Welcoming:

Three shopping bags sit on the bench of the subway car next to Buffy. Her and Spike are on their way back to Hank's condo. They have been in L.A. for about a week now and decided to take the subway to the mall to do some shopping for the baby. It was a cloudy day and having an entrance to the subway just outside the condo made getting on the train in the daytime possible, now however, it's dark outside.

As Spike sits next to Buffy in the empty train he watches as three suspicious men board when the train stops at a station. As they sit down Spike can tell that they've been eyeing him and Buffy up. "I think we've got some company love," Spike says to Buffy causing her to wrap her hands tighter around her belly. Buffy could tell from the second the three strange men boarded the train that they were vampires. Her instincts are screaming at her to get up and slay them, but her pregnancy prevents her from doing that. Spike wraps his hand around a stake he's kept hidden in his coat as the vampires stand and walk near. He watches their faces change as they do.

"Well, well look what we have here," The bumpy fore-headed creature says to his companions.

"Looks like lunch to me," another responds.

"You really picked the wrong people to mess with tonight," Buffy interjects.

"And why is that?"

"Let me introduce myself… Hi I'm Buffy, the vampire slayer."

"A pregnant slayer… Ooo, I'm real scared."

"You should be… but not of her… of me," Spike says as he vamps out and attacks them.

--

Sunrise in London, Kennedy kicks the door in on the vampire nest. Instantly those in the crypt start to sizzle and burn in the light. This was just a small nest; the whole gang had taken down a large one a few days earlier. Now Kennedy and Myla are cleaning up the loose ends. They storm in and start fighting those that remain. They have the advantage with their surprise and ability to back them in to a corner so to speak. It doesn't take long for the two women to dust the lot of the remaining vampires.

"Well that was fun," Kennedy says to Myla who stands beside her.

"I kinda thought that would take longer."

"For a couple of veteran slayers like us? Nah."

"Veteran? Maybe you… not me though."

"Alright, experienced then."

"So what should we do now… I know Xander wanted help with getting stuff going for his 'big surprise' for Buffy, but I doubt he's up yet."

"No, not Xander… and Willow's got another big project she's working on with Giles today…"

"Another one?"

"Yeah… I don't know, wanna skim the graveyard once more, see if we find anymore of these?"

"Sure."

--

Faith walks beneath the starlit sky back to her hotel. She's been traveling through the U.S. for a few months now just moving from state to state. Finally she found the courage to go home. Now she finds herself in Boston, Massachusetts. Tonight she had almost made it to visit her mother's grave but turned around before she got half way there. As for visiting her father, if he were even still alive, Faith has also yet to do so. Faith's come to realize that this life stuff is a lot harder then she thought it would be.

She's about a block from her hotel when she hears a sound. Faith stops in her tracks and turns to look down an alley way. There she sees two men fighting.

"Hey!" She yells and runs over to break it up. The one man punches the other and starts running to exit the alley. Faith gets in his way and throws a punch at him. She lands it just fine, but not with nearly as much force as she was expecting. She had forgotten for a moment that she doesn't have her slayer strength. She manages to break the assailant's nose, but he's a big burly guy and swings back at her. Faith is knocked off her feet and hits the ground with a painful thud. "Good one Faith," She mumbles to herself. When she looks up the other man from the fight is standing before her. His dirty blonde hair is short and a little messed up from the attack and he looks like he'll have a nice blue bruise to match his blue eyes in the morning. He reaches out a hand to help her up and she accepts it.

"That was pretty brave of you," He says.

"Yeah well, you looked like you could use some help… what'd he want from you anyway?"

"Nothing much, just my money… he took my wallet."

"Ah, a good old fashioned mugging then."

"Yeah… look, I've never seen anyone step in a punch a guy like that before… um, thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Faith says as she starts to walk away. After she gets a few steps from him he starts to follow and catches up to her.

"Wait," he says and Faith stops and turns around.

"Could I maybe walk you home or something?"

"I don't know I…"

"I'm sure you can handle yourself… actually I'm positive about that, I just um… thought maybe you'd like some company."

Faith thinks over his question. He seems like a nice guy… and that makes her want to turn and run in the opposite direction. But there's something about him that she finds interesting, something unique.

"Sure… why not," Faith says and they start to walk side by side down the walk. "So what's your name… I mean if you're gonna walk me home and all we should probably be introduced."

"Oh, Sorry. I'm Mike."

"Faith," she says is response.

--

Buffy and Spike walk into the condo, there they find Hank and Dawn playing cards at the kitchen table. Right away Buffy can tell they're playing crazy eights. She remembers when they were little how they would play crazy eights for hours at a time with their dad. Buffy sets her bags on the other end of the table and sits down next to her dad while Spike walks around the table to sit next to Dawn.

"Did you have fun shopping sweetie?" Hank asks as Buffy and Spike walk in.

"Yeah, shopping was great… the subway ride, not so much… we got attacked," Buffy says

"What happened? Are you okay, is the baby okay?" Dawn asks a little frantically.

"Slow down there nibblet… we're all fine, just a few vamps. I took care of them right quick," Spike says jumping into the conversation.

"You say that like a few vampires are no big deal," Hank asks concerned.

"Well… they're not really… not that vampires aren't dangerous, but I've seen a lot worse," Buffy says.

"Oh! I've got to go," Dawn says out of the blue standing up from the table.

"Go where?" Buffy asks.

"Alden and I are getting breakfast."

"Alden's back in London nibblet," Spike interjects.

"Dawn…"

"I know… gotta go, love you, bye," Dawn says in a rush as she portals herself out of Hank's condo. Her father watches her disappear in a ray of white and blue light then looks to Buffy with a look of total shock across his face. Buffy in turn is staring with a look off exasperation at the spot where Dawn just was.

"Well, that's my cue to allow you two some father daughter bonding time and what not," Spike says as he exits the room thinking to himself that he'll have to talk to Dawn later about not portal-ing herself across the country for dates.

"You know she told me she could… but… does she do that a lot?" Hank questions with disbelief drenched in his voice.

"She's not supposed to."

"And you really do this… fight demons, everyday?"

"Well, not every day, but yeah, it's a full time job."

"Have you ever been seriously hurt?" Hank says with concern rooted deep in his eyes.

"Dad," Buffy says hesitantly "…I… you don't need to worry about me, I don't fight alone."

"In other words it's best if I don't know."

Buffy smiles at her father and remembers how hard all of this had been for her mom to accept, she knows it must be just as hard for him.

"I want you to know hunny… I want to be here for you… I know I haven't really been the best father in the past and I apologize for that… I guess, I just want you to know if there's anything you need, I'm here."

--

Xander presses the trigger of the nail gun installing new trim around one of the windows in the penthouse apartment of the Council. It felt good to be getting back to his carpentry roots, building things calmed him and was a nice change of scenery from the constant demon hunting and Council work that he'd been doing over the past year. The scoobies have decided to fix up the apartment for Buffy and Spike to move into so they have more space when the new baby arrives. Xander of course made himself in charge of this particular project. Xander then turns around as he hears the door creak open. He watches as Willow and Myla walk in with painting supplies including a gallon of paint and rollers.

"Ladies… ready to get your painterly-ness on?" Xander asks.

"You know it, and look… I brought rollers," Willow says smiling.

"Oh, and paint… in peachy pink, it's really pretty," Myla adds.

"We are talking for the baby's room right, cause Spike and I might not be all that close but I have a feeling he might object to that being the color for the living room… on second thought paint away ladies."

"It's for the baby's room… I'm gonna go set these in there," Myla says walking down the hall.

"So how's the nail gunning going?" Willow asks.

"Good… real good, I'm just about done… so ah… where's Kennedy, I thought she was helping us today?"

"We um… got in a little fight so she went off to train…"

Willow's sentence is then cut off by Andrew walking into the apartment. He carries his own roller and is wearing bright yellow kitchen gloves as well as a white hospital face mask. Upon seeing him both Xander and Willow give him an odd look. Andrew has the appearance of trying to protect himself from some deadly disease.

"Uh, hey Andrew… what's with the mask?" Xander asks.

"Paint fumes, I've read that they can be extremely hazardous to your health and…"

"Yeah… I get the point."

"Alright I've got everything set up and… Hi Andrew," Myla says as she comes back out into the living room, her words falling flat in her mouth as she sees Andrew standing in his strange ensemble.

"Well anyway… Will did you talk to Buffy today, any news about the baby?" Xander asks.

"Oh, yeah I did, she had a doctor's appointment with that doctor lady that Giles knows the other day and said that everything is right on schedule." Willow responds.

"And you didn't tell her about our surprise right?" Xander says with excitement in his voice.

"Nope, she is completely clueless."

"Good."

"You know, it's kinda sad that we can't all be there for the miracle when Buffy gives birth," Andrew says.

"Eh, no… I remember that video from health class, no thank you," Xander responds.

"I agree… babies are much cuter once they get all cleaned up," Myla says.

"I just hope they come home soon… nine months is a lot of time to build up anxious-ness," Willow says.

--

Spike is walking back from the butcher shop, he'd recently run out of blood and just picked some more up. He moves with a swagger down the dirty Los Angeles street past windows with neon lights and steamy storm drains. He carries a paper bag filled with blood and smokes a cigarette as he walks. Since Buffy discovered her pregnancy he's been avoiding smoking around her so when he's been out on his own he's had to get in his fair share of them. It's late now and most shops are closing up. At first all Spike could think about was getting home to Buffy, but then he feels a tingle. The hairs on the back of Spike's neck stand up and Spike gets an odd feeling. A feeling he used to get when Drusilla was around.

Then up ahead of Spike he sees her. She turns her head back ever so slightly to look at him. He watches her black hair sway as she walks with a dance in her step. Drusilla turns the corner to walk into the alley dragging her red nails on the bricks of the building and making direct eye contact with Spike as she does. Spike drops his bag of blood and chases after her. Spike runs and rounds turns the corner into the alley, there he sees her standing before him glaring at him with evil and seductive eyes.

"What are you doing here Dru?"

"Shh, it's not time yet," Drusilla says bringing a finger up to her lips. "I've come to set you free my sweet… the stars are singing that your tot needs to be raised by wickedness… you'll come to me again and with a killer kiss we'll take the small one… she can be ours."

"Stay away from Buffy and me; hear me Dru… keep your bloody mits away from my family."

"Naughty, naughty… someone's sour… don't worry though soon you'll be my sweet again," Drusilla says as she backs away from Spike vanishing into the night.

Spike thinks about chasing after her, he nearly does, but for whatever reason he can't bring himself to do it. He loved her once and she'll always mean something to him. Then after she's vanished into the night Spike regrets that decision completely. He knows Dru is planning something and wishes that he would have just dusted her there before she got the chance to. Spike runs his fingers through his hair in frustration.

--

Spike walks into the guest room at Hank's apartment to find Buffy sleeping. He paces the room for a moment thinking about what to say to her and how to say it. As he moves from one side of the room to the other Buffy stirs. She wakes up and watches Spike move back and forth before her. Spike is so lost in his thoughts though that he doesn't realize that she's awake.

"Spike, what are you doing?" Buffy asks in a sleepy voice.

"What… oh you're up… um… Buffy," Spike says as he moves over to the bed and sits down beside her. "We have a problem."

"What's wrong… what happened?"

"Drusilla's in town."

A/N: Special thanks to Boris Yeltsin for his inspiration of the character Mike... On another note I'm sure you've all noticed by now my lack of "Script Style," I've finially stopped being stubborn and conformed, I still like using script, just saying, but from here on out I'll be writng without it and plan to revise all my old fics. I hope everyone likes this story so far and I just want to say thank you to all my readers, you've all been great. I love reading your positive reviews... recently I've started posting on other sites and I get a lot more criticism there. It's nice to log on here and read all your awesome reviews, please keep it up.

Next chapter "Stolen with a Kiss," should be up Thursday.