Author's Note: Might be helpful to reread previous chapters after reading this. Also remember that the "Interregnum" is timeless. Everything happens at once there.
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As he watched her sleep, Spike shook off the ghosts of his past. He watched as her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm and her face was in peaceful repose. Now, she looked like the angel she was. He would do whatever he needed to do to keep her safe and protected.

Anything, including learn from his past. He wasn’t sure how it was happening, but somehow, something or someone was giving him a chance to save Buffy again. And he would be a fool not to take it.
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OCTOBER 15, 2003

It wasn’t until she spoke again that Spike realized that he wasn’t alone.

“Daddy?”

Her sweet little voice brought him out of one horror and sent him spiraling down into another. He turned to her, and for the first time in decades he was glad he was dead. The weight of worlds was on that little face. She trusted him. God help him, she trusted him. He would do whatever he needed to do to be worthy of that trust.

He knelt down in front of her again, “Sweetling,” he said softly, “where is your Mummy?”

“Don’t you know?” she tilted her head in a familiar way.

“No. Baby, I wish I did. I want to help. You know that, right?”

Little fingers twitched as they reached out to him, “What happened to you, Daddy?” she whispered, her fingers inching closer to his face. Suddenly her breath caught, “What happened to you, Daddy? Your face…?”

This was just another torture the Fates had concocted for him wasn’t it? It wasn’t enough that he couldn’t rest. They couldn’t just leave him between Heaven and Hell, able to see, hear and feel every emotion imaginable, but still unable to touch or feel anything; they had to make sure he scared the one person who somehow kept him tethered to Buffy.

His demon had obviously surfaced, and due to his ghostly existence, he was unaware of it. He just couldn’t take hearing another little girl screaming in terror at the sight of what he’d become. There were already too many to count. His soul would break if hers were a voice added to his private symphony of terror.

He closed his eyes, waiting; bracing himself for the scream he knew would come. He waited. It would come. They always did. He’d been a beautiful demon. He’d prided himself on the fact that he could charm the smallest of them, his victims, into trusting him. Then, just before the kill, he’d make the wail in fright. It was so good then. The terror made their blood run hot in his throat, made their blood sweeter than honey.

It was good then. But it wasn’t now.

So, he waited.

And he waited.

But, it never came.

“Daddy,” that sweet little voice was a miracle to him. She wasn’t scared of him at all. And, as he looked into her eyes, they seemed older then her five years. It was as if she knew all that he’d been through. Her eyes told him that she would be with him to help him through things he had yet to see. She seemed to have seen too much for as small as she was. She’d been through things and she would help him see where he had to be. “I want to know what happened to you,” she nodded toward the world outside her bedroom door, “He won’t tell me.”

He smirked at that. If her Daddy was who he thought he was, there was no doubt in his mind that he was tight-lipped about who, and what, he was, “I’m sure he has his reasons, Sweetling. As for me, there is too much to tell,” he smiled wearily as he watched her rub her eyes with her tiny fists, “And you, little girl, are much too tired. Go to sleep now, and Spike will take care of everything.”

Her lips pouted, “But I’m not tired. My Daddy never tells me what happened. I’ve seen you before. I know you. Tell me.”

“You’re too young to see the things I’ve been through, Princess. Too young to know what I am, what I’ve done.”

“But I have. My Daddy doesn’t like it when I tell him the things I see in my dreams,” she lowered her eyes, “I think I scare him. I think he’s afraid I’ll get sick,” she raised her eyes again, and Spike could see the wave of tears in them, “like Mommy.”

“I’m sure your Daddy loves you very much.”

“I know you do,” she said.

Spike lowered his head, overcome with emotion, “I do,” he confessed, unable to deny any longer what his heart knew, “I’ll take care of you. Now go to sleep, Joni. I’ll watch over you.”

He followed slowly after her, as she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, “Promise?” she asked as she held her toy rabbit close.

He fought the lump in his throat as his fingers ached to pull the wisps of hair behind her ear, and his lips longed to kiss her monsters away for her, “I promise.”
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IN THE INTERREGNUM-

“This isn’t just about Jonina. It can’t be. One little girl cannot cause a dimension this much chaos,” Spike said as he paced waiting for his meeting with the Higher Ups, “There has to be more to it,” he bit his lip, “If I could just suss this out, it would make sense. I just haven’t got all the pieces yet.”

Joyce nodded, “You’re right. This is about more than Joni. So much more than that little girl, that’s why I had to keep you alive. You’re too important to leave Joni now,” she lowered her eyes, not wanting to see the concern and the determination to do what she knew would break even him, all for her sake, in his eyes once he saw how and where he fit in the scheme of things, “I’d go to Hell because I know that you are the one to save Joni.”

His eyes blazed at her, “They’re not thinking she’s responsible for this,” he hissed, “Are they?”

“The balance that Willow changed has to be restored. Joni put things into further chaos,” Joyce saw Spike’s eyes flare and his jaw twitch as he fought the wave of fury, “And she’s not the only one,” she said softly, “I had a hand in this too.”

Spike gasped in horror, “No Joyce you didn’t.”

She nodded, “I did.”

“I want that meeting you promised,” he said, “Now.”
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