Chapter 22

It has been a little over four years since we were married and it gets better and better everyday of our lives. We have two perfect children, that are talented beyond belief but what does one expect when they come from a slayer and a former vampire.

Our daughter takes right after her mother in looks and in the attitude department but she seems to have my sense of judgment. Our son on the other hand takes after me his old man in the looks and brooding department and he got his mother's quick judgment. He never thinks about what he is doing he just goes and does it and waits for the consequences while his sister is the one who looks out for him and gets him out of trouble.

They are both very protective over each other, they have this connection that no one can seem to break. We are eternally grateful that they get along so well.

We have not explained the difficulties of our relationship and how we had to sacrifice so much at one point in time. We thought it would be better if we waited until they were a little older to explain the hardships of our relationship. What they need to understand and realize right now in time is that we love each other and we love them and we will always be a family no matter what happens.

It seems that more and more often my love is getting called back to Sunnydale to fight the evil of the earth. I wish I could help her in this battle but with out my vampire strength I am a distraction for her and a liability that I am not willing to be. She says that I am helping a great deal by just being with our children but I am so worried that something will happen to her, since there is no one to watch her back. She does have a few people helping like her watcher and one of her best friends from high school, that has seen the light and accepted our life, but it's just not the same. They are as mortal as I am and they take her concentration away from the fight.

I have been thinking of what I could do to help her in this fight and the only solution that I can come up with, is the one she does not want to hear. If there was any other way to make sure that she comes home to our children after a battle I would not even be thinking this but I can't be sure that she will make it home. I have decided, I can't say that we decided because she does not want me to but I am going to go and see the powers that be and ask them to turn me back to like I was before just so I can help my love out with her quest in life.

When I talked to the powers that be I wanted to know if I did change back if I would have to be a vampire forever or after this war was over I would be able to go back to my life. They could not give me an answer since they did not know how this war was going to turn out. But I had no choice I need to be turned back to save her life and to ensure my children's happiness. She knew what my decision was, even though she did not want me to, she knew I had to do it.

I told them to take away their gift the next day, I spent the whole day with my family and friends just enjoying the time together. Even though we knew it would be ending soon it did not stop us from having a good time. That night my wife and I expressed our feelings for each other in every possible way.

When the morning came I had to hide from the sunlight and had this craving for blood that I thought I would never have again. I could not watch my children build sandcastles on the beach with their mother. There is so much I can not do but it is all worth it if I can prevent the death of the women I love.

The fight of our lives came only 2 short months later. The war between good and evil was something that neither of us would forget, even though the we won there was still that question up in the air if I would be given back my humanity. The day after this tremendous war the powers that be came to see us at our Sunnydale home.

They were deeply apologetic but they said that there was nothing that they could do to give me back my humanity. I knew that it was a huge possibility that they would not be able to give me it back and it was a chance I was willing to take because if I did not take that risk my children's mother would not be alive to watch them grow up. The explained to us the reason they could not perform the same spell is because some one had executed a spell on me that would not allow them to interfere. Before they left they pulled me aside and told me that there was one way to regain my humanity but I had to find that way on my own, they said they could not help me.

We had no idea what we were going to do and what we were going to tell our children but we knew that we would get through this.

Chapter 23

It had been a little over one month since we found out that I would not be returning to the person my children knew. We have done our best to make sure our children understand what was going on. They knew that our life would never be the same again but we were together and that is what mattered.

Ever since that day the powers that be told me that there is a way to become human again, I have not been able to get that out of my mind. I have spent many hours researching what they meant and have only found out little facts that are very obscure. What I do know for sure is that to become human again, I have to be completely and truly happy, without any remorse or hate in my heart.

At this point in time in my heart I can't fulfill the obligations I need to reverse the spell. I can't say that I will ever be able to accomplish that but I will not stop trying for the love I have for my family will keep me going. My heart is filled with so much happiness but also with this sadness that I can't do certain things.

When my love told me that she need to talk to me about some important things I was terrified beyond belief because I did not know what else in our life could go wrong. What was extremely strange is that my children's godfather took them to Sunnydale for the day so we could get some time alone. After they were gone I wanted to know what was going on and my love told me it would be better if I sat down before she told me what was going on.

I sat down and looked directly into her eyes and all of sudden I knew that nothing was wrong, that what she had to tell me would only make our life together better. She did not want me to be upset with her for not telling me sooner but she had her reasons for keeping this a secret. The suspense was killing me and I wanted to know what was going on. I told her that no matter what she had to tell me that we would get through it together.

She then proceeded to take my hand and told me that she was all most 4 months pregnant with our third child. I could not believe what she had just told me and then I figured it out why she waited to tell me. She waited because she knew that I would not let her go into battle if I knew she was pregnant. For some strange reason I was not mad or anything I was just happy that we were having another child together. I took my other hand and I laid it on her belly and felt our child move for the very first time.

At that very moment I was content with my life and the way that fate had played into my life. I took my love's hand and put it over my heart and for the first time in all most 4 months she felt my heartbeat once again. It was not the powers that be that gave me life it was my love.

Life was back to way that it was meant to be now if it could only stay that way.

Chapter 24

When our children got back from the excursion with their godfather, they were totally surprised that I was out front waiting for them with their mother in the sunlight. Their godfather was as shocked as they were but he knew that if there was a way to regain my humanity then we would find it.

We got the children settled into watching a movie and we proceeded to tell him what broke the spell. He was shocked to find out that we were expecting another child but also extremely happy for us because he knew how much love we had to give.

After he left we set Zoey and Drake down and told them that they were going to have a new little baby brother or sister in about 5 months time. They were both happy to be getting a new sibling but Zoey wanted a little sister and Drake wanted a little brother. They both had their own little motives and we told them that they would just have to wait and see.

We found out that a few days later that my crazy mother-in-law had escaped from the loony bin. We asked to see the list of people that have been to see her lately and that made frequent visits. We saw that the only name on the log was my love's watcher.

We always knew that my love's watcher was extremely attached to my mother-in-law but we did not know how deeply the feelings he had for her ran. The doctor told us that she has been making a vast improvement since he started going and seeing her and that's why he let the visits continue.

She had even convinced the doctors that she was not crazy any more and that she was back to her normal self. What they did not realize is that she is very manipulative and she could get them to do all most any thing she wanted them to. She even used her pathetic little plea to get people to tell her what was going on in our lives.

I guess what set her off is when she found out that I was back to being a vampire and that my love had not left me. But I think they forgot to tell her is that my spell was broken and that everything was back to normal.

When we went to Sunnydale to try and find my mother-in-law we left Zoey and Drake with their godfather little did we know at the time was he was in love with my mother-in-law, so when she showed up at our house in LA. He let her in because she told him that they released her and all she wanted to do is to see her grandchildren.

Zoey and Drake were playing on the patio when their grandmother arrived, Zoey had gotten up to see who was there she hoped that it was her parents but to her surprise it was the lady that took her away when she was younger. When Zoey saw that her godfather was talking to the lady she thought everything was going to be okay but when she saw that the lady was holding a steel pipe in her hand, she got this strange feeling that something bad was going to happen. Zoey thought that it would be better to be yelled at by her parents for trying to keep her and her younger brother safe then to let this woman do something to them.

After my mother-in-law hit my love's watcher over the head with the steel pipe she made sure that he was unconscious and that he was tied up for when he did come to he would not be able to call for help. She then went and searched through out the house trying to find Zoey and Drake. When she could not find them anywhere in the house she went out on to the patio to see if they were out there playing, They were nowhere to be found but she did see all their toys that they were playing with. After awhile she found them hiding in the cliffs near our house.

After trying to call our home several times and receiving no answer we assumed that something was wrong and we decided to head home to LA since we were not really accomplishing anything in Sunnydale. When we arrived in LA two hours later our house was totally trashed and there was no sign of Zoey and Drake. When we walked into the dinning room we found my love's watcher tied to a chair still unconscious. Soon after we untied him he woke up with a major headache, when we asked him where the children were he told us how my mother-in-law had taken Zoey and Drake. She was calming it was for their own good because we were unfit parents.

We notified the police right away telling them that my mother-in-law that had just escaped from the Sunnydale insane asylum had kidnapped our two children. We explained to them how she had kidnapped our daughter, Zoey when she was a baby. They told us that they would put a warrant out for her arrest.

It didn't settle our minds any to know that a crazy person had our children and they didn't even know this woman. Instead of waiting for the police to catch my mother-in-law, we started to search for them ourselves. It had been over 6 hours before some one finally recognized the picture we were showing of our children. The person said that it looked like the children did not want to be with the women.

We would not give up on finding our children but my love need to rest because she is pregnant with our third child. The next day we started our search again, we knew that they had put more distance between us but that did not stop us. We both noticed that we were going around in circles, we seem to end up in the same neighborhood as we started out, which meant that she had to be extremely close.

We started going door to door and showing the pictures of our children stating that some one had kidnapped them, when people started to say that there had been some strange people in the neighborhood lately we notified the police. We still kept on going house to house and then we came up to the house were Zoey and Drake were being held at. We were not certain that they were being held there it was just a feeling that my love had. We knocked on the door and my love's father answered the door. She had not seen him in over 4 years and now he was here.

We asked him a ton of question but he still would not let us inside the house, I noticed that there were children toys scattered through out the living room. They police had finally arrived in the neighborhood and while my love was talking to her father, I went and talked to the police officers. I explained to them how we thought it was really strange for her father to be here and how he has children's toys scattered through out his living room.

When I was talking to the police officers, my love heard Zoey verbally fighting with her grandmother and then Zoey crying. That only infuriated my love even more to hear her daughter crying and at that moment is when she pushed her father out of the way and entered the house looking for her children. She found Zoey sitting on the floor bawling her eyes out and Drake standing in the corner afraid that he might get hit next.

By the time I had made it into the house my love was all ready confronting her mother. My first instinct was to take the children out of harms way and to let the police officers deal with my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. When Zoey and Drake saw me they both ran to me and I told them to go with the nice police officer outside and wait. I went to where my love was standing yelling at her mother and I bent down and whispered in her ear "she is not worth it and remember you are pregnant with our child." That seemed to snap my love out of the blinding rage she was in and she turned around and grabbed my hand and walked out the door to where our children were waiting.

We went home and let the police deal with the kidnappers. Zoey and Drake were a bit shaken up but they would be all right after a while. They didn't understand how some one that was related to their mother could be so cruel. Their godfather was extremely sorry for his part in this horrible tragedy.

People keep secrets for a reason at least they say they do but I think it is because they don't want to hurt their loved ones. But when they tell certain people things they don't need to know they end up hurting the people they are trying to protect.

Chapter 25

The stress that my mother-in-law inflected on my love was not appreciated. The stress caused her to have a difficult pregnancy. Her blood pressure was up after this incident I was deeply concerned for my love and the child that she carried inside of her. She was only in her 5 month of the pregnancy and there was a tremendous chance that she could go into premature labor or that she could lose the baby all together, this scared us more then anything else right now.

Zoey and Drake understood that mommy had to have special care and that she could not do a lot of things but they did not understand that something could be wrong with the baby. They wanted a new sibling more then anything in this world. To them this baby was a symbol of their family and how much love they had in their family. The baby that my love is carrying inside of her was a symbol of our life together and how much of a miracle it is. Each one of our children is a miracle and this one will be as special as Zoey and Drake.

If anything else could go wrong, the trial for the kidnapping was coming up and my love wanted to go even if it was against doctor's orders. She wanted to go and make sure that they got the strictest punishment possible for kidnapping. I could not even convince her to go on a little vacation while the trial was taking place. The judge would probably put my mother-in-law back in the insane asylum even though my mother-in-law assaulted some one with a deadly weapon but my father-in-law would probably just receive a large fine. Neither of those punishments even do justice to what they did to our family.

At the trial, my mother-in-law was put back into the insane asylum under the understanding that she was not to be released or to have any visitors under any circumstances. My father-in-law did not even get a punishment for his part in the crime because his lawyer said that his ex-wife manipulated him into helping her. Even though we knew the truth we let the judgment stand as long as he knew that he was not to try and have anything to do with our family.

After the trial my love's blood pressure went down and the doctor was hoping that everything would get better and that the rest of her pregnancy would be normal.

Chapter 26

It has been over a month and half since the trial. My love was now almost into her 7 month of the pregnancy and it had not gotten any easier. The doctor put her on strict bed rest and she was not allowed to do much of anything. She had been on this prescription for over two weeks and she had gotten very impatient within a couple days but she knew that it was best for the baby.

Zoey and Drake were very understanding about how they needed to spend a lot of time with their godparents, so I could help out mommy. Their godmother was more than willing to take them off our hands considering she just got married and was trying to convince her hubby how nice it would be to have children running around. I will never understand that one considering her husband is more like a kid then an adult.

Zoey and Drake's godfather was a little more than skeptical, he thought that we might no trust him or they would not trust him because of what happened before. But we explained to him that everyone makes mistakes once and awhile and they all deserved to be forgiven at least once.

Between the two of them I thought we were going to make it until the end of her pregnancy but fate and the baby had other plans. My love was just entering her 8 month when the baby decided that she could not wait any longer. We both were extremely worried that there was something terribly wrong with the baby and that she would not make it. She was coming into this world a month early and that is something that is not good.

When she was born the doctors took her away from us so fast and they would not tell us anything about her condition. After about two hours the doctor came in and explained that she was extremely underweight but beyond that she was perfectly healthy as much as they could tell. She also explained how they would need to keep her under close observation for the next couple of weeks. She then proceeded to tell us that in a few hours we could go and meet our daughter for the first time.

When we were allowed into the intensive care room where they kept the preemies, we saw our daughter for the first time since she had been born. We had not given her a name yet because we wanted to name her when we saw her just like we did with Zoey and Drake. My love was the first one to hold our daughter Alya, she was just as perfect as her brother and sister were when they were born.

Alya had a fight to attend but we knew that she would make it and be just fine. With one look at our daughter I knew that our life had just gotten that much more special. When we made the call to tell Zoey and Drake that they had a little sister they wanted to know when they were going to meet her and when would we be home. We told them that she was a little sick right now and that she would not be coming home for awhile. They were disappointed but they knew it was for the best if she was sick.

Alya was kept in the hospital for over two and half weeks and they finally let us take her home when they were sure that she was gaining weight extensively. She was still pretty small but that just meant that she was extremely fragile and had to be handle with care.

When we got home Zoey and Drake were waiting impatiently to meet their younger sister, they both took one look at her and were taken back and I knew that they were going to be very protective over her just like they were with each other. Alya did not know what was in store for her when she got older.

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