Part 4: Family Holiday
Her whole life, Dawn had heard the expression 'deer caught in a pair of headlights. ' Now, since she was from LA, she hadn't seen a whole lot of deer running in the wild to actually know what the expression was supposed to mean. However, as she now looked at her sister and the vampire behind her, she had a pretty good idea what those poor animals must look like. She would laugh, if she were not terrified of what her sister would do to her once she snapped out of it. Not to mention what Xander and Giles would do to Spike when they are out from under the spell.
Buffy opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, only to let it fall closed again as she watched Giles closely. The older man's expression had not changed one bit. He just looked straight ahead at her, his face unchanging as if he had just been told that dinner was going to be a few minutes late instead of Dylan being Spike's daughter.
"That's who she reminds me of," Anya said happily, as if her mind suddenly just connected the dots. She turned to Xander, who looked paler then Spike ever did. "See, I told you she looked like someone I knew."
Now's really not the time, Anya, Dawn thought to herself. When the ex-vengeance demon looked at the teen, she wondered if she had actually said it aloud.
Joyce came in from the dinning room, a large smile on her face as she wiped her hands on a dish rag. "Dinner's ready," she said before noticing the tension in the room. "What's going on?"
Dawn nervously looked around the room at the other adults, hoping that maybe one of them would offer the answer instead of it having to be her. When she saw that wasn't going to happen, she said the first thing that popped into her mind.
"Dylan blabbed," the sixteen-year-old said quietly.
Her mother pushed her eyebrows together, forming a line right between her eyes. "What?"
"Dylan called Spike 'Daddy,'" Anya clarified as if it had been nothing. "So we can eat now?"
"Daughter!" Xander suddenly screamed as his speech came back to him. "She said that Dylan was his daughter!"
"We know that, honey," Anya said as she placed her free hand on his shoulder.
The teen looked over at Buffy, who hadn't moved a single inch since entering the room. She reminded Dawn of herself whenever she had gotten a bad mark on her report card and had to tell her mother, but this seemed to be far worse for Buffy, though Dawn didn't know why. Buffy was an adult, and could make her own decisions. Besides, they all loved Dylan, why should it matter who her father is?
"Giles?" Buffy finally squeaked out.
The middle age man pushed away from the wall, reached for his glasses and began to clean them, hard. That wasn't good. Giles only cleaned his glasses when really bad things were going to come.
As he continued to keep his eyes on the spectacles, he said in a very controlled voice, "Buffy, could I please speak to you and…Could I please speak with the both of you in the other room?"
Her sister swallowed hard. "Dawn, why don't you take Dylan upstairs to get her cleaned up."
"Right," she said getting to her feet and all but ran to the stairs.
People usually pay good money to see the fight that was about to occur, but the teen found herself wanting to be anywhere but there right at that moment. She just hoped that Spike made it out of there in one piece.
"And could you guys help her," she added.
"Of course, Buffy," Tara nodded in agreement as she started to follow the teen upstairs.
Joyce had to 'lead' both Xander and Anya towards the upper level, all the while Xander repeating, "I'm seeing flashing lights. Does that mean I'm having a stroke?"
Anya said following, "But I want to hear the fight."
Her mother paused halfway up, and said softly, "Rupert."
Giles gave her a tight, controlled smile. "Don't worry, Joyce. I just want to speak to them, nothing else."
Her shoulders dropped as she gave a sigh and then followed the others upstairs.
**********
She felt like a small child being led into the other room for a stern scolding followed by a spanking for some little thing she had done that she wasn't supposed to. There was no question that she loved Giles, but there were times where the man could make her feel like such a child.
The three stood in the kitchen, Spike understandably close to the door in case he had to make a fast getaway from the Watcher. They both knew that if Giles put his mind to it, he could do some real damage to the vampire, especially with it being so raw and fresh. Just please don't let him dust him, she begged silently.
"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," Buffy heard herself say as she held her arms around her waist. "But I guess it's too late to change that."
"So it's true then," Giles said calmly, though she knew the Ripper was flashing behind his eyes.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spike glance over at her, but she refused to look up at either one of them. She didn't know what would happen if she did.
"Yeah, Watcher," he said for her. "It's true."
The three remained silent for a moment as the information sunk in. In a way, she felt better that they knew. The secret was out, and there was no taking it back. Now if they could just get over this part.
"Are you mad?" she asked quietly.
Giles drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out slowly. "I am not angry with you, Buffy," he said pointedly to Spike. "However, it does sadden me to think that you did not trust me enough to tell me something so important."
"It wasn't that I didn't trust you-"
"But you didn't," he bit a little colder then he intended.
She shrunk away from the tone, and heard Spike growl lowly from it, though he refrained from saying anything. It was a good thing he got that soul, else this could have been real messy.
"Buffy," he said much more softly. "You have to understand how this changes things. Else you wouldn't have kept it a secret."
"Changes?" she repeated, finally looking up at the man. "How does it change anything? Dylan's still the same little girl that you were playing with this afternoon. Just because you found out that Spike's her dad doesn't mean she's changed any. He's always been her dad."
"It does change it," he said firmly before trying to make her understand. "Buffy, I didn't call the Watcher's Council about Dylan because she is your daughter. I knew I should have because slayers don't live long enough to have children; but you did, and you're the first that I know of. However, the fact that she's a damphyr-they should know about that!"
"You can't!"
"Watcher," Spike growled at the same time.
The older man stood there for a moment, looking as if he didn't know what he was going to do. For a last ditch effort, Buffy began to babble off anything that struck her mind as a reason for why he shouldn't tell. "Giles, please. You can't tell them! We-we were under a spell, and there was this crazy scientist lady, Lang, and goons and-and I'm not really helping here for why you shouldn't tell, but you can't! They'll take her away! Or worse!"
"Buffy," Giles said, holding his hand up to try and calm her worries. "I said they should, not that they will," he clarified.
A faint smile of relief crossed her lips. "Thank you, Giles."
"I am going to want any information you have on how this might have happened," he told them.
That cocky little grin returned to Spike lips as he said, "What? You want to hear all about how I knocked the Slayer up good and proper?"
Giles jerked as if had been struck as Buffy hissed, "Spike!"
"Well, er, um, that w-won't be, er," he stuttered.
"Oh, look, pet. I think I might have given him an aneurysm."
"No, that would be Xander," she told him as she crossed her arms. "And you know, for a guy with a soul, you really are still a jerk."
"Well, I told you from the beginnin' that a soul wouldn't make that much of a difference in me. Didn't I?"
"Your ability to be a complete jackass is proof of that," she bit back. "Maybe you should have asked that demon for some people skills along with the soul. Then maybe we could all stand you for more then five minutes at a time."
"Ha bloody ha, Slayer," he mocked.
Giles watched in amazement as the two playfully bickered with one another, forgetting all about the fact that he was still in the room.
**********
Buffy walked into the living room, when a small voice asked from above her, "Is it safe to come down now?"
She turned to find her sister and the others at the top of the stairs, waiting for the go ahead to come down. The blonde nodded to them, who all hurried down the steps, Joyce heading straight for the dinning room to make sure everything was all right, as the girls gathered around their friend for information. Xander still didn't look as if he knew where he was, and she hoped he would stay that way for the rest of the night so she wouldn't have to deal with him right at that moment.
"We don't need to get the Dust Buster, do we?" Dawn asked with a very worried tone as Buffy took Dylan from her.
"No. The kitchen is still a dust free zone."
"Good, 'cause that would really put a downer on the holiday," the teen told her.
"How about you, Buffy? You okay?" Tara asked kindly as she placed her hand on her shoulder.
"I'm good," she sighed as she adjusted her grip on the child. "Already tired, but good."
Tara gave her a warm smile, as Anya broke in, "So, was the sex any good?"
"Anya!" Xander said horrified, coming out of his comatose state at that point. "The last thing I want to think about is-is-Oh, God! It's too late!"
He began to bang his head against the wall, but Anya gently pulled him away with one arm as she balanced Jessie in her other and led him towards the dinning room. The eight-month-old watched her father curiously as he looked as if he might be sick right on Anya's nice shoes.
"Honey, why don't you ask Joyce for some nice wine or beer or whatever alcoholic drink they serve for this occasion while we talk."
"Yeah. Booze good, thinking bad," he muttered as he went into the other room.
Buffy sighed deeply from within as she watched him go. She had been right about it being hard to tell them, but, so far, they had taken it a lot better then she had thought. For a moment, she thought Giles was about to go Ripper on them, but his age and wisdom had given him enough knowledge to know when to back off, or at least keep it to himself. She was grateful for that.
"Sorry about that," Anya apologized as she rejoined them. "He just needs time to adjust to the news. So, how was it?"
Buffy couldn't resist rolling her eyes at her. "Anya, one, I am not going to discus this with my little sister standing right here."
"Oh, come on, Buffy. I'm sixteen, not six. Besides, you think I don't already know about this stuff? I mean, hello. I go to high school."
"And two," she continued, giving Dawn a look. "I am so not going over that night again."
Dawn began to pout at being left out of yet another adult conversation, but Anya just smiled. "It must have really been something."
Buffy drew her forehead into a strait line at her comment. "How do you get 'it must have really been something' from 'I don't want to talk about'?"
"Because when you said your face began to flush," she pointed out.
"Yeah, from embarrassment."
"It wasn't that kind of flush, Buffy," the ex-demon told her causing the slayer to turn a very deep shade of red.
**********
Spike sat on the front porch after the meal, staring out into the dark street, as his tongue played with the sucker that was a poor substitute for his cigarettes. What he wouldn't give for one after this night. It just went to prove that if you wanted to enjoy a holiday, never invite family or friends over to celebrate with you. He could just imagine what Christmas was going to be like this year and who would be next to play 'Let's tell a big secret'.
"What are you doing out here?" Buffy asked from the doorway. "No, wait, let me guess. You had to get away from all those people staring at you, right?"
"Same for you?" he asked as he popped the sucker out of his mouth and tossed it, having lost the taste for a cherry flavored Tootsie Pop.
"You know it."
She pulled her new brown coat a little tighter around her body as she came over to the swing he occupied. The tiny blonde sat down next to him, and fell into the rocking rhythm of the swing that he had set. She looked like she was having about as much fun with this whole night as he was.
"You know, this reminds me a lot of that first Thanksgivin' I spent with you lot," he told her after a moment. "Only, I think I would much rather be facin' a horde of brassed off Indian spirits instead of havin' the Watcher 'talk' to us again."
"Yeah, only thing that's missing is Angel showing up unannounced and trying to protect me without telling me," she said dryly. "But, hey, at least they didn't try and stake you… yet."
"That's because the Whelp has drunk himself into a stupor and Rups hasn't gotten me alone long enough to do it."
She snorted. "Hey, you think this Thanksgiving is rough, you should go to my grandparents' house when they host. They make the Manson family look like the Brady Bunch. Why else do you think Mom always holds our family holidays at our house?"
"Yes because here we get to have a nice, normal holiday with an ex-vengeance demon, her brick-layin' husband, a witch, a teen, a Watcher, an art gallery owner, a slayer, a souled vampire, and their damphyr daughter. That's the definition of normal."
She smacked him in his arm as she held a tight smile on her lips. He watched as she laughed to herself, slowly shaking her head at his comment. A stray blonde hair fell into her face and, without a second though, he reached over and pushed the offensive string back behind her ear with the others. He held his hand there for a moment, cupping the side of her face as she smiled at him.
Ever so slowly, he bent down close to her face and then gently pressed his lips to hers. It was a soft kiss, much softer then any that they had shared before. Unlike the few they had had before, this one wasn't full of lust like when Lang had done whatever it was she had done to them, or the happiness behind the one they had shared in the foyer in Madrid. This one was an honest to God real kiss, one that people who loved each other shared.
God, he loved her so much it actually hurt sometimes, and she didn't know. How could she not know? It had to be obvious. Then, things are always obvious to other people.
She gently pulled away, but kept her forehead rested against his. With her so close like this…he had to tell her.
"Buffy," he said lowly, purposely using her name to let her know it was important.
She blinked her hazel eyes opened and looked up into his. "Yeah?"
"There's somethin' you need to know. I-"
She drew away from him sharply, surprising him since he hadn't even told her yet. But her eyes were locked on something coming towards them from down the street, and he turned to see what she was looking at.
There was a small figure coming towards them slowly. It was really as much walking as it was shuffling, its shoulder length hair swinging around its lowered face. When it came closer, he could make it out that it was a woman, who was holding onto herself so tightly that it looked as if her life depended on it. She wondered into the bright light set off by the porch, and both the vampire and slayer rose to their feet when they saw who it was.
"Willow," Buffy said lowly before taking off for her friend.
The two were across the yard in a second flat, but Buffy had to cut her friend off for her to stop. Red was in bad shape, he could tell by how thin her body was. Her usually fire red hair had reverted back to the reddish brown from her youth, and looked as if it had not been treated in years. It seemed to take all her strength to lift her head to look at her friend, who gasped when she saw her face. The girl's deep green eyes were sunk into her head and her lips were chapped horribly and were bleeding. She looked like someone had dropped her in the middle of the desert without food or water for several days, and was now just making it home.
"Willow?" Buffy repeated, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Buffy?" she answered in a raspy voice before fainting off, dead to the world.
**********