8
I do not own any of the characters from Angel or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sigh. Sniff. I'm just playing with them for a while, then I have to give them back.
Just to clarify things, this story begins during the day before the night where The Road to Hell ended.
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
A Night on the Town
"It's not the end of the world, babe," Spike said softly, stroking Rose's cheek, as they stood in the busy shopping mall while people milled around them. "Gonna have to be done sooner or later."
"But it's so pretty," Rose moaned. "He won't look like my little boy anymore."
Alaric pouted at the pretty comment, but a look from his father kept his mouth shut. For the moment.
"If Alaric's hair gets any longer," Spike stated firmly. "He's not going to look like anyone's little boy. He's not running about looking like some prancing nancy-boy." His tones softened and became indulgent again. "I'll save you a lock of his hair if you like, luv," he promised. "Now why don't we get on with things?"
Rose sighed, but managed not to sniff. If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit that her son's hair was getting a bit long and probably ought to be cut. Alaric felt at least as strongly about it as Spike did.
"Me too?" Ariel suggested. She and Alaric did almost everything together, and she didn't want to be excluded.
"No," said her parents in chorus.
"Girls are s'posed to be pretty," Alaric added. "Not boys." He tugged at Spike's jacket. "C;mon, daddy."
"Right you are, my son." Spike swung the child up in his arms, ruffled his daughter's chestnut locks and kissed Rose. "Why don't you go buy something.., special to wear tonight, pet?" he requested.
Rose just stood there for long moment, watching Spike's retreating back. Alaric waved to them over his shoulder. She sighed again. She was beginning to understand why humans rushed through their lives. Everything happened so fast. She fought back another sniffle as she realized that her babies wouldn't be babies much longer.
"C'mon, mummy." Ariel patted the hand that held hers. "Let's get you something pretty."
Rose smiled down at her daughter and allowed the little one to lead her along.
&&&&&&
Spike winced as the bleach bit into his scalp. The price of vanity. But he liked the way it looked, and Rose had never seen him any other way. He didn't really have to, he supposed, but the bleached blonde locks had become an integral part of his persona. Wouldn't know how to deal with going back to his natural shade.
"Does it hurt, daddy?" Alaric asked, looking on with interest.
"A bit." Spike smiled down at his son, but it was a forced smile. It wasn't broken bones or anything, but still, it hurt like a bitch. Kid didn't know how lucky he was being naturally blonde.
"Then why do you do it?" Alaric was still curious. "So mummy will think you're pretty?"
Spike sighed. The stuff the kid wanted answers to. Sometimes it was easier, if not always more comfortable when they just plucked it out of his mind. "Guess I'm just kind of used to it," he admitted.
"Why?"
&&&&&&
"Try it on, mummy," Ariel wheedled. "You'll see. Daddy will think you're pretty."
Rose sighed and tried to remember the last time she'd won an argument over shopping for clothing. Everyone seemed to think they knew what would suit her best. Including, now, her own daughter. Well, she supposed that it wouldn't hurt to try it on.
Rose stepped out of the dressing room a few minutes later. A spaghetti strapped top of shimmering gold satin that dipped down to reveal rather more cleavage than she was comfortable with in the front, and dipped even further in the back. The black skirt looked too narrow and form-fitting to dance in, until she moved and revealed that it was slit up the sides. Almost half-way up her thighs.
"I can't go out wearing this," Rose protested. Although she had to admit to herself that Spike probably would like it.
"Daddy will like it," Ariel said confidently. "You should buy it, mummy."
Rose took another critical look at herself in the full length mirror. That the first part of her daughter's statement was correct, she had no doubt. It was the second part of it she had problems with. Finally, she gave up. If she didn't get it now, Ariel would merely tell her father about it, and he'd get it anyway. And coax and cajole until she broke down and wore it. This way was probably easier.
&&&&&
"Your turn now, Alaric, mate," Spike said, finished with the trim and touch-up job on himself. He got up and hoisted his son into the chair. "You just be good and sit still now."
"Do I get ice cream for being good?" Alaric asked craftily.
Spike laughed. "Not today, sport," he replied. "Your mum would have fits. Especially since your Aunt Harm is babysitting tonight. I'm sure that she'll give you ice cream." Or, Spike thought, just about any kind of junk the kids desired. Which was why treating the kids to something sweet today was definitely not on.
"He speaks awfully clearly for such a little fellow," the hairdresser remarked. "And I've never seen a child sit so still for their first haircut. Usually they fidget or cry. It makes it very hard to cut their hair."
"Don't want to look like a nancy-boy," Alaric explained to her. He looked at his father. "Are you going to save my hair for mummy? You promised."
"So I did," Spike said. He'd nearly forgotten. The hairdresser grinned and handed him the next lock she snipped off, and Spike carefully tucked it away in his shirt pocket, hoping he wouldn't forget that it was there.
&&&&&&
"I said that Spike was here in Los Angeles," Drusilla crooned to the dolly in her arms. "Has mummy ever lied to you, sweetest? I know you're missing daddy. We all are. This time, we're going to get him back." She propped the dolly up on the bed that had been vacated for her in this particular den of vampires. They all tended to give her a wide berth. It didn't take anyone long to see that Drusilla had some loose wiring in the attic. But they allowed her to stay, and made room for her and her dollies.
"It's funny," Dru went on with her monologue. "I keep seeing little children. What would Spike be doing with little children?" She paced back and forth for a few moments and then picked up another doll. "Maybe when we get close to daddy, we'll understand that," she decided. She looked up at the dark subterranean ceiling, but not seeing it. "All pinks and purples and oranges," she said with satisfaction. "The sun will be down soon, my little loves. Then, we can go looking for daddy."
She stopped a minute, and held the doll to her ear, as though it were speaking to her. "You're hungry?" she asked, sounding not the least bit surprised. "Well, I guess that we'll have to find a bite to eat before we find Spike."
And then, as the other vampires pointedly looked away, Drusilla began dancing around the chamber with her doll in her arms.
&&&&&&
"And you've got the cell phone number if you need to get hold of us," Rose reminded Gunn and Harmony.
The babysitters for the night rolled their eyes. Every time, it was the same thing.
"We've done this before, Rose," Gunn reminded her. "We can handle it."
"Sure we can," Harmony piped up. "You and Spikey go and have a good time."
"And mind you." Spike had to put his two cent's worth in. "If you call, it had better be apocalypse time."
Rose was torn between kneeling to kiss the children good-night and bending over. Both prospects presented affronts to her dignity. Spike noted her quandary, correctly interpreted it and solved the dilemma for her by picking the twins up and holding them on her level.
"Thank you, darling," she murmured. She bestowed hugs and kisses on her offspring. "You two be good for your Aunt Harmony and Uncle Charles," she ordered. More hugs and kisses. "Good night, darlings."
"Good night, mummy," Alaric and Ariel said obediently enough. They loved their parents dearly, but an evening with Auntie Harm was playtime and treats with a vengeance. They were anxious to get them out the door. "Good night, daddy."
"Good night, my little luvs," Spike answered softly, dealing out more hugs and kisses. Finally, the leave taking was out of the way, and he and Rose were out the door.
"She's going to stuff them with junk food," Rose sighed as they stepped into the elevator.
"Once in a while won't kill them," Spike soothed. "Besides, Harm only babysits with them once in a.., once every three months." The whole fang gang had pretty much dropped the phrase 'once in a blue moon', after they'd actually been through one and had to deal with all kinds of consequences. "By the way, pet," he remarked. "Have I mentioned that you look absolutely smashing?"
&&&&&&
Gunn watched the exit of the parking garage. It was easy to see where it was from his vantage point up so high, but hard to identify a particular vehicle. Luckily, it wasn't like it was quitting time. There weren't too many people around the law firm at this time of night. Finally, he saw a low-slung little sports car ease its way into the traffic, then take off like a bat. Had to be Spike driving it. He went over to Harmony and handed her a dollar bill, which she made disappear. "You were right," he admitted. "They didn't take the car with the kid's seats in it."
"Of course he didn't." As far as Harmony was concerned, and in this she was right, Rose didn't really have a voice in the choice of a mode of transportation. "Spike wouldn't take that tank out on a date. Which means that we can use it to take the kids out for ice cream."
Amidst enthusiastic cheers from the twins, Gunn asked, "How are we going to drive it? I'll bet you double or nothing that Spike kept the keys in his pocket without even thinking about it."
Harmony stood there with a grin on her face and a set of car keys dangling from her finger. "All the company cars, even the ones especially assigned for the boss' use," she explained. "Have an extra set of keys." She turned towards Alaric and Ariel. "What flavor of ice cream do you want?"
&&&&&&
Angel was feeling restless. He didn't want to read. There was nothing on t.v. that appealed to him. He wasn't in the mood for any of the music in his c.d. collection. Wasn't hungry, tired or thirsty. Getting drunk held no attraction. Maybe a drive would settle him down, he decided. He headed for the parking garage. And immediately noticed that his favorite car was missing.
"Dammit, Spike," he muttered. "Just once, could you ask?" The question was obviously rhetorical, since Spike wasn't there to answer it. He should have remembered that it was Spike and Rose's night out, though. But he tended to forget when he wasn't on the babysitting roster. And evidently Spike considered the family sedan unsuitable for a night out on the town with Rose. He couldn't really blame him on that score. He just wished that one time his grandchilde would have the common courtesy to ask permission before helping himself to one of his cars.
Scratch the ride. He'd take a walk instead. Blow the cobwebs out of his head. And maybe, if he was lucky, he'd find something to fight. Kicking a little demon ass or dusting a couple of wayward vamps would probably relax him. Whistling merrily, if entirely off-key, he set off into the shadows.
&&&&&&
"I do believe that gentleman had been drinking, Henrietta," Drusilla giggled. Henrietta was the latest acquisition, and the ever-present Miss Edith, and there had been many incarnations of that one, had been naughty and was being punished by being left behind. "I do feel quite giddy." She spun around a couple of times and nearly fell over. "Woops," she said. "You see, Henrietta, what happens to people when they've been drinking. All silly and stumbling, and not knowing which end is up."
She glanced upwards, seeming to see something overhead other than street lights and stars. "The faeries say that we want to go that way." She pointed out the direction for Henrietta's benefit. "We'll find him before too long, wait and see."
&&&&&&
"I didn't think it would be so busy," Harmony apologized, looking at the lines in front of the ice cream stand. "Look, there's a table. Why don't you and the kids go grab it, and I'll go get the ice cream?"
"Are you sure, Harmony?" Gunn asked. "It's no big deal if we all wait in line together."
"If you don't hurry," she said with definite overtones of asperity. "We won't have a table. Get moving, will you?" Harmony took her place at the end of the long line.
Gunn led the kids over to the table and got them sat down just in time to receive dirty looks from two different parties, both obviously interested in staking out the table. He grinned at them apologetically, and took his place between the twins.
"Did you like mummy's new outfit?" Ariel asked. Her voice became smug, and Spike's smirk was incongruously reproduced on her little features. "I picked it out."
Alaric tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. "The girls were shopping while daddy and I were getting our hair cut," he said importantly. "The lady that cut my hair said I was very good. She gave me a lollipop." He produced the piece of candy, and his sister's face fell. "I'll share licks with you," he promised. While sibling rivalry was starting to become evident, the twins still never forgot that they'd been together for nine months before they'd been born, and twice that long since then. Alaric started tussling with the lollipop wrapper. Just as he freed the treat from its cellophane prison, it slipped out of his little hands and fell to the pavement. "Oh bugger," he muttered.
"Your mother will skin you alive if she hears you talking like that," Gunn warned. It was then that he saw the dark haired woman approach the table. Maybe she was going to ask if she could share it. But by and large that was up to the twins. They'd read a person right on the spot, and if that person didn't measure up to standards, they were out of luck.
"What lovely little children," she cooed. Gunn couldn't tell what part of the country she was from, but she was definitely English.
The twins looked at her curiously, and found it odd that they couldn't get inside her head. That alone was enough to catch their interest. But what the woman said next did even more to arouse their curiosity.
"Especially the little boy," the dark lady went on. "He reminds me of someone I used to care about. He looks just like my Spike."
A pair of ice cream cones hitting the sidewalk heralded Harmony's return. "Oh my God," she gasped. "Drusilla."
&&&&&&
"You enjoying yourself, babe?" Spike asked. He was dancing so close with Rose that it almost seemed redundant that they were wearing separate outfits. They were close enough to be sharing clothes.
"Mm-hmm," Rose mumbled, laying her head on his shoulder. She loved her children to death, but sometimes it was nice to have Spike all to herself.
"I still can't believe that you actually picked out such a sexy outfit," he murmured in her ear. "Gives me all kinds of ideas, it does."
"Ariel picked it out," Rose informed him. "Not me." She looked up at him to see what his reaction would be.
Spike had a moment's internal struggle with the fact that his baby girl had picked out her mother's sexy outfit. But he could find no resolution to it, so he changed subjects. "You smell nice too, sweetheart," he murmured. "Is that the perfume that I gave you?"
&&&&&&
Angel had been strolling around with no particular destination in mind. He just followed his nose, so to speak, wherever whimsy took him. Across the street was a busy ice cream stand. Was that Harmony over there in line? What was she doing there? Then, it hit him. Harmony and Gunn were tonight's babysitters. That meant that his godchildren would be there. He stood shuffling his feet impatiently at the corner waiting for the light to change. When at long last it did, he made his way across the street, ready to join the group. He wove through the bustling Saturday night crowds, and finally made it to the table where Gunn, Alaric and Ariel sat. And looked right into Drusilla's eyes.
"Hello, Angel," Drusilla said brightly.
"Hi, Uncle Angel," the twins greeted him. Their attention immediately turned back to Drusilla. Angel was a fixture in their lives. But this pretty lady was not only new, but unusual. They'd never met anyone who's mind they couldn't read before.
"What are you doing here, Drusilla?" Angel asked. He went around the table, so that he could be between Dru and the children. Seeing her always gave souled Angel a pang, seeing as he was the one that had driven her crazy. One more thing to atone for.
"Henrietta and I were just taking the air," Dru giggled, displaying her doll. "Do you know where Spike is?"