A New Lullaby

Chapter 2

The smug grin fell from Spike's face as his mouth hung open in surprise. "What?" he asked, shaking his head, "What the bloody hell are you talking about?" he demanded.

Darla rolled her eyes and repeated again slowly, "The child is yours," pointing to her stomach to illustrate the point as if he were a complete idiot.

"But…" Spike trailed off shaking his head, all thoughts of Buffy gone, how could Darla be pregnant? She was a vampire…he was a vampire, these things just couldn't happen, it was impossible! He tried to get a coherent thought together to argue the point, as if that would help, "But…you're a vampire." He finished lamely.

Darla sighed impatiently and muttered, "Oh, God, I hope the kid doesn't wind up with your intelligence."

"You're keeping it?" Spike asked.

"I don't know; this shouldn't have even happened. I don't want it anymore than you do, but I need to find out what it is…what's inside of me." Darla told him, a combination of frustration and helplessness in her voice as she felt her eyes well with tears. She hated this, being pregnant, not knowing why or how, and all these emotions that went with it. She just wanted it to stop.

Spike started to pace his crypt, wondering what he should do. Maybe Angel could help them, he thought, but shook his head realizing that Angel, no matter how 'over' Darla he claimed to be, would stake them both if he ever found out they'd slept together. He could go to Buffy…but how could he prove to her that he was in love with her if she knew he was knocking up other girls? It didn't even mean anything with Darla, it was just something that happened; Dru had left him for the last time and Angel had kicked Darla out despite her best efforts to turn him into Angelus again, they were lonely and, okay, more than a little drunk, but it wasn't supposed to be anything more than a one night stand and this was much more.

"Damn it," Spike swore, "How could you let this happen?" he yelled, turning to her, his hands balled into angry fist at his sides, his eyes cold and glaring. He wanted to hit her, yell at her, make her go away, tell her he wished Wolfram and Hart would have just let her stay dusted, she was wrecking his life, he didn't need this right now, he had Buffy to deal with, and his chip and a whole load of other things, he just wanted to make her stop. And then, he saw the tears in her eyes. Everything he'd wanted to do to her or because of her melted away and he felt his arms wrap around her in a hug. He found himself whisper promises to her that they'd figure it out and everything would be okay, promises he knew he couldn't keep.

And he wondered why he didn't just kick her out right then, why his arms were sill around her and why he rested his chin on her head lightly, taking in the scent of her shampoo, smiling to himself because she always smelled like lavender. She was his great-grandsire, and he rationalized that he just couldn't turn his back on family. He nodded silently, agreeing with that, it was a family obligation, nothing more…if only he could make himself believe it.

A/N: Please review! The next chapter: Buffy finds out that Darla's in town, tries to find her and Spike interferes.