Kindred
By Sweetprincipale
Set in early Season Five. When Dracula called Buffy 'kindred'', he was doing a bit more than just saying they had a lot in common. Hungry for knowledge of herself and her power, Buffy didn't realize what kind of connection he had forged with her until he left town, and the damage was done. Hoping to break his hold over her, Buffy requests help from Spike. However, the way you break the hold of one vampire is to let another one possess you more fully. But, it'll only be temporary, right? Simple business, that's all…
Dedicated to: GoldenHeartedAngel, kyanaM,Brokenblackrose89, Dreaming Haven, artemisthestargazer, and pgoodrichboggs
XLII
"NO!" Wesley yanked on Daniela's arm as she wobbled forward, all of her graceful carriage gone.
"Shit! Drac's back," Spike kept his voice on the edge of annoyance. "You, mate, are not on the guest list."
"I'm not staying for the party. I've come to escort my bride-to-be home. Saying hello to an old friend was simply an unexpected bonus. Daniela? Come."
"She's not yours!" Wesley jerked on Daniela's arm again, heart rending as the playful eyes he loved simply flashed angrily at his touch.
"That pasty-ass bastard is Dracula?" Charles looked him up and down. "Thought you'd be taller."
Spike extended his arm to Gunn, nodding. "Exactly. He's all reputation."
"Reputation doesn't mean lies. Come, Slayer. We have vows of our own to make."
"Nope," Buffy flipped the count a finger, just not the customary one. "Engaged to someone else. Claim is off. Also… other things need to be off. Anyone who wants to leave should go right now!"
Buffy waited for a stampede that would leave Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Giles flanking her and everyone else out of the way. Especially her mother.
No one moved. Dracula chuckled. "Daniela, assure your sister that her family has nothing to fear— so long as they let her leave with me."
Daniela said nothing. Wesley desperately searched her face, now a vacant mask. At the word "sister", he thought he saw her lips tighten. Was she about to speak? Trying to fight him off? How could this happen, how could she be in his control after their bond was— Oh. Right. He was her Sire still, although no longer her spouse.
"Get out of here. This is my shop, private property and it's closed to the public this evening. You are not invited." Joyce surged forward angrily.
Dracula blinked in surprise. "Sit."
Joyce fell into a chair, eyes glassy.
"MOM!"
"Joyce!" Giles gasped.
She might have been a mannequin, body motionless and face blank.
"Foolish woman. Once you're mine, you're always mine. Once you invite me in, I never truly leave. Besides," the count sauntered out of his corner, standing easily as if he didn't expect a fight, "I could sense that I was wanted. So many of my old servants are in attendance. Bring me my bride." He gestured to the outraged Slayer.
"Y'know what, Luv?" Spike's voice jarred Buffy out of her silent rage and turned her eyes from Joyce to him.
"Hm?" Buffy made a small, pained noise.
"I'll get you a new dress," Spike's face slowly turned into a sinister grin.
Buffy's eyes lit up as she got the reference. One dress to dance in, one to slay in. So much was reflected in their new life together in a simple exchange. Spike loved all of her. He loved the hellcat that would decapitate and rage against monsters and the ex-prom queen who still lusted after shopping sprees. "Bright pink?"
"Shocking." Spike winked.
It seemed to suddenly dawn on the intruder that he wasn't going to thrall his way out of this one. Honestly, he would have been surprised if he hadn't had a bit of a struggle, but Dracula hadn't expected to battle in front of an audience. He also hadn't expected to have allies. As the Slayer and her upstart interloper advanced on him, he made a guttural noise and a slashing motion through the air, dragging his hand toward himself.
"Come on!" Willow grabbed Tara's hand. Giles unwillingly left Joyce's side. "Anya!"
"Xander?" Anya tugged urgently on Xander's sleeve as he woodenly marched forward.
"Daniela!" Wesley was having the same struggle.
Almost as if choreographed, Daniela and Xander both shoved their partners' hands off, neither looking behind them.
Xander grabbed at Buffy's shoulder as she raced toward the count. "Xander!"
"You have to go to him, Buffy." Xander smiled fixedly, a manic light in his eyes.
"Xander! Get your hands off of me." Buffy firmly gripped his wrist and pushed it down, only to find Dracula swooping up beside her.
"No!" A furious voice and flailing figure in a suit took down the snarling vampire before it reached the Slayer. "She doesn't belong to you! You lost her, you let her go!" Wesley was on top of the surprised count, intent on making him pay.
"Wes!" Cordelia gasped.
"Get Daniela!" he growled, eyes fixed on the count's.
It bought Spike a minute. He helped Buffy drag Xander away from the fray.
"We have to lock him in a closet or something," Buffy panted as the brunette seemed to deadweight against them, eyes unblinking.
Spike was silent, nodding. As they hauled him back, Spike started speaking softly. "You don't belong to him, mate. You're not his child. He never bit you."
"He was gonna. He promised me. He promised me eternal life. I could be strong." Xander's eyes seemed to blink back to life before deadening again.
"You are strong. You're the heart, remember?" Buffy hissed, her eyes meeting his before they had to check the fracas in the center of the room. At least Gunn and Wesley seemed to know what they were doing and Anya was moving into the Four Corners position. Just a few more seconds ought to freeze the cape-y jerk.
"But… he said—"
"You don't want to be that bastard's pet bug-eater. No. You're not in his family. You're in ours. Buffy's and mine." Spike knew he was useless at thrall. He never was one for the flashy Jedi mind tricks, but there was something here, some old magic that had poked him in the ribs for weeks. "You're my brother. Mine." He gripped his shoulder and shook it."
"And mine. The big brother I need?" Buffy whispered, nodding at her husband. "Say it, Xander. Say it back, if you want?"
The brunette's tongue flopped heavily over the words. "Brother?"
"Yeah, mate,brother. Family. Kindred. He never offered you that, did he? Just a mouth full of spiders, right?"
Xander's face screwed up as if he were trying to purge a bad taste. "Brothers." His eyes focused, finding Spike's. "Brothers? My brother? My sister?"
"That's it. Yours."
"Brothers don't have to get along, do they?" he asked in a dizzy-sounding voice.
Spike chuckled. "Not at all." Spike had no idea if this would work without a bite, but something seemed to be connecting them ever since this whole mess started. "C'mon. You don't belong to him. You're free. You don't belong to us, you belong with us. All for one, one for all, and all if favor of killing Mr. Control Freak."
Xander pushed himself up and brushed off their hands. He shook his head hard and looked around the room. "Wait. Did I… Oh, that guy is good! And that's not a compliment." Xander looked torn between anger and embarrassment.
There was no time to hash out what had just happened. "Yeah, he is good at this, which is why we need all the muscle we can get on our side." Buffy watched Charles Gunn go soaring through the air and land on the buffet table. She winced as the table broke and the almost empty punchbowl shattered. The young demon hunter remained still in the wreckage. "You hungry for a little revenge, Brother-mine?"
"Way better than spiders. I'll protect the mojo-makers, you get Drac. If you can kill him a little extra hard for me, that'd be awesome."
"Anything for family," Spike winked and took out a long, thick knife from the sheath that had been tucked into his belt, hidden under a black overshirt. "Ready, love of my unlife?"
"You go hands, I'll go head." Buffy replied.
She shouldn't have said it so loudly.
Dracula flung the stubborn little Englishman off of him. He was older and felt weaker than the young Black man that was currently clutching his broken ribs amongst the remains of a table. Still, this one fought with a personal rage that was disconcerting. Dracula didn't like emotions he couldn't control, particularly when he already had to deal with an onslaught of magic.
"Castiel, by thy second star—"
"Enough!" Dracula rose up, changing to mist as the angry Brit tried to grab his ankles. The chanting died abruptly as he whirled himself to another space in the room, this time right beside his former beloved.
It seemed to work. For a minute, the momentum of the battle stilled. He smoothed his hair and slid his hands down his black waistcoat over his almost dark crimson shirt. "There was no need for all of this," he explained softly, his hand gracing Daniela's bare shoulder.
"You zapped my mother. You're dead. Well, y'know. Dead-er." Buffy circled carefully, keeping elbow to elbow with Spike.
"Daniela, tell her. Does she need to worry over her mother? Wasn't your mother always treated like a queen, revered, the wealthiest woman in the village after we wed?"
Daniela nodded once. Her eyes stayed on the ground.
"Buffy, you won't be harmed. As long as you don't fight what we have between us. You were meant for me. You felt pulled to me the moment we met." He gazed deeply into the Slayer's eyes and waited to see the slight vagueness take over.
It didn't.
"Are you afraid? You are a Slayer… you have tasted eternity…" he led and watched her stiffen. "I will take your burden. Painlessly. Effortlessly." His hands roamed possessively to Daniela's hips as he smiled his most disarming smile at the Slayer. "I never hurt my true Kindred."
"That's not true."
Wesley struggled upright, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and smeared across his temple. "You hurt them in terrible ways, you cut them off whenever you liked, sometimes literally. Daniela isn't yours. She is mine. I— I lay my claim upon her. She is my Kindred one."
The idea was so utterly ludicrous that Dracula had to laugh. Moreover, he had to prove a point. "No one breaks my hold. Ever. You can fight it," his hand cupped Daniela's chin for a second before he pushed her forward, "but when I want to remind you of who you truly belong to— it's all over. Daniela. Who is your Sire?"
"You are."
"And who do you love?"
Silence.
"I said, who do you love?"
"He who is mine. I am his." Daniela turned and lifted her eyes, her lips parting in a slow, welcoming smile.
"You stay out of my way and make sure that no one else interferes. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Lord."
"Hmmm. Maybe I shall come home with two brides," he mused aloud.
"Over my dead body!" Wesley growled, lunging again.
"That can be arranged." Dracula snapped his fingers and Daniela effortlessly intercepted Wesley and hauled him away, her slender arm hooked under his neck and cutting off his airway.
"Hey!" Cordelia abandoned the unconscious Charles Gunn as she watched Wesley limply protesting under Daniela's grasp. Buffy and Spike could handle the head honcho. She had to smack some sense into her new undead bestie. "Daniela, you don't want to—"
Wesley gasped as Daniela's hand sprang forward and caught Cordy's throat. As easily as carrying a handbag, she dragged the struggling brunette along behind them.
"You see? Nothing real exists between a human and a vampire, anyway," Dracula shrugged as Daniela left the room.
"If they mess up my mother's gallery, you're writing a check." Buffy smiled icily. "You already owe us for the buffet table."
"And the punchbowl. Don't forget the punchbowl," Spike reminded her. "We prefer a literal pound of flesh."
"Blood money," Buffy rejoined. "Ready, honey?"
"Ready, Luv."
The fighting began in earnest and the room's remaining conscious occupants made a second attempt at the spell.
"Dear God, they really were meant for each other, weren't they?" Giles groaned softly at the bantering blondes.
"The pound of flesh was a nice touch, but Joyce could really use the you sue his estate for emotional damages? I mean, they could argue this was a significant—"
"Anya! Not. Now." Willow seized Anya's hand as Tara seized Giles'.
"We have to do this fast, while he's distracted and before he hurts anyone else," Tara breathed. "Xander, you have to help Wesley and Cordelia."
Xander nodded jerkily, but didn't move. "If he stops and takes one of you out— this spell doesn't freeze him and he might take out more. Worse, I might lose myself. I could turn against you. Worst of all, I might lose one of you. Just… Wesley and Cordelia have to do this on their own, at least until he stops moving."
The four spell-casters locked eyes. "Very well. Quickly." Giles squeezed the hands he held. "On three."
The three bodies in the gallery's front room stopped their struggle. Daniela let both Wesley and Cordelia drop and put a finger hastily to her lips. "Don't speak," she mouthed.
"But I thought—" Wesley rubbed his neck. Tears sprang to his eyes, not from pain but from relief.
Partly to silence him and partly to reassure him, Daniela pressed her lips to his. "If he thought I was disloyal, or that he couldn't control me… if I thought I truly did belong to another," she whispered against his cheek, "he would have killed you first. I'm sorry, my love. I did not lie. I said… I loved he who is mine."
Cordelia sat up warily. From the interior of her gauze dress, she silently removed a thin wooden stake. "How do I know—"
"Oh, mon Dieu! I'm so sorry about your hair. Non! You've lost an earring, too." Daniela left Wesley to briefly reach for Cordelia's cheek. The girl stepped back, deftly moving her head out of reach.
Daniela's hand fell and she nodded. "I deserve that."
"No, you don't!" Wesley shook her shoulders gently, eyes traveling between Cordelia and Daniela. "No, she doesn't. She acted for our safety."
"So you must get to safety. I will go in and get Charles." Daniela darted a hasty glance over her shoulder as she pushed Wesley toward the door.
"We can't leave," he breathed, resisting. "Something may happen, they might need our help."
"Then I will stay and help. He will not expect me to—" Daniela stopped speaking abruptly as Cordelia grabbed her elbow and spun her around. The girl's face was a cold mask.
Her wide smile was a thin line. "You're a really good actress."
"Fear is a good motivator, chere," she whispered.
The sound of smashing wood and harsh cries, made them look back worriedly. The wall shook and one of Joyce's expensive landscapes fell from the wall, taking out a display case.
"It sounds like World War III in there and it's spreading to out here. We don't run to safety, not if there's a monster left alive that's going to munch on our people. I'll get Charles. You two run interference."
"But—"
"Shh, lover. She's very good at the orchestrating, non?"
"I pretty much controlled a high school on a Hellmouth." Cordelia flipped what was left of her up-do.
"What do we do, Cordelia?"
The spell had worked before on Spike and on Riley. It didn't work as well on Dracula, especially not once he realized what they were doing. If he could have turned the foursome in the corner to stone, he would have done so, but as it was, he simply kept deflecting their magic by switching forms.
It was tiring and it meant that he was missing out on the telling blows he could have made against the vampire or the Slayer.
He didn't believe that a pitiful upstart with a pretentious title (William the Bloody, the name of a backstreet pugilist, not a noble immortal) could break his bond fully.
After endlessly ducking perfectly timed blows, Dracula found himself beginning to be convinced. The Slayer and her new lover moved as one, fought as one. Fighting both while trying to change forms and divert the magic away from himself was making him sloppy.
"Servant, tend to your Master's bidding," he howled in frustration as one of his arms grew suddenly heavy and immobile. "Kill the witches!"
"No!" Spike shouted out. "Protect our family, Harris, you know how!"
Dracula blinked momentarily surprised. "Kindred? You bit the boy?"
"Didn't need to. You didn't."
"I have powers unlike any other!"
"Yeah, well, I'm married to his sis. It's kind of a family thing. You don't have a leg to stand on, Drac. Or at least, you won't for long." Spike goaded, trash talking raised to an art form. What's more, it distracted him from the more vulnerable humans in the corner, still chanting away, guarded by one seriously grim-faced, pissed off brother-in-arms.
"I still have one other who obeys me! Daniela! Return to me."
Daniela returned, a body cradled in her arms and blood on her lips.
Giles' heart gave a wrench. Willow chanted louder. They couldn't afford for the spell to go wonky now, no matter what had happened.
"Obedient bride. You shall be reinstated and you shall teach the Slayer your ways."
"Yes, Master." Her voice was still dead and flat. "Where shall I put him?"
Buffy turned her head enough to see what was happening in the room behind them. She gasped, at the sight of Wesley with a bloody throat, borne by Daniela with a bloody mouth. But he loved her. She loved him. I thought… This can't happen to me. This can't happen, where I turn against Spike. The desire to end the puppet master tripled in an instant.
"What do I care? He's rubbish, a reminder of your sins and errors. Drop him and kill the witches!"
"Over my dead body, lady," Xander stepped between her and the path to his friends. "Look, you can snap out of it. I know it's hard, but he doesn't own us anymore. You have Wesley. I have— guh, it sounds weird, but I have Spike. In a non-romantic way."
Daniela was silent, walking steadily, her gaze hypnotic as she continued walking toward them with her grisly bundle.
"Okay, Luv. Big finish. We gotta wrap this up, Drac." Spike slid into gameface.
"Yeah, 'cause I have homework and you have a deathwish." Buffy sprang, going behind the raven-haird vampire, the beautiful silver knife that had been used to cut her engagement cake now intended for a much darker purpose. "Sorry about the buttercream. It's not really a dignified way to go out, but I figure you'll deal."
"I could kill you in an instant," Dracula whirled to keep Buffy in sight, momentarily worried about Spike, now unseen.
"You could try. But if you do, you don't get the yummy immortality treats you want."
Dracula's face turned into a deep sneer. "Daniela talked, did she? Well, I shall have a few hundred years to make her remember her loyalty."
At his words, the body in Daniela's arms twitched, but the count didn't see it.
"Form the star," Wesley whispered as his lover set him down gently. He took the point, transforming the powerful square into a much more deadly force.
A pentagram now made of magic-users, Daniela slid into position next to Xander as Wesley seamlessly picked up the spell.
"Ohhhhhh. Nice one," Xander sighed in relief.
"Don't be relieved just yet," Daniela whispered. "My sorcerer is incredibly strong."
"Yeah? Well so are my witches. Not that they belong to me or anything but—"
"Shhh. Let's make this look convincing, shall we? A distraction so he doesn't notice that there are five instead of four?"
"What?" Xander asked, his face falling. "OW!" Daniela's elgenalty manicured hand slammed into his jaw. "That's a little too convincing," he hissed, and went for her hair.
He was tiring. But he shouldn't be. If anything, his strength should be surging as Daniela had broken whatever weak bond she'd made with that human and was doubtless slaughtering witches, or at least breaking their concentration.
Not that he had time to check. The Slayer and her interloper kept him whirling, fighting back to front while his limbs grew more inflexible and rigid and even his usual tricks to evade magic failed him. With a final wrench, Dracula found himself frozen in mid-air, fingers spread to grab and snap the Slayer's wrist. "Wh-what is this?"
"I believe it's called 'fortuitous reinforcements," Spike jerked his head to the corner where a pale Wesley had joined forces with the other spellcasters. "Didn't know I could talk all posh, did you?"
"Honey, gloat after we kill him."
Daniela stopped trading theatrical blows with Xander. "I would rather you make it slow," Daniela whispered.
"I'm sorry, we kind of owe him for bringing us together," Buffy apologized, wincing. "The best I can do is to make it quick for him."
"Right. Thanks, Drac. You've made me the happiest man in the world and all of that." Spike coughed gruffly and slowly moved forward, just close enough to touch the frozen fingers.
"What? You cannot kill me. You think that you—"
"I told them how." Daniela crossed her arms. "You know they can. You hope if you bluster long enough, the tide will turn in your favor. Not this time." She turned on her heel, eyes averted. She couldn't watch this death, even though she welcomed it.
"Do we offer him a cigarette or something?" Buffy asked. "Or a blindfold?"
"Slayer."
"Well, I'm used to people fighting me to death!"
"Want the witchie-poos to stop their chanting so they can have loo break and then he can pop off to outer Siberia or the Caymans? Come back and kill everyone over Christmas break?" Spike groused.
"I'll leave you in peace, all of you. You are worthy opponents, adversaries, I —"
"Xander!" Buffy cut off Dracula's wide-eyed ramble. "Go stand in front of Mom, in case she's seeing this. I do not want her to see the grossness about to occur."
"Yeah, we've given her enough shocks this year. Ready, Baby?"
"Ready. One, two," Buffy swung her knife out.
"Three- go!" Spike swung his down
There was an unholy cry, smoke and ash, whipping winds, and blood spraying everywhere.
And at the end of it- there was nothing but a pile of immobile ashes.
"Oh my God. We… we did it. Right? I mean, we did it? He's gone?" Buffy looked at Spike through the haze of ash still drifting down.
"We did. Hammy bastard, even goin' out."
"My throat hurts from all that chanting. Did he destroy all the soda?" Anya asked.
"Oh my God! My gallery!"
Spike wrapped his arm around Suffy's shoulders and kissed her sweaty, disheveled hair. "Back to normal, Slayer."
"Better than normal, Spike."
"So, is there a word for losing hands? De-handification? Like decapitation?" Xnder helped Giles and Wesley push the remains of drywall and broken furniture to the alleyway.
"Dismemberment," replied Willow, sitting on an unbroken chair with Tara's head in her lap. Anya leaned against her other side, faintly glassy eyed.
"Keep drinking." Joyce obeyed Daniela's instructions (albeit somewhat uncertainly) and plied the girls with glasses of water to help them recover from their strenuous act of magic.
"What happened?" Charles Gunn opened his eyes to see Cordelia above him. "Ohhh. Hey, Mama."
"I'm not your mother. God, how hard did you hit your head?" Cordelia bit her lip and looked at the nasty looking cut behind his ear.
"Naw, girl. That's not what Mama means… " Gunn trailed off. The room felt like it was going slowly in and out of focus. He tried to sit up and couldn't. His eyes drifted from Cordelia's face and landed on Daniela's.
"It's okay, Charles. I am on your side," Daniela whispered.
"She's a very annoyingly good actress," Cordelia huffed, dabbing a wet pink napkin behind his ear. "Don't compare us, I've had decades to practice fooling people."
Cordelia brightened for a minute, until Charles' eyes fell shut again. "Gunn! Hey, you have to stay awake, okay?"
"You must get him to a doctor. What if he has a skull fracture?" Daniela rose, eyes searching for Wesley.
"His head is too hard," Cordelia sniffed in, heel of her hand briefly under each eye. "But he'd be grumpy if he was dented in an unflattering way, probably. I think he's secretly a little vain."
"He is pretty, yes. Only not as pretty as my love. True love. The one I choose freely."
"Ah, and she is mine. Freely chosen." Wesley circled his arms around Daniela's waist as he returned to the little group. "I'm sure there are lots of things we have to discuss, but right now, Gunn needs a hospital and we're going to get him there. Let's say goodbye to the happy couple, shall we?"
Buffy put the vacuum bag in the galvanized trash can in the alley. The bag tinkled faintly as it hit the metal bottom, filled with broken glass, bits of wood, and notorious vampire ashes. Beside her, an unsmiling Spike lit a cigarette.
"Sure this won't like… reanimate him?" Buffy asked, shivering even though the night was balmy.
"Watcher and Watcher both agree it won't." Spike looked into the rectangle of light. The girls were all starting to look better, less like they'd been hit by a magical shitstorm. Rupert looked incredibly well for the circumstances, but Spike suspected that his animated conversation with Joyce had something to do with it.
"All's well that ends well." Spike passed the cigarette to her.
Buffy took it with a small smile. Her husband was the perfect blend of sweetheart and badass. She flicked the smoking cylinder into the trash.
"Let's give this a little help." Spike unscrewed his flask and gave a sprinkle of whisky to the remains in the bin. Instantly, flames flared to life and smoke began spiraling to the night sky. They leaned on one another in silence, not taking their eyes from the fire.
When the only thing left in the bottom was ashes of ashes, Buffy finally spoke.
"My dress is ruined. Like this is… what is this?" Buffy looked down at her outfit with dismay.
"Arterial spatter?" Spike hazarded as he stared at the red sprays.
Buffy shook her head. "Vampires are supposed to go poof! No muss, no fuss. It's why they're my favorite thing to kill. It's in my job description! The Vampire Slayer, not the 'Ooky Globby Demon Slayer'."
"Well, he wasn't an ordinary vamp, was he? Besides, I think that's from the hands bein' cut off. I didn't expect it to go out as far as—"
"I'm going to barf." At least I'm over a trash can.
Spike quickly changed the subject. "Well, it looks gorgeous on you. Yeah? Blood of thine enemies? An' you know I love it! Makes you look fierce, right warrior maiden with the blood streaked across your face and entrails on your—"
"ENTRAILS? Where?" Buffy shrieked, frantically wiping her face and looking at her shoes.
"Not literal entrails! Stop fussing over your dress. It's beautiful, Pet. Very Jackson Pollock."
She crossed her arms and glared.
"You have a second dress, remember? Plus, I told you I'd get you a new pretty and I keep my promises."
"Party is over. That's something. It didn't get ruined until after almost everyone had left." She tried to smile. Another major event in the Buffy file. Another major disaster. Yeah, it's a victory. She tried to feel elated.
Elation requires energy.
Spike pulled her close to him, reeling her in. "It's not just about the dress is it?"
She shrugged in his arms.
He let his head rest on top of her hair. "You did it. You're the slayer who took down the biggest vampire in history."
"Couldn't have done it without you." Buffy shook her head, bewildered. "It happened so fast… it almost seemed too easy."
"First off, hush your mouth," he gave a warning snarl, but it melted at her pout. "Well… that could be because you didn't fight him alone or because he didn't expect you to be such a bloody powerhouse, or know his secrets, or have a partner who moved in perfect unison with you." He preened. "Or, you could be talking absolute rubbish." Spike laughed, eyes heavenward.
"Hey!"
"This wasn't easy, Luv. This was a long-time coming, even if it was only a few weeks in the works. Some battles are like that."
"Can I be childish and immature for a minute before I think logically? I'm just really tired and I'm so happy to be engaged to you, 'for real', and married to you, and that we all survived. I'm so grateful. I'm just tired of the universe deciding all the good stuff has to come with a side of disaster."
"Oh! What is that!? It's moving, it's moving!"
Buffy turned toward the gallery where her mother's voice was high in distress. Buffy smacked Spike's arm. "You see what you did?"
"What I did?"
"You said 'all is well that ends well'! Now it won't end or it won't end well!" Buffy hissed, running back into the gallery.
"At least you didn't change your frock!" Spike cried, easily outpacing her, hurrying to Joyce's side. "What is it, what's moving?"
"The box! Something in the box is alive!" Joyce pointed a trembling hand at the large box Clem had bestowed upon the happy couple.
"I figured it was a toaster oven." Spike scratched his head. He cautiously approached the box and tilted his head. Now that there weren't a dozen people in the room and he was really concentrating on it, he could pick up the sleepy murmur of blood flow, but it was all jumbled. His stomach sank.
"What is it?" Buffy demanded in a hiss, coming to his side with her stake poised.
Spike moved the large, loosely draped ribbon and revealed a series of air holes. "Damn."
"You're freaking me out," Xander complained from a safe distance.
"Don't need to be afraid," Spike groaned as he tore the lid off. "Just need to find an all night pet store."
"Huh?"
As one, the unorthodox extended family surrounded the engaged couple and peered at their gift. "Why?" Joyce cried.
"Kitten poker. Don't ask." Spike looked at a tangle of four kittens, now slowly starting to sit up and regard him with big round eyes and annoyingly adorable little faces.
There was squealing behind him, squealing and pushing. Tara and Willow were losing their minds over a tiny little black thing with white paws.
"We can't keep four cats!" Buffy gaped.
"We can make it three!" Tara offered, kissing the kitten in her arms on its nose.
"Okay, three. We can't live with three cats… aww." Buffy watched one of the kittens stretch up, tiny paws trying to grip the top of the box.
"I want one," Anya said bluntly. "I have this strange urge to adopt a cat. Or a dog. Or get married, have two to four children, and live in a split-level house."
Xander elbowed Spike out of the way and picked up a striped tabby. "Sorry. I need this more than you do. Here, Sweetie. Let your maternal instincts have a field day." He placed the cat in Anya's arms.
"I feel no such compunction." Giles stepped back hastily as Buffy turned her eyes on him.
"I'm not raising a kitten." Joyce took Rupert's arm and joined him a safe distance away.
The two kittens in the box, one mostly white with a few patches of gray and a runty tortoiseshell, stumbled over one another and curled back up to sleep, huddling to replace the warmth of their missing companions.
"It would be rude not to keep at least one," Buffy finally relented.
The tortoiseshell wrapped its paws tightly around the middle of the fluffier white cat, earning a nip on its ear and then a furious forehead licking. The tips of their tails tapped together before they stopped, dozing.
"Shit. That's adorable." Spike knew he was done for. "All right. Bitty Buffy is clearly the white one."
"Why?"
"Look at how she roughs up Bitty Spike. Then she kisses him senseless and falls asleep in his arms."
"I refuse to let you name the cats after us. But… we'll think of a name tomorrow."
"I don't think the pet stores will be open this late," Willow piped up.
Joyce shook her head to clear it. This was surreal. From misty, murdering vampires to kittens in the same night. "You don't need a pet grocery store will have the basics like cat litter and food."
"Let's get going before they close then," Spike couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. "Aww, hell. You've completely domesticated me."
"You just cut off the hands of the sadistic control freak who tried to kidnap me and force me into eternal servitude. That's my kind of domestication," Buffy winked. "Let's hit the store and then head home?"
"Amen and seconded," Xander yawned.
"Brunch tomorrow?" Tara offered.
"At my place!" Joyce insisted.
Spike and Buffy gathered up their things. "You gonna go change, Luv?" Spike asked.
The dress didn't really matter. "Nah. I'm good." She slid her beringed fingers through Spike's.
"The best." He winked. My wife is the best and she's free. And she's with me. I'm free. No chip, no heartbreak. I have a family again! He laughed suddenly. "You throw one hell of an engagement party, Slayer."
Okay, if you're a fan of Offers You Can't Refuse (one of my epic Spuffy pieces that had a Faith/Wesley sequel) - I would love it if you'd check out CrossRealms: Healing Hope by S.C. Principale. Badass brunettes fighting inner demons and slowly falling in love with their only friend not your cup of tea? I have a sweet Spuffy-inspired Christmas Romance out! Look for Chocolate Krinkles and Two Kris Kringles! (All are free on Kindle Unlimited!) (Also… I will have a free erotica novella out by the end of December if anyone wants that! Happy Christmas and Holidays to all!)
