Summary: A short story narrated by the beloved Andrew relating events that happened one evening in L.A. A reunion of friends and lovers. Set during season 5 of Angel sometime between Damage and A Hole in the World.

A/N: I’m back online after an extended vacation!! Just some cute, humorous fluff to get me back in the writing boat. Then maybe I can finish my other 2 fics that are lying around waiting for my muse to kick it into high gear. I would really appreciate hearing from you, a review, an email, don’t care. And thanks ahead of time!! Check out author note at end of story! ; )

****Sentences with quotes are spoken by Spike unless otherwise denoted.

Disclaimer: The story is mine but not the characters. Nope, not a one of them.

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Out of the Blue

Helloooo, gentle readers. It is I, Andrew, here to relate a tale of such terror and fear, a tale so gruesome you will wish you hadn’t clicked on the title of this story. A tale of vampyres and slayers, of she-witches and mystical, glowy keys, of---uh--- carpenters and umm. OK, it’s not so much with the terror or gruesomness but I can honestly say, I saw the look of fear in his eyes. The eyes in question belonging to the former evil vampyre, William the Bloody, aka, Spike for those of you out of the BTVS loop. You know the one; the bleach blonde, fair skinned one with chiseled cheekbones and sporting a black leather duster for those who just sit, stare and drool-----

OK, OK, gentle readers, let us start at the beginning. I grew up in Sunnydale, Cali-forn-I-A over twenty years ago to a loving mother and father and an older brother. My childhood----

“Annnddreeew! BLOODY HELL, GET ON WITH IT!”

Alright already Goodness gracious. Where was I before we were so RUDELY interrupted. Oh, yes here we are:

I arrived in LA the winter of oh 3 on a mission of sorts, bent on retrieving a deranged slayer before she could hurt herself---or anyone else if you must know. The assignment was simple: move in on local vampyre’s territory, interrogate said vampyre for further information, temporarily filch very same vampyre of his hired help, find slayer, take her into custody and leave with her in tow. Quickly and cleanly.

My query began in the boardroom when an unexpected turn of events took place. HE walked in looking all alive, well, for him, and not so toasty. Someone whom I never thought I would ever see again. Someone very near and dear to my heart. Someone so heroic and valiant, that I must fall on my knees before him and worship the very ground he walks on. Somone---.

“BOY! If you DO SO continue in this manner, I’m gonna have to go all evil on your junior detective ass. GET ON WITH THE SODDIN’ STORY!”

Excuse the interruption again, gentle readers. Seems my audience contains a discourteous and seeminly bossy heckler whose joy comes from foul language and rude gestures. Anyway, moving on.

So, I did just that. I embraced my formerly fallen apocalyptic co-warrior in a manly grip. And now, said previously vanquished hero is rolling his eyes. Nevertheless, that’s my version and I’m sticking with it.

Therefore, to make the longish intro short, Spike helped moi to attain the psychotic slayer (since I know for a fact he is gifted with a special ability in that area), yet not without suffering from her wrath first. I took Dana, the mad slayer, into custody, snubbing the other vampyre with a soul, the one known as Angel, previously known as Angelus sans soul, by telling him he was untrustworthy in the eyes of his ex-sweetheart and her crew and went back to the motherland.

It took several months before I told anyone about the reappearance of Spike. I felt guilty either way, what with him telling me not to, but despite, I knew it would be happy news if it somehow got to Buffy. So, I casually mentioned it to Willow, who told Xander, who informed Dawn. Supposedly the three of them enlightened Buffy later on down the road, when it was obvious she would be able to handle the news better. He can’t rip my head off now cause I didn’t exactly tell Buffy. So there. (sticking tongue out at him)

And that, ladies and gents, brings us to the here and now. Plans were made to take a flight out of England to head to LA as soon as things were in order. Alas, we were on our way back to the Sunshine State. Que dramatic music.

~*~

As I walked into the “edifice of evil”, aka Wolfram and Hart, along with my entourage, I felt INVINCIBLE ! I strolled in with the confidence, stealth and fierce determination of a Jedi knight willing to accept the onslaught of battle ready warriors. Take that, Obi Wan. Of course, it was harder to accomplish this from the back end of the line.

But anyway, we needed answers to a multitude of unanswered questions from a maliciously evil vampyre. When, Why, What and How. Hey, WE didn’t know if he was evil or not. He could’ve been. He IS running a majorly evil law firm, you know.

It was eerily quiet except for the snoring of the lone security officer at the front desk. Odd that we could walk in so easily, it being well after dark in the city that never sleeps. It gave me the heebie jeebies.

At the elevator, Buffy gave me clearance to take the lead.

She was passing over the keys to me so that I could drive us to our destination.

I felt an honor like no other man that came before me.

So I stepped up to the commander’s helm, pressed the button and waited. The doors slid open with a mighty roar, baring its enormous, gaping mouth. The jaws of death itself.----Well, I can pretend I was on my way to a heroic death in this tin box.

Everyone filed into the elevator, or better yet, lift as my comrade Spike likes to call ‘em, and I turned to look at everyone before pushing the floor we wanted. It caught me silly. It reminded me of something. So I turned towards the closing doors, pulled out my imaginary communicator, flipped it open and said, “Beam us up, Scotty.”

Have you ever thought of something funny, find it totally amusing but when you say it outloud, no one else shares in the amusement? Sigh. No one gets me.

Hey, that reminds me of a story of yore. On a warm, humid night down in Me- hi-co, a tall, dark figure in a hooded robe stepped out----

“ANNNDREW?!”

Sorry. Where was I? Oh, yeah.

Within seconds, sort of like some time warpy thing, we were looking out onto the reception area of Angelus, Wolfram and Hart. (snicker) I took a deep breath and motioned the others along with a wave of my hand and a whispered, “wagon’s, ho.” Once I got to the double doors, Buffy halted me with a touch of her delicate yet deadly hand and a polite “Thankyou”, and I relinquished my first in command role.

I like that girl.

She radiates sincerity, strength and confidence. So much so it seems to ooze from her even down to the ends of her shiny, blonde hair. She believes in anyone who is willing to stand up for and fight along side her. Any stray who is willing to change for the good.

Sigh. Buffy.---With a resolute shove of the doors, she marched right through them and stood in the middle of his office. (Willow, Dawn, Xander and myself brought up the rear and stood at a much safer distance.) Arms crossed in front of her, foot tapping on the floor, she glared at the evil vampyre seated before her in a stupor.

“He wasn’t and he isn’t evil, Andrew.”

Shhhh. Angel sat at his desk looking all “in charge” but wilted at the sight of his former.

“I like that word wilted though.”

Ahem

“Oh, sorry. Do carry on.”

A conversation ensued:

Angel: “Buffy?!?”

Buffy: “Angel.”...

Well, I didn’t say it was a LONG conversation. Actually, I think it went a little something like this:

Angel: “Is everything alright? Are you alright?”

At this point, the vampyre slowly stood from his chair.

Buffy: “I’m peachy. But I could be asking you those very same things right about now.”

The vampyre seemed agitated, eyes darting to and fro. Me thinks something smells rotten in Denmark.

Buffy: “I need some answers. And I really like to have them now.”

Angel: “Answers? Answers to what?”

At that exact moment, heads turned simultaneously in the same direction, all gazing upon the eighth wonder of the world, basking in his glorious prescence as he strolled in nonchalantly, the all..., oh, um, yeah. He was saying something. Right, he was saying something...what was it? Something like...

“These figures are all gibberish to me. Redundancy a big key factor here. They don’t tell me much of anything. Bollocks, you look...

He had looked up.

“...them...over?”

By the end of his sentence, his eyes were as large as flying saucers, mouth opened wide enough to catch flies in. As he slowly lowered his arms, the papers sifted out of his hands and fluttered to the floor. Poor, poor vampyre. To be caught in the snare of the vampyre slayer and her cronies.

Buffy raised her arm and pointed at the vampyre caught in headlights.

Buffy: “Him!”

Angel: “Buffy, there were so many factors involved. First an envelope sitting on my desk, second, the amulet sliding out of it onto the floor, next thing I know, poof, a formerly dusted pain in my ass grand-childe standing in the middle of my office, looking mightily pissed off at who knows what, screaming bloody murder, lunges at me, passes right through me...”

Buffy raised her hand up to halt the rambling vampyre. He surprisingly conceded.

Buffy: “Do you know how ranty and selfish you sounded just now? I just wanted the facts in a less mini-series way.”

She turned back to look at the vampyre in question and that was it. They were entranced, like a snake and his charmer. She snapped out of it when the vampyre Angel spoke again.

Angel: “I’m sorry, Buffy, but we’ve had other concerns to handle. Besides, if Spike wanted, he could have told you himself.”

Angel sat back down at his desk and busied himself with his paperwork trying his best to look absorbed with the task at hand. The slayer walked up to the blonde vampyre slowly and cautiously. I think he smiled a bit when he spoke to her softly.

“Hey, Buffy.”

SLAP

Ooh, I didn’t see that coming, A good one right across the face, hard enough to see stars, I bet. I heard him growl as he turned to glare at her.

SLAP

Oh, boy. Another one. I wanted to cry out the unjustifications of it all. But it was her battle, not mine. So I dared not utter a word.

The vampyre’s shoulders slumped as his face fell and his chin dropped to his chest. The slayer raised her hand to him again but...

This time she placed it softly on the face that just seconds ago she was punishing. That grabbed his attention and he lifted his eyes back up to hers.

Buffy: “Why, Spike? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you call, or hunt me down or something? I was in turmoil over your...I thought about you constantly. Why didn’t you tell me?”

He looked at her and uttered one word:

“Scared.”

Buffy: “Scared? I needed you, wanted you with me through my super scary year. I needed you there beside me when I faced it all. You should have been there to share in... You want scared? Here, I’ll give you scared. Dawnie?”

Buffy motioned for her little sister to come stand beside her. The moment was about to evolve here in front of us all. What a grand time to be in the audience while this chapter unfolded in the lives of this extraordinary couple.

Dawn handed off the “bundle” in her arms to Buffy and Buffy, likewise, did the same to Spike.

“What’s this?”

Buffy: “Look, will you?”

She pulled the blanket away, like peeling layers off a beautifully wrapped package, the anticipation creeping over all of us. The vampyre’s eyes drifted down to the swaddled babe in his arms and stared at it in fascination.

“I don’t understand.”

He never took his eyes off the babe.

Buffy: “She’s yours. Yours and mine.”

There, that look. You know. Remember? The look I was telling you about before? A look of fear crept over him, and then the baby, she gurgled and cooed. His look softened again as he returned his perusal of this tiny creature in his arms. He whispered as not to frighten her.

“I don’t understand. It’s not possible.”

Angel: “Oh, but it is.”

He was standing again, trying to peer over heads to get a better look at the infant. All eyes were upon him once again. He cleared his throat.

Angel: “It’s a long story but I...I have a son. A child I had with Darla several years back. Some prophecy, of course. I mean, you would have thought it impossible for two vampires conceiving and delivering a human baby. A SUPER human baby of course but a baby nonetheless. So you see? It is all very definitely possible.”

Buffy: “We didn’t do much research since it really seemed such a mute point. The amulet. It’s mystical. And with it comes mystical powers. That last night...the night we spent together. The amulet was there, in our presence the whole time. Maybe it’s why you were brought back. I guess if we really want solid answers we can check into it.”

“That we can, luv. That we can. I just...really hard to take in all this. Amazing, truly and utterly amazing.”

Angel had by that time made his way over to stand next to his grand-childe, beaming at the wonder in the center of it all.

Angel: “Lookie there what you have. A wee one. And she’s got your eyes. Congratulations. To you both. I sincerely mean it.”

“Thanks.”

Spike looked at the slayer lovingly and whispered:

“Thank you.”

She stepped closer and embraced the two of them, pulling Dawnie along, then held out her hand to Willow who grabbed Xander’s and joined the tight ring.

Buffy: “To family.”

I watched in wonder as they stood in a seemingly unbreakable circle. Angel looked uncomfortable as he stepped back slightly. Then the strangest occurrence transpired. Spike reached out, grabbed the older vampyre coat sleeve with his hand and pulled him into the familial group.

“Come here, granddaddy.” He growled with amusement.

I couldn’t bear it any longer. I wanted to belong to this misfit clan. So I ran and threw myself around as many of them as I could and wailed with happy and gratifying tears of joy.

Fade out.

“Oh bloody hell.”

Buffy, jesting. “Spike, not in front of the baby.”

THE END

A/N This was intended to be a one shot deal. But if I get enough reviews from you all telling me to extend the storyline, I will more than gladly do a sequel of the fluffy family life. But I’d still like to hear from you either way. Thanks and bunches of love to you all.