Author's note: Hey everyone it has been a while. i've been paying attention to my other fics and even.. gasp... schoolwork. So... here's the next chap and i can't wait to tell you what happens next.

Chapter XXVIII - The House of Wescott

"The house was built in 1200's of the very first Dukes of Wescottshire. a coveted piece of land twenty minutes-back then a few hours-from London, given to a Scottish lord by King Stephen" Rosemary said. As she went on with her tale she pointed to paintings that were portraits of the people she was speaking about. "From the year 1500 the Westcott's have been affiliated with the Council of-Hurry up-One of the oldest lines of nobility finally seemed to have died out in the 1800's when William Wescott supposedly died of neck rupture."

She stopped, Buffy wasn't listening, and Spike looked like he was comparing what she was saying to what he knew about the place. Only Alex was listening in rapt attention.

"And that concludes the history of the manor." she said, then reaching behind her she threw open a door to a white and gold bedroom, the likes of which Buffy had only seen once when her father had taken her to a five star hotel in LA. "This will be Milady, Alexandra's room."

Alex looked a little stunned at the room.

"Just Alex, please." she muttered absently.

Rosemary ignored her.

"The entire castle had been through quite an extensive remodeling and is now a manor house fit with only the most state of the art facilities and furnished with the most plush accommodations."

"Sounds like a hotel." Spike commented.

Rosemary nodded.

"We have been preparing for your return for quite some time, Your Grace."

Buffy's head swung to look at Spike but he seemed eerily not disturbed being addressed as 'your grace' no matter how wiggy it may sound.

Alex was about to run into her room and start jumping on the bed when Buffy restrained her. The Slayer did this for two reasons, one, should the teenager proceed with what she had planned, there was no telling what Rosemary would do, and secondly they still had a lot to discuss.

"Are all the other rooms along this corridor, Rosemary?" the slayer asked.

The house keeper nodded.

It was a long corridor, the kind that had a small sitting area in the middle of nowhere. Buffy strongly suspected that these were used to rest between journeys from one room to the next.

Rosemary strode down it and flung open another door.

"This will be your room, your grace." she said addressing Buffy.

Buffy blanched at the 'your grace'

"Really, Rosemary, could you cut that out?" she asked. "As in seriously, its giving me a major wiggins."

Rosemary arched a single perfect eyebrow and said nothing.

Buffy nodded slowly. She could be pretty stubborn but she was not stupid enough not to realize when she really was not going to get her way.

"Oh-kay." she said. She followed the formidable woman and nearly gasped at her room, it was done in pale pinks and whites and in the middle of the room stood a little blue and green oasis, obviously William's portion of the room as it was dominated by a beautiful wooden crib.

She was stunned.

"It's-" she paused. "Perfect."

She walked in feeling the plush carpet under her feet.

"I could get used to this."

Back outside, Spike shook his head and Alex smirked.

"We have to talk, you two." Buffy said with out turning around, it was obvious she was addressing Alex and Spike.

"Let's congregate in Spike's room." Alex suggested. "That way we can find our way back to our afterwards."

Buffy's head snapped back, her face clearly stated that she was not leaving her own room.

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Which one's my room." he asked Rosemary.

Rosemary turned to him.

"Around the corner." she said there was a look on her face that was rather hard to place.

Spike mulled the information over in his head. His face registered shock for a moment, Alex and Buffy traded looks.

"You mean the master bedroom?"

Rosemary nodded.

After a moment, Spike abruptly closed his mouth and turned to the girls.

"Right then, I know where that is." he turned back to Rosemary for a second. "Could you perhaps...?"

He jerked his head, universal body language of 'scram'.

The housekeeper nodded.

"Yes, of course." she said. "I hope that you find you quarters satisfactory, should you be in any need of anything please feel free to ring me."

Having said that, she disappeared.

Alex turned to Spike.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Spike shook his head.

"Nothing, minion." he replied.

Alex looked as if she was about to protest but she shut her mouth and nodded.

Buffy was already exploring the room; she walked over and handed William to Spike so that she could move about more freely. Spike sat on the bed, appreciating the feeling of the high quality feather down duvet. Alex joined him.

"I have my own bathroom!" Buffy yelled from the next room. "And it's HUGE! There's an intercom! MY GOD! And a Jacuzzi and its all stunning and-" there was a sound of some wood on tile. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Both Spike and Alex were half way into battle mode when Buffy rushed into the room.

"I'm not leaving." she proclaimed. "You would have to beat my with a baseball bat at even then, I am not leaving."

Spike looked confused, but Alex smirked.

"You found the closet didn't you?" she asked.

Buffy nodded looking delighted, Alex shook her head. Her Wescott smirk was firmly in place.

"And it was filled with Prada wasn't it?"

"So not leaving." the slayer repeated.

Spike muttered something close to 'stuck in the bloody palace with nothing more than a couple of sodding bints.' But Buffy was too thrilled to get on his back for it.

"That works out, slayer." he said slowly, worried that she might jump at him in her excited state. "Because we're not leaving."

Buffy's smile was beatific. Alex however looked skeptical.

"Really?" she asked.

Spike nodded.

"Everything is back, all my money, property, assets, everything." Spike said. "We're even in the hall of records, William the third, Elizabeth, Alexandra and William, or William the fourth. "

Buffy's eyes widened and she plopped down on the Louis XVI sofa. She realized what Spike had been trying to subtlety say. To the out side world they were a family, which means that she and Spike were married.

"What?"

Spike nodded.

"He's even got, the minion here enrolled in school." he said jerking his chin in Alex's direction, and effectively changing the subject from the familial ties he had subtly let on about.

Alex looked indignant.

"I forgot to tell you guys, being a damphyr makes you extra smart." she said. "I'm done with the whole school thing, I finished just last year."

Her comment was greeted with skeptical looks from both Spike and Buffy.

"Nice try." Buffy said.

Alex deflated. She scowled at the twin grins of patronizing amusement and shrugged.

"Well, it was worth a shot." she muttered.

"What about training?" Buffy asked. "The last thing we need is to go all flabby-licious. With lewis on our tail we'll need to make with the shape-age, which means jazzercizing, sparring the works."

Spike cocked an eyebrow at the wording, but nodded.

"I think we can have something arranged," he said. "If it hasn't been already. So far Cortenay has seen to everything we might need, I doubt he'd muck up the most important one."

Buffy looked weirded out.

"Shoes?"

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Training." he explained in a very pained tone of voice. "S'what I get for throwing it in with bleeding bints."

"I'm allowed to train right?" asked Alex.

Spike turned to her.

"Yeah, I was about to bring that up." he informed her. "We're going to need you to be tip top."

Alex nodded.

"Why?" Buffy said.

Both Alex and Spike looked at her, off the serious look on her face; they realized her question did not pertain to the training issue.

Spike shrugged.

"Made a proposition." he said. "A flat, some of the money he got from the dues that he took over from my family, he er-" the vampire looked around. "Paid in full, and then some."

"So we're set up?" Buffy asked Spike.

The vampire nodded. he walked over to the cradle and tucked William inside gently, making sure that not an inch of him was over exposed to the chilly air, even with the top of the line heating system he couldn't help being over protective of the littlest thing he had to protect.

"Night, midget." he said kissing him lightly on the forehead. Then he straightened up. "Yeah, slayer, we're set up. But we'd also better get to bed. S'late even for me."

Buffy sent him a look that said quite clearly that she was not finished with him yet. He nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Go on, minion."

Alex looked from her mother to her father knowing that something wordless had passed between them. Now she really wanted to scream the two of them really just got on her nerves. If their feelings were so obvious to her shouldn't they be obvious to them? With one last frustrated sigh, she exited them room.

She really wanted to go see if that bed was as fun to bounce on as it looked.