Chapter Fifty-Four: All The Words We Don't Want to Hear

"Riley," Buffy gasped again, sitting up and pulling the sheets up to her chest. "What are you doing here?"

Riley didn't say anything. He just stared at Buffy and Spike with a blank face.

"Well well," Spike said, unable to keep the grin off his face. "Captain Cardboard, welcome back. Long time no see."

"Shut up," Buffy said, through gritted teeth. She looked at Riley, "Riley, I can explain."

"I think I can figure it out," Riley said.

"So what brings you back to ole Sunny D?" Spike asked. "Did you miss those vampire tarts? Well not to worry, I hear they've set up show in a warehouse downtown. I'll give you the address."

"Spike," Buffy whispered in a voice low enough for only Spike to hear. "Shut up or I will make your son an orphan." She raised her voice, "Riley.."

Riley shook his head, "Don't bother trying to explain." He grabbed Buffy's shirt from where it had landed and threw it to her. "Just get dressed. We have a lot to talk about."

Spike wisely kept his mouth shut as he pulled on his jeans. Buffy quickly found her clothes and dressed. Once they both had their clothes on Riley walked over to the crypt's door and opened it. Sam walked in and joined them.

"How did you know I was here?" Buffy asked.

"It wasn't too hard," Riley said. "We went down to the demon bars. All I had to do was mention Drusilla's name and they talked about her army and how she was recruiting. Then they said that she used to be involved with you, Spike."

"So," Spike said. "We were together for awhile, but that's ancient history."

"Maybe," Riley said. "But I still had to take the chance that you might know something about her."

"And we knew you were here because of this," Sam held up a cassette tape.

"What's that?" Buffy asked.

"It's a recording from the listening devise in your living room," Sam explained.

"You bugged my living room?" Buffy cried. "Are you insane? You had no right to do that."

"We had every right," Sam said. "The Initiative gives us the right to do whatever is necessary to find and stop this demon army."

"And that includes bugging my living room?" Buffy asked, unable to believe at what had just happened. She tried to remember what she'd said and what Willow, Tara and Dawn might have said.

"We knew that you were keeping something from us," Riley said. "If you weren't going to be straight with me than we had to resort to other means."

"Like bugging my house," Buffy repeated. "Did it ever occur to you that I might have told you what you wanted to know? You caught me by surprise. I never expected to see you again."

"Right," Riley said. "You would have told me that you were," He choked out the words, "Sleeping with this.thing." He shook his head, "You know, I knew that things would be different when I came back and that there were things you weren't telling me but this.."

"It's complicated," Buffy said. "A lots happened that you don't know about."

"Nothing is so complicated that can explain you jumping into bed with another vampire," Riley said. "Didn't you learn your lesson the first time around?" He let out an exasperated sound, "Or do you sleep with every vampire who comes around?"

Spike stepped forward, muttering, "This is going to be worth it." Than he reached back and punched Riley in the face.

Both Spike and Riley let out a cry of pain and their respective woman hurried to their sides. They recovered quickly but both held back, "What about the father of your baby, Buffy?" Riley asked angrily. "What does he think about you sleeping with a vampire? Of you exposing his child to this evil thing?"

"He doesn't mind," Spike said. "In fact he gets pretty upset when Buffy doesn't sleep with me."

Both Riley and Sam looked confused while Buffy was reconsidered protecting Spike from Riley. "What are you talking about?" Riley asked.

"Spike," Buffy warned. "Shut up."

"No," Riley said. "I want to hear this. Go on."

"Well it all starts with," Spike glanced at Buffy. "Where does it start luv? When I chained you downstairs, when you jumped me in that warehouse, oh wait, I know, when Glinda did her mojo that made yours truly able to.."

"Shut up," Buffy ordered. Riley looked like he was about to explode and if that happened the odds were good that Spike would wind up as a pile of dust.

"No," Riley said. "Let him continue."

"For someone who's supposed to be this brilliant commando guy, you are incredibly thick," Spike said. "Just think about it."

Riley looked from Spike to Buffy and then back to Spike. His expression changed from confusion to realization to horror as he figured out the final piece of the puzzle, "No," He said. "That's not possible."

"Honey?" Sam said. "What is it?"

"Impossible," Riley said.

"Oh it's possible," Spike said. "We live on the bloody Hellmouth. Strange things happen here."

"How?" Riley asked.

"Why don't you explain it to him, luv," Spike said.

Buffy glared at Spike. He was going to pay for this but there was no way to get out of it. Riley had already figured out the Spike had somehow fathered her baby. She took a deep breath and said, "Riley, there's an explanation."

"For what?" Sam asked, still unsure of what was going on.

"For how a vampire can get a human pregnant," Riley said bitterly.

"What?" Sam gasped, looking at Buffy and Spike. "That's not possible." She looked at her husband, "It's been tried before and we always failed."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

"The Initiative has done experiments. One of my friends works in the department that has studied the reproductive organs of vampires. She's done extensive research and has even tried performing in-vitro fertilization with human eggs and vampire sperm. She's never had a success, even when she tried vampire to vampire." She looked at Buffy. "So how were you able to get pregnant?"

"Tara cast a spell," Buffy said. "She was trying to make Spike human but it only worked for a split second and that second was when we were." She trailed off.

Sam studied Buffy, "But still, this is unprecedented, a vampire and a human having a child."

"Spike was human when this baby was conceived," Buffy pointed out. "This baby is completely human."

"But still.." Sam said. "A vampire who could turn human long enough to conceive a child and then turn back into a vampire. Buffy, what spell did Tara use?" She looked at Riley, "Imagine what could be done with that."

"The spell is too complicated and old to be used," Buffy said. "Tara's a powerful witch and she wasn't able to cast the spell and make it stick." She shrugged, "It doesn't matter anyway. There was only one copy of the spell that she used and after she found out that I was pregnant because of it she destroyed it."

"What?" Sam cried. "Doesn't she realize what could be done with that spell?"

"The consequences were too great," Spike said. He looked at Buffy, "There's always consequences with magic and sometimes they're not worth the spell that was cast."

"He's right," Buffy looked startled at what she had just said. "He is once in awhile."

"Thanks luv," Spike said.

"But still," Sam said. "There must be something else, some other reason other than just the right spell cast at the right time."

"Sorry," Buffy said. "But that's all it is."

"No," Sam said. "It can't be. The whole molecular structure changes when someone is turned. There had to have been some residual affect when Spike changed from a vampire to a human back to a vampire." She looked at Buffy, "What has your doctor said? Has he found anything unusual about your baby?"

"What?" Buffy asked, her hands going protectively to her stomach. "Do you think something is wrong with my baby?'

Spike glared at both Riley and Sam, then he pulled Buffy away from them. He looked into her eyes and said, "There is nothing wrong with our son, got it? You've been checked out ever way possible and it all came back normal."

"But.." Buffy said.

"No," Spike said, firmly. "Remember, you've seen little Peaches. He's the child of two vampires and he looked like a perfectly normal little human. Of course being raised by Angel could screw anyone up."

"What did you say?" asked Riley, who had been openly listening to the conversation. "A child of two vampires, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Buffy said.

"No, I heard him too. Now who are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Angel okay?" Buffy said in frustration. "Angel and Darla had a son."

"I thought that they were both vampires," Riley said.

"They are," Buffy said. "But there was prophecy, Darla and Angel slept together and before they knew it there was Connor."

"Is he normal?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Buffy said, trying to hold onto her temper. "He's a normal, beautiful little boy. He has a soul and everything."

"Where is he now?" Riley asked.

"With his father," Buffy said. She wasn't revealing anything more.

"What about his mother?" Sam asked.

"She's dead," Spike explained. "Here's a tip for your vampire breeding program. Female vampires aren't able to pop out kiddies the normal way. Little Peaches was only born because Darla staked herself."

"But it is possible," Sam said to Riley. "It is possible for vampires to have children and for the children to be human."

"The key is to understanding what happened," Riley said. He looked at Buffy and Spike, "We'll finish this later." Then he and Sam left the crypt.

"What just happened?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know," Spike said. Something wasn't right. Captain and Mrs. Cardboard had been too calm, way too calm.