127

Back to Normal?

Spike looked up as a weary-looking Rose entered the room.

"Took you long enough," he remarked, patting the sofa beside him, and pausing while Rose got snuggled against him. "Everything all right in there?"

Rose sighed heavily, but managed to summon up a wan smile. "Yes, dearest. But dressing and undressing a semi-conscious body isn't as easy at thirteen as it was at three."

Spike smiled, a little sadly, and kissed the top of her head. "Didn't I always tell you, you were going to be a good mum?"

Rose cuddled against him, but still seemed a bit taut. Spike didn't realize how much so until the doorbell chimed, and Rose flew to answer it almost too fast for his eyes to follow.

Rose flung open the door, and unceremoniously yanked Alaric and Angel in.

"Hey, take it easy, mum," Alaric cautioned laughingly, but hugging his mother back all the same. "Some of that stuff is attached."

"Yeah, Rose," Angel added in similar tones, and also getting a hug in. "Sorry it took so long to get here, but L.A. traffic on a Saturday night..," He lifted his hands in surrender.

Rose hardly seemed to register the explanation. "Alaric, darling, what's that funny smell on your clothes?"

Alaric felt a sudden surge of panic. He'd known he'd have to explain to his father, but somehow this was worse. And he'd never expected his mother's human nose to catch the lingering aroma. "Well.., er..,"

"Some of the kids at the party were smoking things they shouldn't have been," Angel put in smoothly. "At least he had sense enough not to join them."

Rose mulled it over, and after a silent exchange with Spike, decided to let it go for the time being. She gave her son a kiss on the cheek, but didn't hug him again. "Go put those clothes in the laundry right away, dear," she ordered.

"Yes, mum," Alaric replied, returning the kiss. He also added a telepathic thank you to his uncle for covering his back.

Angel would have left then, but Spike finally levered his lithe form off the sofa.

"A word with you, gramps," Spike suggested. He glanced at Rose and thought maybe it might be best if he heard things first, just in case. "Hey, luv, can I impose on you to get me a cold one?" He looked inquiringly at Angel.

"Sure, why not?" Angel wasn't sure quite what was going on, but if Spike were planning to tear him a new one, or try to, anyway, he didn't think he'd offer him a beer first.

As soon as Rose was out of easy earshot, Spike, lowering his voice asked, "What do you know about first time euphoria?"

"First time euphoria?" Angel was puzzled for a moment. "Why do you want to.., oh, Ariel?"

Spike nodded. "Giggling at everything, tripping over her own feet. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was drunk as a lord."

"Wow." Angel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It didn't happen to you, did it?"

"Nope. I was so pumped up on being a vampire the first couple of decades that anything else would have been gilding the lily," Spike answered. "Which is why I'm asking you."

"It's actually pretty similar to a human being drunk," Angel replied. "I did have it."

"Define pretty similar," Spike suggested pointedly. "Rose was wanting to know how long it was going to last."

Angel grinned. "Well, Ariel isn't going to be feeling so great in the morning," he remarked. "But nothing a few hours with an ice pack and some aspirin won't help."

Spike grinned back. "Hangover and all," he observed. He looked up as Rose entered. "Thought you'd gotten lost, pet."

"I could see that you wanted to speak privately," Rose said solemnly, giving them each a beer and a kiss on the cheek. "I respected that. But now you can tell me how long that euphoria is going to affect Ariel."

"She's probably going to be feeling a bit delicate in the morning, luv," Spike answered cautiously, not wanting to upset her.

"How delicate?" Rose inquired, just as cautiously.

"She'll probably have the great-grandfather of all headaches," Angel told her. "And I wouldn't push any food on her if she doesn't feel like eating. She ought to be back in form by tomorrow evening."

Rose frowned slightly, but saw no other options, so decided to relax and make the best of it. "What about Lindsey?" she asked, now that the worst of her fears on her daughter's behalf had been allayed.

"What about him?" Spike slouched back to his seat and took a swig of his beer. "We already went though that with Ariel, sweetheart. He'll be fine where he is."

"But don't you think someone should be there for him when he wakes up?" Rose suggested gently. "Why make the experience any more traumatic for him than necessary?"

"And he'll be hungry," Spike observed. "Did anyone think to lay in some supplies for him?"

"I did," Rose half-mumbled, flushing. "But he might not be thinking too clearly..,"

"He probably won't," Angel agreed. He looked at Spike. "Flip you for it?"

Spike considered. "You go," he decided. "Then call when you're sure he's himself again. Ariel is going to want to make sure for herself that he's ok. Even through the euphoria she was worried about him, afraid that he was well and truly dead. And I don't think anything I said meant a thing to her. Not where it counts." He stopped for a drink, and Angel stepped in to finish the thought.

"She's going to need to see that he's all right with her own eyes to be able to believe it in her heart," he said softly. "You've got a great pair of kids."

"Ariel, I'll grant you," Spike conceded. "But what in hell was Alaric thinking of? At the first whiff of pot he should have been on his phone, calling for a ride home."

"But he didn't touch the stuff," Angel pointed out softly. "He could have bought himself a whole lot of trouble tonight, and he didn't." He suddenly grinned. "And I think it all goes hand in hand with why he and his sister have been such..," he paused a moment, eyes flicking towards the hall that led off to the rest of the apartment, ".., pains in the ass lately."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that," Rose protested feebly. It was easy to tell that her heart wasn't entirely in it, though.

"I would," Spike commented with a humorless laugh. "This whole summer they've been at it night and day. Never been in trouble as much in their lives, not even when they were small."

"Do you remember how the whole thing started with Santa?" Angel prodded. "Not Rose's part, but theirs. The reason why it was so easy for Lindsey to sucker them in."

"Well they didn't read his mind," Rose said. Then her face paled. "Because they didn't want him to think they were freaks. Oh, my poor babies."

"Sweet, bleeding hell," Spike exploded. "You're telling me that every last bit of the bullshit they've done all this summer is about fitting in?"

"Not quite all of it," a somewhat abashed Alaric admitted from the doorway. "But most of it was."

"You could have tried talking to someone first," Angel put in.

"Who would we have talked to?" Alaric queried. "When you and dad were our age, it was almost literally another world. Mum was never a teenager, and, well..," he trailed off.

Rose was looking ready to start sniffling, and all three males immediately converged on her.

"Hey, mum, it's not your fault." "Rose, they're okay, they're good kids.., mostly." "Don't cry, babe. You should be getting narked about the merry dance they've been leading us."

A loud hiccup came from the hall door, and they all turned to see a very disheveled Ariel, (Rose had not been exaggerating her difficulties in changing her clothes). "A group hug? Why wasn't I invited?"

This produced a tension breaking laugh, and hugs were shared all around.

&&&&&&&

Spike drove a little more recklessly than he usually did when he had one of the kids in the car, pushing his luck with red lights, weaving in and out of traffic, but his daughter's raging nerves seemed to be contagious. When Angel had called, the sound of the phone ringing had caused Ariel to jump, almost literally to the ceiling.

He noticed her gnawing at a fingernail and frowned. She'd never been one to bite her nails, not ever. "Have you eaten anything at all today, baby girl?"

"No," his daughter admitted. Her tummy verified the statement by gurgling.

Spike's frown deepened. "Didn't have any of the red stuff either, did you?"

"This morning I just felt too awful." Ariel grimaced at the memory. For a while she'd thought she was going to die, and she had felt so bad that she hadn't been sure it wouldn't be a good thing. "And later, well, I've just been a little nervous."

That, Spike thought, was the understatement of the season. "Maybe after you've seen that lawyer boy is up and about and quieted your nerves, we'll go out and get you something, ok?"

"I guess," Ariel agreed unenthusiastically. Despite the fact that Angel had called signaling that all was well, she was just not going to be able to grasp the fact until she saw if for herself.

Spike patted her knee. "It'll be all right, sweetheart," he promised. "Has your dad ever lied to you?"

"When we were three and you told us that not eating our vegetables would make us turn into fungus demons?" Ariel reminded him. "And then there was the time..,"

"All right, all right." Spike backed down, looking pained. Fat lot of good it had been trying to lie to his kids anyway. They just picked the truth out of his mind neat as you please. "About anything really important," he amended.

Ariel mulled it over for a moment. "No, daddy, you never have."

"So why don't you try to lighten up a little bit?" Spike coaxed. "And think hungry thoughts. If you're good, maybe I'll take you for ice cream."

The words ice cream rang a bell, and suddenly Ariel's face lit up. "I think I may have a prior commitment where ice cream is concerned, daddy," she replied, to Spike's mystification.

&&&&&

Lindsey, showered and changed was lounging on the sofa trading insults with Angel when Spike and Ariel arrived.

Lindsey barely had time to get to his feet before he was nearly bowled back over by the guided missile that was Ariel.

"Lindsey! You're all right." She gave him a nearly rib-cracking hug. "I was so worried."

"You were?" Lindsey cautiously hugged her back and gave her a quick peck on the forehead, mindful of his audience. "I didn't have a moment's doubt, myself."

"You didn't?" Ariel stood staring at him in amazement, scarcely daring to believe that it really was Lindsey, up and about and talking to her after seeing him dead.

"Of course not," Lindsey replied. "I trust you, princess."

"Happy now, little girl?" Spike inquired. "'Cause even if you aren't hungry, I am." He had visions of a blooming onion dancing in his head.

Lindsey looked at Ariel as though really seeing her for the first time since she came through the door. "You haven't had anything?" His choice of phrasing left the question open as to whether he meant food or blood.

Ariel did no more than shake her head once before Lindsey thrust a mug into her hands.

"Drink up, princess," he urged. "Before it cools off."

"But, Lindsey..," Ariel protested.

"It's okay, honey," Angel reassured her. "That's his third one, and I think he was starting to slow down."

Lindsey smiled at her, but his eyes were serious. "And if you don't drink it, I'm not going to honor that rain check I gave you."

"Rain check?" Angel frowned.

Spike, on the other hand, was grinning. "That rain check wouldn't happen to be for ice cream, would it?"

&&&&&

Alaric had been staring moodily into space since his father and sister had left, and his usually hearty appetite had been a bit off too. Rose was beginning to worry about him when he suddenly brightened.

"Hey, mum, what say we order out for a pizza?" His voice was pleading. Rose's one time favorite food had made rare appearances in the Powers household since the arrival of the twins.

While Rose felt relief at seeing her son more animated than he had been all night, she still felt disposed to protest.

"Darling, it's not really fair to your sister, is it?" Trying to be a fair and impartial mother while having visions of melting cheese and spicy pepperoni.

Her son grinned at her, having taken a quick peek at her thoughts. "Dad and Ariel and Lindsey are all going out to eat," he explained. "And you'd really better say yes, mum, because Uncle Angel is already on his way here with the pizza."

Rose laughed and gave her son a one-armed hug. "Conspiring behind my back again," she complained. Then, she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Did you remember to tell him to ask for extra cheese?"

&&&&&&

Alaric eyed the last piece of pizza speculatively. It seemed a shame to let it sit there all by itself. On the other hand, he felt that if he took one more bite, he was going to have pizza coming out his ears.

Angel looked at him. "You've got to be kidding me," he said disbelievingly. "You've already put almost half a large pizza away all by yourself."

"Darling, why don't you put that last piece in the refrigerator," Rose suggested, softly, but firmly. As he moved toward the kitchen with the near-empty box, she added, even more firmly. "Alaric? Take the pizza out of the box and put it in a plastic bag. Do not put that huge box away with one lone slice of pizza in it."

"Yes, mum," Alaric answered with a sigh. It was obviously a well worn scenario.

Angel laughed out loud. "That almost sounded like a pre-recorded message," he teased.

Rose grinned back. "Now why didn't I think of that? Think of all the wear and tear I could have saved on my vocal chords."

"That's right, pick on the poor, misunderstood teenager." Alaric pretended to whine, re-entering the room with a large mug in hand.

"I understand that you must have a bottomless pit for a stomach," Angel observed, eyeing his godson with a touch of awe.

"Good grief, Alaric," Rose murmured. "On top of all that pizza?"

"Have to have something to wash it down with," Alaric replied, grinning unrepentantly. Then, he moved towards the door. "They're back."

"Good," Rose replied. "Maybe we can start getting things back to normal around here."

Angel looked at her to see if he'd heard right, then just grinned and shrugged. Normal indeed.

&&&&&&

After such an eventful weekend, school seemed mundane now, although the twins had suffered more trepidation on that score than they'd let anyone know.

Ariel just beat the bell to her seat in her computer science class. She hurriedly started flipping open her book to the day's lesson with not even glancing up at her teacher.

"Good morning, class." The voice sounded so familiar that it caused Ariel's head to jerk upward with an almost audible snap. The movement was abrupt enough to catch the teacher's attention.

"Ariel?" He seemed as stupefied with surprise as she was.

"Hi, Oz," Ariel replied with a weak smile.