Disclaimer: alas I own bugger all!

A/N: well don't know if anyone is reading this but figured I'd do a second chapter anyway since I appear to have a dose of chronic insomnia…and this isn't emotionally exhausting…

Chapter 2 – Going home

Spike's mind was unsettled as he sat in the back of the car that drove him to Sunnydale, to the home of his parents. He was glad he could afford a driver. The state his mind was in he knew he wouldn't get very far without crashing into something…God! Crashing. It just seemed so…banal. Liam had been the adventurer, the sportsman, and traveller. Not that Spike had spent a whole lot of time contemplating his older brother's death but he always figured he'd go out in some spectacular fashion like falling off Mount Everest or something. Although if he took the last few years into consideration Liam was also likely to go out surrounded by fat grandkids. Spike hadn't gone to the wedding, hadn't in fact been invited – had something to do with his calling Darla a cheep whore when he'd heard Liam was marrying her because he got her pregnant. The very thought of it made Spike laugh, he never had understood why Liam had so willingly adapted to married life.

He guessed his inability to understand the desire to 'settle down' was just another in a long line of disappointments for his parents. While Liam had inherited classic good looks and charm, Spike had always been more unique – you loved him or hated him. Shunning the popular crowds Liam had been so involved in he had become a loaner and a rebel. Refused to get the steady job and pursued his career as a writer, despite protests that he was wasting his time. Oh Liam had had his adventures as well, but of course they came second to his education and his career. He'd always made mommy and daddy proud.

Part of Spike cursed himself for thinking ill of his dead brother and sister in law, but another part of him wondered if he would be hypocritical to think otherwise. They'd never been close...but he'd always figured there would be time for them to work things out 'when they were older and much less stupid' to quote his friend Xander. Spike let loose a wry chuckle. Looked like their time had run out. He was pulled from his thought when the driver announced that they had arrived. With a deep breath he stepped out of the car and took the first look in nearly ten years at his childhood home.

Not much had changed about 1630 Revello drive in the years since he had left on his eighteenth birthday, vowing not to come back until he had proven himself as a writer. Well he'd done that five years ago yet it had still taken him almost another five to return, even then it had needed a tragedy as a catalyst. The tree he had leaned against to smoke still stood in the front yard, his mother's wicker chair still sat on the porch. He was certain that if he went around the back he would see Liam's basketball hoop attached to the wall. And yes, that was his mother opening the front door to look at him, and the look of sadness and disappointment on her face was almost identical to the one he had seen there the day he left…

"Ah, William." Giles sounded surprised as he addressed his youngest son…his only son now. "You made it then."

"Told you I would." Spike responded, biting the inside of his cheek in order to keep back his comeback. Now really wasn't the time to bait his father.

"Yes well," Giles replied, gesturing for his son to take a seat opposite him in the living room. "Your word is not always a cast iron guarantee." Giles did not miss the clenching of his son's Jaw and silently cursed himself for acting like such an ass. He knew the distance between them was as much his fault as it was William's. He couldn't really blame the boy for missing a few…well… a lot of family gatherings. He had always been something of a black sheep. Knowing the load that was about to be placed on William's shoulders, Giles did wonder if he would be able to cope – he suspected that he was about to change his son's life completely.

Sensing the tension in the room Anne cleared her throat, shattering the silence that had engulfed them. Both men turned to look at her and she suddenly felt as if she were under a microscope. Looking at William, seeing the confrontational man he had become, she thought about the sensitive boy who used to sit and read her the poems he had written. When had he begun to distance himself from her? She guessed it was around his teens. There had only been just over a year between he and his brother and by their teens the competition between them had been fierce. While Liam had surpassed his brother athletically, it had been William's brain that lent him superiority. Of course neither boy was in the least deficient in either field, just different. If she had to put her finger on it, she would blame Drusilla for the incredible distance that had developed between her sons.

Oh she remembered how smitten her William had been with the strange girl, and how Drusilla had simply used him to get closer to his brother. Almost overnight the poetry had stopped and the fights had begun. The rivalry between the boys had moved from brotherly competition to something so much more, even when Drusilla had been out of the picture and the damage had never been repaired…now it never would be.

She still remembered the fight that had occurred the night William left home…but she wasn't thinking about that now. There were more immediate issues at hand. "The funeral is tomorrow afternoon." Anne said at length, realising another silence had enveloped them while she was lost in thought. "But there's something we thought you should know before hand."

Spike raised a scarred eyebrow in question but didn't comment.

"You know that Liam and Darla had a daughter." Anne stated, not at all certain that he knew, but William nodded none the less.

"She's okay thought right?" spike asked confused, why were they bringing this up?

"She's fine." Giles contributed. "Physically at least. Jenny wasn't in the crash, she was with friends."

"Poor kid." Spike muttered. He'd only seen the girl in photos, barely even remembering her name most of the time, but still he had to sympathise. Loosing both parents before you were ten had to be a kick in the teeth to say the least.

"Yes well," Anne coughed nervously before continuing, "The thing is now Jenny had no place to go. Darla had no family as you know…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the incredulous look on her son's face, his eyes wide in panic.

"You're not saying what I think you're saying?" he asked nervously…God anything but that…

"You see, your mother and I…" Giles tried when words seemed to fail his wife. "We're getting old William as you know, and…well we think we're past the age of raising a child, so we thought…"

"No!" Cried Spike, seeing what they were getting at. "I've never even had a steady girlfriend. What the hell do I know about raising a brat?"

"William!" Anne scolded, surprised at her son. "Don't talk about her like that. Besides, it was stated in Liam's will that if we were unable to care for Jenny then her guardianship would pass to you. Your brother trusted you to look after his daughter."

William gaped incredulously before releasing a rueful chuckle; sure this was Liam's way of getting one last boot in. How the hell was he supposed to raise a child he'd never met?

A/N: I promise this will be a spuffy story, I'm just leading up to it, and Spike is the central character so it seems fitting to come at things as he encounters them. Despite how it might look, this isn't an angsty story – there might even be the occasional laugh! Please let me know what you think – love you all!