October 5, 2007 9:25 PM

Carefully he lined up the shot, drew the pool stick back and then let it fly.

“Yes,” Spike muttered as the ball sank into the center pocket as planned. “Shit,” was his second phrase as the cue ball bounced off the side and slowed to a stop giving Xander a perfect set up.

“Thank you,” Xander smiled as he leaned down to take aim. “Going bronzing with you while you are spying on your daughter is definitely good for my game.”

“Speaking of…” Spike said as he began to look around for Raven.

“She’s fine. She is in the back on the right dancing with Sean.”

Spike glanced in the direction that his friend had indicated and saw the two teenagers bouncing around in what they considered dancing. He smiled as he watched her for a moment longer taking in Dawn and Josh next to them before turning back to take his next shot.

To know that his daughter was having a good time made him glad that he agreed to bring her and Sean out for the night. When she had first asked if they could just go with Dawn and Josh he had said no. And he had been right. Connor was going to be at the Bronze also. But then she had pouted and said that Sean needed to know the night life and why didn’t he come along and bring Xander to play pool or something. Buffy had said that it would probably be good for them to get out and he had finally agreed. He couldn’t even remember the last time that he and Xander had hung out and talked so he had relented. Knowing that Buffy and Elijah had gone over to Anya’s for some girl time had helped with the decision.

“So, what is going on with this protest thing?” Xander asked while gathering the balls from the pockets to send down to Spike.

“That club the Soldier’s had started is holding this protest to keep demons out of the university.” Spike said as he racked the balls. “So, Raven and Dawn are holding a counter protest. Each of them have claim to different ends of the quad on Sunday.”

“Is it just Raven and Dawn or other people going to be out there?”

“Sean, Janice, Connor, the Chickies…”

“The Chickies? What are they doing there?”

“Reliving their youth, I think. It seems they were quite the flower children in the sixties. Plus they all have adopted Raven as an unofficial grand-daughter.”

“Delores? A flower child? Can’t quite picture it but you never know. And having some more adults around should make you and the Buffmeister feel better about things.”

“Yeah, it does.” Spike sighed. “She’s only fifteen but it seems she is going on twenty. Break ‘em” He said gesturing toward the pool table.

~~~~~~~~

The black leather pants were hot but Raven knew she looked good in them so she would put up with it. That was one of the good things about having a younger Mum was the clothes factor. Buffy had mega clothes to borrow and now that she had gone through a growth spurt in the last month they fit just right over her new curves. Even Sean’s eyes had widened in appreciation when he had seen her in the pants worn with a frilly pink top that showed her totally flat stomach and whatever little cleavage she had. Now if only Connor would glance her way it would be totally cool but he was hanging out at the bar with Janice.

“Quit fretting and staring. He knows and you are not doing anything but feeding his ego.” Sean whispered as he shifted closer to her on the couch.

“I can’t help it. I spent almost two hours getting ready and he hasn’t even glanced my way.”

“And that’s because he knows that you didn’t decide to come until you knew he was going to be here. Relax and have a good time.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered before turning to smile at her best friend. Raven couldn’t believe that he was going to end up almost being her brother. Spike and Buffy had confronted them earlier in the week to find out the truth and not having a choice they had finally revealed it. That Sean after his parents had recently divorced and his father had taken off with a girl Dawn’s age and his mother had moved to New York to find herself had decided to make a life for himself. And since neither one of them had really wanted the responsibility of their almost grown son had willingly agreed for him to come to California just to be free of the burden.

Spike and Buffy had thrown a fit, called Morgana to have papers drawn up for legal guardianship of the Brownie and now they were being federal expressed around the country to get the signatures. As soon as they came back Sean would be an official member of the family.

Now, if they had only bothered to tell her parents that Sean’s fiancé ‘Elise’ didn’t exist.

~~~~~~~

“Yellow ball, right pocket,” Xander said as he took his shot. “The test results were all negative?”

“Yeah, everything was clear. Of course, there are tests that they couldn’t do because of the pregnancy but,” Spike hesitated for a moment while he eyed a shot, “Kate and Dr. Parker both think it’s just the pregnancy doing all this.”

The blond moved around the table to check out another possible shot while Xander watched him.

“Any more stuff happen? Beyond the bitchiness, forgetfulness…”

“And me, jerking off twenty times a day, nope, nothing else.” Spike leaned across the table. “Blue in the corner.”

“I feel for you, man, nothing would ever stop Anya from getting sex even the lack of sex drive.”

“Thanks for the encouragement,” Spike said as he took a sip of his beer. “It’s not the sex really. It’s the lack of Buffy. Just holding her and smelling her and the way she tastes.”

“TMI, buddy, TMI. And it is the sex. You’re a guy. It’s always about sex.”

Spike laughed and nodded. “Yeah, and I am missing the sex. Bad. Even with using pictures of Buffy the hand just ain’t doing it.”

Xander stood up and stared at Spike then shook his head slowly. “Pictures? Buffy? Whoa, visuals…having visuals about my best friend’s wife. Not good. Don’t do that.”

“It was your wife’s idea and your camera. Okay, didn’t need to go there either. Not that Anya is well, you know what I mean.”

They both laughed. It was an old comfortable joke by now of how they had each had a thing at one time for the other’s wife. After years of being friends and being married it didn’t bother them anymore. It was also the complete trust in their friendship that made it all right to joke about it.

“Seriously, Spike, nothing more on this blackness thing?”

“Not a damn thing. It’s frustrating as hell but at least the family is together on this.”

“What do you mean?” Xander asked as he returned part of his focus back to his game.

“Well, when we got the test results back, Raven and Eli demanded to know. Eli was feeling things about Buffy. The problems she’s been having and told Raven. Raven didn’t say anything to us and had Eli taking care of Buffy. But we’ve all talked now and everybody is being kept informed. So, if she does something strange, the kids tell us and vice versa.”

“That’s good. You don’t think she was serious about your stalker, do you?”

“Hell yeah, I don’t know who she is but she had better think twice about messing with a hormonally charged pregnant Slayer. Cuz I’ll find her chained in the basement and be drinking her for dinner.”

“Are you sure it’s not Donna?”

Spike shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. Max was going to try to have it checked out but I don’t think so. Donna was always pretty forthright about everything.”

Xander took his shot and stepped back whistling as it totally missed and rolled back breaking some other balls that had been in a group together.

“Forthright didn’t get her anywhere. Maybe she is trying something new.”

“Maybe, I just hope it isn’t because if it is her I might be tempted to let Buffy deal with her.”

~~~~~~~~

Raven looked good, really good. The pants really showed off the new curvier swell of her bottom and she obviously knew it from the way she was dancing. The bell sleeves of her pink top fell over her hands and when she raised them above her head they revealed the rings that adorned each finger. They twinkled in the lights and her eyes almost flashed in time to the driving beat of the music. The glitter that adorned her face and her cleavage sparkled giving her an ethereal quality as she moved. It was almost as if she had been incarnated from pure magic and he waited.

He waited for the wave of desire to move through his body from looking at her. He waited to feel the jealousy of watching her dance with someone else.

And it didn’t come.

Not even a spark of ancient fire.

Not even a turquoise shade of the green-eyed monster.

He sighed. It wasn’t going to change no matter what he wanted. And he wondered how to tell her. It was going to hurt her once she knew because the lie had been going on for a long time.

He was gay.

Not how the hell was he going to tell his best friend? The same best friend that had lost her virginity to him and in that act had sealed what he had already suspected?

Sean looked around to find Spike and watched for a moment while he laughed with his friend. The two of them were so masculine. There was not way he could let the secret out. They wouldn’t accept him and he would be on his own again. They could accept Willow and Tara because didn’t all straight guys have this thing for lesbians? His own parents couldn’t accept him so why should they?

So, his secret would remain his secret. He would continue to chase girls and hope he didn’t slip up. Spotting two girls from his science class staring at him from across the floor, Sean smiled and made his way toward them. No time like the present to continue the charade that was his life.

~~~~~~~

The waitress put down two more beers in front of them and the onion appetizer. After telling her thanks the two friends turned their attention to the food.

“Anya says you’re gaining weight.”

“Gee, thanks Love, are you telling me I’m fat?” Spike grinned as he popped some petals in his mouth.

“Yeah, and that dress, so not you, it makes your butt appear about three times bigger.” Xander said as they both started laughing.

“Thanks,” Spike said when he quit. “I love them but I get so caught up in the females it’s nice to be reminded that I’m a man.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Spike froze as he stared out onto the dance floor and watched his daughter dancing with a man that had to be older than even Connor. He growled unconsciously as he started to stand. Xander grabbed his arm as he followed his friend’s gaze.

“Leave her alone, Spike. You go out there and she will never live it down. As long as she’s visible on the dance floor she’s fine.”

Spike pulled his arm free, “She’s fine on the dance floor? Buffy and I have had sex on that dance floor.”

“Sit. And so have Anya and I but she was wearing a skirt, what about Buffy?”

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“Raven is dancing, getting sweaty,” Spike growled louder at the image and Xander hurried to finish his point before it was too late. “And she is wearing leather pants. There is no way he could get to her. So, as long as she is visible she’s fine.”

Reluctantly Spike sat but he kept his eye on his daughter anyway.

“So, you don’t worry about Sean being in the house?”

“Nothing has given any indication that they are in the least bit interested in each other. Buffy and I are keeping an eye on them anyway.”

“You okay with having another kid around?”

Spike took another drink of his beer before answering.

“Yeah, I’m fine with it. Sean is a good kid, too good, actually. We know that he is trying to be on his best behavior so that we don’t send him away. So, we are waiting until that moment when he is so relaxed that he is just Sean. I have a feeling there is a lot hiding in that kid that even Raven doesn’t know about.”

This time when Spike searched the dance floor he was looking for someone else and he spotted him dancing with two girls. They seemed to be totally into Sean but there was an almost bored air about the boy. Like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

~~~~~~~

It was power. And she was finding out that she loved power. The Slaying adrenaline rush kind and this power that she was just discovering she had. The guy, ‘Sam’ that she had danced with had escorted her over to his two friends and all three of them were trying to impress her. Cracking jokes and asking her about school. It was funny because they all thought she was in college. There was definitely something to be said about applying the correct make up and the wearing of your Mum’s clothes.

When Sam bent and whispered in her ear asking if she wanted a coke, she nodded her head yes.

“So, what are you all doing on Sunday?” She asked after he had ordered her a drink.

“If you want to do something, I think we can arrange something,” one of his friends cracked while looking at her breasts.

That made her uncomfortable but she forged on.

“My friends and I are holding a protest for equal rights at the university. Why don’t you all come down and join us?”

“Equal rights for who?” Sam asked.

“For everyone who inhabits this town.”

He shrugged his shoulders as he turned to pay for her drink. One of his friends made another lewd suggestion and as Sam handed her a drink he gave his friend a ‘back off’ glare.

“Sounds interesting, maybe I’ll check it out.”

Raven smiled her appreciation as she took a sip of the drink. His friends might be jerks but Sam seemed okay. Maybe this evening wasn’t a total loss after all.

~~~~~~~

For the first time in a while, Spike felt totally relaxed and felt maybe he could sleep good. The six beers he had consumed had definitely contributed to his state but he felt he deserved it. He hadn’t tied one on since he couldn’t remember when and he figured if he was doing something all that wrong then Xander would have said something.

“You know what, brick layer?” Spike slurred slightly. “I think we need to do this more often. Where’s the waitress? I want a whiskey this time.”

“It’s a good thing I drove,” Xander said but didn’t protest Spike’s ordering of a shot. It wasn’t very often that either of them indulged anymore. And it wasn’t like Spike was really drunk just feeling more relaxed about things.

Raven appeared at the table with Sean behind her. They both seemed to be upset about something and whatever buzz Spike had was instantly gone. Something was wrong and it wasn’t time anymore to slide into the seductive haze of the alcohol.

“Can we leave, Daddy? Now, please,” Raven pleaded with trembling lips and eyes that were rapidly filling with tears.

“What’s wrong? Did somebody hurt you?”

She grabbed his hand and tugged.

“Please, just get me out of here.”

Spike did a quick scan of the room but didn’t see anything amiss. He stood putting his arm around her to lead her out. Sean and Xander were right behind them. Raven buried her face in his side and he felt her body heave in sobs. A cold anger swept through him at the thought that someone had hurt his little girl and they had better be running at this point because when he found them they were going to pay. He smiled evilly as he thought of the power he now had without the chip. No one could mess with his family now.

TBC