s not my girl.’?”

Spike stood up and started to pace back in forth. His facial expression reflecting the master vampire was deep in thought. When his face lit up with a smile, it was evident he had stumbled upon the right thought.

“William, don’t you think you should go back in there and see what else you can find out? Then mummy can help you make a plan to get your girl.”

Spike found it odd that he would take direction from his crazy bint of a sire, but he did not have a better alternative. He mumbled a bit of thanks to her, and kissed her cheek as he walked back into the bar. Lucky for him, no one had really noticed he had left, except for the bartender. The bartender passed Spike another bottle of beer. Spike wiped the condensation off the bottle, took a swig, and feigned concentration on removing the label off the bottle. He concentrated on the soldiers’ conversation. Luckily, it had not progressed much beyond Walsh being a sadistic bitch.

“Enough about Maggie, I don’t know why we waste so much breath on her Finn.”

Riley shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His friend had no idea of the mad experiments she was doing behind the scenes.

“There’s just something that’s not right about her Forrest. I watch my back around her, always.”

“Well I’m not scared of that bitch Finn. Anyway, speaking of bitches, how far along is Buffy with the Demon Spawn?”

“Forrest, I know you don’t like her but she is still my friend. If you could please not…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah Finn. I get it. You haven’t gotten over your crush with her yet.”

“Forrest, that’s where you’re wrong, I have. I would never want to put my prick near where some demon’s has been…”

Spike tried hard not to get out of his seat and smack Finn upside the head. After all, the only difference between his and Finn’s was probably size; Spike figured he bested the soldier in that category.

“…And she is my friend. I don’t go talking about your friends in a bad way, so lay off mine. To answer your question, well you said at the time she found out she was a few months along. I’ve been gone for three months now. So she’d be around six or so.”

“She healthy?”

Spike rejoiced that the men were finally moving into some territory he cared about.

“She’s doing well under the circumstances. She says it’s getting harder to slay now that her body is starting to show evidence of her pregnancy. She’s actually being quite humorous about it. The other day on the phone she was complaining about her breasts getting in the way.”

Both the men and Spike broke out into laughter. Spike regained his composure in order to keep himself undercover from the men.

“Yeah Finn, she’s being funny but how is she really taking it. She’s all alone going through this.”

“Well she has Willow, Xander, Anya, and Giles. They all help her out. Her mom has been great too. She helped Buffy move back home. Right now they are redoing one of the spare bedrooms for the baby.”

“Finn, that sounds all nice but cut the shit man. She has no man up there to lean on. Have you told her it’s over yet?”

The silence that hung in the air was almost unbearable to Spike. He could not hold his cover if he knew that Riley was leading Buffy on. William just would not allow such an ungentlemanly thing to occur; Spike would not let it go without vengeance.

“She knows. She didn’t feel like the long distance was working and that in retrospect she had been haste into getting involved with me so deep, so quickly.”

“Lucky you, no dramatics. You’ve gotta teach me your secrets Finn.”

“Actually, she came to that decision after thirty minutes of tears and arguing. She was upset that I wasn’t being affectionate to her or telling her I loved her. It was hard to keep on feeling for her though; she’s carrying another man’s baby.”

“You mean vampire Finn. A vampire’s baby.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. When that baby is born, Buffy would take one look and regret being with me because I’m not the daddy.”

“She still believes you’re the daddy?”

”She doesn’t say much anymore. She’s been denial girl about it, which seems to work well for her. After what Angelus did to her, I can understand why she’s in denial land.”

“What did Angelus do to her?”

“He took her heart and broke it.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter. He had her heart first. I couldn’t compete with that. Then there is still the mystery of Hostile 17. If Angelus hadn’t ruined her, I wonder if Hostile 17 would have had a chance with her.”

Forrest laid his hand on Riley’s shoulder.

“Love hurts. We’ve had enough brews, let’s head back to camp.”

As the soldiers walked away, Spike sat and wondered would he still have a chance with his Goldilocks?



Thanks so much for the read! If you liked please, please, please, please leave me a review! They make me so happy and so want to write more!

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Opal

 

Thank You to Meli for Betaing! You Rock!






Chapter 5- What’s In a Name?



Buffy ran her fingers in her hair and tossed it quickly into a ponytail. She kicked her swollen feet up on the coffee table before she pressed the play button on the remote. She had not been looking forward to watching the parenting tape her mom had left for her. Joyce had already watched it, and Buffy was sure that she was going to get a lecture about it when she got home.

She hand glided over her swollen belly. It was getting harder and harder for her to deny that she might be carrying demon spawn inside of her. After all, she looked like she was ready to deliver, but she only had her first ultrasound six months ago. She prayed to the Powers every night that it was not true. At one point, she had begged Willow to check her spell to ensure it did not include anything about making vampire sperm fertile.

As soon as Buffy pressed play, she fell asleep. With a Slayer’s dream that included Spike.

** **

“Slayer, why don’t you want me to take care of our child?”

“She is my child Spike, mine.”

“I told you I’d protect you, always. I told you I love you.”

Buffy placed her hands on her hips. She glared at Spike as she reminded him of who he was.

“You’re evil. You’re a dead evil murderer. This baby will not grow up with that. This is my baby and I will protect it no matter what!”

Spike threw his hands up in frustration.

“I can smell the little one is made from you and me. It’s not right that you would keep me away.”

Buffy looked around the cavern of the cave she was trapped in. She was there with her baby held closely to her chest.

“You have no soul.”

“I have the chip; I can’t hurt either of you even if I wanted to.”

“But I can.” Angelus sung as he came forth from the shadows of the cave.

“And so can I.” Drusilla mimicked from the other side.

** **

Buffy woke up with a start. She quickly hit the rewind button so she could at least try to watch some of the video before her mom came home.

Better yet, she had better get her notepad down and start writing down some of that Slayer’s dream she just had. The last thing she remembered from her dream was Spike turning to her in game face. She suddenly dropped her pen and paper when she remembered the other important part.

Spike was the baby’s father. The Slayer’s dream said so and Slayer dreams were never wrong. That also meant that Angelus and Dru would make an appearance.

Damn it as much as she hated it, she knew she had to call Riley. There was no way she would be able to protect herself and child from three master vampires.

That threw another monkey wrench into things, as Riley still thought he was the father. So did she. Maybe the Slayer’s dream was wrong. That would be a first, but she firmly decided that would be the better thing to believe.

Having regained her confidence to pick up the phone, she was ready to call Riley, the father of the baby according to her, for help.

“Arrhhh!” Buffy cried holding herself tightly.

She took a few short breaths, to try to ease off the pain; moments later, another pain tore through her as she felt water gush down her leg.

“Fuck!” She cursed. Rather than dial Riley, she knew she better dial someone who could help her here and now. Willow.

** **

Willow rushed over to Buffy’s house as fast as she could. She burst through the door to find Buffy lying back on the couch. There was sweat beading off the Slayer’s forehead, and her face was bright red.

“Willow.” Buffy weakly acknowledged her friend.

“Oh my goddess! Buffy I’m here, but I think we’re going to need to get you to the hospital. You’re in labor!”

“Yeah Will, that’s kinda why I called.”

“Buffy, you’re going to deliver this baby now. You can’t wait for the hospital.”

“Arrhh! I don’t fucking care what we do. Get this out of me. NOW!” Buffy screamed.

Willow paced back and forth, trying to think of something useful to do. She certainly could not deliver the baby. She also knew that Buffy hated the hospital, passionately. Therefore, she did the next two best things. First, she called a midwife from the coven to come over. Second, she called Tara.

Willow jolted back to reality as she heard Buffy’s cries again, along when a pillow hit her in the head.

“Willow! Help me now. I hurt!”

Willow walked over to Buffy. She pulled a few herbs out of her pocket. As she scattered them around her friend, she murmured several incantations to the Goddess, all Buffy heard was “So mote it be.”

“Will thanks, I feel so much better now. So who’s going to deliver this baby?”

“Alexandra, the midwife from our coven. Tara is coming too.”

“Oh good. No hospital. I didn’t think I’d make it.”

Just then, Joyce walked through the front door with her packages. She did not notice Buffy’s condition at first and neither did she see Willow.

“Buffy. I hoped you watched that video tape and didn’t just sleep through it.”

Joyce placed her packages down, and then turned to shut the front door. It was then that she noticed two people about to come in behind her and her daughter’s distress.

“What’s going on here?”

Alexandra was the first to speak up. “Oh you must be Buffy’s mom. Willow’s told me so much about you. I’m Alexandra, a…” she used her judgment when she saw the look on Willow’s face, and opted to keep things simple, “…friend of Willow’s and a midwife.”

“Buffy called me.” Willow explained. “She called about her pains. When I came over I saw it was too late to take her to the hospital, and Alexandra lives a few doors down.”

“Arrhh! Willow I thought that the pain was supposed to go away!”

“No, no it only helps make it easier.”

“What does?” Joyce said, wondering how Italian seasoning got all over her couch.

“Oh the pain. I told Buffy if she thinks happy thoughts the pain will go away.”

“That was so kind of you Willow. But that’s crap. I had to tough it out and so will she! Let’s get her off the good couch and up to her bed.” Joyce directed to the girls.

“Good idea Joyce,” Alexandra voiced in. “Tara, could you please set aside a basin of hot water and wash cloths next to the bed?”

“S…S...sure.” Tara stuttered.

Willow and Alexandra helped lift Buffy up, and together they carried her up the stairs into her bedroom. Joyce stripped down the bed and covered it with several layers of beach towels to keep it clean.

As Buffy’s contractions came closer and closer together, Willow took her hand away from Buffy before she crushed it. She replaced her hand with Mr. Gordo, hoping the precious pig survived tonight’s ordeal. Tara continued to wipe the sweat off Buffy’s head.

In the midst of all of this, Buffy’s cell phone started ringing.

“What a time for that thing to start! Wills, can you answer it?”

“Sure.” Willow grabbed the phone off Buffy’s nightstand. “Hello?”

“Hi Willow. It’s Riley. Is Buffy there?”

Just then, Buffy let out another earth-shattering scream of pain.

“Yeah she is, but she really can’t talk right now.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, but she’s about to have the baby.”

“Willow, I can’t call back tonight. I finished my assignment and I am on my way home. I’ll be by to see her and the baby as soon as I get back.”

”Ok Riley. Thanks.”

** **

Riley sat down for the last time in the South American heat. He chugged the last of his beer.

“So Finn. What’s going on with Buffy?”

“She’s having the baby as we speak.”

“Aww, that’s great man. So, are you going to visit her when we get back?”

“You bet. I picked up some handmade baby clothes from some of the village people. At least the little one will have some unique clothes.”

“Well then what are you waiting for, let’s go pack and get home Finn!”

The two men quickly rose from their seats at the bar, and threw the bartender a $100 in cash.

“Thanks for everything during our stay. We appreciate it.”

They quickly left. Immediately, an additional $100 landed on top of the other money.

“Thanks mate for keeping their asses alive.”

“No problem Spike. Where are you going now?”

“Gonna go get my girl and see our child.”

Spike threw on his jacket, lit up his cigarette and walked into the night air.

** **

“Push Buffy! Push!” Alexandra calmly directed.

“I can’t fucking push anymore!” Buffy cried back.

“Oh Goddess! Is that the head?” Willow questioned.

“Yes it is. That means you’re almost done Buffy.”

“Thank fucking God!”

“Language young lady!” Joyce knew the pain her daughter was going through, but she still was not going to allow her daughter to use such atrocious language.

Buffy threw Mr. Gordo across the room at her mother. Joyce went to reprimand her daughter, but she could not help but laugh when Buffy stuck her tongue out. Buffy prepared herself to push one last time. She grasped onto the sides of the beach towels and pushed with all the Slayer strength she had.

That push was enough. The baby and afterbirth came out in one quick whoosh. Joyce used the warm clothes to clean off the baby, while Alexandra took care of the umbilical cord.

“Care to give your grandson a quick smack on the butt?” Alexandra asked.

“I’d love to.” Joyce replied. Within seconds, the sounds of the baby’s cries filled the room.

“Can I hold him?” Buffy asked.

Joyce wrapped him up in towels before she handed her grandson to her daughter. She felt almost ashamed in thinking the little one looked a lot like Spike and nothing like Riley. Joyce wished it were so.

“Mom?” Buffy said as she disrupted Joyce from her thoughts.

“Oh. Sorry.” Joyce carefully handed her grandson to her daughter.

Buffy looked down into her son’s face and eyes. She knew right away. Spike would be here soon for his son.

Joyce noticed the pensive look on her daughter’s face, as did Willow. Willow took one look at the baby and knew exactly what Buffy was thinking. She also felt it would be a good opportunity to bring up a very good question.

“So Buffy, what is his name?”

Buffy looked down at her son in admiration. Spike would be coming for him, and although she was unsure how she would deal with it, from her Slayer dream she knew one thing. She could not keep him from Spike forever. The best place to start with would be his name. ‘What’s in a name little one? For you, it is the name of your father.’ She lowly whispered to her child.

“William. His name is William.”


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