Chapter 5

"Spike?"

"Hey, Slayer." The man looked up and smiled. "Bit's hungry."

"I can see that." She chuckled and took up the space on the floor to Spike's left. Dawn was seated at his right, mesmerised by just how much milk this chick could throw back. Buffy felt tired, she'd only had a couple hours sleep, even for a Slayer that wasn't enough. She lifted her palm to run the back of her hand over the smattering of hair that adorned her daughter's scalp, before she knew what she was doing, her forehead came down to rest on Spike's shoulder and she fought to blink away the sleep. The back of her eyelids weren't nearly as interesting as the sight of her child being lovingly cradled in his arms.

Somewhere in the back of Spike's brain he recognised the irony of where and whom he sat with; back to the wall and a Summers woman blocking every other viable exit. The man was trapped and he couldn't give a toss. The weeks prior seemed foreign to him, like he was only half in existence or something, just wading through his unlife and then this little blob of human flesh rocked up, part Buffy but wholly magical. He just knew she felt right in his arms, Buffy felt right pressed up again his side, and even Dawn mercilessly fidgeting beside him, deeply enamoured with her darlin' niece, he loved the Nibblets.

"You got any ideas on a name yet, Slayer? …Buffy?"

She was asleep.

The Slayer was a formidable force of nature but in sleep she oozed vulnerability just like any other regular person. The sight of her jugular stretched out like that as her head lulled to the side, nuzzling into his own neck, well, it did things to Spike. Of course, he wanted to bite her, so long as she was Buffy, he didn't think a time would come when he wouldn't want to bite this magnificent woman. He's just didn't want to rip her throat out in the process as much as he used to; more than anything, he just wanted to kiss her. Spike knew he'd have to be blind to think she wasn't stunning, her eyes kept fluttering behind closed lashes.

"Um, Watcher?" Spike cleared his throat, gaining Giles' attention. "That normal?" He asked nodding to the slumbering Slayer. Giles's eyes flickered up and peered over at his charge from the rim of a steaming cup of Earl Grey. She was slumped on the floor, conked out and practically drooling on the shoulder of William the Bloody. Needless to say, Giles' eyebrows scrambled to the top of his forehead rather quickly.

"Buffy?" He queried, rising from his desk chair and making his way over to the girl.

"She never just falls asleep like that." Dawn spoke up beside Spike. "Buffy could go a week without sleep."

"Buffy?" Giles tried again, this time shaking her awake by the arm.

"Huh! What? I'm up." She startled awake.

"Are you ok?" The watcher asked. Buffy looked as shocked as anyone that'd she'd somehow fallen asleep…on the middle of the Magic Box floor…before ten o'clock in the evening…and on Spike's shoulder at that!

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just…I must be sleepy Buffy, is all."

"Spike, maybe you could give the girls a lift back." Giles asked, looking slightly worried. "And perhaps dust a few fledglings on your way home; Buffy, we'll manage the rest of patrol tonight."

"Giles, I really am fffiiiinnee." Buffy finished on a yawn.

"Indeed." He said, quirking an eyebrow and shoving his hands in his pockets; Buffy admitted in defeat, betrayed by her own bodily functions.

"Fine." She conceded.

By now the baby had been fed, burped and been strapped back into the carrier. Spike rose from the floor, slipped on his duster and picked up the car seat. "Come on, pet." And he reached out his free arm to lend her a hand standing up. "Nibblet, grab the bag, yeah?"

"So, what? I'm the baby caddy now?" Dawn asked but picked up the diaper bag with no real complaint.

"Thanks sweets." He looked down at the Slayer's kid sis, amused.

Once upright, Buffy all but sleepwalked to the car, trailing behind Dawn and Spike. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she clung to the vamp's wrist; through the unusual muddle of tiredness that had taken over the Slayer, practically holding hands, Spike guided her out of the front of the shop, Buffy in one arm and baby in the other.

When the bell chimed and door clicked shut behind the vampire and the gaggle of Summers women departing from the Magic Box, it was like everyone's bewilderment was no longer stifled and the gang became aware of what had just transpired.

"Umm, that was…" Willow began but trailed off, unsure how to finish her thought.

"It's not just me that's wigging out then?" Xander looked relieved and confused, all at the same time.

"Am I missing something?" Tara leant over towards her girlfriend to ask softly.

"Spike, with the…and the…" Willow stumbled over her words in shock. "He was all…"

"Did you see the way Buffy was drooling all over him?" Xander complained with outrage.

"She was asleep." Anya helpfully pointed out.

"Does Buffy not usually drool all over Spike?" Tara asked innocently, thinking the unconventional family unit was decidedly adorable.

"Hell no!" Xander informed the witch who was relatively unfamiliar with the group dynamics. "Buffy's go-to is usually to beat Spike up just for shits 'n' gigs but now she's sleeping with him! Well, not…you know what I mean! Two days ago, Buffy wouldn't have fallen asleep in the same room as Spike, let alone…" Xander flung his arm out at the space where the two blondes had been comfortably sat, unable to put into words whatever it was they'd been doing.

"Xander's quite right," began Giles "Buffy seems to have grown rather…attached."

"Spike didn't seem to mind." The ex-demon pitched in.

"Yes and he is clearly quite protective over the child and Buffy it would seem…" Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose to sooth the oncoming headache.

"Do you think she could just be, you know, apprehensive about being a new mom?" Willow queried. "It's an understandably daunting task and she probably just wants someone to lean on." The redhead tried rationalising her friend's odd behaviour.

"It's plausible." Said Giles. "But, Buffy's exhaustion is something to question, I can't help but think something else is at work here."

"I hope so, I feel violated, I was struggling not to be nice to the undead creep."

"Interesting. Xander, what do you mean?" Giles questioned.

"It was like, I knew what was happening and something inside me was saying this is bonkers but also like something was making me ok with it, ya know?"

"Oh! Yeah…" Willow piped up excitedly. "…and then they left and it all came crashing back. Do you think it's another spell?"

"You mean, I was right to be confused this whole evening because I was rather…I thought you would have all made much more of a fuss over Spike handling the child in such an affectionate manor." Anya stated matter-of-factly. "Normally, you would have kicked him out by now."

"Ahn, why didn't you say anything?"

"Xander, you always tell me not to say stuff!" The ex-demon whined in protest.

"Should we be worried, Giles?" Willow asked, fearing for her friend.

"I don't believe any malicious forces are at play here. Regardless, I have my suspicions but I feel we should wait to draw any conclusions. I'm sure we will be enlightened on the matter once we know more about this Key that Buffy was talking of."

Giles concluded the meeting and shuffled the youths out of the door before closing up shop.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Buffy had fallen asleep again during the car ride home and woke to a smirking Spike staring down at her from the darkness of her own bedroom.

"You're not living." She grumbled and stretched out the kinks in her neck.

"Land of the animate then." He smiled. Spike was sat on one side of her mattress and had a single hand lain on the back of her daughter; she was sleeping soundly on her stomach next to him in the centre of the bed. His palm engulfed her, she was so tiny. Careful not to wake her, Buffy edged her way up the headboard and into a reclined sitting position, her feet were bare. It wasn't hard to deduce that Spike had carried her upstairs and someone had removed her shoes. She didn't question what he was still doing here, it never even occurred to her.

"Where's Dawn?"

"Sent her to bed."

"And she listened to you?"

"Think the sip and a half went to her head." Buffy smirked before looking up at him beside her. He was most handsome in the moonlight, she decided; her bedroom shutters caused streaks of pale blue to crisscross the planes of his face and she found herself staring. Her eyes dropped to his mouth and saw it part slightly.

Spike revelled in the look she was giving him, it was contemplative yet peaceful. Buffy sighed contentedly in the silence and the rise of her chest monopolised Spike's attention for a moment as her breasts seemed to strain against the front of her shirt more than usual. If his cheeks could have flushed, they would have and he reluctantly drew his eyes away.

The conversation continued at a whisper.

"So," he swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing, he turned so as to fill his sight with the sleeping treasure that lay between himself and Buffy "…slayer boob juice?"

"What?" Buffy was confused for a moment but then it dawned on her and her hands flew to her crimsoning cheeks. "Oh my god! You heard that?" Spike chuckled deep and low at the Slayer's obvious embarrassment. The sound seemed to rumble all the way through Buffy until she felt tingles at the base of her feet, it was pleasant, the way his amusement wrapped around her entire body.

"It's rude to eavesdrop, you know?"

"Can't always help it, luv." Spike's hand had now shifted and was running the back of a digit, gently over the babe's forearm, her skin felt softer than a gentle summer breeze. Buffy's hand had made its way up to where his had originally been and she was comforted by the feel and sight of her daughter's steady breathing.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Buffy asked shyly. She wasn't sure why Spike opinion mattered all of a sudden but it did and she was wildly curious to know what he'd think.

"'Bout the Slayer boob juice?" He grinned.

"Spike…" Buffy hissed and sent him a playful warning by flicking him on the ear and this only proved to amuse him further.

"Course not, luv. Most natural thing in the world init…you got the means so why shouldn't you breastfeed your kid?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He assured with a slight tilt of his head and found himself stuck, unable to look away from her again. "So, she got a name yet? I tried asking you at the Magic Box before I realised you were dribbling all over me."

"I was not!" Buffy protested lightly.

"Like mother, like daughter." Spike shook his head, struggling to feign disappointment as Buffy prodded him in the ribs. "Oi, watch it, Slayer."

"You watch it." She smiled. "And no, no name yet."

"Any ideas?" Buffy shifted her position and thought quietly for a moment. Spike mirrored her movements and the two adults now lay facing each other, cocooning the child between them atop the duvet and sheets.

"I do like the thought of naming her something that has a similar meaning to Dawn."

"S'good name for someone related to the Slayer, fitting." Spike affirmed.

"You come across any names like that in all your years of living?"

"Thought I wasn't living." Spike challenged and Buffy peered over at him from across the bed.

"You'll do." She smiled shyly again, that was enough for Spike and he began to think.

"Well, you've got: Aurora, of course?"

"Too Sleeping Beauty, despite how fitting that may seem right now." And they both smiled down at their own little sleeping belle.

"Yeah, treasure this moment because you know she's gonna want feeding in a few hours." Spike grinned and acknowledged the sleeping figure. "'Ey, chomper?"

"Chomper?"

"Girl guzzles down every meal."

"Well I can't call her that. What else you got?"

"Let's see…there's: Alba, Oriana, Lux, Roxana–"

"Roxana? Like Roxanne?"

"Yeah, Alexander the Great's wife, means the first appearance of light…or dawn." Spike's lips tilted up.

"Roxanne…" Buffy mulled the name over again. "My middle name's Anne. It's like an edgier version." She smiled wistfully.

"Your…" Spike looked surprised, which in turn surprised Buffy. "…your middle name is Anne?"

"What's wrong with, Anne?" The Slayer's eyebrows pinched together and her lip pouted a fraction, the thought of him not liking her name hurt her slightly.

"Nothing, it's just – my…" Buffy waited expectantly and Spike looked up at the ceiling before he continued. "…was me mum's name. S'all." He finished quietly, remembering another life. Oh.

Buffy had never seen him so stuck in the past. The expression on his face, it was…sorrowful, if Buffy was not mistaken. Whatever had happened, Buffy knew one thing for certain and that was that his mother was no longer around and so she decided not to pry.

"I like Roxanne." Buffy whispered into the darkness and Spike was soon mesmerised by the tender expression that graced her forgiving face.

Spike couldn't explain it, he felt choked up. Ever since he was introduced to the babe, something had been happening to him and quite frankly it scared him half to death but if it meant that Buffy looked at him like that, well, quite frankly, he couldn't give a damn what the soddin' universe threw at him.

"Me too." He managed a gentle reply with a grateful smile and shinning eyes.