Author's note: Hey everyone, not in a very good place right now but i decided to post this anyway, my science project has just completely failed and i have to submit it on monday. wonderful. So as i wait for inspiration, here's the next chapter and please, please, please reveiw me,-i'll wait for ten before adding the next installment. just because i'm in a horrible mood and i need the encouragement.

thanks to NESSIE for being an incredible BETA

Chapter XXIII - The Deal With Jonathan Porpington

Somewhere in the huge Mansion that Belongs to Miranda's Father Jonathan Cortenay (Porpington):

Buffy woke up in a bed, not her own.

She got up. Her feet touched cool marble.

"Morning, slayer." a voice said behind her. Buffy started. She had thought she was alone. She turned around to find Spike sitting down in a chair facing William's crib. The baby was still asleep.

"DidI startle you?" he asked smirking.

Buffy frowned.

"Don't flatter yourself, Spike." she replied but devoid of any venom. She looked anxiously over his shoulder. "Is he-"

"He's fine." Spike answered understanding why she was worried. "He's asleep. Wallace thinks he may have the flu, but he's in good hands."

Alex suddenly padded into the room.

"This place is huge." she reported. She seemed out of breath. "I mean it has an indoor tennis court and outdoor tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool and an outdoor swimming pool and sixteen hundred rooms, most of them have no function other than to just be rooms!"

"Minion, you're babbling." Spike informed her.

"Am I?" she panted. "Sorry, the coolest thing, though, they've got a fencing hall, how many houses do you know have that?"

Buffy looked questioningly at Spike.

"She wanted to explore the grounds with me earlier-"

"-and he wanted to be alone." Alex finished for him. "So I went of on my own. I swear this place is huge. I very nearly got lost in my own bathroom."

Spike mumbled something incomprehensible.

"So did you get any answers out of Miranda?" Alex asked. "I mean, William is supposed to be me right? So why is he a boy?"

Buffy sat back down on the bed.

Spike exhaled.

"Yes,I did talk to Miranda." he replied. "And her father, Jonathan, it's his house we're staying at right now."

Alex looked at him intently.

"And?"

Spike hesitated.

"C'mon, Spike," Buffy piped in. she had to admit. She was curious. "I'm listening."

"He, Miranda's old man, had several reasons." Spike said. "His father heard about what he called a damphyr. Just one." he added for Alex's benefit. "Apparently, this thing's supposed to be some great force. Jonathan Cortenay-that's his name, he's Miranda's father- his father became obsessed with finding it. Apparently he passed on his knowledge to Jonathan and he continued the quest. But after a while he tired of it." Spike paused for a second. Alex grimaced she gestured wildly for him to continue. "That was until he saw the first sign of the damphyr's arrival. The miracle child. Born of two vampires."

Buffy gasped.

"But vampires can't-"

Spike shot her a look, she quieted.

"Two vamps?" she said instead.

"Here's the real shocker, the two proud parents of a miracle baby are..." Spike spared Alex a grin. "Peaches and my very dear old grandmamma."

Alex burst out laughing.

The slayer turned to the girl in confusion.

"My grandsire" Spike explained.

Buffy's eye's got huge.

"Angel?"

Spike nodded.

She was taking it better than he had thought. Learning that your former lovers had moved on, no matter how far you've gone, it always hurts.

"Angel and who exactly?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Darla." he replied. She looked like she was about to protest but he beat her to it. "And before you protest that Darla's dead, she was brought to life again and then sired again." he waved his hand dismissively. "It's complicated. Bloody prophesies always are."

Buffy gestured for him to continue.

"Anyway, that miracle child was supposed to be the signal that the prophesized 'warrior' was coming."

Silence.

"And that warrior is William." Buffy concluded.

"Jonathan seems to think he is, Slayer." Spike confirmed. Meeting her eyes and holding them. "But I'm not so sure."

Buffy quirked an eyebrow.

"But that's pretty dumb, I mean the guy's family has been obsessed about it for years, and now you come along saying that they're wrong?"

Alex looked from the vampire to the slayer.

"Well," Spike said. "Think about it, Alex is here. Which drastically changes everything. It must have upset the balance somehow and the powers are trying to correct it, probably why William is not a girl. Prophesies are vague things, slayer, most of the time we're just interpreting them wrong."

Buffy sighed.

"Okay, but Alex is back here so that should drastically change the timeline, does that mean we'll have to let Will go back in time?"

Spike mulled this over for a bit.

"I don't know, slayer." He said. "And before you ask anymore questions I'm warning you now, I don't have the answers."

"Yah, because I so expected you to" Was her quick reply.

Alex once again looked from her father to her mother, observing the palpable tension and the frustration they, neither of them, knew quite what was going on.

She felt a moment of understanding pass between them. She knew that this was no longer an alliance but beginning for something more. Something deeper.

The damphyr knew better than to interrupt.

Spike broke eye contact first, by switching his gaze over to Alex.

She grinned at him. Then something hit her. Spike had mentioned that Jonathan had several reasons. He had only given them one.

"Spike," she said deciding to voice her thoughts. "You said this, Jonathan Cortenay," she waited for a correction. When she didn't get it she went on. "He had several reasons to help us. You only gave us one."

Spike mentally groaned.

Both girls were looking at him intently, waiting for his response.

"He was doing it to return a favor." he said finally. "A man saved ol' Jonathan's father's life and the man accepted nothing in return. Only that the man helped someone else in need."

Alex accepted the story, but Buffy knew better.

"Spike," she demanded. "Look me in the eye and tell me that it was just some guy who saved Jonathan Porpington's father's life."

Under his breath, the vampire in question swore. Buffy grinned triumphantly.

"I can tell when you lie, Spike." she informed him smugly. "Don't try."

Spike snorted, he highly doubted that.

"It's Cortenay." he corrected, he looked a little absent as he corrected her, staring into the distance and at nothing in particular, "Cortenay."