This is a sequel to a previous story written by me "Season 8: Another Day Another Demon"

Prophecies and Premonitions:

Heels click on the wood floor as white satin glides across it. Buffy walks, keeping her pace, down the isle of the church. The church is lit in a hazy glow from the sun shining through the stained glass windows. Buffy smiles sweetly at Spike standing at the end of the isle dressed in a black tux, his blue eyes gleaming at her with love. She nears him holding on to the white bouquet of lilies in her hand which match the color of her perfectly fitted wedding dress, the satin of which rolls over her slim pregnancy-free frame. The room is silent and empty except for the two of them. No wedding march, no priest, no friends or family, and while it doesn't occur to Buffy that it would be impossible to be wed without a priest the comfortable silence in the room seems to be all she needs to make this her day.

Buffy finally comes to rest standing before Spike. He looks down at her. They both shine brilliant smiles at each other. Then Buffy hears something, from behind her there is a feint cry. Buffy spins around dropping her bouquet as she does. The lilies fall to the floor in a silent thud. It feels like slow motion as she turns toward the sound, the sound of a baby crying. There on the pew wrapped in a white blanket is her baby. Buffy goes to pick up the newborn with brilliant blue eyes just like her fathers. She picks her up and turns back toward Spike.

This time as the slayer turns to look at her lover he's not alone. Standing behind him in the traditional black and white attire of a nun is Drusilla. Spike is no longer dressed in a tux; he's back in his regular ensemble including his black leather coat, and when Buffy glances down at her dress she sees that it has changed as well. Now she stands in a gown just as she did before, however the color has changed from a pure white to the darkest black. Buffy holds her baby close to her as she watches Drusilla sleekly dances around Spike.

"Miss Edith has whispered in my ear that there will be a changing in the wind with a kiss," Drusilla says as she moves around to face Spike. She strongly grabs his face with one hand, her red tipped nails digging into his skin. "A kiss to steal the spark," Dru says as she smashes her lips against Spike's.

--

"No!" Buffy yells as she wakes up in a jolt.

"Are you alright love?" Spike says from beside her. It takes Buffy a moment to remember where she is; as she looks around she's reminded that she, Spike and Dawn are on a flight to L.A. Buffy sits, now fully pregnant with her belly the size of a beach ball between Spike who has the isle seat and Dawn who's sitting with her eyes plastered to the window.

"Yeah… I'm fine, just had a bad dream," Buffy says as she looks at Spike. His hair was a little unkempt curling at the edges and his roots were starting to get really long. She wonders just how long it's been since he's dyed it.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Really."

"Oh!… I thought of another one… what about Jayden?" Dawn says twirling around to face her sister and Spike.

"Jayden Avery Summers… I like that, add it to the list."

"Are you ever gonna just pick one?"

"…Eventually... you know I've always liked the name Joan."

Spike and Dawn both give Buffy a look that says what are you thinking.

"What?" Buffy questions innocently, but neither Spike nor Dawn say anything. "Well alright, we won't name her Joan, geez." They were on their way to stay with Hank until the baby was born. Giles knows a doctor in L.A. who specializes in the births of demon species. While they believe the baby to be human they are still unaware of exactly what problems could arise with the birth of a vampire and slayer's baby. A few weeks before they left Buffy, along with help from Giles, explained her destiny to Hank. It had taken him a while to not only accept but believe what they were telling him; especially that his daughter was dating and impregnated by a vampire. Eventually though he came around. Now they were on a small airplane owned by the Council about an hour from LAX. They timed their flight just right so they took off at night and will be landing at night as well.

--

One, two, three, four, five Xander counts the vamps before him as he raises his sword and decapitates one of them watching as it's body turns to dust. Oomph, Xander's knocked to the ground. Six, damn, missed one Xander thinks as he rolls on to his back to see the vampire who pushed him to the ground hovering before him. Xander looks to his side and sees his sword. He reaches for it as the vampire draws nearer. Then he grabs the silver weapon and looks back at the vampire just as it turns to dust. As its body dissipates in the air before him Myla becomes visible. She stands before Xander with her stake still poised in the air.

"Hi honey," She says as she helps Xander to his feet with her free hand.

"Thanks," Xander says as he finds his balance and looks to his left to see Kennedy knock one of the vamps to the ground with a flying kick. Willow then dusts him as he hits the ground. Another vampire comes up behind her "Willow," Xander yells as he watches the vampire prepare to attack her. Willow turns around and holds out her arm using her magic to hold the creature in place as Kennedy comes up and stakes him. The remaining two vampires take off. What they thought would be an easy target turned out to be a dangerous trap. Xander, Myla, Willow and Kennedy watch as the last two vampires disappear running away with fear.

XANDER: "What's with the vamp-a-palooza tonight?"

KENNEDY: "I don't know, but I don't mind the action."

MYLA: "They were moving in a pack… I'm thinking maybe there's a nest near by."

WILLOW: "Makes sense… with all the slayeretts shipping out to their assigned locations last week and Buffy being out of town…"

XANDER: "The evil undead think it's safe to come out and party."

WILLOW: "Exactly."

MYLA: "We should proby head back… it's almost sunrise anyway."

XANDER: "I second that."

KENNEDY: "We should look for that nest tomorrow during the day, what do you say Willow, up for a little reconnaissance with me?"

WILLOW: "I can't, sorry; Giles wants me to help him with something… you and Xander and Myla can go though."

KENNEDY: "…yeah."

Willow's words are sweet, but Kennedy still feels a little upset. She wished her and Willow had more time to spend with each other. Kennedy had assumed when they were fighting the First that Willow was just throwing herself into work because it needed to be done, but after he was gone, and after they defeated Volternas Kennedy found Willow just as involved in her research and magic as ever.

The four of them make their way back to the Council where things would be quiet that night. A few weeks earlier all the slayeretts including Myla finished their training and all, besides Myla, were assigned Watchers and sent to fight in various locations all over the world where they were needed. With Myla and Xander's relationship growing she decided she could still do some good in London and stay there with him. Since then Willow and Giles have been putting together a portfolio on the potentials that are still out there in the world. Soon they will be training new slayers and going through the same routine with them as they had the year before. The potentials would be given a choice. If they accepted they would be taken back to the Council to be trained and from there they would become slayers.

--

Dawn is the first one off the plane walking down its tiny stairs to the tarmac. The second she sees her dad she runs up to him and gives him a hug as Spike helps Buffy down the stairs. Hank greets his eldest daughter with a hug as well taking note of her profoundly obvious pregnancy

"It's so good to see you sweetie… Gosh, you look like you're about ready to pop," Hank says and Buffy smiles comforted by his words. Hank gives his daughter one final squeeze and then pulls away and turns to Spike. "And I suppose you would be the uh… vampire who's dating my daughter," Hank says as he reaches out his hand for Spike to shake. A gleam appears in Spike's eyes and a small smile crosses his face from Hank's words as he shakes his hand.

"That would be me, names Spike."

"Hank… so Spike, do you have a real name?"

"William."

"Well, William… it's good to finally meet you."

"Likewise."

Buffy watches the two of them exchange greetings. She knew her father would grill Spike a little bit, but Spike seemed to be enjoying it and overall she could tell the two men were getting along just fine. Hank then shoves his hands in his pockets and turns back to face his girls.

"So I figure after that long plane ride you all must be starved, I thought I'd take us all out for dinner… that is um, Spike, you do eat right?"

"Uh yeah… don't need to or anything, but yeah I eat."

"Well good then because I've already made reservations."

--

Giles sits alone at his desk in the Council. He's been following a lead which is possibly about the birth of Buffy's baby and it's kept him there long past when he would normally head home. The dimming light from the lamp beside him is all he has lit in the dark room. So encompassed by his books he's forgotten to turn any others on. He adjusts his glasses as his eyes skim over the ancient text and then he stops. He's found it.

"Dear Lord," Giles says as he brings the book closer to his eyes to read what it says. The ominous prophecy was most certainly about Buffy's child. Giles sets the book down and picks up the phone. Then he stops. He sets the phone back in its cradle. She wouldn't even be in L.A. yet, and all the scoobies were fast asleep at this early hour. Then Giles rethinks telling Buffy completely. Sure, she must know eventually, but the extra stress right now would only cause harm. He decides to wait until after she returns to London to tell her what he has found.

--

Buffy, Spike, Dawn and Hank sit at a round table in an expensive Los Angeles restaurant. Their meals have been ordered and the waitress takes their menus away allowing the four of them some time to chat while they wait for their food. Hank looks at his two girls and realizes how much they've grown up and how much of their lives he's missed. Sure, he saw them on weekends occasionally when they had lived in Sunnydale and they would talk on the phone, but in all honestly he wasn't really there for them and he knew it. At that moment he wished that he could change all that and thinks to himself that from here on out he would try to do better.

HANK: "So how do you girls like living in London?"

DAWN: "It's awesome, everything's old and the library at the Council is filled with really cool books, Oh and I really like my college."

HANK: "I'm glad you're doing well over there."

BUFFY: "I miss the sun… I think I took the nice weather out here for granted… not that snow and rain and cloudy days aren't nice, but I really miss going to the beach sometimes."

HANK: "Well, you girls are always welcome to come out here and go to the beach any time you like."

Buffy and Dawn both smile at their father. They could tell he was trying and they were grateful for it. Since their mom died they had been missing that parental figure in their lives, Giles had filled the void for a short while, but he grew distant over the years. "So Spike, how did you and Buffy meet?" Hank then says setting his eyes on the vampire before him. A small smile creeps across Spike's face as he thinks about how to answer that question.

SPIKE: "Well, uh… we've known each other for quite some time now. We uh… weren't on the best of terms at first…"

BUFFY: "More like mortal enemies."

SPIKE: "Long story short… we had a meeting of minds over an enemy in common and decided to team up to take him out… then I left town for some time and a few years later when I came back the Slayer and I worked together to fight the good fight."

HANK: "So have you always been fighting the good fight, from what Mr. Giles has explained Vampires are… well evil."

SPIKE: "Oh no, I was evil for a long time."

HANK: "So when you say mortal enemies."

BUFFY: "I was being literal."

HANK: "Uh huh."

DAWN: "But Spike's good now… he has a soul, and before that he wasn't even really that evil…"

HANK: "A soul?"

BUFFY: "Yeah… when you become a vampire, you die; you loose your soul and all ability to feel remorse, thus the whole being evil thing."

HANK: "But Spike has a soul now?"

DAWN: "Yeah."

HANK: "You're gonna have to explain this to me a little more."

SPIKE: "When I became a vampire… it was like I had the world in the palm of my hand, I did horrible things and I won't try to dismiss any of that… But vampires still have feelings, they feel sad, they feel love, but without a soul… every action has some selfish reasoning behind it… what made me different from other vampires wass that I got to see the world from the Slayer's point of view… it never meant that much to me to be evil, I never wanted to end the world or all that, I just wanted to fight something. I changed my colors because I saw something in Buffy that I admired and from there my feelings grew… that's when I got my soul… because with out it I knew I could never be who Buffy needed me to be."

Buffy watches her father's face as Spike explains to him why he is the way he is. She knew Hank would be looking for a good reason as to why he should trust the vampire and from what she saw Spike gave him that. Hank sat back in his chair after listening to Spike's words and gives a soft smile to the vampire for his honesty. Buffy could tell there was a silent understanding among the two of them. They were both cautious of each other, but she was happy that things were going well. Buffy sets her hands on her belly and smiles at the scene before her. It was nice to be there with her dad and sister and of course Spike.

--

Hank turns the lights on at his condo as Buffy, Spike and Dawn walk in. It was the same place he'd had since the divorce and for Dawn and Buffy it felt nice to be somewhere familiar, even if they had never spent that much time there. Spike looks around, it was a rather nice size place, but Spike could tell from the moment he met Hank that he had the money to afford nice things like this. There was a large living room where a sofa bed had been pulled out. Then there was a small hallway where Spike assumed was the Master bedroom and a bathroom. The kitchen was also of measurable size with stainless steal appliances and a breakfast counter.

"I pulled out the sofa bed for Dawn… Buffy, you and Spike can stay in the guest room… don't worry, a few years ago I traded in the twin beds I had from when you and Dawn would visit for a Queen… it just seemed more practical."

"Thanks dad," Buffy says with a smile.

"I um… I wasn't sure what you guys would like to eat, I just stocked the fridge with what I remembed you liked, but we can go to the grocery store tomorrow for anything else… I'm sure you're probably ready to hit the hay about now."

"I know I am."

--

Screams are heard as the last bus pulls in to the L.A. bus stop beneath the near full moon. When the door opens the body of the bus driver tumbles down the stairs and falls dead on the ground. Pointy black shoes tap on the metal steps and a long flowing black dress falls over them as she moves down to the ground. Each step made as if she were dancing to a song only she could hear. Drusilla licks blood from the tips of her fingers and holds her doll in her other hand as she exits the bus. Her eyes are yellow and her face is that of her vampire visage.

"Miss Edith has missed this town far too long… shh, don't worry, soon the stars will scream."

A/N: Spoilers for the rest of the season are up on my website... also a POLL to PICK THE BABY'S NAME... please send feedback. Thank you all for reading.

I'm reposting this because my writing style is getting REVAMPED: I have a full explanation on my website under "My Writing Style" and would really appreciate some feedback pleeeease... I still believe using "script format" is necessary for a full cast of characters, but I've decided only to use it when it's necessary... Next chapter will be up Monday.