Disclaimer: Since my name is not Joss Whedon, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and the amazing characters associated with the show belong to someone who isn't me. I also don't own the story line - that is taken from gidgetgirl's Before She Was Turned Challenge (details below). Lacey Kendall belongs to me.
The Before She Was Turned ChallengeUnbeknownst to the others, there was more to Harmony Kendall than met the eye. Two years before she was turned at graduation, Harmony actually gave birth to a child. When the child is turned, it's up to the scoobies to take care of him/her while soulless Harmony wreaks havoc.
Requirements:
Harmony's soul must somehow be tied to the little one.
The little one must be oddly quiet and shy for a Harmony child.
Someone snuggling with the child.
A skinned knee.
Author's Note I: To Marcus Lazarus – I didn't plan to go into details about Lacey's father, but she wasn't a product of date rape or anything like that.
Author's Note II: I know it's been ages since I updated, and this is a pretty short chapterbut this story should be done in another chapter or two.
Chapter 5
"Mommy!"
It was fortunate that, as a vampire, Lacey did not need to breathe, otherwise her relieved mother's embrace would have smothered her.
"Are you alright?" Harmony asked urgently, kissing her little daughter over and over again.
"Fine, Mommy." Lacey clung tightly to her mother's neck. "Xander played Princesses with me and read stories and everything." The expression on her small face became pensive. "He forgot to put sugar in my blood to make it taste nice, though." The tiny vampire told her mother, not noticing the revolted looks on Buffy and Dawn's faces, or Spike's amused smirk.
"I'll know for next time." Xander said cheerfully, touched despite himself by the mother-daughter reunion.
Harmony scooped her little girl into her arms, hugging her tightly.
Lacey yawned, laying her head on her mother's shoulder. "I miss Sparkles." She confided quietly.
"Well," Harmony tickled her gently before producing a fluffy purple stuffed unicorn. "That I can help with."
"Sparkles!" Lacey cuddled her favourite toy tightly. "Was he good?"
"Very good." Harmony reassured her. "He missed you though." She kissed Lacey's cheek. "I missed you too."
"Lots?"
"Lots and lots."
"Can we go home now?"
"In a little while." It was with great difficulty that Harmony restrained herself from snarling at Buffy, who had spoken. The Slayer looked the elder of the blonde vampires in the eye, knowing that, as a mother, Harmony would cheerfully tear her to pieces if she thought that she was threat to her child. "Please." She tried to keep her voice friendly and even. "We have to talk about a few things first."
"Did you know that Lacey has a soul?" Willow asked gently, smiling down at the little vampire, who was curled up in her mother's arms, half asleep.
"I didn't know." Harmony spoke in a small voice. "Not for sure."
"But you guessed?"
"Kind of. She's always been different, to other vamps, I mean." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know why."
"Will she, you know, grow up? Physically, I mean." Dawn asked curiously.
"No." Harmony shook her head sadly. "She's nearly five now and she hasn't changed a bit."
"Wow." The thought of being trapped in a toddler's body for eternity was a sobering one for the teenager.
"What were you thinking?" Although Buffy had vowed inwardly to keep from interrogating the blonde vampire, she couldn't refrain from asking the question. "What possessed you to turn her?"
"There was nothing else I could do."Haunted by the memories and terrified, even now, of the thought of how close she had come to losing Lacey, Harmony tightened her grasp on her little daughter. "The doctors couldn't do anything for her. If I hadn't turned her, she would have died."
Spike, who had chosen to turn his own mother rather than watch her waste away and die, could sympathise and, if the expressions on the faces of the other Scoobies were any indication, not even Buffy could wholly condemn Harmony's actions.
Lacey yawned, her blue eyes fluttering open to look up at her mother. "Is it time to go home yet, Mommy?"
For a brief moment Buffy questioned the wisdom of allowing Harmony to take the little girl away, wondering if Lacey wouldn't be better off with them or with Angel, someone who could care for an ensouled child vampire.
After seeing the obvious love Harmony showed her child, and seeing how much Lacey obviously adored her, she knew that she couldn't do that.
"Go on." Her tone was gentle. "We won't try to stop you."
Shifting her little girl into a more comfortable position in her arms, Harmony rose, ready to leave before they changed their minds but she stopped.
Her conscience, rarely active except in Lacey's presence, pricked at her sharply, refusing to allow her to walk away.
"There's something you should know."
"What?" Buffy looked at her former classmate suspiciously.
"Well. . ." Harmony looked away, reluctant to continue. "Promise you won't get mad."
"Harmony!"
"I kind of sent some minions to take the Bronze hostage."
TBC.
Author's Note: That's all for now, folks. Please don't forget to review.
