Chapter Two
Joyce sat next to the younger version of Spike on the couch slowly running her fingers through his hair as she stared off into space. Why was she feeling so attached to this boy? She barely knew Spike, having only encountered him three times prior to this evening- and the first time, well she didn't know it was him only some strange hopped-up PCP addict on top of her daughter, the second time when Buffy announced first that he was the singer in her band, but then he was a vampire and oh yes, she was the Slayer, and the last time, the most confusing time, when he arrived heartbroken at the house pouring his heart out to her over a cup of cocoa with marshmallows before Buffy threatened to stake him. Nothing in their
shared past explained the strange kinship she felt toward the young man suffering so horribly on her couch. Her heart went out to him. She looked over at Giles as he paced, the expression on his face mirrored how she felt with the concern written deep. It was strange because she knew the Watcher
hated Spike more than her daughter did.
"Rupert, what is happening to us?"
The Watcher walked quietly to the sofa and bent on one knee next to the battered and bruised young man.
"The only thing possibility that I can think of Joyce at the moment is that this may be some reward from the Powers That Be for some action Spike has done." Giles removed his glasses and stared down at them. "I would theorize that the warm feelings we have toward Spike must come from the Powers as their means of protecting him from his former enemies."
Joyce stared down again at the tow headed youth whose head rested in her lap. "But Rupert, I don't understand. Wouldn't they reward Angel first? And wouldn't we know if Spike had done something that extraordinary?"
"Actually," Giles began cleaning his glasses, "Spike has already helped save the world once. When Angel lost his soul becoming Angelus and tried to end the world, it was Spike who not only saved me but also assisted Buffy in stopping him. You should remember that evening. Buffy told me that Spike was here when it was revealed to you her slayer destiny."
Giles stood, turned, and began pacing. "And for an unsouled creature, such as Spike, who by his very nature is evil, his actions that evening were is more extraordinary than a souled being giving their life to save the world. Given that Spike lies here before us in such a state only increases the chances that he did something else and was rewarded for it."
As if by some magic word the young man on the couch suddenly went into game face and began whimpering.
Future Buffy looked around as she drove scoping out every direction as if she were trying to sense something. The other two women in the front seat were beginning to think that she was crazy when a voice from the back spoke up.
"You bring a son with you Slayer?" Spike questioned as his eyes seemed to come unfocused as his nose dilated, "Cause I am getting a male, very young, hurt bad. Bloody hell, what did they do to him??"
Spike shifted into game face and his snarling countenance scared the college women in the front seat.
"Where?" the Darker Buffy asked, her voice filled with fear.
"Her house," Said the snarling Vamp pointing at the younger Buffy.
"How bad?" the Mother asked.
"He will live, but he has been bloody well hurt bad." If asked Spike could not have explained the anger he felt over someone he had never met being tortured.
"He'll need blood," Buffy cut a circle in the Desoto and headed out for Willy's. Looking back at this world's Spike, "and so do you. I'll pick up some human for you both."
At Spike's shocked look she added, "Ya didn't think you were going to kill someone while riding in a car full of slayers did you?"
Giles stared aghast at the young man's face as he began waking up.
"But he has a heart beat?!" His words were both an accusation and a question.
"Grandpapa Ripper," the teen's voice more a moan than anything else asked, "where's Mum?"
Giles watched the young man's movements. He looked as if he might be drugged. "I don't believe I know your mum, Spike?"
The boy snickered through his pain, "No, Spike is my Papa." William began to stretch, but his numerous wounds caused him to grimace. "Mum, is Buffy Anne Summers Kenticot, your Slayer."
It was if a light had been turned on. He saw, even if he didn't want to, this boy was human but also with a demon. He wasn't a Vampire, but the almost legendary, most often believed to be old wives tale. He was a Bloody Damphyre! The older man's legs gave out from under him; it bloody made sense in a Hellmouthy way.
"Well lad, when were you born?"
"I was born, February 24th of 2004." The young man looked first at the man sitting on the floor, and then at the woman who had his head in her lap. "But Nana you're dead?"
As Buffy pulled into Willy's parking lot, Spike cleared his throat. "The boy, can he use sire's blood?"
The Darker Buffy looked back at him. "You don't even know him," her voice caught in her throat.
The shy eyes that stared back at her looked so much like her son that her breath caught in her throat.
"Yeah, but this is likely the closest I'll bloody come to having kids so, yeah, I'll give him my blood." His fingers ran through Erin's hair. The look on his face was so sad that even the two college age Scoobs noticed and were saddened by it.
The small voice of Erin broke the silence barely uttering above a whisper, "You can be my Uncle Spike while we are here."
"Would love that Nibblet."
Xander Harris came awake in pain; his head hurt, and his body seemed numb. He tried to move, but as he did so he became aware of the fact that he was chained to a wall in what appeared to be a sewer system somewhere.
"Xander, Xander, Xander, ya know, I used to think we were friends. But you sold us out." a tall, dark haired figure in military fatigues said as he stepped out of the shadows. "You sold out humanity, first by sleeping with that demon slut Anya, then by aiding and abetting those damn twins."
Xander stared at the man trying to place him. "What the hell are you talking about?" He pulled on his bounds. "I don't even know you."
"What boy, not even gonna threaten me with that Slayer bitch??"
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