II

“Uh, hi,” Buffy said nervously as William opened the door to his apartment.

He smiled, equally nervous. “Come on in. Glad you could make it, luv.” William stepped aside to let her enter.

“Dawn should be right behind me. She thought she might have to leave early, so we thought we’d take separate cars.” Buffy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and handed him the bottle of red wine. “I hope you like.”

“’m sure I will,” he smiled. “Hope you like lasagna. My specialty.”

“It smells fabulous.” There was a long, awkward pause, and Buffy finally said, “So, Angel has Ty tonight?”

William glanced over at her, gesturing to the table set for three. “Yeah, it’s a regular thing. You wouldn’t think it of the big poof, but he and Ty are fast friends. Though, I think he an’ Emmie were takin’ Ty to a movie tonight. Nice to see those two are finally getting along.”

“They were fighting?” Buffy asked. She hadn’t really gotten that vibe from either of them.

He shook his head. “No, but they’ve been fightin’ this thing for about the last year. Could see it comin’ from about a mile away, you know.”

Buffy didn’t know, but then she hadn’t been around. “You know, Spike—” She broke off. “Sorry. William.”

“No,” he interrupted. “S’okay if you call me Spike, Buffy. Sounds right comin’ out of your mouth somehow.”

She smiled relflexively. “It feels right,” she admitted. She might have said more, but there was a knock on the door, and then Dawn was there.

The evening went better than any of them had hoped. There was the usual talk over dinner, of things they were doing, of things they had done, all in the recent past. Dawn talked about how graduate school was going, as well as how she liked working with Wesley in archives. Buffy talked about the other Slayers and living in L.A., and basically how it felt not to be in the middle of trouble more than half the time. And William talked about his job and working with Angel and his son, with an unmistakable note of pride in his voice.

But when dinner had been consumed, as well as a couple glasses of wine a piece, the talk turned to the past. “It was hard to lose you,” Dawn said. She was sitting on one of William’s arm chairs, a glass of wine in her hand and a far-away look in her eyes. “I mean, I really thought I hated you for the longest time, and when you died, I realized how much I didn’t. How much I’d missed you.”

There was a long silence, and Buffy whispered. “You think you have all the time in the world, even when you know it’s probably the end.” She took a swallow of her drink, looking over at William’s thoughtful face. They had just gotten done explaining that last year to him, Buffy telling him things that even Dawn hadn’t known about. About how he’d come after her and found her in that house. How they’d spent the last three nights together, just holding one another. How they had loved each other. “I really never thought you would be the one to die,” she said. “I mean, I’d already died twice, I couldn’t really think about living through another apocalypse. And you were supposed to be invincible. You were the one that stayed.”

He shook his head. “I don’t remember much at all. There are bits and pieces that I’ve dreamed, and sometimes I’ll remember those, but—” William glanced over at Dawn. “We played cards together. And you said you’d set me on fire.”

Dawn laughed and looked a bit sheepish. “Two totally separate occasions, I promise. We were really close the summer after Buffy died. You looked after me, and then when she came back…”

Buffy winced. “Everything went to hell. That wasn’t entirely Spike’s fault.”

“No.” Dawn looked over at her sister. They still had their secrets, but they’d talked about that summer finally, and about the aftermath of Buffy’s return. She and Buffy shared a look, and Dawn stood. “I think I should probably go. I need to be up early tomorrow.”

Neither Buffy nor William asked what she had to be up early for since it was Friday night. They were both feeling the need for some privacy. William followed her to the door. “Don’t be a stranger, Dawn,” he said. “You need anything, just let me know.”

Dawn stared at him. “Same goes here, Spike.” Impulsively, she reached out and grabbed him in a tight hug, something they’d never had a chance to share while he was a vampire. “I’m glad you’re around, in some form or another. I missed you.”

He didn’t reply except to run a tender hand down her hair. Doing so felt like a missing piece falling into place. “You’re quite a woman, Li’l Bit.”

Dawn blinked back tears, surprised to hear the familiar nickname coming out of his mouth. “’Night, Spike.”

When he came back into the living room, he and Buffy shared a long look. “So, do you want to go first or should I?” she asked.

He shrugged, uncomfortable. With Dawn there, he had at least a semblance of protection and distance from the fragments of his past that haunted him. Honesty being the best policy, he decided to move forward. “I have this dream,” he confessed. “Where we’re—we’re in a bathroom. An’ I hurt you. How much—?”

“How much of that really happened?” Buffy replied gently. “Pretty much all of it. I won’t lie to you, Spike. Things got really twisted between us at one point. But that’s why you went to get your soul in the first place, because you felt so guilty over what you’d tried to do. Just for your information, vampires as a rule don’t feel guilt, so that was pretty remarkable.”

William fiddled with his wine glass. “Why didn’t you stake me, Buffy?”

She bit her lip. She’d never been entirely sure of the reason herself, except that the only moment she might have been able to do it had been that moment she’d seen him again for the first time. And in that moment she was so stunned, and so happy to see him, that she wouldn’t have been able to kill him. “I couldn’t,” she replied simply. “Like I said before, our relationship was really complicated. And there are things that I’m so glad you don’t remember.”

When William would meet her eyes it was with the same vulnerability that Spike had showed at the end. Buffy suddenly realized that she knew this man possibly better than anyone else, because she had known Spike-with-a-soul, and that was who he was. He might not know it yet, but all the marks were there. “What are we doing, Buffy?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m still in love with Spike, and I always will be. And like it or not, you really are him. That’s not a bad thing. But you’re also a different person now, so I guess it’s up to you. What do you want to do, William?”

He shook his head. “There’s a part of me that’s tellin’ me to run, that this won’t turn out good, an’ I’ve got a family, Buffy. I can’t afford to go makin’ poor choices like that. But there’s this bigger part of me that just feels—complete when you’re near me. As if everythin’ is fallin’ into place, all those missin’ pieces I lost somewhere. An’ maybe it’s selfish, but I want to feel whole again, luv. I want you, an’ I think a part of me has been missin’ you forever.”

This was different, she knew. This wasn’t about the passion or the sex or the lust, though all of that was there. This was about two grown-ups who had separate lives trying to figure out if they could make a go of it. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and he wasn’t a vampire, and so everything was different. “I want to be with you,” she said.

A smile lit up his face, and it was as though the sun itself had finally come out. “I want to be with you too, Slayer,” he replied, almost shyly. And Buffy knew what he meant when he talked about missing pieces falling into place.

III

William tenderly sponged the sweat from Erin’s forehead with one hand, his other held in her tight grasp. “You’re doin’ just fine, luv,” he encouraged.

She threw him a grateful look, but said nothing. Her labor had been hard for the past few hours, and she had little energy to spare for words. The doctor looked up from his position between her legs and added his own words of encouragement. “I can see the head now, Erin. You’re almost there. Just a couple more good pushes.”

Erin nodded and bore down, and William was amazed at her stoicism. She had been calm and controlled for most of the labor, and he thought that it was a little unusual, since he’d heard stories from some of the expectant fathers in Erin’s Lamaze classes. (Though, in all fairness, she couldn’t really blame the pregnancy on him, whether his name was going on the birth certificate or not.) His heart nearly broke for love of this woman.

A few moments later, and the doctor gave a cry of triumph, perfectly timed with Erin’s own cry of pain. The sound of a baby’s wail broke through all other noises in the delivery room, and the doctor smiled at him. “Congratulations, Dad. You’ve got a healthy baby boy.” William watched in awe as one of the nurses clamped the cord and handed him the scissors. Hesitantly, he snipped it where he was told, and a moment later he held his son in his arms.

There are some who don’t believe in fate, who believe all things in life come by chance. If William had ever been in that category, he ceased from that moment onward. Because as soon as the tiny boy was placed in his arms, his crying ceased, and he opened his (blue) eyes to stare into William’s own.

It was as though time had stopped, and nothing remained except the feeling of perfection. It didn’t matter that the blood that ran through the boy’s veins was none of his own, that he hadn’t a clue to his own past. In this boy’s eyes, his son’s eyes, he saw his future. And it was enough.

“What are you going to call him?” one of the nurses asked, smiling at the obvious bond between father and child, always so nice to see.

He looked over at Erin’s exhausted face and thought she’d never looked more beautiful. She smiled at him. “His name is Titus William Smith.”

IV

“Are you sure you don’t mind coming with me, Buffy?” Emmie asked. It was a moot question, since they were well on their way to Ty’s school, but she hated to drag the other woman along on what was, essentially, her job.

Buffy shrugged. “Of course not. Ty’s a great kid. And I thought I might take Ty (him?) to spring Spike and we could go to the park.”

The other Slayer smiled at her. “I think it’s so great that you two are working things out. I’ve been telling Will for a while that he needed to tell you he was still alive. Or, at least, that he was alive to begin with, you know.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think we finally worked that out. He was stubborn when he was a vampire too, though, so it’s not all that surprising. Idiot,” she said fondly.

“Is he really that much like Spike?” Emmie asked out of curiosity. She had her own theories on the subject, of course, but she was wondering if she would get some validation.

Buffy grinned. “Oh yeah. You know that thing he does with his head? When he’s really frustrated and he looks down at the ground like he’s counting to ten or something? Still there.”

Emmie let out a peal of laughter. “I can’t tell you how many times he’s looked at me like that! And when he cocks his head to the side, as if he’s looking right through you. It’s almost spooky the way he knows what you’re thinking sometimes.”

Buffy’s grin became a small smile. “Yeah. I remember that look too. It used to infuriate me while I was still pretending to hate him.”

“And then?”

“And then it became one of the reasons I trusted him.” Buffy followed Emmie into the school office. According to the nanny, no one was allowed to pick Ty up unless they were on a specific list, and even then they had to show some form of identification.

Emmie didn’t recognize the secretary at the desk, but pulled out the badge that most of the employees from Wolfram & Hart carried. “Hi, I’m here to pick up Ty Smith.”

The young secretary’s eyes widened. “Someone came and picked Ty up hours ago.”

Emmie’s eyes narrowed even as her heart jumped into her throat. “Who?”

“I—I don’t know. They had the same kind of identification you do, though,” she said quickly, defending herself.

Emmie’s eyes met Buffy’s, who was beginning to feel the edges of terror herself. “I want to speak with the principal immediately,” she insisted.

The principal, a dark skinned man of Latino descent, came out to greet them. “Miss Carletti. It’s good to see you.”

Emmie didn’t bother returning his greeting. “Mr. Salazar. This is Buffy Summers, an associate of mine and Mr. Smith’s. Your secretary just informed us that Ty was picked up this afternoon by two men, without my knowledge or consent.”

Mr. Salazar turned to the girl, who was looking rather frightened. “Is this true, Amy?”

“They had identification, Mr. Salazar,” she protested.

“Were they on the list of those approved to pick Ty up?” he asked.

“List?” she replied in a very tiny voice.

Alarm began to grow, a tension so thick the whole room seemed filled with it. “Did you get their names, or at least a description?” Buffy asked quickly.

Tearfully, Amy admitted she hadn’t gotten their names, and she could give only very general descriptions. It wasn’t going to help them at all. “We’ll have to call the police,” Mr. Salzar said gravely. “I’m very, very sorry, Miss Carletti.”

Emmie nodded, her face grim. “I’ll let William know. It’s probably best if the resources of Wolfram & Hart are used in this case. We have strings to pull the local police don’t know anything about.”

The man nodded and went back into his office, and Emmie turned to Buffy. “This will kill him,” she whispered. “William’s whole life is that kid.”

“I know,” Buffy replied. “We’re going to get him back, though.” Her eyes glinted with a hardness Emmie hadn’t seen before, and she realized that she was looking at the Slayer. “And then we’re going to make the bastards who did this pay.”

V

“I never thought I’d get to do this,” Buffy said smiling, as she and William walked side-by-side down the sidewalk. Ty was riding his scooter up ahead of them, racing ahead and then waiting impatiently just like any other eight-year-old boy. It was hard to remember how not-typical he was at times. Just like his father.

“What, luv?” he asked, glancing down at her, his bleached hair shining in the sun. He’d let it grow out a little, so that his dark roots showed, but Buffy thought he would keep it bleached. It really was a good look on him, especially as it was now.

She waved a hand vaguely. “This. You, me, sunshine. Kid. All of the above.”

William shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better, feels weird to me too.”

Buffy’s eyes were caught by Ty as he stooped to look at something on the sidewalk. She felt a sudden twisting of her heart. “Do you miss her? Ty’s mom, I mean.”

William frowned slightly. “Yeah, I do. She was a good woman, gave me a place when I didn’t have a clue who I was. Erin gave me Ty. I’d love her for that alone.”

“I wish I’d been there,” she confessed. “I hate to think of you going through all that on your own.”

“I wasn’t alone though, Buffy,” he corrected her gently, understanding her jealousy, at least a little.

She smiled, letting him know there was no bitterness there. “I know. And it’s probably a good thing that there was some time between, you know? Sometimes you have to lose something to know how much you needed it in the first place.”

William wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a show of solidarity. “Yeah. Can’t lie to you, luv, I can’t really miss what I don’t remember, but if I hadn’t been with Erin, I never would have known Ty. Wouldn’t give him up for anything.”

“No,” Buffy agreed. “He’s pretty wonderful.”

“Never believed in fate till the day I held him,” he said quietly. “Erin asked me pretty early if I’d put m’self down as his dad, and I didn’t mind. Felt grateful to her for everythin’ she’d done for me, and we were both pretty much on our own. No one else to hold on to really. I figured I’d love him, but when I looked into his eyes—” William’s own blue eyes held a reverence Buffy couldn’t remember ever seeing before. “I knew I was meant to be his dad.”

“Does he know?” she asked, and he didn’t need clarification to understand her question.

“Yeah, enough. He knows that Erin asked me to be his dad, but we told him his biological dad’s a sperm donor. Erin never knew different, I guess, an’ there’s no way to track the bugger down. When he gets older, we’ll tell him the rest, but for now he knows what he needs to.”

Buffy couldn’t imagine what that conversation would be like. On the other hand, Ty had so many people who had chosen to be his family, that he couldn’t help but feel loved. “Well, you’ve done a really good job with him, Spike. You couldn’t ask for a better kid.”

He smiled, grateful for the compliment even as he gently brushed it aside. “Thanks. But I couldn’t have done it on my own.” They had reached their destination, and Ty was immediately on the monkey bars of the large playground, swinging himself across with an ease even a Slayer could envy. She sat down next to William on a bench, soaking up the afternoon sun.

“Buffy?”

She glanced over at him, taken aback slightly by the bashfulness in his tone. “Yeah?”

“Could I—?”

Buffy glanced down and took the hand he was offering her, entwining her fingers with his. This felt good, right, as though this was what she was meant for. And she let herself savor the moment of sun and warmth and a child’s laughter.

VI

Buffy dreaded this, more than she’d ever dreaded anything in her life. Emmie had asked her to go back to the office to let William and Angel know what had happened while she stayed to talk to the police when they came. The younger Slayer had every belief that the LAPD would most likely leave the details of the kidnapping to the law firm, as it had a rather solid reputation around the city for being able to deal with a number of different problems that needed solving. And neither she nor Buffy had any doubts about the crime itself. It had been directed at Ty specifically, and thus at William and/or Angel, which meant the motivation most likely had at least one foot in the world of the supernatural.

But that meant that she was the one elected to tell William the bad news, and she knew what it was going to do to him. She knocked on the door of his office perfunctorily before entering, her grim face stopping the secretary from voicing more than a single word of protest.

He looked up, his eyes lighting with pleasure when he saw her. “Buffy! Did you and Emmie pick Ty up then?”

She shook her head, and something in her gaze made him flinch noticably. “I’m sorry, William,” she said softly.

“What happened?” he whispered. Buffy hesitated, and his voice grew stronger. “What happened, Slayer?”

“Someone snatched Ty,” she replied bluntly, thinking that quick was best in this case. “When Emmie and I got to the school the secretary told us someone had already come to pick him up. They had identification from the office, but she didn’t know enough to check their names against the list.”

William’s face had drained of all color, and he put one trembling hand over his eyes. “Bloody hell. What do we know?” he asked.

“That’s about it,” Buffy said. “Emmie stayed to talk to the police, but I doubt there’s much they can do. I’m going to call Angel and the others. We’re going to need to have a meeting and get things set up. They’re not going to get away with this.”

William shook his head, tossing off the terror and shock that had grabbed at him. “No,” he agreed. “They’re not.”

An hour and a half later they were all seated around the table in the large conference room Angel preferred for private meetings. It was shielded not only from the latest in technological listening devices, but also from magic of all kinds. Wes, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne were all in various stages of shock and anger, ready to go, but also focused on the problem at hand. Namely, that they had no way of finding Ty.

Angel paced at one end of the room, while Buffy kept a tight grip on William at the other end. He wasn’t falling apart precisely, but he was angry and impatient. Dawn was seated on the other side, throwing concerned glances from her sister to Angel and then over to William while they all waited for Emmie to return from the school. Buffy had placed a call to Willow only a few minutes before, asking for her friend’s magical expertise and whatever help she could give. They didn’t have to wait much longer before the young Slayer returned.

“Stupid cops,” she said as she entered. “They basically told me to go home and wait for word. ‘He’ll turn up. Don’t worry.’” Emmie gave a snort of anger. “He’s eight, not eighteen.”

“My fault,” Angel rumbled, passing a hand over his face. “They know enough by now not to even pay any attention to what goes on at Wolfram & Hart. Apparently that applies to missing family members as well.”

“Not a whole soddin’ lot of good they could do anyway, pet,” William sighed. “From what Buffy said, they’re bloody clueless as to who turned up to grab him in the first place.”

“Clueless is right,” Buffy agreed. “We couldn’t even get a decent description out of that girl.”

“Could she be in on it?” Gunn asked. “Let them through, so to speak?”

Buffy shook her head. “No. I know people, and she didn’t have anything to do with it. Not that she’s not an idiot, but she’s not malicious like that.”

William shook his head. “Dammit! ‘m not sittin’ around here waitin’ for the sky to fall in!” he exclaimed. “We should be doin’ somethin’.”

“We are doing something,” Angel replied. “Wes, I want you to check out the archives for any prophecies that might pertain to this. I know we’ve looked for specifics concerning Ty in the past, but run down anything that might be happening within the next few days. Dawn, I want you to help him.” He looked at Lorne. “Talk to your contacts, find out what they know. Anything at all. You know what I’m talking about.”

“You’ve got it Angel Cakes,” Lorne said, his green skin slightly pale with stress.

“Fred, I want you to get the phones ready in case someone calls. Make sure we can monitor and record the call. Gunn, get a unit ready. I want our best, most reliable people on this, only the ones we trust.”

When everybody had left to fill their assignments on Angel’s orders, William looked over at the older vampire. “And what about you an’ me, Angel? What are we supposed to do?”

“We wait,” Angel said, with more calm than he felt.

William’s eyebrows went up and he shot to his feet. “Wait?! I told you, ‘m not sittin’ here while someone’s got my son!”

“And what are you going to do, Will?” Angel demanded. “What if someone calls wanting to talk to you? Huh? We won’t get anywhere with you haring off who knows where.”

William would have said something to regret later if Buffy hadn’t laid a gentle hand on his arm. “Willow’s on her way, Spike. If anyone can, she should be able to find him.”

“With magic?” he asked, his lips twisted in a sneer. “What good’s magic gonna do us?”

“As I recall,” Buffy said calmly. “It was magic that let you and I save the world the last time we faced an apocalypse together. And it happened to be Willow’s magic that helped us.”

Angel and Emmie looked from one to the other, and then slipped quietly out of the room, leaving the two alone. “Buffy, I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t,” she said, with as much force and assurance that she could muster. “I promise you, I’m not gonna let that happen.”

He shook his head. “You might not be able to stop it, luv. I might not be able—” William broke off, trying not to choke on the emotion threatening to overwhelm him. He might have been a warrior, but he was a father first and foremost.

“Then we’ll do our best. That’s all we can do.” Buffy pulled him into her arms, trying to give him whatever strength she could spare. “And it’ll be enough. It always has been before.”

VII

Emmie opened her door to find Angel standing in front of her. “Hey,” she said, a little surprised by his presence. Ty was spending the night with Wesley to give both her and Will a little break, and she knew Angel was aware of that, so she couldn’t figure out why he would be at her door.

“Uh, hi,” he replied, a little nervous. “Are you busy?”

Emmie frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” he replied quickly. “I just thought you might, you know, want to eat something.”

Emmie blinked, not sure that she was hearing him right. Angel didn’t eat people food as a general rule. Once in a great while, he’d take Ty out to eat, and then he’d have something for appearances’ sake, but otherwise he stuck to blood. “You’re hungry?”

“Yeah, well, actually, no,” he admitted, looking down at the ground. “I was thinking you might be though.”

Emmie stepped back and motioned him inside. “Do I need to change?” she asked, amusement coloring her tone. She was wearing baggy dark pants and a tight red shirt.

“You don’t have to,” he said. “Though, if you want to go somewhere nice…”

She grinned at him. “You offering to cough up the dough for a decent dinner?”

“Up to you,” came the almost cheerful reply.

Emmie got a sly smile on her face and shrugged. “I’ll be out in a minute then.” She wasn’t exaggerating. A few minutes after she disappeared into her bedroom she was out, now dressed in a criminally short black skirt, a hint of makeup on her face, and her red-tipped spiky hair mussed. She was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. Even if Angel was typically a neck man, he knew how to appreciate a nice pair of legs. And she knew exactly the kind of impression she was making.

Angel held out an arm wordlessly, and she took it.

Later that night, after an incredible dinner, Emmie found herself sitting across from the quiet vampire. “What’s this about, Angel?” she finally asked. “Don’t get me wrong, this has been great, but—” Emmie broke off. Other than the guys she worked with, she had little good experience with men. And three good years weren’t nearly enough to erase eighteen rotten ones, so there was no surprise that she was a little hesitant.

“I like you,” he said softly. When she remained silent, he continued. “This isn’t easy for me, Emmie. I have a tendency to have really bad luck when it comes to falling in love. But you make me want to give it a shot.”

Emmie was silent for a long time. “What happened to ‘this isn’t going anywhere?’”

Angel shrugged. “I figured out that that wasn’t what I wanted. I don’t know where this is going, but I wanted you to know how I felt.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I told you that I think I’m falling in love with you?” she asked quietly.

And Angel smiled at her, looking as happy as she’d ever seen him. “I don’t mind a bit.”

VIII

It was a tableau of shock. Angel and William stood shoulder to shoulder in the old warehouse watching as an old nemesis held a frightened Ty by the scruff of the neck. The light in the large open room was spotty, provided by ancient flourescent tubes. And they were out-numbered at least four to one, preventing them from making any move at all on Race, who laughed at their predicament.

Only a few hours before, Willow had been working on the locator spell even as the phone rang. It wasn’t a ransom demand, however, but a request for a meeting, directed at Angel mostly. “It was Race,” Angel said quietly.

Buffy didn’t know what he was talking about, but Emmie and William recognized the name immediately. Race was a vampire, but he was also an arms dealer who delighted in spreading all kinds of chaos and mayhem any way he could. Angel had shut him down a few months before William had come to work at Wolfram & Hart, but it was a well-known story. The investigation and the ensuing fight had lasted a good three months, and Angel had lost four good fighters. The assumption had been that Race had been dusted sometime during the battle. Apparently, they had been wrong.

Angel quickly explained the background to Buffy, who frowned. “Did he want money?”

“No, he wants a meeting.” He looked over at William, and they shared a look. For all their differences, they understood one another quite well, especially when it came to the battle.

William’s grim face was evidence of his understanding. “He’s looking for revenge, Angel.” There was a long silence. “We’re going, of course.”

Buffy’s eyebrows went up. “Wait a minute, Spike. Think about this.”

“Race wants a meeting, he’ll get a meeting. Otherwise you know what he’ll do to Ty.”

Buffy reached out and grabbed his arm. “Listen to yourself. If he wants revenge badly enough, the best way to do it would be to make sure you never get your son back. At least let Willow finish the locator spell, make sure that Ty is at the meeting place. If he is, fine. We’ll go in and get him out. If not, you can make the meeting and send a different team to pull him out.”

William shook his head. “We don’t have time, Buffy.”

“A few more minutes,” Buffy insisted.

“Listen to her, Will,” Angel said quietly from his position leaning up against the wall. Emmie stood next to him, her hand tucked supportively through his arm in an unobtrusive gesture of affection. “She’s right. We can’t afford to go off half-cocked.”

“He’s my son!”

“I love him too, William,” Angel replied calmly. He had learned it was best to keep a cool head when his former childe lost his temper. It seemed to calm things down eventually.

William might have protested more, but just then Willow came dashing in. “I’ve got it,” she said. “I’ve got a location.”

~~~~~

It had been a command-level decision. Angel was the one to put his foot down this time, and William backed him up completely. “We’re going in alone,” the big vampire said. “Race sees anyone else and he’ll shoot first and ask questions later.”

Buffy reluctantly agreed, knowing that they would be facing a superior force without the benefit of surprise. “What about us?”

“Wes, Gunn, take a team and surround the outside. Give us fifteen minutes and then start working your way in,” William said. Then he looked over at Buffy. “You and Emmie find a way in. Give us a few minutes to get inside and then follow however you can. If they don’t have Ty right out in the open—”

“We’ll find him,” Emmie finished. “We’ll get him back, Will.”

He tried a smile and just managed it. “Sure we will.”

~~~~~

Everything had gone according to plan up to that point. Angel and William had made their way inside with no interference, finding Race with his men and Ty where he’d said they’d be, in the main storage room of the warehouse.

“So you showed,” Race said smirking. “I didn’t think you’d have it in you.”

“Hand over the boy,” Angel said, his face dark with anger. He could feel William literally trembling beside him like a dog wanting off the leash, ready to attack.

Race laughed. “Come on, Angelus. You didn’t actually think you were going to march in here and demand his return just to have me turn him over, did you? This isn’t about demands.”

“So what is this about?” William asked. “You have my son. I want him back.”

The vampire laughed again. “This is about revenge,” he replied. “And you should choose your friends more carefully if you want to keep your brat safe, William. Angelus here has an unhealthy habit of acquiring enemies.”

“This is about you and me, Race,” Angel said. “Leave the boy out of this.”

“You aren’t getting your brat back, Angelus,” Race replied. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. I didn’t want you here to make a deal, I wanted you here to see my little present.” And with that he impatiently shook Ty by the back of the shirt.

William took a step forward as if to attack and then froze at what he saw. His son’s face melted away to reveal the visage of a demon. There was something obscene about turning a child, but it seemed an even greater affront when that child was your own. “No,” he protested.

Angel was equally stunned, and a great rage flowed through him. “You bastard.” He was already moving towards the vampire, superior numbers be damned, when Race drove a stake through the child-vampire, and he disappeared into a puff of dust.

“NO!” William screamed, just as a compact body hit Race from the side. The vampire went down, but not before a knife appeared in his hand, and he drove it through Emmie’s side. Race stood, knife still in hand, next to her lifeless body.

“Next?” he called, his minions coming in to surround both Angel and William, cutting them off from all hope of getting out of there alive. It might have gotten really bad had Race not frozen, surprise written all over his face, even as a small wooden tip appeared on the other side of his chest.

“You know,” Emmie said conversationally from behind him, “next time you try to kill a Slayer, you might want to make sure she’s really dead.” And then she let out a scream at the top of her lungs, a pre-arranged signal to alert Wes and Gunn.

The minions went down easily, as all were disoriented from losing their leader and none were great fighters. Wes and Gunn came in with their teams after having picked off the vampires around the perimeter, and finished with the clean up. And then it was all over, and William was still numb with shock.

“Will,” a hand on his shoulder turned him to face Angel. “I’ve got to get Emmie to a hospital.” William nodded wordlessly. Now that the adrenalin had worn off, he couldn’t move. “Do you want to come along?”

When he received no answer, Angel looked over at Wes, who was also looking a little shell-shocked at the news of Ty’s death. “Stay with him. Where’s Buffy?”

Wesley shook his head. “I don’t know. She and Emmie went in together. I assume they must have split up for some reason.”

Angel nodded. “Gunn, see if you can find her. I doubt she needs any help, but check it out anyway.” He looked back at William, who was now kneeling on the floor where Ty’s ashes had fallen. He, too, would have to grieve, but he didn’t have time to fall apart now. He had to get Emmie to a hospital or risk losing her as well. He scooped her up in his arms and hoped that Buffy got back soon. William was going to need her.

IX

“So what is this place again?” Buffy asked. She was trying to keep herself from drooling over William, who was wearing a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt. She still couldn’t believe how rarely he wore black anymore, though she had a sneaking suspicion that having been married had something to do with that.

“It’s Lorne’s,” William replied simply. “He set it up about a year ago, said he wanted to have something on the side, along with what he does with Wolfram & Hart.” He smiled at her. “It’s considered neutral territory, so demons and humans can drink side by side without violence.”

“That actually works?” Buffy asked skeptically.

“The handy anti-violence spell he has helps,” he replied.

Buffy could hardly believe her eyes when she walked in, and William was enjoying her reaction. The bar, or nightclub really, was tastefully decorated in bright colors. Along with the dim lighting, the décor gave it a festive feel. There was a live band on stage, but that was only the early entertainment. William knew that in a few hours, as drinks flowed, the karaoke would get underway. “There’s our table,” he murmured, directing her to a private booth where Fred and Wes were already sitting.

“Hello, Buffy,” Wes greeted her. “Glad you could make it.”

“It’s an interesting place,” Buffy replied, referring to the varied clientele rather than the club itself.

“Lorne’s is an experience,” Fred agreed. “He was really excited about you coming. I think he wanted to do a reading.”

“A reading?” Buffy’s eyebrows went up.

“Lorne reads auras,” Wes explained briefly. “While you sing.”

“I’m not singing,” Buffy said flatly.

William’s lips twitched. He’d said the same thing, and he’d been up on the stage before the night was out. Of course, he had stubbornly waited until after closing, so there wasn’t an audience. But he’d ended up singing. “Whatever you say, luv,” he agreed casually. “Do you want somethin’ to drink?”

“Sure, whatever he’s got on tap would be good,” Buffy said, watching fondly as he left.

“You’ve been good for him,” Wesley said quietly, surprising her.

“I’m sorry?”

Wes smiled. “You’ve been good for him. He’s happier with you around.”

“Now that he’s actually talking to you,” Fred clarified. “We’ve been trying to get him to go out for a while now, but he’s pretty focused on Ty. Not that that’s a bad thing,” she hastened to add. “Because we all love him. It just wasn’t that healthy.”

Buffy watched as he leaned against the bar, exchanging pleasantries with the bartender. “He’s different,” she admitted quietly. “More than I thought he was at first, you know. But it’s not bad. It’s like all the rough edges got smoothed out, and everything that wasn’t him isn’t there anymore. William doesn’t pretend like Spike did sometimes.”

“William is probably one of the most genuine people I’ve ever known,” Wesley stated. “Even Angel, with all their history, likes him. Sometimes it’s more for Ty’s sake than anything else, but I believe they balance one another. And William, more than anyone, will tell him the truth. It can be quite refreshing.” And Wes’s lips twitched as he recalled one particularly pointed statement William had made. Something about taking his head out of his arse and ending his brooding. It had been vaguely reminiscent of Cordelia.

Buffy smiled. “Yeah, well, and some things never change.” Then William came back to the table with their drinks, and they all proceeded to have a great time.

It turned out that the Slayer was just as stubborn as William, and when she did sing for Lorne it was without an audience. She never told anyone what he read for her that night. All William ever did know was that it made her happy, and she seemed at peace with it.

Buffy, for her part, never forgot Lorne’s words. “You’re on the right path, sweetheart,” he said. “I don’t get to tell people that very often, but you are. Stick with what you’re doing and you’ll get your heart’s desire, and I don’t think I need to tell you what that is.”

A good future, indeed.

X

How long William knelt on the floor next to his son’s ashes, he couldn’t say. But it seemed like forever. All he could think of was that he had failed in the worst possible way. His chief duty had been to protect Ty, and he had failed miserably. Tears burned his throat, but they wouldn’t come. He was frozen in a state of misery so deep that it didn’t seem as though it would ever get better. He would welcome death.

That was how Buffy found him when Gunn led her into the main storage room. Wesley started in surprise when he saw her, but she shook her head at him, warning him not to make a sound. She laid a gentle hand on William’s shoulder. “Look who I found.”

He turned slowly, as though he had aged fifty years in as many minutes. And then he blinked. “Ty?” he whispered.

For his part, Ty didn’t wait. “Daddy.” The boy flung himself into William’s arms, breaking him out of his stasis.

“Ty?” William pushed him away roughly and ran his hands down his son’s body, checking for injuries at the same time he was checking to be sure he was real. “Oh, God, I thought I’d lost you.” He grabbed him to his chest tightly, as though he would never let go. “Buffy?” That one word held a thousand questions.

“I was checking out some of the other storage rooms when I heard a noise coming from the air ducts,” she explained. “I called out, and he popped out of one of the grates. We were on our way to meet you when we ran into Gunn, and he told us what had happened.” Her eyes held nothing but compassion. “How’s Emmie?”

“I—I don’t know,” he admitted, standing, Ty still in his arms. Ty didn’t seem to have any problems with being held. “Wes, do you—”

“I just called Angel to let him know,” Wesley replied, holding his cell phone away from his mouth. “He said Emmie’s going to be fine. The knife missed all the major organs, and the Slayer healing is already kicking in.”

“Good,” William said, finally setting Ty down. “What happened?”

Ty’s fear was rapidly diminishing as he realized that he was now safe and sound. His father’s presence was all he needed to know that the bad men were gone and weren’t coming back. As a result, he was bursting with excitement and news. “The bad men grabbed me at school, and I knew they weren’t good, but I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure.” Ty suddenly looked uncertain. “I’m sorry, Dad. ‘Cause you said to listen to my gut, but—”

“It’s fine,” William said quickly, giving him a reassuring hug. “What happened next?”

“They tied me up and put me in the closet, and I was really scared. But then I ‘membered what Buffy said about you bein’ a hero, and I thought about what Uncle Wes taught me, so I concentrated real hard and got out through the air ducts. And then I hid ‘cause I knew you’d come.” The last statement was made with such a complete and simple trust that William suddenly felt as though he would cry.

“Good thing Wesley taught you a bit, hey, Ty?” was all he managed past the lump in his throat. And then he released the boy long enough to give Wesley a hug.

“We should get both of you home,” Buffy said, shooting a meaningful look at Wes and Gunn, who immediately took the hint.

Wesley nodded. “I think I’ll go to the hospital and check on Emmie and Angel. From what he said, however, I imagine they’ll let her go home tonight.”

“Not if Angel has his way,” Gunn muttered, though not really loudly enough for anyone but Buffy to hear. She, too, had a suspicion that Angel wasn’t going to let the young Slayer out of his sight for a while. “Yeah, there’s some clean-up and debriefing to be done here. Why don’t you get Ty home, Will? You look like you could use some sleep yourself.”

~~~~~

Buffy was relieved when they got to William’s apartment. They’d stopped for burgers on the way home, Ty insisting on a milkshake to top it off. Of course, his father was happy to provide it, and the Slayer had the feeling that Ty was going to be getting whatever his little heart desired for quite some time to come.

In the end, however, Ty was able to get through about half his meal before he started to doze off at the table, his head drooping precariously towards his food. Without a word, William stood and picked him up, setting off for his son’s room. Buffy followed, equally silent, watching as the ex-vampire tenderly removed his shoes and socks, then his filthy t-shirt and jeans, replacing them with clean pajamas, and finally tucking him into bed. They stood that way for a long time, the man looking down at the child, she watching them both from the doorway with love on her face.

What she felt for this man was the same, and yet so different than what she had felt for Spike. In many ways, all the old remnants of animosity had been purged by the intervening years, leaving nothing but the love she had felt for the vampire. But William was human, and a father, and while he obviously felt something for her, it wasn’t the burning passion Spike had displayed. This man had different priorities than the vampire had, and it felt right. Right, but different, since now it was she who was free from just about all other entanglements, and he who might hesitate because of other bonds that held him. One might say that she loved him more than he loved her at this point. Buffy could appreciate the irony.

And yet as he turned towards her, she could see raw need written deep in his eyes, and she held out her hand to him. Buffy led him to the couch in the living room, where he could finally collapse in a delayed reaction of fear and averted grief. “How?” he whispered. “I saw it. I saw him kill Ty, and he had turned him—” He choked on the rest of his words, and Buffy pulled him to her, so that his head lay on her shoulder, and she rocked him as she would a child.

“Shhh,” she soothed. “It was an illusion, a glamor he used to make you think that. Race had probably planned to do exactly what he did, but because Ty managed to escape and hide, he couldn’t and ran out of time.”

“I failed him, Buffy. I was supposed to protect him.” William was trembling with exhaustion and emotion, but still the tears wouldn’t come. He was dry-eyed and aching with it.

Buffy remembered the night after she came back when he’d told her much the same thing. That he had failed her, and that every night, he saved her. She hadn’t said anything at the time. It was one of her many regrets now, that she hadn’t seen him for what he was then, in that moment. That she hadn’t told him that no, he hadn’t failed. That she hadn’t held him then, or let him hold her.

“You didn’t fail him,” she corrected. “William, you provided him with the strength and the knowledge and the example he needed to get himself out of trouble. Any other kid would have probably panicked.”

He shook his head, unwilling to accept her absolution. “Erin was wrong,” he said hoarsely. “She thought I was the right one to raise him. She should have chosen someone else. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been in that mess in the first place.”

“And someone else wouldn’t understand about the visions,” Buffy said. “Look, Spike, I know you’re upset and angry that someone was able to grab him. And I can’t imagine what it must have been like to see him die, whether it actually happened or not, but you’re the reason he’s alive right now. You were the one that brought him to Angel and Wesley and the others. And what they taught him helped keep him alive too.”

“Buffy—”

“No,” she said, almost angrily, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look her in the eye. “You are the right man for the job, Spike. You’re his father. You’re the person he trusts more than anyone else in the world. I think Erin was a very wise woman to know that you would love him so much you’d give your all for him, because you always have. I know this. I watched you do it. And I believe in you.”

It was as if those words were a key to unlock a door long-shut. He shuddered as the memories began their assault on him, as he remembered his childhood in England, his mother, Cecily, her rejection, being turned. He remembered Drusilla and Angelus and Darla, cutting a swath of mayhem and blood across Europe, killing his first Slayer in China and his second in New York, and all the years in between. He remembered Sunnydale, and Buffy, and trying to kill her and failing miserably, only to wind up in a wheelchair before helping to save the world.

He remembered coming back time and again, only to wind up with a chip in his head. And he remembered Adam and Glory. He remembered his love and his promise, and his passion for Buffy swept through him again as it had on that morning he’d had his (first) dream of her and realized what he felt. He remembered the agony of her death and the joy of her return, and he remembered their friendship and the sex and the casual brutality that they’d shared.

And he remembered the final night in her bathroom, and going to Africa, and getting his soul. Memories of that year, of which he’d never dreamed flooded him so that he almost thought he was going insane again. He had been insane, and then a pawn, and then an ally, and then a friend in a dizzying succession, so that at the end he had doubted her words.

Most of all, he remembered the cave, and the great beams of light that exploded from his soul, and he had been cleansed. He had been light, and the beauty of it eclipsed the pain of the burning and then he had been—

There. No time, no sense of need or urgency anymore. There had been nothing but a feeling of fulfillment, of being finished. Of having done everything that he was meant to do. In fact, he simply was.

And it was really rather nice.

Until the voice—

And then he had been on a street in October, in ragged clothes with no memory of who he was or how he had gotten there, except that he was William, and Spike was dead, and he had to save the girl. The girl who was about to get eaten by monsters.

He remembered.

“Spike!” Buffy’s frantic voice cut through the haze of memories. “William! Are you okay?”

He blinked several times and looked at her, realizing with a sense of awe how much he loved her. “Buffy?”

“Thank God,” she murmured. “I thought I’d lost you there for a second. You stopped breathing, and I couldn’t figure out what had happened.”

He didn’t reply to her words, merely put a hand up to her cheek and stared into her eyes. “Buffy.”

It was something in his tone that stopped her, something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Spike?” she whispered, hope evident in her tone, in every line of her posture. “You remember?”

“Everything,” he replied. “I remember everything.” A look of astonishment crossed his face. “I was—Chosen, Buffy. For Ty. That’s why I came back, for him. And I was forgiven.” The overwhelming knowledge of it all, the sense of all the holes being filled came crashing down on him, and he finally wept. The man who had been Spike and William and was now something in between wept with joy and sorrow combined, not even realizing that the woman who held him was crying as well.

“I love you,” he said, when he pulled back, looking into her eyes that now returned the same love he felt. “I love you so much.”

“I love you.” Buffy ran a hand over his face, his hair, his neck, remembering every curve and plane, reveling in the sheer beauty of it all. And then she smiled. “But I swear, if you ever, ever die on me again, I will so kick your ass.”

And William laughed, then proceeded to show her just how alive he really was.

Epilogue

“This is ridiculous, you know that right?” Spike asked from his position on their bed, watching Buffy put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup in the master bathroom. She made no reply, having heard this particular argument a hundred times before. “I mean, I go to Africa in the cargo hold of a bloody ship, by myself, win my soul back and then make my own solitary way back to Sunnyhell half-crazy.” Spike was just warming up at this point.

“The poof, on the other hand, goes already souled, in first class, gets his soul anchored, and has himself some honeymoon time in the wilds of Africa with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, I’m stuck here, mindin’ the farm. And he’s the one who gets the party. Tell me it isn’t ridiculous, luv.”

Buffy gave her lover a fond smile. She knew very well that Spike didn’t begrudge Angel or Emmie their happiness, but with the return of his memories, he had become much more Spike-like. Not mean or evil by any means, but sarcasm was definitely a service he offered now. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A large part of it was probably to mask how much he had missed them both, and how much he didn’t like being in charge of Wolfram & Hart, since it left him very much unable to do his own thing.

“This is also a ‘good-bye, Angelus’ party, Spike,” she reminded him. “And I think I speak for everyone when I say good riddance.”

He sighed, and gave her a reluctant smile, his expression sweet. “You don’t need to remind me, pet. It’s just—”

“Honey, I think we all know, that of the two journeys made to Africa, yours was the more heroic.” Buffy grinned at him, half-teasing, half-serious, and his look turned sheepish.

“You know me too well, luv,” he said. “You ‘bout ready, then?”

She stood and looked him over. He’d started wearing a little more black, but not so much that she’d had to say anything to him about it. And she knew he was trying desperately to find some kind of balance between what he had been and what he was, and as she knew, that was never easy. “Sure, let’s go.”

~~~~~

Ty took off the minute they got to the hall Angel had rented for the occasion. And to be fair to the big vampire, the gathering wasn’t all about the fact that he’d just gotten his soul anchored. It was also a chance for a reunion of sorts for Buffy’s old gang, and Angel’s relatively new one. The presence of the former was what was truly making Spike itchy. Having Buffy and Dawn back in his life was a completely different story than seeing the rest of them. While he’d made a peace with Willow, and reconnected with her on a superficial level at least, he’d never had a true bond of any sort with the rest of them. It felt odd digging up that part of his past. But he knew Buffy was looking forward to it, so he hid his nervousness behind sarcasm and snarky comments about Angel’s posh trip to the dark continent.

Spike watched his son fondly as he ran up to Dawn and Wesley, chattering excitedly about learning Latin and having his first real lesson in magic with Willow. They had made the difficult decision to pull him out of public school for the time being, letting him take lessons with Wes and Fred, with additional subjects in magic and fighting skills with Willow, Angel, and him. Both he and Buffy had decided it was safer that way, and the Slayer had assured him that she would call him on it if it looked as though he were smothering his son. Later, when he was better able to take care of himself, there would be opportunity enough to put him back in the school system.

He watched as Buffy made her way over to a dark-haired man with an eyepatch, and he knew it to be Xander. However, he wasn’t quite ready to throw himself into the lion’s den yet, so he made his way over to Wesley and Fred, Dawn having deserted them to join Buffy.

“That’s enough of that, Ty,” Spike said gently. “’m sure your Uncle Wes has heard enough ‘bout your lesson with the witch.”

“I don’t mind really,” Wesley replied mildly. “Though I’ll bet Angel wouldn’t mind hearing about it.”

Ty’s eyes lit up. “Uncle Angel? Where?”

Wes pointed to one side of the room where Angel stood with Emmie and gave the boy a gentle shove. Ty was off like a shot, having had very little opportunity to spend time with the vampire or Emmie since they’d gotten back a week before. “It’s good to have them back,” Wes said, and Spike could read the emotion in the other man’s words, even though little actually showed on his face.

“It seemed weird without him here,” Fred agreed. Though she quickly hastened to add, “Not that you weren’t doing a great job, William.”

Spike smiled at her. He genuinely liked Fred. They tended to get on quite well. “Don’t tell anyone I said it, but it’s nice to have the old man back,” he admitted. “Was getting a bit tired of bein’ in the driver’s seat. Too much responsibility.”

Wes resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing the other man meant it left him much less time for fun with Buffy and his son. “Well, I must tell you that Ty is doing quite well. I knew he was bright, but he’s really like a sponge.”

Spike smiled proudly. “No surprise here.” Then, more seriously, he went on. “Have to thank you, Wes. I don’t think I got the chance really before, but if you hadn’t taught Ty those tricks…”

“We all love him, Will,” Wesley reminded him gently. “As I believe I’ve mentioned before.”

“Yeah, well, thanks.” The two men looked one another in the eye, and Wesley nodded. Spike suddenly broke out in a grin. “You know Man U’s playin’ Spain in a couple days. You up for a bit of footie then?”

Wes returned the grin. “Of course.”

~~~~~

Buffy was grabbed into a bear hug by Xander, and they were soon joined by Willow. “Wow, it’s good to see my two favorite girls again,” he exclaimed. “It’s been way too long.”

“I’m not your favorite?” Dawn asked from behind him, and he turned to embrace her as well.

“Okay, so make that my three favorite girls.” They all laughed. Xander was looking good in a nice suit and tie. He’d done well for himself in the construction business, even with an eye gone. With his experience as a supervisor, he’d managed to move up the ranks quickly, and then begin his own business where he was doing much less of the work and much more of the ordering about.

“I thought you were bringing someone,” Buffy said, peeking behind him to see if he had his date hidden.

“Naw,” he replied. “I thought it would be nice to see everybody myself. And besides, it’s a little hard to discuss old times with a stranger around.”

“So she doesn’t know about Sunnydale?” Willow asked with some surprise.

“She doesn’t know the truth about Sunnydale,” Xander said. “And believe me, I would like to keep it that way. There is weirdness that doesn’t need to be explored.” The dark-haired man looked around the room. “I thought Giles was going to be here.”

“Tomorrow,” Buffy replied. “Something came up while he was in England and he had to postpone his flight. But he’s really looking forward to seeing everybody. At least, that’s what he told us to say.”

Xander shrugged. “Well, since he’s the head of the Council now, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” There was some hesitation in his voice when he asked, “And what about Spike?”

Buffy stepped aside and pointed. Her boyfriend was talking to Angel and Emmie now, with Fred, Wes, and Gunn standing around in a loose semi-circle. The vampire was holding Ty on one hip, and the boy had his head resting on Angel’s shoulder. An unbidden smile came to the Slayer’s lips as she watched them. Really, they were all part of her family now, and that knowledge kindled something inside of her.

“Wow,” Xander said again. “I can’t believe he’s actually alive. And the kid?”

“Ty’s his,” Buffy said, and she and Dawn shared a look. Ty was hers now too. “You should come say hello. He’s really a pretty special kid.”

Just then Spike turned his head to look at the Slayer, and their eyes met from across the room. There was a wholeness there that had been missing for a long time for them both. A sense of shared family and connection that they’d never had before. It seemed for both of them that all the pieces were finally falling into place. And best of all, they were happy.