Adam's moment of glory, reveling in the Slayer's demise by his own hands, was cut short by a hysterically laughing Spike.

"What? What is it that you find so amusing?" Adam asked, equally curious and upset as he glared at vampire. Spike was laughing so hard, there were tears in his eyes.

"You, bloody, stupid, git. You soddin' fool, you—" Spike couldn't continue because he had another fit of the giggles.

"Well, I must say, this is surely not the reaction I was expecting. I don't understand— I just killed your lover, the mother of your child, and yet you are laughing. Why?" Adam questioned as he bent down and picked up the lifeless Slayer's body. Her eyes were open, staring unseeingly.

Then the damnest thing happened— she blinked.

She snapped her head to the left, cracking her broken neck into place. Then she began lolling her head around. Adam watched in avid fascination.

"That should put it in your marzipan pie bingo," the Slayer said, while her whole body began twitching. She gingerly turned her head and looked at Adam. "You're gonna die. Gonna kill you. You—"

Adam cut her off by breaking her back on his knee. He then dropped her carelessly to the floor. He noticed Spike had stopped laughing.

"Huh. Interesting. Didn't quite expect that," Adam said.

Spike inhaled deeply and concentrated his senses. He could feel...

"Ah, but I bet you also didn't expect this, mate. You may be a nasty, sort of fellow, but you can't beat my girl." Satisfaction dripped from Spike’s voice.

"You can't honestly believe that," Adam said, quite astonished. Riley began breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Oh, but I do. You should've never have crossed the Slayer and her Scoobies. They’re gonna get you now."

"Spike, you must realize that you can't win; you cannot beat me."

Just then the Slayer walked through the door in slow, measured steps. Her eyes were a glowing yellow from the magicks. Adam looked at her and then back at the "dead" slayer on the floor. He was utterly confused.

"We can. We are forever," Buffy combined with Willow, Xander and Giles said.

* "Warren— wow, I mean...This is genius. How'd you ever-" Buffy started.

"Oh, I had a prototype at home. I just reshaped the outside configurations a bit and programmed her to be like you, kinda. With Willow and Jonathan helping, the adjustments necessary were a breeze,” Warren said with pride. He was proud of his Buffy-Bot.

"Marvelous— and quite disturbing,” Giles said as he eyed the mechanical Slayer.

"Yeah, well as long as it serves its purpose as a diversion, who cares, right?" Faith said.

"Okay, Buffy, we're gonna send the bot in ahead of you, and you wait just outside the door until the ritual kicks in. Just in case, ya know? It’ll buy us some time. Oh, and according to this, there's air ducts and electrical conduits all running into there. But there's no 'there' there. It's right behind 314. That's where Adam is,” Willow said as she pointed to the laptop screen.

"Alright guys. Time to pull out all of the stops. Let's go.” *

"Interesting; a very interesting ploy, Slayer. But unfortunately for you, I've been upgrading," Adam said, as his arm transformed into an automatic. Buffy began speaking in Sumerian and the bullets stopped right before her. Adam, unperturbed, sent a small missile her way. The combo Buffy said something else in Sumerian, and the missile turned into three doves. Then she made his armor retreat.

"How can you do this?" Adam asked, astonished and fearful as Buffy advanced upon him. She punched him three times in rapid succession, and then kicked him in his midsection. She then grabbed his neck in a vice grip.

“You can never hope to grasp the source of our power."

She threw him clear across the room before kicking him repeatedly. The rest seemed to happen in slow motion for Adam as the Slayer reached into his chest, poked around a bit, and then finally grasping and pulling out his uranium core. He was powerless to stop her.

"But yours is right here."

Adam slumped lifelessly to the floor as she chanted again, making the uranium disappear. Once her task was done, she passed out onto the floor.

"Buffy? Buffy, you alright, luv?" Spike called out to her. He heard her collapse somewhere behind him.

The spell must have drained her he thought. He could still hear the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. She was fine. For a minute there, he'd forgotten about the whole "Buffy bot" plan. Hearing the bot's neck snap nearly gave him a bloody heart attack.

Riley now had control over his bodily functions since Adam was no longer there to control his chip. He retrieved one of the surgical knives, cutting it out of his chest. Ignoring Spike completely, he went to check up on Buffy. When she came to, the first word on her lips (much to Riley's dismay) was "Spike."

"Over here, luv," he called to her. She immediately went to him and released him from his bonds.

"Are you alright?" he asked her gently as he caressed her face. She held his palm to her cheek, closing her eyes at the feel of him and his warm hand.

Warm?

Her eyes opened up wide at the realization.

"Fine. Spike, what happened? You— you're warm? Like warm like me?" she questioned with confusion in her eyes. He breathed in her scent deeply before replying, answering with one word.

"Adam."

She nodded her head in understanding. She placed her hand slowly over his heart, feeling its beat and his warmth. He watched her as she silently gazed at the subtle rise and fall of her hand on his chest.

"Is this okay?" he murmured. She looked up at him and smiled slightly.

"It's okay with me. Is it with you?"

"S' okay, I guess. Gonna take some gettin' used to, though. I'm, ya know, vulnerable."

"Maybe. But now we get to spend our vulnerable lives together," she said as she grasped his hand.

They walked out of the secret lab hand in hand to retrieve the Scoobies and Faith, with Riley trailing behind. He picked up the fallen bot on his way out, watching them with resignation in his eyes.

*****

Who would have thought that sneaking into the Initiative was a helluva lot easier then trying to leave? Jonathan's spell wore off awhile ago. As they were exiting, they were all captured by the Colonel.

"Colonel—” Buffy started.

"Shut up. You got some nerve, lady. I'm especially surprised at you, Finn. You think you and your friends can just keep waltzing into a government institution brandishing weapons like— like..." the Colonel trailed off in confusion.

"It's a gourd," Willow said.

"A magic, gourd." Giles clarified.

"What kind of freaks are you people?!" the Colonel exclaimed. Buffy sighed in exasperation.

"Look, did you know that Adam was here?" she asked.

"Every single inch of this instillation is under constant twenty-four hour surveillance."

"Including the secret lab?" Willow asked pointedly.

"Including everything," he replied indignant. "What secret lab?"

"What are you, daft? The one Adam's been using of course," Spike said matter of factly, getting quite bored with the whole thing. He just wanted to go home and hold Joy. Then shag Buffy senseless of course.

"The one built for the final stage of the 314 project. And you have no idea what we're talking about," Buffy said in response to the look of utter confusion on the Colonel's face.

"I know everything that goes on around here. And if Adam wants to try, we're ready for him."

"Oh, jolly good. How exactly did you plan to get close enough to Adam to remove his power source?" Giles asked.

"Who bloody well cares? Look, we were just on our way out," Spike said in a highly irritated voice.

"Yeah. Besides, whatever plan you thought you had was probably up there with 'duck and cover'," Xander said sarcastically.

"It's not like it matters anyway. Adam's dead already. Right B? He's totally annihilated," Faith said.

"You trying to tell me my business?" the Colonel asked heatedly.

"It wasn't your business. It's mine. You, the Initiative, the boys at the Pentagon, were all way over your heads. Messing with primeval forces of which you have no comprehension of," Buffy said, as her friends looked at her with pride.

"And you do?"

"I'm the Slayer. You're playing on my turf. Now go check on the secret lab that isn't supposed to exist, look at the big present we left you and release us— now."

*****

Meeting of U.S. Government Representative with the head of the Council, Quentin Travers


"It was an experiment. The Initiative represented the Government's interests in not only controlling the other worldly menace, but controlling its power for our own military purposes."

"Yes well, besides the problem with Adam, and Walsh unbalanced with the obsession of her own agenda, you all are doing an upstanding job," Travers commented.

"The considered opinion of our council is that the experiment failed. It seems that only through the actions of a group of civilian insurrectionists that said problem was remedied. I trust the irony there was not lost to you as it was not lost to us."

More than you know Quentin thought.

"Maggie Walsh's vision was brilliant, but ultimately insupportable. I suggest that you give the following civilians, Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Alexander Harris, and Rupert Giles the standard confidentiality contract, in addition to a... charitable sum for their services," Travers said.

"You're suggesting we pay them off?" he asked incredulous.

"That was not a suggestion. They cleaned up our mess, didn't they?"

"Well, we will still monitor the civilians, and the usual measures prepared should they go public."

"I highly doubt that they ever will..."

*****
Epilogue~ Two weeks after Adam's demise

L.A.- the Hyperion

Eight days. For the past eight days Angel was a father, a daddy, to his son Connor. He gazed at Darla with adoration as she held their son. He didn't think either of them would make it. Darla, with the many attempts of suicide, and the attacking of the vampire cult who had heard of the miracle vampire child, but well, he pulled through with the help of his friends.

He couldn't wait until the boy was old enough so he could play all of those father-son games with him outdoors in the sun...

Cordelia became more accepting of it all when she actually saw that the baby was a normal human. They remained friends. He had heard from Buffy, and she made him promise to visit soon with the family. Spike said he couldn't wait to see his nephew.

*****
Sunnydale


To say they were all shell shocked would be an understatement. But of course they got over it and enjoyed the fruits of life. The U.S. government presented Giles, Willow, Xander and Buffy checks for their "work," though they all knew it was only to keep them quiet. Willow at first challenged how it would be wrong to accept the money, but was soon chastised by all.

"Come on, Willow. It's not like we were gonna talk anyway. Besides, think of all the good you could do," Xander started.

"Yeah Wills. Plus I've got my baby's future to think of," Buffy said.

"But if you feel real guilty about it, you could always give your share to me... and Xander of course," Anya added.

"Yea bloody right. If it goes anywhere, it'll be for the lil' bit. Ain't that right, Red?" Spike said.

"Willow, I'm sure there's something you want, how bout you just hold on to it in a bank or something? Think it over," Giles suggested. Willow agreed, putting most of it in the bank and spending some on magic supplies. She was human after all.

Though the Initiative remained (after relocation), Jonathan officially left. He, Andrew and Faith became official additions to the Scooby gang. Warren went to L.A. attempting to pursue his dream of becoming a millionaire with his "Sex Bot Inc." With his brilliance, he may well be on his way.

Riley decided he needed a change in scenery. He requested a transfer and headed off to the jungles of South America. He and Faith never reconciled. Too many bad memories were between them, and neither was really ready for a real commitment anyway. Outside of friendship, Faith thought it best to be alone. But as time progressed, she and her sister Slayer were on their way to becoming friends again; perhaps better than they were before.

Buffy and Spike turned the spare room in the Summers' home into a nursery, and Joyce spent most of her time at Giles' flat. She was considering of signing the house over in Buffy's name and moving in permanently with him. They had bought the house, and still managed to have lots left over. The only bills they had to worry about were the lights, gas, etc.

Lately however, Joyce had been feeling a bit under the weather.

Spike was accepting of the fact that he was now pseudo human, but even so, it felt like something was missing. He couldn't put his finger on it, but somehow, he didn't feel whole. He brushed the feeling aside and continued to be happy with his girls. After he first became human and the Gem was "extracted" from his gut, it was thoroughly cleaned and sent to Angel.

*****

Buffy was worried when her mother sent for her and Spike to come over immediately to Giles'. The thought of her mother being sick absolutely terrified her.

"I'm sure everything's fine, luv," Spike attempted to reassure her as she knocked on Giles' door.

Giles opened the door with an unreadable expression on his face. It then softened into one of warmth when he took Joy from Spike's arms. Spike shrugged his shoulders in response to Buffy's questioning look. The Watcher sat down in the chair with the baby while Buffy and Spike sat down on the couch with Joyce.

"Hey Joyce. How ya feelin'?" Spike asked. Buffy was silent as she perused her mother's face and form. She looked okay.

Kind of... glowy.

"Fine Spike. Thank you. I asked you two over because Rupert and I have something we want to tell you."

"You guys are getting married!" Buffy jumped up exclaiming, hoping to God that it was only good news that they asked them over for.

"Uh, no sweetie. Once was enough for me. Please sit down," Joyce said with humor in her voice. Buffy reluctantly did as she was told, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"Well, as you both know I've been a little sick for awhile. I've gone to the doctor and he's assured me what it is."

"Oh god, mommy. What's wrong? What is it? Everything will be okay, right?" Buffy asked worriedly, her voice trembling. Spike grasped both of her hands, running his thumbs in a circular motion attempting to soothe her. Giles continued to play with the baby, acting oblivious to all else.

"Everything's fine sweetheart. It's just that well..." Joyce trailed off as she caressed her daughter's cheek.

"Buffy, Spike, though this might seem terribly crazy or disgusting maybe, but I'm pregnant," Joyce said with a huge smile.

"Huh? What? Huh?" Buffy asked, shifting her confused gaze back and forth between her mother and Giles. Spike turned around and looked at Giles, who was looking right back at them all with trepidation. He didn't think that Buffy would take the news too well.

"Well, congratulations old man. Looks like your boys can swim," Spike said with a grin.

"Buffy, are you alright?" her mother asked. Buffy stared at her with glazed eyes for a moment before launching herself in her mother's arms.

"Oh thank god! I thought you were sick or something. You were scaring me!" Buffy yelled with much relief.

"We weren't sure if you'd be pleased," Giles said.

"Oh, it's great, just great. Got any names in mind for my little brother or sister?"

"Well if it's a boy—" Joyce started.

"Hope it's not Rupes junior. One man's torment with the name is enough, right Giles?" Giles rolled his eyes in annoyance at the former vampire.

"Actually, we were thinking of Nick. Nick Giles," Joyce said.

"If it's a girl?" Buffy asked.

"If it's a girl, well we both like the name Dawn. If it's a girl, her name will definitely be Dawn. Pretty huh?"


A/N: Thanks to all who have reviewed this- you're all wonderful. Hope you enjoyed the ride :D