Title: Change
Author: MSKBSwedish
Rating: Mature
Summery: Three years have come since the fateful night that Linn was brought home safely from being held in the clutches of Angelus and Dru. Now Buffy and Spike, who have put their parenthood before slaying, have to not only battle vampires and demons but their children as well.
Note: I own nothing of the Buffyverse.

Chapter Three – Across the Sky

When Buffy woke the next day, Linn was thrashing in bed slightly again. The slayer who had barely slept last night, groggily laid her hand against her daughter's forehead which was starting to get warm again. She cast her eyes beside her to see Spike still fast asleep on his side facing them.

"Spike." Buffy croaked. Her voice was harsh for having just woken up. "Spike, wake up." This time, Buffy reached over and shook Spike awake.

The vampire stirred and opened his eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked, reluctant to wake up.

"I need some more of that stuff. Linn's tossing and turning again." Buffy informed the vampire sleeping on the other side of her daughter.

Spikes eyes made their way to glance at Linn who was only just beginning to move about. It woke him up quickly.

Throwing the covers off of him, Spike got up and grabbed the stuff that Willow had given him last night. He walked out of the room, leaving Buffy to sit up and pull Linn into her lap as best as she could with her growing belly slightly in the way.

Spike returned minutes later and walked over to Buffy, handing her the cup in his hand.

"Come on, moonshine. Wake up." Buffy said as she gently shook the child. She had no response to her waking up. She was getting worried quite quickly.

"Is there a way we can get her to swallow it like this?" Spike asked curiously.

Buffy shook her head. "She will choke if we do that." She sighed. "We need to wake her up."

"I have an idea."

Spike walked out of the bed room. When he came back in he carried a wet rag. Spike held it over his daughter's forehead and squeezed. The water was bitterly cold.

Within seconds the little girl woke suddenly.

"There we go. Come on baby, drink this." Buffy said, holding the cup to Linn's mouth.

"No!" Linn cried, putting her hands up to push it away. "Mummy, no!"

Buffy had to be firm and push her own feelings aside. "Malin Joyce, you need to drink this. Now come on. Open up." Buffy said, holding her daughter firmly with one hand.

"No!" The seven year old shouted and pushed the cup out of Buffy's hands causing it to fly out of Buffy's grasp and spilling on the bed.

"Damnitt!" Buffy gasped.

Linn's cries grew harder as she tried to twist and turn in Buffy's arms. Buffy was beginning to give in, letting Linn turn in her arms. The little girl wrapped her arms around Buffy's neck and hugged her tight as she cried.

Buffy looked up at Spike with desperation in her eyes. Spike had picked up the cup.

"What do I do?" Buffy asked, hoping Spike could hear her over Linn's cries.

"I'll put it in her drink. It's the only other option we have." Spike suggested.

Buffy nodded. "I'll stay here with her." Buffy said before letting out a little yawn.

Spike left and came back about ten minutes later. By now Linn's cries had grown so loud that the sound was piercing Buffy's ears. She still held the child in her arms but she was having a hard time with the piercing cries.

"Look, baby. Daddy's got your juice." Buffy said to Linn.

Buffy could see Linn's eyes dilate quickly even through her tears with the smell of the blood. She turned in her mother's arms to look at the cup that Spike had.

Spike handed the cup over and Linn drank it quickly.

Buffy rubbed Linn's back while she drank. "Good, girl. Good. See, it will make you feel much better." Buffy smiled.

Once she was done, Linn settled in Buffy's lap and was hiccuping from the crying. Buffy consoled her baby girl. She may not have been a baby anymore but it was still her baby.

As the minutes passed, Linn began to drift back to sleep in Buffy's lap, her cheek pressed against her mother's pregnant belly.

"Can you take her? I need to pee." Buffy asked Spike.

Spike nodded and walked over to pick up his oldest. He wrapped his arms around his daughter and picked her up into his arms. Her forehead pressed against his neck and her body laid against his while he carried her with his arms supporting her bottom.

Buffy got up and quickly went into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and sighed. She felt like a horrible mother. How was she going to do this? There were things about being a mother to half-bread children that she needed help with. How was she going to know that she was doing a good job? Just keeping her children alive wasn't the answer. That would be her just barely scraping by. It would be like any normal person having children but the parent not doing their job to enrich their child's life. God knows she would never ever neglect her children. She just hoped she could figure it all out.

"I swear Willow it was the strangest thing." Buffy said over the phone. "Yeah when she woke up again she was fine. It was like nothing ever happened." Buffy added.

The slayer got up from sitting in the chair in the dinning room and peeked into the play room to see Linn playing on the floor with her baby sister.

"Yeah. I was thinking about it this afternoon. I have an idea of what might have caused it but I'm not sure. I'll call you later though. Thanks again, Will." With that, Buffy hung up the phone and laid it on the table.

"Malin?" Buffy called out as she walked into the living room.

"Yes mum?" Linn asked, looking over at Buffy.

"Come here, please." Buffy sat down on the couch. Her back was throbbing from her rough night with her daughter.

Linn stood up and hurried into the living room from the play room.

"Am I in trouble?" Linn asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure." Buffy said honestly. "Malin have you been drinking your juice?" Buffy asked the seven year old curiously.

"Yes." Linn replied to her curious mother.

"Really? Are you being honest with me? You know I don't appreciate when you lie." Buffy warned her. Buffy could see it in Linn's face that her daughter was not being truthful with her. "You're drinking it at school?"

Linn cast her eyes down to the floor and sighed. She was caught.

"Malin Joyce Pratt look at me." Buffy ordered firmly.

Linn slowly brought her eyes up to look at Buffy.

"Why?" Buffy asked, her voice demanding an answer.

"The other kids laugh at me, mummy." Linn sighed. Almost immediately, Buffy's features softened. Frankly, Buffy was a little shocked. "They call me a vampire and make fun of me. They tell me my juice looks like blood and don't want to play with me because I can't go outside." Linn's eyes watered with tears that wanted to fall down her little round face.

"Baby, you need to tell me these things." Buffy sighed.

"I didn't want you to get mad at me." Linn sniffled. "No one wants to be my friend. They just laugh at me and call me a freak." Linn looked down as she started to cry.

"Oh, moonshine." Buffy took her daughter into her arms and hugged her. "You are different than those children, Malin." Buffy whispered in her ear. "You are not a freak, baby. You are special but you are not a freak. You know you need to drink your juice if you want to grow up to be strong like daddy and I." Buffy explained to her oldest.

"I just... I-I-I w-w-want friends." Linn cried on her mother's shoulder.

Buffy's heart felt like it was breaking for Linn. There's one thing that life doesn't prepare you for when it comes to kids; bullying.

"I know, baby. Trust me, I know." Buffy remembered what it felt like to become such an outcast among her peers for being a slayer. She knew that feeling all too well and to know that her daughter, at seven years old was already experiencing that, upset her.

"Listen to me." Buffy pulled away and looked into Linn's eyes while cupping her daughter's face to wipe away the tears with her thumbs. "I'm going to go up to school and talk to your teacher, okay? Whoever is calling you names and whoever is making fun of you, is not allowed to say those mean things to you. Mommy is going to do whatever it takes, okay?" Linn nodded in response.

"Mummy? Do I really drink blood?" Linn asked her mother suddenly.

Buffy sighed. She wanted to tell her the truth. She wanted to be honest with her but when the secrets of Linn's health and the origins behind her conception are supernatural in reason, Buffy had to tread lightly. She wasn't old enough to understand. The child couldn't even remember being kidnapped by Drusilla and Angelus.

"No. You don't. It's just a... special drink that helps you grow. There's something missing in your body and the drink replaces it." That was the simplest way Buffy could think to put it.

"Oh... Okay." Linn nodded, actually understanding what her mother said.

"Lets make a deal. Okay? You drink your juice like you're supposed to and I'll talk to daddy about doing more things with you and Emmy. How's that sound?" Buffy asked Linn. She nodded happily at her mother as a smile formed on her face.

It wasn't often they were able to do things as a family because of Buffy being the slayer and Spike being a vampire. They were limited to what they could and couldn't do but Buffy knew they could make more time for family time.

"Okay, go play. But please, take it easy kid. You need to get your strength back up. In a couple of minutes you're going to drink more of your juice, got it?" Buffy smiled. Linn nodded back to her mother before walking back into the playroom to play.

Buffy sighed. Her suspicions had been proven correct. If Linn wasn't drinking the blood like she was supposed to, it had to have been making her sick. Buffy wondered how it worked. She wondered if it was because Linn had seemed to give up the blood cold turkey. Maybe it was causing the fevers and the thrashing in her sleep. Her body was calling out because it needed it. She also wondered if maybe it was Linn's vampire.

The only thing that truly worried Buffy about her children being half-vampire was the demon part. Would they be like Spike where their demon was in their heads mentally and they constantly had to fight? Would it be like someone with multiple personalities? Would there even be an evil side like that to them? Or would they be normal? The worse thing she wanted for her children is for them to have to face such an obstacle like that. She wanted them to be happy and healthy. They deserved that. They were just kids.

...TBC...