Part 4
After having reached LA an hour earlier than they expected, (thanks to Spike's law-breaking driving of the motorbike) Buffy and Spike stood outside the hotel. Neither were making any attempt to move; Spike figured that since Buffy knew these people, he would go in when she was ready, Buffy figured that she'd go inside when her feet started moving… which was bound to soon.
Spike was getting really bored, so he said to Buffy. "Love, why aren't we going inside?"
Buffy merely looked at Spike, with a completely lost look on her face. Then she looked down at her feet and said, "Come on feet… it's time to get walking." She then returned her lost gaze to Spike, "They're not moving."
Looking back at Buffy, Spike would have laughed at her behaviour if he wasn't completely pissed at the fact that she was having this much trouble seeing 'the great and wonderful poof' again. Swallowing his anger, Spike moved in front of Buffy It's time to put a stop to this. He thought sternly.
"Buffy," He began. "I understand that you're a little uneasy about going in there and seeing certain hair-obsessed people again. But you came here to help and you're not going to be able to do that unless you go inside. So suck it up and get with the moving."
Buffy looked at Spike with a defeated gaze, she knew he was right. "Wait a minute." She said, narrowing her eyebrows suspiciously. "Since when have you been so eager to help out?"
Spike chuckled. "Since 'the quicker I help out' means 'the quicker I leave'." He responded.
"Ahhh. It all makes sense now." She said smiling. "Ok." She said determinedly, borrowing Willow's resolve face. "It's time to go inside… Ok. This is me, sucking it up."
With that, Spike snorted with laughter as dirty thoughts of 'Buffy' and 'sucking' filled his head. Buffy's response was to slap him on the arm, hard. Then, she walked past him and Spike followed, rubbing his arm.
When Buffy and Spike entered the lobby of the hotel, they could feel the tension thick in the air and they could see that the LA gang were doing nothing to alleviate it. On the couch, Cordelia was sitting with her eyes closed. With one hand, she rubbed her forehead; with the other, she held a cup of coffee. Buffy marvelled at how much older and more tired Cordy looked. She could tell that this woman wasn't the girl Buffy knew from high school, but that she had been through more than her fair share of evil and horror, just like Buffy herself. Next to Cordy sat an attractive black man playing with a Gameboy, everything in his body language screamed 'stressed!' In the middle of the room Wesley paced angrily, yet nervously. When Buffy saw him, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She could barely recognise him. Much like Cordy, Wesley looked as though he had been through a lot as a person. His presence in the room was much more commanding; he was less the bumbling watcher and more a force to be reckoned with. Finally, there was Angel. He was standing next to the reception desk. He looked exactly the same. Same angelic face, same hair, same presence.
"Umm… hey." Buffy greeted the room, her voice tinged with confusion as she looked around the room. She was slightly bewildered by what she saw, as she had expected more action.
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at Buffy, smiling gratefully. Then they all looked at Spike. For a split second they stared at him with open mouths, then out came the weapons. Before Spike could even blink, Angel was upon him pointing a sword at his throat, Wesley aimed a crossbow at him, Cordy waved a cross in front of herself and Gunn just sat there, not comprehending. "What's going on?" Gunn asked. "Why y'all freaking out?"
"Well this is bloody rich!" Spike said with false cheer as he looked disdainfully at the sword aimed at his neck.
"Angel!" Buffy said desperately.
"What the hell are you doing here Spike?" Angel demanded.
"Angel!" Buffy tried again.
"Oh for God's sake! Down boy." Spike replied condescendingly.
"ANGEL!" Buffy yelled.
This time, Angel looked at Buffy and asked. "What is he doing here, Buffy?"
Before Buffy could respond, Spike used the distraction to kick the sword out of Angel's grasp and push him up against the wall, pinning his arms behind him. Wesley, who saw his friend in trouble, let an arrow fly from his crossbow with deadly accuracy. "NOOO!!" Buffy shouted and jumped towards Spike, pushing him down to the ground, taking Angel with him.
Buffy quickly got up and stalked over to Wesley. When Spike and Angel recovered, Angel pounced on Spike, raining punches down on him. As Spike began to fight back, Buffy started yelling at Wesley. "What did you do that for?! We come here to help and you try to kill him?!" She ground out dangerously.
"HE was the one attacking Angel! Chipped or unchipped, Spike is still an evil, soulless fiend and if he tries to harm any of my people I WILL take the necessary action against him!" Wesley yelled back.
Meanwhile, Gunn attempted to break up the fight between Angel and Spike, but all that did was earn him an elbow to the face, which sent him staggering back from the duelling vampires.
"He is NOT a fiend!!" Buffy yelled back at Wesley. "He is the-"
"STOP IT!!!!" Cordelia screamed, long and loud. Everyone stopped and looked at her. "Stop this." She rasped. "This is stupid. We're all just really tired and stressed out. But, we didn't come together to fight, we have more important things to worry about."
"Yes of course. You're absolutely right." Wesley agreed. It's time to take charge. He thought to himself. "Gunn, you take Cordy into the kitchen and fix her some tea for her throat. Buffy and Spike, sit down." He walked over to Angel and whispered. "Go get Connor so we can show him to Buffy." When Angel began to protest, Wesley silenced him by saying. "We need to get this all out in the open now."
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Five minutes later, Buffy and Spike were sitting on a couch together, facing Wesley and Angel, who was holding little Connor.
"So." Buffy began. "Who's baby? He's so cute!"
"Ummm… we'll get to that in a minute." Angel answered.
"Whatever." Spike spoke up. "So what's happened to this girl? Fred?"
"Well." Wesley began. "The Watcher's Council has kidnapped her."
"We know that." Buffy said. "The question is why?"
Wesley and Angel looked at each other quickly. Then, they turned back to Buffy and Spike. "They've kidnapped her in exchange for this little guy." Angel said, motioning to the baby in his arms.
"Which brings me back my point." Buffy said. "Who is this little guy?"
"Ummm…" Angel said nervously. "This is Connor. He's my son."
This time it was Buffy and Spike's turn to stare open mouthed. "Your what?!" They both said, simultaneously.
"My son." Angel said again.
"The Council want to experiment on him, to see if or how he differs from a normal human being." Wesley said, deciding he should step in. "As far as we can tell, Connor is just a healthy, human, baby boy. However, that's not the point. The point is that the Council would probably kill Connor in their efforts to find out how he worked."
"So I'm guessing the idea is to get Fred away from the Council without giving up Connor." Spike said.
"That's the plan so far." Wesley responded. "They want to make the exchange at 3:00 PM on Saturday and it's Tuesday morning now, so we have about four days to figure something out."
Spike nodded in reply. When he saw that Buffy hadn't said anything or barely moved since Angel had said 'my son', he began to rub slow soothing circles on her back. Buffy's only response was to sigh sadly, and close her eyes. Angel narrowed his eyes at the kind gesture, he could see something in Spike's eyes when he looked at Buffy and Angel didn't like it one bit.
Before Angel could say anything about it, Buffy opened her eyes and asked. "Who's the mother?"
When Angel hesitated, Buffy tried again with more strength. "Who's the mother?"
"Darla." Angel mumbled in reply.
"Oh." Buffy said, barely loud enough for the others to hear.
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Later on in the day after Angel woke up, he went upstairs to the guest room that Buffy was in and knocked on the door. "Buffy?" He called out.
"Yeah, come in." She responded.
When Angel walked in, he found Buffy sitting on the bed. He pulled up a chair and sat down. "Buffy." He began. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to drop everyone on you like this, especially when you came here to help and all."
Buffy chose not to respond to that. Instead she asked. "How could you and Darla have a baby? You're both vampires."
"It was part of a prophecy." He said simply, as if that explained everything.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry I didn't realise that." She said mockingly. "So, was the sleeping together part of the prophecy too? Huh? Was it all romantic? Did you have a candlelit dinner and then retire to the bedroom? Or did you just end up doing it in the back of your convertible?"
"Buffy-"
"No!" Buffy said with a shaky voice. The tears that she had been willing back started to slip down her cheeks. "You see, I'm taking an issue with this whole thing. I don't get it. You know that you and sex equal bad things, but you did it anyway." She got up and started to walk around the room, as if trying to figure it all out. "Oh wait, maybe I do get it. Maybe Darla is just sooo amazing that you thought it was worth the risk." At this point Buffy was openly crying. "See, I'm not worth a second go. But Darla? Wow! Darla is wonder girl! She's the kinda girl worth ruining your life over!"
"Buffy it's not like that, I-"
"I don't want to hear it! I can't! I can't talk to you right now. Just get out."
"But Buffy-"
"Get out!" She yelled again, swatting Angel away as he attempted to reach out for her. "Get out! GET OUT!!"
Reluctantly, Angel exited the room with slumped shoulders. Once he was gone, Buffy collapsed in on herself, sobbing mercilessly.
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Back in his room, Angel sat down and thought. Something didn't seem quite right with Buffy, she smelled different. She smelled of Spike. But, not just that, she had the faint, musky smell of sex. Her and Spike didn't… did they? No… NO! No way! They drove all the way from Sunnydale together, that's why his smell is on her… as for the sex… well… maybe she did it with someone else… of course she did it with someone else… her and Spike? That's funny! That's funny, funny stuff! He chuckled nervously.
Angel got up and walked over to Connor's crib. "What do you think, little man?" He asked a sleepy Connor. "Do you think there's something going on between Buffy and Spike?"
Connor's answer to his father was to gurgle incoherently.
"Yeah." Angel said, smiling. "That's exactly what I thought."
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After crying her eyes out for more than an hour, Buffy was plagued with confusing thoughts.
Why am I so upset that he slept with Darla?…. I slept with Spike, what's the big diff? Then another voice popped into her head. But there is a difference… Spike's chipped… Spike helps you… Spike loves you… Darla's evil… she just a demon… Spike's more than just a demon… OK! I've definitely been spending too much time in this room…
With that, Buffy left her room and went downstairs. Down there was the entire gang, including Spike. Angel, Wesley and Gunn were quietly conversing, Cordy was playing with Connor and Spike was sitting down, enjoying a cup of pig's blood. When she walked into the lobby, Spike stood up and moved over to her.
"Hey." He said. "Are you feeling any better?" Spike was well aware of how Buffy was taking the whole situation; he heard her argument with Angel, as well as her crying after Angel left the room.
Buffy looked up at Spike. She gazed into his eyes and saw the love and concern there. She smiled genuinely and said. "I'll be Ok."
"Good. Because, between you and me." Spike whispered. "These people are bloody boring when they're tense."
Buffy giggled, and Cordy said. "Hey! I heard that Blondie!"
"Bloody hell, aren't you human?" Spike asked.
"I'm psychic." Cordy responded "You don't want to screw around with that."
"You're psychotic?" Spike said, purposefully mishearing her. "Well, that explains a lot now, doesn't it?"
"Buffy, why did you have to bring this retro-trash with you?" Cordy groaned.
"Because I needed the ride." Buffy answered rolling her eyes at Spike's childishness.
At the double meaning of her statement, Spike smothered the laugh that came to his throat, with a cough. Buffy stared murderously at Spike and he instantly grew serious.
Cordy merely raised an eyebrow at their antics. Well now, that was probably more than I was supposed to hear…something's up wit those two…
Buffy looked over at Cordy, and then at Connor. She walked towards him, with Spike following, until she was standing right next to where Connor lay. "Do you mind if I pick him up?" She asked Cordy.
"Go for it." Cordy answered, smiling.
Gently, Buffy picked Connor up and held him close. She took a deep breath and smelled that milky smell that seemed to accompany all babies.
Angel looked at Buffy holding his child and smiled softly. She never seemed more beautiful than that moment right there. It was then that Angel noticed Spike standing next to her, smiling at the sight of Buffy with the child in her arms. The smile was wiped off Angel's face as he looked on to see Buffy and Spike laugh at how Connor was giggling.
Buffy looked down at the tiny child in her arms. Her smile became watery and tears sprang to her eyes as she thought of how this child was not hers, how she would never have Angel's child, how she may never have children. Right then the Connor started to cry, as if he knew the pain that Buffy was going through. Buffy began to bounce Connor up and down saying "Hey, it's Ok. Don't cry." But to no avail.
Dammit!" Buffy panicked. "He won't stop crying."
"It's okay. Give him here." Spike said, taking Connor from Buffy's arms.
Angel saw this and tried to move to stop it, but Wesley held him back. Connor was in no danger from Spike, and there was no need to cause a scene like what had happened that morning, especially in front of the baby.
Spike held Connor close to his face, all the while, bouncing him slightly until he stopped crying. "Atta boy." He said softly, lightly patting the baby's back. "You're Ok now."
"Wow." Buffy said in awe. "You're really good with him."
"Oh it's nothing much." Spike replied smiling. "He's a tough little bloke." He turned his attention back to Connor. "You're a tough little bloke aren't you? Yes you are!" He said, nuzzling Connor's nose with his own.
Connor smiled radiantly at Spike, who in turn, grinned back. When he did so, Connor burst into hysterics, apparently he found the smiling Spike to be hilariously funny.
Buffy looked at the two, her unshed tears shining in her eyes as she grinned wider than she had for months. The sight of Spike with the tiny child had touched her heart and also made her snap out of whatever funk she had been in since she arrived in LA. Suddenly, Buffy's resolve came back to her and with determination, she addressed the group.
"Listen up everyone." She began strongly. "No more screwing around. Spike and I came here to help, so that's what we are going to do. We will get Fred out of there without giving up Connor and we will make them pay."
Hell yes… Buffy thought. The Slayer is back!
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