Maggie looked like she might cry as tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't know she'd said anything wrong, so she said "I'm sorry Mommy. I thought all vampires had fangy teeth like the Count. Will-yum's not a vampire like the Count?"

Buffy's and Spike's eyes flew wide as they contemplated how to answer this most observant question from their daughter.

Buffy had no idea what to say to her daughter, and while Spike could formulate a few answers to Maggie's question, he wasn't totally sure that Buffy would be happy with any of them. Finally he leaned over and whispered to Buffy "Well, pet it looks like she inherited your slayer sense."

Maggie giggled. "I heard that." She told them. Spike looked shocked, not realizing he'd said it loud enough for anyone but Buffy to hear.

Buffy opened the back door  "We'll be right back sweetie. Sit right there." She told Maggie as she pulled Spike onto the back porch. Once they were outside and she closed the door, she hissed "And she inherited your super sensitive hearing it seems. What are we going to tell her Spike?" Buffy demanded.

"Well, pet, this may be a novel concept to you, but how's about we tell her the truth? She obviously knows what I am, and it doesn't scare her, so we might as well tell her the truth."

"Oh, right Spike. Like I'm going to march in there and tell my little girl 'oh, by the way, your Daddy's a big scary vampire. All evil and grr, but don't worry he's not going to hurt you. Disregard everything I've told you about vampires when it comes to him. He's a good vamp.' Is that what you think I should do?" Buffy blurted out as she started to shake unconsciously.

Spike reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her into his arms. "No, Buffy, that's not what I propose you tell her. I think we need to find out exactly what she does know, and how she figured it out. Then, if she really does know that I'm a vampire, and it's not just some crazy idea she dreamed up, then we'll tell her it's true and make sure she's not scared. But if it is just some crazy idea she dreamed up, I still think we should tell her the truth so that she's not scared when she finds out later. Because if there's one thing I've learned, pet, it's that the truth always comes out sooner or later. Better she hears it from us, from people she trusts, rather than from someone else."

"When did you start making so much sense, Spike?"

"I've always made sense, love, you just never listened." He kissed her forehead. "Now what do you say we go back in there before she starts to think she did something wrong."

The two blondes entered the kitchen, but didn't see Maggie. They stopped, and heard her voice coming from the living room. She was talking to someone, but they had no idea who. As they got closer to the living room, they saw that Maggie was talking to her Count doll.

"I just knew he was like you, Count, I just knew it. Was I not supposed to ask him about his teeth? You never mind when I talk to you about your teeth. Maybe he doesn't have fangs like you do, Count.  Or maybe Mommy didn't know he had them…" she kept on talking to her doll, coming up with new theories on what she had done to make Buffy and Spike react the way they did. She turned around to look at them when they came in the door. "Mommy, did I do something wrong?"

"No sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong," Buffy told her. "But listen, Spike and I want to talk to you about something, ok?" Maggie nodded her head.  "Now, we're not mad at you, but what made you think that Spike was a vampire?"

"Well," Maggie began "remember yesterday when he blew on my cut to make it stop stinging? His breath was cold. And his skin is always cold too. And he's so white. And whenever he's around, I get all tingly feeling like whenever Angel was here."

Buffy heard a growl rumbling in Spike's chest when Maggie mentioned Angel, but he stopped when she touched his arm and shook her head at him. Maggie paid them no attention, however, and kept on talking. "And I remember Auntie Dawn telling me about her friend that was a vampire once, and when you said that he was your friend from before then I just thought he was the same person. Was I wrong, Mommy? Is he not like Angel?"

Spike had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. Buffy rolled her eyes at him, and concentrated on what to tell Maggie. "Well, sweetie, Spike is very much not like Angel… in so many ways he's not like Angel, but you weren't wrong. He is a vampire." Buffy waited for Maggie's reaction.

Her eyes lit up, and she beamed. "I knew I was right, I just knew it!" A look of confusion crossed Spike's face at her overzealous reaction. Maggie ran over to Spike and jumped in his lap. "So can I see them, can I ,can I?"

"Um, Lil'Bit, I don't know if that's such a good idea. I don't want to scare you or anything. My fangs aren't quite as pretty as the Count there."

Maggie frowned and looked at Buffy. "I promise I won't be scared, Mommy. I'm not afraid of him. I just want to see what real fangs look like. Pleeeaase???"

Buffy sighed. She knew that Maggie wouldn't quit until they showed her. "Go ahead, Spike. She won't give up until you show her. She's very determined, just like her father…"

Spike smiled, and then turned away from Maggie, who was still sitting in his lap. She looked confused, but when he turned back around, his game face was on. Maggie screamed, and Spike shifted back into his normal face. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth. "Shh, pet. See, I didn't want you to be scared and now you are. I'm sorry."

"Do it again." She whispered in his ear.

"What?"

"Do it again. I'm not scared. I promise. Please do it again."

Spike looked up at Buffy, and she nodded that it was ok. He vamped out again. Maggie smiled this time, and patted his cheeks with her little hands. Then she ran her fingers over the ridges on his forehead. When she reached out to touch his fangs, he pulled back. "Be careful, Bit. My teeth are a little sharper than the ones the Count has. Don't want to cut your little fingers." He winked at her as she continued her exploration of his face. She reached out again and barely touched the edge of one of his fangs, and then touched her own teeth. She leaned back down to whisper in his ear again.

"Why do your eyes turn yellow?"

"They just do, Bit. Comes with the fangs and all that."

"I want them to be purple."

"Well, for you, I'd try to make them be purple. But for now we'll have to stick with yellow." She touched his face again and his game face slipped away.

Buffy slipped into the kitchen to take dinner out of the oven. After calling Spike and Maggie to the kitchen and having dinner, the rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. After dinner they all watched one of Maggie's favorite shows, and then convinced her it was time to go to bed. Spike and Buffy both tucked her in and kissed her good night. Before they reached her door to turn out the light, Maggie called out to them.

"Mommy, Will-yum?"

"Yes, baby?" Buffy answered.

"Since Will-yum is my friend now too, can I call him Spike?"

Spike smiled and went back to her bed. He kissed her forehead again. "You can call me anything you want to, Lil'Bit. Sweet dreams."

As Maggie drifted off into dreamland, Buffy and Spike settled into a comfy spot on the sofa to do some more catching up on everything they missed in the last five years.

TBC…(more filling in of the blanks coming in a couple of days)  :)