Blood of My Blood
Chapter 12

AN: A big thank you to DreamsofSpike and Ruth for betaing this chapter.



******


After explanations were made yet again and a couple pizzas were devoured, Giles noticed it was getting to be a bit late. He was the first to start making his way toward the door.

“I shall do what I do best and research. I’ll attempt to find anything that might be useful to us,” he said, looking down at Buffy with a tired smile. He hesitated just a moment, and then laid a cautiously affectionate hand on her shoulder. “I should have said it before, but I’m deeply sorry about the way I let my grief blind me. I hope I can make it up to you.”

“I’m not completely blameless,” she replied with a sigh. “We’ll both be trying to make up for what we did—or didn’t do.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right.” He took his hand back and left with a brief nod in Spike’s direction.

Giles knew it would be a long road to becoming totally comfortable with the idea of Buffy’s relationship with yet another vampire. The loss of Jenny was fresh in his mind; he grieved for her constantly. But still, he was determined to give Spike a chance, for Buffy’s sake.

It was what a father would do, after all.

Next, Willow and Faith headed out. Willow paused to kneel and pat Jackie’s head while Faith turned to her sister slayer.

“When I get home, I’ll give your mom the skinny on her grandkids and everything else,” the brunette told Buffy. She started to go, and then turned toward the blonde Slayer again. “Oh, and I’ll make sure I’m with her if she has to go out after dark.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.” Buffy smiled and blushed slightly. “And tell her I love her, yeah?”

“Of course, B.”

Buffy closed the door after they left and looked up at Spike for a moment before looking past him to their daughter. That...well, it was still so very odd. She was not quite over the idea of possibly getting pregnant and hoped maybe it would be some time far off in the future if it did happen. Now, all of a sudden, their daughter was right there, proof positive that the prophecy was true.

Dammit. She was going to get stretch marks.

Well, she would just have to make sure she put Spike through as much hell as she was going to go through. It was only fair, considering that he was the one who was going to cause it.

Melody was walking toward them, covering her mouth as she yawned. Spike pulled the girl into his arms and kissed the top of her head. Buffy thought it was funny how he was the one who so easily accepted all of this. Hey, he had even admitted that he had wanted something like this from her from the very beginning, even when he was feral.

The poop.

“Get to bed, Peanut; you need rest,” Spike instructed softly as he steered Melody toward the foot of the stairs.

“Night, Dad...Mom,” Melody mumbled sleepily and disappeared upstairs after giving her mother an awkward hug.

Buffy started toward the living room to begin cleaning up, but Spike caught her hand to get her attention. She looked up at him curiously.

“I’ve been thinkin’, what with Faith pointin’ out how we’re not the only ones in danger,” he began, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “Our house is already protected, so maybe your mum an’ the rest of them should stay here until we get things sorted out.”

“Oh, but then you can’t chase me around naked to dole out my punishment,” she quipped, batting her eyelashes innocently. Then she giggled and started to pick up the pizza boxes again. “But I guess that’s already a big no-no since Melody’s here. Really not wanting to scar our kid for life.”

Spike humphed softly. “She should be happy that her parents are obviously passionate about each other, as opposed to some kids who see nothin’ but their parents fightin’ all the time.”

“Like mine...” Buffy looked down at the boxes in her hand sadly then shook it off, hurrying into the kitchen.

Even without the claim, it was obvious to Spike what was suddenly bothering his mate. He knew it had been one of the things worrying her since finding out she could possibly someday be a mommy, besides just her young age.

“Pet...luv.” He went after her and caught her at the garbage can, wrapping his arms around her. “We’re goin’ to be great parents, Slayer, so don’t worry. An’ your mum’s the best. How any man can find anythin’ wrong with her is beyond me. His loss.”

“Thank you, Spike.” She turned around and gave him a light kiss.

It was weird, but decidedly good, how well he and her mother had gotten along, almost from the very start. Not that she would have had it any other way, but Buffy was worried that down the road there might be some ganging up on her.

He swung her up into his arms then over his shoulder, giving her backside a light swat. “Now to bed with you, too, young lady. Tomorrow we talk to your mum ‘bout protection.”

“I think she was s’posed to have that talk with us...and a little late for that now,” Buffy muttered, and then yelped when he smacked her cheeks a bit harder. “Ow! Just saying...”

“I meant about her house.” Spike rolled his eyes skyward, silently praying their children inherited his intelligence. “She an’ whoever else can move in here...or I s’pose we can do protection wards on their places, too. Whichever suits them.”

In the basement, he set her on the bed then covered her body with his. She looked up at his wonderfully expressive face and marveled at how not so long ago it had belonged to her Tarzan. A soft snort told her he was reading her thoughts like usual.

“Well, stupid, if you don’t like what you hear, then stop listening,” she huffed at him and rolled over to her side of the bed. “Doofus.”

******

Back at the mansion, Amanda cupped Angel’s chin in her hand, tutting with false sympathy over the whimpering vampire. She dipped her face in close to his and inhaled, then straightened again.

“Ah, you found my sister,” she murmured, mostly to herself, since she figured the feral creature didn’t understand her. “I hope you got a nice big bite out of her before she fought you off. She, no doubt, spread the word of your return, which is good; it’ll increase their worry.”

Angel wasn’t really concentrating on her. Instead, he eyed a cut on his arm and then started to lick it like a wounded dog. She tsked and swatted at him to get him to stop, then tugged on his hair to regain his attention.

“I don’t think I like this having a feral pet thing,” she said with disdain then rolled her eyes. “I guess I should return you to normal.”

She released his hair and balled her hand into a fist, presenting him with her wrist. He looked at it curiously, then up at her, as if he wasn’t quite sure what she wanted. Then his nostrils flared as he caught the scent of her powerful blood again, but he still looked unsure as to whether or not there would be punishment for trying to bite her.

Finally deciding that this wasn’t some trick, Angel bit into her wrist. Amanda gave a pleased smile as he gulped down her blood, unaware of the magic she wove with it. It wouldn’t do for her to go to all the trouble of bringing him back, only to have him help the do-gooders take her down.

“That’s enough,” she said harshly as she shoved him away.

With one last glance in his direction, she left the room to retire to the room she had selected as her own. Her pet remained curled up in the corner where he had fallen, watching her with fearful eyes.

******

Spike woke up to an empty bed for the second day in a row. At least there was no burnt stench this time. Hopefully this wasn’t going to become the new trend, or he would need to have a talk with his young mate. He started for the stairs before remembering their new child, and went back to throw on some jeans as an afterthought.

At the top of the steps, he followed the sound of voices to the living room. Buffy was sitting on the couch with a mirror in front of her face, while Melody handed her some gloss to add the final touch to whatever they had just done. She was the first to look up at him when he entered.

“Morning, Dad,” she said brightly.

“Mornin’, Peanut; what’re my girls up to?” He started to come closer so he could get a look around the mirror, but Melody just moved to block him. He talked around her shoulder to his mate. “Keep wakin’ up to an empty bed, I do. I hope this doesn’t become the new routine ‘round here.”

“Oh, stop pouting, ‘cause I know you are,” Buffy told him. “I had to use the bathroom because I got sick and then I heard Mel up here.”

“Sick?” That quickly got his attention. If he had a heartbeat, it would have sped up right then. Again, he tried to step closer, only to be blocked by his daughter.

“We’ve been eating so much greasy fast food lately that I’m sure it was just my body finally throwing a mutiny, you know?” She waved it away but the other two shared a look. “Besides, don’t you want to see what we’ve been up to?”

“Sure, pet.” That was the understatement of the century, he thought to himself. Then, he could get Melody to run along so he could have a word with his mate about the waking up alone and this supposed stomach mutiny.

“Well...I was feeling left out and wanted to look more like part of the family.” She finally dropped the mirror to the couch beside her and motioned Melody to stand down. There was not much different about the Slayer’s look, except that now her eyes were heavily ringed in liner and smoky eye shadow. With Melody’s help, she had added reddish highlights to her hair. “I’m all rocker chic too now!”

Melody rolled her eyes over her mother’s head and Spike chuckled, but quickly covered it by bending to press a brief kiss to Buffy’s lips. She then quickly showed him her new black nails, which were perfectly done, as opposed to the chipped coats of the other two.

“Always the most beautiful creature to me; you know that,” he said as he trailed his fingers along her cheekbone. His eyes were locked with hers, golden flecks starting to become apparent.

“That’s my cue to do the couch potato thing upstairs and leave before I need even more therapy,” Melody quipped, much like her mother before fleeing from the personal moment.

Buffy watched her go before looking up at Spike again. She stood and started to gather everything up so she could put it in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. The whole time she did this, he was watching her with a darkened gaze which she was doing her best to ignore...though, unfortunately, the claim was sending the message a hundred times stronger than the look.

“We need to...talk about a few things.” He sidled up close to her as soon as she was done straightening up and started backing her toward the basement door. “First of which bein’, if I have to, I’m goin’ to chain you to the bed to make sure I wake up beside my mate from now on.”

“Oh ho! I’d like to see you try, Tarzan,” she mocked, putting her hands on her hips even as she stumbled sideways down the steps.

“We’ll get into that more later; but first, we need to discuss this little ‘sick’ thing.”

He reached out to catch her when she almost fell down the rest of the way, swinging her up into his arms so he could carry her back to bed. She bounced a bit when he dropped her on top of the mess of pillows and blankets, then bent over her prone form to pin her in place with a stern look.

“What exactly did ‘sick’ entail?” he asked, eyes probing hers as he willed her to answer truthfully, even if he could have easily gleaned the truth through their bond.

As he waited, his hands roamed over her body as if mapping its curves all over again. They hesitated over her breasts and smoothed over her stomach before resting at her hips.

“I threw up, okay? Geez, why do you have to know all the gory details?” Her lips curled into a pout as she looked away. This was not the sort of bedroom talk she had expected.

“How often’ve you been queasy lately?”

“Well, a few days...but like I said, we haven’t exactly been eating healthy here. You need to let us go do some actual grocery shopping...and no making Willow do it.” She tried to sit up, but he kept her pinned down.

A look of wonder started to come over his features and his eyes softened as he gently prodded, “Pet, don’t you think you know what might be happenin’ here?”

“I’m eating trash and going to turn into a big fatty?” She tried to wiggle away again, with no success.

“Well, you’re goin’ to get bigger, but it’s not what you’re thinkin’,” he said, trying to get her to realize it on her own. “I think we’re going to have plenty more news for your mum.”

Her brows lowered and her pout deepened. “I think you ate too many hippies.”

“Maybe, but obviously this is eventually goin’ to happen,” he insisted before finally releasing her and rolling onto his back with his arms tucked under his head. His eyes went to the ceiling above them. “The proof is upstairs watchin’ TV. All we have to do is ask her when her birthday is.”

Pouting, Buffy remained quiet. After a few moments of silence, Spike finally propped himself up on an elbow to give her a searching look.

“Besides, I thought you were okay with this.”

“I’m okay with it happening later, when we’re older and all that.” She threw out her hands, and then covered her face with them, groaning, “We should’ve used protection or something.”

The way she was reacting to his hints that she was already with child was beginning to make him want to lash out. They should be rejoicing, not acting like this was the biggest travesty in the world. Their beautiful daughter wasn’t a curse, nor was their other currently evil one.

“So says the bird who was decidin’ we do positions to get a girl,” he muttered darkly. “Well they worked—very well, in fact. We’ve got two of them.”

“Spike,” she hissed through gritted teeth and sat up to look at him with fire in her eyes. “You act like just because I’m practical enough to think I should be older before becoming Mommy Slayer that suddenly I hate our daughters and hate you.” Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. “You know what, Spike...”

All the heat was going to her head, and she felt like her ears were burning, her cheeks flushed and pink. Never the best at anger management, she reverted back to old habits as she growled at him, seconds before her fist connected with his nose.

“I think I’m going to go have that talk we planned with my mom,” she said haughtily as she slid off the bed, ignoring his growl of protest as he covered his bleeding nose. “I don’t know when I’ll be back, so don’t wait up...honey.”