(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 6
A scream came from upstairs, loud enough to wake the dead.
"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed as he leapt to his feet and ran for the stairs, Buffy hot on his heels.
"What the frickin' hell was that?" Cordy wanted to know, as she and Angel moved to follow, but no-one was exactly listening to her, they had much more important things to worry about.
The four crashed into the spare room to find Annaliese sat on the edge of a fold out bed, crying into her hands as Connor knelt on the floor in front of her, trying to bring some comfort.
"Annaliese?" Spike checked, "What the bloody hell's going on?" he asked her.
"Annaliese?" Cordy echoed in shock.
"Connor?" Angel guessed, as he caught the sight and scent of his son.
"Dad?" the boy said back, in astonishment.
"Daddy!" Annaliese repeated the word to her own father, who was only too happy to be there for her, sitting down beside her and hugging her tight as she cried.
"She had a vision" Connor explained to the four adults that surrounded him, "It doesn't usually hurt her or upset her, I don't understand" he told them, looking worriedly at the young woman who was essentially all he had.
"What did you see, luv?" Spike asked the girl as he rocked her in his arms, "C'mon, tell Dad all about it" he said, making Buffy smile at least a little.
Though she'd been there at the birth of this child and had helped Spike raise the baby until they'd been so unfortunate as to lose her, it was still strange to hear Spike refer to himself as a father in that way.
"It's Giles" Annaliese explained, sniffing hard, "She's going to hurt him, she's... she's not what he thinks"
"Giles?" Buffy echoed, "The woman from the wedding, she's not...? Oh God!" she exclaimed, running out of the door and pelting down the stairs.
She didn't need details, she'd got the gist of what Annaliese was trying to say. The woman Giles had left the wedding reception with, the one it seemed he may have slept with in his drunken state, she was obviously dangerous somehow.
As she slammed her feet into her boots and grabbed the axe she had earlier abandoned in the hall, Buffy was unaware of what was happening upstairs, just hell bent on getting to her Watcher and making sure he was okay.
"Hang on a sec" Cordelia shook her head, hoping to clear the fog that was settling in, "This is Connor, and Annaliese" she gestured to the two teens before her, "But you're..."
"All grown up" the boy smirked at her, "Yeah, hell dimensions will do that for you"
"Of course" Angel nodded knowingly, "Time moves differently, years pass in hell, here on Earth it's just... My son" he smiled suddenly at the boy who managed a similar expression.
Both looked happy enough if not a little awkward as they eventually hugged and tears came to Cordelia's eyes that she had no control over at all. Connor was back, the gift Angel believed had been given to him simply so he would be made to suffer when it was taken away. The baby was back, albeit as a teenage boy now, and nobody was more happy for Angel than his pseudo-girlfriend, such was the title Cordy had pretty much placed upon herself. All she and Angel didn't do together was be intimate, in all other senses they were practically an old married couple. Now of course was not the time for pondering on such topics or feeling sorry for oneself. Cordelia should concentrate on being happy that the kids were back, and then panicking some more about Annaliese's vision.
"Not that I'm not uber-psyched to have you guys back" she told them, "And explanations can wait on the how, why, and whatever, but is Giles going to be okay?"
"'S not much the Slayer can't handle" Spike reminded her, "If it's just the one witch, or demon, or whatever..."
"Demon" his daughter told him, wiping her face with her hands and looking much more composed now, "A strong one, at least, she is on the inside. It took her over somehow, to hurt people"
"You reckon Buffy can handle it, luv?" Spike checked, head tilting to one side as he looked at her.
The expression he saw on his daughter's face suggested possibly not and immediately the vampire was on his feet.
"Right then" he said, "Time for old Spike to go and play back-up"
"If you're going then I am too" Annaliese told him, also getting up, "And before you tell me I can't, remember who helped you with that demon from Quor'toth" she said quickly as he opened his mouth to protest, "I can do it, Dad" she promised him, and the very sound of that last word from her lips was enough to convince him.
"Alright, pet" he agreed, "Let's go"
"If you're going, I should too" Connor told Annaliese, but she shook her head.
"You stay here, Connor" she told him, her hand on his arm, "You need to spend time with them, your parents" she reminded him, with a smile in the direction of Angel and Cordelia, "I'll be fine, you know I will"
He nodded in agreement and finally let her go, though he was sure to tell her to be careful and watch her back. The pair had been all each other had for so long, Connor in particular was very protective of Annaliese despite the fact her power was easily an equal to his own and she was more than capable of looking after herself. Besides she was headed into only a minor battle, and with Spike and Buffy at her sides. She would be fine, he knew.
Connor figured perhaps he was just subsconsciously trying to avoid his own situation. It was years since he'd seen his father or Cordy and though he knew them by descriptions from Annaliese, even their faces were mostly unfamiliar to him.
"I guess you guys want to know what happened, right?" he said, turning to the champions who should've been the ones to raise him.
It was going to be a long night it seemed, but somewhat less uneventful in Revello Drive than it was across town at Giles' apartment...
"Why do I think there's more to you than Xander's kindly aunt?" Buffy grunted as she fought against the woman who was seemingly possessed, after all she was the Slayer and yet nice Aunt Doris or whatever her name was seemed to be able to push back just as hard as her rival.
The axe that both had been fighting for was finally won over by Buffy who used the shaft to smack the demon Doris in the back of the head. As much as this thing needed defeating she was wary of doing too much actual harm. After all, Giles' theory seemed to be that she was still a relative of Xander's albeit controlled by a much more evil force. This much Buffy had gathered from what he had yelled over the noise of the battle.
"Buffy!" Spike yelled as he came crashing in the door, smoking slightly as he threw off a blanket and revealed a sword in his hand, Annaliese rushing in just a step behind him, also armed.
"Hey, nice timing" the Slayer breathed evenly, "Job done, at least the muscle part" she shrugged, before looking past the broken furniture at her Watcher who emerged, holding a hand to his head, "You okay, Giles?"
"Slightly concussed" the Englishman admitted, "Though that of course is something I am used to" he told her, as Buffy smiled.
"Poor old Watcher" Spike smirked too, "Does have a tendency to get knocked on the head, don't you, mate?"
"Indeed" he nodded carefully as he picked his way across the room towards them, "And, er, who might I ask is this young lady?"
"My name is Annaliese" she explained in her politest tone, "I think perhaps I looked somewhat different the last time you saw me, Giles"
"Annaliese?" he frowned, the effects of his hangover and the vase he'd taken to the head not helping at all as he tried to process what he thought she was saying.
"Rupert Giles, meet my little girl" Spike said proudly, "The grown up version, fresh back from your fancy, non-returnable-from, hell dimension" he smirked, as the Watchers brain went into over-drive.
A groan emanated from the semi-conscious body on the ground and Buffy hastily delivered another blow to her head, just hard enough to knock her out once again.
"I really think we need to call Willow and Tara" she said, "Somehow this demon got in and we need to get it out and destroy it. I'm thinking magic is the way to go"
"Right, yes, indeed" Giles agreed, reaching for the telephone, "I... I shall call them, and research will be in order to identify the demon, where it came from, and how best to, er, exorcise and defeat it"
"And, Dad" Annaliese said to Spike, "Perhaps at some point we could explain to Giles how I'm back here, so he'll stop looking at me like an alien" she smirked slightly, the very image of her father as she did so, and Buffy couldn't help but giggle.
It was a weird night going into an equally odd day.
For all that had happened on the Hellmouth, no-one could've been prepared for the return of the two children as teens, or this latest revelation that Giles had in fact been charmed by a demon possessed version of one of Xander's relatives at the wedding reception yesterday.
"All that tough talk about you shacking up with a demon, luv" Spike shook his head as he came over to where Buffy stood, keeping an eye on the unconscious woman, "Then Giles goes off shagging the first possessed bint he can find" he smirked, though the Watcher shot him a scathing look as he waited for Willow or Tara to answer his phone call.
"I wonder how it's going at home, with Angel and Connor" the Slayer considered, as she glanced over at Annaliese who was now running a finger along the bookshelf, seemingly looking for any volumes that might prove useful.
"Peaches does the touchy feely bit pretty well these days" Spike shrugged, "They'll be alright. For all the ups and downs me and the old git have had, we're both of us just as happy as each other to have our kids back"
"She's certainly battle-ready, just like Daddy" Buffy smiled as she noted the weapon in Annalieses hand.
"That she is" Spike agreed, looking proudly at Annaliese.
Getting used to having a sudden teenage daughter was going to be odd, but he could deal. It had been equally strange being so abruptly landed with a baby, but he and the Slayer could cope. Anything was possible, he'd discovered, since they got together, anything at all.
To Be Continued...