Chapter 4
"DADDY!" Jaime screamed at the top of his lungs, "PHONE FOR YOU!" Spike shushed Jaime and answered the phone.
"Spike Kellogg," he said, "Oh hey, Oz-man. Yeah. Yeah, I heard. Harm told me, yeah. Okay. Okay. Brilliant. Sod off. Ponce. Yeah, yeah, bye." He turned to Jaime and told him the good news.
"Jaime, Nikki's gonna be here tomorrow. You excited?" Jaime replied affirmatively and bounced up and down maniacally. Spike grinned. He loved how all of their families adored one another. All of their children had been taught French, Italian, Spanish, and English, so everyone spoke all four languages fluently.
"Harmony, love?" Spike called, "Where are you, pet?" He heard Harmony's voice coming from the kitchen and went to tell her that the Osborne's would be at their house tomorrow.
"That's fantastic! I can't wait to see everyone. We should talk to Helen about rooming, and see what's up with that." Spike nodded in agreement, and went off in search of Helen, their housekeeper. Helen was practically part of the family. She had one adult, who rarely visited. Her husband had died years ago, so she lived full time with the Kellogg family. Everyone adored her. She was an amazing cook, and enjoyed cooking and cleaning for the family. The plump black woman in her late fifties was sweet tempered and had a soothing Southern drawl that could calm a charging bull.
Spike spoke quickly with Helen, and she said that having the rooms ready for the whole "family" would be no problem.
"You are an angel, you know that?" Spike told her, kissing her warmly on the cheek, "And we'd be lost without you." Helen chuckled.
"That's why I'm hear, dearie, to keep you from falling apart," she responded playfully. Spike smiled at her and said,
"And a bloody good job you do of it to. Spanking good job." Helen cuffed him gently on the head and went about readying the rooms. Spike grinned boyishly and went to tell Dawn that Willow's family was going to be coming in early.
"Dawn? Sweet-bit, you in here?" He called, knocking quickly on her open door.
"Yeah, hey Daddy," She responded, looking up from the open textbook in her lap. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and looked up at him.
"Just wanted to let you know that Willow and Oz and the kids will be here tomorrow," he said, smiling at his beautiful girl.
"Okay, Daddy," she said, "Will they need me to baby-sit? Because I don't mind. Really, I promise." Spike grinned, chucked her under the chin, and told her no, they wouldn't need her. It was to be a family affair, not an adult thing.