Damphyr 3 - Revenge
By Colleen Hillerup
"Spike," Buffy called impatiently, "she keeps knocking this stupid little paper hat off."
Spike picked up his daughter and looked into her clear blue eyes. "Billie," he asked, "don't you want to wear your birthday hat?"
"No," the tiny brunette replied. "Stupid hat."
"Buffy, she doesn't want to wear it. And you're both right, it is a stupid hat." He threw the paper cone on the dining room table. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to, pet. After all, whose birthday is it then, anyway?"
"Mine," Billie pointed to her chest proudly. She held her fingers in the air. "I'm tree."
Buffy was exasperated. "All right, who cares. Just don't go throwing the silly thing on the table when I'm trying to get ready. Our friends will be here soon, and I'm not nearly done."
Auntie Dawn called out from the kitchen, "Buffy, did we decide on the chocolate or the vanilla icing?"
"Choc'late," Billie replied. "I like choc'late." She went to the dining room table, climbed up on one of the chairs and retrieved her hat. Placing it on her head, she repeated, "I'm tree."
"Fine," said her mother, "I give up."
******
Despite Buffy's trepidation, no one had minded that the room was not immaculate. Everyone was more concerned with the princess of the Summer's home. She laughed as she opened her presents, seeming more concerned with the brightly coloured paper than the contents. Xander had given her a miniature construction set, with a plastic hammer and saw. He was less than excited when Billie used the hammer to hit him on the knee.
"Willow," Buffy exclaimed, "this is too much!" She helped her daughter unwrap a laptop computer. Willow only shrugged.
"No biggie," she said. "It's from my company. It's loaded with kid's software; games and educational stuff. It will give her a jump at school."
"I don't know what to do about school," Buffy sighed. "You know that Billie was kicked out of playgroup because she's so much stronger than the other kids. She broke a third of their toys, and there was that little bully she gave a black eye. I don't know what we'll do when it's time for her to go to kindergarten." Billie tried to pick up the laptop. "No, honey, let Mommy help you. This is a toy to play with when Mommy or Daddy are with you."
"Mine," Billie replied, pouting.
"Yes," said Buffy, "of course it's yours, but..."
"Billie," asked Spike, attempting to diffuse the situation, "would you like your present from Daddy now?"
Buffy seemed surprised. "Spike, I thought we agreed to get her the doll she wanted together."
Her husband laughed and replied, "If I can't get something special for my little girl, what's the point of earning a living?" Spike would never have pegged himself a computer nerd, but no one was more surprised than he at his unexpected skill with the keyboard. He had picked things up so quickly that Willow had hired him to work at her computer company, an ideal position since he could work out of home and avoid sunny days. The hours were flexible enough for him to patrol at night with Buffy while Dawn baby sat.
He went to the living room cupboard and pulled out a large box. Placing it in front of his daughter, he helped her remove the wrappings. "Oboy," she cried, "just like Mommy's!"
He lifted up a scaled down version of the Slayer's punching bag, and Billie tried to hit at it with her fists. "She loves to watch you train," he said, "and she's always getting in the way. Now the two of you can train together."
"Gee," said Dawn, "all mom ever did with me was bake brownies."
*******
The friends gathered around the dining room table and sang "Happy Birthday" while the centre of attention beamed. Buffy helped Billie blow out the candles, and watched her as she grabbed some cake in her fist and crammed it in her mouth. She grinned though the chocolate coating.
"Let daddy get you some milk to wash down that cake, love," said Spike. He went into the kitchen and poured some milk into a plastic cup, then topped it up with a few tablespoons of cow's blood. Pouring himself a glass, he went back to the party. "Anybody else want a drink?" he asked.
"I'll pass," said Xander, watching with disgust as Spike took a mouthful of the blood.
"We do have some Coke," said Buffy. As Willow indicated that she would love a drink, Buffy was surprised by a knock at the door. "I wonder who that could be," she speculated. "Hope it's not another door to door salesman."
"Oh, I'll get rid of them for you," Spike grinned evilly.
"I think I can handle it," Buffy replied. "Sit down and drink your blood."
Buffy opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes. She hoped she wasn't dreaming, because this was too good to be true.
"Uh, surprise?" said Giles softly.
"Giles, oh Giles," Buffy cried, throwing her arms around her old friend and watcher. Willow and Dawn jumped up from the table and joined them.
"Group hug," she enthused.
"Think I'll pass," said Spike, shaking the watcher's hand as he thrust it through the human sandwich as best he could. "Glad you could make it, mate."
The women eased back so that Giles could breath. "How could I decline such a kind invitation to a lovely young lady's birthday?" He walked over to the table where Billie sat in her highchair. "So this is Billie Joyce Summers. I had rather pictured her without a beard."
"Oops," said Buffy, picking up the ever-present washcloth from the table and wiping Billie's mouth and hands.
"Ah," said Giles, "much better." He picked up Billie's hand and shook it. "Hello, young lady. I am your Uncle Rupert. It is very nice to meet you." Buffy expected her daughter to burst into tears at the strange man's touch, but she just stared at him and smiled. Giles looked back at Buffy. "She's such a beauty. Her photos don't do her justice. She looks to have Spike's blue eyes, and your mouth, but where does she get her curly brown hair?" Spike didn't answer, though he knew full well.
"She has my irrepressible sense of fun," interjected the straight-haired Dawn. "And I think she has my ears."
Buffy hugged and kissed her husband. "This is the best present. Thank you so much."
Spike replied, "It's about time Billie met the whole family. Fancy some cake, Giles?"
********
After putting Billie to bed, the gang had gone out patrolling, leaving Giles to baby sit. The night proved unfruitful, and the friends headed their separated ways in the cemetery. On coming home, Dawn decided to stay up and talk to Giles, while Buffy and Spike went to bed.
"Do you think he minds the couch?" Buffy asked, pulling off her top and throwing it in the hamper.
"No love," said Spike, pulling off his t-shirt and dropping it on the floor. "He's slept there before. Anyway, he said he could stay at a hotel, but he'd rather be here with us if we didn't mind, so he's fine with it." He stepped behind his wife and massaged her shoulders with his strong, cool fingers.
She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" she asked.
"Oh, a few times," he replied, "but tell me again."
She ran her palms over his well muscled chest, and planted a kiss on his breastbone. "Come to bed and I'll show you." She pulled the blinds down on the window, so no light would enter in the morning.
Spike picked her up in his arms and lay her down on the sheets. He kissed her deeply, and a shudder ran though her body. "I love you forever," she said.
He kissed her again and replied, "I love you longer."
That night, they made love for the last time.
*******
For some unknown reason, Buffy was restless. Xander was at work as foreman on his construction site, Willow was taking Giles on a tour of the new computer centre she had helped finance at the university, and Spike was still asleep. Billie and Dawn sat quietly in the corner playing with the "Winnie the Pooh" game on the little girl's new laptop.
"I'm going out to patrol," said Buffy, stuffing a few stakes in her pocket.
"It's early yet; not quite sundown," Dawn replied, "Don't you want to wait for the others?"
"No," said Buffy, "I need to unwind. It's been really quiet lately, anyway. I probably won't meet a single vampire." She kissed the top of Billie's head. "Bye little one," she said, "See you later."
"Bye bye mama," Billie replied, without looking up from the computer screen.
"Bye Dawn. You can tell the others I'm at the cemetery. They can meet me there." Buffy opened her front door and stepped out into the lengthening late afternoon shadows.
********
Buffy walked slowly through the cemetery as the sun set over the horizon. Her heart beat faster. This was the time she loved; the dangerous time. Spike had once called her a creature of the night, and at times like this she knew that it was true. Her muscles tensed as she listened with her heightened senses, stake held fast in her right hand.
She spun at the sound behind her. A vampire was approaching her, his jaws wide for the kill. Laughing, she staked him easily, but turned to find another, larger vampire behind her. As she kicked him she felt strong arms grab her on either side, pushing her onto the ground. Two more hefty vampires held her legs fast. She struggled against them but they held her tight. Around the corner of a mausoleum, a woman with long dark hair stepped out and clapped her hands. "Ooh, lovely," she cried, "catch a Slayer, put her in your pocket. I've been calling you, Buffy. Did you hear me?" She bent over the young woman's prostrate form, and Buffy spat in her face.
Drusilla wiped the spittle off with her sleeve. "Nasty, dirty Slayer," she said. "Evil Slayer, took what's mine. Took my heart and tore it out. We can't have that, can we?"
Buffy continued to struggle, but the trap had been too well set, and there was no escape. Dru held a forefinger to the blonde woman's face and slashed across her cheek with a talon-like fingernail. "How will Spikey like you all scarred and battered, then, eh?" She made another deep gash on the other cheek, and the blood rolled into Buffy's eye, as Dru held the Slayer's head down with her hair. "Ah, but my Spike loves the inner you, doesn't he, the real Buffy. We'll have to do something about that." She pulled the hair farther back and exposed Buffy's throat to her vampire fangs. With a horrid grin, Drusilla plunged her fangs into the Slayer's throat and drank deeply. "Um, yummy," she exclaimed, "but I mustn't be a little piggy." She gestured to one of her minions to pick up the unconscious woman, and carried her back to her lair.
********
"What do you mean, she went out patrolling?" Spike asked Dawn as he entered the living room, his day's rest ended. "Alone? She didn't wait?"
"She said you should all meet her at the cemetery. What's the big deal, she's been out alone before. My sister's a very capable woman. Surely you know that more than anyone?" Dawn was feeding Billie her dinner in the high chair.
"I know that," said Spike. "It's just.... I have a bad feeling, that's all. Probably nothing. I'll go out to the cemetery. Send the others when you see them." But there was no sign of Buffy at the cemetery.
******
There was no sign by the next night either. Buffy hung on the wall, chained and weak from constant draining. Over and over Dru taunted her, "He can't love you. You aren't worth it. You're weak. Look at you. My baby loves me, always me, only me." She raked her nails across the Slayer's body, licking the blood off her nails. "Silly, silly, silly girl. Made my baby into her lap dog, didn't she. Ooooh, what you could have had." Finally, when Buffy was on the verge of final release, mad with despair, Dru ran her nail down the soft flesh of her own inner forearm as a bloody line formed. "I want him to bleed." She thrust the wound to Buffy's lips. "I want him to bleed inside forever."
*******
Spike was frantic. "Something's happened to her. Why can't we find her?" He thought back to the time in Los Angeles when Buffy had been mugged by Billie's abductors. Even in that huge city they had located her quickly. Now it had been a whole day, and there was no sign of his wife.
"Willow and I will cover the Bronze," said Xander. "Maybe she has amnesia or something. Dawn can stay here with Billie and you and Giles can check out the cemetery again."
"I'm sure she's fine," added Giles. "She's a very resourceful young woman, always has been. She probably has some good reason why she hasn't contacted us." Giles wiped his glasses with his handkerchief nervously. His British unflappability couldn't cover the concern in his voice.
On entering the cemetery, Spike and Giles split up in order to cover more ground. As they searched the grounds, Spike was surprised to see light coming from his old crypt. Entering cautiously, he was delighted to see Buffy standing with her back to him in the anteroom, surrounded by lit candles.
"Remember, lover," she asked, "remember the night I told you I was pregnant? Here, in this room, with all these candles lit. What a fool I was, throwing away so much on that stupid brat. I should have got rid of it when I had the chance."
Spike watched in horror as Buffy turned towards him with an inhuman face. "Oh, yeah, baby, I'm one of you now. Little favour from your ex."
"Drusilla?" Spike moaned.
"Yeah. She's something else. You settled. You are so whipped." She stretched her arms over her head like a cat. "Such a fool. How could you have such power, and throw it away to play human? You are pathetic."
She walked past him and up onto the cemetery grounds. He followed her in shock. She leaned on a tombstone casually. " Come with me, and I'll show you how to live again. We can take on the world." She looked into his eyes. "No, you couldn't, could you. Impotent loser."
Spike took in short, angry breaths. He must be dreaming. This couldn't be happening.
"So," she continued, "I guess it's you or me. I'd stake you now, but mommy Dru doesn't want that, for God only knows what reason. So here," she handed him her stake, "Why don't you do me? I'll make it easy for you." She undid the buttons of her blouse and thrust her chest towards him. "Stake me, lover. You can't, can you. No rocks. Loser, loser, loser..." The point of the stake emerged through her chest as bone, sinew and flesh exploded in a cloud of dust.
"No, he couldn't," said Giles grimly, "But I can." He dropped the stake in disgust.
"Buffy," Spike murmured. "Buffy." As the tears flowed he bent down and tried to hold her remains, but most of the dust was carried off by the breeze. He held the little bit he managed to gather tightly. "Buffy."
Giles bent down and wrapped his arms around the grieving vampire. "I'm so sorry, son," he said, "So, so sorry." They wept together.
*********
The group of mourners stood around the grave side where Buffy had been buried and resurrected years before. This time, they all knew, she wouldn't be coming back. Willow stood beside Xander, resting her head on his shoulder. Giles, holding Billie, stood next to his old watcher comrade Wesley. Cordelia stood stricken, Angel holding her left hand and Fred her right. Dawn stood next to her brother-in-law without touching him. Spike stared at the grave, and scattered what little dust he had collected in front of the headstone. He traced the words with his finger, "Buffy Anne Summers, she saved the world, a lot."
As the mourners departed quietly, Wesley put his hand on Spike's shoulder and said, "My offer still holds. If you need a new start of it, you can come to LA and work with us."
"Can't think about that right now," the vampire replied softly. "Thanks, though." Wesley patted his shoulder and walked away.
Soon only Spike was left, kneeling at the grave side and sobbing quietly. Willow turned and came back to him, putting her hand on the top of his head.
"Stake me, Willow," he said. "I can't take this."
"No," she replied in horror. "Of course not."
He looked up at her, his moist blue eyes pleading. "Please."
She took him in her arms and cradled him like a child. "Don't ask me that. I couldn't do that. I couldn't do it to Buffy. She loved you so much."
"If you'd heard her," he replied, "you'd know it wasn't true. I'm being punished Willow, for all the horrible, evil things I've ever done. It's my fault. I should have been there, gotten up early, staked Dru long ago. Buffy should be alive, and I should be dead."
"Billie needs you," Willow answered, "she's lost her mommy and she needs her daddy more than ever."
"She'd be better off without me. Everyone would." She rocked him in her arms.
"We all need you, Spike," Willow tried to comfort him. "We all love you. Buffy did love you, so much. She told me once that your life together was a big adventure, and nothing made her happier than you and the baby. That thing that Giles killed wasn't Buffy. Drusilla killed Buffy."
"If that's so, Will, then what am I?" Spike cried.
"Shh," said Willow, "You're the man Buffy loved. You're Billie's father. You're my friend. Now come on home to your little girl."
********
Spike sat in the dark living room. He left the blinds down now, day or night, disinterested in anything but his grief. Dawn and her niece burst noisily into the room and he didn't even notice them. "We're going to the park, Spike, want to come?" Billie could only play outside in the evening because of the hypersensitivity to light she had inherited from her father. Usually he delighted in being with her, but now he ignored them both. "Spike, I swear you're turning into one of those statue vampires from Anne Rice."
Billie ran to her father and climbed on his lap. "Come to the park with me, daddy?" she asked her father hopefully.
"No, pet," he responded distractedly. "Go with your Auntie Dawn."
"No, she cried, "I want to go with Mommy."
"Mommy's not here, sweetie. Come with me," Dawn reached out for the tiny hand.
"No, I don't want to go with Auntie Dawn, I want to go with Mommy." she cried more insistently.
Spike yelled in her face, "Go to the sodding park with Dawn! Leave me alone!"
The little face, so like her mother's, screwed up tightly and her tears flowed. She ran to her aunt, who picked her up to carry her out the door. Dawn turned back to Spike before leaving and said, "You aren't the only one hurting, you know."
********
The room was still dark when Buffy's sister rushed in with her charge an hour later and carefully bolted the door. She was breathless from running. "Spike," she said.
"What is it?" For the first time, concern for his daughter and Dawn started to pull him from his lethargy. "What happened?"
Billie ran over and hopped on Spike's lap, his earlier anger forgotten. "Daddy, there was a pretty lady in the park. She looked at me, and looked. I think she liked me. Cause I'm pretty, aren't I Daddy?"
"Beautiful, darlin', but don't be vain." He looked up a Dawn. "A pretty lady?"
"Spike," said Dawn, "it was Drusilla. She kept staring at Billie. It was so freaky. I got out of there as fast as I could, but Spike, you don't think...." She looked down at the baby with terror.
"Dawn," said Spike, "Watch Billie. If anything happens to me, she's your responsibility."
"Where are you going?" his sister in law asked, frozen fear in the pit of her stomach.
"Out," he replied.
*********
He knew that she would be in the old factory they had shared with Angelus. As he looked around at the ivy covered walls he could see himself trapped in his wheelchair, frustrated and ineffective. He heard the sounds of Angelus and Dru making love, pitched just loud enough for him to hear. He saw Angelus torture Giles. Ugly memories. He knew that she would come here. How could she resist?
"Ohh, my darling, I knew you'd come." Drusilla stepped from the shadows, alone. "I knew you'd want me now, now that the nasty Slayer is gone. Does it hurt? You always liked the hurt." She walked over to Spike and ran her hand down his chest. "Beautiful, beautiful Spikey, all mine again. I could see it in my head, that we'd be together." She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it. "I knew she wouldn't last; she was weak, not like us. She wasn't good enough for you, my love."
"No," said Spike, "she was never like us." With a fluid movement he drew the stake from his duster pocket and drove it through his ex-lover's heart. He looked down at the pile of dust on the floor. "Didn't see that coming, did you Dru?" he asked coldly.
********
Giles sat on the living room couch with Spike. "Sure you won't stay a bit longer?" the watcher's host asked.
"No, really. Thank you for your kind offer. I really must be getting home." He prepared to broach a difficult subject. "I was rather afraid you would hate me for what I did."
Spike looked into Giles eyes. "I don't hate you. Whatever that was, it wasn't her."
Giles took off his glasses and started to wipe them with his handkerchief. He reached out his hand to Spike, but the vampire didn't take it.
"Not yet," said Spike "Maybe later, but not yet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a very beautiful little lady I need to spend some time with."
********
Spike sat on the edge of Billie's 'big bed', holding her on his lap and stroking her hair. "Daddy has some news, pet. We're going away. Uncle Wesley and Uncle Angel have asked Daddy to come work with them, and I said I would. Auntie Dawn is going to stay here in this house while she finishes college, and then she can come and stay with us too. Would you like that?"
Billie thought about it. "I think so. I like Uncle Angel. He's big and strong. And Auntie Cordy. She's nice. Uncle Angel likes her too."
"Yes, pet," Spike smiled, "I rather fancy that he does. So we can go?"
"Hmm, 'kay. Can Mommy come too?" the child asked.
Her father hesitated. "Yes, love, Mommy will be with us too, but we can't see her. She's with us every time I look in your sweet face, and she's here," he pointed to his head, "and she's here," he placed his hand on his heart.
"Now," he said, "let me tell you a bedtime story. I want you to listen carefully, because it's about Mommy. 'Into every generation a chosen one is born...'"
END
By Colleen Hillerup
"Spike," Buffy called impatiently, "she keeps knocking this stupid little paper hat off."
Spike picked up his daughter and looked into her clear blue eyes. "Billie," he asked, "don't you want to wear your birthday hat?"
"No," the tiny brunette replied. "Stupid hat."
"Buffy, she doesn't want to wear it. And you're both right, it is a stupid hat." He threw the paper cone on the dining room table. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to, pet. After all, whose birthday is it then, anyway?"
"Mine," Billie pointed to her chest proudly. She held her fingers in the air. "I'm tree."
Buffy was exasperated. "All right, who cares. Just don't go throwing the silly thing on the table when I'm trying to get ready. Our friends will be here soon, and I'm not nearly done."
Auntie Dawn called out from the kitchen, "Buffy, did we decide on the chocolate or the vanilla icing?"
"Choc'late," Billie replied. "I like choc'late." She went to the dining room table, climbed up on one of the chairs and retrieved her hat. Placing it on her head, she repeated, "I'm tree."
"Fine," said her mother, "I give up."
******
Despite Buffy's trepidation, no one had minded that the room was not immaculate. Everyone was more concerned with the princess of the Summer's home. She laughed as she opened her presents, seeming more concerned with the brightly coloured paper than the contents. Xander had given her a miniature construction set, with a plastic hammer and saw. He was less than excited when Billie used the hammer to hit him on the knee.
"Willow," Buffy exclaimed, "this is too much!" She helped her daughter unwrap a laptop computer. Willow only shrugged.
"No biggie," she said. "It's from my company. It's loaded with kid's software; games and educational stuff. It will give her a jump at school."
"I don't know what to do about school," Buffy sighed. "You know that Billie was kicked out of playgroup because she's so much stronger than the other kids. She broke a third of their toys, and there was that little bully she gave a black eye. I don't know what we'll do when it's time for her to go to kindergarten." Billie tried to pick up the laptop. "No, honey, let Mommy help you. This is a toy to play with when Mommy or Daddy are with you."
"Mine," Billie replied, pouting.
"Yes," said Buffy, "of course it's yours, but..."
"Billie," asked Spike, attempting to diffuse the situation, "would you like your present from Daddy now?"
Buffy seemed surprised. "Spike, I thought we agreed to get her the doll she wanted together."
Her husband laughed and replied, "If I can't get something special for my little girl, what's the point of earning a living?" Spike would never have pegged himself a computer nerd, but no one was more surprised than he at his unexpected skill with the keyboard. He had picked things up so quickly that Willow had hired him to work at her computer company, an ideal position since he could work out of home and avoid sunny days. The hours were flexible enough for him to patrol at night with Buffy while Dawn baby sat.
He went to the living room cupboard and pulled out a large box. Placing it in front of his daughter, he helped her remove the wrappings. "Oboy," she cried, "just like Mommy's!"
He lifted up a scaled down version of the Slayer's punching bag, and Billie tried to hit at it with her fists. "She loves to watch you train," he said, "and she's always getting in the way. Now the two of you can train together."
"Gee," said Dawn, "all mom ever did with me was bake brownies."
*******
The friends gathered around the dining room table and sang "Happy Birthday" while the centre of attention beamed. Buffy helped Billie blow out the candles, and watched her as she grabbed some cake in her fist and crammed it in her mouth. She grinned though the chocolate coating.
"Let daddy get you some milk to wash down that cake, love," said Spike. He went into the kitchen and poured some milk into a plastic cup, then topped it up with a few tablespoons of cow's blood. Pouring himself a glass, he went back to the party. "Anybody else want a drink?" he asked.
"I'll pass," said Xander, watching with disgust as Spike took a mouthful of the blood.
"We do have some Coke," said Buffy. As Willow indicated that she would love a drink, Buffy was surprised by a knock at the door. "I wonder who that could be," she speculated. "Hope it's not another door to door salesman."
"Oh, I'll get rid of them for you," Spike grinned evilly.
"I think I can handle it," Buffy replied. "Sit down and drink your blood."
Buffy opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes. She hoped she wasn't dreaming, because this was too good to be true.
"Uh, surprise?" said Giles softly.
"Giles, oh Giles," Buffy cried, throwing her arms around her old friend and watcher. Willow and Dawn jumped up from the table and joined them.
"Group hug," she enthused.
"Think I'll pass," said Spike, shaking the watcher's hand as he thrust it through the human sandwich as best he could. "Glad you could make it, mate."
The women eased back so that Giles could breath. "How could I decline such a kind invitation to a lovely young lady's birthday?" He walked over to the table where Billie sat in her highchair. "So this is Billie Joyce Summers. I had rather pictured her without a beard."
"Oops," said Buffy, picking up the ever-present washcloth from the table and wiping Billie's mouth and hands.
"Ah," said Giles, "much better." He picked up Billie's hand and shook it. "Hello, young lady. I am your Uncle Rupert. It is very nice to meet you." Buffy expected her daughter to burst into tears at the strange man's touch, but she just stared at him and smiled. Giles looked back at Buffy. "She's such a beauty. Her photos don't do her justice. She looks to have Spike's blue eyes, and your mouth, but where does she get her curly brown hair?" Spike didn't answer, though he knew full well.
"She has my irrepressible sense of fun," interjected the straight-haired Dawn. "And I think she has my ears."
Buffy hugged and kissed her husband. "This is the best present. Thank you so much."
Spike replied, "It's about time Billie met the whole family. Fancy some cake, Giles?"
********
After putting Billie to bed, the gang had gone out patrolling, leaving Giles to baby sit. The night proved unfruitful, and the friends headed their separated ways in the cemetery. On coming home, Dawn decided to stay up and talk to Giles, while Buffy and Spike went to bed.
"Do you think he minds the couch?" Buffy asked, pulling off her top and throwing it in the hamper.
"No love," said Spike, pulling off his t-shirt and dropping it on the floor. "He's slept there before. Anyway, he said he could stay at a hotel, but he'd rather be here with us if we didn't mind, so he's fine with it." He stepped behind his wife and massaged her shoulders with his strong, cool fingers.
She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" she asked.
"Oh, a few times," he replied, "but tell me again."
She ran her palms over his well muscled chest, and planted a kiss on his breastbone. "Come to bed and I'll show you." She pulled the blinds down on the window, so no light would enter in the morning.
Spike picked her up in his arms and lay her down on the sheets. He kissed her deeply, and a shudder ran though her body. "I love you forever," she said.
He kissed her again and replied, "I love you longer."
That night, they made love for the last time.
*******
For some unknown reason, Buffy was restless. Xander was at work as foreman on his construction site, Willow was taking Giles on a tour of the new computer centre she had helped finance at the university, and Spike was still asleep. Billie and Dawn sat quietly in the corner playing with the "Winnie the Pooh" game on the little girl's new laptop.
"I'm going out to patrol," said Buffy, stuffing a few stakes in her pocket.
"It's early yet; not quite sundown," Dawn replied, "Don't you want to wait for the others?"
"No," said Buffy, "I need to unwind. It's been really quiet lately, anyway. I probably won't meet a single vampire." She kissed the top of Billie's head. "Bye little one," she said, "See you later."
"Bye bye mama," Billie replied, without looking up from the computer screen.
"Bye Dawn. You can tell the others I'm at the cemetery. They can meet me there." Buffy opened her front door and stepped out into the lengthening late afternoon shadows.
********
Buffy walked slowly through the cemetery as the sun set over the horizon. Her heart beat faster. This was the time she loved; the dangerous time. Spike had once called her a creature of the night, and at times like this she knew that it was true. Her muscles tensed as she listened with her heightened senses, stake held fast in her right hand.
She spun at the sound behind her. A vampire was approaching her, his jaws wide for the kill. Laughing, she staked him easily, but turned to find another, larger vampire behind her. As she kicked him she felt strong arms grab her on either side, pushing her onto the ground. Two more hefty vampires held her legs fast. She struggled against them but they held her tight. Around the corner of a mausoleum, a woman with long dark hair stepped out and clapped her hands. "Ooh, lovely," she cried, "catch a Slayer, put her in your pocket. I've been calling you, Buffy. Did you hear me?" She bent over the young woman's prostrate form, and Buffy spat in her face.
Drusilla wiped the spittle off with her sleeve. "Nasty, dirty Slayer," she said. "Evil Slayer, took what's mine. Took my heart and tore it out. We can't have that, can we?"
Buffy continued to struggle, but the trap had been too well set, and there was no escape. Dru held a forefinger to the blonde woman's face and slashed across her cheek with a talon-like fingernail. "How will Spikey like you all scarred and battered, then, eh?" She made another deep gash on the other cheek, and the blood rolled into Buffy's eye, as Dru held the Slayer's head down with her hair. "Ah, but my Spike loves the inner you, doesn't he, the real Buffy. We'll have to do something about that." She pulled the hair farther back and exposed Buffy's throat to her vampire fangs. With a horrid grin, Drusilla plunged her fangs into the Slayer's throat and drank deeply. "Um, yummy," she exclaimed, "but I mustn't be a little piggy." She gestured to one of her minions to pick up the unconscious woman, and carried her back to her lair.
********
"What do you mean, she went out patrolling?" Spike asked Dawn as he entered the living room, his day's rest ended. "Alone? She didn't wait?"
"She said you should all meet her at the cemetery. What's the big deal, she's been out alone before. My sister's a very capable woman. Surely you know that more than anyone?" Dawn was feeding Billie her dinner in the high chair.
"I know that," said Spike. "It's just.... I have a bad feeling, that's all. Probably nothing. I'll go out to the cemetery. Send the others when you see them." But there was no sign of Buffy at the cemetery.
******
There was no sign by the next night either. Buffy hung on the wall, chained and weak from constant draining. Over and over Dru taunted her, "He can't love you. You aren't worth it. You're weak. Look at you. My baby loves me, always me, only me." She raked her nails across the Slayer's body, licking the blood off her nails. "Silly, silly, silly girl. Made my baby into her lap dog, didn't she. Ooooh, what you could have had." Finally, when Buffy was on the verge of final release, mad with despair, Dru ran her nail down the soft flesh of her own inner forearm as a bloody line formed. "I want him to bleed." She thrust the wound to Buffy's lips. "I want him to bleed inside forever."
*******
Spike was frantic. "Something's happened to her. Why can't we find her?" He thought back to the time in Los Angeles when Buffy had been mugged by Billie's abductors. Even in that huge city they had located her quickly. Now it had been a whole day, and there was no sign of his wife.
"Willow and I will cover the Bronze," said Xander. "Maybe she has amnesia or something. Dawn can stay here with Billie and you and Giles can check out the cemetery again."
"I'm sure she's fine," added Giles. "She's a very resourceful young woman, always has been. She probably has some good reason why she hasn't contacted us." Giles wiped his glasses with his handkerchief nervously. His British unflappability couldn't cover the concern in his voice.
On entering the cemetery, Spike and Giles split up in order to cover more ground. As they searched the grounds, Spike was surprised to see light coming from his old crypt. Entering cautiously, he was delighted to see Buffy standing with her back to him in the anteroom, surrounded by lit candles.
"Remember, lover," she asked, "remember the night I told you I was pregnant? Here, in this room, with all these candles lit. What a fool I was, throwing away so much on that stupid brat. I should have got rid of it when I had the chance."
Spike watched in horror as Buffy turned towards him with an inhuman face. "Oh, yeah, baby, I'm one of you now. Little favour from your ex."
"Drusilla?" Spike moaned.
"Yeah. She's something else. You settled. You are so whipped." She stretched her arms over her head like a cat. "Such a fool. How could you have such power, and throw it away to play human? You are pathetic."
She walked past him and up onto the cemetery grounds. He followed her in shock. She leaned on a tombstone casually. " Come with me, and I'll show you how to live again. We can take on the world." She looked into his eyes. "No, you couldn't, could you. Impotent loser."
Spike took in short, angry breaths. He must be dreaming. This couldn't be happening.
"So," she continued, "I guess it's you or me. I'd stake you now, but mommy Dru doesn't want that, for God only knows what reason. So here," she handed him her stake, "Why don't you do me? I'll make it easy for you." She undid the buttons of her blouse and thrust her chest towards him. "Stake me, lover. You can't, can you. No rocks. Loser, loser, loser..." The point of the stake emerged through her chest as bone, sinew and flesh exploded in a cloud of dust.
"No, he couldn't," said Giles grimly, "But I can." He dropped the stake in disgust.
"Buffy," Spike murmured. "Buffy." As the tears flowed he bent down and tried to hold her remains, but most of the dust was carried off by the breeze. He held the little bit he managed to gather tightly. "Buffy."
Giles bent down and wrapped his arms around the grieving vampire. "I'm so sorry, son," he said, "So, so sorry." They wept together.
*********
The group of mourners stood around the grave side where Buffy had been buried and resurrected years before. This time, they all knew, she wouldn't be coming back. Willow stood beside Xander, resting her head on his shoulder. Giles, holding Billie, stood next to his old watcher comrade Wesley. Cordelia stood stricken, Angel holding her left hand and Fred her right. Dawn stood next to her brother-in-law without touching him. Spike stared at the grave, and scattered what little dust he had collected in front of the headstone. He traced the words with his finger, "Buffy Anne Summers, she saved the world, a lot."
As the mourners departed quietly, Wesley put his hand on Spike's shoulder and said, "My offer still holds. If you need a new start of it, you can come to LA and work with us."
"Can't think about that right now," the vampire replied softly. "Thanks, though." Wesley patted his shoulder and walked away.
Soon only Spike was left, kneeling at the grave side and sobbing quietly. Willow turned and came back to him, putting her hand on the top of his head.
"Stake me, Willow," he said. "I can't take this."
"No," she replied in horror. "Of course not."
He looked up at her, his moist blue eyes pleading. "Please."
She took him in her arms and cradled him like a child. "Don't ask me that. I couldn't do that. I couldn't do it to Buffy. She loved you so much."
"If you'd heard her," he replied, "you'd know it wasn't true. I'm being punished Willow, for all the horrible, evil things I've ever done. It's my fault. I should have been there, gotten up early, staked Dru long ago. Buffy should be alive, and I should be dead."
"Billie needs you," Willow answered, "she's lost her mommy and she needs her daddy more than ever."
"She'd be better off without me. Everyone would." She rocked him in her arms.
"We all need you, Spike," Willow tried to comfort him. "We all love you. Buffy did love you, so much. She told me once that your life together was a big adventure, and nothing made her happier than you and the baby. That thing that Giles killed wasn't Buffy. Drusilla killed Buffy."
"If that's so, Will, then what am I?" Spike cried.
"Shh," said Willow, "You're the man Buffy loved. You're Billie's father. You're my friend. Now come on home to your little girl."
********
Spike sat in the dark living room. He left the blinds down now, day or night, disinterested in anything but his grief. Dawn and her niece burst noisily into the room and he didn't even notice them. "We're going to the park, Spike, want to come?" Billie could only play outside in the evening because of the hypersensitivity to light she had inherited from her father. Usually he delighted in being with her, but now he ignored them both. "Spike, I swear you're turning into one of those statue vampires from Anne Rice."
Billie ran to her father and climbed on his lap. "Come to the park with me, daddy?" she asked her father hopefully.
"No, pet," he responded distractedly. "Go with your Auntie Dawn."
"No, she cried, "I want to go with Mommy."
"Mommy's not here, sweetie. Come with me," Dawn reached out for the tiny hand.
"No, I don't want to go with Auntie Dawn, I want to go with Mommy." she cried more insistently.
Spike yelled in her face, "Go to the sodding park with Dawn! Leave me alone!"
The little face, so like her mother's, screwed up tightly and her tears flowed. She ran to her aunt, who picked her up to carry her out the door. Dawn turned back to Spike before leaving and said, "You aren't the only one hurting, you know."
********
The room was still dark when Buffy's sister rushed in with her charge an hour later and carefully bolted the door. She was breathless from running. "Spike," she said.
"What is it?" For the first time, concern for his daughter and Dawn started to pull him from his lethargy. "What happened?"
Billie ran over and hopped on Spike's lap, his earlier anger forgotten. "Daddy, there was a pretty lady in the park. She looked at me, and looked. I think she liked me. Cause I'm pretty, aren't I Daddy?"
"Beautiful, darlin', but don't be vain." He looked up a Dawn. "A pretty lady?"
"Spike," said Dawn, "it was Drusilla. She kept staring at Billie. It was so freaky. I got out of there as fast as I could, but Spike, you don't think...." She looked down at the baby with terror.
"Dawn," said Spike, "Watch Billie. If anything happens to me, she's your responsibility."
"Where are you going?" his sister in law asked, frozen fear in the pit of her stomach.
"Out," he replied.
*********
He knew that she would be in the old factory they had shared with Angelus. As he looked around at the ivy covered walls he could see himself trapped in his wheelchair, frustrated and ineffective. He heard the sounds of Angelus and Dru making love, pitched just loud enough for him to hear. He saw Angelus torture Giles. Ugly memories. He knew that she would come here. How could she resist?
"Ohh, my darling, I knew you'd come." Drusilla stepped from the shadows, alone. "I knew you'd want me now, now that the nasty Slayer is gone. Does it hurt? You always liked the hurt." She walked over to Spike and ran her hand down his chest. "Beautiful, beautiful Spikey, all mine again. I could see it in my head, that we'd be together." She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it. "I knew she wouldn't last; she was weak, not like us. She wasn't good enough for you, my love."
"No," said Spike, "she was never like us." With a fluid movement he drew the stake from his duster pocket and drove it through his ex-lover's heart. He looked down at the pile of dust on the floor. "Didn't see that coming, did you Dru?" he asked coldly.
********
Giles sat on the living room couch with Spike. "Sure you won't stay a bit longer?" the watcher's host asked.
"No, really. Thank you for your kind offer. I really must be getting home." He prepared to broach a difficult subject. "I was rather afraid you would hate me for what I did."
Spike looked into Giles eyes. "I don't hate you. Whatever that was, it wasn't her."
Giles took off his glasses and started to wipe them with his handkerchief. He reached out his hand to Spike, but the vampire didn't take it.
"Not yet," said Spike "Maybe later, but not yet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a very beautiful little lady I need to spend some time with."
********
Spike sat on the edge of Billie's 'big bed', holding her on his lap and stroking her hair. "Daddy has some news, pet. We're going away. Uncle Wesley and Uncle Angel have asked Daddy to come work with them, and I said I would. Auntie Dawn is going to stay here in this house while she finishes college, and then she can come and stay with us too. Would you like that?"
Billie thought about it. "I think so. I like Uncle Angel. He's big and strong. And Auntie Cordy. She's nice. Uncle Angel likes her too."
"Yes, pet," Spike smiled, "I rather fancy that he does. So we can go?"
"Hmm, 'kay. Can Mommy come too?" the child asked.
Her father hesitated. "Yes, love, Mommy will be with us too, but we can't see her. She's with us every time I look in your sweet face, and she's here," he pointed to his head, "and she's here," he placed his hand on his heart.
"Now," he said, "let me tell you a bedtime story. I want you to listen carefully, because it's about Mommy. 'Into every generation a chosen one is born...'"
END
