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 Seven – Home


Days passed. Spike stayed by Buffy's side at all times. The first day was the hardest. Buffy's body had been through a traumatic situation. She cried a lot. She was in immense pain and while the nurses pumped all sorts of medication through her blood stream, Spike did his best to comfort the mother of his children. There was only so much he could do for his girlfriend but he did everything that he could muster up and think of.

Spike barely slept. Every sound, every movement Buffy made caused him to feel alarmed. He would sit and just listen to her breathe, listen to her heart beat within her chest. He would take her hand in his and stroke the soft skin of her hands. He would relish in the familiar look of her sweet surrender on her face as she slept. Spike couldn't imagine leaving Buffy's side for a single moment.

There were moments when the vampire had to step away but it was never for very long. Dawn, Willow and Tara agreed to go home with the girls and take care of them which the girls didn't object to. They were excited to have their aunts taking care of them. Spike suspected the late bed time and chocolates for dinner were partially to blame for their excitement. But for once, Spike didn't object. His daughters needed a distraction from seeing their mother so weak.

When Linn first laid eyes on Buffy she cried. She felt bad for her mother. She wanted to help her mother feel better. Linn even asked Spike if she could sit in Buffy's hospital bed and stroke her hair like her mother had always done when she had her nightmares. Of course she couldn't but Spike promised Linn that when her mom was home she could. Emmy didn't seem as upset by it but she was a little more in shock than her big sister. She just asked questions to which Spike did his best to explain to the child in a way she could understand. He was getting better at that.

Buffy had woken up a few times while the girls were in the room. She apologized over and over to Linn for yelling at her. She begged her daughter not to be mad at her to which Linn simply nuzzled her mother's hand and smiled. She told her mother that she couldn't stay mad at her. She pinky promised at that. The drugs made her slightly delusional but when it came to the girls, she was pretty clear minded. She continued to tell Emmy and Linn that she loved them. She promised them she would be okay. She promised that everything would be better in a few days, that soon she would be coming home with their little brother.

And soon she would.

By the third day, Buffy was awake, no longer drugged up by copious amounts of pain killers and drugs. Her slayer abilities were helping to heal her. She was still on some medications but she was feeling much better than the first moment she remembered waking up and speaking with Spike. She had felt so much pain like no other pain before. It wasn't quite child birth pain but it was close to it. It was still different in the sense that she had been cut open, her insides removed, a baby removed and then stuffed back together.

"You're awake." Spike said as he walked into Buffy's hospital room.

The slayer was sitting up slightly with her head laid back against the bed and her eyes connected to the television set in the corner of the room. She shifted her eyes over to see Spike coming inside. A small smile came over her lips.

"And watching TV." Buffy said with a nod of her head.

Spike looked up to see Spongebob playing on the television. It made him chuckle.

"Cartoons at that. You must really miss the girls." Spike commented as he reached the bed.

"Mmm. I do." Spike leaned in and kissed Buffy's forehead softly.

Spike had left to shower, get a change of clothes, eat, juice up and spend a few minutes with the girls before coming back to the hospital to be with Buffy.

"They miss you too, love." Spike took Buffy's hand in his and laced his fingers with hers.

"I can't wait to go home. This bed is so uncomfortable. Plus, I hate needles and if they take a blood sample one more time I might end up becoming the undead too. At least vampires drain you at once not over and over." Buffy joked and lightly chuckled.

"Vicious creatures those nurses are. Bloody hell, I thought I was evil but these nurses show no fear." Spike joked back.

Buffy began to laugh a little harder before whimpering.

"Don't make me laugh." She winced but still smiled.

"You started it, slayer." Spike whispered.

Buffy slowly moved to one side of the hospital bed and patted the space beside her. Spike sat down and put his feet up on the bottom of the bed. Buffy leaned forward to let Spike put his arm beneath her neck before laying back. Spike wrapped his other arm around Buffy gently and laid back with her, holding her close to him.

Buffy turned her head. She reached up to stroke Spike's cheek softly and lean in to kiss his lips gently. Spike returned the loving kiss and stroked Buffy's arm with his free hand.

"I miss home." Buffy said once the kiss had been broken.

"I know you do, love. Doc says that it should only be a few more days and you can come home. They have to bring your blood pressure down before they can let you leave." Spike kissed Buffy's forehead once again and this time, let his lips linger there.

"Too bad slayer healing doesn't help with blood pressure." Buffy sighed. She wanted to go home so badly.

"I'd rather you stay here where you can be with William and know that the both of you are being looked over properly." Spike said quietly.

"I know. They said that they will release him before they release me probably." Buffy informed Spike. "They said his progress is good and that they might be discharging him tonight."

Spike looked down at Buffy. "Then we will keep him here with us."

Buffy shook her head. "He can't just stay in here with us, Spike. Once they discharge him, you have to take him home."

"I'm not taking him home if you can't come with us." Spike said sternly.

"You have to, Spike." Buffy insisted.

"I can't do that alone." Spike's jaw fluttered in anger as he ground his teeth together. "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Yes, yes you can." Buffy sighed. She ran her hand up and down his arm slowly. "I will be fine alone, Spike. I am a big girl." Buffy grinned. "William needs you a little more than I do. I'm getting better and soon I will be able to go home too."

"The house... it's so... empty without you." Spike admitted.

"I bet." Buffy nodded her head. "But the kids need one of us. It just has to be you."

"But you need me too."

Buffy shook her head, "I am fine, Spike." Buffy looked up into his eyes. "You would carry me home if you could, I know this. But I am fine. My blood pressure will come down and my stomach will heal and I will come home and we can all be a family again." Buffy took a deep breath at the thought of everything that she was going to have to do when she got home. It caused her blood pressure to spike which caused one of the machines to make a beeping noise.

Spike picked his head up and looked at it before looking down at Buffy in concern. "You need to stop doing that." Spike sighed, running a hand down her cheek softly.

"I can't help it." Buffy whispered.

"You're never going to get out of here when you think about everything at home." Spike knew why Buffy's blood pressure was spiking, she told him before what caused her blood pressure to spike that day.

"I'm scared, Spike." Buffy whispered before burying her face in his chest.

"They're not going to take them away, Buffy. I won't let them." Spike rubbed Buffy's back gently to try and comfort her.

"I couldn't live without them. To know they were in the care of someone who had no idea why they were different. Who didn't know that blood was the key to keeping them going. Someone who didn't know that Linn preferred the blood cold. Someone who didn't know that Emmy could be in the sun longer. Someone who could hurt them just by not knowing." Buffy was starting to get herself worked up and was close to tears. Spike could hear the panic in her voice and immediately he was rubbing her back with both hands and hugging her close.

"Shh. Buffy, look at me." Spike said firmly. Buffy looked up, her eyes glossy with tears. "Our children are not going anywhere. They will never be raised by anyone other than us. That little git that Linn bit deserved it. Okay? He gave our daughter a black eye. He bit her first. I don't care what we have to do, no one is taking our children from us. They will have to get through me first. No one is going to touch them. No one is going to be mum and dad but us. I promise you that with every piece of my flesh and bone and soul..." Spike stroked Buffy's face. "Malin, Emily and William are our children and will always be our children and will be in our care. I will not let anyone lay a finger on them or it will be the last thing they do." Spike reassured Buffy who was beginning to settle at Spike's words as well as his embrace. That was what she needed. She needed his comfort.

Buffy needed to stop thinking about these things. Yes they were important, yes it was hard not to think about these things but Spike was right. No matter what, the children were theirs and they would fight to the death to keep them in her care... if it was the last thing they ever did.

...TBC...