Chapter Seven

Revello Drive the Basement

Buffy felt herself seem to waken. In front of her stood a man in an old style suit, who was a lot bigger than her. His face seemed distorted as if she was still asleep, but she saw his sharp cheekbones and handlebar mustache.

"You bloody useless git." The man punched her in the face and as she fell he began to kick her. "Gonna bloody well toughen you up boy."

Buffy tried to stand but the man continued to beat on her till she could taste her own blood.

"C'mon William, be a man." The man stepped back and looked at her. "You're as useless as your bloody mother."

As Buffy curled in on herself she got a look in the mirror. She was wearing Spike's face, and her best guess was that she was around seven years old.

As tears filled her eyes she wondered what the fuck was going on.



Spike recognized the man towering over her from the pictures Joyce had shown him last night. It was Hank Summers. He was dancing around the man trying to get his attention.

"Daddy look," Spike heard a childish Buffy voice come from his own mouth as he twirled, "I didn't make the Ice Queen, but..."

"Buffy," her father cut her off as he folded his paper. "How many times have I told you? You're a Summers, if you can't be the best why even try."

The older man looked into Spike's eyes, and his sad look had the body he was in crying.

All Spike could think was what the Bloody hell was this?



Revello Drive the Kitchen

Elder Buffy dialed the number with a silly grin on her face. She had to admit if she had to pick two people stupid enough to do what they had done it would be a Buffy and Spike. They had a lot of pain in store for them, but in the long run it might just be worth it.

"Hello. Greyson, Gorden and Aldridge, how may I direct your call?" the voice on the other end of the line asked. W&H weren't the only inter-dimensional lawfirm, and this one wasn't evil. That Aldridge bat was a bit too interested in her William, but still she wasn't really completely evil.

"Holly, please. Tell her, it's Buffy Summers Kenticot." Elder Buffy glanced back at the basement door. "Yes I'll hold."



Basement

Buffy saw it all - Angelus torturing Spike on a homemade rack, for daring to touch Darla, after Darla had seduced Spike because Angel was screwing Dru. Dru's tears and Darla's laughter screamed at her. Angelus constantly doing what was "best" for William by hurting him again and again and again. Only Dru seemed to care about the broken battered body of her childe.

But even Dru always chose her Daddy. As Angelus hid in the shadows and stalked the easiest prey, Spike hunted for prey with bite. Even as a mere fledge, he seemed to enjoy hunting things bigger and badder than he was supposed to be. Every hunt to try and impress his family. He did more with less than any of the others, but still he was seen as a second class Vamp.

Then Angelus left them, and Spike killed his first Slayer, not even the Master himself had tried such a feat at such a young age. But even then, he was still known as Angelus' halfwit Grand Childe. He was ridiculed behind his back for being stupid, impulsive - this about a MAN who had graduated first from Oxford. This about a Vamp that continuously kept his insane Sire alive. Buffy's heart swelled nearly to the point of bursting at the pain he felt.



Spike saw it all - Buffy continuously seeking approval, first from her father, then from her cheerleading pals at Hemery, then Angel, and then her watcher and so called friends. Yes, he felt it all - the way the lot of them dangled their approval in front of her only to snatch it away when she didn't fit into there narrow minded view of what was good and proper. He tried to go into demon face at them, but he was now effectively Buffy, and she had no demon face. His anger grew at the cruel treatment his mate had faced, but he knew she thought this was 'Right and Just'.

Then he was there in his own worst nightmare. The one memory that he had blocked from his mind.



Then Buffy was there, beside her mate watching him do the unthinkable, his fangs slipping into his own mother's neck. At first she thought he was like Angelus, but she could feel what he felt. It wasn't anger or hatred; it was love. Only love and elation, as he bit into his own wrist and fed his mother his blood.

"She was dying." The Spike beside her spoke, "She had TB. Ya know in the future it is easy to control, but here, now, bloody hell." His tears ran down his face without thought. This was his mate; he could trust her.

Buffy watched enthralled as his mother awakened. Then the awful things that came from the demon's mouth had Buffy ready to stake her. Instead she stepped up beside Spike and pulled him closer to her and began rocking him gently as they fell to the floor. Whispering in his ear that this wasn't his mother, that not all demons could feel like he did. She didn't know where her newfound wisdom came from, but she thanked whoever had sent it.



Kitchen

"Sooo, you can't send us home?" Elder Buffy says to the person on the line. "Well can you do this for me, this world's Spike was captured by the Initiative and had his wallet stolen...I know, I know, but can you cancel his credit cards and watch to make sure that the American Government doesn't seize any of his properties?"

"Good, and can you issue him and his new mate new credit cards? ... Of course it's a Buffy, you think I would be doing this if it were someone else? … OK, and oh yeah, that car my Spike loves so much, can you deliver three of them to Revello Drive? .... Two black with red interior and one red with black interior? ... Yeah Jaguar XK 8 convertibles that's the one. Ok, then I'll get back to trying to drag them out of the basement. Thanks Holly, you are the coolest nymphomaniac succubus attorney I have ever met."

As she looked around Joyce entered the kitchen. She had dodged this version of her mother since she had gotten here. She had used her children to run interference, and Erin had been excellent at it. But now here in the kitchen, she had to face her fears.

"Mommy," was all she got out of her mouth before the mature, distinguished slayer dissolved as the tears started to flow.

"Baby," Joyce held her close and talked softly to this older version of her daughter, "tell me?"

"You died, and I was alone," Elder Buffy couldn't stop crying once she started. "About a year from now. You had been having migraines and.…" She was blubbering and she wasn't supposed to. She was a wife, a mother, one of the Inner Circle of the Council, but she couldn't stop. "And you had brain surgery. I save the world all the time, but I couldn't save you."

Joyce just held onto to her promising herself that she would make an appointment that very day to get a professional opinion about the headaches that she had been having.



Basement

Buffy came back to herself setting in Spike's lap; he was still buried in her. His head laid on her shoulder, him crying unabashedly. She pushed his head back so she could see his eyes. "Spike," she whispered to him, her voice soft and caring, "You did everything you could. You loved her, and you tried to save her."

"Always second best." Spike couldn't look directly into her eyes.

"You are first bestest here." Buffy kissed him and began nibbling on his chin. "To me, you are my world."

"Not much your bloody choice now, is it love."

"Spike, make love to me. Slow, steady love to your lover and mate."

His lips found hers and began healing them both.

Tbc

Beta Note: Oracleholly proudly declares that she owns her name exclusively, but that Wulfie dear does have permission to use it…for now! All characterizations of moi by Wulfie are, well, the result of his fevered, perverse imagination and any resemblance to the real me…enough said.

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