A/N : A little more crazyness for you all...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9 - Maybe Baby

"Yo, B" Faith said suddenly, turning her attention back to her fellow Slayer, "Wes here thinks that..." she stopped when she noticed Buffy's open-mouthed expression and the tears welling in her eyes, "Hey, what's up?" she checked with a frown.

"You and Angel?" the blonde said more quietly than she meant to, swallowing hard before she could speak again, "You, you had his baby?" she asked, feeling sick. Though it seemed to be clear that this wasn't her world, it still hurt Buffy to think that not only had Faith and Angel been in love, as her sister-Slayer had already told her, but that she had borne his child, something that ought to be impossible for Angel, unless..., "Is he not a vampire?"

"Spike what the hell have you been sayin, man?!" Faith demanded to know.

"Answer me!" Buffy yelled more forcefully than anyone had ever heard her say anything.

"Yeah, he's a vampire, but yeah, I had his kid" the dark-haired Slayer said eventually, a little more subdued than she usually was. Wes shifted awkwardly behind her, never much liking this subject being brought up, and Spike was feeling a little bad for causing this semi-argument between two women that meant so much to him.

"What is this place?" Buffy cried as she got to her feet, "With you thinking we're in love" she gestured at Spike, "and you and Angel being all..." she said to Faith her sentence fading out as she found she couldn't even bring herself to say the words, "I must be in hell"

As she finished speaking, Buffy pushed past Faith and hurried out of the door.

"Bugger" Spike cursed, going after her as the others looked on, "Buffy!" the vampire yelled as he hurried down the steps behind her and they both ran out into the daylight. The Slayer was aggravated to remember that Spike had the Gem of Amara here and could follow her anywhere at any time of day. Since he had an invite to her home she couldn't even hide there. In fact it was likely he had a free pass into all her friends homes too, and she could only go to them if they lived in the same places as in her own world anyway, there was nothing to say they would.

"Buffy!" Spike called again as he caught up to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him, "Luv, where are you going?"

"I don't know" she admitted, pulling her arm free from his grasp, "Away from here, from you, and her. This is not my world, it can't be" she said firmly, shaking her head as tears built up in her eyes once again, "I hate this"

"I know pet, and I'm sorry you're so confused" he sympathised, wincing at the sight of the woman who was to all intents and purposes the same woman he was in love with, in floods of tears, looking terrified. On instinct he wrapped his arms around her and although she tensed at first she eventually relaxed against him and let herself be held by the person she saw as such an enemy in her own world.

"I take it Faith and Angel aren't so close where you're from?" he said gently as he held onto her, "You got a thing for old Peaches have you?" he asked, finding it strange since neither Angel nor Buffy had ever had such feeling for each other here, a fact made obvious by their affection towards Faith and himself respectively.

"We're in love" she mumbled against his chest, "Or we were" she admitted as she lifted her head from Spike's chest and looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes.

There was an intense moment when they both just stood and stared at each other, and for a few seconds, Spike could imagine it was his Buffy in his arms. She looked so sweet, so innocent, so much the lost little girl he was used to taking care of. It took every shred of willpower he had not to lean in closer and kiss her, but he managed not to, and a second later she'd pulled out of his arms, looking a little embarrassed that she'd been there... again.

"Er, right then" Spike said, shaking his head to clear the fog in it, "So, things are very different in your world then"

"Very different" Buffy echoed, nodding in agreement, "How did Faith and Angel... When was Connor born?" she checked, out of twisted curiosity.

"He'll be two and half this Summer, not such a baby anymore" he smiled as he thought of the little boy that had learnt to call him Uncle Spike and always loved it when he and Aunt Buffy visited him in LA, "Happened the first time Faith and Angel sealed the deal. He lost his soul, little Faithie gained a bun in her oven" he explained, "It was you that had to send the bugger to Hell in Acathla's handbasket, she was too mixed up and fragile by then, Wes wouldn't hear of her fightin'. Course old Angelus was too evil even for Hades. Must've been, since it spat him back out, two hundred years later for him, just a few short months for us"

"And he was Angel again?" Buffy guessed, since that was what had happened in the 'real' world.

"He was" Spike nodded, "Course by that time, Faith had learnt to lean on Wes, and she had a tough time bringing up a kid even with help" he explained, "Time came when neither her nor the Great Poofter could handle it anymore and he pissed off to LA, taking Connor with him"

"Faith let her baby go, just like that?" Buffy frowned. She knew her sister Slayer to be tough and nasty, even evil, but she couldn't understand how she could give up her own flesh and blood, especially not this version who seemed much nicer somehow.

"No, not just like that" Spike shook his head, "There were tears and tantrums, but ultimately, she was just too young, and the Hellmouth's no place for a Little Bit"

Buffy smiled at the term the Spike of her world so often used to describe Dawn. Of course in this world she didn't exist but there was a child who was likely the Key, and here Spike was again, getting all big brothery and coming up with that same cute nickname for the kid.

"Does she visit him?" Buffy was interested to know, "Faith, I mean, does she go to see Angel and her son"

"Mostly on special occasions, or when her maternal instincts kick in real strong" Spike told her, "She never really made the connection with him that you'd expect, but she was just a kid herself when she had him. Plus given how Angel turned after their little time together... She can't feel the same about him either"

"I get that" Buffy nodded, knowing something had seriously changed for her too after the Angelus side of Angel was revealed.

As much as she'd still loved him there was something buried deep in her heart, a constant niggling feeling of fear and mistrust. If Faith had to deal with carrying and giving birth to a child too, a being borne of a vampire she had loved and who had turned on her so viciously, it must be so hard for her to feel anything normal for Angel anymore.

"It must be weird for Wesley" she thought aloud, not really meaning to have said it, only think it.

"Doesn't seem to matter to him that he wasn't Faithie's first choice" Spike shrugged, "I doubt she was the first woman he had either, though honestly she might've been. He was a little more of a geek than he is these days" the vampire chuckled at the memory of the semi-dork who he'd originally met as Faith's Watcher. Wes had come a long way since then, and in large part since he had fallen in love with his charge.

"Faith and Angel, then Faith and Wes" Buffy recounted, "and me and you" she said, glancing at Spike, "It's all a little weird from where I'm standing" she admitted.

"'S a bit weird standin' here lookin' at you, knowing you're not her" Spike smiled sadly, "Bloody wish you were"

"I'm sorry" the blonde apologised, "but honestly I don't know how I got here, and I'd rather be back where I belong too. Things make a lot more sense there"

"You're like Faith there, aren't you?" Spike asked her with a look, "I dunno why but I get this 'seriously in charge' vibe from you. Buffy, my Buffy, she doesn't really have that"

"Yeah, I was the Slayer first in my world" she nodded, feeling a little weird to hear Spike say 'my Buffy' the way he just did. Still, she couldn't argue or make a fuss. In this world Buffy was his girlfriend, it just wasn't really her.

"And me and you, we're just mates are we?" he asked, making the Slayer glance away sharply. For some reason she felt bad about the fact she and Spike were enemies where she came from and yet she didn't know why. It wasn't as if it were an insult to this version of the vampire. She was sure if the one in her world were like this she would be his friend, but as things stood...

"We're not even that are we?" Spike said sadly, "We bloody hate each other" he said, a statement more than a question, since he could tell from the look on her face that he was right, "Makes sense I s'pose, explains why you were in such a state finding me in the shower the other day"

"It was a little shocking" Buffy admitted with a smile, "but, for what it's worth, you're different to the Spike in my world. Maybe if he was more like you, well, maybe things would be different" she said, feeling a little weird about being so nice towards him. She was actually worried about hurting his feelings, but then this really wasn't the Spike she knew.

"Spike, what a nice surprise" Joyce smiled as she opened the door to let him inside.

"Hello, Joyce" the vampire greeted her, not moving to go inside. Of course it hadn't occurred to Mrs Summers that it was because he couldn't actually cross the threshold since Buffy's witch friends had done their little reverse-invitation spell.

"Spike!" the Slayer calling his name startled him slightly as did the grin on her face when she came into view, "Hey, I'm glad you're here" she told him.

"Me too!" Dawn was smiling as she hurried down the stairs to join her mother and sister in the hall.

"Well, aren't I Mr Popular this evening" the vampire shifted a little uncomfortably. As much as he loved female attention it was a little weird to find yourself being stared at, grinned at, and greeted in overly friendly fashion by a young teen, her mother, and an alternate version of her sister who was in fact the one person in the world that Spike loved more than anyone else.

"Er, do you all want to come outside or is someone going to take a chance of pissing off Buffy... the other Buffy, by inviting me in?" he checked.

"Oh, come in!" in they all chorused, laughing at themselves straight after as Spike stepped through the lack of invisible barrier into the hallway, and Joyce shut the door behind him.

"Honestly, Spike, I don't understand why Buffy ever wanted to stop you coming around anyway" Joyce complained, "It was a little over the top, I thought"

"Totally!" Dawn agreed as the Summers women and Spike all went through to the living room and sat down.

"To be honest I came to ask the Slayer here how she was doing after Rupert and all his bloody questions" he rolled his eyes, "Honestly, the Watcher can go a bit OTT on the interrogation bit at times"

"It was fine" Buffy smiled, grateful for his concern, "Though he kind of freaked when I told him about Connor. Apparently Angel and Faith were never even together here"

"Angel and Faith?" Spike choked on the cookie he'd just taken from the selection Joyce offered him, "Bloody hell, that's some twisted dimension you come from" he laughed, "Seems like everybody's shagging the wrong person or... oh bugger!" he swore as tears filled the Slayer's eyes and she bolted from his side, up the stairs out of view. Of course he hadn't meant it was wrong for himself and Buffy to be together, after all it was all he really wanted, but this version of the Slayer had just proved again she was much more fragile than her counterpart who belonged in this world.

"I didn't mean to..." he was half way through asking if he should go after her when an almighty crash caught everyone's attention and they turned to see the front door was no longer on it's hinges.

To Be Continued...