Caddie shrieked and took off running, sand spraying under her feet. Micah sprinted along behind her, water slopping over the edge of the bucket she carried. The Fey easily caught up with the other girl and tossed the contents of the bucket over her, drenching her in seawater. Caddie sputtered and clawed her wet hair from her face.

Micah stood just out of striking distance with a smug grin firmly in place. "You are going to pay for that," Caddie threatened. Micah tossed her head.

"You'll have to catch me first!" she declared.

"No, she won't," Angel said, and upended his own bucket over Micah's head.

Micah gave a yowl that sounded very much like an angry cat and launched herself at Angel. They both tumbled onto the ground, wrestling back and forth until they were coated head-to-toe in white sand. Dawn ran over and began pelting them with seaweed until Angel picked her up bodily and tossed her into the water.

Buffy laughed at her family while staying clear of the action. Micah and Caddie had been begging to go to the beach ever since Dawn had told them about it, and she and Angel had finally relented.

"Mother! Mother, look what I found!" Caddie ran up to Buffy and held up a delicate, white sand dollar the size of her palm. "Father says it used to be alive."

"He's right. They're called sand dollars and that's kind of like their skeleton that gets left behind when they die."

"It's pretty," Caddie said. "May I keep it?"

"Absolutely," Buffy said. "You can put it with the rest of your things." Caddie had started a collection of odds and ends that had caught her eye: a blue feather, bits of quartz rocks, glass beads, a twist of colored yarn. She was quite the magpie.

Caddie brightened at the suggestion and gave the sand dollar to Buffy to hold on to before running back to join her father, sister, and aunt. Buffy shaded her eyes and watched them. They were adapting so well; it gave her hope.

"They really are beautiful."

Buffy jumped and whirled around, already berating herself for allowing someone to get so close without her noticing. "Hank?" she asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you following me?"

Her father flinched at the accusation. "No, no. I was just…walking, you know. Enjoying the beach. I happened to see you and I thought, well, okay." He hunched his shoulders. "You obviously don't want anything to do with me. I'll just go now."

Buffy almost let him go, but then she remembered what Giles had said. "Wait," she called after him. He spun around, looking ridiculously hopeful. "You can stay for a few minutes," she offered grudgingly.

"O-okay," Hank said. After a moment of awkward silence, he gestured to where the girls were playing in the waves, Angel watching anxiously (Caddie and Micah couldn't swim). "I didn't get introduced to the little one."

"Her name is Cadence, but we call her Caddie," Buffy said. "She and Micah have been fostered together their whole life."

"So you decided to take them both," Hank concluded, nodding. "It's very generous of you, you know, taking them in so early in your married life."

Buffy shrugged, not sure what to say. Angel glanced over toward her and frowned when he saw who was with her. He cocked an eyebrow, asking if she was okay, and she assured him with a tilt of her head.

"I'd, uh, like to have you over for dinner," Hank said quickly. "All of you. Dawn, your husband, the girls. Nothing formal, just barbeque at my place. Do you think we could make it work?"

She stared at him for a moment, her mouth opening and closing. "Can I bring friends?" she finally blurted. If the others were there, even just Giles, she'd have a buffer between her and Hank, a sort of comfort zone.

"I was kind of hoping it'd be a family affair," Hank said.

"Oh." Buffy crossed her arms. "I'll, uh, talk to Angel about it and get back with you, okay?"

"Okay." Hank nodded, and made an aborted gesture as if unsure what to do next. He abruptly turned and walked away, leaving Buffy alone.

"Mother!" Micah called, waving emphatically. "Come play with us!"

Buffy pushed all thoughts of her father aside and ran down to meet her family.

*****

It was several hours after dark when they finally got back home. After the beach, they had stopped by the Magic Box, which turned into an invitation to Willow and Oz's for dinner, and then the whole group went out for ice cream, much to Caddie and Micah's delight.

"I don't understand how she can be that pale and not burn," Dawn said as they stepped through the living room. She herself sported the bright red consequences of forgetting to re-apply sunscreen. Micah, however, was as pale as ever.

"I'm cold-blooded," she replied as if that explained everything. "I need the sun to maintain my body heat. My skin is more resistant to UV radiation than yours, that's all."

"Besides, she isn't human," Caddie added as she followed the two older girls. Suddenly the blood drained from her face and she dropped the bag she was carrying. "Mother!" she screamed.

Angel was right behind her. "Honey, what is it—oh, God!" He clapped his hand over his nose and mouth, struggling against nausea.

"What? What's happened?" Buffy demanded, gathering Caddie to her side.

"Blood," Angel replied thickly. "Caddie smelt it first." Micah sniffed the air, her brow furrowed.

"It's not human. It smells strange. Almost dead," she observed clinically.

"Stay here," Angel instructed, edging around the group and through the dining room. He saw the first smear of blood across the tile, glistening redly in the light. The scent of it made him gag; he would recognize it anywhere.

Vampire blood.

Spike lay in a fetal position between the island and the sink. His clothing was torn and soaked in blood. Angel went down on one knee beside his grand-childe, gently turning him over. Bone glinted through the gashes down the vampire's side.

"Buffy!" Angel called.

She appeared in the kitchen a second later. "Oh my God," she whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. It had taken a lot of convincing to get her to allow Spike to live in their basement, but she had accepted the fact he now had a soul.

"Go upstairs and start running a bath," Angel instructed. "We need to clean and bind his wounds so he can eat. And make sure Dawn keeps the girls away. They don't need to see this." As Buffy left, Angel grabbed a dishcloth and started to wipe some of the blood away so he could assess the damage. It was horrific. "Damn," Angel muttered. "What did this to you, William?"

Buffy came back into the kitchen. "I've got the bath ready and the girls are in their room. What else do you need?"

"Bandages and blood," Angel replied, picking the other man up in his arms. Spike was, thankfully, rather lean, and weighed a lot less than one expected. "We'll need several pints, so grab whatever's in the fridge." It was hard navigating the stairs, but Angel finally managed to get Spike into the bathroom and removed his ruined clothing.

It was even worse than Angel thought. There was barely any skin on the vampire's body that wasn't bruised, scraped, or slashed. The water was dark red by the time Angel let it drain out. By then, Spike had stopped bleeding; there was no blood left in him.

"What do you think did this to him?" Buffy asked as she and Angel began bandaging the wounds. Spike moaned and flinched a little at their touch, but didn't regain consciousness.

"Several things," Angel replied grimly. "This is a knife wound here, but those bruises are from a club of some sort, and that looks like someone tried to stake him," Angel pointed to the hole a few inches from Spike's heart.

"They missed," she said softly. "And he managed to drag himself home."

"Let's get him lying down," Angel said. They maneuvered Spike into the master bedroom. "You have the blood?"

Buffy nodded and indicated the row of bottles on the dresser. "Do you think he'll make it?"

Angel grabbed one of the bottles. "I don't know," he replied.