Chapter 8

Spike walked into the Magic shop with Amber in his arms, with Buffy at his side holding his hand. Giles and Willow stared at them as the reality hit. Spike was really alive. He had a family that clung to him.

"Grandpa Giles," Amber yelled cheerfully. 

By way she was acting, you would never have known that just a few days ago she was clinging to her father on the floor crying.

"Hello Amber," Giles greeted. Amber smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek, when Spike leaned forward.

"How are you these days?" Giles asked Amber. Amber's face lit up and she wrapped her arms around Spike's neck.

"I got my daddy back," Amber said excitedly.

Giles looked over at Spike. Spike's eyes filled with so much emotion by Amber's comment. It was easy to see that Spike had softened.

Giles just remained quiet. Willow walked over and looked at Spike. He did have a new scar on his left cheek.

"How does it feel to be a family man again?" Willow asked with a smile. Amber laid her head on Spike's shoulder.

"I have to say it is probably the greatest thing about my life," Spike answered.

"Jeez, cheesy sitcom much?" Buffy asked trying to cover her swelling love for Spike.

"Oh hush, pet," Spike smirked. "You know you love every last bit of it."

Buffy just shrugged and placed a kiss on his cheek. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"You two are like the perfect couple," Willow cooed. "So, when are you guys going to start trying for another one?" Buffy stared blankly at Willow.

"I'm not going through the pain again," Buffy said stepping out of Spike's arms.

"But trying is most of the fun," Spike teased.

"Spike, child present," Buffy reminded him. Spike looked down at his curious daughter.

"I want a baby sister," Amber said, mimicking her mother's pout.

"Bloody hell, she has your pout, pet," Spike said as his heart melted looking at Amber.

"Spike, watch your language," Buffy hissed.

"What does Bloody Hell mean?" Amber asked innocently. Willow broke into a fit of giggles as Buffy scowled at Spike.

"Amber, Bloody hell is a bad word," Buffy said strictly. "You must never use it again." Amber nodded and started moping again.

Spike sucked in his curse and kissed Amber's head.

"Don't worry, kitten," Spike said cheerfully. "Daddy will buy his extra special princess something at the toy store." Amber's face lit up.

"Spike, don't be spoiling her," Buffy wined. "The scooby gang does enough of that." Willow was hardly breathing now.

"Easy there, Red," Spike said, smirking at Willow. "You might suffocate on your laugh." Buffy hit him in the arm.

"Stop it," Buffy whispered.

Buffy pulled Willow into the training room and sat her down on the couch.

"Ok, Wills," Buffy said putting her hands on her hips. "What's the funny joke?"

"It was just hearing Amber say Bloody hell," Willow said in between laughs. "She sounds like Spike."

"Yeah," Buffy said sitting down next to her. "He is going to have to learn about having a five year old around the house." Willow took a few breaths and settled herself down.

"Aw, Buffy," Willow said calmly. "I think he is trying to make up for missing out on watching Amber grow up in five years. The spoiling thing is just a dad thing."

"How do you know that?" Buffy asked.

"Because Xander does it with Brandon all the time," Willow answered. "Oh, I can't wait for Xander to bring Brandon around today. Xander and Spike will be talking for hours."

"Oh goodie," Buffy said less enthusiastically. Willow patted her on the shoulder.

"How is it having Spike home?" Willow asked softly. Buffy looked at her and smiled.

"It's nice to be sleeping in his arms again," Buffy answered. "It's nice to share some of the punishing of Amber."

"So, he does lay down the law," Willow said with a small smile. Buffy nodded.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "He just cuddles and loves Amber so much. I saw the pain in his eyes yesterday as he watched her play with her new count doll. You could tell he was regretting not being there for all those years. I can see his inner turmoil, trying to figure out why the government lied to him. There are so many unanswered questions for both of us to deal with. To top it all off, Spike is training Angel for the trails."

"Do you think he's too stretched out?" Willow asked concerned. Buffy shook her head.

"No," Buffy answered. "He's worried about Angel and he's worried about Dawn. Hell, I'm worried about them. She took it so hard when she learned Angel was going to the trails. She sat in her room and cried for hours. Angel had to go in and talked to her."

"So, Dawn and Angel?" Willow said surprised.

"Yeah," Buffy answered. "My sister and my ex-boyfriend. Who would have thought?"

"Well we do live on the Hellmouth," Willow said matter-of-factly. "This is the only place were a vampire and a slayer will fall in love and have a kid together. I mean we all fell for some kind of creature."

"I have to agree with you on that," Buffy said with a smile. "It's the only place where a mystical key is my kid sister and my first love was a vampire cursed with a soul."

Dawn sat on the couch, staring at the television. She wasn't paying attention to it. Instead she was thinking about what Angel was doing. He was going to go to the trials and get himself killed.

She didn't like the idea of it. It was like him going off to the war and she would have to wait for him to come back home. Except it was a demon version and there wasn't a war.

"Hey," Angel said softly.

Dawn looked over at Angel distantly. Her pain still evident in her eyes. Angel hated just seeing it, knowing that he caused it.

"Hi," Dawn said softly.

She was trying to fight back tears. He could tell. He had to be her shoulder. He was falling madly in love with her. He walked over to Dawn and sat down.

"Dawn, I'm doing this for us," Angel whispered touching her hand. "I don't like being the source of your pain, but once I return human you will realize I did it for the right reasons."

"Name one of those wonderful reasons," Dawn said harshly.

Angel picked up her hand and kissed it.

"I'm falling in love with you, Dawn Mary Summers," Angel said with a smirk. He reached in his pocket and placed a diamond ring on her finger.

"OH MY GOD!" Dawn cried looking at the ring.

"When I return I want us to be married," Angel said trying to stay calm. "That's if you are in love with me."

"Oh Angel!" Dawn cried. "I love you so much. I have for years. I will marry you."

Angel gave a huge smile and they wrapped their arms around each other.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Spike, stop that!" Buffy yelled as he kept tickling her on her side.

They were at the park with Xander and Anya. Amber and Brandon were sitting in the sand box playing with each other.

"Will you two knock of the foreplay?" Xander asked as he wrapped his arms around Anya.

"Yeah, you guys seem to be glowing," Buffy smirked leaning into Spike. Spike wrapped his arm around her.

"You shouldn't be talking," Xander smirked. "I haven't seen you smile this much since you two had Amber."

"Hey, it was a joyous occasion," Spike said defensively. "I had a right to smile. I get to fight off all the boys that come within five feet of my princess."

"Spike, you can't lock her in a closet," Buffy said slapping his arm. "She has to move out and have her own little babies."

"Whoa, guys," Xander said putting up his hand. "We're talking about many years from now. Let's bask while their still youngsters and don't talk back."

"So, you two thought about another one?" Anya asked.

"Why does everyone ask us that?" Buffy asked annoyed.

"Because we're having another one," Anya said bluntly. Buffy stared wide eyed at Anya and Xander.

"Congratulations," Buffy cooed. Spike shook his head.

"I didn't think you still had it in ya, Harris," Spike smirked. Xander rolled his eyes.

"Well you better start thinking about another one," Xander said.

"Let me just cuddle my little girl for a long while before another one," Spike said looking back at Amber.

"Amber, don't put that sand in Brandon's hair!" Spike yelled. 

Brandon threw sand at Amber. Amber dumped sand down Brandon's shirt.

"Kids," Xander sighed.

Spike and Xander let go of their wives and walked over to the kids. Spike scooped up Amber and Xander picked up Brandon. Both men wiped the sand off their children.

"Amber, I think you need to apologize to Brandon," Spike said, dusting off her sundress.

"He did it first," Amber said with a pout.

"Amber, that didn't give you the right to put sand in Brandon's hair," Spike said sternly. "Now I want you to go over and apologize." Amber nodded sadly and turned.

"Brandon has something to say," Xander said with his hands on his son's shoulder. Brandon scowled at his father, then looked reluctantly at Amber.

"I'm sorry," Brandon muttered.

"Say it a little louder," Xander ordered. Brandon kicked the grass like it was the grass's fault.

"I'm sorry," Brandon said a bit louder.

"Thank you, Brandon," Spike said kindly. "Amber, don't you have something to say to Brandon."

"No," Amber muttered. Spike shook his head.

Stubborn as a mule,  just like her mum, Spike thought.

"Amber," Spike said in a warning tone. Amber caught it and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Harris," Amber said. Spike tried not to laugh at the word Harris.

"Apology accepted," Xander said kindly. "Now Brandon, you go grab your stuff. We're leaving."

"You scoot off too, princess," Spike said. "Go grab your doll. It's time for you to take your nap."

"But I'm not tired," Amber whined. Brandon didn't even move. Xander took a deep breath.

"Brandon, go grab your stuff or you won't be able to have desert and you certainly won't be watching any television," Xander said in a warning tone. Brandon scowled at his dad.

"I'm not ready to go home," Brandon whined as he stomped off. Amber followed.

"I swear those two are like night and day," Xander said to Spike. "One minute, they are the best of friends the next, they are fighting like cats and dogs."

"I have to agree with you on that," Spike smirked. "I think a nap will do them right and proper."

"It's strange," Xander said they walked back to the bench. "You are a totally different person when you are around Amber, than you are around us."

"What can is say, I have multiple personalities," Spike said with a shrug.

"There are many sides of you," Buffy chimed in. "There's the lover, the husband, friend, and father. So many sides of you and so few of them get to be seen."

* * *

Willow sat at her laptop searching the web for anything about a Government cover up. She thought maybe there was a reason they had lied to Spike about who he was.

"I found something," Willow yelled. Giles came out of the storage room with a book in hand.

"What did you find?" Giles asked walking over to the table.

"I was searching for government experiments on the net and it seems that there has been more then one mess up," Willow said informatively. "According to one article the explosion was a set up. It seems someone was supposed to set off the bomb in the building and kill everyone."

"Good lord," Giles whispered.

He took off his glasses and cleaned them. Willow smiled and looked back at the screen.

"It seems their main target was someone called David James," Willow continued. "It seemed that David had too much information about the government's investigation on the demon world. He decided to destroy the operation. So he set off the bomb and the place blew to bits."

"Almost killing William," Giles said in disbelief. "Why would he care about the operation if he was human?"

"Well I was wondering that myself so I looked up David James on the government list of people and it seems he had married a very nice vampire. I bet you'll never guess who it is," Willow said teasingly.

"Willow, now isn't the time for guessing games," Giles said in warning tone.

"Well it turns out that he's married to a dark goddess by the name of Drusilla," Willow said. 

Giles stared at Willow stunned then took in a deep breath.

"Does it say if Drusilla is still alive?" Giles asked.

"No, it doesn't, but I do remember Angel telling me about Drusilla paying a visit to our amnesia friend on the way home," Willow answered. "So I take it that she's still as alive as a vampire could be."  Giles nodded.

"I think we need to warn Spike and Buffy," Giles said getting up.

"Not yet," Willow said softly. "Let them have a few more days, Giles. Buffy has just gotten Spike back and they are dealing with Angel going through the trials. They don't need anymore stress."

"This could be serious, Willow," Giles said sternly. "This isn't the time to coddle them, especially with Drusilla involved."

"Giles, calm down," Willow said. "Give them another day then we will tell them. Plus, we are having that party for Spike tomorrow. You know a party never hurt anyone."

Giles rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed. It was set. Tomorrow they would break the bad news, Drusilla was back in town.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Daddy!" Amber cried.

Spike walked into Amber's room and saw her all tangled up in her night shirt. He tried to stifle a laugh.  He had to admit life wasn't half bad. He had a daughter that loved him and a wife that couldn't keep her hands off of him. His sister-in-law was probably more like a daughter more then anything else.

"What are you doing, princess?" Spike asked rushing over to her. He fixed the night shirt and pulled it right.

"I wanted to put on my pajamas all by myself," Amber said with a sad smile. "I wanted to show you, I could be a big girl."

Spike sighed and sat down on the bed. He wished he had been around to see her first walk and word.

"You will always be daddy's big girl, Kitten," Spike said picking Amber up and sitting her on his lap. "Don't try to grow up too fast, because Daddy likes his little girl as well."

"Vanessa's dad says little girls are meant for play pens and big girls are made for school," Amber said with a pout. "Where do I fit in?"

Note to self: I must remember to yell at Vanessa's dad, Spike thought sourly.

"Your perfect the way you are," Spike said sweetly. "Amber, you fit in the middle. You are a big girl in my eyes. You have to learn to ignore what people have to say about you. All you have to know is that your daddy and mommy love you very much and will beat up any parent who says you aren't worth anything."

Her greens eyes twinkled with joy of her father's acceptance.  Her face was lit up by her huge smile. Spike could have sworn that he had never felt more loved then he did when his little girl's eyes sparkled with love.

"I love you, daddy," Amber said with a huge smile.

"I love you too, kitten," Spike said giving her a kiss on the head. "Now let's get you into your bedy by." 

Amber got off Spike's lap and waited for him to get up and pull back the covers. She climbed in and got settled. He gave her count doll and kissed her on the forehead.

"Night, kitten," Spike whispered turning off the lamp.

"Good night, daddy," Amber whispered before falling asleep.

Spike headed for the door and stopped. He stared at Amber's sleeping figure. She looked so innocent. All he wanted to do was protect her all her life from the pain of the world.

Spike closed the door and was met by Buffy, standing in front of Dawn's door. Her face covered in a sweet smile.

"You really know how to handle her," Buffy said softly.

Spike walked and pulled her into a hug.

"She's my daughter," Spike said. "Of course I know how to handle her. Just like I know how to handle her mum." Buffy squealed softly as Spike started kissing her neck.

"Stop it," Buffy squealed, pulling away from him. "Angel and Dawn have to talk to us." Spike sighed.

"Can't it wait until morning?" Spike asked impatient. "I want my wife right now."

"Later Spike," Buffy said weakly.

He pulled away and let her lead the way. He followed her down stairs and into the living room. Dawn and Angel were already sitting on the couch. They both were holding hands and sitting close.

"I suddenly don't like this closeness between the two of you," Spike said sitting down in the chair, looking at the two skeptically. Buffy sat on top of his lap and absently started playing with his hair.

"Well, we wanted to tell you this before Angel leaves for the trials," Dawn said eagerly.

"Well spill," Buffy said, tired of waiting.

"Angel and I are getting married," Dawn said happily.

Buffy and Spike stared at them in shock. Just as they were going to say something, Giles and Willow came bursting through the door.

"Buffy, bad news," Willow said worriedly. "Drusilla is back."

"What?" Buffy asked surprised. Spike looked over at Angel.

"Is there a reason?" Spike asked feeling uneasy about it.

"She wants to turn Spike back into William the bloody," Willow answered.