More stuff. (It's been a productive weekend)

The lobby was empty of anyone non-demonic when Buffy burst through the door at the bottom of the stairs. Xander was only moments behind her. Across the ornate lobby, the demons were struggling with Spike, who looked even more bashed up but was still fighting as well he could.

"Sorry," Buffy called as she ran over, "but that's our vampire you're demon-handling, and we want him back."

"Probably," Xander added.

"I am *not* your vampire," came a weak protest.

The demons turned to fight. Buffy knocked two out of the way, working her way towards the elevator. Xander laid one out with the flat of his axe, then another jumped on his back, dropping its own axe handle over his head and yanking against his throat. He reached back, got a handful of robe and pulled. The wiry little creature tried to hang on, but Xander got a good grip on the shoulders and threw the demon into a group of its friends.

Buffy made it to Spike's side, kicking aside the crumpled body of the demon that had fallen down the elevator shaft with him. She grabbed his arm to shake him, though not as hard as she might, seeing up close just how bloody he was.

"What did you tell her?" she demanded.

"I've had better days, Slayer, how are you?"

A demon came charging in, axe upraised. A kick to the stomach sent it flying away. "Damn you, Spike--"

Spike coughed, then spit blood. "Didn't tell her anything."

"I don't believe you."

"Then why the fuck are you asking?" He tried to get to his feet, but his leg bent in new places, and he fell back with a groan. He nodded over Buffy's shoulder. "Demon."

She spun and punched; Xander caught the rebound and smacked the demon in the head.

Spike grabbed Buffy's arm. "Dawn OK?"

"Uh, yeah," she managed to answer as she stared at Spike's hand, with the smashed and twisted fingers. "You didn't tell Glory?"

"Said I didn't."

A sudden roar caught their attention. Out in the lobby, Giles appeared, still in gameface, and pulled two demons off of Xander.

Spike laughed briefly before it turned into another gasp of pain. "Well, this should be over soon."

Buffy touched his shoulder. "Spike, why?"

"Why what?"

"Didn't you tell her?"

Different pain flickered through his eyes before a more battered version of his usual sneer appeared. "Gotta stay in good with you, now, don't I."

She almost touched the still wet wound in his chest. A lot of blood had already dried on his shirt and in his hair. His eyes were almost swollen shut, and the familiar angles of his face were blurred. "Why did you let her do all this to you?" she whispered.

"Been though enough, you have," he said softly. "I'm not going to be any part of making it worse."

She looked in his eyes and saw, of all things, honesty. There were other things as well, but she couldn't think of those just now. She found one small unbruised portion of his face to touch. "Thank you."

A small body impacted against the wall above them. Buffy knocked it aside before it could fall on them.

"And that one wraps up the game," Xander announced. "The ex-Watcher knocks it out of the ballpark for the winning run, and the rest of the opposing team scampers away for their lives."

"Do be quiet, Xander," Giles said. Human-faced again, he leaned into the elevator. "We should go--my god, Spike, can you move?"

"Depends on what you want me to move, mate. But I want out of here more."

Buffy moved to one side to give room for Giles to get under Spike's other shoulder. Vampire and Slayer strength got Spike off the floor, but not without muffled curses from the injured.

Xander watched all the approaches for the return of Glory's demons, but he froze when he saw Spike. "Oh, my god," he whispered.

"No god of yours did this, whelp," Spike said, hobbling along on his one good leg. "Least I hope--" He barely bit off a scream as his broken leg bumped against the floor.

Buffy tried to hold him higher, but her lack of height was against her. "I'm sorry."

"Here." Xander handed her his axe. "Puny human strength will do for this." He took her place under Spike's shoulder and helped hold him clear of the floor.

"Not puny," Spike said very softly.

"Shut up, Spike."

"Indeed," Giles added, though not without a thoughtful look at Xander. "Let's please wait till we get you to the car before you amaze us with what passes for your wit."

No one tried to stop them as they made their escape to Giles' convertible. Giles passed the burden of Spike's weight to Xander and went to the trunk.

"I'm not riding in there," Spike said firmly.

"I'm getting a blanket so you don't bleed all over the upholstery. I just got all the blood out from the last time." Giles glared at Spike, who managed a passable snicker.

"At least you weren't awake to bitch about my driving."

Buffy watched the night and their surroundings. "Guys, not to say I'm not enjoying the yuck- fest, but could we get a move on here?"

"Yes, you're right," Giles said. He handed her a very large axe. "Hold this, please, I would have sworn there was a blanket in here somewhere."

Xander saw Spike was beginning to sag and adjusted his hold. Grimacing, Spike took hold of Xander's other arm, leaning against him.

"If this is an excuse for you to get grabby," Xander said softly, "I'm going to finish killing you myself."

"I wish," Spike said, eyes closed. "Not that I haven't dreamed of being held in your manly arms-- "

"I will *drop*--" he broke off, finally getting a good look at the bloody mess at the top of Spike's head. "Spike, there's a hole in your head." He tried not to think about how deep that hole looked.

Spike tried to pull away. "Yeah, yeah. Keep it down, or everyone's gonna want one."

"Shut up and hold still. You're bleeding."

"Why, Xander Harris, I didn't know you cared."

"Shut up. God, it's like when I pulled Giles out of the mansion."

Spike managed a snort of disdain. "Not hardly. Glory's strictly amateur hour. Doesn't have anything near Angelus' patience."

Xander swallowed hard. "Not helping with the me keeping dinner down, here."

"Sorry." And if Spike leaned a little more into Xander's hold, neither commented.

Giles finally came up with a blanket from the trunk, and they settled Spike into the back seat. Buffy turned her attention to the apartment house, her thoughts obvious.

"Leave her alone, Buffy," Giles ordered.

"I don't think I have to do what you say anymore, Giles."

"You're not ready yet."

She turned to glare at the creature who looked and sounded like the man she used to trust most. "And when will I be? She's getting desperate, Giles. Who else is she going to grab and chew up trying to find what she wants?"

Giles' grim look was unrelenting. "As long as she doesn't find Dawn, it doesn't matter."

Buffy looked at Spike's injuries. "I don't think anybody else could stand up to what she did to Spike. I'm not saying they're weak, but--could anyone human go through that and not give up?"

"I did."

She turned away, not wanting to go there at all. "So what do we do?"

"Find out when the conjunction is, find out where the portal needs to be opened, avoid that time and place at all costs."

"I should get Dawn out of town."

Giles moved so he could see her face. "And if Glory took one of your friends, someone you'd be less willing to sacrifice than Spike? If she threatened them to make you turn over Dawn?"

Buffy looked at Xander, who was leaning against the convertible, splitting his attention between watching the night and watching Spike. "I won't let Dawn be hurt," she said softly. "No matter what."

Giles smiled faintly. "Good girl. Now, I'd best get Spike home so I can get him cleaned up." He started to reach out to pat her shoulder, but pulled his hand back. "We'll get through this, we always do."

"Paying a hell of a price the whole way."

"That's our job." He shook head. "Or, rather--"

She smiled tiredly at him. "Good night, Giles."

"Good night, Buffy."

Xander joined Buffy as Giles drove away. "We go home now?" he asked.

"We go home now."

She watched Xander as they walked towards his car. No special talents except his courage and his willingness to put it all on the line night after night. For years now he'd been watching her back, risking everything just on her say-so. And if it came down to a choice between him or Dawn, she'd save Dawn every time.

"Thanks for being here tonight," she said finally. "It helped."

He grinned at her, then toned it down to something apparently more suave. "That's what I'm here for, to help."

He held the passenger door open for her, then went around to get in. Buffy tried not to cry as she thought of him helping her by dying.

Oooo! Giles..... Xander.... Buffy..... much Spike-oost here!

"What did you tell her?" she demanded.

"I've had better days, Slayer, how are you?"

It's good stuff. Don't stop, connie, please!

Oh, damn.

...IWillNotReadBitchyFic, IWillNotReadBitchyFic, IWillNotReadBitchyFic. I've cut down my Buffista-commitments, damn it. Damn. Damn. This sounds wonderful, Connie. Damn. I'm not going to go back and read the rest of your Vamp!Giles stuff.

Damn.

Lovely characterisation. You got the goods, girl. Cute Spike/Xander. And oh, God, Buffy-prepared-to-sacrifice-Xander. Argh. But well done.

Buffy tried not to cry as she thought of him helping her by dying.

sniffle

Love. It.

Aw, that's what I like to see, sniffles and self-recrimination. Does a ficcer's heart good.

I'm being strangly productive as well. This is the first part of chapter three of the dreaded Buffypregbadfic, but I think it'll stand okay on it's own.

Title: A Vampire’s Night In
Author: Am-Chau Yarkona
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Summary: It is 2005. Buffy and Spike have a daughter, Josie, age four, and a son, William known as Bam, a few months old. Spike is taking care of them for the night. “Are you sure you’ll be all right with both of them, Spike?” Buffy asked again, as they stood by the front door.

“I’m sure,” her lover replied. “Look, are you going to this party or are you going to stand here and worry all night?”

“I’m waiting for Willow to be ready,” she answered, stubbornly. “Bam’s already in bed, but you’d better check on him, especially if Joise gets noisy.”

“I’ll check.” He turned towards the stairs, and called up, “Red!”

“Don’t shout! I’m coming!” Willow bounded down, only narrowly avoiding shoving Spike out the front door.

“We’ll be off, then. Goodnight, Joise. Be good,” the Slayer called to her daughter, who replied in a flat, bored tone.

“Night, mummy. Night, aunty Willow.” The three adults could hear Lego clicking on the living room floor.

“Night, Spike. Don’t wait up, we’ll be very late,” Buffy told the vampire, and shut the door behind her and her best friend. Spike sighed-- he’d been hoping for a goodnight kiss, if not more-- then walked through to the main room.

“How you doing, Joise? Nearly ready for bed?” He tried not to step on any of the Lego, and found he could only achieve it by stopping in the doorway, some four meters from his daughter. “I think we should get this put away before bedtime,” he added, and winced when he realised he sounded like Giles.

They’d had Giles to stay for a couple of weeks the last summer, and it had been fun in it’s way, though Spike would never admit that aloud. He’d learned some stuff from watching the Watcher—he smiled at the irony of that—about how to deal with his daughter.

And his—what is Buffy to me? he wondered suddenly. We’ve never discussed it. Not wife, though it feels that way sometimes; not girlfriend, no friendships there; maybe lover, perhaps what the demon girl used to say. Orgasm friend.

A sharp clack made him look back at Joise. The tower of bricks she’d built, not exactly tall but hardly short anymore, had fallen over. She was crying.

Gingerly, he stepped over the piles of bricks, unable to avoid treading on a few and trusting to the fact that vampires are fairly light-footed to prevent them breaking. He picked up the weeping girl, and tried to quiet her, hoping that Bam would not be woken.

“There, time for bed, Joise. You’re a tired girl, aren’t you?” She shook her head violently, but then she yawned and ruined the effect. “Come on, little one. Bedtime.”

“Daddy tell me story,” she said, and the stubborn tone reminded him just how like her mother she was.

“Okay- but just a short one, right?”

“Long one.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” he groaned, before remembering that Buffy would really stake him if she hear Joise saying that. “Daddy didn’t say that. You can have a medium-length story.”

“Long.”

“No, medium. Daddy has to tidy up your Lego once you’re asleep.”

“Why doesn’t daddy play with it instead?”

God, but the child was persistant. “Daddy doesn’t like playing with Lego,” he said, starting the perilous journey across the seas of brick.

She giggled. “Daddy does! He build big graveyard last week.” It was true, so he concentrated on not falling over.

By the time they’d made it to the door, she was no longer upset, but still very resistant to going upstairs.

And the other half:

“Stop wriggling,” Spike growled. She just giggled some more, and tried to kick him. “I’ll bit you,” he threatened. It didn’t do any good.

“Silly daddy. Mummy would stake you.” He knew there was a reason he’d argued against telling Joise all about mummy and daddy and vampires and slayers. Buffy had insisted, despite the fact that it seemed to lead naturally into home schooling both the children. Sometimes he wondered if that was a ‘because’ rather than a ‘despite’.

“I could just take a little nip. Just enough to keep you quiet for a while.” He wouldn’t, they both knew that, but he was suddenly aware that due to the non-human statuses of both him and Buffy, Joise was probably in the ‘demon’ group that his chip would let him bite. “But I won’t, so long as you go to bed quietly.”

“What if I don’t?”

“No story.” An infinitely better threat, and one that worked.

“Put me down,” Joise whined. “I’ll get ready for story time.” He set her down carefully at the top of the stairs, and watched her rush into the bathroom, pulling clothes off along the way. Not wanting to fight with her, he picked up the discarded items as he made his way towards Bam’s room—and stopped there, wondering when he’d become so domesticated. ‘Not wanting to fight’? That wasn’t Spike.

Slightly disgusted with himself but still actually disinclined to argue, he threw the clothes in the direction of the laundry basket and peered round the door at his son. The boy was asleep, lying on his back in the cot, left thumb in his mouth. Spike was obscurely proud that his son was left-handed, same as him.

Connor wasn’t a bit like his father, after all.

The floorboard outside complained, and Spike looked out to see his daughter there. “Story!” she hissed, aware that she really would be punished if she woke her younger brother.

“Yes, pet,” Spike said, closing the door softly behind him. “What do you want to hear tonight? Peter Rabbit? Winnie the Pooh?” Buffy read her modern books, American books, but she liked to hear him read the old favourites, perhaps because she detected that he liked the British ones better. Or maybe it was just because Giles had brought them.

“No! Special Daddy story!”

He wasn’t sure whether he welcomed or dreaded those moments. From Dawn, he used to love it: the demands for tales from his past, a chance to brag. And who would refuse to do something he loved? On the other hand, turning down the violence and gore and trying not to mention Drusilla was a strain.

Joise slid into bed, and he tucked the sheets up to her chin. She closed her eyes, and he took a moment to look down at her, soft hair all over the pillow and gently smiling lips.

“Once,” he started. Then he realised that the girl was fast asleep—no point telling the tale now. He grinned briefly, and trudged back downstairs to tidy up the Lego. He did, however, spend a little time rebuilding Joise’s tower so she wouldn’t be upset again in the morning.

Well, Buffy, Spike thought, you really have made me a house-trained vampire, haven’t you.

End.

~*~*~

Please, someone, kill me before I write any more Sappy!Spike. The existance of HK phone sex does not make this any more excusable.

Please, someone, kill me before I write any more Sappy!Spike. The existance of HK phone sex does not make this any more excusable.

Well, I'm pretty certain that HK phone sex doesn't actually deviate from canon muchly t grin ... man was a playa, IJS.

I'm pretty certain that HK phone sex doesn't actually deviate from canon muchly

Possibly not. I'm not actually that familar with the canon. However, Sappy!Spike is not canon, and will you please kill me now. I'malsoJS.