Chapter Eight  
While Tara was trying to fix a quick meal and answer all Dawn’s questions about what she was doing at the same time, Willow made a quiet phone call to Xander to suggest that they accompany Buffy on patrol that night.
 
“Where’s fangface? What happened? Did he get the message that Buffy isn’t interested in anything but the extra help?  Did he leave again?”
 
“No. But he went back to wherever he was before to get his stuff and pick up his last paycheck.  He won’t be back till sometime close to morning and Buffy’s too stubborn to admit that she needs him.”
 
“Paycheck? Spike has paychecks?”
 
“Apparently. And an apartment and... stuff... to bring back here.”
 
“So he is going to be around? I wonder what Buffy’s paying him to help out?”
 
“Xander! Are you really that dense? Spike is just as much in love with Buffy as he has been since... well, since at least last year.  He’s here because he wants to take care of her and keep her safe. Please tell me you aren’t that blind.”
 
“Yeah, yeah, okay,” he admitted. “So the evil undead has his own reasons for helping.  I get it.  I just don’t understand it.”
 
“You don’t have to understand it, you just have to admit it’s true,” Willow said, her “resolve face” coming through the phone line loud and clear.  “Can you come and help tonight or not?”
 
“Yeah, sure. We’ll be there in an hour or so.  See ya later.”
 
“See ya. And thanks.”
 
Willow put the phone down to see Tara and Dawn staring at her.  Dawn shook her head.
 
“I thought for a minute there you were going to tell him yourself.”
 
“I did kinda think about it,” Willow admitted. “But it’s really Buffy’s decision what to tell and when.”
 
“What’s Buffy’s decision to tell who, when?”  Buffy walked in the kitchen, frowning when all three girls gave guilty starts.  “What are you talking about?”
 
“Just Xander.  He and Anya are coming over in a little while and I thought maybe the three of us could patrol tonight. It’ll be like old times. Just us and the vampires.” Willow gave Buffy a tentative smile, sighing with relief when Buffy smiled back.
 
“Yeah, okay, that’ll be fun.” She crossed her arms across her chest and cocked her head at Willow. “But that’s not what you were talking about, is it?”
 
“Well, I just thought... it might be a good opportunity to tell Xander about... the baby’s father.  Now. While Spike isn’t around to get mad at him if Xander is a—”
 
“An ass?” Dawn snapped. “You know he’s going to be.”
 
The older girls all rolled their eyes, but didn’t contradict her.  Tara gestured for Dawn to help her with the salad, saying, “I don’t really get it.  Xander and Spike got along most of the time while you were in England. I mean they insulted each other a lot, but they worked together pretty well. And I know Spike has saved Xander’s life more than once. I don’t understand why he hates him so much.”
 
“I don’t really think it’s Spike,” Willow said with a sad smile. “Not that he can’t be really annoying....”
 
She glanced at Buffy who just snorted. “You have no idea.” 
 
“But, the thing is, Xander really hates Angel. And since he can’t pick on him, he picks on Spike.  And he can’t understand how Angel and Spike can be willing to help us – especially Spike who doesn’t have a soul. And how they can both be in love with Buffy, when Jesse, who was his best friend, tried to kill us when he was a vamp. I think he resents that Spike can have feelings for humans,” she pointed at Dawn and Buffy, “and Jesse couldn’t stay his friend.”
 
“Wow. I never made that connection.” Buffy stared at Willow with renewed admiration. “I’ll bet you’re right. I mean Angel has a soul, but Spike... yeah, he just likes some humans. Not just us, but he liked Mom too, and he knows—” She stopped herself. “Maybe Spike’s just not an ordinary vamp? If we can get Xander to understand that, it might help him stop comparing Spike to Jesse.”
 
“Time to eat!” Dawn proudly carried her salad to the table ahead of Tara and the rest of the meal.
 
~~~~~~~~
 
“It’s just like old times, isn’t it?”  Willow walked along, chattering even as she glanced around for trouble.  Buffy seemed unperturbed, so Willow decided to relax and trust in Slayer senses to keep them safe.  She walked closer to Xander, who had an axe dangling from his hand. He smiled at Willow and switched hands so the axe wasn’t swinging close to her legs.
 
“It does feel like old times. If by ‘old times’ you mean you were a lesbian, I was dating an ex-vengeance demon and Buffy was pregnant.”
 
“Way to spoil the mood, Xander,” Buffy scolded.  “What’s so different? Willow is still with somebody – just, it’s a girlfriend, not a boyfriend. You still have a girlfriend who cuts men down to size.... literally, in Anya’s case. And I’m... okay, losing the theme here... but....”
 
“Well, okay, you’ve got a bun in the oven, so that’s new. But on the plus side, your boyfriend isn’t a vampire that’s going to lose his soul and try to end the world, so that’s an improvement. All things considered, seems like a win to me. All we need now is to locate the baby’s father so that my trusty axe and I can convince him to do the right thing.”
 
 Xander waved his axe for emphasis, letting it drop to his side when the expressions on the girls’ faces went from amused to grim. 
 
“Okay. Or not. You don’t want him to be involved. I can deal with that.” When their expressions didn’t change he sighed. “Okay. What don’t I know?”
 
Buffy bit her lip and took a deep breath. “What you don’t know—and it’s totally my fault for not telling you and Anya when I told Willow and Tara—is that the baby’s father is doing the right thing. Or, he will be as soon as we figure out exactly what the right thing is.  Anyway, he’s going to be around, and involved, and....”
 
“Well, that’s great. So, where is he? Or does he not know about your night-job?” Xander stopped speaking to swing the axe at the neck of a vampire just struggling out of a near-by grave. As the dust from the headless vamp drifted back onto the disturbed soil, he continued.  “’Cause, you know, it would be nice if he could be helpful out here. Like Riley or somebody who knows how to kill vamps and demons. Not that Spike can’t take up a lot of slack,” he said, almost as if musing to himself. “But I don’t really see old fangface going out slaying for you while you cuddle up with your honey and a baby.”
 
“Xander... Spike’s going to handle it.  That’s why he’s here... or, not here right this minute, but will be as soon as he gets back.”
 
“Huh. Well, that’s... disturbingly nice of him.  So, he’s going to what? Patrol for you and then go stand under his tree and stalk you the rest of the night?”
 
Losing her patience at Xander’s blatant refusal to consider anything outside his own view of the vampire that, in her opinion, he should know well enough by now to understand, Buffy snapped, “He’s going to patrol with me until I can’t do it anymore, and then he’ll do it for me until I’m back on my feet. And, no, he won’t be guarding the house from the tree, he’ll be doing it from where he belongs. Inside, with the mother of his child.”
 
There was a crashing silence as Buffy stopped speaking and stood staring at her best male friend. Her expression went from angry to pleading as she watched her words sink in. Leaving both Buffy and Willow to gape at him, Xander nodded and began to walk away, saying, “Damn! I’m going to owe Anya a really nice piece of jewelry now.”
 
“Wait – what?” Buffy hurried after him. 
 
“She’s been saying Spike had to be the father – from when you were away together, and human – but you weren’t even talking to him, and then he went away, and... anyway, we had a bet.  Looks like I lost, huh?”
 
“You knew?” Willow glared at him as if she’d been personally insulted.
 
“Nope. No, not me. Anya knew. I’ve been swimming really hard in an Egyptian river. Guess it’s time to climb out and dry off.”
 
“Are you okay with this?” Buffy’s belligerence had faded in the face of Xander’s seemingly calm acceptance of the situation.
 
“Define ‘okay’,” he said with a twisted grin.  “Do I think my Buffster should be hooking up with another member of the undead? Hell no.  But what’s done is done, and I know this vampire isn’t going to lose the soul he doesn’t have and try to kill us all or send the world to hell.”  He sighed and gave Buffy a genuine smile. “And I know that nothing and nobody is going to get into or out of that house in one piece if he doesn’t want them there. Chip or no chip.”
 
Buffy surprised them all by throwing her arms around Xander and hugging him so tightly he began to wheeze.  “I love you,” she said, releasing him with an apologetic smile.
 
“And I love you too. I can’t believe you were worried about how I’d take—okay, maybe I can see how I might have given the impression that... Can I just go on record as saying if you had to have a baby with a vampire, I’m really glad it’s Spike and not Angel?”
 
When Buffy and Willow stared at him with their mouths open, he quickly added, “But if you tell him I said that, I’ll never to speak to either one of you again!”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
They were almost back to the house on Revello Drive when a black van went past them, slowing down as it neared the house.  From the shadows in the front yard, someone ran out and jumped into the slow-moving vehicle, which then took off and disappeared down the street.
 
Without comment, all three took off running toward the house, Buffy far outdistancing Willow and Xander. By the time they caught up, she was poking around in the bushes, trying to see if there was anyone else hiding there.
 
“Who do you think it was?”
 
“I think we all know who it was – the only question is, which one of Warren’s minions was it?”  Buffy’s human growl would have sounded more appropriate coming from Spike. “Of course they do this when Spike isn’t here to chase them down.”
 
“How would they know if he was here or not? He was gone for months.”
 
Buffy frowned. “Well, he’s been standing under the tree every night since he got back – up until last night anyway. And it’s not like we’ve been sneaking around. We go out to patrol every night, we ate in a restaurant last night... I guess they’ve seen him—us—somewhere.  I don’t know how they would know he wasn’t going to be here tonight, though....”
 
“Why would they care if he’s here or not?” Xander mused. “They know about the chip. They know they’ve got no reason to be afraid of him. He can’t hurt them.”
 
“He’d try,” Willow said, thoughtfully. “He’d try it if he had to. Even if it killed him.”
 
“There’s a cheery thought,” Buffy said with a wince.  “I’ve got to get these guys before something like that happens. Or before they remember that he can’t hurt them and....”
 
“We’ll find them, Buffy,” Willow said firmly.  “They may think they’re all computer guy this and science guy that, but they can’t beat Willow Rosenberg. I’m going to find out what they’re doing and hack them like they’ve never been hacked.”
 
Xander hefted the axe. “Maybe Spike can’t hit them, but I don’t have any problem with it.”
 
“Thanks, guys.” Buffy yawned.  “Oops! Sorry. It’s getting to be past my bedtime.”
 
“Yep, baby momma needs her sleep. I’ll just get Anya and we’ll get out of your hair.”
 
“Don’t forget to get her whatever it is she won by telling you Spike was the father,” Willow teased.  “You should have listened to her.”
 
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” he said, holding the door for the two girls. “Mostly from her.”
 
In the back of the bushy plantings in front of the house, a small recording device sent its data to a receiver where three humans listened with varying degrees of surprise and wonder.