A/N : So many lovely reviews, make me so happy - thanx to you all :-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

"Bloody hell!" Spike gasped as he held his daughter close.

She and Connor had been babes in arms when they disappeared into the oblivion that was Quor'toth, and yet somehow, just a few short months later, they were back, and at least sixteen if they were a day.

"I'm so glad we found you" Annaliese cried as her arms stayed firmly locked around her father, "I was so afraid, if the calculations were wrong, if we didn't get here in time..."

"Ssh, ssh, luv, 's alright" Spike told her, rubbing her back soothingly.

Buffy watched the scene before her with wide eyes, as did Willow and Tara, approaching slowly from behind the Slayer.

"If that's Annaliese..." Buffy said slowly, her eyes going from the girl to the boy she'd arrived with, "Connor?" she checked.

"Yeah" the boy nodded once, looking awkward, "If Annie's right, you must be Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"

"I... I am" she confirmed, though she couldn't really understand how either of these people should know who she was.

Sure, she'd helped Spike out when Annaliese was born, and Angel had brought Connor to her a few days before the two kids were lost to the hell dimension, but they were tiny babies, there was just no way they could possibly remember anybody. Annaliese it seemed remembered her father perfectly clearly and had told Connor all about Buffy.

"We have so much to tell you" Annaliese smiled, wiping tears from her face as she finally pulled away from her father and looked at not only him but also Buffy and the two Wiccans.

"I'll bet you bloody do" Spike half-smiled, not sure what to make of all this, "First off, I'd love to know how the sodding hell you got back here"

"That was mostly down to Annaliese" Connor explained, looking at the group of people as if he felt like the odd one out.

"Not everything went according to plan" Annaliese shook her head, dark hair swinging around her head as she did so, "Angel and Cordelia were supposed to be here" she explained sadly, feeling Connor's pain.

They'd both been so excited to see their fathers again, and whilst she had got hers, his was not there.

"They-they're on their way" Tara stammered, "They'll be so pl-pleased to see you, Connor" she told the boy who offered up a half-smile at that.

He was a handsome young man, not dissimilar to his father, Buffy noticed, but with much less broodiness behind his eyes. Wide eyes and the way he smiled gave away that he was Darla's son too. Spike could see both grand-sire and great-grand-sire in the boy, though honestly he had trouble tearing his gaze from his own child.

His girl, his daughter. Annaliese had Dru's hair and delicate features, but it was Spike's own eyes that gazed back at him, clear and blue. She was no less than beautiful, he thought, though Spike considered perhaps he were a little biased since she was his own daughter.

"Um, so we should get you home, to our house" Buffy said suddenly, realising they were currently standing in the middle of the street, gawking at each other like a bunch of freaks, with a large demon body right there beside them.

She eyed the creature warily as if she expected it to come back to life and attack again; tonight she wouldn't be surprised by anything.

"You should go" Willow agreed, "Tara and me, we can deal with the big ugly" she assured her friend.

"Are you sure, Will?" the Slayer checked, "You didn't look so full of the magicks before"

"I'm okay now" she promised, though her head still felt a little delicate, a combination of the champagne she'd drunk and the spells she'd cast.

"We can do it" Tara nodded and smiled, "You should be with Spike and the kids" she said, feeling silly for using that particular word given how much the babies had grown up since their disappearance.

In a few short months they must've aged sixteen years at least, and as the foursome headed off to Revello Dive together, Buffy was eager to know how it had happened, as well as how they were back, and why.

"Right then" Spike said as he removed his leather coat and took a seat in the armchair, "S'pose now's the time for your story, luv" he told his daughter as she sat down on the couch with Connor.

Buffy hovered awkwardly at the door, never feeling so out of place in her own home. She was so pleased to see Annaliese, but the fact remained she wasn't her real daughter, and Connor was even less connected.

"C'mon, pet" Spike told the Slayer as three pairs of eye turned to look other and Annaliese smiled widely.

"Yes, Buffy, please come here and join us" she said, in an accent that was almost entirely English but with a hint of something American too, "You were a part of my life too, as big a part as my Dad"

"Maybe I could've been, if you'd stayed with us" Buffy agreed with a sad smile as she came and perched on the arm of the chair in which Spike sat, "After Holtz took you..."

"You thought you'd never see us again" Connor filled in, knowing from the things Annie told him that it was true, "We always knew we'd see our real parents again, and that Holtz and Justine weren't them" he explained, "At least, Annie knew that"

"I have visions" she explained, "I think I get them from Drusilla" she said, looking down at her hands as if she thought she shouldn't have mentioned her mother.

Spike saw her trouble and reached for her hand, getting her attention.

"You can talk about her, luv" he assured her, "For all that she was, and she was no saint" he said with a wry smile, "She was your mother"

"None of you were saints" Connor cut in, his tone both bitter and a little angry, "We know what you were, what you all did"

"Connor!" Annaliese snapped, "You're talking about our parents, all of them"

"Yeah, all four of them" he agreed with a nod, "My father was probably the worst of all of them, and I'm not going to pretend anything else"

"You reckon your Dad was as badass as all that? Guess again, mate" Spike told him with a smirk, "Yeah, Angelus was an evil sod in his day, famed for it. Buffy here will tell you what he can be" he glanced at the blonde, who shuddered involuntarily at a couple of less than pleasant memories, "Fact is, your Mum taught him near on everything he knew. She was far from the realms of heaven too, alright?"

As much as Spike hated his grand-sire, and he really did, he wasn't about to have this boy feel that kind of thing towards old Peaches, not when it was at least partially unwarranted. After all they were father and son, and Spike knew it would've damned near killed him to have Annaliese come back angry at him and/or afraid of him. He'd been a monster, Spike admitted that, to himself and everyone. Angel, Darla, Dru, none of them had been wholesome people, not people at all, but demons, vampires, evil creatures of the night. Fact of it was, the Powers That Be must've seen some light in the darkness of their lack of soul, or why would they have granted these children to them?

"I'm sorry if this sounds like a really stupid question" Buffy began, feeling a little silly and still quite out of place, despite the fact Spike had a hold of her hand now as they sat together, facing the two miraculous teens, "but Giles, my Watcher, he seemed to think it was impossible for people to get back from the Quor'toth, but here you are"

"It is impossible" Connor agreed, "Almost, anyway, but we've known since we were kids that we were supposed to come back here, and that one day we would"

"I started getting visions when I was five" Annaliese explained, answering the question that both Spike and Buffy were thinking and yet hadn't quite got a chance to voice, "You would think a kid of five should've been scared of the pain and the violent pictures, but I never was. My first vision came in a dream, but it was much more vivid than any dream I'd had before. You were so clear to me" she smiled at her father and the Slayer.

"You saw us, luv?" Spike checked, and his little girl, who was not so little anymore, nodded her head.

"I saw you and I knew just exactly who you were" she told them, "I saw you cry for my loss, and then find comfort in each other. I knew my home was here, and that one day I'd be back"

"But you were just a little kid" Buffy shook her head, "And Holtz and Justine, they..."

"I didn't tell them" Annaliese said quickly, "I never told them anything. The only person I ever talked to about anything, was Connor" she smiled at the boy beside her, who returned the look, the connection between them evident from that one glance alone.

"Holtz and Justine died" the boy said flatly, "They didn't have the gifts we have, they couldn't survive in Quor'toth"

"Gifts you have?" Buffy echoed, realising she was doing a lot of that, "I'm sorry, I sound like a parrot"

"It's okay" Annaliese smiled, "There's a lot of things that probably don't make sense. Like us being so much older"

"No, that part I understand" the Slayer assured her, as Spike frowned slightly and looked up at her, "Quor'toth was... is a hell dimension. Time moves slower there, so you spend years in that place, whilst just a few weeks pass here in this world"

"Exactly" Annaliese agreed, as all three people looked to Buffy, wondering where that sudden explanation had come from.

"Been there, done that" she said with an eye roll, "Some freaky preacher guy in LA turned out to be a demon with a portal to a hell dimension. It was a whole big thing, and a long time ago now" she told them with a shake of her head that said they didn't need to be getting into that right now.

"Okay, so that part makes sense to everybody" Annaliese said thankfully, mentally crossing it off the list, one less thing to have to explain herself, "but I guess there's other stuff you want to know?" she assumed.

"Er, well, yeah but..." Spike wasn't sure where to begin, "Honestly, luv, all I want to know is if you're okay and if there's any chance I'm gonna lose you again, because honestly, pet, I don't reckon I could bear it"

"I'm not going anywhere, Dad, I swear" his daughter promised him, "At least, not on purpose"

"Er, is my Dad and Cordelia on their way or..?" Connor asked, again feeling a little left out as Annie connected with her old family and he had no-one here to care that he was back.

"Oh yeah, they are" Buffy assured him, "They should be here soon, I guess the drive from LA was rough going tonight"

"I guess" he nodded, though he looked far from thrilled right now.

Connor wanted his reunion too, for his Dad and Cordy to be as thrilled to see him as it seemed Spike and Buffy were to see Annaliese. This was their home now, their world. It was very different to Quor'toth, more peaceful and still, less with the demons, destruction, and hellfire. He could get to like it, he thought to himself, as he gripped Annie's hand tighter in his. So long as she was with him, he could deal with being anywhere.

To Be Continued...