"I'll show you to your rooms." Cordy said.
"Cool." Dawn exclaimed, "I get my own room right?"
"Of course." Cordy replied with a smile. "And if you hear a baby in the middle of the night don't mind him, Connor tends to want feed at the most ungodly hours." Dawn glanced at Buffy but Buffy shook her head letting her know not to let anything slip. They group walked away and Buffy remained with Angel.
"Buffy?" Buffy looked at Angel. "Where's Spike?" Buffy's eyes dropped.
"Well that's what I'm hear to talk to you about." Buffy said softly. "He's dead."
"Dead? Not just dusted, but Dead." Angel asked. Buffy nodded. "I'm sorry." Angel took Buffy in his arms and hugged her warmly, even for a vampire. "But you seemed so happy."
"I am."
"Why?" He ended the embrace and looked into her eyes. "Did you... you never learned to love him did you? Oh Buffy how could you? He loved you so much, more than I did even and with out a soul to boot, how could you, it' just doesn't compute..." Buffy ended his ramblings.
"I loved him. I still do." Buffy said softly.
"Then how can you be so happy?" Angel asked. They heard footsteps as every one came down the stairs.
"Dawn and everyone else are going to go out for a bit." Cordy announced. "I offered to go with but they said you wanted to talk, so off they go." She finished as she shooed them outside and closed the door.
"What's up Buffy?" Angel asked.
"You're going to need to sit, and should probably be bound there." Buffy said.
"I'll sit but no one is tying me up for non-kinky reasons." Angel replied as he sat on the sofa, with Cordy next to him.
"I'll start with what both of you know. Cordy I love Spike, but Spike is dead." Cordelia's eyes opened in shock. "Angel, I'm pregnant with Spikes child." Angel growled loudly but remained seated.
"I knew you were different." He said thickly "Did he claim you?"
Buffy revealed her neck. "Does it look like he did?"
"No."
"All right now down to business..."
"How?" Cordy interrupted.
"He was human." Buffy replied.
"It worked then." Angel growled.
"Yes it did. Now I'm supposed to tell you everything, and omit nothing." Buffy said.
"Say's who?" Angel said almost angrily.
"Spike said. He came to me in a dream twice. You're to help me bring him back. Now..." Buffy related the whole story.
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"Any questions?" Buffy asked.
"We're supposed to find the Hades Scrolls so you can bring back a dead vampire to be a father to your child?" Angel asked.
"A dead man, and yes, that's the idea." Buffy replied.
"That's Nuts!" Angel yelled as he jumped up.
"Angel..." Cordy started, but he interrupted her.
"No it's insane, Cordy, it really is. I mean how do we find them? What do we do with them? Why are we doing this?" He asked her as she put her palms on her temples. "Honey?" Angel asked concerned.
"We'll find them in a grave. We'll know what to do when we find them, and we are doing this to make Buffy as happy as we are." She rambled off.
"How do you know about the grave?" Angel asked.
"I'm a seer', it's what I do." She said with a look of annoyance.
"What grave though?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know who's it is, but it is black and has a wolf on it. It's definitely in LA." She said
"It's Bob's grave." Angel said with a look of dismay.
"How do you know?" Buffy asked.
"Bob had deep relations he'd been alive for several millennia. He was immortal under the condition that there was a great war at least once every few hundred years. Bob refused to do his job last a couple months ago when his connector asked him to start WW III. But that's not what's important, he knew the Greek Gods personally." He said
"And why didn't you mention this before?" Buffy asked trying to contain the anger in her voice.
"I was hoping I was wrong." He replied. "Buffy... This isn't... It's not legal Buffy. Not spiritually legal."
"Well nether was Xander murdering the man I loved. Neither was Spike becoming a man, and neither is you and Cordelia doing clothing removal things, But I want him back Damn it. He says he has permission and he said that this is important. He told me..." Angel interrupted.
"It was a dream Buffy!" Angel yelled.
"It was not a dream!" She yelled back. "It was real, or as real as it can be. I was in heaven with him. I knew the feeling of peace. You were so mad that I didn't love him before, and now you're mad that I love him enough to bring him back?"
"Cordy can you go away for a minute?" Angel asked.
"Why?" She asked.
"Please." He said softly.
"All right." Cordelia said softly as she stood up and left. Angel turned to Buffy.
"You never brought me back." He said softly. "Didn't you love ime/i enough?"
"Angel, think about what you're saying, these are two completely different things." Buffy replied.
"How?" He asked.
"To love me you needed a soul. You couldn't love me without one. Spike changed the very nature of a demon to love me, and then when I wouldn't take that as a reason to love him, he went to the Powers and asked them to make him human. He loved me after I died. He took care of Dawn, and then he was human. He made love to me, and now I am pregnant with his child. When you made love to me... well you remember what happened." Buffy's eyes dropped. But she quickly picked them back up. "Speaking of, why can you now do non-clothing things with Cordelia?"
"I uh... have a permanent soul." He said shyly.
"Well good for you. Do you love her?"
"Of course. I love her so much Buffy. But..." Buffy interrupted
"There are no but's in love Angel."
"Not what I was buting about." He got up and started pacing the room " I'll always love you in some why Buffy. Do you know what it took to not stake spike when he came and asked me to set up a meeting with the powers so he could be human so you would love him? It took everything."
Buffy stood up and "Angel you know I feel the same. But our love was different. I was adolescent. The love I have for Spike is deeper, and truer. I know it hurts Angel, but I need him." Buffy said softly as she stood up and looked at him. "I need him."
Angel nodded. "Well what are we waiting for? Lets go rob a grave."
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As Angel and Buffy walked through the graveyard it felt like old times. Stakes out, ready to strike, but the shovels were new.
Angel stopped in front of a grave with a black headstone. "This is it." He said.
"Lets start digging then." Buffy said.
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The Slayer strength combined with Vampire strength had cleared the dirt off the grave in an hour and a half. It was creepy, opening the coffin. There was no body. But there were the scrolls. Angel helped Buffy out of the grave, and closed the coffin "Thanks Bob." He whispered.
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Buffy and Angel showed up at the hotel at about 10:00 pm. Dawn had anxiously been awaiting their return.
"Did you get them?" She cried as soon as they opened the door.
"Yes Dawn." Said a wearied Buffy.
"Are we going to bring him back tonight?"
"No Dawn." Buffy said sleepily.
Dawn's smile faded. "Why not?"
"Because we need to study these scrolls Dawn" Angel said. "Trust me there will be little rest getting."
"Except for you." Buffy said. "Bed Dawn."
Dawn's eyes opened wide. "I will not go to bed. I am helping bring Spike back, and that's that."
Buffy opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. "Fine Dawn, I at least need a nap. Willow will you wake me in a few hours?"
"No problem Buffy." Willow said.
"Thanks." She said as she walked up the stairs to her room. "This is going to be a long week." Buffy said to herself. Buffy opened the door to her room took of her jeans and shirt and crawled into bed. She was asleep in moments.
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i"Buffy!" Spike yelled across the cemetery.
"How... geeze, not this dream again." Buffy said aloud. "It's a memory not a dream, Buffy." She told her self.
The events replayed themselves again but this time, when Xander went to stake Spike Buffy kicked the stake out of his hand./i
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"Buffy?" Willow called. "Buffy we found something." She said through the door.
Buffy held back the queasy feeling and said "all right I'll be down in a second." She looked at the clock, it was nearly noon. She smiled to herself. "I have such considerate friends." She said aloud. "I can just see them." She played the scene out in her head.
i"Shouldn't we wake Buffy up?" Xander said.
"No she needs her rest." Angel said.
"He's right Xander. Pregnant women need to rest after digging up people." Willow said. "Let her sleep."/i
Buffy smiled at her rendition of her friends' conversation as she walked into the bathroom. "I need some tea." She laughed at herself. "I sound like Giles." Her heart sank. "I need to find Giles. He needs to be here for this. He's practically my father." Buffy walked slowly down stairs. Her friends smiled up at her.
"Can I get you anything Buff?" Xander asked.
"Tea would be good." She replied with a smile and looked at Willow. "And Giles if you can find him."
Willow nodded. "I'll get him Buffy. You have a telephone Angel?"
"On your left by the sofa." He responded without looking up from his book. "Buffy? These scrolls contain..."
"Incantations to condemn and revive souls, yes I know." Buffy said.
"But it's written in blood." Angel said.
Buffy's stomach lurched. "How's that tea commin'?" She called.
"It's almost done. How much sugar?" Xander called from the kitchen.
"No sugar a tablespoon of honey if you can find any." She called back.
"All right Buffy. There is one incantation in here that will bring Spike back. We don't need a fresh body, just a lock of his hair." Angel said softly.
Buffy's eyes brightened. "That I can do." She said as she took a heart-shaped locket off from her neck. "Spike gave this to me on Valentines Day. I put it away in my jewelry box. I took it back out the night he died and looked in it." Here Buffy opened the locket to revel a lock of hair so blonde it was obviously Spikes. "It hasn't left my neck since." She closed it again. "So when can we do this thing?" Xander set her tea right next to her on the table. "Thanks Xander."
"No problem Buff." He said with a smile, and sat next to his fiancé.
"With all these ingredients, which I might add were next to impossible to find when these scrolls were written, It should only be three or four days with my connections." Angel explained.
Buffy sipped her tea. "All right. That should work. Hey. Whatever happened to the Greek gods anyway?" She asked angel.
"According to Bob they were killed." Angel said.
"Gods? Killed?" Xander said. "How?"
"There was a woman warrior who was trained by the God of War himself. She was given the power to kill gods. The only two she did not kill were the god of war and the goddess of love, but they were only mortal. They eventually became gods again, but no one believed in the due to the growing belief in the one true god. So, with no one to believe in them, they faded out of existence." Angel explained.
"Do they still exist?" Buffy asked.
"Oh yes." Anya said. "I met Ares about two centuries ago. Still very good looking, but not much power."
"Well that's good to hear Anya." Angel said. "Because on of the ingredients we need is a hair from his head. Where is he these days?"
"Well..." Anya thought, "He's living with his sister, in San Diego, I think."
"That's good too, we need something from her too." Angle said.
"Back the truck up." Xander exclaimed. "An, why didn't you tell me about Ares?"
"I didn't want to intimidate you with all my former lovers." She replied.
Xander's eyes opened wide. "You didn't say you were lovers!"
"Well... I was a demon, what was I supposed to do, just wait my whole immortal life for Giles to make me human, and save myself for you?" Anya said simply.
"She's got a point, Xand." Angel said.
"Yeah I guess so." He muttered.
"Want to go have sex?" Anya asked Xander.
"Do I ever." Xander said. Buffy and Angel looked at them, Xander blushed. "Uh... we're... Bye." He said as he ran up the stairs with his fiancé.
"All right. So those were the two most important ingredients." Angel said as if nothing had happened. "I can get the rest fairly easily."
"All right." Buffy said as she sipped her tea.
Willow walked in all bouncy like. "Giles is on his way." She said.
"You didn't tell him did you?" Buffy asked.
"Over the phone? Gosh no. A shock like that would kill a man his age if there were no one there to help him out of it. No I told him that we had a very difficult spell to do and since I had given up magic that I was wondering if he could do me a favor. Told him we were in LA visiting Angel. He'll be here bye tomorrow morning at the latest."
Buffy broke out into a grin. "I hope he stays this time." She said.
"Well I'll go out and collect these ingredients." Angel said. "Cordy took Connor to the park. So she'll be back soon. I might not be back before Giles. Buffy if you're up to it, I'd like you, Giles, and I to go collect said ingredients from said gods." Buffy nodded. "All right then. Buffy you rest, Willow you know your job."
"Make sure Buffy rests." Willow said.
"Right." Angel said as he grabbed his coat. "Tell Cordelia where I went, and I'll be back as soon as possible." He smiled at Buffy and she walked up to him. She took his hand and placed it over her stomach.
"Thank you, from both of us." She said softly.
Angle smiled softly and kissed Buffy's forehead. "I'll be back as soon as I can." he said. Then he opened the door and walked out. Buffy closed it behind him.
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Buffy went upstairs reluctantly. She really wanted to wait for Giles but Willow wouldn't have it. So Buffy went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. She stayed under the water until it started to turn cold, and then turned it off. Buffy grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. After becoming less moist she put her PJ's on, and climbed into bed.
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i"I guess I'll need and Apartment now huh?" Spike asked. "A crypt really isn't as appealing anymore, too cold." Buffy nodded but then stopped and looked up at him softly.
"Come live with me Spike." She said.
"What?" He asked shocked.
"Come live with me and Dawn and be a family with us."
Spike just stared, stunned. "I... There's nothing I'd love more for you and I and ''Lil bit to be a family." Buffy smiled and kissed him again. When she pulled away her eyes grew wide in horror. Spike turned around but Buffy pushed him to the ground and punched Xander in the face./i
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"Buffy?" A sweet male voice called to her. Buffy opened her eyes. The sun was shining, and someone was sitting on the edge of her bed. A familiar someone. Who took off his glasses to clean them.
"Giles?" Buffy asked.
"Good morning Buffy." Giles said as he brushed some hair from her face.
Buffy's eyes came into focus, and there he was the same as before. "Giles!" She exclaimed with a smile. She sat up and wrapped him in the most fearsome hug. "Thank you for coming." She whispered.
"Willow says you have something to tell me." Giles said as their embrace ended.
"First, do you need anything? Hungry? Thirsty? Dirty?" Buffy asked.
Giles laughed. "No Buffy I'm fine, thank you. Now... what is this all about? Really about. I knew Willow's excuse wasn't true."
"Well it kind of is. We have to perform a spell out of the Hades Scrolls to bring someone back to life." Buffy said.
"Perhaps you should start from the beginning." He said.
"Is your heart ok?" Buffy asked.
"Yes it's fine."
"All right then, it all started about a year ago..." And so Buffy related all the events to her surrogate father. About an hour later Giles pulled Buffy into a tight embrace.
"Buffy..." He said softly.
"I'm sorry Giles."
"Why are you sorry?" He asked. "I'm so proud of you."
"There's one more thing." Buffy said nervously as she pulled back and looked into his eyes. "I'm pregnant with Spikes child."
"Human?"
"Completely."
"Congratulations." He said with a smile.
"So we're good?" Buffy asked.
"We're great." Giles glanced at the clock. "It's 12:30 want some lunch? Or do you need two lunches now."
Buffy slapped his arm. "One lunch sounds great."
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Buffy and Giles went to lunch and talked. Buffy thought it was the best she'd felt since right before Spike died. It was just like he'd never left.
"Giles? Are you going to stay this time?" Buffy asked as they sat at the little diner.
Giles looked in her eyes and thought carefully before answering her. "Yes Buffy I think I will. You've done all this on your own, and I want to be around while this child is being brought up. Even normal people have some help from a parent figure when a child is born."
A tear ran down Buffy's cheek.
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"We're back!" Buffy called.
"Good, we have to leave, inow/i." Angel said.
"Why?" Giles asked.
"Why have to get the two ingredients from the gods of balance before it's too late." Angel said while he put his coat on hurriedly.
"The gods of what?" Buffy asked.
"Just common I'll explain on the way." Angel said as he pushed them out the door.
Buffy and Giles followed Angel to his car and climbed in. Buffy didn't really note how he was all non-flamey in the plain sunlight. As Angel pulled away from the hotel he began to explain.
"When I came back you two were out, so I did a little more research, can never do too much you know? Anya had found Ares current residence and he was in fact living with his sister who owns a strip club. After they could no longer be Greek gods a few of their old followers had decided to make a new path of beliefs to include them. These followers were obviously immortal. The called them the gods of balance, because of War and Love. Well things got... interesting, see the two are still very much Greek, and the kind of had a kid together, gross yes, but gods can do that. Well it turns out that their child is prophesied to bring them into a mortal state on the seventy-third moon of the four thousandth year, That's by their calendar not ours, being as we need the hair of an immortal Ares and a eyelash from a immortal Aphrodite, we need to get there by to night because tomorrow morning, they're mortal." Angel explained hurriedly.
"We'll never make it." Giles said.
"Oh yes we will." Angel said as he drove off the road and we're not talking to the side of the road here, we're talking iabove/i the road. Angel had been going fairly fast and now the car was flying. iliterally/i"We'll be there by sundown."
"How?" Buffy asked.
"Never mind that Buffy. We've got other things we need to talk about. What day was you're child conceived?"
"The same day Spike died."
"What day was that?"
"May thirteenth." Buffy said "Why?"
"Shit! I knew it. Are you sure you're pregnant Buffy?" Angel said worriedly
"Yes, unless morning sickness and weight gain and fatigue and heavenly bodies telling me so means I'm inot/i pregnant. "Buffy said.
"This raises two problems. The first as I'm sure Giles knows, is that this spell requires the pure blood of supernaturally powerful being, we can't use Buffy..."
"Willow." Giles said simply. "I know she won't do spells anymore but she is still a very powerful witch. The most powerful I have ever seen."
"All right problem one solved what's the next one?" Buffy asked.
"You're child too is part of a prophecy." Angel said. "A big part. It is written that the child of the newly souled and the slayer would one day bring about the end to all that is, was, and will ever be bad on this earth."
"What's so bad about that?" Buffy asked smiling and rubbing her tummy.
"Without exception, Buffy." Buffy's arms closed protectively around her abdomen. "You're child will not feel mercy or pity. It will not be reasoned out of anything. It cannot see the heart, and therefore cannot see if the person meant to do something or not. Buffy accidents will be punished as if they were outright murder. If some one accidentally runs into someone on a flight of stairs and the person falls and dies. The person who ran into them will be murdered for an accident. Buffy, this was not ordained by the powers." Angel said softly "It was to be used as a tool of the God of War."
"But he will be human." Buffy said.
"See now that is the great problem isn't it?" Giles said. "In the story of Oedipus the parents sent their child away to stop a prophecy, but that actually ended up causing it. If the gods of balance know this story they will have kept their child at home supposedly stopping the prophecy."
"Augh!" Buffy screamed as she grabbed her head. A searing pain ripped through her head and then she saw Angel and Spike together fighting a child with black wings. When it's wings were removed it turned into a regular human boy. "Oh!"
"What is it Buffy?" Angel asked.
"I saw something." She said shakily.
"But you don't have visions." Giles said.
"It's possible her child does." Angel said. "what did you see?"
"You and Spike were fighting a child with black wings, and when you cut them off it became a normal kid."
"How could Spike and I be fighting. He's on another plane." Angel asked.
"That's what I don't get." Buffy said. "But at least now we know what we have to do."
"We do?" Angel said.
"Well yeah." said Buffy simply. "Listen the child with wings is most often used in conjunction with cupid, Aphrodite's son, and the color black was most often associated with the god of war, therefore it would follow that this would be the gods of balance's child." Angel and Giles stared at her in amazement. "Wow, I never realized World Lit. would pay off."
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The sunset from the air had been breath taking, but now it was gone and the sky, at least, was dark. The city was never dark.
Angel pointed at a house decorated in an interesting fashion. One half pink and one half black. "That's got to be it." He said.
The car slowed down and slopped gently, landing in the driveway of the home. The three climbed out and snuck through the door, which was foolishly left open. But then again who would have expected them to ifly/i over the massive gates that guarded the home? The decor of the room was the same as that of outside. As the passed the living room they noticed that on chair was pink and on was black, every room was like that. Room after room of pink and black blurred, until it was just a dark maroon, to their eyes. Then theirs eyes focused on a room with the door open, a bed room with a pink bed, and a black bed, pushed together. The man on the black side had just muttered a name in his sleep. The three walked in and there in a child-sized bed sat a child holding a dagger. Wings protruded from it's back and a gleam shone in it's eyes. The name on the headboard said 'Gabriel'. Buffy smiled and tucked the name away in her memory. She didn't have time to think about it though. The child on the bed had suddenly sprung in to the air, as it was halfway to it's parents bed, a figure in black held the kid still. "Easy there tiger." it said.
"Spike!" Buffy said with a smile.
"No time for that pet. Get what you need and get out. Peaches, help me out here. Will ya?" Spike said.
Angel took leap at the kid as Buffy and Giles ran to the gods of balance.
"Why aren't they waking up?" Buffy asked.
"A little effect of the planes interchanging. Don't worry about it." Giles said.
Buffy went to the former God of War and pulled out a piece of his hair. He looked so peaceful and still so venomous. Giles walked toward the former goddess of love why Buffy caught his eye and shook her head. She couldn't stand to see one of those lashes plucked. She motioned to the make-up table, and said "eye lash curler." Giles seemed to get it because he walked over and picked up the curler. But he shook his head. There were no lashes. "I'll get it." Buffy walked to the other side of the bed and gazed at her face. She was a vision. And there on her cheek was an eyelash. Buffy lightly picked the lash off the goddess' cheek and placed the hair and it in a sandwich bag. She looked to Giles but he was starting at the battle, when Buffy looked over, she saw a wing of shimmering black fall tot he floor, followed by a second. The 'Spike' figure carried the child back to it's bed and lay it down. He tucked it in and kissed it's head. Then he turned to Angel.
"Thanks Peach... Angel. Be careful with that dagger. I don't even know where the kid got it." Then he turned to Buffy. "Our child is saved." He smiled. "Soon." he whispered as he faded away.
The child wasn't crying, and the parents weren't stirring. But it was time to go and Buffy knew it. Spike was gone, and so the effect of the former gods of balance being asleep was also gone. They crept out of the house silently, and then to the car. Angel drove it down the long gravel driveway until they were going fast enough to fly again. Once they were back in the air, Angel spoke up.
"What did he mean 'Our child is saved.'" He asked angrily.
Buffy's eyes dropped and she looked at her stomach. "It follows doesn't it?" she asked. "If my child was to be a tool of the God of War, the making that very gods child a mortal should fix everything."
"Well no Buffy it doesn't!" Angel yelled.
"Let me see the dagger." She said softly still not looking at him.
"What?" Angel asked.
"Let her see the dagger." Giles said
"Fine!" Angel spat as he put the dagger in her hand.
Buffy held the dagger in one hand and her head in the other, she gritted her teeth but did not cry out. Then she looked at Giles. "What's Hynes Blood?" She asked.
Giles eyes opened wide. "Hynes Blood could kill a god when it the Greek gods were powerful, I don't know what it would do now."
"I do." Buffy said "When you used this to cut of that child's wing, Angel, it killed the god part of that child, but since the child was of two weak gods, the only way for it to be god at all was to have both the parents powers stored in it. And since you killed the god part of the child..." Giles finished.
"you killed the gods."
"Exactly." She said.
"Buffy how do you know all this?" Giles asked. "When I left you wouldn't even pick up a book."
"Well Giles." Buffy said. "I kinda got into a thing this week about wanting the man I love back, and that extra mile didn't seem so extra anymore. Will and I researched while Angel got the other stuff yesterday. As soon as I found out about The Hades Scrolls I read almost everything in Angels huge library about the Greek gods."
"And the Hynes Blood?" Angel asked.
"Leave it to my child to find a way to tell me that's what did it." Buffy said. "Can I keep this dagger Angel?"
Angel made a face but just sighed. "Yes of course."
"Are we ready now? To do the spell I mean." Buffy asked.
"Yes, we've got it all. we'll work the kinks out tomorrow, make sure we say all the words right, and then... you should have Spike back." Angel said softly.
"Why does that bother you so much?" Buffy asked.
"Because, Buffy, he'll be able to give you all the things I wanted to, but couldn't." Angel replied.
"Angel you have a family. You have Cordelia and Connor. Leave us in the past where we belong." Buffy said softly. No one said anything from then on, and Buffy fell asleep in the car on the way home.
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i"Come live with me and Dawn and be a family with us."
Spike just stared, stunned. "I... There's nothing I'd love more for you and I and ''Lil bit to be a family." Buffy smiled and kissed him again. And then there was Xander. Buffy pushed Spike down and kicked Xander in the face. Then she picked up the stake and cut his arm with it./i
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