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.
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FAMILY
Chapter 27: More Than You Could Know
Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles sat together on Buffy's couch and listened to Sid's story with the same slack-jawed expressions that they had had the first time they met him. Dawn, Spike, and Tara lingered in the background listening into the tale, not quite sure what the ex-dummy was talking about, nor what they should make of him and his story.
"So after I killed the demon, I blacked out. I thought I was dead and I'm sure you thought I was dead and it was nothing more than I expected. It was a great release, something I had been working for, for decades. But then, two weeks later, I wake up in an alley in Manhattan, covered in garbage. I thought I got sent to Hell or something. Anyway, I got up and took a look at myself and I was dressed in a goddamn paper bag for Christ's sake. I figured something went wrong, and I started trying to think of a way I could somehow get to Sunnydale, I figured you could help me again, or maybe there was something that I had to do.
"Anyway, next thing I know, BAM! I feel like I've been knocked over by a ton of bricks and I pass out again. I woke up in this white... room sorta place, I'm not really sure what it was. But when I looked at myself again I was suddenly in Armani with my hair combed back and my shoes shined so I could see my reflection in 'em. Then this guy comes to me, just walks outta nowhere. I was on my guard, of course, after fighting demons for so long it's pretty much just reflex. He smiled at me and told me to calm down and that I was safe. I asked him where the hell I was and he said that it was irrelevant. Then he gave me this whole long song and dance which basically boiled down to that the Powers-That-Be were giving me a second chance at humanity. The body I was in belonged to a homeless guy who overdosed on heroine and died in the alley where I woke up.
"But to make the rest of my long story short, they set me up with a sweet little apartment on the Upper West Side, gave me enough money to fund my supernatural, and sometimes not, detective agency. Plus, they made any legal papers I would need: birth certificate, driver's license, and so on."
"Wow," Buffy said is amazement, "that is so..."
"Yeah," Willow agreed without moving her eyes from Sid.
"I'm so happy for you that you got that chance," Buffy told him with the hint of a laugh mixed into her delighted exclamation. "However, not that I'm not glad to see you, that doesn't explain why you're here."
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out," he told her as he gave a nod in the direction of her swollen belly and she put her hand there reflexively, "isn't that what everyone's here for. And uh, congratulations, by the way."
"Thanks. And yeah, I thought it might have something to do with Kat, but I still don't understand how you know."
"How could I not know? You think word doesn't spread on the underground? I may be across the country but that ain't nothing to a bunch of demons from other dimensions. I hear things, and when I hear it from at least a dozen demons I start to think that it's true. So, I got some associates to run the Agency for me while I took a little vacation and came here to see if the rumors were true, and they are. The Slayer and the vampire are having a baby."
"But, you couldn't have just picked up a phone? You couldn't have even called when you became human again? I mean, I know we weren't that close or anything but it would have been nice to know."
"Sorry, kid," Sid told her sincerely, "didn't realize you'd be so touched by a phone call. Either way, it was hard getting a start in life again."
"I understand that more than you know," Buffy said with the hint of a smile. Sid just squinted at her and chose not to question her meaning.
"Yeah," he nodded. "So anyway, I came here figuring that if it were true, you might need a little extra, I dunno, protection I guess. I mean, I know how strong a team you got here but an extra pair of arms that know how to handle weapons can't hurt. Besides, you helped me in my time of need so I figured it was about time I returned the favor."
Buffy smiled at Sid. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. They were only words, and the only words she could think to say because in truth, the gratitude she felt toward him was beyond words. It was more than he could ever know.
Suddenly, Dawn jumped up, startling everyone in the room. "Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly, "now it makes sense!"
Buffy looked at her sister as if she were insane. "What are you talking about?"
Dawn turned a bit red at Buffy's tone which was thick with irritation and confusion. "Oh... it- it's nothing. Just, when I was ten, I remember you burying something in the backyard around where Mom used to put weeds. It was wooden and creepy and I remember..." she trailed off and stared at Sid for a moment before looking back at Buffy, "was that him?"
"You buried me?" Sid asked, an amused looked in his eyes as his lips curled into a smooth grin.
"Well... yeah. I couldn't just leave you there. I felt bad so I took you home and put you in my room. Then at night, you were giving me a major wiggins so I decided to just bury you."
"Thanks, kid. I appreciate the sentiment," Sid told her as he chuckled to himself and smiled kindly at Buffy. He was a relatively young looking man, but as Buffy looked into his eyes she could see decades of rich history and stories. Buffy mentally dubbed him as having an old soul, and though she barely understood what she meant by that, she was sure that he would have.
"So... do you know what you're going to do while you're here in Sunnydale? I mean, if you need a place to stay you're more than welcome to-"
Sid put up a smooth hand and silenced her mid-sentence. "Don't worry about that. I hooked myself up with a nice little hotel room just outside of town. No offence to you guys, but I don't really wanna be staying within the Sunnydale borders."
"Can't say that I blame you," Xander responded with his characteristic quirky smile. "I mean, I'd rather not be within the borders either if I weren't already living here and stuff."
"But still, I mean, just while you're here, is there anything you'd like to see or do?"
Sid raised an eyebrow at the slayer. "There's stuff to do in Sunnydale?"
Buffy considered this for a moment before answering, "fair enough."
The ex-dummy ran his hand over his slicked-back light brown hair and a smile began to play on the corner of his nicely shaped lips. "Actually, if you want, I could help with some of the hunting..."
Buffy flinched at his use of the word 'hunting'. She never liked that word in referring to what she did. She didn't want to think of herself as doing something predatory. What she did was heroic, not barbarian or bloodthirsty. She was a champion, not a monster.
"Actually," she began, "we call it patrolling in these parts... but yeah! That would actually be really awesome, especially with this freaky vamp group cult thing that's in town."
Sid's face suddenly turned from warm and pleasant to serious and morose. "Did you say vampire cult?"
Buffy felt her stomach lurch. The look on Sid's face made her feel like she would throw up. She could tell before he even started speaking that what he had to say was bad news. And bad news was the absolute last thing Buffy needed to be hearing right then.
"Yes," Buffy answered weakly, wanting to lie just so that she could pretend that everything was okay.
"How many have you seen?"
"Just one," Buffy told him, "if it's even... we don't know if it's anything."
"Then why would refer to one vampire as a whole cult?" Sid asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"Because of the way he spoke," Spike answered for Buffy. "And his intense strength and somehow he knew about the baby."
"Were there any marks or identifying symbols on him?"
Spike shook his head. "No there were-" Spike stopped short as a picture of the vampire reappeared in his head. "Oh my God."
"Spike?" Buffy asked, as she studied the new look of worry on his face.
"There... there is... I mean... there was. I remember it now. Oh God, how could I not have remembered till now?"
"Do you have something I can write with?" Sid asked the vampire who nodded and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from off of the desk in the living room. He handed the items to Sid who signaled his thanks with a slight dip of his head. He leaned the piece of paper on his knee and drew a small design that looked like a 'Z' with a vertical line going through the middle of it.
"Did it look like this?" He asked as he handed the piece of paper to Spike. The vampire took the mark and studied it intently for a moment before closing his eyes and picturing the vamp in his head.
"Yes," he finally answered with a sigh. "It was on his left forearm. I barely got a look at it but... this is it. What is it?"
"Zeta Khan, a very old, very religious clan of vampires descended from St. Vigeous himself. They have a very strict code of laws for vampires which they follow to the letter. They also have this vampire bible of sorts that speaks of their history, as well as their future. There's a whole book of prophecies, and one of which, supposedly, speaks of a clan of eight vampire set out to take, or kill, I'm not sure, descendents of the slayer. For a while I thought they meant potential slayers, but once I heard that you were pregnant..."
"Wait a second," Xander said, as he took the small piece of paper from Spike's hands and studied the mark. "I've seen this before. OH! Giles, remember those three vampires that attacked us in the graveyard. The ones from the night that Donny came."
"Of course!" Giles exclaimed. "They had this symbol on their right temples."
"That would have been the Trizeta. A group of three sent to do... recon if you will. They're not nearly as powerful as the rest of the clan though their job is pretty important."
"But we killed them," Xander said as he shook his head, "how could they have gotten any information back to their leader or, whatever?"
"They probably sent a messenger with the info. By the time they attacked you, they probably already knew everything that they had been told to find out."
"So it's true," Buffy spoke softly, more to herself than anyone else, "they are after Kat. It's been about her."
"I'm afraid so."
"But when... when we saw this vampire... it said that she will not live, nor shall she die. Do you know what that means?"
Sid shook his head apologetically. "Until I get my hands on their codex, I really can't say."
"And how do you know all about this?" Dawn asked, "how do you know so much about them and yet we couldn't find a thing."
"Well for one," Sid began his reply, "I've been around a bit longer than you and have picked up a few things since my first time being human. Secondly, I've had some major connections with the powers since I became human again and started up my agency. There's a portal to oracle sisters in Brooklyn that I can sometimes access."
"Lucky you," Buffy said bitterly. "Not that, you know, I should have access to oracles. I mean, I'm only the goddamn slayer, right? I'm only saving the freaking world, right? Why should I get privilege, or a break?"
"Sorry, Buffy," Sid told her with a sincere shrug. "I wish there was more that I could do for you. But all I have to offer really is muscle. And my devilishly handsome good looks, of course."
Buffy responded to his cocky smirk with a playful grin. "Of course."
"Wow," Willow finally said after moments of pensive silence. "It's like being warped back to high school. No offense, Sid, but I'd rather not."
"Can't blame you, Willow," he said with a nod. He then turned his head and eyed Spike, Dawn, and Tara. "I don't think I've been formally introduced to any of you," he told them. "Hi, I'm Sid."
"Dawn," said the youngest slayer as she held out her hand to the ex-puppet and shook his firmly. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Whoa, that's quite a grip you got there kid," Sid noticed as Dawn pulled back her hand self-consciously.
"She's a Slayer," Buffy informed him proudly.
"Oh yeah? Runs in the family, huh?"
Dawn shrugged. "Guess so."
"Yeah. Well," he said as he turned to Spike, "I caught your name before. Spike, right? And you're... a vampire. Are you... are you William the Bloody? That Spike?"
Spike shrugged and nodded. "The one and only."
"Interesting," Sid smirked as he studied the blonde vampire. "Very interesting," he continued to mutter as he turned his attention toward Tara. "And you are?"
"Tara," the witch told him as she shook Sid's hand. "I'm Willow's girlfriend."
Sid smiled wickedly at her. "Girlfriend, eh?" He asked, "hot."
Buffy choked a laugh as Tara turned beat red. "Horny dummy act, not just an act, huh?"
Sid turned to her and grinned naughtily. "Nope."
"Well," Xander said, planning to change the rather uncomfortable subject, "Will, Tara, we'd better get a move on. Anya's probably waiting and a shiny quarter says it will be my turn to change diapers when I get home."
"You guys are going so soon?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy," Willow said as she stood and walked to get her coat, "We've been here talking about this for hours."
"Oh," Buffy stated as she looked at the clock as saw that it was after five. "I didn't even... but where are you going?"
"Didn't we tell you?" Willow asked. "Tara are I going out to dinner with Xander, Anya and Nicky."
"You know," Buffy began as she ran her fingers through her long blonde tresses. "You probably did."
"Right, well, see you later. N-nice to meet you, S-sid," Tara stammered uncomfortably as she walked to the door.
"You too," he smirked at her and winked. Tara once again turned bright red as Willow rolled her eyes and the three friends left, shouting their good- byes.
"So, what's the sitch for tonight, then?" Dawn asked her superiors. "In terms of patrolling, I mean."
"Why don't Giles and I take Sid out for a routine patrol," Spike offered. "And you and Buffy could have some time to do whatever obnoxious girlie things you like to do."
"That's so sweet," Dawn told him flatly.
"That's actually a good idea," Giles offered. "You and Buffy have a night to yourselves."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Buffy inquired worriedly. "I mean, with this quasi-new vamp gang and all..."
"We'll be fine, love," Spike told her as he walked to the couch and sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and kissed her palm tenderly. Buffy smiled at him as she put a gentle hand on his cheek. Giles took of his glasses and started wiping them furiously on his shirt as Dawn sighed loudly, rolled her eyes emphatically, and crossed her arms petulantly.
Sid took in this scene which, surprisingly, even to himself, seemed perfectly normal.
"Very, very, interesting," he muttered.
~*~
Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy's wide waist and she put her hands on the back of his neck. The slayer rested her forehead against her lover's chin and he took in the moment, breathing in the scent of Buffy.
"Please be careful," she begged of him tiredly, her voice as weary as the rest of her body.
"Always am, pet," Spike said softly, soothing her aching muscles with his tone, as well as with his gentle fingers that were lightly massaging up and down her back. She nuzzled her face further into him and rested it at the base of his neck. Spike lowered his lips into her hair and kissed the top of her head tenderly. Buffy bathed in the feeling of having him surround her. The scent of battered leather and the hair gel which he used to slick back his dirty blonde curls whenever he patrolled. Buffy inhaled deeply and took him in, all of him, good or bad, he was hers.
"Oh enough already!" Dawn shouted from the living room. Buffy looked up from Spike's chest at her sitting who was cocking a belligerent eyebrow at her sister and her current grudge. "Enough with the mushy gushy. I think I might puke. Besides, Spike has demons to kill and Buffy and I have chick flicks to watch so could we just get on with it."
"All right, Dawn," Spike retorted angrily. He was getting bloody well fed up with the girl. He loved her to pieces but sometimes he couldn't stand her. And he knew she felt the same and he really couldn't care. He was beyond frustration and the only thing that kept him from asking her to take a step outside or screaming his head off at her was the fact that a very upsetable Buffy was still standing in his arms. That, and his guilt that still lingered from the night before.
Buffy turned her eyes on Spike who was staring down at Dawn from the foyer. The teen had already turned her attention to the TV where she was intently setting up the DVD. Buffy had to stifle a laugh when she saw a vein in Spike's forehead that she swore was about two seconds from popping. She appreciated his surprisingly successful attempt at keeping from exploding on her younger sister. After all, Spike wasn't exactly known for having the longest fuse. She smiled and placed a kiss upon his smooth, cool cheek.
"Don't get all worked up about it," Buffy instructed her undead paramour as she removed her lips from his skin. "She's just upset. Give it a day or two."
"Yeah, yeah," he said as he removed his hands from around her waist. "In a day or two I might kill her."
Buffy couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes at him she gave his hand a final squeeze before walking toward her sister who was waiting impatiently on the living room couch. Spike watched Buffy as she walked away from him, admiring the sheer beauty of her rather clumsy pregnant movements. He enjoyed it more than she could know.
"You ready?" Giles asked, pulling Spike from his daze.
"Wha-? Yeah, yeah, I'm good."
"Good," Sid smirked and nodded as he pulled on his dark bowler's cap. "Let's be on our way, then. Shall we?"
"We shall," Spike agreed as he led the other two men out the door. They walked together to the graveyard about two miles from Buffy's house. They figured it probably wouldn't be wise to travel too far from home. On the way, Giles listened with great interest and enthusiasm as Sid told his companions stories of the past eight years since regaining his humanity. Spike listened with interest, because... well... Sid's stories were interesting and he was a good storyteller; however, Spike couldn't manage to listen or respond with the same verve as Giles. Though Spike realized how selfish it was, he was, if anything, jealous of Sid. Why should he get the chance to be human again? How was that fair? Spike knew, however, that no rationalization could change the fact that unlike Spike, Sid didn't choose to be changed. He didn't ask to be turned into a dummy whereas Spike might as well have gotten down on his hands and knees. What he had wasn't a curse, not at first anyway. It had been a release, and though Spike wished there were a way for him to take his love and baby girl into the light, he wouldn't change any of his one hundred and twenty years for anything. If it hadn't been for his being a vampire, he wouldn't have been around to fall in love with Buffy and make a child with her. That was something he could never, ever regret.
Spike was pulled from his train of though by the fist connecting with his face. He suddenly felt the severe pain in his jaw as he fell onto his back. He licked his lips, tasting the blood trickling from his mouth. He spit the red liquid onto the dirt and shook his head in order to regain a somewhat balanced perception of the world. He looked up to see Sid and Giles taking on two very nasty looking vampires. It only took moment for Spike to see the tattooed symbol clearly on their left forearms.
The vampire stood, fueled by the primeval rage that he felt boiling inside of himself. Not only was he driven by his anger, but his paternal instincts as well. Something was threatening the life of his child, and Spike wouldn't have that.
As he advanced on the demons, flashes of when he saw their kind last flew through his mind. He could see the terrified look in Buffy's eyes, and the blood staining the leg of her pants. He could also remember vividly the blood that was dripping off of Dawn's thick, dark lashes, blinding her.
Sid and Giles stood back as they watched in amazement as Spike took out the first vampire in a matter of seconds. He was a whirlwind of blonde hair and black leather. They could see the familiar glint of yellow in his eyes and a flash of fang as his face shifted into that of a vampire as he staked the demon.
It took Spike mere moments to turn his attention from the dust that was landing gently on the grass to the other vampire that was staring the three down menacingly. Spike ran at him and had him pressed up against the wall of the nearest crypt after one punch and a strong kick to the abdomen. The blonde vampire held his forearm against the throat of his enemy and his other arm across his chest and arms. Sid and Giles were immediately by his side, the watcher holding a cross by the vampire's face and the demon hunter gripping a stake.
"You know what I want," Spike growled.
"Of course," the demon replied, as he ran his tongue over his teeth and fangs. His lips curled into a sinister smile which made Spike's cold blood boil.
"Well then, why don't you just get out with it then, and save us all the time it'll take for me to beat it out of you."
"Like it makes a difference to me," he responded nonchalantly, "you're going to kill me either way."
"True," Spike agreed. "But it can be quick, or I can make the dying last."
"Whatever suits you... I've got all night."
A cold realization hit Spike like a ton of bricks as his grip on the vampire fell away and he stumbled backward, trying to regain his balance.
"Oh my God," Spike breathed out, suddenly paralyzed with fear. "It's a distraction."
The vampire threw his head back again the concrete of the crypt and laughed. "Well, I underestimated you... that didn't take as long as I though it would. Oh well, a few second, a few minutes, a few hours, it won't change the fact that by the time you get home... she'll be gone."
Spike wasted no more of that time and broke into a run in the direction of Revello Drive. Giles followed behind him as quickly as he could, his own fears consuming every other thought in his mind. Sid, without thinking, staked the remaining vampire, and took off, trailing not far behind Giles, after Spike.
~*~
Dawn grabbed the two containers of ice cream from the freezer and two spoons before heading back into the living room. When she arrived there, she handed the chocolate chip cookie dough to her sister, and settled down happily with her pint of coffee heath bar crunch.
Buffy watched with amusement as her sister dug anxiously into her ice cream. "You're not pregnant too, are you?"
Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No. Just don't get between a slayer and her heath bar, that's all."
Buffy smiled. "You know, when Mom was pregnant with you, she ate at least three containers of that per week. Dad would joke that you would come all coffee ice cream if she wasn't careful..." Buffy considered this for a moment. "It was much funnier when I was five. And for a while I actually believed it."
Dawn smiled and shook her head slowly, not looking up from her ice cream. "Strange, strange monks." Buffy chose not to say anything in response and just laughed. She barely had time anyway before Dawn spoke again. "So, what movie do you wanna watch now?"
Buffy licked her lips pensively. "How about 'Moonstr-' ow."
"Moonstrow?"
"No," Buffy moaned as she stuck her spoon into her ice cream and put the container down on the coffee table. She used her now free hands to massage the suddenly tense areas in her stomach.
"Ow."
"Oh my God, Buffy, are you- contracting?"
Buffy almost answered with a 'maybe' but upon seeing the look of panic and dread in her sister's eyes she decided against it. "I doubt it," she told her, shaking her head. But the look of fear never left Dawn and Buffy laughed. "Sweetie, there's no need to be all paranoid. Calm yourself! I'm fine. It was just a twinge, perfectly normal. It- it's already going away. Plus, even if it were labor- which it isn't- it could be hours before we knew for sure."
Dawn nodded and took a deep, calming breath. "Right, right," she insisted more to herself than to Buffy, "what am I getting all worked up about?"
"Exactly my point."
"Okay. Okay then. So what movie?"
"How about-"
"What was that?" Dawn asked, interrupting her sister. Her ears perked up in response to the strange shuffling she heard coming from outside so late at night. "Did you hear something?"
Buffy shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "No I-"
"Hold on," Dawn insisted as she put her ice cream down of the table beside the couch. She stood and walked carefully toward the door, ignoring Buffy's complaints about being ignored and interrupted. Dawn pulled back the curtain at the door and peered outside.
"Oh God," she gasped. "Buffy!"
"Yeah?"
"Turn off the light and get upstairs to your room."
Buffy's heart immediately began pounding so hard that she thought it would burst through her chest. She could already tell that what she had been fearing all along was here, though every part of her being wanted to deny its truth.
"Dawn, what's wrong?"
"Just get upstairs, Buffy, please!"
The older slayer followed her sister's instructions obediently and turned off the lights before running up the stairs as quickly as she could. Dawn followed stealthily behind Buffy as they made their way into her bedroom.
"Sit," Dawn commanded her sister, "next to the bed."
Buffy did as she was told, but the suspense of know what she was about to find out was killing her. "Dawn, please, tell me what is going on." As if she didn't know.
"The vampire cult, the one Sid was talking about, the Zeta Khan... they're here. They're outside the house."
Dawn spent the next twenty-five minutes trying to call everyone she could think of that could help anywhere that she could possibly reach them. When she got no results, or at least not the result she was looking for, she tossed the phone onto Buffy's bed in bitter defeat.
"Nothing?" Buffy asked.
"Less than," Dawn informed her truthfully. "Xander and Anya aren't home yet and none of them are answering their cell phones. Spike and Giles didn't bring cell phones and I don't know if Sid even has one. If I did, I still don't know the number. Do you... do you know what restaurant Xander and Willow went to?"
Buffy thought as hard as she could for a few minutes before shaking her head slowly. "No. I don't remember if they even told me."
"Okay... okay... what about, what about Dad?"
"No!" Buffy insisted immediately, without giving it any thought.
"What? But Buffy-"
"No. It's out of the question. Dawn, if we were to call Dad you know what would happen. If he came, he'd come over here half-assed, not knowing what he's getting himself into and he'd get himself killed."
Dawn nodded in morbid agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
"All right, so why don't-" Buffy was cut off by her own moans of pain as her head fell back against the soft comforter of her bed. Dawn was instantly kneeling by her sister, taking her hand in her own.
"Buffy?"
"Ow."
"Oh God."
"Dawnie I-"
"Yeah, I figured it out already, thank you."
Dawn held Buffy's hand as she bore down in resistance to the pain. Dawn helped her sister with her Lamaze as best as she could until after a few long minutes, the pain subsided, and Buffy was able to communicate somewhat coherently.
"This is why they're here," she told Dawn who was still gripping her hand tightly. "They're here for Kat."
"I pretty much figured that that had to be it, yeah."
"God, Dawn, what are we gonna do?"
Dawn took a moment and considered her options over and over again in her head. In the end, it pretty much only came down to one. "I have to fight them."
Buffy's eyes widened with terror upon hearing her sister's resolved words. "No! You can't!"
"Yes, I can, I have to Buffy. There's nothing left for us to do."
"There has to be," Buffy insisted, "if we just waited-"
"Waited for what? For them to burn the house down, get us out that way. I'd rather not. Look, I'm the slayer too, and this is my decision." Dawn took both of her sister's hands. "You have to get out of here Buffy. I have to make sure that you get out of here for you and for her. You know, you know that this is the only way."
Buffy took a long moment to study her sister's determined face before declining her head in defeat. "I know."
"Yeah. Okay. So here's the plan as far as you go. Get the phone and the second I'm out of here try calling Xander and Willow again. Try Giles's house too, everywhere you can think of. Uh. the Magic Box too. Anywhere that any of them could possibly be. Keep calling until you reach someone. Hopefully I'll be able to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to come. If not that, long enough for Spike and Giles and Sid to come back. And Buffy?"
"Yes?"
"I need you to promise that no matter what you will not leave this room unless someone tell you that it is safe to do so. Promise me."
Buffy nodded profusely. "Yeah, Dawnie, I promise."
Dawn smiled and took her sister's face in her hands. She kissed Buffy's forehead gently before softly pressing her lips against the older slayer's swollen belly.
"Be good to your mom," she whispered and tears began to fall from Buffy's eyes. "I'll be seeing you soon."
Dawn stood up and walked with as much false confidence as she could muster toward the door. Her motion was stopped by Buffy calling to her.
"Dawn?"
Dawn turned around and once again placed a warm smile on her face. "Buffy, I really need you not say goodbye right now."
Buffy put her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out to her baby sister. Instead of speaking and risking the chance of bursting into hysterics, she merely nodded her head and watched her sister walk away. As soon as Dawn was gone, she grabbed the phone and began calling.
Dawn walked down the stairs holding head as high as she could, mentally preparing herself for the coming battle. When she got downstairs, she put on her shoes and thin, brown leather jacket. She filled every pocked with bottles of holy water and she placed a stake into each of her sleeves. She topped off her preparations by pulling her long, brown locks into a loose bun and grabbing a crossbow from the weapons chest. She loaded it and put an extra arrow into her left sleeve next to one of her stakes. She stood in front of the door with her hand on the knob for a few long moments before opening the door and stepping outside.
The night air was unusually chilly for June. Dawn decided that that was probably just nerves, that or the overwhelming feeling of impending doom. Though her sneakers barely made a noise as they pressed against the wood of the front porch, the slightest bit of movement was enough to attract the sound sensitive demons. They turned and stared her down like the predators they were. But Dawn decided that she wasn't afraid.
"So you wanted the descendent of the slayer?" Dawn asked them with a cocky grin. "Here I am."
~*~
TBC...
~*~
A/n: Okay everyone, only a very few more chapters to go (I'd tell you but... that'd be telling!) Anyway, I want to once again thank everyone who has stuck by this fic, it really means a lot to me. Also, I plan on having this done within the next two to three weeks now that I'm out the summer! Yay! So please keep reviewing! Thanks a million!
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.
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FAMILY
Chapter 27: More Than You Could Know
Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles sat together on Buffy's couch and listened to Sid's story with the same slack-jawed expressions that they had had the first time they met him. Dawn, Spike, and Tara lingered in the background listening into the tale, not quite sure what the ex-dummy was talking about, nor what they should make of him and his story.
"So after I killed the demon, I blacked out. I thought I was dead and I'm sure you thought I was dead and it was nothing more than I expected. It was a great release, something I had been working for, for decades. But then, two weeks later, I wake up in an alley in Manhattan, covered in garbage. I thought I got sent to Hell or something. Anyway, I got up and took a look at myself and I was dressed in a goddamn paper bag for Christ's sake. I figured something went wrong, and I started trying to think of a way I could somehow get to Sunnydale, I figured you could help me again, or maybe there was something that I had to do.
"Anyway, next thing I know, BAM! I feel like I've been knocked over by a ton of bricks and I pass out again. I woke up in this white... room sorta place, I'm not really sure what it was. But when I looked at myself again I was suddenly in Armani with my hair combed back and my shoes shined so I could see my reflection in 'em. Then this guy comes to me, just walks outta nowhere. I was on my guard, of course, after fighting demons for so long it's pretty much just reflex. He smiled at me and told me to calm down and that I was safe. I asked him where the hell I was and he said that it was irrelevant. Then he gave me this whole long song and dance which basically boiled down to that the Powers-That-Be were giving me a second chance at humanity. The body I was in belonged to a homeless guy who overdosed on heroine and died in the alley where I woke up.
"But to make the rest of my long story short, they set me up with a sweet little apartment on the Upper West Side, gave me enough money to fund my supernatural, and sometimes not, detective agency. Plus, they made any legal papers I would need: birth certificate, driver's license, and so on."
"Wow," Buffy said is amazement, "that is so..."
"Yeah," Willow agreed without moving her eyes from Sid.
"I'm so happy for you that you got that chance," Buffy told him with the hint of a laugh mixed into her delighted exclamation. "However, not that I'm not glad to see you, that doesn't explain why you're here."
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out," he told her as he gave a nod in the direction of her swollen belly and she put her hand there reflexively, "isn't that what everyone's here for. And uh, congratulations, by the way."
"Thanks. And yeah, I thought it might have something to do with Kat, but I still don't understand how you know."
"How could I not know? You think word doesn't spread on the underground? I may be across the country but that ain't nothing to a bunch of demons from other dimensions. I hear things, and when I hear it from at least a dozen demons I start to think that it's true. So, I got some associates to run the Agency for me while I took a little vacation and came here to see if the rumors were true, and they are. The Slayer and the vampire are having a baby."
"But, you couldn't have just picked up a phone? You couldn't have even called when you became human again? I mean, I know we weren't that close or anything but it would have been nice to know."
"Sorry, kid," Sid told her sincerely, "didn't realize you'd be so touched by a phone call. Either way, it was hard getting a start in life again."
"I understand that more than you know," Buffy said with the hint of a smile. Sid just squinted at her and chose not to question her meaning.
"Yeah," he nodded. "So anyway, I came here figuring that if it were true, you might need a little extra, I dunno, protection I guess. I mean, I know how strong a team you got here but an extra pair of arms that know how to handle weapons can't hurt. Besides, you helped me in my time of need so I figured it was about time I returned the favor."
Buffy smiled at Sid. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. They were only words, and the only words she could think to say because in truth, the gratitude she felt toward him was beyond words. It was more than he could ever know.
Suddenly, Dawn jumped up, startling everyone in the room. "Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly, "now it makes sense!"
Buffy looked at her sister as if she were insane. "What are you talking about?"
Dawn turned a bit red at Buffy's tone which was thick with irritation and confusion. "Oh... it- it's nothing. Just, when I was ten, I remember you burying something in the backyard around where Mom used to put weeds. It was wooden and creepy and I remember..." she trailed off and stared at Sid for a moment before looking back at Buffy, "was that him?"
"You buried me?" Sid asked, an amused looked in his eyes as his lips curled into a smooth grin.
"Well... yeah. I couldn't just leave you there. I felt bad so I took you home and put you in my room. Then at night, you were giving me a major wiggins so I decided to just bury you."
"Thanks, kid. I appreciate the sentiment," Sid told her as he chuckled to himself and smiled kindly at Buffy. He was a relatively young looking man, but as Buffy looked into his eyes she could see decades of rich history and stories. Buffy mentally dubbed him as having an old soul, and though she barely understood what she meant by that, she was sure that he would have.
"So... do you know what you're going to do while you're here in Sunnydale? I mean, if you need a place to stay you're more than welcome to-"
Sid put up a smooth hand and silenced her mid-sentence. "Don't worry about that. I hooked myself up with a nice little hotel room just outside of town. No offence to you guys, but I don't really wanna be staying within the Sunnydale borders."
"Can't say that I blame you," Xander responded with his characteristic quirky smile. "I mean, I'd rather not be within the borders either if I weren't already living here and stuff."
"But still, I mean, just while you're here, is there anything you'd like to see or do?"
Sid raised an eyebrow at the slayer. "There's stuff to do in Sunnydale?"
Buffy considered this for a moment before answering, "fair enough."
The ex-dummy ran his hand over his slicked-back light brown hair and a smile began to play on the corner of his nicely shaped lips. "Actually, if you want, I could help with some of the hunting..."
Buffy flinched at his use of the word 'hunting'. She never liked that word in referring to what she did. She didn't want to think of herself as doing something predatory. What she did was heroic, not barbarian or bloodthirsty. She was a champion, not a monster.
"Actually," she began, "we call it patrolling in these parts... but yeah! That would actually be really awesome, especially with this freaky vamp group cult thing that's in town."
Sid's face suddenly turned from warm and pleasant to serious and morose. "Did you say vampire cult?"
Buffy felt her stomach lurch. The look on Sid's face made her feel like she would throw up. She could tell before he even started speaking that what he had to say was bad news. And bad news was the absolute last thing Buffy needed to be hearing right then.
"Yes," Buffy answered weakly, wanting to lie just so that she could pretend that everything was okay.
"How many have you seen?"
"Just one," Buffy told him, "if it's even... we don't know if it's anything."
"Then why would refer to one vampire as a whole cult?" Sid asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"Because of the way he spoke," Spike answered for Buffy. "And his intense strength and somehow he knew about the baby."
"Were there any marks or identifying symbols on him?"
Spike shook his head. "No there were-" Spike stopped short as a picture of the vampire reappeared in his head. "Oh my God."
"Spike?" Buffy asked, as she studied the new look of worry on his face.
"There... there is... I mean... there was. I remember it now. Oh God, how could I not have remembered till now?"
"Do you have something I can write with?" Sid asked the vampire who nodded and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from off of the desk in the living room. He handed the items to Sid who signaled his thanks with a slight dip of his head. He leaned the piece of paper on his knee and drew a small design that looked like a 'Z' with a vertical line going through the middle of it.
"Did it look like this?" He asked as he handed the piece of paper to Spike. The vampire took the mark and studied it intently for a moment before closing his eyes and picturing the vamp in his head.
"Yes," he finally answered with a sigh. "It was on his left forearm. I barely got a look at it but... this is it. What is it?"
"Zeta Khan, a very old, very religious clan of vampires descended from St. Vigeous himself. They have a very strict code of laws for vampires which they follow to the letter. They also have this vampire bible of sorts that speaks of their history, as well as their future. There's a whole book of prophecies, and one of which, supposedly, speaks of a clan of eight vampire set out to take, or kill, I'm not sure, descendents of the slayer. For a while I thought they meant potential slayers, but once I heard that you were pregnant..."
"Wait a second," Xander said, as he took the small piece of paper from Spike's hands and studied the mark. "I've seen this before. OH! Giles, remember those three vampires that attacked us in the graveyard. The ones from the night that Donny came."
"Of course!" Giles exclaimed. "They had this symbol on their right temples."
"That would have been the Trizeta. A group of three sent to do... recon if you will. They're not nearly as powerful as the rest of the clan though their job is pretty important."
"But we killed them," Xander said as he shook his head, "how could they have gotten any information back to their leader or, whatever?"
"They probably sent a messenger with the info. By the time they attacked you, they probably already knew everything that they had been told to find out."
"So it's true," Buffy spoke softly, more to herself than anyone else, "they are after Kat. It's been about her."
"I'm afraid so."
"But when... when we saw this vampire... it said that she will not live, nor shall she die. Do you know what that means?"
Sid shook his head apologetically. "Until I get my hands on their codex, I really can't say."
"And how do you know all about this?" Dawn asked, "how do you know so much about them and yet we couldn't find a thing."
"Well for one," Sid began his reply, "I've been around a bit longer than you and have picked up a few things since my first time being human. Secondly, I've had some major connections with the powers since I became human again and started up my agency. There's a portal to oracle sisters in Brooklyn that I can sometimes access."
"Lucky you," Buffy said bitterly. "Not that, you know, I should have access to oracles. I mean, I'm only the goddamn slayer, right? I'm only saving the freaking world, right? Why should I get privilege, or a break?"
"Sorry, Buffy," Sid told her with a sincere shrug. "I wish there was more that I could do for you. But all I have to offer really is muscle. And my devilishly handsome good looks, of course."
Buffy responded to his cocky smirk with a playful grin. "Of course."
"Wow," Willow finally said after moments of pensive silence. "It's like being warped back to high school. No offense, Sid, but I'd rather not."
"Can't blame you, Willow," he said with a nod. He then turned his head and eyed Spike, Dawn, and Tara. "I don't think I've been formally introduced to any of you," he told them. "Hi, I'm Sid."
"Dawn," said the youngest slayer as she held out her hand to the ex-puppet and shook his firmly. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Whoa, that's quite a grip you got there kid," Sid noticed as Dawn pulled back her hand self-consciously.
"She's a Slayer," Buffy informed him proudly.
"Oh yeah? Runs in the family, huh?"
Dawn shrugged. "Guess so."
"Yeah. Well," he said as he turned to Spike, "I caught your name before. Spike, right? And you're... a vampire. Are you... are you William the Bloody? That Spike?"
Spike shrugged and nodded. "The one and only."
"Interesting," Sid smirked as he studied the blonde vampire. "Very interesting," he continued to mutter as he turned his attention toward Tara. "And you are?"
"Tara," the witch told him as she shook Sid's hand. "I'm Willow's girlfriend."
Sid smiled wickedly at her. "Girlfriend, eh?" He asked, "hot."
Buffy choked a laugh as Tara turned beat red. "Horny dummy act, not just an act, huh?"
Sid turned to her and grinned naughtily. "Nope."
"Well," Xander said, planning to change the rather uncomfortable subject, "Will, Tara, we'd better get a move on. Anya's probably waiting and a shiny quarter says it will be my turn to change diapers when I get home."
"You guys are going so soon?" Buffy asked.
"Buffy," Willow said as she stood and walked to get her coat, "We've been here talking about this for hours."
"Oh," Buffy stated as she looked at the clock as saw that it was after five. "I didn't even... but where are you going?"
"Didn't we tell you?" Willow asked. "Tara are I going out to dinner with Xander, Anya and Nicky."
"You know," Buffy began as she ran her fingers through her long blonde tresses. "You probably did."
"Right, well, see you later. N-nice to meet you, S-sid," Tara stammered uncomfortably as she walked to the door.
"You too," he smirked at her and winked. Tara once again turned bright red as Willow rolled her eyes and the three friends left, shouting their good- byes.
"So, what's the sitch for tonight, then?" Dawn asked her superiors. "In terms of patrolling, I mean."
"Why don't Giles and I take Sid out for a routine patrol," Spike offered. "And you and Buffy could have some time to do whatever obnoxious girlie things you like to do."
"That's so sweet," Dawn told him flatly.
"That's actually a good idea," Giles offered. "You and Buffy have a night to yourselves."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Buffy inquired worriedly. "I mean, with this quasi-new vamp gang and all..."
"We'll be fine, love," Spike told her as he walked to the couch and sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and kissed her palm tenderly. Buffy smiled at him as she put a gentle hand on his cheek. Giles took of his glasses and started wiping them furiously on his shirt as Dawn sighed loudly, rolled her eyes emphatically, and crossed her arms petulantly.
Sid took in this scene which, surprisingly, even to himself, seemed perfectly normal.
"Very, very, interesting," he muttered.
~*~
Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy's wide waist and she put her hands on the back of his neck. The slayer rested her forehead against her lover's chin and he took in the moment, breathing in the scent of Buffy.
"Please be careful," she begged of him tiredly, her voice as weary as the rest of her body.
"Always am, pet," Spike said softly, soothing her aching muscles with his tone, as well as with his gentle fingers that were lightly massaging up and down her back. She nuzzled her face further into him and rested it at the base of his neck. Spike lowered his lips into her hair and kissed the top of her head tenderly. Buffy bathed in the feeling of having him surround her. The scent of battered leather and the hair gel which he used to slick back his dirty blonde curls whenever he patrolled. Buffy inhaled deeply and took him in, all of him, good or bad, he was hers.
"Oh enough already!" Dawn shouted from the living room. Buffy looked up from Spike's chest at her sitting who was cocking a belligerent eyebrow at her sister and her current grudge. "Enough with the mushy gushy. I think I might puke. Besides, Spike has demons to kill and Buffy and I have chick flicks to watch so could we just get on with it."
"All right, Dawn," Spike retorted angrily. He was getting bloody well fed up with the girl. He loved her to pieces but sometimes he couldn't stand her. And he knew she felt the same and he really couldn't care. He was beyond frustration and the only thing that kept him from asking her to take a step outside or screaming his head off at her was the fact that a very upsetable Buffy was still standing in his arms. That, and his guilt that still lingered from the night before.
Buffy turned her eyes on Spike who was staring down at Dawn from the foyer. The teen had already turned her attention to the TV where she was intently setting up the DVD. Buffy had to stifle a laugh when she saw a vein in Spike's forehead that she swore was about two seconds from popping. She appreciated his surprisingly successful attempt at keeping from exploding on her younger sister. After all, Spike wasn't exactly known for having the longest fuse. She smiled and placed a kiss upon his smooth, cool cheek.
"Don't get all worked up about it," Buffy instructed her undead paramour as she removed her lips from his skin. "She's just upset. Give it a day or two."
"Yeah, yeah," he said as he removed his hands from around her waist. "In a day or two I might kill her."
Buffy couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes at him she gave his hand a final squeeze before walking toward her sister who was waiting impatiently on the living room couch. Spike watched Buffy as she walked away from him, admiring the sheer beauty of her rather clumsy pregnant movements. He enjoyed it more than she could know.
"You ready?" Giles asked, pulling Spike from his daze.
"Wha-? Yeah, yeah, I'm good."
"Good," Sid smirked and nodded as he pulled on his dark bowler's cap. "Let's be on our way, then. Shall we?"
"We shall," Spike agreed as he led the other two men out the door. They walked together to the graveyard about two miles from Buffy's house. They figured it probably wouldn't be wise to travel too far from home. On the way, Giles listened with great interest and enthusiasm as Sid told his companions stories of the past eight years since regaining his humanity. Spike listened with interest, because... well... Sid's stories were interesting and he was a good storyteller; however, Spike couldn't manage to listen or respond with the same verve as Giles. Though Spike realized how selfish it was, he was, if anything, jealous of Sid. Why should he get the chance to be human again? How was that fair? Spike knew, however, that no rationalization could change the fact that unlike Spike, Sid didn't choose to be changed. He didn't ask to be turned into a dummy whereas Spike might as well have gotten down on his hands and knees. What he had wasn't a curse, not at first anyway. It had been a release, and though Spike wished there were a way for him to take his love and baby girl into the light, he wouldn't change any of his one hundred and twenty years for anything. If it hadn't been for his being a vampire, he wouldn't have been around to fall in love with Buffy and make a child with her. That was something he could never, ever regret.
Spike was pulled from his train of though by the fist connecting with his face. He suddenly felt the severe pain in his jaw as he fell onto his back. He licked his lips, tasting the blood trickling from his mouth. He spit the red liquid onto the dirt and shook his head in order to regain a somewhat balanced perception of the world. He looked up to see Sid and Giles taking on two very nasty looking vampires. It only took moment for Spike to see the tattooed symbol clearly on their left forearms.
The vampire stood, fueled by the primeval rage that he felt boiling inside of himself. Not only was he driven by his anger, but his paternal instincts as well. Something was threatening the life of his child, and Spike wouldn't have that.
As he advanced on the demons, flashes of when he saw their kind last flew through his mind. He could see the terrified look in Buffy's eyes, and the blood staining the leg of her pants. He could also remember vividly the blood that was dripping off of Dawn's thick, dark lashes, blinding her.
Sid and Giles stood back as they watched in amazement as Spike took out the first vampire in a matter of seconds. He was a whirlwind of blonde hair and black leather. They could see the familiar glint of yellow in his eyes and a flash of fang as his face shifted into that of a vampire as he staked the demon.
It took Spike mere moments to turn his attention from the dust that was landing gently on the grass to the other vampire that was staring the three down menacingly. Spike ran at him and had him pressed up against the wall of the nearest crypt after one punch and a strong kick to the abdomen. The blonde vampire held his forearm against the throat of his enemy and his other arm across his chest and arms. Sid and Giles were immediately by his side, the watcher holding a cross by the vampire's face and the demon hunter gripping a stake.
"You know what I want," Spike growled.
"Of course," the demon replied, as he ran his tongue over his teeth and fangs. His lips curled into a sinister smile which made Spike's cold blood boil.
"Well then, why don't you just get out with it then, and save us all the time it'll take for me to beat it out of you."
"Like it makes a difference to me," he responded nonchalantly, "you're going to kill me either way."
"True," Spike agreed. "But it can be quick, or I can make the dying last."
"Whatever suits you... I've got all night."
A cold realization hit Spike like a ton of bricks as his grip on the vampire fell away and he stumbled backward, trying to regain his balance.
"Oh my God," Spike breathed out, suddenly paralyzed with fear. "It's a distraction."
The vampire threw his head back again the concrete of the crypt and laughed. "Well, I underestimated you... that didn't take as long as I though it would. Oh well, a few second, a few minutes, a few hours, it won't change the fact that by the time you get home... she'll be gone."
Spike wasted no more of that time and broke into a run in the direction of Revello Drive. Giles followed behind him as quickly as he could, his own fears consuming every other thought in his mind. Sid, without thinking, staked the remaining vampire, and took off, trailing not far behind Giles, after Spike.
~*~
Dawn grabbed the two containers of ice cream from the freezer and two spoons before heading back into the living room. When she arrived there, she handed the chocolate chip cookie dough to her sister, and settled down happily with her pint of coffee heath bar crunch.
Buffy watched with amusement as her sister dug anxiously into her ice cream. "You're not pregnant too, are you?"
Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No. Just don't get between a slayer and her heath bar, that's all."
Buffy smiled. "You know, when Mom was pregnant with you, she ate at least three containers of that per week. Dad would joke that you would come all coffee ice cream if she wasn't careful..." Buffy considered this for a moment. "It was much funnier when I was five. And for a while I actually believed it."
Dawn smiled and shook her head slowly, not looking up from her ice cream. "Strange, strange monks." Buffy chose not to say anything in response and just laughed. She barely had time anyway before Dawn spoke again. "So, what movie do you wanna watch now?"
Buffy licked her lips pensively. "How about 'Moonstr-' ow."
"Moonstrow?"
"No," Buffy moaned as she stuck her spoon into her ice cream and put the container down on the coffee table. She used her now free hands to massage the suddenly tense areas in her stomach.
"Ow."
"Oh my God, Buffy, are you- contracting?"
Buffy almost answered with a 'maybe' but upon seeing the look of panic and dread in her sister's eyes she decided against it. "I doubt it," she told her, shaking her head. But the look of fear never left Dawn and Buffy laughed. "Sweetie, there's no need to be all paranoid. Calm yourself! I'm fine. It was just a twinge, perfectly normal. It- it's already going away. Plus, even if it were labor- which it isn't- it could be hours before we knew for sure."
Dawn nodded and took a deep, calming breath. "Right, right," she insisted more to herself than to Buffy, "what am I getting all worked up about?"
"Exactly my point."
"Okay. Okay then. So what movie?"
"How about-"
"What was that?" Dawn asked, interrupting her sister. Her ears perked up in response to the strange shuffling she heard coming from outside so late at night. "Did you hear something?"
Buffy shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "No I-"
"Hold on," Dawn insisted as she put her ice cream down of the table beside the couch. She stood and walked carefully toward the door, ignoring Buffy's complaints about being ignored and interrupted. Dawn pulled back the curtain at the door and peered outside.
"Oh God," she gasped. "Buffy!"
"Yeah?"
"Turn off the light and get upstairs to your room."
Buffy's heart immediately began pounding so hard that she thought it would burst through her chest. She could already tell that what she had been fearing all along was here, though every part of her being wanted to deny its truth.
"Dawn, what's wrong?"
"Just get upstairs, Buffy, please!"
The older slayer followed her sister's instructions obediently and turned off the lights before running up the stairs as quickly as she could. Dawn followed stealthily behind Buffy as they made their way into her bedroom.
"Sit," Dawn commanded her sister, "next to the bed."
Buffy did as she was told, but the suspense of know what she was about to find out was killing her. "Dawn, please, tell me what is going on." As if she didn't know.
"The vampire cult, the one Sid was talking about, the Zeta Khan... they're here. They're outside the house."
Dawn spent the next twenty-five minutes trying to call everyone she could think of that could help anywhere that she could possibly reach them. When she got no results, or at least not the result she was looking for, she tossed the phone onto Buffy's bed in bitter defeat.
"Nothing?" Buffy asked.
"Less than," Dawn informed her truthfully. "Xander and Anya aren't home yet and none of them are answering their cell phones. Spike and Giles didn't bring cell phones and I don't know if Sid even has one. If I did, I still don't know the number. Do you... do you know what restaurant Xander and Willow went to?"
Buffy thought as hard as she could for a few minutes before shaking her head slowly. "No. I don't remember if they even told me."
"Okay... okay... what about, what about Dad?"
"No!" Buffy insisted immediately, without giving it any thought.
"What? But Buffy-"
"No. It's out of the question. Dawn, if we were to call Dad you know what would happen. If he came, he'd come over here half-assed, not knowing what he's getting himself into and he'd get himself killed."
Dawn nodded in morbid agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
"All right, so why don't-" Buffy was cut off by her own moans of pain as her head fell back against the soft comforter of her bed. Dawn was instantly kneeling by her sister, taking her hand in her own.
"Buffy?"
"Ow."
"Oh God."
"Dawnie I-"
"Yeah, I figured it out already, thank you."
Dawn held Buffy's hand as she bore down in resistance to the pain. Dawn helped her sister with her Lamaze as best as she could until after a few long minutes, the pain subsided, and Buffy was able to communicate somewhat coherently.
"This is why they're here," she told Dawn who was still gripping her hand tightly. "They're here for Kat."
"I pretty much figured that that had to be it, yeah."
"God, Dawn, what are we gonna do?"
Dawn took a moment and considered her options over and over again in her head. In the end, it pretty much only came down to one. "I have to fight them."
Buffy's eyes widened with terror upon hearing her sister's resolved words. "No! You can't!"
"Yes, I can, I have to Buffy. There's nothing left for us to do."
"There has to be," Buffy insisted, "if we just waited-"
"Waited for what? For them to burn the house down, get us out that way. I'd rather not. Look, I'm the slayer too, and this is my decision." Dawn took both of her sister's hands. "You have to get out of here Buffy. I have to make sure that you get out of here for you and for her. You know, you know that this is the only way."
Buffy took a long moment to study her sister's determined face before declining her head in defeat. "I know."
"Yeah. Okay. So here's the plan as far as you go. Get the phone and the second I'm out of here try calling Xander and Willow again. Try Giles's house too, everywhere you can think of. Uh. the Magic Box too. Anywhere that any of them could possibly be. Keep calling until you reach someone. Hopefully I'll be able to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to come. If not that, long enough for Spike and Giles and Sid to come back. And Buffy?"
"Yes?"
"I need you to promise that no matter what you will not leave this room unless someone tell you that it is safe to do so. Promise me."
Buffy nodded profusely. "Yeah, Dawnie, I promise."
Dawn smiled and took her sister's face in her hands. She kissed Buffy's forehead gently before softly pressing her lips against the older slayer's swollen belly.
"Be good to your mom," she whispered and tears began to fall from Buffy's eyes. "I'll be seeing you soon."
Dawn stood up and walked with as much false confidence as she could muster toward the door. Her motion was stopped by Buffy calling to her.
"Dawn?"
Dawn turned around and once again placed a warm smile on her face. "Buffy, I really need you not say goodbye right now."
Buffy put her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out to her baby sister. Instead of speaking and risking the chance of bursting into hysterics, she merely nodded her head and watched her sister walk away. As soon as Dawn was gone, she grabbed the phone and began calling.
Dawn walked down the stairs holding head as high as she could, mentally preparing herself for the coming battle. When she got downstairs, she put on her shoes and thin, brown leather jacket. She filled every pocked with bottles of holy water and she placed a stake into each of her sleeves. She topped off her preparations by pulling her long, brown locks into a loose bun and grabbing a crossbow from the weapons chest. She loaded it and put an extra arrow into her left sleeve next to one of her stakes. She stood in front of the door with her hand on the knob for a few long moments before opening the door and stepping outside.
The night air was unusually chilly for June. Dawn decided that that was probably just nerves, that or the overwhelming feeling of impending doom. Though her sneakers barely made a noise as they pressed against the wood of the front porch, the slightest bit of movement was enough to attract the sound sensitive demons. They turned and stared her down like the predators they were. But Dawn decided that she wasn't afraid.
"So you wanted the descendent of the slayer?" Dawn asked them with a cocky grin. "Here I am."
~*~
TBC...
~*~
A/n: Okay everyone, only a very few more chapters to go (I'd tell you but... that'd be telling!) Anyway, I want to once again thank everyone who has stuck by this fic, it really means a lot to me. Also, I plan on having this done within the next two to three weeks now that I'm out the summer! Yay! So please keep reviewing! Thanks a million!