A/N: just a quick note to thank those of you that have reviewed & favourited this story, I hope you're all enjoying it. Also a huge thank you to my Beta: Hulettwyo for all of her help. Keep reviewing guys really want to know what you think

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Buffy and Dawn made their way into the Magic Box and Buffy called out, "Hey…little help here?" as she struggled to get Amelia's stroller down the few steps. Xander jumped to his feet and rushed over to help her. "Thanks, Xan," she smiled.

"No problem, Buff, how is the little angel?" He smiled back, taking a peek at the sleeping baby.

"Angel? She's no angel, more like a little devil; she kept me awake all night," she grumbled, taking a seat at the table next to Anya.

"You are looking a little tired, Buffy."

"Great. That's just polite code for 'you look like hammered crap,' right?" Buffy huffed.

"No, not at all," Tara jumped in to rescue Anya from her own mouth.

"That's kinda why I came here. Could one of you guys take Amelia for an hour or so? Dawnie has a school thing and there's something I gotta do and I don't really want to take her with me." She smiled hopefully.

"We would, sweetie, but Tara and I have class in an hour," sighed Willow.

"That's okay. What about you guys?" She looked at Anya and Xander even more hopefully.

"We'd love to, Buff, but Anya is busy with the shop and I'm on lunch from the site," said Xander somberly.

"Hey, no big," said Buffy, smiling weakly.

"You could always ask Spike," said Dawn. "He doesn't have a job yet so he's probably bored out of his mind hanging out at Doyle's all day."

"Yeah, either that or he's off somewhere smooching with Miss Skanky McSlutpants," Buffy said dryly.

"Wait… what?" asked Xander.

"Oh… Spike met some girl on his travels, uh… Harmony, I think her name is. She apparently guarantees him no complications. You know silly little things like babies and massive angst... they sound perfect for each other," Buffy said sadly.

XXXX

Darla sat on the edge of Angel's desk waiting for him to return as she looked at the photo of her wedding day that stood proudly at the center of his desk. She remembered how happy they'd been that day and how in love they were and she knew he was slipping from her grasp but she didn't know how to stop it. A loud slam of the door broke Darla from her trip down memory lane.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Angel asked.

"I bumped into Kate earlier today," she said, studying his face for any type of reaction.

"Oh, how is she?"

Darla rose from the desk and stood with her arms firmly folded. "She told me you were at the hospital…"

"I doubt it, Hon."

"Please don't lie to me, Angel. Not again. She saw you in the maternity wing visiting a girl; I don't think I need to tell you who it was."

"Well yeah, I saw Buffy, she was a good employee."

"I knew about you two, your little sordid affair behind my back. I might be blonde but I'm not stupid! That baby is yours isn't it? You had a baby with her!"

"No, I thought the baby was mine, but she's not. Buffy made that quite clear the day I went to the hospital."

"Does it matter? You still didn't tell me! I thought you'd have the decency to tell me that you had an affair with that cheap slut!" She burst into tears and turned her back on her stunned husband.

"I'm sorry," he said, rushing to comfort his wife.

She fought off his arms with a sob, "Don't touch me, Angel, you're not the man I thought you were."

XXXX

Spike and Harmony were sitting in Spike's trusty DeSoto kissing passionately. They'd been lip locked for over ten minutes with no forward progress so Harmony decided to take the initiative. She slid closer, straddling Spike's lap, then nibbled down his neck as her fingers slipped underneath the hem of his shirt, starting to tug it toward his head.

His hands settling over hers stopped her and she sat back. "What's wrong?" she asked as she climbed off his lap and shuffled back over to the passenger seat.

"What? Oh... it's nothing. Just..."

"Why do I always fall for the guys that are still in love with their ex?" she huffed. Spike sighed and looked out the window.

XXXX

It was highly unusual for a thunderstorm to hit Sunnydale, but that night the clouds were full of electricity and rumbles as the rain poured down in a torrent over the sleepy town. Amelia slept soundly through it all, her tiny hands curled into loose fists that were tucked up underneath her chin. Buffy had been watching her sleep for hours as she listened to the rain thrashing against her bedroom window and finally decided to go downstairs and watch some TV. She curled up on the end of the sofa and tugged the fuzzy blanket over her lap then sat there for a while, channel surfing through the late night infomercials and crappy B movies until she discovered a Passions marathon.

It had been Spike's favourite show and though she'd never admitted it to him she'd become quite tangled up in the lives of the fictional people of Harmony, RI. Buffy sighed and laid her head on the arm of the couch. 'Harmony. Just had to be that name, didn't it? Why couldn't she have been named Bertha or Betty or something?' That name led her directly to Spike and she sighed louder. It had been two days since they'd fought and she'd done nothing but think about him.

'Stupid Spike! Get out of my brain!' Lightning flashed and the loud clap of thunder that followed it made her jump. She heard a rattling noise coming from the front door just as her heart had slowed back to its normal pace. She jumped to her feet, flinging the blanket over the back of the couch as she searched for a weapon. "Burglars in the middle of the storm of the century? Wow... pretty hard core," she whispered to herself as her eyes settled on the lamp on the end table. "Lamp it is," she whispered, taking the shade off the wooden lamp base then clutching it in a white knuckle grip as she made her way to the door.

The door suddenly flew open, banging against the wall as Spike stumbled through soaking wet. Buffy lowered the lamp then pointed it at him menacingly as she screeched, "Spike! Geez! Heart attack much? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I know how scared you get durin' storms, luv," he smiled cheekily.

Buffy set the lamp down and moved to shut the door, trying to keep at least some of the rain outside. "I wasn't scared until you got here, dufus."

He smiled and held up a brown paper bag that was so soaked it was about to disintegrate. "Peace offering in the form of chocolate and peanut butter?"

She giggled lightly and started for the downstairs bathroom. "Don't move, Mr. Drippy. Let me get you a towel."

XXXX

Buffy was asleep in Spike's arms on the couch when he woke to the sound of Amelia's cries the next morning. He carefully slipped out of her grasp, making sure not to wake her, then tip-toed up the stairs.

Dawn had already left for school and when she'd galloped down the stairs in her usual coltish teenager fashion, she'd seen the sleeping pair and had smiled and told Willow and Tara not to dare wake them.

Spike walked quietly into Buffy's room and scooped Amelia out of her crib, quickly changing her diaper and slipping her into a tiny pink pair of overalls. He took the happily gurgling baby down to the kitchen and made her a bottle then held her, patting her back gently until she'd released a belch worthy of a half-pissed dockworker on a three day drinking binge. Buffy was still snoozing after he'd finished cleaning up the kitchen, so he strapped the full and sleepy tot into her stroller and decided to go for a walk.

He was proudly pushing the stroller down the street when an old lady stopped him. "Oh she's beautiful! Is she your first?"

"Yeah, she is." His proud smile seemed to light up the whole neighbourhood.

"Well, you take care of her, you hear? Before you know it she'll be grown." She patted him on the arm, chuckling as she walked away.