Spike let out a loud sudden gasp, waking up in a fright, causing him to sit up in the bed. His heart was racing and he felt hot to the touch. He felt sick and was on the verge of throwing up, causing him to cover his mouth.

He quickly looked down beside him, panting heavily as he was trying to control his breathing. Rachel was right next to him, she was on her stomach and was still asleep.

Spike focused on her while taking shallow breaths, trying not to wake her up. He felt his eyes swell as the adrenaline from the nightmare was beginning to wear off.

He shifted on the bed to where he was sitting on the side and buried his face in his hands. Trying to control the trembling.

However, his attempt to go unnoticed was all for naught, as the bed was shifting again, feeling Rachel silently coming up behind him, was on her knees, wrapped her arms around his shoulders as tenderly and tiredly as possible.

Spike let out a sound, his body tensed but quickly relaxed by her touch. He removed his hands from his face, having them holding Rachel's wrists, keeping her in place.

"Nightmare?" Rachel asked softly, leaving tender kisses on his shoulder and his scarred neck.

He nodded his head but was unable to say what it was. Nor did he want to say.

"I'm sorry," she said sympathetically, pressing up against his back.

"No….I'm the one who should be sorry." He responded to that. "I'm so sorry for hurting you, for leaving you…" His voice trembled. "I'm sorry Rachel, I'm so so sorry."

She held him close in comfort, feeling his words ringing true. "It's okay now, it's going to be okay."

He felt so helpless, so much pain, it was awful. "I'm sorry for everything."

"I know," she whispered, leaning her head against his and he leaned back to her. "I know."

They sat in that way in what felt like hours, Spike feeling sanctuary with her. His pain slowly easing awake.

Only to be interrupted by the janky alarm clock going off.

Not even having it, Rachel used her tail and bats it off the bedside table, the plug ripping out of the wall and scattered it across the small flat.

"You're out of a job while I'm here." Rachel said, hoping Snowball will uphold that part of the deal. "Come lay back down now."

Spike let out a small chuckle. Liking the sound of that before letting out a sigh."I… . Thank you for being here, saving my life… I'm still scared of going back." He admitted."I know it was Rarity's. I know that I was drugged via potion but it was still my body. I was a vessel, a tool… you know how everyone gets."

"I do. Believe me, I understand. If it wasn't the fact I'm part of a war and have royal responsibility, I'd run with you. However, we're both needed. We have to go home."

"You're right. .. left a bit of a mess of that… uh expect me to continuously apologize for the foreseeable future." He had a lot to apologize for.

Especially with what Rachel's next words are.

"It's not even just that. Can't really leave our son behind either sooo. " she casually drops the bomb before smirking, hoping he'd catch it.

He let out a chuckle. "Yeah, can't forget about-" Spike froze mid sentence.

Rachel continued to hold him and smirked, tail thumping on the mattress.

Spike twisted around to turn and faced her. "Uh-uh what did you just say?" His brain was still trying to reboot. Trying to understand what he just heard.

Rachel reached out across the bed, grabbing her bag that was tossed against it. She undid the zipper and opened the flap. She dug into the bag until she pulled out her phone."I was trying to tell you the other day before Harpy ruined it." She opens her photo gallery and quickly finds one of the first photos before handing it to him. "Spike, you're a father. You have a son… we have a son."

Spike held the phone in his hands. He felt his breath leaving his body when he saw the picture. It was of Rachel holding Igneous in her arms, a few hours after given birth.

He said nothing as he scrolled through the photos. Going back further to see pictures that Rachel took of herself, showing off the variations of her stomach over the course of her pregnancy, keeping track of her belly growth before going back to their child. Seeing already hundreds of pictures that the twins took of him and had sent over to Rachel.

Spike stopped at the last one of Igneous with a photogenic smile, he didn't have his teeth in yet but he was staring at the camera. Dressed in a green and white striped onesie.

"I didn't know that I was pregnant until you left." Rachel said. "He's already over a week old."

Spike began trembling as he stared down at the phone, barely glancing up at her before back to the photo. "We have a kid…. ?" His voice was soft. "Y-you didn't look like it…" he didn't see her ears turning red, a trait she has when she lies, she wasn't lying.

Rachel chuckled and blushed. "Yeah, Cadence gave me some potions that holds back the milk production until I get back and how I was tight… that was a healing potion given by the twins' mother." And now she'll have to think of a way to say thank you to Queen Sexling. "When I say that the Cutie Map summoned me hours after birth, that's the truth."

"What's his name?" He whispered.

"Igneous Sparks Drake."

He bowed his head, feeling a whole new wave of guilt than he was already feeling. "I didn't know… babe I swear I didn't." His voice cracked.

He was a father, he has a son.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Spike began sobbing as tears freely roamed down his face. "If I had known beforehand, I would've never left you, I wouldn't. I… "

Rachel wrapped her arms around him, feeling him getting smaller and smaller. "I know, love. I know…" letting out a deep sigh of relief, now that was revealed.

They just have to complete the mission and the two will be heading home to their child.

The Cabin

Gemcity slowly opened the door to Iggy's room. The wall shimmered in blue as the sun rays from the window hit the crystal wall.

The room was a bit of a mess from them playing with the baby.

The purple twin looks over her shoulder, hearing Ruby was still asleep with one of the dragon guards in the shared guest rooms.

Smirking, Gemcity slinks in. "Okay, gotta get my snuggles on."

She tip-hoof her way to the white crib, seeing the blanket draped over him. She flexed her fingers before she reached down to pick him up.

"Huh?!" When it turns out, what she picked up was one of his stuffed toys.

Gemcity started to immediately panic. She looked around the general area before looking back in the crib. She spots what looked to be claw marks on the wood of the crib and chips of crystals from the walls.

She glanced over at the window, seeing that it was locked shut. Could just barely see the color hue of the barriers still up.

"Oh Iggy, where are you?" Gemcity calls out, going into a deep dive into the room. "Iggy? Iggy baby boy, come to Auntie Gem." She looks into an empty corner. "There's no way he can be this mobile at a week old!"

"What the fuck?!"

Gemcity runs down the small hallway before running down the stairs, turning the corner and nearly running into the back of one of the dragon guards that was standing in front of the kitchen archway.

"Sorry, excuse me," Gemcity squeezed through to go in and stopped when she heard the infectious baby cackling.

Igneous was sitting on the counter top, banging a pan on the counters. He was covered in flour, the kitchen was covered in the white substance. He had his milk bottle next to him, and the fridge was open.

An absolute tornado whipped through the black marble kitchen.

And judging by the smell, he needed both a diaper change and a bath.

"What is going- oh my Mother!" Ruby comes in eventually to see what was up before stopping at the mess. "What happened!"

Igneous looks at them with a laugh, banging the pan on the countertop one more time before he drops it, and puts the bottle in his mouth. The little baby gets on all fours and jumps off of the counter and runs. Slipping past the adults and leaving claw prints all over the place.

"He's a week old! How is he moving already?!" Ruby shouted as the twins and the dragons scrambled to catch him.

"Infant dragons are notorious gremlins. They skip crawling and go straight to running on fours." One of the guards explained as they dove to catch the prince.

Iggy jumped out of the way, jumping and climbing on the railing and raced across the cabin.

"This is completely normal!" The other guard explains as they tried but failed to catch him.

"He's a fast one!"

Iggy slides to a window with a curtain, he grabs hold of it and begins climbing up as fast as he could with the bottle in his mouth. He climbs up on the rafters and disappears.

The adults gathered as they heard the baby taunting them with a laugh.

"Oh he did not just evil baby laugh at us." The twins spoke in unison.

The two quickly equipped themselves with butterfly nets and began hunting the baby down. Hoping Rachel would come home soon.

One of them got hit by a flying filled diaper and screamed.

Outside of the cabin, Sombra gazed at the cabin ahead before looking at the barriers. The crystals he had lay around absorbing the magic of the shields. It was nearly filled.

Before he could exchange them, he reached out to the barrier to test to see if he could get in.

His hand passed through the barrier with ease. However, before he could smirk, this white hot searing pain engulfs his hand, seeing it smoke and set on fire before he pulls his hand back with a shout.

Sombra shook the flames off as his hand was trembling from the burning pain. "Drat, not even close," he growled.

He used his magic to collect the full crystals and replaced them with more empty ones, seeing the magic of the shields going into the crystals. "A little more time." Sombra grunted before he teleports away.

After an hour of chasing and destroying the cabin, one of the guards finally caught the young prince. He cried and bawled once he was caught, being held by his tail.

"Got him." The guard panted, out of breath.

When Iggy saw that his cries wouldn't be enough to get the guard or anyone to let go, he made an angry tiny roar and purple flames spewed out of his mouth. His arms and legs kicking and swinging with anger.

"Angry baby, angry baby!" Gemcity yelped, hiding behind her twin.

"Like we just said, infants are complete gremlins." The guard held him said with a grunt, not phased about the flames hitting him. "They get worse if they are not with their parents."

The twins looked at each other. "We need Rachel!"