A/N: Someone asked how old the kids are, so here are the ages:

Angel: 15

Harmony: 11

Darla: 10

Dru: 7

Spike: 4

New Beginnings Chapter 2

"This house is a dump," I muttered under my breath as we obediently trailed dad and the realtor showing us yet another house. We'd only been in Sunnydale two days and already I swear, we've seen not only every house for sale here, but every house in all of California, and dad just insists on bringing us along with him, I guess he thinks that including us in mind numbingly boring activities will keep us out of trouble. Well, it hasn't worked so far.

It's early in the morning and I suppress a yawn as I walk through the small two story house watching as our real estate agent practically skips down the halls. "And here is a splendid kitchen! It's just so quaint! And perfect for dinner parties!" Angel snickers at the thought of Dad having a dinner party until a stern glance shushes him.

As the real-estate agent continues talking about how great the kitchen was dad nods, taking his glasses off, wipes them on his shirt and nods again. I stare at the small kitchen with tacky lime green counters and water spotted hardwood floors and wonder if I'm seeing the same kitchen they are.

"This is a dump," I reiterated wondering why we couldn't get a nice house like we had in London. It was three stories and we'd been in the same house ever since I was born, I don't like that everything's changing now.first the divorce and now the move.

The real-estate agent, her name was Christie something, glared at me a second before turning back to dad and continuing on about how great the kitchen was, using more words like 'superb' and 'amazing.' I wandered off to see where Dru, Harmony and Spike had gone.

I found them in the upstairs bedroom, Spike was jumping on the bed as Dru looked out the window and whispered something to Miss Edith. I didn't know where Harmony was, but I really didn't care much either.

"Spike, take your shoes off before you jump on the bed," I admonished, grabbing him and setting him on the floor as I sat down on the bed and leaned again the wall, wondering how long this could possibly take.

Spike stuck his tongue out at me and tried to climb back up on the bed. I grinned and shoved him off again. Teasing my little brother was one way to pass the time, and hey, Angel used to do it to me all the time until he decided he was to cool to have anything to do with us at all. After about my forth or fifth time shoving Spike off the bed he gave a little growl of frustration and balled his tiny hands into fists, backing up and taking a running leap for the bed. He climbed on and as I raised my arm to gently shove him off again, he grabbed my hand and bit me.

"Ow, brat!" I snapped jumping up shaking my hand, and glaring at him.

He grinned at me and replied, "That's what you get, bloody wanking bint!" jumping in the bed once again.

Forgetting the dull throb of pain in my hand I looked at Spike curiously and asked, "William, where did you learn those words?"

"Nooo," he whined, "My name is Spike, not Willium, he said with a slight lisp. I smirked; he never could say his real name properly. "And I learned it from dad." He replied, popping his thumb in his mouth and making a little chat out of it, "Bloody, wanker bint, sodding bloody wanker bint."

I ignored him and noticed Drusilla, still sitting quietly by the window. She hadn't moved or said a word the entire time.

"Dru, what are you doing?" I asked, walking over to her.

"Watching," Drusilla replied, keeping her eyes firmly on the window.

I looked out too and saw nothing but the other houses; there weren't even any people outside or cars driving by. "Watching what, Dru?"

"England," she replied with a nod as she pointed her small finger to the window as if the country was just over the tops of the houses across the street. "If I squint real hard, I can see England. It's raining there." Dru looked down at Miss Edith and then held her up to the glass and looked at me, "Miss Edith sees it too." She informed me.

I shrugged, if Drusilla wanted to see England, let her see England. I was about to reply when I heard Angel's shuffled footsteps walk into he room. I turned around to look at him, his hands were stuck in his pockets and he had his head down. I wondered if all teenage boys looked this broody.

"Finally come to hang out with us?" I asked sharply, crossing my arms.

He gave a non-committal nod and muttered, "I got bored." He ignored Spike and I completely and glanced at Dru, asking her the same question I had only minutes ago. "Drusilla, what are you doing?"

Dru looked up, but I answered for her, "She's watching England." I said as if it were the most logical thing in the world, my tone daring him to argue with me.

"She can't see England," Harmony argued, walking into the room, chewing her gum noisily, "England's, like, in a whole different country."

"England is a country-" Angel started to explain, but I cut him off, getting an idea as I watched Harmony.

"Lets play hide-and-seek!" I said with a grin in Harmony's direction and a wink in Angel's, this was one time I could actually use him.

Harmony made a face at me, "Hide-and-seek's for little kids." She replied.

"Fine, the rest of us'll just play then."

"No, I wanna play too," she quickly decided, never wanting to be left out of something.

"Okay," I said with a smile, "I'll count first and everyone else go hide." I closed my eyes and started to count, cracking one eyes open and watching Harmony jog from the room. Spike climbed off the bed and ran out too, but Dru and Angel fortunately had the good sense to know I was up to something and stayed put. After a moment a stopped counting and opened my eyes turning to Drusilla and asked, "Where's she go?"

Dru was silent for a moment before answering, "linen closet; are going to cheat and find her first?"

"Heh, she wishes." I said, looking around the room, "Angel, grab a chair or something to jamb under the door knob. Harm's not getting out any time soon and maybe Dad'll be so preoccupied with the house stuff, he'll forget all about her and leave her here."

Angel started to grin but quickly hid it behind a scowl, "Darla, that's not a very nice thing to do." He informed me sound even more like dad than dad did, if that was possible.

I sighed exasperatedly, "I know Angel, but are you gonna help, or not? If I drug a chair all the way down the hall, she'd hear me coming, but you can do it quietly."

"Okay," Angel finally agreed, acting like he was so put-upon. Drusilla and I followed him out of the bedroom and into the room next to it, which was slightly smaller and must have served as an office judging by the desk and hard backed chair. Angel grabbed the chair and walked out again as Dru and I cast excited glances at each other trying not to laugh as Angel wedged the chair back under the linen closet door knob leaving it effectively stuck.

Dru started to giggle and I put a hand over her mouth to quiet her before saying loudly, "Harm, where are you? I've found everyone else, but I can't find you."

"Then you didn't try very hard." Harmony replied from in the closet, as she tired to turn the doorknob and realized it was stuck. She tried again and then rattled it, "Darla, can you open the door? I think it's stuck."

I took my hand off Dru's mouth and replied, "Yeah, I could, Harm, but.I don't think I will."

"But it's stucccckkk," she whined, lunging against it, the door rattled but still stayed put.

"Yeah, I bet the chair jammed under the knob has something to do with that." I said, almost doubling over with laughter as I walked back to the bedroom, with Dru in tow.

I even heard Angel chuckle a bit before he headed back downstairs, and Spike came out to see the all the commotion was about.

He eyed me suspiciously, this thumb in his mouth and asked, "What did you do?"

I pointed to the closet where Harmony was still kicking the door and whining for me to let her out and smirked.

Spike laughed, "You're gonna be in soooooo much trouble when dad finds out." He said, popping his thumb out of his mouth and looking at me with solemn eyes.

I shrugged and replied "So? It's worth it."

Spike grinned at me, "Trouble maker," he teased, "Blooding sodding hell trouble maker."

I stuck my tongue out and chased him down the stairs, when we rounded the corner both of us ran right into dad and the real-estate lady. Dad didn't look happy.

"Darla.why is there so much noise upstairs. What are you kids doing?"

I tried to put on my most innocent smile before answering, "Nothing at all."

I think my lie would have worked too, if Harm hadn't come down the stairs right then. I smirked; I guess she got the door open.

The second dad looked at her, she pointed a finger at me, "Darla locked me in the closet." She whined, "And I couldn't get out and, they were laughing at me, and I broke a nail!" she finished with a huff, examining her pearl pink nail polish. I rolled my eyes at her; she acts like such a little priss. When I turned back to dad the smile slipped from my face, he was furious, I could tell, and I knew I was in huge trouble.

TBC. Next chapter: the Aurelius's move into a house and Darla meets Buffy. Please read and review.