Spike’s mind was spinning. He silently wished that he hadn’t chosen this form for the Conduit. He needed answers, and that was going to be difficult considering the answers he needed had to be filtered through the language of a five year old girl. Still, he knew the answers were there to be had, so he forged onward.

“Can you tell me about the stones, Love?”

She nodded, her eyes flashing with a knowledge that was beyond her little girl form, “There are so many of them. It’s hard to count them all. All in pretty little rows. They have names on them. Mommy’s name is on one of them,” as she looked at Spike, he could see the tempest of fear, pain, and determination in her eyes and her rosy lips formed a grim line, “Daddy’s too. I didn’t like it.”

Suddenly Spike understood. He should, he’d stalked places like that for long enough. A graveyard. She was talking about a graveyard.

Spike closed his eyes and swallowed the nausea he felt, “No Sweet, I don’t imagine you did. What happened?”

“Mommy got sick. All the Slayers did,” Joni sniffed, “All but one. Me,” her voice grew stronger as she looked into his eyes, “Daddy taught me how to fight the boogiemen. He taught me how to be a Slayer,” her eyes glowed with pride as she pointed to her heart, “I’m the last one. But they’re all here. Mommy is too. She never really left, Daddy,” Spike could see tears welling in her eyes, “I’m sorry you couldn’t see her. I tried to help, really I did. I tried to make Daddy understand. But, he was so sad. He missed her. Then it happened.”

Despite himself, Spike was paying rapt attention to the tale unfolding before him. It drew him in. The Conduit had disappeared, and in its place stood the personification of all his hopes, and his deepest dismay, “What happened, Love?” he urged as the hope and dread crowded his breast.

“The boogieman went away, and Daddy was different.”

The pieces started to fall into place. Spike drew in unnecessary breath, “The boogieman?” Spike felt the demon come upon him, “Do you mean this, Sweetling?” he asked as his hand ghosted in front of his demon visage.

Joni nodded.

Spike nodded, the joy he felt tempered only by the fear of what she had yet to say. He nodded again, “That changed,” he smiled sadly at her, “But then something happened, didn’t it? Something bad?”

“Daddy…you got sick. You died. And there was no one for me to talk to. Not even Uncle Angel.” Spike had to quell the demon’s need to howl at the rage he saw building in her eyes, “He said he loved you, Daddy! But I know that’s a lie,” she hissed. It truly unnerved Spike to hear the almost lethal venom she was spitting at his Grandsire. It wasn’t that he did not deserve such treatment; but to hear it coming from such an innocent face was truly horrifying, “He was just jealous. He was jealous. He saw what I had. Knew that I was happy and that he couldn’t have that,” her eyes were shimmering with light, “So he took my happiness from me. When I found out his secret… Daddy, I was so angry. I was old enough by then. Aunt Willow told me not to,” she bit her lip, holding in the tiny sob that was trying to be heard, “She said you wouldn’t want me to. But I missed you. So I jumped. I jumped, like Mommy did.”

Spike knew instantly what she spoke of, and his head bowed in solemn remembrance of that horrible night, “Oh Joni,” he whispered.

“…I got caught, Daddy. It hurt. You saw me, I think. So did Uncle Angel. He put me in the fire.”

Spike gasped in shock, “Did he hurt you?” he growled, as he felt the anger flash.

“No Daddy. He can’t hurt me now. He’s where I am now. I’m waiting for you. Please come find us, Daddy?”

“Us?”

But he never got an answer to that question. Joni’s small form evaporated from his sight, and he was left alone again.

The anger and fear he felt was almost overwhelming. If Angelus was with Joni now, there was only one place she could be. There was only one place he knew Angelus would be, and that was Hell. If Joni was there, he was going to get her out. He didn’t care how he did it, or what kind of bargain he had to make, or with whom. He was getting her back.

He would get her back, no matter the consequences.
*******************************************

Holland smiled down at the baby in his arms, “Children can be so trusting,” he mused as he listened to her coo at his touch, “and very creative when faced with a void. They will do what they can to provide themselves with the companionship they need, when it is taken from them,” he looked pointedly at the shadowed angles of Angel’s face, “or when it cannot, or will not, be given. They can create imaginary people to play with. Sometimes they make up entire towns,” his tone turned somber, “or dimensions. Many times a child won’t even have to go that far. Often, he’ll take the people he knows, his parents maybe,” he shrugged apathetically, “and place them where they need them most. Today’s asylums are just full to brimming with people whose only problem is that they needed to connect, and no one was there. Everyone was too busy with his or her own world to be a part of theirs, so they constructed their own. Your son did that, I believe, did he not?” Holland smirked, “An entire dimension. I really wonder what this little lady will come up with?”
**********************************************

OCTOBER 31, 2005- ROME

Dawn sighed with exhaustion, “I’m telling you, Giles. Whatever this thing was that killed Talitha, it wasn’t a fluke. And, it wasn’t a complication of childbirth,” she looked at her shoes, secretly hoping to find the answer there. She wanted to tell him that, as terrible as this young Slayer’s death was, it could be put down to natural causes. She couldn’t say that, “I know we all want it to be that. A terrible fact of life, something that just happens. We all wanted that,” she shook her head, wishing she could say it for him. But, her mouth couldn’t form the words they all needed to hear, “But, Giles this isn’t that. It’s something worse. Something demonic,” she did not want to tell him the next part. Didn’t want to feed his worst fears about him. Fears she knew were lurking just under the surface, waiting to escape, despite what he told her, and Buffy, “I tested the baby’s blood with what Riley could salvage from the Initiative’s archives in Nevada. And, there was a match. When the baby was born, some of the baby’s blood mixed with the mother’s, with Talitha’s. They were incompatible. That’s what killed her.”

Giles nodded fervently, “You said there was a match to some type of demon?”

“I did,” Dawn said, as she felt the weight of worlds settle on her shoulders.

“What type?”

“Vampire,” she said grimly, “Spike, to be specific.”
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AUGUST 20, 2009- LOS ANGELES

Spike sat softly on the edge of her bed and gently kissed her forehead as he watched her deep sienna eyes grow wide with fear. She knew what was coming. I had become a bleak routine for all of them. He knew it hurt, and the thought of causing her more pain was unthinkable.

But, what was even more unthinkable was being without her. So, he kissed her and tried to assuage her fears. He smiled as she brought her bunny close to her as a shield, “That’s right, Dove,” he whispered trying to distract her from the sight of the syringe, “You hold tight to old Spike Rabbit. And if it pinches the least little bit, you squeeze the stuffing out of him. That’s what he’s there for,” he winked at her as he slid the needle into her skin, “That’s his job, to protect you. He and I, we kind of love you. We don’t want to see you ill,” he placed the syringe in the medical waste container, “See? All done,” Spike said as he tucked her into bed, “Now where were we?” he asked as he settled into the seat next to her bed.

The brief pain of the needle seemed to wash away on a tide of youthful excitement as she reminded him just where he’d left off in the fairytale, “The evil Glory monster had the Prince in her dungeon and was going to make him tell her where the Magic Key was,” she said in a breathless voice.

She looked, and sounded, as if she were the happiest child on earth. And Spike wanted to keep her that way, “That’s right,” he smiled, “I remember now.”
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