A/N : Thanx to; Spuffy6, Moonjava, LiLi, Mony19, Brunettepet, funkydevil206, Darrel Doomvomit, ness345, Moluvsnumber17, EMBER91, and velja for the great reviews. Just to clear up some confusion; yes, Davy is a character I made up, there are several in this fic, some that have already appeared, some that'll come in later. Not sure how EMBER91 doesn't know who Andrew is - Tucker's brother, remember? Member of the Troika in Season 6, and hostage at the Summers House in Season 7? I'm sure you were just joking when you said you didn't know him... Here's the new chapter for you all!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

Spike and Buffy arrived at her apartment, having spent the walk back in relative silence. He didn't know where to begin and she wasn't sure where she wanted him to start. It was a small relief when they realised it was just them and the kids at the apartment, a note on the table told them that Andrew had taken Dawn to school already and that he himself had things to do, meaning he probably wouldn't be back for hours.

"That's put the little reunion on hold then" Spike said with a slight smile, "Sort of a relief, your boy Andrew gets a little over the top at the sight of yours truly"

"Dawn will be just the same" Buffy smiled as she parked the kids stroller to one side of the room. They'd both fallen asleep on the way home, she guessed because the last couple of nights they hadn't slept so well. It was a relief if she was honest, to have them silent for a while, she and Spike had a lot to talk about.

"I s'pose Andrew filled in some gaps, after you got my letter" he asked as she turned to look at him.

"He did" she agreed, "I so wish you'd have told me when you came back before"

"I wanted to" Spike told her, "Bloody hell Buffy, you were my only thought when I turned up at Wolfram and Hart. First thing I asked was where you were, if you were safe...but how could I come back to you? I wasn't even corporeal"

"I wouldn't have cared" Buffy was almost in tears just thinking about it, "Spike, did you forget that I loved you?" she said, as a tear escaped down her cheek.

"I didn't know" he told her, taking a step toward her, daring to gently wipe the tear from her face, "I was dying Buffy, burning to a cinder to save the world, you might have just been being nice"

"Me being nice to you?" she gave him a watery smile, "You should've known better"

Spike couldn't answer. He had no response to her little joke, he was too busy reeling from the revelation that the words she'd spoken back then, when she'd told him she loved him, that was all true. The fact she was marrying another man and had bore two children since they'd last been together all just faded away as he came purposefully towards her and put his lips to hers.

It'd been too long, Buffy realised, as she enjoyed the sensations only Spike's kiss could bring. She'd dreamt of this almost every night since Sunnydale fell and now it was happening it was even better than she remembered as his hand slid to her waist and pulled her tight against him, and her arms went up around his neck.

It worried her when he pulled away first, until she realised he needed to breathe. She smiled at the realisation. He was human now, and he was back in her arms, it was all kind of a miracle.

"Still not quite used to the whole having to breathe thing" he admitted, "After more than a century of not needing oxygen, sometimes I tend to forget I need it now"

When he moved to kiss her again it was Buffy that pulled back. Although she could quite happily have let this progress, let him make love to her the way only he could, she knew it wasn't the right way to go.

"We came back here to talk, Spike" she reminded him, "And as great as this is...there's things we should talk about" she told him, pulling out of his embrace. She glanced briefly at the children and he followed her eye-line, feeling suddenly sick. Those kids were real, even if the Slayer's fiancé turned out to be dispatchable, her daughters were for keeps.

"Where do you want me to start, pet?" he asked as they sat down on the couch together.

"From the night you sent me the letter?" she suggested. She'd read the thing so many times, she pretty much knew it by heart, and with Andrew filling in the gaps she knew more or less all she needed to know about Spike's time with Angel and the gang in LA. What she needed to know was how and why he was back from the grave again.

"Right then" Spike sighed, knowing he must again recount events that were painful, but doing it anyway, because it was Buffy who was asking.

"Wow" was all Buffy could say when Spike finished his narrative of the past year and more. He'd died again, making an uneven three times in his existence. That even beat her own record of twice she realised with a half-smile. Here he was again though, alive and kicking, and sitting right here looking at her and waiting for some kind of response with actual words in it, but she had no idea what to say.

Brought back from the dead because the Powers needed a champion, given an ex-God in a human body as a companion, who must suffer painful visions of those in need. What Spike had neglected to explain to her was how he'd needed up in Rome all of a sudden. She opened her mouth to ask when Eloise woke up and screamed for attention.

"Oh sweetie" Buffy sighed, getting up and going over to her daughters, knowing that if she couldn't get Ellie quiet pretty fast soon Chloe would wake and start howling too, "Hey, what's the matter?" she asked, rocking the little girl in her arms, "You just wake up all grumpy, huh?"

In moments the child quietened down, putting her thumb in her mouth and enjoying being held close by her mother.

"You're a natural" Spike said from behind her and she blushed a little at the compliment. She'd kind have been thrown into the deep end with the whole mother deal. Playing Mom to Dawnie was a lot different to bringing up two babies but her sister and Andrew had helped a lot, and Davy was great.

"What's with the look?" Spike asked as he caught her frowning. Buffy sighed.

"I was just thinking, about Davy" she admitted, "He's helped a lot with the kids"

"Bloody right and proper too" the bleached blond agreed as he walked over to her, "Back in my day it wasn't heard of but, in this day and age, a bloke should be there for his kids. S'only right. Father's duty and all that" his voice disappeared as he realised he was getting rambley.

Buffy opened her mouth to speak before closing it fast. She just realised what she should have thought of before. Spike hadn't figured out that the girls were his, he thought they were Davy's kids! Obviously math was not his strong point, since there was no way she could have kids this age with him but then they were small for their age being both twins and prematurely born.

"They got names?" Spike asked, bringing her out of her thoughtful days. He was crouched down by the stroller studying the stirring child within and Buffy thought she was going to cry as Chloe reached out her hand, grabbing onto Spike's finger and giggling when he played her game.

"That's Chloe" Buffy told him, swallowing hard, "And this is Eloise, we call her Ellie"

"Chloe and Ellie, huh?" he smiled as the little girls both stared at him with big innocent eyes, "They're perfect. Look just like you, Slayer"

"Hey Buffy" a voice called through the door, breaking whatever family type moment had been developing, "My afternoon class was cancelled so I..." Dawn stopped talking when Spike stood up and she caught sight of him.

"Oh my God" she gasped, hand covering her mouth as the books she'd held slid from her arms, "Oh my God, Spike" she squealed, running at him and nearly knocking him over and she wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest.

"Hello, Bit" he said huskily, hugging her back. God he'd missed her, almost as much as he'd missed Buffy. She was his little sister, his special Little Bit.

"How?" was all the girl could say when she finally pulled away, her face tear-stained, her voice strangled with emotion.

"Long story, pet" he admitted, "but I promise, sometime I'll tell it to you... Bugger me, Nibblet, can't believe it's you" he smiled as he took in the sight of her, "Gonna have to get a new name for you though, not such a Little Bit anymore" he realised, "Proper woman now, ain't you?"

Dawn shook her head, more tears escaping from her eyes.

"No" she choked out, "No, I always want to be your Little Bit" she told him, hugging him again.

Buffy looked on, both joy and jealously in her heart. She so wanted Spike to hold her like that again, she wanted everything to be as perfect as Dawn made it seem. Perfect, like the dreams she had both asleep and awake, but this was real life and she had a very real fiancé less than a mile away, working to save money for a wedding they'd already started to talk about.

"...but I knew you'd come back, you always come back" Dawn was rambling away still when Buffy zoned back into the scene around her, "I just can't believe you're alive this time and you're here"

"Dawnie, let Spike breathe" her sister told her when she refused to stop hugging him too tight, "Like you said, he's alive now. Oxygen is kind of an issue"

Spike gave her a look that reminded her of a moment just a couple of hours ago when his lack of oxygen had been her fault, and he hadn't minded at all.

"Buffy?" Dawn looked at her sister with a frown, "Why aren't you...? I mean, it's Spike" she pressed. She couldn't understand why Buffy wasn't jumping for joy at the prospect of having her old lover back. They could be a family now, like she'd dreamt for so long, like they both had, and yet far from looking thrilled at the idea, the blonde looked close to tears, and not the good kind.

"Dawnie, are you and Andrew going out tonight?" she checked and a smile crept on her sisters face.

"You want us to? So you can be alone with...?"

"Davy, yes" she interrupted, "I, I need to talk to him, explain if I can"

Though she was answering Dawn she was mostly talking to Spike. She glanced at him to make sure he understood but soon looked away again, unable to bear it. His eyes shone with love for her, just like they always had, but again she bore witness to the pain in those deep blue pools. Too many times she'd hurt him before, to the point where even when she confessed love for him he didn't think he was worthy, he didn't believe.

"Er, I should go" Spike said suddenly, heading for the door. Dawn looked pained as she followed him.

"You can't, you can't leave again" she told him desperately. Spike smiled, putting a hand to her face.

"Not going far, Bit" he promised her, "but I reckon I've shaken up yours and your sisters world enough for one day" he told her, "'Sides, Lyri'll be tearing the place apart without me for company" he smirked, and even Buffy had to smile at that.

"Do go too far" she told him softly, "I'm not done with you yet" she managed another slight smile which he returned right before he left.

"Buffy, why didn't you just tell him!" Dawn yelled as soon as the door closed, "You've been dreaming about him for months, I know you still love him, and Ellie and Chloe are his kids. He wouldn't have just walked out of here if you'd told him all that!" she shouted, quite angry by now, until she realised how upset Buffy really was. When she turned from putting Ellie back in the stroller, tears were streaming down her face and her body convulsed with great heaving sobs.

"Oh, Buffy, I didn't mean..." Dawn felt instantly guilty as she crossed the room and hugged her bawling sister, "Ssh, it's okay" she told her, rubbing her back as she cried all over her. The shock and other mixed emotions had finally caught up without he Slayer and it was showing itself in a flood of salt-water.

"He's back, Dawn" she choked out, "He's back, and I don't even know where to start" she said between sobs, "I've been dreaming about it and now...I keep thinking about Davy and everything that's happened...Dawn, I have no idea what to do"

To Be Continued...