June 18, 2525
Spike's POV
Hope went back to her job at the Fitness Center. We've settled into a quiet routine with Mark. She gives him his six o'clock feeding and I'm up by eight for his eight o'clock feeding and diaper change. I stay with him during the day while she's at work and she looks after him while I patrol. I promised her as soon as she can beat me in a fight again she can patrol. I couldn't stand for anything to happen to her. The doorbell just rang and woke Mark up from his nap. I swear I'll kill who is on the other side of that door.
June 18, 2525
Hope's POV
I arrived home this afternoon to find a member of the Watcher's Council sitting on my couch, while Spike was trying to get Mark to stop crying. I quickly retrieved my crying son from our protector with a smile and turned to ask the man from the Council what he wanted. I was shocked when he informed us of a dangerous temporal fold that needed to be closed quickly, but that the current Slayer was unavailable as the last one had just died and the new one had yet to be discovered. He went on to explain that the only way to close the fold is for a Slayer to step through it, though he admitted that they have no way of knowing what I would face on the other side or how I would get back. I look down at Mark now asleep in my arms and glare at the Watcher.
June 18, 2525
Spike's POV
I never felt as proud of Hope as I did when she told that Watcher to leave. Reminded him of how the Council had decided to reverse Willow's spell to make all the potential's actual Slayers and how they had no one to blame but themselves and he left in a huff. Then she looked at me, and I dreaded the next thing she would say, all she did was sigh, and tell me we had no choice. She called Mike to ask if he would take Mark and we started a long awkward night of researching to find a way back through the fold.
June 20, 2525
Hope's POV
I hand Mark over to Mike and I kiss my baby one last night, before Spike and I head off to an unknown hell dimension. I hate this. There are moments when the women in my family hate their calling. Well this is mine. I hate leaving my baby. I hate facing a frightening temporal fold, but I also know how many lives will be at stake if I don't go. The life of a Slayer is never easy. I wonder if Spike's Buffy knew entirely what she was cursing her line with, when she gave birth to her daughter. Looking at my son though, I know she wouldn't have traded one moment with that precious baby, just to ease my pain. She gave us life and a power to help people and we owe it to her memory to be superheroes.
June 20, 2525
Spike's POV
Hope and I are both crying as we leave Mark. After watching and sometimes causing so much death and misery over the decades you would think it would get easier, but it never does. We go through all the pain and apocalypses that we have to, to save world. Then a couple of years later the world needs saving again. It's a vicious and never-ending cycle of death. As we approach the temporal fold, Hope looks at me nervously and I nod. I promise again to look after the child if she can't. A promise I have gotten too good at over the years. We hold hands for comfort and support and jump into the fold together.