"C'mon Ump! Are you blind!?" Xander was screaming with all his might towards the umpire while Spike tried, unsuccessfully, to toss popped popcorn at him.

"That call was bloody horrid, you git! Open yer eyes, you bugger!" He was practically growling as his son's team lagged behind in the seventh ninth inning.

"Honey!" Buffy grabbed both men by the arms and pulled them down to their second row bleacher seats, "Cut. It. Out." She hissed in his ear. Grumbling, he set his popcorn down on the ground to his side.

"It's ok, Spike," Xander reassured him before raising his voice and staring at Buffy, "Unlike SOME people, I understand." Buffy glared back and then returned her gaze to the game. She frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, the guys were right, their team was getting some awful calls. It didn't help that they were playing in Valtenfield, the next town over from Sunnydale, and using their umpires.

While Buffy watched in quiet dissatisfaction, observing both the game and their daughter Joyce playing to the side of the bleachers with some friends at the same time, Spike was seething. This was his son's seventh game and the team had been thus far undefeated. And now this ump was going to come in here and ruin it for him?? Though no longer a vampire, some of Spike's more violent tendencies surfaced from time to time and since the beginning of the game he had been itching to rip off the umpires' arms and have the team use those for bats.

He watched the game for a moment longer, a time-out having been called momentarily and wondered how much more he could watch without physically harming the umpires.

He tore his mind from the carnage for a moment, and let his eyes and thoughts follow his son. William was leaning forward intently, a look of concentration crossing his features that was purely Buffy. It was truly amazing how much he looked like his mother. He had sun-streaked blond hair from the large amount of time he spent out of doors and wide, innocent hazel eyes with flecks of green in them. His smile, thought, was clearly given to him by his father. Every time little William did anything he shouldn't have, the corners of his lips turned up into that trademark Spike smirk. Of course, he was more often than not found to have the honest, ear splitting grin on his face that he had also inherited from Spike.

Lost in his the thoughts tumbling through his head, it took Spike a moment to register the fact that his cleat-laden son was waving at him. Spike grinned in returned and gave him a mock salute.

Moments later, the game resumed play, and Spike pushed his way through the people on the first row of the bleachers to stand near the fence with some other parents. Will would be at bat a moment and he wanted to be there for him.

There were two outs with one man on and William's team "The Devils", a name that always caused Spike to grin, was down by three.

Spike watched closely as his son chose a bat and stepped up to the plate. They had been working on his swing every weekend for close to a month. When Will had first started playing, Spike hadn't been very supportive of the idea, never liking the game himself, but when he saw how happy it made his son, he began practicing with him when they had the time and now the duo tried to watch the games on t.v. together whenever they got the chance. They always rooted for their team, even if the "Angels", another name that put a smile on Spike's face, lost most of the time.

Spike concentration became more centered as the first pitch was thrown. It was slightly wild and Spike held his breath when Will took a swing at it, and connected.

"FOUL BALL!"

He bit back a yell, not wanting to embarrass Will. Instead, he focused even more heavily on the next pitch, which was low and slightly outside. He visibly cringed at the call.

"STRIKE ONE!"

"OH COME OFF IT!" He all but screamed and then quickly shut his mouth and motioned with one hand to continue at the umpire, who was staring at him now, the color rising in his cheeks.

He moved his gaze back to the ball, and his eyes followed it as it came in, low again, but more centered.

"STRIKE TWO!"

Spike growled from low in his chest, really wishing he was still a vampire at that moment....well, minus that whole going "poof" in the sun thing.

Spike watched as his son set his expression into a hard mask, another trait he'd earned from Buffy, then turned his eyes to the heavens, closed them and prayed that the next pitch would be a-

CRACK!

His eyes shot open and he stared at the field, watching as William run towards first and rounded it.

"YES! GO WILL!" Spike was screaming and had an incredible desire to do that absurd dance that Harris did around Christmastime. He stared on and quietly willed his son to go faster as he came around second, the other runner just having crossed home plate.

"Gogogogogogogo," Was his mantra as he tried to watch both where the ball was coming from and take note of his son's progress as he crossed over third.

"Fasterfasterfaster," He chanted. Holding his breath, he watched as Will dove for the plate while the ball came flying towards the catcher. Will hit the plate a second after the catcher's glove tagged him.

"OUT!"

"WHAT!?!" Spike screeched as he flew around the fence keeping the spectators away from the game.

"I said, 'Out.' Hard of hearing?" The umpire taunted, removing his facemask to stare Spike square in the eyes. At his tone, Spike narrowed his eyes and drew visibly nearer, until he was almost, but not quite, touching the man in front of him.

He leaned in even closer, their noses almost touching and Spike began speaking in a low and menacing tone, "You and I both know he was in before the catcher tagged him, so you listen to me. I have fed off entire families. Don't think for a second that I'd lose even a wink of sleep at night over cutting you up into pieces so small that you'll be listed next to Jimmy Hoffa in the obits." He was silent for a moment as the Umpire stared back at him, mouth agape.

He had heard stories about the Sunnydale natives. Hadn't thought they were true. Slowly, the flustered and wide-eyed umpire turned back towards the silent, observing spectators, "A-after...uh...further review...the, uh, the batter has been deemed 'Safe'. The run counted."

A cheer went up throughout the Sunnydale section of the bleachers and a satisfied Spike returned to his seat after giving William a quick thumbs up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening the group sat in a booth they had overtaken in Dairy Queen. Spike and Buffy sat next to each other, with William perched on the end of the bench and across from them sat Xander, Anya, and Joyce.

The final score of the game had been 5-4. The next two at-bats for Sunnydale tying and then overcoming the other team's score.

So, now the group sat in a comfortable silence, each nursing their own desert until a curious look crossed Xander's face and he made an interesting noise, trying to talk through his ice cream.

Spike raised an eyebrow at his now friend, "Try swallowing first, Xander." The remark earned him a glare before Xander followed his advice and then cleared his throat before speaking.

"What I was going to say was, have you ever noticed how much vampire and umpire sound alike? I mean, why do you think that is?" Xander finished with a mischievous grin.

Spike smiled wickedly in response, loving the easy set-up, "Oh, iddn't it obvious? They're both blood-sucking as-"

"SPIKE!" Buffy slapped her hand over his mouth.

END







Bedtime
Gotcha!
Did You Ever Know...?
Ever Notice How Alike Vampire and Umpire Sound?
Her Portrait
Twenty Questions
Why?