A/N : Thanx to you reviewer types for your continued support :-) This story is almost over, but like I said when I started, this whole thing is going to be a Trilogy (hopefully!) so don't worry, the fun and adventures are not over yet!
(For disclaimer, etc. -see chapter 1)

Chapter 9

"Bloody hell" Spike gasped as he looked down at the tiny person in the Slayer's arms.

A baby, his own flesh and blood, his daughter. Having been dead this past century and more, it had never entered Spike's head that he would ever have a child of his own, and given the fact he had only found out Drusilla was pregnant a few hours ago he'd hardly had enough time to get used to the idea.

"Er, do we have something to wrap her in?" Buffy asked looking around.

Most of the furniture and drapes were covered in a fine layer of dust or worse, hardly suitable for a newborn to be held in.

"Here" Spike said, eyes fixed on the little girl as he removed his long leather coat and reached to take the child from Buffy.

Carefully the Slayer laid the baby into Spike's arms, wrapping her up in the upper part of his coat, the soft lining against her skin.

As she took a step back and looked at the pair, father and daughter, Buffy felt tears roll down her cheeks. This baby, this was what they'd all been afraid of. Nobody could have imagined this beautiful little child could've been born of two vampires who had once been so very evil. Now, Spike looked far from the vicious monster he once was as he cradled his daughter in his arms and looked down on her with wonderment painted on his features and tears in his eyes that he couldn't be bothered to hide.

Stepping back out of the French doors for a moment, Buffy crouched down and observed the thin layer of dust that coated the ground outside.

"She died to save her" she whispered, speaking only to herself really, but Spike heard her.

"She wasn't all bad" he said behind her, ducking behind the curtains, wary of the sun's rays, "She knew what she had to do..." his voice trailed away as his eyes went back to the baby in his arms.

"We should tell the others what happened" Buffy said thoughtfully as she got back to her feet, "And then, I guess, we should head for the hospital, get her checked over" she gestured vaguely to the child Spike held, her thoughts spinning off in a wild direction as she did so.

Suddenly she seemed to remember where this night had started, hours ago when she'd gone to Spike's crypt and told him about her dream, or at least the edited highlights. He'd smirked and laughed at her, and part of her wanted to kill him, whilst another part just wanted to drag him to the nearest bed and have at it. There was no way to know how the evening would've panned out had Drusilla never shown up. Maybe Spike would've kept saying all those beautiful things to her, and this time when he leant in close Buffy would've let him kiss her, touch her, maybe more. On the other hand, they could've ended up fighting like they often did, and she'd have kicked him in the head before running off to the Bronze and partying with her friends to celebrate the engagement of Xander and Anya.

It was all purely academic now, since there was no way to go back and see what might have happened had circumstances been different. Circumstances simply were not different, they were as they were, and so very different to what they had been even a few hours ago. Spike was a father now and, vampire or not, Buffy could already see he loved the baby he cradled in his arms right now, as he sank down onto the battered old couch by the unlit fire, gazing with wide eyes at the little bundle he and Drusilla had miraculously made together nine months ago.

"Spike" Buffy called across the room to him, "I know this is all kind of big with the shock" she said, trying to get her Slayer head back on instead of her over-emotional woman one, "But we can't stay here, it's cold and icky and that can't be good for... her" she said somewhat awkwardly.

"Annaliese" Spike said softly, stroking the baby's head as he glanced up at Buffy, "'S gonna be her name" he explained, "Annaliese"

"It's pretty" Buffy smiled and nodded that she liked it, "You chose it fast"

"Lived as long as I have, luv, you think about things" Spike told her, eyes flitting between her and the child as he went on, "As stupid as it all sounds, I used to wonder what it might've been like, if me and Dru had met and married as real people, if we'd had a little family"

"It's not stupid" Buffy assured him she understood and he knew from the look in her eyes as she came to sit beside him that she really did get it. She'd had the same little daydreams about herself and Angel despite the fact she knew he was a vampire and that marriage and kids and a happy ever after ending couldn't be for them.

"Always thought we could've had a girl, went through dozens of names she might've had" he explained and Buffy listened as he continued, "My Mum's name was Anne, she was always gonna feature and the rest part comes from Elizabeth, for Dru"

"Drusilla wasn't her real name?" Buffy frowned, "I guess I just always assumed..."

"Vamps don't tend to want to be reminded of their human selves, pet" Spike told her, "Besides which, your old fashioned names like Elizabeth and William, don't exactly strike fear into the hearts of the innocents" he smirked as the Slayer rolled her eyes.

"Still, right now, not feeling like striking a whole lot of fear" Spike sighed as he looked down at the recently named Annaliese who squirmed in his embrace and let out a little cry.

"Aaw, it's okay, Annaliese" Buffy told her, "We're going to take care of you" she told the child and Spike looked at the woman beside him strangely. Not that he wasn't thrilled to hear that he was going to have a helping hand in looking after the newborn but he hadn't really expected Buffy to be doing him any favours.

Though they'd got on well enough these past weeks, and she'd run to him with her troubles and tears over Dawn, he figured it was always destined to be a one way deal. He gave her what she needed, taking nothing in return, never asking because he was always fairly certain of the violent reponses he'd get. Despite one rather vivid dream to the contrary, Buffy maintained that she felt nothing for him in a real sense and he was forced to accept that.

"You sure you meant to say 'we', pet?" he asked the Slayer, "Course I'm not complaining, but sort of didn't expect it"

"Spike, I'm not going to leave you, well, holding the baby" she told him, realising just how appropriate her phrasing had been, "You can't have a child living in a crypt, and you can't feed her blood. She's human, she needs warmth and food and... stuff" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she realised she didn't know all that much about babies really. Of course she had those made-up memories of Dawn being a tiny little girl but her mother dealt with most of the icky jobs. At the age of six when her little sister was born Buffy was just there to play.

"So, you're suggesting, what now?" Spike asked, suddenly realising he really had no idea where they went from here.

"Well, right now I guess we can take her to my house and..." she began, only to have Spike interrupt her.

"Hit a snag already there, luv" he reminded her, "Daylight out there, can't exactly take a stroll through the sewers with the little one, can I?"

"Well, I was thinking, I could take her, and you could meet us there?" she said, uncertainly. It all came down to how much Spike trusted her right now, and given her lack of similar feelings when it came to him, she wouldn't exactly blame him if he refused to hand over the tiny bundle that was already so obviously precious to him.

"Right then" he said, looking at Buffy for a moment and then down at Annaliese once again, "Looks like you're going for a little walk with Aunt Buffy then" he told the child and the Slayer couldn't help but smile a little at his wording.

Aunt Buffy. It sounded weird but she kind of liked it. It was no more strange than Spike and Dru being parents to a human baby, though that was a pretty long way up the weird-o-meter, she had to admit.

"Okay then" she said, holding her arms ready for the baby to be placed into them. Spike of course was incredibly close to her as he passed Annaliese over, and Buffy had to look away from the intensity of his eyes as he glanced at her.

"Er, sewers lead to right outside the back of your house" he said with a shake of his head, to clear the daze he found himself in after all that had happened, "Grab one of these blankets, I can make a dash for the back door"

"I'll leave it unlocked, you can come right in" Buffy told him, "It's not like you need to be invited again" she remarked, though she wasn't sure why. They were both very aware of the circumstances under which Spike had been reinvited into the house. It was the night when they were going to fight Glory, and there was a moment as Buffy stood half way up the stairs looking down at Spike. It was one of those brief times when she felt as if he was a man she could maybe fall for one day.

It was Buffy's turn to shake her head out of the clouds that surrounded it this time. She held the baby close to her body and strode out of the door, offering Spike a half-smile as she passed by him.

Taking in and letting out an unneeded breath, the unlikely father pulled the thick covering from the sofa and bundled it under his arm. It would shield enough of the suns rays to keep him safe as he dashed from the sewer to Buffy's door. He was about to leave when something made him stop and he glanced back towards the glass doors through which Dru had passed, her final steps, her sacrifice to save their baby.

"Rest in peace, luv" he said softly, before he finally walked away.

"Well, here we go, Annaliese" Buffy said to the child as she brought her through the front door of 1630 Revello Drive, "I guess job one is checking the back door so Spike can get in" she considered, carrying the baby through the house and taking the latch off the back door.

She was a little surprised when she looked down and found the child was asleep. To be perfectly honest she wasn't sure if it was normal or not for babies to sleep so soon after being born. Buffy considered that even if she did know what the normal routine for babies was, it wouldn't necessarily follow that the same rules applied for Annaliese, after all she wasn't exactly ordinary. A child born of two vampires, and yet human and with a soul it seemed. It was some kind of miracle and Buffy wondered why the Powers That Be might've allowed this to happen.

"Maybe the gang will figure it out" Buffy said softly as she laid the baby down in the armchair and quickly fetched the cordless phone. She was sat by the chair, watching the baby as she dialled the number for the Magic Box.

"Buffy?" Giles said, sounding somewhat panicked.

"It's me" the Slayer confirmed, not able to say anymore as her Watcher went into over-drive with questions.

"What's happening? Have you found Drusilla? Was she at the mansion?" he asked all in a rush.

"Giles, breathe" she urged him, "Yes, we found Drusilla at the mansion, and everything is okay" she promised, "She had the baby Giles, she... she walked out into the sun and then, there was a baby"

"Good Lord" her Watcher gasped and she wondered however he would be managing, having to hold the phone in his hand at such a moment when he would no doubt prefer to have both free for cleaning his glasses!

"I think maybe you guys should head over here to the house" Buffy told him, "I'm not exactly sure how to deal"

"Of course, Buffy, we shall all be there as soon as possible" Giles assured her before the pair said goodbye and the call was ended.

"Damn and bugger!" cursing and clattering from the kitchen caught the Slayer's attention and she winced as Annaliese awoke and screamed in alarm.

"Spike!" Buffy complained as she picked up his daughter from the armchair uncertainly and attempted to calm the little girl down somehow. The vampire soon appeared in the doorway, still checking himself over for burn marks after finding that the blanket did not give his body as much protection as he'd hoped from the sun's rays.

"Bugger" he sighed when he found his daughter being comforted by the Slayer, "Did I do that?" he asked, guilty.

"Well, she was sleeping just fine till you came crashing in, so, yeah!" Buffy told him, having to raise her voice a little to be heard over the yelling of the baby.

"I'm sorry, little luv" he said as he came over and knelt on the floor next to Buffy and his baby, "Daddy's a bad man, didn't mean to scare you"

Annaliese was soon calm once again as Buffy rocked her gently in her arms and Spike stroked the baby's head and tried to soothe her.

"Daddy's not such a bad man y'know" the Slayer said quietly, looking down at first and then up to meet Spike's eyes. The look that passed between them meant a hundred different things and yet not a word was said and the moment was broken in seconds as the front door opened and the whole Scooby Gang piled into the house.

"Reckon we've got some explaining to do then" Spike said with a sigh as he got to his feet, reaching down to take his daughter from Buffy who than also rose and stood beside him.

"Hey guys" she greeted her friends who all looked with some shock at Spike holding a baby in his arms, "This is Annaliese"

To Be Continued...