Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, etc... except of course the ones I make up.

Summary: Spike and Buffy are going to have a baby together!!! I know, I know, it's been done about a million times but I promise that this one is different. Anyway, it also deals with all different types of families that could exist in the Buffyverse.

Spoilers: None really

Continuity: It's the sequel to "Apocalypse now... Again". However, you don't really need to read it to understand this fic. It picks up a few weeks after where "Apocalypse Now... Again" leaves off. Also, I just thought I'd point out that Tara is alive and with Willow, both witches are living with Buffy. Also, Xander and Anya are married and Anya is about four and a half months pregnant.

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FAMILY

Chapter 6: Visitation Rights

"Donny? What are you doing here?"

Donny stood nervously by the front door, shuffling his feet like he was kicking an imaginary ball. He looked like he wanted to speak, but every time he moved his lips, no words would come. So he just stood anxiously by the entrance, avoiding the eyes of the various Scooby members.

Spike stepped forward defensively, so that he was now closest to Donny. "She asked you a question, you bloody ponce. What the hell are you doing here?"

Tara put her hand on the vampire's arm. "Spike-"

"No!" He said forcefully, looking back at Tara, "you asked the man a question, you deserve an answer." Spike turned back to face Donny and cocked and eyebrow.

"So..."

"So, I came to see my sister," Donny confessed, obviously intimidated by Spike's anger. "I figured she would be here."

"W-w-what do you n-need to see me for?"

Willow heard the discomfort and anxiety in her girlfriend's voice and walked over so that she could stand beside her. She took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I just... I felt bad about the way we left last time we were here. You... you're the only sister I've got and I don't want things to be bad between us."

"You don't want things to be bad between us?" Tara asked, almost laughing, "You tell me for my entire life that I'm a demon and now you decide that you don't want things to be bad between us?"

Donny sighed loudly and ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, Tara, I want to make it up to you. I was so wrong, and I get it, okay. Can we just go for a walk?"

Tara considered this for a while, and finally nodded reluctantly. When Willow didn't let go of her hand, Tara turned around and placed her palm gently on Willow's cheek.

"I'll be okay, Will, we're just going for a walk." Willow nodded, obviously troubled by her girlfriend's decision, and Tara placed a kiss on her lover's forehead.

While Willow and Tara were talking, Spike walked up to Donny and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you hurt her in ANY way, I will kill you. And believe me when I say, I know how to make the dying last."

Spike then put on a goofy smile and walked away from the terrified man. Tara smirked at the vampire as she walked past him and to her brother. They walked out the door with another loud jingle of the bell.

"That was awkward," Anya mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"You said it," Dawn replied. She then looked to Janice and David, who both had puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Don't even ask," Dawn said, answering their looks. "All you need to know is that Tara's brother and father have some serious issues."

"Is she going to alright with him?" Janice asked.

"I'm sure she will," Spike told her reassuringly. Spike tried to smile at Dawn but she avoided his eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said, and she walked into the back training room. Spike, concerned for the young slayer, due to her strange behavior, followed her.

"Dawn?" He called after her when he entered the back room, "are you okay?"

She shrugged, not turning around to look at him.

"Are you still mad about last night?"

She shook her head.

"Then what is it, Sweet Bit?"

Dawn turned around and Spike could see the tears forming in her eyes. "I feel so bad about going off on you last night. I was being totally stupid and I'm so sorry."

"Dawn, I'm not mad if that's what you're fretting about."

"It doesn't matter if you're mad about it! What I said was horrible! Telling you that you don't know you're place like I'm so above that. I feel terrible. That was me not so long ago. I'm not even real and I'm telling you that you don't know where you belong."

"Dawn, just stop it, alright? All is forgiven. You worry too much; you know that, right? I think it's a slayer thing. You and Buffy, all the time just worry, worry, worry."

"I just wish I hadn't gone all crazy on you last night. I know what it's like to feel out of place. To feel like... like I'm not a part of anything..." Dawn trailed off, shrugged, and wiped a tear from her cheek, "I don't know."

Spike walked over to her and put his arms around her. "You will always have a place with me and Buffy, you understand? Always. We're family right?"

Dawn nodded surely into his chest, "right."

"Right, then," Spike whispered as he let go of her and Dawn wiped the last of her tears from her eyes and face.

"So, how do you think Tara and Donny are doing?"

Spike shrugged. "Only time'll tell, I suppose..."

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"So, what have you been up to?" Donny asked his little sister as they walked from the Magic Box.

"I work as a youth counselor at the high school."

"Wow, that's great, Tara," Donny said with a big smile. "And you're happy, with everything? You're happy with, uh..."

"Willow?"

"Yeah, Willow. Are you happy with her?"

Tara smiled blissfully and said, "very, very happy."

"That's good. I'm glad to see you happy."

"That's a first," Tara mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

"When did you start talking like that?" Donny asked, a touch and anxiety and distress in his voice.

"Since I started living my own life. When I started living for me," Tara answered honestly.

"You used to be so quiet..."

"No, I used to be kept quiet."

Donny stopped walking and took his sister's hand. "I'm so sorry for that," he told her sincerely.

"Are you really?"

"Yes. We treated you like an animal, like something we owned. And mom, it was like that with her too. I didn't... it never occurred to me that we were wrong. That we were-"

"Stop," Tara commanded him as she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms. "How can I believe any of this? How can I possibly believe that you mean ANY of what you're telling me? Donny, you lied to me my entire life."

"Can't you just trust me?" Donny shrugged with a pitiful look on his face. "Just this once?"

"No," Tara told him bluntly, "I can't."

"Tara, dad's sick," Donny blurted out, not meaning for it to come out so candidly. His cheeks turned a bright red when he realized what he had just confessed and Tara narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean sick? How sick?"

"Dying sick. He's got... I don't remember the medical name for it but some sort of cancer in his spinal chord. It came on kind of suddenly so..." Donny paused, "Tara?"

The witch was staring blankly at her older brother and she walked to the nearest bench and sat slowly. Tara suddenly felt like she was sinking. She didn't know why she cared, she hated her father didn't she? The sensation she had told her otherwise. She thought that all of her organs would just slip from her body till there was nothing left but skin.

"How l-long?" She asked quietly.

"How long what?"

"How long has he been dealing with this?"

"Two months now. The doctor tells us that he only has a few months left, Tara, maybe only a few weeks. We're not really sure of much."

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

Donny sat next to Tara and shrugged. "We thought that you wouldn't care."

"Of course I don't care! I mean... I do! Of course... Donny, he's still my dad too. You shouldn't have waited so long to tell me."

"I'm sorry. We just... it's hard to tell with you. We just, we came down to-"

"Dad's here too?"

"Of course. I couldn't leave him alone back home."

Tara nodded and took in all the information that she had just received. Her father was dying. She understood. Her father and brother were here to see her. She understood. But then she thought of the why, why her brother and father were really here to see her. She didn't understand. It just didn't seem to make sense.

"I want to see him."

"Now?"

"Now."

Donny nodded. "Let's go then."

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Spike placed a reassuring hand on the shoulder of a very unsure Dawn. "I'm sure she's fine, Dawnie, I'm sure that everything is fine."





TBC...

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Okay everyone, please review! And I just want to warn you all that it might take a couple of days to get the next chapter up because I have a lot of school related things that I have to do (yes, unfortunately, school still comes first). So bear with me and please stick with this fic!!!