Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox,
etc... except of course the ones I make up.
Summary: The consequence for Buffy and Spike's daughter, Kat, is revealed. It was the last thing that they ever expected, and the most horrible thing that anyone could have imagined. *Sequel to "FAMILY"*
Spoilers: None. Just know that everything after "Normal Again" didn't happen.
~*~
TRADEOFF
Chapter 6: Halloween
Buffy finished her coffee and put her mug down on the table; Willow did the same.
"Well," Willow began, letting out a heavy sigh. "It's official."
Buffy was confused. "What is?"
"That was the best damn coffee I have ever had."
"Oh stop," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.
"No, I mean it. I almost didn't come over when you asked me to, but once you said you were making some coffee, I knew I had to haul ass."
"Oh would you give it a rest? It's bad enough we that barely hang out with one another."
Nodding, Willow cracked a smile. "Our love is a forbidden love."
Buffy laughed and picked up the cups from the coffee table and made to carry them into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She knew who it was, it had to be Xander returning what she had lent to him earlier that day.
"Hey, Will, would you answer that?"
Willow nodded and headed toward the door. She opened it and smiled at her best friend who was holding Kat's hand in his right hand, and Nicky's in his left. Kat said a quick hello to her Aunt Willow before running into the living room and turning on the television. She hopped up onto the couch where Nicky was already settling in. Willow turned her attention to Xander.
"It's my Xander," she said smiling and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, Willow. How's it going?"
Letting her friend go, Willow shrugged and shut the door. "Meh, you know."
"I have an idea. How's Tara."
"Lovely as always."
"As I thought."
Buffy walked back from the kitchen and saw Xander and Willow conversing. "So you started the pleasantries without me, huh?"
Xander merely smiled and planted a kiss on Buffy's forehead. "Hey Xand." Buffy looked over to the couch from the foyer and saw her daughter and Nicky sitting there, eyes glued to the TV.
"Hey Kat. Hey Nick."
The two children made strange sorts of grumbling noises and didn't turn their attention from the TV. Buffy was always amazed by the way Nickelodeon could practically hypnotize children and make them mindless drones. The slayer wondered if maybe there was some sort of evil, mystical conspiracy taking place. Even if there was, she didn't care much because, thankfully, Spongebob and Patrick always managed to keep the young ones out of her hair when she needed to be left alone.
Buffy suddenly remembered, "Oh hey, Kat! I have something for you."
This, unsurprisingly, got her daughter's full attention, and the child bolted from the couch and to her mother's side.
"What? What?"
"I got your Halloween costume."
The girl's eyes lit up. "So I can be a witch?"
"Yes, ma'am. Hold on, I'll get it from the kitchen."
Kat, however, could not hold on, and followed her mother to where the costume had been placed. Even Nicky, who was now very interested, hopped off the couch and went with the crowd into the kitchen. Buffy grabbed the Party City bag off of the island and Kat recognized the logo immediately.
"You got my Halloween costume!" The child squealed excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Yes I did. One witch costume, just for my girl." To this, Willow rolled her eyes without letting Kat see, but she was too busy reaching into the bag and pulling out the costume. Looking at the picture on the front of the package, the elated smile faded from her face. Tears filled Kat's big blue eyes and she let go of the costume, allowing it to fall sloppily to the floor.
"Hon, what's wrong?" Buffy asked as she picked up the package off of the floor.
"I said I wanted to be a witch!" The girl explained angrily to her mother.
Buffy was confused. "Kat, it is a witch."
"No!" Kat exclaimed knowingly. "It doesn't even have red hair!"
Buffy was still quite lost when it clicked. "Oh," she smiled at her daughter, "you wanted to be a witch like Willow." Kat nodded. "You didn't tell me that."
The young child sighed in exasperation. "Other kinds of witches are dumb! They're not even real! Aunt Willow says hats and brooms are for foamies!"
"Foamies?" Buffy question, raising her brow.
Willow giggled. "Phonies, Kat, I said they were for phonies. But you were close enough."
Kat, too young to understand the humor of the situation, only found herself getting angrier by the second. She saw no mistake in herself; her request had been simple enough. Why couldn't Mommy and Aunt Willow understand that?
In a fit of pure, childish fury, Kat threw her arms up, let out an angry howl that sounded almost like a snarl, and ran upstairs as fast as her small legs could carry her. Buffy, though she knew better, couldn't help but laugh.
"Well," Xander said, "as fun as this is, I think I'm gonna head out, let you guys take care of it."
Buffy and Willow both nodded understandingly.
"See ya, Xander."
"Bye, Xand."
"So," Willow began, an amused smile settled on her thin lips. "What now?"
Buffy wasn't sure. "It's just so damn cute."
"I know. But don't you think you might want to talk to her?" Willow prodded.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother." The slayer trotted lightly up the stairs with the witch not far behind. Buffy glanced into her daughter's room and as she suspected, Kat was not within. Buffy groaned.
"What?"
"She woke up Spike. How many times do I have to tell that girl?"
"He is her father, you know. How many times has she woken you up in the middle of the night or otherwise? It's only fair."
"Still, it's hard enough for him as it is, you know?"
"No. I don't."
"I just mean that he's been working really hard since I got pregnant with Kat to be a domestic and that's not him. I feel bad."
"Are you kidding? That is so him. If he loves you, he's willing to be domestic, and I think we all know very well that he does love you."
"I guess. Anyway, time to face the beast." Buffy entered her room cautiously to see Spike cradling their daughter in his arms. She was sobbing relentless, and Spike just seemed confused.
"What the hell happened to her?" He asked, obviously trying to mask his irritation.
"Mommy and Aunt Willow laughed at me!" Kat wailed dramatically. She turned her body so that she was facing the two women and continued, "you hurt my feelings!"
Buffy wanted so badly to laugh again, but she decided it wouldn't be wise. "Kat, I wasn't laughing at you. I just thought it was sweet that you wanted to be like Willow. I would never intentionally hurt your feelings."
"If you love me, you won't laugh!"
Buffy sighed. "You know I love you so don't give me that. And I promise I won't laugh at you anymore. Kay?"
Buffy could see that her daughter was nodding against her father's chest. "All right, then. Why don't I take you out so Daddy can go back to sleeping?"
Spike shook his head. "Nah, it's all right."
"Are you sure, because me and Will could-"
"Buffy!" He said her name sternly, but his eyes shone with affection. "I got her."
The slayer nodded and walked with Willow out of the room. Before she did, she took a moment to watch her daughter snuggling into her father's chest like a piece of puzzle. It made perfect sense, of course. Kat was more a part of Spike than anything in the world, and Buffy knew that nothing, not even domestication, could take that away from her.
~*~
"You owe me big time for this one, Slayer. I mean big."
Buffy shook her head angrily. "You can't be serious."
"Dead serious. I'm talking big."
Buffy pulled a pillow over her head and had to force back tears. "Go fuck yourself," she muttered.
"Oh come on, you know I'm joking, mostly," Spike added, rolling his eyes.
"Well I obviously don't find it very funny. I wouldn't ask you to this if I didn't need you to. Your amusement at my expense is never funny, especially when I'm stuck in bed with a goddamn fever, puking my guts out!"
Spike's smug smirk quickly left his face. "I'm sorry, love. It just gives me a bad feeling going out tonight."
"Oh would you get over it! It's Halloween! Not like you haven't been out on Halloween before. Like, oh say, that time you tried to kill me."
"I really don't appreciate that."
"You deserve it."
"Fine. I said I'd do it, didn't I? I didn't say I'd be happy about it."
"And I didn't ask you to like it. All I asked was for you to take your daughter out trick-or-treating for a few hours with Nicky and Xander and the baby."
"And that's what I'm doing."
"Not before you complained about it pretty much since I asked you yesterday. You know I'd do it if I weren't sick. Would it kill you to be just a little nice to me? Would it kill you to act like a normal human for one night?"
Spike could help but choke a laugh at that one. "Of all the nights for you to be asking that of me..."
Buffy smiled at this too, much against her will. "You could have at least dressed up a little."
Spike grinned fiendishly, seductively, and morphed into his vampire guise. "I have a built-in costume. Easy as pie."
Buffy laughed. "You've got to be kidding. You are not letting our daughter see that. Not yet anyway."
Spike leaned over and buried his face in Buffy's neck. "But I'm evil!" He taunted in a ridiculous voice. "EEEEEVIIIIIIL!"
Buffy burst into laughter as he nibbled on her neck and pinched her delicately in her ribs. His hands traveled lightly down the sides of her stomach and came to rest on her hips. Buffy released a slight yelp when she felt the light pressure of Spike's fangs against the flesh of her shoulder. She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, pressing his lips upon her skin.
Buffy leaned in to kiss him but was interrupted by a an almost silent, "Daddy?"
Kat was there too fast and Spike was too startled so that when he looked up, he hadn't changed back into his normal, human appearance. Seeing his daughter standing there, mouth agape, eyes wide as saucers, he could not muster up the mental coordination to change back. Buffy saw on his face not a look of anger, nor one of embarrassment; he simply looked ashamed.
"Kat, baby-" he stammered helplessly. He wanted so desperately to explain without lying. She knew that he was a vampire, Buffy and Spike had made a point of not keeping it a complete secret; it would have complicated matters too much if they had tried. But Kat had never seen Spike's demon, and they had decided they wouldn't show her until she was much older and could accept it without a complete freak out. It was too late now, there was no going back, and Buffy and Spike were completely unprepared.
The little girl took a few cautious steps forward until she was standing no more than a foot away from her father, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Daddy," she began, her voice eerily calm, "it's real."
The statement that their daughter made was, to them, extremely profound. The evenness with which she said it, the understanding. She did not sound afraid or angry or sad, it merely sounded like a statement of fact.
"Yeah, Kitten, it's real."
Kat nodded and licked her lips. Then in a low, almost inaudible voice, she asked, "Can I touch it?"
Spike was completely taken aback. He didn't like his baby girl seeing it, and would like even less to have her touching it. He looked to Buffy, who shrugged and mouthed, 'it's up to you.' Spike turned back to his daughter and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, you can touch it."
Kat reached out slowly and rested her pudgy, five-year-old fingers on her father's lumpy left eyebrow, millimeters below his scar. She then ran her hand down past his nose to his lips where she felt his soft, habitual breathing tickling her fingertips. Spike took her small hand in his own and kissed her palm tenderly. A knowing and evanescent smile flickered at the corner of her lips.
"Okay," she breathed the word satisfactorily, "you can take it off now."
Spike nodded morphed back into her father. "Better?"
Kat shrugged. "Yeah. But it's wasn't so bad."
Spike picked up his little girl and hugged her close to him. "You are a very, very brave girl."
Buffy sat up and rubber her lover's back. Kissing his cheek, she whispered, "She gets that from you."
~*~
TBC...
~*~
Summary: The consequence for Buffy and Spike's daughter, Kat, is revealed. It was the last thing that they ever expected, and the most horrible thing that anyone could have imagined. *Sequel to "FAMILY"*
Spoilers: None. Just know that everything after "Normal Again" didn't happen.
~*~
TRADEOFF
Chapter 6: Halloween
Buffy finished her coffee and put her mug down on the table; Willow did the same.
"Well," Willow began, letting out a heavy sigh. "It's official."
Buffy was confused. "What is?"
"That was the best damn coffee I have ever had."
"Oh stop," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.
"No, I mean it. I almost didn't come over when you asked me to, but once you said you were making some coffee, I knew I had to haul ass."
"Oh would you give it a rest? It's bad enough we that barely hang out with one another."
Nodding, Willow cracked a smile. "Our love is a forbidden love."
Buffy laughed and picked up the cups from the coffee table and made to carry them into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She knew who it was, it had to be Xander returning what she had lent to him earlier that day.
"Hey, Will, would you answer that?"
Willow nodded and headed toward the door. She opened it and smiled at her best friend who was holding Kat's hand in his right hand, and Nicky's in his left. Kat said a quick hello to her Aunt Willow before running into the living room and turning on the television. She hopped up onto the couch where Nicky was already settling in. Willow turned her attention to Xander.
"It's my Xander," she said smiling and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, Willow. How's it going?"
Letting her friend go, Willow shrugged and shut the door. "Meh, you know."
"I have an idea. How's Tara."
"Lovely as always."
"As I thought."
Buffy walked back from the kitchen and saw Xander and Willow conversing. "So you started the pleasantries without me, huh?"
Xander merely smiled and planted a kiss on Buffy's forehead. "Hey Xand." Buffy looked over to the couch from the foyer and saw her daughter and Nicky sitting there, eyes glued to the TV.
"Hey Kat. Hey Nick."
The two children made strange sorts of grumbling noises and didn't turn their attention from the TV. Buffy was always amazed by the way Nickelodeon could practically hypnotize children and make them mindless drones. The slayer wondered if maybe there was some sort of evil, mystical conspiracy taking place. Even if there was, she didn't care much because, thankfully, Spongebob and Patrick always managed to keep the young ones out of her hair when she needed to be left alone.
Buffy suddenly remembered, "Oh hey, Kat! I have something for you."
This, unsurprisingly, got her daughter's full attention, and the child bolted from the couch and to her mother's side.
"What? What?"
"I got your Halloween costume."
The girl's eyes lit up. "So I can be a witch?"
"Yes, ma'am. Hold on, I'll get it from the kitchen."
Kat, however, could not hold on, and followed her mother to where the costume had been placed. Even Nicky, who was now very interested, hopped off the couch and went with the crowd into the kitchen. Buffy grabbed the Party City bag off of the island and Kat recognized the logo immediately.
"You got my Halloween costume!" The child squealed excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Yes I did. One witch costume, just for my girl." To this, Willow rolled her eyes without letting Kat see, but she was too busy reaching into the bag and pulling out the costume. Looking at the picture on the front of the package, the elated smile faded from her face. Tears filled Kat's big blue eyes and she let go of the costume, allowing it to fall sloppily to the floor.
"Hon, what's wrong?" Buffy asked as she picked up the package off of the floor.
"I said I wanted to be a witch!" The girl explained angrily to her mother.
Buffy was confused. "Kat, it is a witch."
"No!" Kat exclaimed knowingly. "It doesn't even have red hair!"
Buffy was still quite lost when it clicked. "Oh," she smiled at her daughter, "you wanted to be a witch like Willow." Kat nodded. "You didn't tell me that."
The young child sighed in exasperation. "Other kinds of witches are dumb! They're not even real! Aunt Willow says hats and brooms are for foamies!"
"Foamies?" Buffy question, raising her brow.
Willow giggled. "Phonies, Kat, I said they were for phonies. But you were close enough."
Kat, too young to understand the humor of the situation, only found herself getting angrier by the second. She saw no mistake in herself; her request had been simple enough. Why couldn't Mommy and Aunt Willow understand that?
In a fit of pure, childish fury, Kat threw her arms up, let out an angry howl that sounded almost like a snarl, and ran upstairs as fast as her small legs could carry her. Buffy, though she knew better, couldn't help but laugh.
"Well," Xander said, "as fun as this is, I think I'm gonna head out, let you guys take care of it."
Buffy and Willow both nodded understandingly.
"See ya, Xander."
"Bye, Xand."
"So," Willow began, an amused smile settled on her thin lips. "What now?"
Buffy wasn't sure. "It's just so damn cute."
"I know. But don't you think you might want to talk to her?" Willow prodded.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother." The slayer trotted lightly up the stairs with the witch not far behind. Buffy glanced into her daughter's room and as she suspected, Kat was not within. Buffy groaned.
"What?"
"She woke up Spike. How many times do I have to tell that girl?"
"He is her father, you know. How many times has she woken you up in the middle of the night or otherwise? It's only fair."
"Still, it's hard enough for him as it is, you know?"
"No. I don't."
"I just mean that he's been working really hard since I got pregnant with Kat to be a domestic and that's not him. I feel bad."
"Are you kidding? That is so him. If he loves you, he's willing to be domestic, and I think we all know very well that he does love you."
"I guess. Anyway, time to face the beast." Buffy entered her room cautiously to see Spike cradling their daughter in his arms. She was sobbing relentless, and Spike just seemed confused.
"What the hell happened to her?" He asked, obviously trying to mask his irritation.
"Mommy and Aunt Willow laughed at me!" Kat wailed dramatically. She turned her body so that she was facing the two women and continued, "you hurt my feelings!"
Buffy wanted so badly to laugh again, but she decided it wouldn't be wise. "Kat, I wasn't laughing at you. I just thought it was sweet that you wanted to be like Willow. I would never intentionally hurt your feelings."
"If you love me, you won't laugh!"
Buffy sighed. "You know I love you so don't give me that. And I promise I won't laugh at you anymore. Kay?"
Buffy could see that her daughter was nodding against her father's chest. "All right, then. Why don't I take you out so Daddy can go back to sleeping?"
Spike shook his head. "Nah, it's all right."
"Are you sure, because me and Will could-"
"Buffy!" He said her name sternly, but his eyes shone with affection. "I got her."
The slayer nodded and walked with Willow out of the room. Before she did, she took a moment to watch her daughter snuggling into her father's chest like a piece of puzzle. It made perfect sense, of course. Kat was more a part of Spike than anything in the world, and Buffy knew that nothing, not even domestication, could take that away from her.
~*~
"You owe me big time for this one, Slayer. I mean big."
Buffy shook her head angrily. "You can't be serious."
"Dead serious. I'm talking big."
Buffy pulled a pillow over her head and had to force back tears. "Go fuck yourself," she muttered.
"Oh come on, you know I'm joking, mostly," Spike added, rolling his eyes.
"Well I obviously don't find it very funny. I wouldn't ask you to this if I didn't need you to. Your amusement at my expense is never funny, especially when I'm stuck in bed with a goddamn fever, puking my guts out!"
Spike's smug smirk quickly left his face. "I'm sorry, love. It just gives me a bad feeling going out tonight."
"Oh would you get over it! It's Halloween! Not like you haven't been out on Halloween before. Like, oh say, that time you tried to kill me."
"I really don't appreciate that."
"You deserve it."
"Fine. I said I'd do it, didn't I? I didn't say I'd be happy about it."
"And I didn't ask you to like it. All I asked was for you to take your daughter out trick-or-treating for a few hours with Nicky and Xander and the baby."
"And that's what I'm doing."
"Not before you complained about it pretty much since I asked you yesterday. You know I'd do it if I weren't sick. Would it kill you to be just a little nice to me? Would it kill you to act like a normal human for one night?"
Spike could help but choke a laugh at that one. "Of all the nights for you to be asking that of me..."
Buffy smiled at this too, much against her will. "You could have at least dressed up a little."
Spike grinned fiendishly, seductively, and morphed into his vampire guise. "I have a built-in costume. Easy as pie."
Buffy laughed. "You've got to be kidding. You are not letting our daughter see that. Not yet anyway."
Spike leaned over and buried his face in Buffy's neck. "But I'm evil!" He taunted in a ridiculous voice. "EEEEEVIIIIIIL!"
Buffy burst into laughter as he nibbled on her neck and pinched her delicately in her ribs. His hands traveled lightly down the sides of her stomach and came to rest on her hips. Buffy released a slight yelp when she felt the light pressure of Spike's fangs against the flesh of her shoulder. She smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, pressing his lips upon her skin.
Buffy leaned in to kiss him but was interrupted by a an almost silent, "Daddy?"
Kat was there too fast and Spike was too startled so that when he looked up, he hadn't changed back into his normal, human appearance. Seeing his daughter standing there, mouth agape, eyes wide as saucers, he could not muster up the mental coordination to change back. Buffy saw on his face not a look of anger, nor one of embarrassment; he simply looked ashamed.
"Kat, baby-" he stammered helplessly. He wanted so desperately to explain without lying. She knew that he was a vampire, Buffy and Spike had made a point of not keeping it a complete secret; it would have complicated matters too much if they had tried. But Kat had never seen Spike's demon, and they had decided they wouldn't show her until she was much older and could accept it without a complete freak out. It was too late now, there was no going back, and Buffy and Spike were completely unprepared.
The little girl took a few cautious steps forward until she was standing no more than a foot away from her father, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Daddy," she began, her voice eerily calm, "it's real."
The statement that their daughter made was, to them, extremely profound. The evenness with which she said it, the understanding. She did not sound afraid or angry or sad, it merely sounded like a statement of fact.
"Yeah, Kitten, it's real."
Kat nodded and licked her lips. Then in a low, almost inaudible voice, she asked, "Can I touch it?"
Spike was completely taken aback. He didn't like his baby girl seeing it, and would like even less to have her touching it. He looked to Buffy, who shrugged and mouthed, 'it's up to you.' Spike turned back to his daughter and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, you can touch it."
Kat reached out slowly and rested her pudgy, five-year-old fingers on her father's lumpy left eyebrow, millimeters below his scar. She then ran her hand down past his nose to his lips where she felt his soft, habitual breathing tickling her fingertips. Spike took her small hand in his own and kissed her palm tenderly. A knowing and evanescent smile flickered at the corner of her lips.
"Okay," she breathed the word satisfactorily, "you can take it off now."
Spike nodded morphed back into her father. "Better?"
Kat shrugged. "Yeah. But it's wasn't so bad."
Spike picked up his little girl and hugged her close to him. "You are a very, very brave girl."
Buffy sat up and rubber her lover's back. Kissing his cheek, she whispered, "She gets that from you."
~*~
TBC...
~*~