Chapter 4

Spike sank onto the sofa with a tired sigh. Silence. Wonderful silence. He glanced at empty TV screen and then at the remote that lay on the coffee table, just out of arm's reach. 'Oh well,' he thought to himself, too tired to move.

But he was content to just sit and enjoy the peaceful silence of the house. Buffy was out patrolling, Dawn was at a friend's house for the night, and Willow'd gone to one of her witches anonymous meetings. Normally he'd be itching for a fight right about now- it was nearly ten o'clock. But he'd just spent an hour putting Rebecca to bed and he was happy to just sit and revel in the peace and quiet.

Who's have thought that one little girl could drain the energy of a master vampire? But she was a tough little bugger. Quite obviously his daughter.

When he'd shut off the TV earlier that night and announced it was time to get ready for bed, Rebecca had led him on a wild chase throughout the house. But he was much faster than she and he caught her in no time and carried her, squealing, under his arm up the stairs.

It'd been a real fight to get her into her pajamas. She was crafty and spry and as soon as he'd get one arm in a sleeve and turn to the other, it'd be out again. After a good twenty minutes time she was finally in her favorite red footsie pajamas, though with a toy tiara on her blonde head at her insistance.

But then Spike'd announced that it was time for princesses to brush their teeth and all hell broke loose. Another ten minute chase around the house and then another five minutes to pry her wide spread arms off the bathroom door. Then she'd stood on her little stool at the sink with her arms across her chest and her mouth firmly closed. An effort on Spike's part to pry open her mouth and brush her teeth only ended in a tiny toothpaste covered face.

"Sod it all!" he'd declared, tossing the toothbrush into the sink.

"Sod it all!" Rebecca'd echoed as she was carried into her bedroom and dropped onto her bed. She'd wanted a story then and, complete with 'talking' stuffed animals, he'd obliged, mentally declaring himself the kid's bitch.

But now she was asleep and all was good in the Summers/Bloody household once again. He laid his head back on the cushions of the couch and absorbed the silence- until it was pierced by a shrill scream from upstairs. It took but a matter of seconds for the vampire to sprint the short distance between the couch and the stairs, and then climb them three at a time and burst into his daughter's room.

The little girl was sitting up in bed, her face streaked with tears and when she saw him her arms opened, begging to be held. He gathered her into his arms, stroking her hair and mumbling soothing sounds as she wailed into his chest. To say he was rattled was an understatement. Until now, he'd only seen Rebecca cry once- the night he'd found her on his doorstep. In the two weeks since then he'd come to the conclusion that she just didn't cry as easily as other children. It had made him proud.

His little girl didn't cry at anything. Even when she'd skinned her knee on the playground Harris had taken her to she didn't cry, though Spike almost did at the warning shocks the chip sent through his head when Xander'd explained what happened. But Rebecca didn't cry. No, not his little girl.

Now he realized how he'd taken that for granted. Her painful little cries wrenched his heart more than he'd ever thought anything possibly could. He sat down on the edge of her tiny bed and rocked her back and forth until her wails subsided to sniffles.

"Now…what's all this, eh?" he asked, wiping at her tears with his finger.

"I-I had a bad dream," she said, still sniffling.

"Is that all?" He checked his tone. He hadn't meant to be so condescending. He knew all to well the powerful emotions that dreams could bring forth. When he spoke again, his voice was gentler. "It was just a dream, pet. Nothing to worry about. Just a dream."

She shook her head frantically, her tangled blonde curls flying at the force of it. "No!" she declared.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"Mummy says some dreams are real…they mean things."

"Oh she did? Well what did you dream that was so bad?"

Rebecca's bottom lip trembled slightly. "Mummy…" was all she was able to get out before she dissolved once more into sobs.

"Shh…shh…what about your mum?"

"S-She's…hurt."

Spike shifted uncomfortably. He'd yet to broach the subject with her. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd decided to wait until she was older to discuss her mother's fate. "Pet…your mum…what I mean to say is…well, what happened to her…your mum's dead. That's why she sent you to me. The bad people that were coming after you…they… Well, she's not hurting anymore, munchkin."

Rebecca was watching him intensely, her blue eyes frighteningly clear. She shook her head. "I saw her. Mummy's not dead."

*****

"That's all she said?" Buffy exclaimed.

Spike nodded. "She just climbed off my lap and got right back into her bed."

"She's just in denial is all. It's one of the stages of grief, right?" Buffy looked to Willow for affirmation.

The witch nodded hesitantly. "Well yeah. But-"

"But?" Spike demanded.

"But…she could be right. I mean…we don't know that Katerina was killed. Maybe she got away."

"Then why didn't she just teleport herself here and take her daughter back?" Buffy asked.

"It takes a lot of power and concentration to teleport someone. It's probably why she just didn't teleport both she and Rebecca to safety in the first place. A witch can't just go 'poof' and be somewhere else. You need spell ingredients and fire and a lot of power. It was probably all she could do to muster the strength to send Rebecca half way across the world."

"And if she's hurt, like Rebecca says…"

"Then there's no way she could get here. But it is possible that she could be communicating with Rebecca."

"Like…telepathy?" Spike asked.

"Well…yes and no. To communicate through conscious thought across the world might be a little too draining. We don't know how hurt she is but if it's bad, she'd probably resort to communicating through dreams. She could send images and feelings. Maybe even talk directly to Rebecca."

Spike felt a sinking feeling as he remembered the nightmarish dreams he'd been having for the last two weeks. He hadn't gotten a peaceful days sleep because of them and it showed on his face. He returned his attention to the conversation- Willow was still talking.

"…and because of Rebecca's not-quite-normal origins she's especially attuned to the supernatural. Maybe her mind's easy for Katerina to reach."

"But why now? It's been two weeks. Why would she be contacting Rebecca now?"

Willow shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."

"I know," Spike said, his face frighteningly stoic. "Cause she's given up on reaching me."

"What?" Buffy exclaimed.

"My dreams…she's been trying to reach me through my dreams…my nightmares. I thought it was my guilty conscience but it was her trying to communicate with me!"

"Calm down, Spike. You don't know that. You don't even know if she's really alive. This is all just guessing. We don't know anything for sure."

"Well while we're all busy guessing, Katerina could be dying."

"What are you gonna do, Spike? Huh? Are you gonna leave Rebecca here and travel half way across the world to search an entire city for someone who may or may not be dead?"

"Well, I've got to do something! I abandoned her once! I'm not gonna let her down again!"

Their shouting echoed throughout the house and Willow hurried to shush the slayer and vampire before they woke the sleeping child upstairs.

"Be quiet! Both of you!" she ordered. The two were effectively silenced at the witch's demand. "You don't want to wake Rebecca up again. Now…Buffy's right." The slayer let out a triumphant sound. "You can't just go looking for her without knowing more. But you can't just ignore this, either. I'll- I can get Tara to do a spell that will locate Katerina if she's alive."

"And what if she is?"

"Well, then we'll have to come up with some kind of plan. But not until then. Let's not jump the gun. OK?"

The slayer and vampire nodded. "OK."

TBC…