::Bludhaven Hellmouth:: by Redwulf50

Chapter Three

Buffy was beyond pissed. In one fell swoop she had found out that Spike was alive, and then he had been stolen from her, the thieves disappearing into the sky. She felt as if she were one of those computer icon thingies all red faced with smoke blowing out of her ears. She knew she was being irrational, that Batman and Company had been protecting him, but still she was pissed beyond measure.

"So everyone was watching Troia and that… that...” Buffy was at a loss for words.

"Kory Anders, aka, Starfire, aka, Princess Koriander of Tameraan." Andrew said in a dreamy voice.

"Hummmmph. Looked more like Billi-Jo-Bobbi-Sue-queen-slut-reject-from-the-trailer-trash-planet." Buffy said glaring at the boy.

"Meow. Phht… phht." Faith commented with a grin. "Damn B, tell us what you really think."

"Pleeease, she goes into battle in a metal bikini and high heels! What does that say about her?" Buffy answered realizing she was being ‘Queen Bitch Buffy’.

"She is a member of an alien warrior race and was a sex slave for about half her life." Andrew defended the alien girl.

"Again, pleeeease, she has enough collagen in her lips and silicone in her tits to supply ten porn queens." She gritted out.

"Goooo, B." Faith was actually laughing at her.

Andrew however was sputtering, "My God, Buffy, she is… she’s a Titan!"

"Weenie boy, shut it or lose it." Faith answered for her.

"C'mon, we need Will to get us home." Buffy told Faith, ignoring Andrew and the other slayers who were gawking at her.

Willow finished the spell that closed the Hellmouth, surprised at the power that had come from her coven - all the white magic she could handle and then some. She never knew they’d it in them. However, as she opened her eyes and looked around, she was surprised that a woman in a top hat and tails wearing fishnets and high heels had aided her group.   Willow was in a relationship sure, but the exotic brunette was still drool worthy. Hey, she could still appreciate beauty; she wasn’t dead.   By the woman’s side stood a bleach-blond male that looked surprisingly like Sting.   Shit, shit, shit! Zantanna and John Constantine! Two major magical players.

"Oh my god, your Zantanna."   Willow burst out.

"And you're, the dreaded Darth Willow." Constantine mockingly replied, already knowing exactly who the little witch was. He had little time for those he considered amateurs.

"JOHN." Zantanna stopped him. "We have our own plans to get back too."

“This will only take a few minutes love." He turned toward the amateur witch ready to start giving her a lecture.

"John," Zantanna sing-songed. "We have plans - plans that include chocolate sauce, handcuffs and beef marinade."

"Alright then." He smirked, turning back toward his love and dragging Zantanna back through a portal and towards their home.

Willow ignored his harsh tone as she thought about what Zantanna had said.   It took her a full five minutes before, "Ewwww! TMI!"

Buffy had grown tired of waiting for Willow, pulling out her cell phone. "Dawn, did you guys get the live feed?"

"Oh my god, yes!" Dawn answered her. "Giles and Xander are both having hissy fits." Buffy could hear the excitement in her sister’s voice. "Spike is alive, and there really is a Batman."

"Batman's an ass." Buffy answered her.

"Buffy, he was trying to protect Spike." Dawn tried to reason with her, "He doesn't know you."

"Oh yeah, and he knows Spike?" She snapped back.

"Buffy, ya think this might be the first time anyone has ever stood up for Spike?"

And that was the crux of the matter - Batman and Arsenal had come to Spike's defense even though they had never met him before, but Buffy who loved him, had never stood up for him, even with her own friends. She’d never even told him how she felt till it was too late. "But I need him Dawnie,” she whined.

"Good thing for you, that you have the coolest little sister alive then." She could see in her mind’s eye Dawn's smirk. "He is in the New York Star Labs, and I have three tickets on the morning flight from Cleveland to New York, aaaaannnnd, I called our lawyers in New York, so we will be staying in ‘OUR’ penthouse suite while we see him."

That was one thing that was verrrry new to Buffy, having literally billions at her disposal. God, how could she ever thank Spike? "Thanks Dawnie, as soon as Will gets her ass back in here, we can port home."

As Buffy hung up, Willow and the Coven walked back in and the Slayer Army soon departed.

Once again, Barbara Gordon had been left to her own devices by the men in her life. Did they know how much it hurt to watch them go into battle without her? Did they understand the pain she felt as she sat on the sidelines? Could they even contemplate the fear she felt for their lives - the lives of her second father, her kid brother, and the life of her lover on the line every night as she sat and watched? Could they ever understand the hurt she felt when they finished a battle and then turned off their coms, excluding her from their lives??

Her fist slammed down on her workstation, as she vented just a little bit. It never helped – she knew that - but she would be damned if she and Dick would become a ‘Ross and freaking Rachel’. Yes, she had googled them - a more ‘soap opera’ pair she had never heard of. Roy Harper was a dead man, and if Dick had screwed the copy girl, she was going to take her time killing him.

"Babs." Dick's voice came over the line, "We have two casualties here."

Barbara quickly hooked herself back into the coms, "Who?" Her fear was tangible

"Seems they needed a sacrifice to open the Hellmouth, and it appears that Roland Desmond and Dudley Soames were elected." His voice was inflectionless, and Babs released the breath she was holding. It was bad when people died, but in her mind, it was always better them than us.

"We need a blood sample and photos of the bodies." Babs began, starting to recite things they would need for the files.

Dick stood over the two bodies taking pictures as Batman gathered blood samples from the two.

"We need a blood sample and photos of the bodies." Babs began, starting to recite things they would need for the files.

Bruce turned and raised his eyebrow and glanced at Dick, who just shook his head and smirked. Bruce frowned and went back to work.

Roy ran back into the room, from where he had been standing guard since the slayers had left. "Cops are on their way."

"Good. We have everything we need." Dick said as he closed a sample bag. "So, who you riding with?"

"Anybody but the runt." Roy said as he pointed back to where Tim was pulling his fender of his tire, so the Redbird could be driven away. "Guy had a wreck on an empty street, sheesh."

Dick smirked at him, and then the two of them and Batman disappeared into the night.

Babs heard their coms click off again and was so pissed off that she threw her earpiece across the room. From behind her a voice spoke.

"You know, if you just tell him the truth, you two could work it out." Dinah said as she entered the room.

"What?" Babs said as she stood up slowly, "That I can walk?"

"Well that and you're pregnant with his child."

The smile that adorned her lips was beyond chilling. For those that knew her, the smile was enough to send them running in fear. Even her 'Daddy' and her errant childe knew better than to cross her when she was like this, lucid and planning. Her family was threatened, and being the good Mommy that she was, it was her place to save them and to discipline them.

As the Bat Warriors left the Museum, she stepped from the shadows and dropped the spell that hid her from all other eyes. The Dark One had not lied. The ritual had gone perfectly, and soon her family would be together again.

All he had wanted to do was to have some time to himself to look through his files and figure out what or who was attacking his eldest, but his duties prevented that. His signal atop Police Headquarters had beckoned him. In days gone by, the signal meant a chance to stop and speak with his oldest friend, to seek solace in the fact that at least one other persona put Gotham before themselves. Now, however, most times his signal represented some idiot that had used political connections to gain the second most important position in Gotham, using the signal to try to rein Batman in, to show him 'their athority'. Perhaps Alfred wouldn't be too disappointed if he threw just one of these guys off the roof?

"What can I do for you commissioner?" Batman asked the new Commissioner of Police in Gotham. He found it sad really that the person filling the job since Jim Gordon had retired had changed so often that only Batman remembered all of them. This latest one was too intellectually challenged to last the week, perhaps not the night. Liam Wayneright was as Irish as Gorbechef's pig. His forehead looked like an ad for a ski slope; his eyes as beady as said pig's. The man was sweating in 30 degree weather.

Wayneright was nervous - this was his first meeting with the infamous Batman. "Uhhm, Arkham called, and there has been some strange visitors seeing the Joker," he quickly said knowing he was just as likely as not to urinate on himself if the Bat said 'boo'.

Batman spoke calmly concisely using small words for this imbecile that currently ran Gotham's police force. "The Joker isn't allowed visitors."

"Uhmmmm, these don't come in through the door. They just appear in his cell and start talking." Wayneright replied, just before pissing in his pants.

'So, why didn't you say that Joker is getting what appears to be Holographic messages?' Batman thought unkindly, while saying out loud, "Understood."

Bruce Wayne wondered who was trying to utilize Joker as a weapon now. But more importantly he wondered what Wayne Corp would have to give Jim Gordon in order to get the man to once again take up his old duties. Perhaps he should have Alfred talk to him?

"How did you know?" Barbara asked her best friend.

"Please you take the test, what ten... twelve times? Then just throw the stick away?" Black Canary smiled as she walked into the kitchen. Returning with two rather large tubs of ice cream and two spoons. "Annnnnd... up until about three months ago, I would just about have to pencil reminders onto your monitor to get you to eat. Now, you're all ‘three meals a day’ girl with desert always in the fridge."

Barbara snorted, "I keep forgetting that you only play the dumb blonde." She grabbed the gallon of Double Fudge from Dinah and pulled the Hershey Syrup from out of a drawer. "Want some pizza?"

"Pizza and Ice Cream?" Dinah raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrow, "The hell with the diet?"

"Hey, a woman only gets pregnant how many times? Once? Twice? In her whole life?" Babs dialed the phone next to her workstation, "Nine plus months of perfectly good reason to get fat?"

Dinah's head came up from her ice cream suddenly. "I hate you; I really do." Her grin belied her words, "So, you're ok with it?"

"Four years of having doctors tell me that I would never walk again? Being heartbroken that I could never have kids?" Babs hung up the phone after having placed her order. "Then, now, not only can I walk, but over the last four months my legs have gotten strong enough that I could run marathons? So, finding out that I am pregnant with the man-I-love’s child? Oh yeah, very ok with it." She suddenly got a thoughtful look, "But Dick is still an ass." Her smile was beatific.

"Oh, but what an ass!" Dinah said with a smile then ducked the stapler being thrown at her. "Please, there is just something about a guy that has the nerve to fight crime in a red, yellow and green bird suit."

"Soooo, you have a thing for Tim?"

"Rowr!" Dinah answered trying not to laugh.

"Dirty old Perv!" Babs said laughing at her, "He is young enough to be your son."

"Weeeellll... obviously Tim doesn't have the legs to pull off the original costume; sooooo," Dinah winked at her, "I guess not."

"Bird legs!" Babs said, then the both doubled over laughing.

Donna Troia sat next to the bed of the unnamed hero. Star Labs had him hooked up to every machine they had it seemed. She felt pity for the man. Looking down at the folder in front of her, she perused everything the most sophisticated lab work in the world could find out about the golden blond-headed man in the time they had so far. He had major traces of ephriminea in his lungs - a substance found only in hell dimensions. From that and other clues, the scientists turned doctors surmised that the hero had been their for at least five centuries.

The rips and bruises that covered his body told the story further. Over the years, Donna had the misfortune of seeing similar marks on both herself and her friends. He had whip marks - the man had been beaten past the point of human endurance and obviously more than once. Still, he had been standing and fighting when she and Kory had gotten there. No matter how many times she herself, or her fellow Titans, had been injured this bad and still fought on, it still amazed her the depth of strength that those that called themselves Titans, or now Outsiders, truly had. And to meet a demon that also went to these extremes to fight the good fight had her at her wit’s end.

"Who is he?" Kory asked as she handed Donna a cup of coffee.

"Name? I don't know, but he's a major metahuman and with, get this, a vampire demon in him." Donna told her closest friend.

"You should ask Oracle." Kory told her.

"Why don't you?" Donna asked her.

"She really doesn't like me. I think she almost didn't tell me Dick was in trouble," the Tammeran answered.

"No, believe me, to her... Dick is more important than not liking you." She smiled up at her friend, while hooking up the computer and sending a request to Oracle.

Bludhaven Hellmouth

Chapter 4

149 days ago, Los Angelus

Buffy Summers sat in her motel room outside of Los Angelus broken and crying. No one could or would even attempt to understand the pain she felt. To them he had been a monster - someone to be used then discarded.

Buffy herself hadn't understood his importance to her until only a few minutes ago, when she had heard a song on the radio. Her first thought had been that Spike would have hated it. That simple thought was all it took to bring her to tears. And once they had started she couldn't stop, because dammit he was hers - he wasn't allowed to die. While she wanted to be proud of his sacrifice, right now all she could think about was how her own life felt so empty without him.

She wasn't being fair she knew that. Dawnie loved him too, even though things between them had been strained this past year. Hell, even Andrew wanted to be Spike, but right now the pain was too new, too raw. And selfishly, she really didn't want to share what she was feeling.

Buffy didn’t want to be in Los Angelus either. It wasn’t her choice. Her other friends, Willow and Xander, had wanted to go to Angel and see about trying to regroup and start anew. She didn’t want to see Angel. As wrong as she knew it was, she couldn’t help but blame him for Spike's death. After all, Angel had brought that damn necklace that killed her Spike. Logic tried to reason with her that Angel had been intent on wearing it himself, but sometimes feelings defied logic. She hurt, and she didn't want to stop hurting. Some twisted part of her wanted to suffer for him.

The knock at her door drew her out of her reverie, which boiled her blood. She was grieving damn it. Couldn't they let her rest in peace? She slung the door open to find a purple demon/man there in a three-piece suit.

"Mrs. Summers-Wordsworth?" asked the demon/man.

"No, just Miss Summers," she answered. "I never had the pleasure."

"You don't understand Miss Summers." The man replied as he stepped past her into the room. "If you don't want the government gaining control of Spike's estate, you will BE Mrs. Summers-Wordsworth, the widowed heir of William Carlyle Wordsworth, Earl of Flooksburg."

"Why would that matter? Why should I profit from his death?" Buffy asked, truly dumbfounded.

"Because William chose you as his heir. Unfortunately those criminals have seized his assets. And in order to reclaim them, they will only accept a wife or child, who must show up in Cleveland in person in the middle of a sunny day to claim their inheritance." Purple guy explained.

"And you are?"

"James Richard Murtog, junior partner of Murphy, Edwards, Aldridge and Murtog. I was William’s attorney." James answered.

"Listen, I know you are trying to do the right thing, but would it be so bad for the government to get his money?" she asked, still totally confused.

"Do you really think William would want Riley Finn and the Initiative to have anything of his? Let alone an estate valued at over 10 billion dollars?" asked the attorney.

"Ten Billion?" Buffy was sure she had heard wrong.

"Yes, my dear, ten billion. William always had a knack for wild investments that paid off. In the seventies he was thought of as a fool to invest in two rival companies in an untried industry, but now both Apple and Microsoft have more than paid off for him."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gotham City the Clock tower still 149 days ago

Barbara Gordon woke up next to her lover with such a feeling of contentment, the likes of which she had never felt before. Last night had been beyond amazing. Never in her life had sex been that good. Her body was still pleasantly sore from their exertions. It was bliss. No other word even came close to describing how she felt right now.

Then it happened. Since she had lost the use of her legs, she had experienced phantom pains. They were expected every so often. But at the moment, the feeling was more prevalent. It felt almost like she was wiggling her toes. She wasn't; she knew that. Still every time she had those phantom sensations, they felt so real, like now, that she looked down to see if they really were moving. This time, however, when she looked down, she nearly jumped off the bed. Her freaking toes really were moving.

Slowly knowing it wasn't real, she raised her left knee. It hurt like hell, but she was able to raise her knee all the way to her forehead. "Oh shit!" Four years in a wheelchair, and now, she could move her legs?

"Whaaaat?" Dick mumbled, beginning to wake up, and she was filled with fear.

"Nothing FBW, just wondering if you're up for another round of 'pin the tail on the Oracle."

Dick Grayson had her pinned to the bed in seconds, kissing her senseless.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

3 days ago in a Hell Dimension

Even for Spike, his current situation was strange. Suddenly he was in what appeared to be a bubble twenty feet from where ‘his’ body was being tortured. For the first time in forever, he felt no pain and could actually understand that neither ‘Buffy’ before his body was real. Also, he knew that the apparition beating him was not in fact his Sire. It was a strange feeling.

"Do you understand now?" asked a man in a black silk suit with a domino mask. "What you’ve seen and experienced isn't real and isn't true. What your eyes have seen is false. What is true is that the one who calls himself the First Evil is torturing you, trying to break you."

"Oh? For once it is all about Spike?" The vampire asked him. "Bloody hell, I know better. It's all about Buffy, or all about the bastard Poofter, or, sod’s law; it’s all about the red-and-blue wanker in Metropolis. Never is it all about Spike; ‘m not that bloody important."

The masked man smiled. "It is refreshing to find humility in a Champion. However, this time it is all about you, or rather, what you will choose to do."

"Bloody hell, I choose to bloody die."

"Not a choice." The Dark man answered, "Remember when the time is upon you, that the one that faces you in battle loves you, but the one she defends is truly your heart."

With that vague parting, the man was gone. Spike found himself back inside his own body being tortured. As the pain returned shoving away any thoughts about what his temporary reprieve, the First Evil’s torture became truly vicious.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Present

Batman sat in his cave silently working on his computer. For the last seven hours, he had been researching. Although 10 am approached, sleep was the furthest thing on his mind. Instead he kept vigil as the massive machine in front of him searched for the answers to two problems that might as well be one. Despite what many thought, Batman did believe in the supernatural. He didn't like it, but he had seen too much to believe otherwise. He had searched and studied long and hard to discover the laws and logic behind it, and despite what many occult figures would have you believe, the supernatural did function with its own logic – a twisted logic perhaps, but logic none-the-less.

On his computer window, Batman was rereading a document he had found nearly four years ago. Upon its discovery, he had realized its importance not just to him, but also to Barbara and Dick. The document was a prophecy written in seven demon languages and nine alien ones, three of which he had yet to decipher.

The prophecy had become something of a hobby to him after he found it right after Jason had died. Its initial appeal had been finding a document that was over 3000 years old. Then he discovered it foretold of his second son’s death spooking the generally stoic Batman. Over the intervening years, he had translated more of the text. Some parts had made him smile, like the bit about the eldest son of the Knight of the Bat defying his father to become all that his father is and more. Some had made him even chuckle – the Younger Knight of the Bat shall take the flame-haired Oracle as a friend, lover and wife. However, certain passages had nearly scared him to death, such as reading after the fact the prophesized death of Superman and the destruction of Coast City.

Now, the entire first part of prophecy seemed to fall into place. Unfortunately, now he discovered whom it referred to as the “Blackest Knight, who shall embrace the sun and forever change the world”. And it was something that made him wish he had thrown the whole thing away years ago. But he was Batman and he never shirked the hard jobs.

His files on William Wordsworth, aka Spike aka "The Blackest Knight,’ were now more complete than even the ones he had on himself and his children. From what he had read, he had no idea how to influence the so-called choice, but that didn't mean he wouldn't begin to learn and to try. It was time to bring others into this; he could no longer use his vanity as a defense mechanism.

'Who' to bring in was not a hard choice; both his eldest and his youngest were brilliant and would have personal reasons to help him figure it out. Of coursing, add in the young woman, who according to this document referred to as pregnant with his granddaughter, and he had a team of detectives from whom nothing could hide.

He heard the tell-tell noises of the presence of his other child - a child who was perfectly capable of beating both him and his two sons within an inch of their lives if she wished. 'Granddaddy Bat’… it had a nice sound

"Cassandra?" He called out. "I need you to...” He thought for a second. "Cassandra, I need a favor."

Bruce Wayne wondered to himself if Alfred would be okay with painting the west wing pink.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy Harper had taken over for Donna and Kory nearly three hours ago. With little Lian asleep beside him, he watched over the man in the hospital bed. He had finished reading the Star Labs report hours ago, and now was nearly finished with reading the tale of ‘William the Bloody.’ If it hadn’t been the fact that the bio had been compiled by Oracle, he would have sworn that ‘the tale’ had been a cheap Harlequin novel that the two Titan women had been reading.

"Dude, your love life bites the big one," Roy said realizing the truth. "I mean my love life is bad, but yours bites the big one."

"For my love life, as you call it to 'bite the big one,’ I would have to have a love life," suddenly said the man in the bed.

"Vampire, dude… you’re awake." Roy signaled the nurses.

"I know not this ‘vampire’ of whom you speak, sir,” replied the man. It had become exceedingly obvious that the stranger sitting on his bed was an American. “My name, sir, is William Carlyle Wordsworth. Would you be so kind as to tell me where I am?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"I love him, Dinah," Babs said, her mood shifting. “But, he is such an ass. What if he doesn't want me back?"

Dinah Lance, known to the world as the Black Canary, looked at her closest friend and snorted. "Yeah right, you have that poor man so wrapped around your finger, it isn't even funny. Just call him and tell him that if he wants to get laid to get his cute ass over here or you'll call an escort service."

"But… he's screwing the copy girl!" Barbara suddenly said bursting into tears.

Dinah had her arms around her friend in a moment already planning the torturous death, of one former boy wonder. "How did you find out?"

"Roy and Tim told me." Babs sniffled, "I told them that Dick and I were on a break. And Tim said,

‘So were Ross and Rachel.’ So I googled it, and when Ross and Rachel were on a break, Ross screwed the copy girl."

"My god, you are so Bat, it's scary." Dinah smiled into her friend’s hair, "You know he was just being a smart ass, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts, you know, I pity Dick when your pregnancy mood swings hit,” Dinah told her. "But being a Bat, he will probably enjoy the torture. Do you guys go out looking for things to brood over?”

"But I loves me some Dickie," Babs sobbed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Buffy Summers was dead tired, but unlike her sister she was too wired to sleep. 'Spike… he wasn't just back, he was alive.' It was more than she could have ever hoped for. Her son would have his daddy. The flood of feelings washing through her made her feel as if she was going to explode. In quick succession, she felt happy that the man she loved was alive, ecstatic that he would see his son grow up in the sun, scared that the First had somehow convinced him that she didn’t love him, and angry with herself that she hadn’t truly given him a reason to believe that she did in fact love him.

The soldiers on the flight were stationed in a way that they could see both she and her family no matter where they went. Riley had soldiers following her everywhere she went, and it was getting old. Never would she have believed her ex to be vindictive, but she had also never thought that he would try to basically steal everything someone else owned.

She looked over at her father figure sitting beside her, who was reading a book. "You really don't hate him anymore?" Despite herself, her voice sounded like a small child begging for a favor.

"Buffy,” Rupert Giles began, "I haven't hated him since Sunnydale." He paused to look out the window. "It is hard for me to admit, but it’s very likely that I might have possibly have been wrong about Spike. He was and is a very good man."

Giles smiled when Buffy snorted. "What? Even the Head of the Watchers’ Council can be wrong upon occasion. But to be honest, a lot of my problem was that neither Spike nor any other man will ever be good enough for 'my' slayer."

"Tell that to the sixty-seven room mansion we've been living in," Buffy told her Watcher.

"No matter how good a man he is and no matter how well he treats you, I will never allow him to forget that Spike, the Big Bad, the monumental vampire, is in all actuality William 'the Bloody Awful Poet’ Wordsworth," Rupert said with a small grin.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dick Grayson beat on the door at the clock tower. Being here was the last thing he wanted. He had never intended to come back here again. He was done! Well, done just like he had been done with it, with her, a hundred times before. However, his father sent him here, and he couldn’t make an excuse not to come. "Enter,” echoed from within.

As he stepped inside and saw the love of his life sitting on the living room couch looking like she had been crying, his heart leapt into his throat. "Bruce said you wanted to see me?"

Barbara looked at him, her eyes drinking in the sight of the man that she had loved since the day she had met him. While she hadn't told Bruce anything, she figured that he had guessed something. Yes, some things needed to be dealt with.

"Are you sleeping with the copy girl?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Five

Cleveland 142 days ago

As Buffy and Dawn approached the Sutcliffe Mansion just south of Cleveland, they both felt apprehensive about what was to come. Neither truly wanted to even admit that Spike was gone, let alone claim his estate. However, after reading their lawyers' reports, both agreed that leaving the Initiative in charge of it was out of the question. If even half of what the folders reported were true, then Buffy half hoped that she could personally evict her ex.

Their first look at the mansion had the two tongue-tied. Simplistic in design, the estate had an understated beauty, which Buffy fell in love with at first sight. Huge grounds spread around the house and decorated with beautiful flowers, of which she had no doubt were originally planted for Drusilla. Still, Buffy loved it all. Off to the right appeared to be stables, especially since a large number of horses were corralled within a white fence beside the buildings. Two words best described the place: huge and beautiful.

Dawn was in awe. Spike had told her of this place once, but she had assumed he was lying. Now, seeing this and knowing that he had walked these grounds, planned this estate, brought her tears to her eyes and a small smile to her face. As they approached the columned porch of the Victorian style home, the limo slowed coming to a halt. The sisters exited the car and walked up to the huge double doors.

At first the enormity and luxuriousness of the estate amazed Buffy; however, as the eldest daughter of an art connoisseur, she soon began pricing items in her head. After only a few items had her seething. Before her was literally millions of dollars worth of antiques, and that only covered what she could see from the foyer alone. For months she had slaved away at the Doublemeat Palace and then worked at the high school trying to keep her sister, a house full of potentials and herself fed and clothes on their backs. Knowing that all this had been stolen from Spike made her blood boil. She knew that if Spike had had access to his money, he would have found a way to help. With embarrassment, she remembered when Riley had convinced her about Spike illegally earning money as the 'doctor,' and now, she realized that he probably was trying to help her.

Buffy and Dawn were led into a study, and the thought of all this opulence stolen continued to enrage Buffy. She sat quietly trying to school her features, as she had made sure that both she and Dawnie were sitting directly in the sunlight. When Riley "Ass wipe" Finn entered the room, in silk Armani pajamas, she nearly lost the battle of will and flew across the desk to beat in his head.

"Buffy," Riley Finn said as he took a seat behind the desk, "What can I do for you this fine day?"

As Buffy started to speak, a hand on her arm stopped her. The blonde woman seated next to her spoke for her. "Colonel Finn, Mrs. Buffy Anne Summers-Wordsworth, as per the terms of the court order, wish for you and your 'soldiers' to vacate her late husbands estate immediately."

At that Riley Finn had the nerve to laugh. "Please, Buffy never married Spike. He was beneath her."

"You're right Riley. Spike was beneath, above, behind… hell, pretty much wherever the passion took us," Buffy told him. "But you wouldn't know much about passion, would you 'Cardboard'?" She purposely called him by Spike's name for him.

"Alright Buffy," Riley said through clinched teeth. "I suppose you have the proper documents?"

"Of course, Colonel," the blonde attorney said, handing the bastard the paper work.

Riley scanned the documents. "Everything here seems to be in order, except for one thing. By Presidential Mandate Hostile Seventeen was classified as a nonhuman. Therefore he did not have the right to marry, any marriage would have been illegal. The United States Government does not have to recognize any claims of marriage." Riley's grin was truly malicious. "So, while it was a good try Buff… no dice."

"Actually," The second attorney, a redhead countered, "since the enacting of Equal Rights Bill of 1996, Mr. Wordsworth would have been considered to be a Metahuman. Any actions by either yourself or President Luthor denying those rights that had been afforded Mr. Wordsworth from 1996 would be grounds for arrest and imprisonment. Also, given that both President Luthor and you, Colonel Finn, signed the deal that YOUR lawyers proposed, which that court order reflects, any breach by you of that agreement would be a violation of the court order subjecting you to contempt of court charges. So, Colonel Finn, it might behoove you to just leave quietly. Of course, if you truly feel that you do not wish to comply with the court order, I would like to inform you that my colleague Ms. Murphy did contact Kal-El earlier today."

"That's Superman for those not in the know." The third Attorney, Ms. Murphy, cut the redhead off to inform Riley with a nasty smirk.

"Yes, thank you Deborah. Superman has told us that he would happily remove Luthor's golden boy's from the premises," the redhead finished.

"You don't know who you are dealing with," Cardboard angrily replied, teeth clinched.

"Oh, I know exactly who I am dealing with, a corrupted little nazi, who thinks a gun and a badge give him special rights. Come on Finn, try me," The woman said her voice thick with contempt. "Assholes like you are exactly the reason I became a defense attorney."

"Buffy," Riley changed tactics. "You would steal ten billion from a government already in debt into the trillions?"

"And how many starving homeless people has this ten billion helped feed and found shelter for Riley? From what I see all, this ten billion only has been used to buy you clothes and furnishing you a place to live. Damn Riley, I remember in Sunnydale you made fun of Spike for living in a crypt, but really that whole time you guys had stolen everything he had." Buffy fought her urge to strangle him. "Tell me how I'm stealing when I've rightfully inherited this money? And why it's not stealing when your agency illegally seized it from my dead husband?"

"Hostile Seventeen was a monster; it isn't stealing to take money from a monster," Riley stated.

"His name was Spike," Buffy began, stopping when the blonde placed a hand on Buffy's arm, stilling her.

"Then if we take everything President Luthor owns, that would be legal?" the redheaded attorney asked with a calm, cool smirk.

"This isn't over!" He exclaimed as he turned to leave. However, as Finn turned, Buffy noticed the light reflecting off a signet ring on Riley's finger. Spike's family's signet ring! She was across the desk before he could blink. An animalistic growl tumbled from her lips, as she tore the ring off his fingers breaking them in the process.

"Where are the others?" Buffy growled at him.

"Oh, you're asking about the Lady of the House's signet rings?" Deborah asked with a too sweet voice, "I believe Mrs. Finn wears them as her wedding rings."

Growling once more in response, Buffy rushed out the door in search of Samantha Finn. Within seconds, she ran over the soldiers that dared to get in her way. Finally, on the lawn behind the house, she discovered Samantha Finn having a tea party for her 'guests'. Without any warning, Buffy slammed the cheap whore to the ground and ripped the rings off of her mangled fingers.

"Mine!" she ground out, jaw taut with anger.

"I don't think so." Riley's smugly voiced somewhere behind her. Turning her attention to Riley, but still keeping Sam on the ground, Buffy met Riley's sneering eyes, as he stood at the head of over a hundred armed soldiers ready to do damage. Buffy knew she was about to die, but she fully intended to kill Riley Finn before she went.

"I think you need to stand down, gentlemen." An unfamiliar voice declared from somewhere behind and slightly above her. Not wanting to take her eyes off Riley and fearing that this was some possible new attacker, Buffy didn't look back.

"But sir," Riley groveled. "The Presidents orders..."

"Are Illegal, and we both knowing it."

"Oops." Deborah said her grin was positively malicious, "I accidentally called Superman."

Hearing Deborah's remark, Buffy spun around to see the most famous hero on earth fully backing her up and ready to help her claim what was hers.

"Oh, and Col. Finn…" the red haired attorney threw in one last jab, "Kal El has graciously offered to supervise ALL packing, so you won't 'accidentally' take something that belongs to Mrs. Summers Wordsworth."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gotham 142 days ago

Taking advantage of the fact that Dick was out on patrol, Barbara walked - actually walked - around in nothing but her underwear. So far no one but her knew she had regained the use of her legs, and she wanted to keep it that way.

She knew that she was being distant to Dick even as Blockbuster was tearing apart his life, but she was terrified of what was happening to her. Her sudden mobility shook her emotions enough, but the dreams… the dreams left her crying in need or whimpering in pain. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to her dreams.

Three nights ago, Barbara had dreamed that she was standing behind an iceberg of all places in her old Batgirl costume beating on some of Penguin's thugs, when she had heard clapping. She had turned. Before her stood Dick dressed all in black - black pants, black t-shirt, combat boots -and a long black duster - looking like pure sin. Her voice sounded strange to her as she asked him who he was. 'Dick' had answered, "You'll find out on Saturday."

"What happens on Saturday?" she had asked like an idiot.

His answer, "I kill you."

Waking up, Barbara had been so horny that she almost gave away her mobility when she had ripped Dick's clothes off.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hell dimension, centuries ago

Spike hung from chains, as he was tortured. Watching the pseudo Dru and Buffy taking turns beating him was no longer new. Bloody hell, how stupid did the First think he was?

He was experiencing something he hadn't felt since his Drusilla delivered him from mediocrity… his heart was dying. And with it, more and more he just wanted it all to end. Chained in the full sun, it constantly ate away his skin, but it being a hell dimension the skin grew back before he could dust. More and more, he hoped the First would just end him.

"I will not go quietly into that goodnight," William's voice proclaimed inside his head. It startled him. It was the first time his soul had spoken over the many years he had been trapped in Hell.

'William' continued, "If I am to die, the First you speak of will have to do it himself. 'I' will not whimper and moan. I… we are a champion, and such is beneath us." Spike found himself grinning up at his tormentors as William proved himself not such a nancy boy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Present Day

The Bat Cave

'Oh yeah, this was fair.' Tim thought, as he went over the parts of the prophecy Bruce had translated already. 'Dick spends the day with Babs, and I get to spend my day going over a moldy old prophecy, sometimes being the youngest sucks.'

"Uhhhm, boss?" the young Robin asked suddenly, "Is this thing right? Babs is pregnant with Dick's child?"

"Yes," Bruce tersely answered him.

"But correct me if I am wrong, wouldn't that mean that at sometime… in the last few months… Dick and Babs had to be in the same room and not start shouting at each other like fisherman's wives?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite his intellect and his detective training, Dick Grayson was utterly lost. That didn't happen often. Usually when he felt confused, like he happened upon some loose thread in a conversation, it had something to do with Roy… or more likely… the woman in front of him, in the past Kory. "Am I whating with the whoming?"

"The copy girl. Are you fucking her?" Babs asked in tears. "I mean we're on a break and that is what guys do, when they are on a break."

"I thought you dumped me?" Dick said.

"See the perfect excuse… my girlfriend dumped me, so I'm free to screw the copy girl." She accused.

Dick took several deep breaths, "Can we start at the beginning?"

"I was signaling Tim and Roy, telling them we were on a break and… "

"You believe anything Roy told you?" he asked cutting her off.

"It was Tim. And he said… 'Yeah, Ross and Rachel were on a break too," and so I googled Ross and Rachel. When they were on a break Ross, that would be you, screwed the copy girl, breaking Rachel's, that would be me, heart." Babs finished her babble.

"You know, if I kill Tim it would be considered justifiable homicide," Dick sighed, looking heavenward as if for guidance.

"SO, you admit it?" She nearly screamed at him.

"No, but if you have her number I'm game."

Babs flew across the room at him. Her anger was so great; it scared her. But all Dick noticed was that she walked or rather ran towards him.

"Babs, you're walking!" Dick exclaimed, as she tackled him.

"Yes, I can walk," she confirmed, trying to fend off Dick as he kissed her arms and hands.

"God baby, that is so great." He finally got to her lips. At first she tried pushing him away, but then she began digging her fingers into his hair and dragged him closer. Her response lasted for mere seconds before she shoved him away from her.

"Oh, it's not over that easy buster. I am still pissed at you." Babs threatened, but her body betrayed her words. Her palm remained planted on his chest, as she rolled to straddle him.

"Babs, god, I can't believe you didn't tell me." The hurt look in his eyes wounded her and that pissed her off more.

"Oh, that isn't all sweetie," she said in a syrupy sweet voice. "I'm also pregnant with your child." She informed him with a heat in her voice that made it like she had pronounced his doom.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

New York Star Labs

"This is preposterous!" William verbalized as he read through the file that the American Roy had given him. "Sir, the very idea that vampires are real is absurd. Vampires do not exist, and surely neither do such things as Superheroes."

"Dude, you're looking at one." Roy said spreading his arms with his bow in his left hand. "A superhero that is."

"And what pray tell is your special power?" William asked without looking up, "The ability to annoy villains to suicide?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bludhaven

Shrike had been going over everything he knew about Nightwing all night, after all Blockbuster was trusting HIM to take down the costumed vigilante and he had to be at his best. The smile that graced his grace was cold enough to freeze water. When he killed Nightwing, his name would gain instant worldwide recognition.

The woman had watched Shrike as he approached. The smell of arrogance and ignorance that surrounded him made her tummy ache, but she had to do this for family. She stepped into the street in front of him and smiled flirtingly with him. Such a fool. His hand went straight to her hip, drawing her to him, as if she was a cheap trollop, and the Dark Princess had never been cheap. She ran her tongue over his artery in his neck, then struck like a snake. Her fangs buried themselves deep; his blood coated her throat.

Shrike felt his orgasm wash over him as his life leaked from him.

The Dark Princess looked down at the dead man at her feet. In the past, she would have turned him, such an evil toy, but not now… her family needed him dead. Mrs. Edith would be so pleased. Tea and biscuits for the sweet!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

New York Star Labs

Buffy entered Star Labs filled with apprehension. What if Spike took one look at her and ran? What if the Initiative soldiers had been able to follow her? She needed him so much. What if he saw her and walked away?

The ride in the elevator had been nerve racking. Having secured the area he was staying in from Dawn, she didn't stop to ask anything else. She just walked through Star Labs like she owned the place.

His room wasn't hard to find. From two hallways away, she heard his voice, raised in argument. She couldn't help but smile to herself. That was so her Spike. He could never go long without annoying someone.

"Annoying?" The red haired superhero Buffy had seen at the Hellmouth was poised over William's bed. "I'll have you know that I am one of the most respected members of the superhero community."

"Daddy is annoying," added a beautiful girl with a smile. She'd heard Arsenal had a child named Lian.

"Respected for what… your keen fashion sense?" William asked with a smirk, eying Roy's red hair and scarlet costume.

"Spike? Please no arguing with the annoying fashion challenged superhero," Buffy called from the door, announcing her presence to all the room's occupants.

"Buffy?" William's voice sounded strangled, as he saw the woman, who the files had described as his expecting wife.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gotham the Clock Tower

To say that Babs was surprised at Dick's reaction would be the understatement of the year. First he slammed his head into the floor twice. Then he dragged her into his arms, as he began crying, "We're gonna be parents?" He wasn't kissing her, just holding her so tight it almost hurt. "I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Yeah, if MY dad doesn't go to prison for killing you." For probably the first time ever, the former Boy Wonder, the punning punster of Gotham, was speechless with no smart assed remarks. Life was good.

"So, you gonna just lay there or..." Babs gave him her most mischievous look.

Before she finished her sentence, Babs' shirt was ripped into pieces. Nightwing's talented tongue attacked her breasts through her bra, while his fingers kneaded the small of her back.

Yeah, life was good.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Arkham Prison

The 'ghost' stood behind him wearing an old style silk suit and fedora.

"Johnny," the ghost said, "I am doing this all for you son. When you take over, you'll be the Boss of Bludhaven AND Gotham."

"No, Father," replied the Joker, as he sat in the corner of his cell miming combing his hair and putting on makeup. "I shall not be a gangster. Greater things do call me. In time I shall walk the pasteboards with the greatest stars of all time. I, John C. Parlance, shall be a bigger star than Cary Grant!"

Tbc

Chapter Six

Los Angeles, 136 days ago

"Mr. Murtog, even though I respect your firm's reputation,” Rupert Giles began, "I still wonder why I should further displace these children by moving them to Cleveland and put them at the mercy of this… Mrs. Elizabeth Wordsworth."

"Simple, Mr. Giles. Both Mrs. Wordsworth and her esteemed departed husband have long worked behind the scenes to support the Watcher's Council. Since her husband was killed by the First Evil, Mrs. Wordsworth has felt at loose ends; therefore, she would like to extend the invitation of the courtesy of her estate to you and your new slayers." The short purple lawyer answered him.

Giles flinched at the thought that the First had been so thorough as to kill, what was becoming apparent as one of the Council's hidden backers. He personally had never met any. Still this invitation came at a critical time, seeming to be the only answer. "This is just not how things are done, sir."

"Yes, usually,” Murtog answered him, “However, Mr. Giles, you have several school age girls that need a new home, not to mention the additions of one wanted felon and a young witch, who would work best with a coven of her own. Mrs. Wordsworth now feels the need for your group to have some small amount of protection." James wondered if young Buffy would kill him, if she ever heard what he had said.

"Yes,” Giles could certainly see the advantages of the situation. He was sure he could charm the elderly lady if he had too. "I can see the advantages of both sides, but we currently lack the access to transportation. In addition, we need to find any Watchers that survived the First’s attack and round up all the newly activated slayers."

"Mr. Giles, rest assured that Mrs. Wordsworth has already arranged for my firm to furnish our own corporate jets for such an endeavor." James watched the man closely for his reaction. He had never trusted the Council before, and despite what his senior partners told him, he didn't trust Mr. Rupert Giles either. "Her ladyship already has her own people working on discovering the whereabouts of as many of the new slayers as possible. She has, however, left it to you and your people to be the ones in charge of gathering them."

"Yes, as much as I am loathed to do this, I fear I must take you up on your offer." Giles knew he would have to renegotiate with the old woman as soon as possible. After all, it was the Watcher's Council that controlled the slayers not some senile old woman. He just hoped to find Buffy and Dawn soon.

James handed Giles a bag full of credit cards, each naming a person in Giles’ care. "This is a gift to both yourself and to all of your charges, who lost everything on the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Of course, each card has a limit, but as long as you don’t try to replace your Mercedes, all should be well.” James felt that Mrs. Buffy would be pleased with his performance. Everything was going according to plan.

Gotham City, the Clock Tower, 136 days ago

'That bastard!'

Barbara was fuming. Sure, intellectually she could understand why he had done it, but it didn't change the fact that he had. She resisted the overwhelming urge to check the corners to see if the 'former jerk wonder’ had peed on them to mark his territory. God, he was infuriating! What had she ever seen in him? True, he looked good wearing only a towel, or hell, buck-naked. And yeah, the guy was loyal to a fault, but this was her place, HERS!

Yes, Barbara knew that Blockbuster had blown up Dick’s apartment in an effort to hurt him. Yes, she was aware that Blockbuster had also burned down Haley's, killing everyone who was there in the process, for the same reason. She even realized that she was distancing herself from him and that scared him to death. At the same time, Dick’s behavior was causing him to lose her too. But damn, talk about an egotistical jerk!

If Barbara had wanted brooding and possessive in her guy, she would have been sleeping with the freaking Bat. She shuddered at the thought. No, she was in love with Richard John Grayson - the sweetest, most caring guy she knew… but the jerk had to be, well, a jerk.

The strange turn of her dreams hadn’t helped matters either. Last night, she experienced an all new and an even stranger series.

The first one featured Jason Bard, of all people, opening a portal to hell. Babs, as Batgirl, had to push him through it in order to close it and save the world. In the background, Dick was dragging off Kory, who had been helping Jason (she knew the Tameraan was an evil bitch). For some reason she had mourned the loss of Jason, while at the same time had hated Dick. Yet, weirder still, was when she woke all Barbara wanted to do was push Jason off a cliff, rip off Dick's clothes, and have her wicked way with him. Talk about confusing.

God, what had she done to deserve this?

The second dream featured one ‘drunk off his ass’ Dick. The pathetic state he was in was courtesy of Kory, who had left him and was screwing a Chaos Prince. Like that alien slut wasn't always on the lookout for a new prince to ride. In the dream, Barbara watched herself tell a now ‘living again’ Jason that they could never be friends… (She got that anyway, and she really didn't like the guy) … that they, she and Jason, would love each other forever. (Sheyeah, right!)

Hell Dimension, centuries ago

Spike was barely able to stand, as the First's newest minion approached him. He couldn’t help it when he began to growl as William cowered before this champion of the light he had killed. Nikki Wood approached the man she had once hated with a passion. He was beaten but not broken, his head unbowed in the face of the torture she had seen him suffer. Part of her actually felt guilty for not helping him earlier, but she’d known that she had to wait until this time before completing her task. Nikki placed one hand on either side of his head and gazed into his eyes, before kissing his forehead. Focusing all of her love - for her son, her son's father, her watcher and yes, even for this souled vamp in front of her – into the kiss, Nikki felt the magic rush out of her and into him.

As the cool, cleansing, beautiful feeling of magic washed over him, Spike whispered to William, "Effulgent.” The magic made him feel unlike anything else, he’d ever felt, and it made him quiver in fulfillment.

Nikki Wood looked at him again, as she stepped back. "Heads up Champion, your time will come."

After she left Spike began to panic as his heart started beating.

Gotham City, the Clock Tower, present

Barbara Gordan whimpered as Dick slid further down her body. His tongue worked like magic, as he blazed a trail down her stomach. She felt his fingers undoing her jeans, and she raised herself, putting her legs together to help him remove her jeans and underwear. When she squatted back over his face, he went to work immediately on her oh, so neglected clit.

For four years, she’d had very little feeling there, but now it had returned in spades. Even as he massaged it with his tongue, his fingers found her passage and he slid in two fingers to start. Babs was now bent over, her forehead on the floor, and biting her own tongue to keep from screaming. She had truly forgotten how good <b>this</b> could be. As Dick rolled her clit over his upper teeth, she shrieked as her first orgasm of the morning hit her.

Babs tried to turn around in order to return the oral favor, but Dick caught her off-guard and rolled her to her back, continuing his assault on her swollen clit. His fingers twisted inside her drenched passage, but now with every thrust, he hit her G-spot. So soon after her first, Babs’ second orgasm rocked her to the core. As she came down, she felt Dick kissing his way up her belly.

"Sorry Babs, I wanted to make it perfect for you, but I needed you so bad," he said as he worked his lips up to her ear.

Babs bit harshly into his earlobe, then twisted her head like a dog with a bone before releasing it and whispering to him. "Then what's stopping you, hunk wonder?"

He buried himself to the hilt in one long hard stroke. His cock stretched Babs nearly to the point of pain. Her yell echoed his, and the ‘games’ began in earnest.

'What the hell had they been arguing about anyway?'

Bat Cave, present

As bad as Tim felt working on this prophecy with no sleep, he couldn't help snickering that at least, unlike Dick, he was still alive and had all his limbs intact. He was positive that by now, since Dick hadn't shown up at the cave, that Dick was somewhere licking his wounds from Babs kicking his ass.

"Have you thought,” Selina said from her spot on the floor where she was setting using Bruce’s legs as a back support, "that these things may be time coded? After all, you only decode each part after the fact?"

Batman steepled his fingers in front of his face, thinking that there was a reason Selina had escaped him so often. Besides, her sex appeal; she was as brilliant as any of the Bats. "Even worse, when it translates itself, it could just be stating what has already happened." He was disappointed.

"Or,” Tim said, "it could be magically sealed to only reveal information after the fact."

"We need a mage," Selina and Tim said at the same time.

"Zantanna?" Bruce asked.

"Please, we need someone that will take this seriously," Selina answered completely aware of Bruce's past with the witch. "Jason Blood?"

"We really don't need his demon to get this information," Bruce replied. "Constantine?"

"Or that witch that was at the Hellmouth?" Tim said picking up the report. "One Willow Rosenberg."

"We don't know enough about her," answered Bruce.

"We know Constantine any better?" Tim replied.

"Simple,” Selina said rolling her eyes. "We have three copies. We keep one and give one each to them. Then we can cross-reference the results and possibly find out more by having two different mages on it. It’s called getting a second opinion, look into it boys. Normal people do it all the time," she yelled back over her shoulder as she went up the stairs.

Sutcliffe Manor, Cleveland

Willow sat in the library reading normal books, fiction, and nonprophecy type stories. She found her circumstance both different and strange.

With Buffy gone for the moment, Kennedy and Faith had began settling the younger Slayers down after the battle. She truly appreciated how Buffy went out of the way to make Kennedy feel needed and respected, and now, Kennedy had become one of Buffy’s most ardent supporters. So different from Sunnydale. Perhaps gaining slayer strength had been very good for her girl friend.

Another issue that made Kennedy love Buffy’s leadership more was that Buffy had changed the Slayer army leadership. Since Slayers were the ones doing the dying, Buffy believed that they should be the ones leading. Of the Sunnydale contingent only Wood and Xander seemed to have a problem with this change. However, Wood now seemed to have a problem with anything Faith supported. But hey, it was her that caught him cheating with another of the new Slayers.

Xander disagreed with everything, even living here in 'that monsters house.’ Of course, it didn't stop him from living here and scarfing down all the food he could. Willow realized now that she really reflected on it Xander’s constantly trying to dictate Buffy's life in Sunnydale had never prevented him from eating at the Summer's home either. She wondered how he was going to react to Buffy being pregnant with Spike's child.

God, she was so happy for Buffy. Her best friend had suffered long enough; she just hoped Xander would quit trying to set her up on dates. Grrrr, the last one had taken the cake; one of Riley's soldiers no less. Why couldn't he just get over it?

New York Star Labs

Buffy sat on a chair next to the hospital bed holding Williams’s hand. She was having a hard looking at him and knowing he had no memory of her. But just sitting with him was a start.

‘William’ was shy towards her, even though he knew she carried his child. How could she tell this shy, quiet man all the bad things that had happened between them? How could she tell him how they had gotten to this point? At the moment though, all she could think about was her love for this man and how he had watched her back even when he was dead.

‘She was beautiful,’ thought William. That single thought kept running through his mind. He believed she was too beautiful for a man like him. He kept thinking it had to be a dream, but the constant pressure on his hand and where her fingers drew circles on his arm had him wanting to believe. Dear lord, he hoped she was his wife, because he was having decidedly ungentlemanly like ideas of the petite blonde.

"But how can you love me when I have no memory of you?" he asked her.

"Easy," she told him. "You've never given up on me; how could I give up on you?"

"But I am not him," he replied.

"Yes, you are, just not all of him."

She could tell her words hurt him, so she continued, "Ok, talking isn't really my best quality. Ok. Look at it like this, if you truly loved me and I was like hit in the head and couldn't remember anything, would you still love me?"

"Of course. It would still be you; you just wouldn't remember me," William said, his eyes widening as understanding hit him.

"See, I love you, always will, and now YOU need me, and I'm here." Buffy smiled at him, and he could understand loving her.

Deep inside William's mind

Spike watched the Slayer being gentle with his younger version. It made him angry and jealous. Angry because the ponce hadn't rolled her over and shagged the bloody bint legless. What the bint craved was bleeding obvious; the poor girl needed a good seeing too. And he was jealous that Buffy had never treated him so gently.

Spike’s desire overwhelmed his jealousy. Bugger! Ponce wasn’t listening or couldn’t. Bloody Hell, bend the bint over and shag her till she screams!

Bludhaven

Nite-Wing had the man cornered. Nite-Wing has followed his target for three streets after the scum had beaten a woman there. As he fought the guy, a hand grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around. The spin caused him to look directly into the face of the 'beaten woman.' When she grabbed his head in both hands, he felt an explosion of pain, then nothing.

Drusilla looked down at tonight’s supper. He’d tasted weak, but she had known he would. He’d been just one of many that stood in her family's way, and all who did had to die.

Gotham City Clock Tower

Babs had one leg wrapped around her lover and the other foot firmly planted on the floor, angling her hips to maximize penetration – all to spurn on her lover. Dick was so damn good, even better than she’d remembered. He was hammering her so hard that she knew she would have bruises when they finished, but oh god, was it worth it.

"Is that...oh god, oh god...all you got... SHIT... hunk wonder... size isn't... OH GOD... OH GOD... everything!" Babs breathing was labored and shallow as she taunted him on. "I thought. Oh baby, just like that... you were supposed… Oh please, please, to be the best... God, Dick, I love you!"

Babs' orgasms seemed to merge into one long, continuous, exquisite wave. Shuddering for the umpteenth time, Dick smirked as her then suddenly began adding a little twisting motion at the bottom of every stroke.

"Oh God, Dick! I need... need to…oh shit, oh shit! Need to catch my breath baby, shitshitshit... just stop for a second." But Dick was relentless, his smirk truly deliciously evil.

Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane

‘Heeheeheeheee!’ thought the Joker, as he sat in the corner of his cell once again in a straight jacket. He smiled to himself. First Evil indeed! <b>He</b> was the true master of Evil. The Clown Prince of Crime, not some incorporeal ghost of naughty deeds past.

The Joker decided that he’d play ‘the First’s’ little game for a little while, but when the time came, he would stuff that genie back into the bottle. ‘Bwahahhahahahaha!’

Cleveland, outside Sutcliffe Manor

In the shadows stood a man in pink and gray camouflage, looking up at the manor house plotting his revenge against the slayers within. He would destroy them all. He vowed to humiliate them and use them as his own personal sex slaves.

TBC