Things Change
Chapter Three

Chrissy whirled around and the sword connected with a loud clang of violence against her opponent's sword. Todd stepped back slightly and she pulled her sword back and pushed it towards him, but his sword met hers and he grinned as he threw her backwards. She landed with a grunt on the training mat.

"You are so gonna pay for that," she hissed and jumped up, attacking him with renewed frenzy, using her kicks to knock him back.

"Take it easy!"

The twins stopped and glared at each other, panting. They turned and looked at Edward Thorpe who was frowning at them, leaning against the training room wall.

"She started it!"

"He started it!"

They glared even more darkly at each other as the yells that had echoed around the room in perfect unison died down.

"Well, I think we can safely say you are both capable of using a sword, but do you really have to go at each other so brutally?" Edward asked, pushing away from the wall and walking towards them.

"Well, what are we s'posed to do, Ed?" Chrissy snapped. "He can take it, we can't treat each other like glass, the demons won't."

"I know that, Christina," Edward replied calmly. "But as your Watcher - "

"You're not our Watcher," Chrissy said coldly and left the room.

The two men exchanged glances and Todd put his sword in the cabinet. He turned slowly and leaned against the vaulting horse.

"Sorry, Ed," Todd said.

"I'm used to it," Edward sighed.

"It's just that, y'know, you aren't our Watcher," Todd said, not lifting his steady blue gaze from the older man.

"Then what am I?" Edward asked.

"Some guy who got sacked from the Council and came to the Hellmouth where he discovered the Slayer's children, who turned out to be some sort of living prophecy. Some guy who took it upon himself to move into their house and train up the prophecy children."

"I must say that's a very cold way of putting it," Edward observed.

"No offence," Todd shrugged, unconcerned. "But you do know how hostile Chrissy can be."

"And how tactless you can be," Edward answered.

"I am not tactless!" Todd cried. Edward raised his eyebrows and Todd sniffed. "Guess we get it from Mom."

"You don't," Edward stated. "Your mother is neither tactless nor hostile."

"Guess we get it from dad," he made air quotes. "Unless me and Chris are some sort of immaculate conception?"

"No," Edward replied. "Now, hadn't you better get home and shower? I thought you were helping your mother in the shop today?"

"Yeah," he shrugged and walked out of the training room into the Magic Box, without so much as a goodbye.

"Todd?"

"Yeah?" Todd turned back and waited expectantly.

"Nice sword work."

"Thanks, Ed," Todd said and craned his neck to yell at Chrissy. "I've got first dibs on the shower!"

"Hey," she protested. "Ladies first!"

"You're no lady," he retorted.

Buffy watched anxiously as her children walked out of the shop, bickering as usual. When they were gone, she glared her sister into silence. Dawn closed her mouth and poked her chin a little higher in a gesture of defiance. Buffy smiled at a customer and accepted their purchases. She rang them up quickly and handed them back to the Gothic woman in a bright Magic Box bag.

"Watch the shop for a minute," Buffy hissed.

Dawn shrugged and moved towards the cash register as Buffy went to the training room. Edward was scrawling in a journal and didn't notice her come in. She paused by the punching bag that had hung from the ceiling ever since this room had been converted and had been solely Giles' and hers.

She waited for Edward to turn and notice her, when he didn't she shrugged and spun in a roundhouse kick, slamming her foot into the bag. Edward jumped with a loud yelp; he looked up in time to see the punching bag swing to meet Buffy head on. She merely held up her hands and stopped it an inch in front of her hands.

"There are other ways of getting my attention, Buffy," Edward said, grasping his chest.

"I wasn't trying to get your attention," she answered as she laid into the bag with fierce punches.

She had carried on her training and her patrolling and it had only been in the last few days that she hadn't patrolled. She missed it and silently cursed Edward for stopping her.

"I'm patrolling tonight," she told him.

"Why?" he asked, raising his voice slightly.

"Because I'm the Slayer," she stated.

"But, Buffy," Edward sighed and reached for her elbow.

Her Slayer reflexes got the better of her and the elbow he had reached for flew backwards and smashed into his nose.

"Oh, Edward!" she cried, whirling around to wake hold of his arms. "I'm sorry, but you should know better!"

"Well, I'm sorry if I wanted to talk to you without you pummelling a punching bag," he shouted, blood dripping from his nose onto his crisp blue shirt.

Buffy reached for the towel that was slung over the vaulting horse and handed it to him.

"I'm the Slayer, I want to do my duty," she said and put her hands on her hips.

"You're also part-demon," Edward returned, his voice muffled through the towel.

Buffy's eyes blazed and Edward found himself slammed into the far wall. Buffy frowned at him from the middle of the room.

"Really not my day, is it?" he muttered.

"Since when has that been an issue, Edward?" Buffy asked, pacing. "I mean, you live in my house, eat the food I cook and put on the table -"

"Technically, you microwave it," Edward interrupted, hoping humour would soften her obvious bad mood.

"And again, not the issue," she snapped. "You take over my training room and take it upon yourself to train up my children, when I was doing perfectly well on my own."

"I'm sorry if you feel that way, Buffy," Edward said quietly. "I thought it would help, I thought if you didn't have to worry about Todd and Christina's training programme and the shop, you'd have more time to yourself."

Buffy stopped her pacing, looked up at him and sighed. Great, now she had guilt.

"I'm sorry, Edward," she apologised and he lowered gently to the floor. "But since Dawn's been back and knows about Sp-. She's, uh, just been going on about talking to Chrissy and Todd and asking my why I called Todd, William if I wanted to forget… their dad."

"William was his father's name?" Edward asked, his voice cautious. "Todd's name is William?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"Then why do you call him Todd?" Edward asked with raised eyebrows.

"It was his middle name," Buffy explained. "William Todd. I changed my mind about his name, but it was already on the birth certificate, so we always called him Todd."

"I see," Edward murmured.

"And usually I would just go out and pummel some nasties if I felt bad tempered," Buffy said, more to herself than Edward as she resumed her pacing. "But you won't let me and the punching bag isn't as satisfying."

"If you want to patrol, then I really can't stop you," Edward said and dabbed his nose experimentally.

"True," she shrugged and walked out of the room.

"Mmmm, cookie dough," Chrissy grinned and slurped ice cream from her lips.

"How can you eat that?" Todd asked and licked mint choc chip from the back of his spoon. "It's disgusting. Look at the colour, it's not healthy."

"And nuclear green is natural, is it?" Chrissy asked. "Hey, Mom. What you got?"

"Chunky Monkey," Buffy told her and slid into a seat opposite them.

"Now that's disgusting," Todd said and glanced at his sister who nodded in agreement.

"So, you two really enjoy patrolling?" Buffy asked, stirring her ice cream, watching it melt into warm ice cream soup.

"Yeah!" they said and laughed.

"Why'd you come tonight?" Todd asked.

"I like to patrol," Buffy shrugged.

"It was actually fun," Chrissy said. "Who else can say they bonded with their mom over a staking and ice cream?"

"I love you two," Buffy said suddenly. "You know that, right?"

They exchanged glances and looked at their mother suspiciously.

"You aren't about to tell us we're grounded, are you?" Chrissy asked.

"Or that you've gotta go somewhere for a time?" Todd suggested. "'Cause we don't mind."

"Except the grounding bit," Chrissy finished.

"Yeah," Todd agreed. "We mind that."

"No, I just wanted to tell you that, make sure you knew," Buffy mumbled. "In case things change."

The twins shrugged as they continued the argument over ice cream and Buffy's mind drifted back to Willow's visit that morning.

"Willow, what are you trying to say?"

Willow sighed and twisted her fingers, looking from Buffy to Dawn.

"Hey, Dawn, how's Anya? And your job? Good, I hope? You just got here? We're going to have some serious catching
-"

"Willow," Buffy warned. "What is it?"

"I saw Spike," Willow admitted quietly.

"You saw him?" Dawn squealed. "You mean he didn't leave town after he saw Buffy last night?"

"No, he didn't. He said he saw you, but he thought he imagined it. He had seen Chrissy before, he thought you were dead, Buffy."

"Please tell me you didn't tell him anything," Buffy moaned.

"I told him about Tara," Willow said quietly. "But I didn't tell him about Chrissy and Todd -"

"Good," Buffy said, laying a hand on Willow's arm when her best friend's face clouded with sadness, "Willow, he can never know."

"I let slip about you," Willow admitted.

"What?" Buffy nearly shouted. "He knows? About me? About the demon thing?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not her fault," Dawn said, pushing her frantic sister into a chair.

"He's changed as much as you have, Buffy," Willow said quickly. "He's changed more than you'll ever know."

As the memory of Willow's admission played out in her mind, a tight knot of dread twisted in Buffy's chest. She glanced at Chrissy and Todd and then down at her molten ice cream.

He's back, she thought.

And she knew he wasn't going to leave any time soon.

Dawn paused the video and went to answer the door. Honestly, she thought. You'd think an intelligent man like Ed would remember to pick up his keys.

But when her hand touched the door, she knew instinctively it wasn't Edward.

She pulled the door open slowly and met the man on the porch with an impassive face.

"Hey there, Niblet," Spike said, smiling almost shyly while grasping at his confidence as it ebbed away from him.

She punched him hard in the face.

Then she leapt into his arms and held him like she would never let him go.