Title: Change
Author: MSKBSwedish
Rating: Mature
Summery: Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.
Note: I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

Chapter Four – Parachute

The house was eerily quiet when Spike walked up to the house. He could hear the television in the living room but that was it. The lights were off and the only light that could be seen from the porch was the light that came from the television. He wondered what Buffy and the girls had been doing while he had gone on a blood run. They were buying it from an underground dealer in bulk now. It was expensive but Buffy didn't care nor did Spike.

Spike opened the door to the house and peeked his head in. He could see Buffy's legs and the top of her head. From there it looked like she was sleeping with her legs propped up on the coffee table and a blanket draped over her.

Shutting the door behind him, Spike went inside further to investigate. He smiled when the scene came in full view to him. Buffy was lounged back on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table. Linn sat at one side of her with her feet propped up on Buffy's leg and her cheek resting against her mother's arm. Emmy laid with her head in Buffy's lap and her body laying long ways on the opposite side of the couch. All three were asleep and the television blasted with cartoons.

It was hard to be completely quiet with the duster on. Spike took off the trench coat and hung it on the coat rack beside the door before quietly walking across the living room to the television to turn it off.

The sudden change in light caused Buffy to stir. Spike stood up and looked over at his three girls. Buffy didn't actually wake up.

So one by one, Spike took the girls to bed. First with Linn. He scooped up his daughter into his arms and she wrapped her arms around Spike's neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She nuzzled her face gently against her father's neck, feeling the familiar embrace to be amazingly comforting. Gently, he laid Linn in bed once he arrived in her room and tucked her in.

Then, Spike went down for Emmy. Emmy on the other hand simply laid against her father's chest and let out a small snore. Spike tried not to laugh, fearing that it would wake her up. Her arms hung at the sides and her cheek pressed against Spike. He walked upstairs to the bedroom for the girls and tucked Emmy in as quietly as possible.

Spike made sure to kiss his daughters before closing their door slowly to return downstairs to the living room.

Once in the living room, Spike grabbed the blanket from Buffy's body and folded it before laying it on the arm of the couch. He reached down and gently picked the pregnant slayer up into his arms bridal style. She stirred in his arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his neck.

"Where are we going?" Buffy's voice came quietly. The slayer sounded half asleep still.

"To bed, love." Spike softly replied.

"What about the dog?" Buffy asked curiously.

It took everything in him not to burst into a fit of laughter. Buffy must have been dreaming. "Buffy, we don't have a dog." Spike whispered before planting a kiss on her forehead.

"But he wants-" Buffy slowly began to drift back to sleep.

"Shh." Spike said softly just as he used his foot to push their door open.

Spike walked over to the familiar bed. Gently he placed Buffy on her side of the bed. Her arms slipped from off of his shoulders as he laid her down. He pulled the blankets back before Buffy rolled to her side and curled up in their bed. Spike smiled while pulling the blankets up over her.

"Sweet dreams, pet." Spike whispered to Buffy. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before walking back out of the room.

Once downstairs, Spike grabbed the bag he had taken off of his shoulder when he took his duster off. He walked downstairs into the basement to the extra fridge where they kept their stash of the blood. He would take a few packs upstairs to the kitchen but mainly they stayed down here in the basement where the girls not only didn't like to go, but where they couldn't get into them.

Everything was put away in a short time. Spike warmed up some blood for himself when he heard footsteps. His eyes searched in the dark for a sign of who was coming until the tiny figure came into view.

"Daddy?" Emmy asked. She was rubbing her eyes while walking into the kitchen.

"Emily, what are you doing awake, love?" Spike asked his youngest.

"Daddy, I'm firsty." Emmy whined softly.

"Come here. You can have some of Daddy's juice." Spike knelt down as his daughter came to him.

Spike held the mug in his hand and gently lifted it to Emmy's lips. She put her hands around the mug and slowly took a little drink. She used the sleeve of her nightgown to wipe her mouth which caused Spike to smile. This was definitely his child.

"Better?" Spike asked, looking into Emmy's eyes.

Emmy nodded. "Daddy can I seep with you and mummy tonight?" Emmy asked her father.

Spike sighed. "Emmy you have your own big girl bed to sleep in, love." Spike said, trying to encourage his daughter to sleep in her own bed.

With Buffy being as pregnant as she was, she was finding it hard to sleep which in turn was making it harder when one of the girls would come into the bed room at night or want to sleep with them. Their bed was only so big. Thankfully Buffy was petite but her belly wasn't any help.

"I know. I juss miss you daddy." Emmy's arms wrapped around her father's neck and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Spike felt the warm 'tinglies', as he called them, rising in his spine. The one thing that made him not feel like such a monster were his girls. He melted like chocolate in the palms of their hands. Saying no to the girls was almost impossible, times like this. Mainly because children are so candid. Their feelings are real and genuine. They don't necessarily understand that you could lie about how you feel so their feelings and their wants were natural.

Spike sighed and scooped Emmy up into his arm so he could stand up. He finished off the rest of the blood in the cup and put the mug in the sink.

"Come on. You can come sleep with me and mummy." Spike couldn't resist. His daughters were his weakness for sure.

Of course when you had daughters who resembled their mother so much, Spike knew not only was he wrapped around their fingers, but he was going to have to push the boys off of the doorstep when they were older. If they resembled Buffy then as much as they do now, he was going to have to set up shop out on the porch and guard the house with an iron fist.

When he got into his bed room, Buffy was still turned on her side with her back facing the door. He could hear her heavy breathing and slight snoring. Every time Buffy had been pregnant she had oddly developed a quiet snore.

Spike kicked his shoes off by the dresser before sitting Emmy down on the bed. He changed into a pair of sweat pants and climbed into bed with Emmy between Spike and Buffy.

As soon as Spike was laying down, Emmy curled up in her father's arms. Spike laid on his side facing Emmy and Buffy and kept his arms around Emmy before the two of them drifted off.

"Yeah I'd like to speak to her teacher." The annoyed mother of two said to the lady at the desk. She held her daughter's hand and looked down at the woman.

"Well, I'm sorry but you have to make an appointment." The secretary glanced over Buffy with a face that was pure dislike. Frankly, Buffy didn't like her either.

"Listen, my daughter has a rare medical condition and I need to make sure that Ms. Lawson understands what is going on because it's really upsetting Linn." Buffy tried to be reasonable with the secretary.

"Like I said, Ms. Summers you are going to have to make an appointment with her teacher. You can't just come up here and expect to talk to the teacher at random." The secretary tried to explain.

"Fine." Buffy sighed in frustration and looked down at Emmy who was watching the two women. "When is she free then?" Buffy asked while running a hand through her long growing hair.

"You have to call her during after school hours. I don't keep their schedules up here with me." The secretary explained further.

Buffy was getting incredibly annoyed and frustrated with this secretary who was being of no help to her. "Fine." Buffy bent down and picked Emmy up into her arms which was slightly uncomfortable due to her pregnant belly. She turned and walked out of the office of her daughter's school.

"Mummy? Wha's wrong wif Linny?" Emmy asked her mother curiously.

"Nothing, baby. Mommy would just really like to speak to Linny's teacher." Buffy informed Emmy as they walked out of the school and toward the car.

"Linny is bad?" Emmy asked with a look of excitement almost on her face. It caused Buffy to crack a smile.

"No, Em." Buffy said with a chuckle. "Linny is not bad. You are so nosy, kid." Buffy kissed her daughter's cheek before opening the back door of her car and strapping Emmy into her car seat.

Once Buffy was in the car, she started it and sped off. She grabbed her phone from her purse and dialed the house.

Back at the house, Spike had been working on lunch for Buffy and Emmy when the house phone rang.

"Hello?" Spike said after picking up the phone.

"Can you believe this? I couldn't talk to her then. No I have to call back during after school hours so I can make an appointment with her personally." Buffy growled into the phone.

Spike sighed. "If you'd like I can call, I've spoke to her teacher before. Of course if she wants me in the meeting we'd have to ask her to dinner." Spike joked, hoping to lighten the mood for Buffy.

He succeeded in making the slayer chuckle. "Very funny." Buffy said.

"Apparently so, you laughed." Spike smiled and wiped his hands on a towel. "Are you headed home now?" Spike asked.

"Yeah. I just have to get gas and then I'll be home. Do you need anything?" Buffy pulled up to a stop light.

"I'd love to say a pack of smokes." Spike chuckled.

"Uhh, no." Buffy laughed. "You haven't smoked since Linn was born, you're not about to start now while I'm pregnant."

"I know, I know." Spike laughed. Of course he missed the familiar taste of tobacco. "No, I don't need anything." Spike said at last.

"Alright. I'll be home shortly. I love you."

"I love you too."

With that the two hung up their phones. Spike went back to fixing lunch and Buffy tossed her phone to land on the passenger seat where her purse was.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair as she paced the kitchen, holding the phone up to her ear. "No, I understand." Buffy sighed. "But she has a medical condition, Ms. Lawson and frankly when my child is coming home when she had neglected to take her medication because the children are calling her names then it's the school's responsibility to see that the situation is adjusted." Buffy tried to keep herself calm but it was hard for the slayer to keep calm.

"No, when my child is in school, the school is responsible for her well being. I expect my daughter to come home every day in the same shape that I left her in when I dropped her off in the morning. When my daughter is going into shock because the school isn't properly monitoring that she's not taking the medication that she needs then maybe I should consider taking my daughter out of school all together and filing a complaint with the board." Buffy was really starting to get angry now.

"No, William is not home." Buffy rolled her eyes. He insisted the teacher know him by his real name as opposed to Spike. Apparently Spike didn't think the teachers would take Linn's father seriously with a name like 'Spike'. "He's going to tell you the same thing, Ms. Lawson. He is just as angry as I am and if something doesn't improve, I will take Malin out of school and I will report you. It's simple. You are responsible for my child between 8 AM and 4 PM. Malin takes her medicine four times a day. She gets it at 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and at 4 PM before she leaves school-" Buffy was cut off by the teacher's words. Buffy raised a brow.

"Are you calling my daughter a liar?" Buffy's voice was merely a warning for this woman to watch what she said. "She has no reason to lie, Ms. Lawson. If my daughter's medication is administered to her at school through your staff's care, how is it that nor you or the nurse bothered to call me and tell me that my daughter has been neglecting to take her medication? You don't know how important that medication is. What if she would have died? What then is it my fault because I'm her mother? Or would you try to make her father out to be the problem? I mean let's be real here, a child is in your care but oh it's never your fault is it? It all comes back to the parents. Right?"

Buffy was growing tired of Linn's teacher. Willow had a friend who was giving Buffy bottles with fake prescriptions on it so she could fill the bottles with the blood and pass it off as medication for Linn so that she could take it at school. The only problem was the school had to administer it to Linn and if she didn't show up to take it, they didn't bother to call her down to the office to take it.

"I don't care. My daughter is dependent on this medication and she can not live without it. And frankly I don't appreciate having to listen to you tell me that nothing is your fault when clearly this has been going on for quite some time that my daughter is not only not taking her medication but also being picked on. She came home with a bruised cheek today! You mean to tell me you didn't see another child clock my daughter in the face? That's just bullshit." Buffy shouted into the phone now at this point. "You know what. Forget I called. I'm done. Thank you for your time but I'm just going to put Linn in another school."

Buffy slammed the phone down and let out a frustrated moan of anger.

Moments later, Buffy looked up when Spike came through the back door. Immediately he could see the anger written across Buffy's face.

Spike put the take out bags on the counter.

"Did you talk to her?"Spike asked, knowing that Buffy was supposed to call Linn's teacher while he was out getting take out for dinner.

"She told me that it is the school nurse that I should be talking to about them not monitoring Linn getting the blood during the day at school. She says Linn knows when she is supposed to leave the classroom to go to the nurse's office and apparently she hasn't been leaving the classroom like she usually has and apparently she "thought" Linn was no longer taking her "medication" because she hasn't been leaving class when she's supposed to." Buffy explained as her frustration showed on her face.

"What about the bullying?" Spike asked as he started to take out the containers of food from the bags and sit them on the counter.

"She said she had no idea that the kids were making fun of Linn and that she never saw anyone hit her today and that she seemed perfectly fine and that if someone had hit her then it was Linn's fault for not coming and telling her." Buffy leaned against the counter and shook her head. "I'm taking her out of school and I'm going to find another school or I'm going to home school her. I can't do this. I'm not going to sit here and listen to these teachers tell me-" Buffy suddenly went quiet and grimaced. She pressed her hand to her side.

"Love?" Spike noticed this and immediately went to Buffy's side.

"I'm okay." Buffy said as she winced in pain. "I'm okay."

"You don't look okay. That's the second time today." Spike said before placing his hand on Buffy's belly. "Are you having contractions?" Spike asked his girlfriend.

Buffy thought about lying to Spike, not wanting him to worry. "Yes." She couldn't lie to him.

"But the baby isn't due for another couple of weeks." Spike said, his face full of alarm.

"I know. I felt contractions with Linn and Emmy weeks before I had them too. I'll be fine. Let's just eat dinner and I'll relax afterwards." Buffy said to Spike.

Spike rubbed Buffy's swollen belly with his hand before leaning in to kiss her softly. She gladly returned the action of affection.

"You need to rest and you need to relax. I'll call Lawson tomorrow and I'll talk to her. You focus on relaxing, love." Spike said before stepping away to grab plates from the cabinet. "Go grab the girls and sit down. I'll bring the food in."

Buffy smiled. She never expected Spike to be the way that he was. He was still shocking her left and right even after almost eight years of being with him romantically. He was softer and more gentle than even Angel ever was and he was a vampire with a soul. No human man had ever shown Buffy as much love and care as Spike, a vampire of all things, had shown her. She wondered how she ever got so lucky.

...TBC...