Set after "Normal Again". Spike left Sunnydale and has been gone for 5 years. He returns to track down and win Buffy back. What he finds when he gets there is the last thing he expected.

Disclaimer: Joss owns them, I’m just borrowing them to indulge my muse. Maggie, Chloe, and Alex are my characters, although you won’t really be seeing too much of Chloe and Alex.

Notes: This is a future-fic, taking place a little over 5 years after “Normal again”. It’ll also have some flashback scenes to explain the background, but I’ll be sure to let you know what’s going on in the notes :) Spoiler alert: any and everything on the show up until Normal again is fair game. It goes on it’s merry way after that. Please review, it encourages me to write quicker. Ok, here we go……..

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Part 1:

Spike drove along the winding roads, coming upon a familiarly straight stretch of road. The August sun in the mid-afternoon should have been deadly, and he was thankful for the protection of his heavily tinted windows. His eyes drifted ahead and he laughed to himself at the previous fate that befell the landmark he gazed at. He pulled his car over to the side of the road, thinking how juvenile he’d been all those times before to try and destroy it, noting bitterly how it kept coming back like a Phoenix from the ashes. As he looked at the landmark, he started feeling a little uneasy about coming back here, wondering what he would find along the way.

“WELCOME TO SUNNYDALE!” The white letters stared mockingly back at him. “Well, mate, it’s now or never. Might as well at least go and try to find her…”

Spike drove through the town of Sunnydale, noting that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. The small downtown area looked almost exactly the way he’d left it, except that many of the buildings were showing the wear of 5 years of weather and use. He continued to drive, past the cemetery, wondering what happened to his old crypt. As he watched the sun sink to a nice, non-fatal level he parked his car in the exact spot where the old Desoto used to sit. Using the advantage of the daylight still left but knowing he was safe from any direct sunlight, Spike stepped from his car and let the California air warm his face.

“Feels like a nice afternoon for a stroll” he thought to himself, and started walking down the sidewalk. He seemed to go on autopilot after that, heading straight for her neighborhood. The more he walked he started to doubt himself, and delved deep into thought as he stalked down the street.

*It’s been 5 years, mate. She’s probably moved on. Found herself a nice, normal bloke and moved into a big white house with a cute little picket fence. Why would she still be hanging around here, other than the fact that she’s still the slayer? She is still the slayer, right? I mean unless that Faith bird kicked it and someone else was called to take over.*

He slowed his pace a little, trying to settle his thoughts and gain some more of his confidence back. He started remembering happier times with Buffy, before she’d ended things for good and he’d left because the pain had been too much. He wondered if she ever thought of him. He wondered what he’d find once he made it to her house.

*Well, it’s the only shot I’ve got. I’ll just go there, see if she still lives there. If she’s not there, then I’ll just go on about my way and chalk it up to bad luck. Oh, but if she is there…* He turned his eyes up toward the clouds and said out loud “Please, if anyone up there is listening, please at least let her hear me out, if I find her.” The voice in his head picked up again. *Yeah, right. Why would she give you a chance? You did just what she thought you would. When the going got rough, you left, just like all the rest. You sodding, bloody, wanker…*

His self-belittling thoughts were snapped back to the present when he heard soft cries coming from just ahead. He stopped on the sidewalk and looked curiously at the site before him. A little girl was sitting in the grass beside the sidewalk with her little legs stretched out in front of her. When the strange man in black stopped in front of her, she turned her teary eyes up to look at him. She didn’t say anything, she just sat there, hiccupping with her sobs and letting new tears fall from her eyes. Her mommy had taught her to never talk to strangers, but this man was just giving off vibes that he wouldn’t hurt her.

In his entire existence, Spike had never seen a more beautiful child. Her skin was flawless, and was a perfectly sun kissed golden color *probably from playing outside all the time* he vaguely thought. Her ash-blonde hair fell to her shoulders in soft little curls, perfectly framing her tiny face. Even at her young age, she had these little cheekbones that gave definition to her face. Her green eyes sparkled back at him, shining even more brilliantly through her tears. She turned her head, and then he noticed that she had a tiny cut over her left eye, and a very small stream of blood was trickling down the side of her face, mingling with her tears and turning from crimson red to a watered down pink color. She then drew her knees up to her chest, and Spike noted that both knees were skinned. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he felt something tugging at his heart, making him want to help this beautiful little angel of a child sitting before him.

He sat down in front of her on the sidewalk, so he could be eye-to-eye to talk to her. “Are you ok, love?”

She once again turned her teary gaze to him, and shook her head “no”.

“Do you need help? Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

She studied him for a moment, trying to decide if her mommy would be angry with her for talking to this man.

On queue, as if he were reading her mind, Spike said softly “I bet your Mum told you never to talk to strangers, right?” She shook her head yes. “Well, then, let me fix that problem. I’m William. Now you know my name, so I’m not that much of a stranger, ok?” Again she shook her head yes. “Right then. So why don’t you tell me what’s the matter, and I’ll see if I can help you.”

Big tears welled in her eyes as she prepared to tell her story. As she started speaking, Spike was enraptured at the sound of her little voice. If he thought she looked like an angel, he thought she surely was an angel when her precious little voice started telling her story.

“Well, I was playing at my friend Chloe’s house, when she said her Mommy thought that my Mommy was weird. And that made me mad, so I told her that I didn’t want to be friends anymore, and I ran out of her house to go home, even though my Mommy told me never to walk home by myself.”

“Oh, that’s terrible, pet. But that doesn’t explain how you got these scrapes, dear. Want to tell me what happened there?”

She hiccupped again with a small sob, and continued. “That meanie Alex saw me and said he was gonna go tell my Mommy that I was out by myself, and I told him not to, but he said he was gonna go tell anyway, so I bit him.”

“You BIT him?”

“Y-yes. And then he started to cry and I ran away and he chased me. But then he caught up to me and tripped me, and I fell down on the sidewalk, and I hurt my knees and hit my head.” She was crying in full force again. Spike tentatively reached out and touched her hand, trying to soothe her cries.

“So what did this meanie Alex do then?”

“He was still crying ‘cause I bit him, and he ran into his house and left me here. And my knees hurt and I couldn’t walk home and my Mommy’s gonna be so mad at me and she probably won’t let me have my party next week and…”

“Hold up, love.” He smiled at her. “Let’s see what we can figure out. You know, don’t you, that you shouldn’t bite people. It’s not a very nice thing to do.”

“I know. My mommy tells me that all the time. ‘It’s not nice to bite people sweetie. We don’t hit or bite people, because we could hurt them’… she always tells me that whenever I hit Alex or bite him.” She smirked. Spike could have sworn this little angel *smirked* at him.

“Well, I have to say I agree with your Mommy. Are you feeling a little better than before?”

“A little.”

“Well, that’s good, pet.”

Again the little girl smiled at him. “I know your name now, but you don’t know mine.”

“That’s ok pet, you don’t have to tell me your name.”

“No, I want to. My name’s Maggie” Spike’s unnecessary breath caught in his chest. That’s who this little angel reminded him of: his little sister Margaret. He had always called her Maggie, and his mum had always hated it. Her little voice once again snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Will-yum? Will you take me home?”

“Uh, pet…Maggie, I would love to, but I don’t know where you live.”

“I know my address. Mommy taught it to me. I live at 1630 Revello Drive. Can you take me there?”

“I think I can manage that, Maggie.” Spike’s heart sank a little, knowing now that the love of his life had indeed moved on without him. He had no idea how he would find her now; now that there was a happy family with a precious little girl living in her old house. He scooped her up in his arms and started to carry her toward her house.

“How do you know which way to go?” She asked him when he instinctively headed toward her house.

“Oh. Well, you see, I used to have a very dear friend who lived in this neighborhood. In fact, that’s why I’m here in the first place. Was just coming round to see if she still lived here… was going to maybe pay her a visit. In fact, her address was the same as yours. So your Mommy and Daddy must have moved in there once she moved out.”

“Hmmm. Maybe!” she cooed. “But it’s just me and Mommy. My Daddy doesn’t live with us. I’ve never seen him, ‘cause he had to go away to work. He’s a hero, you know. Mommy always tells me how much she loves him and that he will come back someday. Hey! Maybe he’ll come for my party… ” She got a far-away look in her eyes, far more broody than any child should know how to be.

Spike wanted to cheer her up. “So, Maggie, tell me about this party that you’re worried about your Mommy taking away.”

Her eyes lit up again. “Oh, oh, oh! It’s my birthday; I’ll be five. And I’m having a big party, and all my friends are coming, except for now I’m gonna un-invite Chloe ‘cause she’s just as bad as that meanie Alex. But Mommy is making me let Alex come because she is friends with his parents. He’s a yucky, yucky boy.” She made a face and Spike chuckled at her impression of the young Alex, thinking ‘in 10 years she’ll probably have fallen head over heels for the git.’ She continued her story as they walked toward Revello Drive, telling him about all the games they would play at her party, and what kind of cake she wanted, and how much she hoped her mommy wouldn’t take the party away.

Spike noticed that her story seemed to be fading away, and he gazed down at her only to see that little Maggie had fallen asleep in his arms.

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Meanwhile, about five blocks away, a young mother was on her phone, frantically pacing the floor. “What do you mean, she just left? How could you let a 5 year old just LEAVE your house by herself?”

“Honestly,” Chloe’s mom replied “ She ran out while I was getting the laundry. I thought the girls were playing in Chloe’s room until I went to check on them, and then Chloe told me that they’d had a fight and Maggie had left.”

“Well, we have to find her!”

“We will, you stay there, I’m sending Chloe’s dad out to look for her now. Keep your phone line free and he’ll take his cell and we’ll find her. Don’t worry.”

Maggie’s mom called Chloe’s mom back to see if they had spotted Maggie yet. As she was again becoming frantic on the phone, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Wait. Someone’s at the door. I think she’s home. I’ll call you right back.” She went to the door, still holding the cordless phone in her hand.

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Spike made his way up the sidewalk with the sleeping child in his arms. The cut over her eye was still oozing a bit, and her tears had not yet dried. She still managed to look so peaceful in her sleep, and he wondered how she had managed to fall asleep so quickly. He walked up onto the porch, wondering how he was going to explain to this little girl’s mother how he’d found her and why he’d brought her home.

He shifted the little girl in his arms to free up a hand to ring the doorbell, and watched as the small child curled up even more in his arms. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and the frantic Mom called out before even looking to see who was there. “Maggie??” Then she took in the sight before her. A tall, blonde man dressed in black stood holding her daughter, and there was a small trickle of red on the side of her face and on her little knees.

Spike’s eyes flew wide when he looked at the woman standing in her doorway. “What the….” He was starting to say, when Maggie woke up and looked over to see that she was home.

A huge grin broke over her face, and she proclaimed “Mommy! Will-yum brought me home. Please don’t me mad at me, please, please, please.”

“Yeah, Mommy, please don’t be mad at her. She was hurt and I was only trying to help her.” Spike said as a smirk started forming on his face.

Buffy dropped the phone she was holding and fainted.

(TBC)

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“Mommy!” Maggie shrieked, as she saw Buffy faint and hit the floor in the foyer. Spike panicked, not knowing if he could go into the house to help her, or if he’d been uninvited again after he left 5 years ago. He gently put Maggie down.

“Pet, you go sit on the steps, and let me see if I can help your Mum. I’ll be right back.” Maggie gave him a hard look, but then wandered across the porch to sit on the steps. Spike decided it was now or never. He reached out his hand, and let out a sigh of relief when his hand did not meet an invisible barrier at the threshold. He rushed in, and immediately fell to the floor beside Buffy, gently gathering her into his arms.

“Buffy, love, wake up. Please, wake up.” Her eyes began to flutter. “That’s it pet, wake up.” He looked out onto the porch, and called for Maggie. “Maggie, come here, pet. Your Mum’s waking up.”

Maggie ran over to where Spike and Buffy were sitting, and touched her mom’s face gently. “Mommy, what happened? You fell down like me!”

“Maggie?” Buffy’s eyes opened, and she looked at her little girl’s face. “Maggie what happened to you?!” She pulled away from Spike, and shrieked at him “What did you do to my little girl?!”

Maggie started to cry again. Spike never knew a child could start and stop crying so quickly. Buffy gathered her daughter in her arms and began rocking her back and forth. “Sweetie, don’t cry. Come on, calm down, try not to cry.”

The little girl placed her hands on either side of Buffy’s face, and looked at her. “Are you mad at me Mommy? Please don’t be mad. I know I’m not ‘sposed to walk home with out you and I know I’m not ‘sposed to talk to strangers but I fell down Mommy, and I was hurt and he helped me and please don’t take my party away ‘cause what if Daddy’s coming to it?”

Buffy’s heart skipped a beat. She looked back at Maggie and brushed her tears from her face. “No, sweetie, I’m not going to take your party away. And I’m not mad at you, but you scared me. I didn’t know where you were. Never, ever again go anywhere without telling a grown up where you’re going, Ok?”

“Ok, Mommy. You aren’t mad at me for letting Will-yum bring me home?” Buffy contemplated Spike, how he was just calmly standing there, taking in the sight of a Mother and Daughter, reunited.

“No, sweetie, I’m just glad he was there to help you.” She grinned to herself at how Maggie pronounced Spikes real name. Buffy looked up at Spike and he hoped that she just might give him that chance to explain that he was hoping for.

“You know what Mommy? Will-yum said he used to have a friend that lived in our house. And he was coming to see her, but she doesn’t live here anymore, ‘cause we live here now.”

“Is that so?” Buffy asked her daughter. “Well, why don’t we go into the kitchen and fix up your cuts and scrapes and William can tell us about his friend. Maybe we can help him find her.”

Buffy and Maggie started down the hall to the kitchen while Spike just stood in the doorway, amazed at how calmly Buffy was reacting to his return. He was sure he’d catch hell later, though, once Maggie was out of sight. Maggie turned around and noticed that Spike was not following them. She ran back and grabbed his hand, and tugged him down the hallway with her. “Come on Will-yum! You can tell me a story while Mommy fixes my cuts!”

Once in the kitchen, Spike lifted the little girl up to sit on the counter, while Buffy retrieved her first aid kit from the drawer. She got out the antiseptic, and Maggie winced and drew in a sharp breath before Buffy even got the bottle open. Buffy smiled at her, “Sweetie, I haven’t even opened it up yet, so it can’t hurt already.” Maggie opened one eye and looked at her mother warily. Buffy turned to Spike “Um, William, why don’t you talk to her, and maybe it will take her mind off of getting her cuts cleaned.”

“Ok.” Spike was suddenly at a loss on what to say to the child. I mean, he couldn’t just start telling her stories of his past like he used to tell Dawn…too much blood and guts for the bitty-Buffy sitting in front of him was definitely not the way to win Buffy over. Luckily, Maggie saved him,

“Will-yum, you talk funny. Why do you sound like that?”

“Well, love, I’m from a place called England. Do you know where that is?”

“Uh-huh! It’s where Giles lives! Giles is funny. He wears these glasses, and he’s always taking them off and cleaning them. Mommy says he’s always done that! He says there are real princesses that live in England. Is it true, are there really princesses there?”

“There sure are. There’s even a Queen and castles and palaces. Quite the fairytale land, it is.”

Maggie was so enraptured with Spike that she hadn’t even noticed that Buffy was finished cleaning her knees and had already put band-aids on them. She did notice, however, when Buffy touched the peroxide-soaked cotton to the cut over her eye. Maggie screamed immediately. Spike, without even thinking, took her little face in his hands and started to blow gently on her cut to soothe the sting. Buffy just watched in amazement at how tender Spike was being to her daughter.

Maggie closed her eyes and giggled, “How come your breath is cold? It tickles.”

“Just a little trick I learned once” Spike replied as he gazed at the child.

“So…” Buffy interrupted the tender scene, “Do you want to tell me how this happened, Maggie?” She gently placed a small band-aid on her daughter’s head and placed a kiss on the bandage.

“Will-yum knows. He can tell you.” Maggie was clearly trying to avoid telling her mother that she’d bitten little Alex Harris, causing him to push her down on the sidewalk.

“No, I think I want to hear it from you. I promise I won’t be mad at you, just tell me how this happened.”

Maggie began her tale again, about how she’d gotten mad at Chloe and left, and then ran into Alex on the way home. “…And he was so mean to me, Mommy, and he said he was gonna tell you and Auntie Anya that I was out and get me in trouble, and so I -bit -him-and-he-chased-me-and-pushed-me-down-and-that’s-how-I-got-hurt.” She rushed out the last part, hoping Buffy had missed the biting part.

Buffy had not missed the biting part. Spike was intrigued by the “Auntie Anya” part. *I guess the Whelp and the Vengeance Demon worked things out after I left…* Spike thought.

“You BIT Alex? Margaret Anne Sinclair how many times have I told you that you are NOT to bite people? No matter how angry you are or how much you think it will fix things??”

“I know Mommy, but he’s such a meanie, and he wouldn’t leave me alone. I hate him sometimes! I would hate him all the time if you didn’t like Auntie Anya and Uncle Xander!”

“Margaret…” Buffy warned. Maggie knew she’d gone to far- her Mom had used her real name twice already.

“I’m sorry Mommy. I will try very hard to never bite Alex again. But I won’t try to like him any better. He’s just a mean old yucky boy and I’ll never like him, never, never, never!”

“That’s it Margaret Anne. Go to your room while I start dinner. And no TV while you’re there. You can play with your coloring books but no TV. Now go.”

She hopped down from the counter and ran to the doorway. She looked up the stairs, and saw that the upstairs hallway was totally dark. She turned her slightly frightened gaze back to Buffy. “Mommy…it’s dark up there.”

Buffy sighed, remembering that the lights weren’t on upstairs yet. “Ok, I’ll walk you up. Come on.”

“Can Will-yum take me?” she said hopefully, knowing that she could probably con him into turning on her TV.

“Fine. He can walk you upstairs. But then I want him to come back. I need to talk to him about this friend of his that used to live here.” Maggie grinned and grabbed Spike’s hand, tugging him out toward the stairs.

Buffy called after them. “Sp-William…” He turned to face her. “She’s afraid of the dark, so turn on the light as soon as you get upstairs. And no matter what she says to you, do not turn on her TV.”

“Sure thing, love. Be right back.”

Maggie led Spike up the stairs, gripping his hand tighter as they ventured into the darkness. She stopped when they almost reached the top of the stairs, now fully cloaked in the darkness of the hallway. Spike reached down and picked her up. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, until he reached over and switched the light on.

“Which room is yours, love?” Spike inquired of the child. She pointed toward the door that used to be Buffy’s old room. Spike took her to the room, and smiled to himself when he took in the décor of the room. The walls were painted purple, with a lavender border around the wall, about waist high, and the sesame street numbers and letters stenciled in the border. In one corner of the room sat stuffed toys of each and every Sesame Street character, except for one, which resided on her bed. On the bed was the missing character; The Count. In fact, there were several versions of the count scattered about the room. The biggest one sat in the middle of the bed, smiling back with his fangs and cape billowing. Another, smaller stuffed toy Count lay on the floor beside her dresser, and looked as if she had carried him everywhere with her. All of the pictures on her walls were of the Count. He smiled at the irony of it all. She apparently loved The Count, yet had no idea that she had a real live vampire in her room.

He put Maggie down and she ran over to a little table and pulled out some coloring books. “Will-yum, do you like The Count?”

“Well, pet, he seems nice enough. I’ll bet you like him a lot, huh?”

“Yeah, he’s my favorite. He’s all fangy and ‘grr’” Spike chuckled at her use of Buffy’s old phrase. “Will you watch him with me on TV?”

“Now, love, your Mommy told me specifically not to turn on your TV. Seems that’s your punishment for biting young Alex.”

“Yeah, I know.” She whispered in defeat.

“I’ll tell you what. I need to back downstairs and chat with your Mum. So why don’t you sit here and color a nice picture of our friend the Count and I’ll see if I can talk her into letting you watch some TV before you go to bed tonight. Does that sound like a good deal?”

Maggie grinned and said “Ok!”

“Right then. You stay here and be good then, and your Mum will be up in a little bit when your dinner’s ready.”

Spike walked back down stairs and found Buffy humming and making dinner. She sensed when he walked in the door, and turned around to smile at him.

“Did she get settled in her room?”

“She did. We chatted about The Count, and she explained to me how he was all ‘fangy and grrr’. She’s coloring a picture of him as we speak.”

“Did she try to con you into letting her watch TV?”

“Of course. But I told her no, just like you instructed. But I sort of promised her that I’d ask you if she could watch a little while before her bedtime.”

“Well, we will just have to see about that. Spike, I really want us to sit down and have a nice, long chat. Why don’t you stay for dinner with Maggie and me and then you and I can talk after she’s asleep?”

“Ok, Buffy. I think I can handle that. There’s so much I need to tell you.” He seemed lost in thought again before continuing, “Ah, Buffy, you’re being a lot more rational about me showing up out of the blue than I had expected.”

“Spike, don’t start. We can both behave like adults here. And after Maggie’s asleep, we’ll sit down and talk. But for now, why don’t you tell me how you managed to find my wayward child this afternoon.”

Spike smiled and sat down at the counter to talk to Buffy, much like he had done before with Joyce. “Well, love, I was coming to town to see if I could find you, and while I was walking through your neighborhood I saw this little angel of a child crying by the sidewalk. I stopped to see if I could help her, and we became instant friends. And she wasn’t quite feeling up to walking, so I brought her home and now… here we are.”

“But how did you know she was my child?”

“Um, I didn’t Buffy. I didn’t know to which home she belonged until she spouted out her address for me. In fact, I was more than a little sad when she told me where she lived, because I thought that you had moved on.” He looked away from her, trying to hide the emotion in his eyes.

Buffy watched him intently as he described his encounter with Maggie. He sounded like he was genuinely concerned for the child, even before he knew whose child she was. Buffy wanted to tell him the truth right away, but was afraid of his initial reaction. She knew he wouldn’t believe her at first, but once she proved what she had to tell him, she didn’t know if he’d be happy or sad or angry, or indifferent. She decided to just plunge in and tell him.

“Spike, was there nothing that seemed the least bit familiar about her before you knew she was mine?”

“Actually, yes. I mean, there was something familiar about her when I first saw her, but then when she told me her name, it hit me. I never told you this, Buffy, but I had a little sister named Margaret. She reminded me so much of my sister, their resemblance is uncanny. I’ve never seen another child that was as beautiful as she was until I met your little Maggie today.”

“You met OUR little Maggie today, Spike.”

“Pardon me, love?” Spike sputtered out, thinking he misunderstood Buffy’s statement.

“Spike…Maggie is your daughter. Yours and mine.”

(TBC)

Part 3:

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