Reviewers:
Redrose2310- Thanks!
Eileen- You'll find out why the kids, mainly Ariel, are so attached in this chapter but it does have to do with their parents and how they were treated.
Beloved- Thanks! I'm glad you think it's adorable.
Berserker Nightwitch- If you've read any of my other fics, you would know that I base all my original characters on my family members. Ariel is based on my little sister who is the cutest thing.
DarkLights- Sap is good sometimes but it won't be so sappy in upcoming chapters.
WARNING: There will be Buffy-bashing in upcoming chapters. If you don't like this then go away.
On with Chapter 3!!!
Chapter 3: A visit from Buffy
It may have been bright and sunny outside but in Xander's bedroom, everything was still draped in darkness. The fan on the desk in the corner of the room blew a cool breeze on the two entwined, sleeping bodies under the navy comforter. A tuft of curly, blonde hair stuck out from under the top of the comforter, tickling the nose of the brunet beside him.
A single blue eye blinked open, followed by the other and he smiled when his brain kicked in and he remembered where he was. He stretched slowly and pulled the covers down to his chin. This was how it should always have been. In his opinion, there never should have been that whiny cow, Anya or the hatred between him and his love. For Spike, this was heaven. He took in a deep, unneeded breath inhaling his Xander's scent and cataloguing it away in his head. Leaning up on his elbow, Spike studied the young man's features carefully. He reached out a hand to lightly trace down the side of Xander's neck to gently stroke the small bruise just above his collarbone that was a result of last night's activities.
Last night, after Spike's confession of love, Xander had warmly invited the blond into his bed where they had engaged in a quite heated make out session before finally falling asleep with Spike wrapped tightly in Xander's loving embrace.
"Good morning, Spike." Xander yawned, pulling the blonde into his arms and kissing his cheek. "So, are you going to tell me what brought about last night's 'Let's Share' moment?" He asked, turning the blonde in his arms so he could kiss him.
Spike extricated himself from Xander's arms and leaned on one arm. "Are you completely blind, you sodding ninny?" Spike flopped onto his back with a groan, his hands rubbing at his eyes. "Didn't you listen to a damn thing I said last night? For the past month, MONTH, I have been trying to impress you! As much as it pains me to admit it, I've been a right little housewife since I've moved in after you and Anyanka split!" Spike emphasized every few words with a prod to Xander's chest causing the human to grin at him. He crawled over to straddle his love's hips. "What, you thought I packed you lunch just for the hell of it? Why do you think I had dinner ready for you when you came home from work? 'S not like I really need to eat food to stay undead. Okay, so I cleaned the flat partly because I couldn't stand the mess it was in but that's not the point! The shagging point is that I did all this shit to get you to notice me. Last night, I'd finally had enough. Last night I didn't have time to cook because I was watching the little rugrat…My god, my da was right. I am a little nancy boy!" Spike dropped onto the man below him and groaned.
"I thought you were trying to make up for screwing Anya so I wouldn't kick your sorry ass out." Xander chuckled. "Sorry for being so blind." Xander sighed and pressed a kiss to Spike's temple. "If someone had told me when Deadboy offered me to you that we would be laying in bed together one day, I would have laughed and told them to get a lot of help. And you don't have to worry about me telling anyone that you actually have feelings….We'd better get up." Xander moved to push the smaller man off of him but was met with quite a bit of resistance.
"Five more minutes, love." Spike mumbled letting a leg fall over the side of the bed and Xander.
Xander could only laugh and turned the bleached head, kissing Spike long and hard. "Get up." Xander ordered and rolled the nearly nude male off of him and took the blankets with him as he walked out of the bedroom.
"No-one's this cruel! Not even Peaches!" Spike pouted from the bed. With a drawn out, overly dramatic sigh he grabbed a pair of Xander's sweatpants and slipped them on, pulling the drawstring as much as he could to make them fit his small frame.
Xander had already scooped out the coffee grinds and was measuring the water when Spike entered the kitchen and plopped onto a barstool. "Has Nicholas said anything yet?" Xander asked.
Spike shook his head. "Hasn't said a word. Could be a mental thing. Traumatic situation and whatnot." He chose an apple from the bowl on the counter and noisily bit into it before circling around to the refrigerator to retrieve a mug of blood. "He has no problem talking to his sister, though. Thought about what to do with them?" The microwave beeped and Spike took out the blood, nearly draining the entire mug in one gulp.
Xander grimaced. Spike lapped at the remainder of blood along his upper lip and the corners of his mouth, savouring the taste of the last of his supply of human blood. "Ariel practically begged me to adopt her and Nicholas yesterday." He paused and flicked his gaze from his coffee cup to the blonde. "I think I know why she wants me to adopt her. Yesterday, she either avoided the topic of her parents completely or she hinted that she didn't have a good home life. I guess when you have a father who doesn't really care about you; you'll latch onto whoever does show they care. Does that make any sense?" Spike nodded and leaned over the counter to kiss Xander. "I was thinking that you could move your things into my room and they could have your room."
Spike had never seen the young man so serious before. So much for him being the somewhat dense, goofy Scooby. He had always sensed that his goofy image was a cover for the man underneath. "I'm guessing you can relate to the little bits, huh?" Xander nodded slightly. "When're you gonna tell the other little Scoobies about Ariel and Nicholas?" Xander shrugged and was about to walk into the vampire's outstretched arms when the door to the flat opened. "Why don't you lock the door?" Xander shrugged and grabbed a t-shirt from the laundry basket on the dining table.
"I have been calling you for over an hour! Is there a reason why you're not picking up your phone?" Buffy screeched.
"Shut the bloody hell up, slayer!" Spike called from Xander's room. "Quit stealing my hair gel!" Spike whined, chucking an empty tube of gel into the rubbish bin.
"Stay out of this. Go…Bleach your hair or something." Buffy shot back.
"Um, Buff, I'm going to hafta tell you to keep your voice down." Buffy gave Xander an inquisitive look. "I've, um, uh, well it's like this. Coffee?" Xander wasn't sure how to tell his friend about the two children asleep in the next room.
"Why don't you just tell me what's going on." Buffy demanded, her hands firmly placed on her hips.
"Now's really not a good time, Buff. What brings you here at this time of day anyway?" Xander asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
"Not much, new nest of vamps in town. Xander, you are aware that it's almost noon, right?" There was something off about Xander but she couldn't put her finger on it. She watched with a curious expression as a small girl with light brown hair in lilac pyjamas emerged from the bedroom, yawning. "And who are you?" Buffy asked.
Ariel walked over to Xander and held out her arms so he could lift her onto the counter. She lifted the box of cereal, placing it next to her and waited for Xander to put out a bowl and milk for her.
"Where's your brother?" Xander asked, taking the container of milk from her and pouring a bit into the bowl piled high with cereal.
"Will's giving him a bath." She responded as she shovelled the multi-coloured breakfast food into her mouth. "Who's she?" She whispered, pointing discreetly at the blonde.
"Ariel, this is Buffy, she's my friend. Buffy, this is Ariel. Spike and I found her and her brother while we were patrolling." Xander told Buffy.
"How old are you, Ariel?" Buffy asked. Her voice held something of a condescending tone that Xander immediately picked up on.
"I'll be seven on November 2nd." Ariel smiled sweetly at the blonde and quickly finished her breakfast.
"She's really small for someone who's gonna be seven." Buffy commented. "So, were you planning on revealing that you and fangless went domestic, like ever? I mean, what's next? You go gay on us?"
Xander blushed. "Actually, I was planning on waiting until everyone was present but yeah, I'm gay. Well, bi leaning towards gay, actually but that's not the point. What's with you anyway?"
A mildly soaked Spike came out of the bathroom holding a giggling Nicholas at arms length. " Here you go, daddy." Xander took Nicholas from the vampire and watched him retreat to their bedroom to change his shirt.
"Did he just call you 'daddy'? Did he just go into your bedroom?" Buffy's voice was tainted with disgust.
He sat the toddler on the counter and wiped at his brown hair with a towel. "If you're gonna get all judgemental on me, I suggest you get the hell out of my house. If you have a problem with my love life or my taking in Ariel and Nicholas then I think you should leave." He stated calmly and carried Nicholas into his and Spike's bedroom and closed the door. "Listen, for the past year or so, you have been nothing but bitchy to everyone. Yeah, okay, you're the slayer. Big fucking deal! It's not like you're god! We have bigger problems here! To be honest, I don't want to be your friend if you are going to continue being a bitch." Xander sighed and leaned against the wall.
"When did you grow a pair?! I also came by to drop this off." She said shoving an amulet into Xander's hand. "Give it to Spike."
Xander opened his hand to see a heavy, golden amulet. He wondered what it was for but figured that Spike would probably know.
A/N: I hate this chapter. I had such a hard time getting it out but here it is. It's really bad. I've been sick and overworked lately so it's not my best. The next chapter should be better. Thank you to all of you who reviewed.
This fic would fit in right about the end of the last season of Buffy just before the destruction of Sunnydale.