July 10, 2007 7:50 PM

The black garbed man held Raven against him effortlessly while she struggled to free herself from his grasp. Panic began to take over her senses when she realized that there was no getting away from him and her eyes began to glow brightly from the emotions that flowed through her.

Buffy’s voice whispered in her ear, “You’re not helpless. Do something.”

Raven renewed her efforts to liberate herself from her attacker’s grasp but it was useless. In her struggles she was only frustrating herself. The man holding her glanced over at Buffy with a question in his eyes and she nodded her approval for him to release Raven.

“Not yet. Let me try.” Mrs. Armstrong of the self-named Sunnydale Chickies piped up before Raven was freed. She hurried over to stand in front of Raven followed by the four other Chickies to form a semi-circle in front of her. “Once you panic, it’s all over with, breathe deep Raven.”

Raven looked at the older woman in front of her trying to comprehend her words. Following the instructions she breathed deep, letting the air fill her lungs and begin to clear her mind.

“Now, dear, what did your mother say earlier about utilizing what you have free?”

“She’s not my mother.”

“Neither here nor there, what do you still have free to use?” Mrs. Armstrong persisted in reaching the girl hell-bent on being headstrong.

“She’s right, think.” Mrs. Davis chimed in.

The older women, all in their sixties, had taken to the petite girl that Buffy had brought with her to self-defense class. Of the total five of the Chickies only one hadn’t taken Buffy’s class before because she had sprained her ankle the last time the class was offered. So, when this class was put on the schedule, all five had signed up so they could go through it together.

The four that had graduated the last time felt they were now experts in ‘self-defense’ and were eager to help the girl through the class. Buffy had told them if in the first class they could do something to defend themselves from the attacker then the self-confidence would be there for the rest of the lessons. So, she always had everyone meet the ‘attacker’ in the first class and would help them find the edge to assert themselves.

Raven began to feel more in control of herself as the oxygen cleared her brain from the panic signals. Her mind started to run through the beginning of the class when Buffy had gone over sensitive areas to attack and different parts of her body that she could use.

“Pretend it’s Buffy if it helps.” Mrs. Davis stage whispered to her.

Everyone chuckled including Buffy who was leaning against the wall watching with interest as these women reached her daughter when she couldn’t. Raven took a deep breath and brought her foot down on the attacker and then head butted him. When his arms loosened around her she brought her elbow back into his stomach and ran away from him. The class began to cheer her as she laughingly bowed to them.

“Okay, everybody, that’s it for tonight. See you next week,” Buffy called out to dismiss everyone for the evening. A fond smile graced her countenance as she looked at Raven now surrounded by chattering Chickies. They were busily asking her questions of where she came from, how she came to live with Buffy and about her unusual eyes. None of them were mean spirited but only inquiries from a group of women who had grown up in Sunnydale and watched as their families moved away. Now all they had were each other.

“Dear, why don’t you and Buffy come have coffee and dessert with us?” Mrs. Armstrong asked. “We go after all our classes. It would be fun to have some young people among us for a change.”

The other women quickly agreed with her and repeated the request. Buffy had heard the invitation but wanted Raven to decide before she came up with an answer. She continued to stack the mats in the corner of the room while waiting. It didn’t take long for Raven to call out if they could go or not.

Since coming to live with them, Raven had only spent time with them and the rest of the family. The isolation from other people was beginning to wear on the girl and she was becoming more petulant by the day. Thankfully, for all of them school would be starting in a little over a month and she would be in the company of people her own age. But remembering Dawn in high school, Buffy wasn’t completely sure if this was a good thing or not.

After throwing the last mat on the top Buffy made her way over to the group.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Buffy answered smiling at Raven and the women. “Let me call Spike and tell him that we are going to be late.”

She walked away from them to retrieve her cell phone from her purse. As she dialed the number the women began to gather their belongings in anticipation of leaving. Buffy let the phone ring about ten times but Spike never picked up the phone. Shrugging she made a mental note to try again in a few minutes figuring that Spike was probably giving Elijah his bath or something.

~~~~~~~~~

July 10, 2007 8:15 PM

There was someone knocking on the door at the same time as the phone was ringing. Elijah locked eyes with his Daddy as he watched him wage which was more important. Then deciding there was always call waiting Spike headed for the door with Elijah on his heels. He glanced briefly out the small window in the center and only saw a pretty brunette standing there. Gesturing for Elijah to stand behind the door he carefully opened the door a fraction.

“Hey, is Buffy home? Angel sent me.” The woman greeted him with a wide grin.

“Yeah, so you say. Why don’t you just stay there while I give him a call?” Spike slowly looked the scantily clad woman over as he shut the door in her face. There was no way he was letting a stranger, not even a woman, into his home not with the Soldiers out there. And if Angel did send her, he was going to give him an earful for not calling first. It would be just like him to do something to cause trouble between Buffy and him just for a laugh.

~~~~~~~~~

July 10, 2007 8:35 PM

Raven was sandwiched between Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Davis at the table while Buffy sat across from them with the other women. They had just placed orders for various desserts and coffee with the waitress. Once again Raven found herself at the center of attention as the women continued their questions with her.

“Are you looking forward to going to school here?” Miss Penelope inquired.

Raven shrugged her shoulders before she answered, “I don’t know. I miss my friends back home. But high school would have been different because there would be new people so maybe it won’t be too bad.”

“You’ll do fine, dear. This town isn’t that big so you’ll know everybody pretty quickly. And has your mother let you go to the Bronze yet?” Miss Penelope tried to reassure Raven.

“She’s not…”

“Now, now, Raven, she will never be your birth mother but Buffy is acting like your real mother. A mother is someone who loves you, and takes care of you, and protects you. Buffy does all that, doesn’t she?” Mrs. Armstrong corrected the teen while ignoring the face she was making.

“Yeah, I guess so. It doesn’t mean I am going to call her Mummy or anything.”

“I’ve already said that it’s all right if you don’t. “ Buffy told her sternly trying to send her the message not to be impolite.

“I’m sorry.” Raven smiled at Mrs. Armstrong while she apologized. “It’s just everything is hard to adjust to here.”

“That’s all right, dear. It must be hard to have everything taken away but your lucky to have people like Buffy and Spike to take you and your brother in. They are such polite people to live near.” Mrs. Armstrong turned to look at Buffy, “Is everything all right with your mister? He never is out like all the other men on the weekend doing the yard work and stuff. I know it’s probably none of my business, especially after all these years.”

“That’s okay. He’s like allergic to the sun so it makes it hard on him sometimes.”

“I bet it does, especially now with the children. He is extremely good looking.” Mrs. Davis tittered.

The others joined in her giggle agreeing with her as Buffy blushed.

“Thank you,” Buffy said.

“What’s the Bronze?” Raven asked.

“It’s an all age’s club in town.” Buffy explained but then dashed her excitement, “You’re still too young to go but I’ll talk to Spike about it.”

Raven knowing she wasn’t going to get anywhere else at the moment let the conversation go for a later time.

~~~~~~~~~

July 10, 2007 9:45 PM

Spike glanced worriedly at the clock wondering where Buffy was then glanced back at the brunette in front of him. He kept trying to force himself to maintain eye contact with her but his eyes every so often would scurry down to look at her breasts. When he realized that he was staring at them again, he would give himself a mental knock to the head, and look back into her amused eyes. She knew exactly what she was doing as she bent over on the counter to give him a better look at what her blouse and bra intended to be obvious. The twin creamy globes were amply pushed up making Spike wonder if the material was a fraction lower if her nipples would show. Without realizing it his tongue licked his lower lip before he heard her laugh outright at him.

"Buffy, should be home any minute," Spike stammered in an effort to reassure himself that he wouldn't be alone much longer with this woman that Angel had sent to help them.

"Yeah, you said that over an hour ago," She said straightening up again. Slowly she stretched her body like a cat waking from a nap in the sun.

Closing his eyes to avoid the temptation he kept wishing Buffy would walk through the door and save him. It wasn't that he wanted her or was really attracted to the brunette; he was just looking at what was displayed before him like any man would. At least that was what he kept telling himself as the guilt nibbled at him. He shouldn't even look at another woman. Buffy wasn't going to understand at all. After the Donna incident she trusted him with another woman about as far as she, well not her, as far as Dawn could throw him. Reluctantly opening his eyes again he found himself staring at the one thing he was trying to avoid. A sigh rushed through as he realized he was fighting a losing battle.

"You Bastard! What the hell is going on?" Buffy shouted as she threw her gym bag at him. This was totally unbelievable. She walked in to her kitchen and found her husband staring at some sleazy dressed woman's breasts.

Spike rolled his eyes as he easily deflected the gym bag. This was not going to go well at all.

"Hey, B." Faith turned to smile at Buffy. Her eyes opened in interest as she looked at Raven. Spike had told her all about the kids and the marriage and the house as he had tried to resist her teasing.

Raven returned the perusal straightening up to her full height as she took an instant dislike to the woman. She was causing trouble and that was one thing this family didn't need was more trouble. Since the house had been vandalized, family time had been more of a priority and although things weren’t perfect, Raven and Elijah were beginning to feel like this was now home. Raven kept telling herself that it was mostly for Elijah so she wouldn’t allow her protective shields down.

"Get out of my house now," Buffy snarled at her old enemy disbelieving that she had the nerve to be here after everything.

"Baby, Angel sent her to help. I talked to him about it," Spike explained cautiously as Buffy turned her glare on him.

"Like I believe that. She is here to cause trouble."

"It's true. I've been down in LA helping out since I got out and Angel said that you all might use help more than them. So, here I am," Faith explained shrugging her shoulders.

"I want you out of here. We don't need your help."

"Maybe it would be good to have someone else around to help with the patrolling and stuff." Spike tried to defend having Faith around.

"Stuff? What kind of stuff do you have in mind? Don’t answer because I already have an idea."

Both Faith and Spike looked away from her convincing Buffy of their guilt. Turning on her heel Buffy headed into the living room so she could get her weapons to go patrolling. Spike followed her while he tried to figure out a way to calm her down.

"What are you doing?" Spike asked nervously. "Buffy, come on, talk to me. Trust me a little."

Buffy straightened slowly making Spike take a step back away from her. She was too angry and upset to be rational right now and with weapons in her hand it was just the safer thing to do. Not that he honestly thought she would do anything but accidents did happen.

"Trust you? Why should I? I come home and find you ogling her, of all people." Buffy's voice trembled as she fought the tears. There was no way that she was going to cry now. Not in front of him and certainly not in front of her.

"I wasn’t ogling her. It wasn’t like that. Trust me, please." Spike pleaded while his hand brushed her hair away from her face.

“I’m sorry but I can’t trust you with her. Not with her,” Buffy’s eyes filled with tears as the hurt wove through her. “I’m going patrolling. Make sure she’s gone when I come back.”

Buffy turned away from him and without looking at anyone walked out the back door. Raven stared at Buffy retreating then up at Spike and finally her gaze came to rest on Faith with malice. Things were off balance in the house again and it was this woman’s fault and Spike’s.

“I hate you.” Raven said to Spike as she ran past him on her way to her room.

“Just bloody great.” Spike muttered looking first at Raven running away and turned to look toward the kitchen where Buffy had left by. Which one did he go and take care of first? “Women.”

“Not handling them very well tonight, are you?” Faith observed as she leaned against the door between the kitchen and the living room.

“This is your fault. And Angel’s. Are you enjoying this? Buffy’s told me about you. Was this some scheme cooked up between you two to give us trouble?” Spike questioned her scornfully. When Angel had reassured him that it was going to be all right for Faith to be there, he should never have listened. Faith should have been half way back to Los Angeles by now.

“No, I am not enjoying this. And no, it’s not a scheme. Look, I just wanted to help.” Faith shrugged. “Angel said things were overwhelming here and thought an extra Slayer would come in handy.”

Spike nodded and sighed knowing in a way she was right. Then looking right to left he tried to decide which one he was going to go to first. He froze with an “I’m dead” look in his eyes as Faith sauntered up to him with a grin. Her hands came out toward him and he started to take a step back when she patted him on each shoulder.

“First a word of advice, don’t ever defend me to Buffy because you’ll lose. Besides I can take care of myself. So, why don’t you go take care of your daughter and I’ll go talk to B. See if we can work this out.”

After a moment of trying to decide what was best Spike finally relented to Faith’s plan. The two turned in different directions to see if they could calm the females of Spike’s house down.

~~~~~~~~~

July 10, 2007 10:30 PM

Raven was sitting on her bed with her disc man attached to her head. Her arms wrapped around her knees as her head bobbed to the music. Spike approached her cautiously. This was the first time that the girl had shown any anger toward him. Their relationship so far had been one of easy companionship. She steadfastly ignored him as he approached even up to the point when he sat on the side of her bed.

Spike reached out and plucked the headphones off of her head so that he could talk to her.

“Hey. Give those back.” Raven reached out to grab them back but Spike laid it on the bed behind him.

“We need to talk.”

With eyes rolling Raven sighed loudly as she crossed her arms in front of her.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She muttered as she looked away from him.

“You said you hated me and I want to know why because I love you, Raven.”

“No, you don’t. Both of you say it but you don’t mean it.”

If looks could kill Spike would be dead as she turned to look back at him. How could he say it? How could she say it? The only thing they cared about was each other. Sometimes this family thing seemed to be only a game to be put away when they were tired of playing. Yeah, they took care of them and protected them but the two of them had no clue what was going on inside her or Elijah.

“Of course we mean it. We wouldn’t say it if we didn’t.”

“Then why? Why do you do it? All the two of you do is fight or fuck.” Raven spit the words out as she moved off the bed so she could stand away from him. Her words were an exaggeration but those were the two things that caused problems around here. Like the night Max had left. They didn’t know that she had been awake when she had heard the dishes crash to the floor. And after Buffy had checked on her and thought she was asleep she had watched as Max drove away from her window. One more person was gone from their lives because of violence and she was feeling as unstable as Elijah. “Every time you all get into each other or start fighting it doesn’t matter if Elijah and I are around. It’s scary. We never know if you are all are going to break up or stay together. Or if we are even going to have a home the next day.”

Spike was stunned by her words never realizing that they were so aware of what was going on between Buffy and him. They had tried not to fight around the two but sometimes like tonight it just happened. As for the other they had restricted their sex life solely to the bedroom since they had been here.

“I’m sorry but I didn’t know that you were worried about us breaking up.” Spike told her trying to ignore the remarks about sex for now. “Buffy and I aren’t going to. We’ve had some problems but we’re working them out.”

“I’m not worried. I could care less. It’s Eli I’m worried about. And I don’t know what the hell you all do in there. First of all these walls aren’t exactly thick and the two of you make a lot of noise. Besides that Eli can pick up on things and he is always asking me if you are hurting Buffy. It’s freaking him out.” Raven shouted things that she had previously decided not to tell them. Even if she wouldn’t admit it she was afraid that if they knew how she felt and what Eli was picking up on then Spike and Buffy would decide not to keep them. Because they weren’t their ‘real’ children only substitutes for what they couldn’t have.

“Why didn’t you come talk to us before?” Spike had his hands on his hips as he looked everywhere but at her. The news that their bedroom antics were being heard was a bit embarrassing to him as it would to Buffy when she found out. It was also disconcerting that the children didn’t feel secure with them. Not knowing what else to do he approached her. His hand lifted her chin to look down into her eyes. “I didn’t know.”

“You two are the adults. You should know these things.”

“You’re right we should. We’ve never really been parents before.” Spike said in apology. It was true they had never been parents before except when Buffy had tried to raise Dawn and failed but that was due to unusual circumstances. It had nothing to do with her heart or ability. He rubbed his hands over his face unsure of what to do or say. Finally he raised his head to look at the teen in front of him and decided that the truth was all he could offer. “I’m sorry, Princess, for upsetting or hurting you or Elijah. I would never do it intentionally and neither would Buffy. We are in this together, all of us, and we’ll find a way. But we do love you, both of you and this is your home. Don’t worry about that.”

She nodded as tears finally started to fall. His words sounded real and she wanted to believe him so much. When he pulled her against him she held on to him like everything in her world depended on this vampire that wanted to be her father.

~~~~~~~~~

July 10, 2007 10:40 PM

Faith hurried through the cemetery toward the sound of fighting. She was just rounding a corner of a mausoleum when she saw Buffy thrown easily through the air. The demon hurried to stand over his fallen prey while holding a sword poised over a dazed Buffy. Running toward the pair she halted just in time to kick the demon away from Buffy. It felt good to be back in the fight as she grappled with the demon eventually taking the sword from him and with a turn she swung the sword decapitating him.

Smiling Faith turned back to Buffy who was slowly making her way to her feet.

“You okay?”

“Just dizzy. Need to sit for a minute.” Buffy replied while slowly rubbing her temple with one hand. Stumbling she made her way to a tombstone to take a seat on it.

“You pregnant?”

Buffy shook her head slowly as she tried to focus on what was going on around her. This wasn’t the first time in the last couple of weeks that this had happened. Mostly it was late at night while she was patrolling or trying to finish the chores around the house.

“You sure? Cause you look kind of green around the gills.”

“Thanks. No, I’m not pregnant. It’s that time now.” Buffy looked up at Faith standing in front of her then gave a small laugh, “it’s not something I have to worry about. We can’t get pregnant. We tried and it didn’t work.”

“Sounds like a bad break. So, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Buffy stood and started to walk away from her. Faith trotted along side of her as Buffy picked up speed in an effort to get away from her.

“Slow down. I don’t relish the idea of carrying you back to the house cause you fainted.” Faith told her as Buffy started to slow down again.

“What are you doing here?”

“To help. Honestly, that’s why. Look, I know things have never been good between us. But I had a lot of time to think in prison and I want to try to make some things right.”

Buffy nodded as her eyes roamed the cemetery around her. The tiredness in her body wanted to believe that Faith was only here to be the help she needed. Spike had actually spoken to Angel about it which was a big deal in its self. So, maybe if everyone around her was saying it was okay maybe she needed to let go and trust their judgment. Finally she decided to give in. At least she knew the worst that the brunette could do so she would be able to watch her. And unfortunately the best way to watch her was to keep her in the house.

“Maybe it would be good to have someone else around to help with the slaying. Things have been hectic since the children got here and the house being vandalized. And there are still the everyday things that still have to be handled.” Buffy threw her hands wide as the things that needed to be done weighed down on her. It never seemed to end.

“Isn’t Spike helping out?”

“Yeah, but I feel like I need to take care of a lot things myself. Being a vampire all this family stuff is strange for him. I don’t want to overwhelm him.”

“He’s a big boy, B, if you need help then you need to ask.”

Buffy shook her head. Spike had told her if they were a family then most of it would be up to her to take care of them. If she asked for too much help he might bolt again. It was best that she just kept him happy and do what she could.

“Come on, let’s go back to the house and get you set up.” Buffy changed the subject before she ended up telling Faith things that were definitely better left unsaid.

“You’re letting me stay? I’m surprised.”

“Do the slaying. Stay away from Spike. Cause any trouble and you’re gone. Understand?”

“No problem.”

It didn’t take them long to move Faith into the dining room. The room was still empty of furniture since the attack so there wasn’t anything to move out. The couch in Spike’s study that had a pull out bed was moved into the room so Faith would have a place to sleep. A dresser that had survived was brought up from the basement.

After that was done Buffy gave her a tour of the house. First Buffy showed her the bathroom downstairs telling her that it was hers to utilize, showed her the kitchen that she had already seen but let her know that she could help herself to whatever food that she wanted. They moved upstairs where Buffy showed Faith which rooms were the children’s and which one belonged to her and Spike. As they headed back down the hall Buffy pointed out the staircase that led to the attic.

“You can meet Clem tomorrow. He lives here now.” Buffy briefly explained that Clem was a demon but was a member of the family. Faith nodded her head feeling a little overwhelmed by everything and followed Buffy into the upstairs bathroom. “This is the big bathroom. Feel free to use the tub if you like to take baths. It’s a lot nicer than the one downstairs.”

Faith ran her eyes longingly over the claw foot tub and all the bath stuff that Buffy and Raven had accumulated in their quest for the perfect bath session. In prison it had only been communal showers and since being out Faith hadn’t really had a chance to indulge in bubble baths. This was luxury in its highest form that was displayed so temptingly in front of her.

Apparently her wish was going to be granted as Buffy noticed the look on her face and understood completely.

“Why don’t you go ahead and take one now? It’s a long trip from LA.” Buffy moved to leave the bathroom then turned back to the brunette. “Thanks for helping me back there.”

“No problem. Hey, I’m sorry about before.” Faith shrugged her shoulders and looked away from Buffy. There she had finally apologized to Buffy about all the things from their past. As apologies went it wasn’t the greatest but from her it was a big deal. She only hoped that Buffy wouldn’t be a bitch about it.

“I forgave you a long time ago.” Buffy said with a slight smile then she turned to leave the other Slayer alone. It was true. In the last hour or so as she had settled Faith into the household and they had talked, Buffy realized that she had let go of the past. Somewhere along the line it had become just another bad time that she had dealt with and gotten through.

~~~~~~~~

July 11, 2007 12:23 AM

Their room was dark as Buffy came in. Spike shifted onto his side under the covers as she headed for the closet to get undressed. After she quickly disrobed Buffy carefully slipped into bed coming to curl against the coolness of Spike’s body. Instinctively in his sleep he wrapped his arm around her with a sigh born from finally being complete with her there. For awhile she lay quietly beside him but everything that had happened that night kept replaying in her mind and restlessly she moved away from Spike.

“You okay, Pet?” His words were drowsy with sleep as he moved closer to her as if he needed her to be a part of him. That he couldn’t sleep well or completely without them touching.

“About as right as rain,” Buffy told him as she shifted back against him again. It wasn’t right though. Too much, too soon, too fast, too overwhelming and her heart was full.

“What happened with Faith?” His hand stroked her arm as his lips nuzzled her below the ear.

“She is now going to being staying in our dining room. Your study is minus a couch though.”

“That’s all right,” Spike whispered as he ground himself against her bottom. “Are you okay with it? With me?”

“Touch her, look at her again and you’re dust.” Buffy turned to look back at him so that he would know she wasn’t kidding.

His hand took advantage of her leaning back and pulled at her until she was on her back.

“Mmm,” he murmured as he took advantage of her new position with both hands and lips. “Why would I when I have you?”

Buffy pushed at his chest until he backed away from her, “I’m serious, Spike.”

“So, am I. I promised and I meant it.” He waited until she nodded before resuming his previous mission of seduction then remembered his conversation with Raven and with a sigh halted again. Pulling away from her, Spike propped himself up on one elbow so he could look down at her. “Raven was upset about what happened. She kept playing it off as Elijah but it’s her too.”

“Is she okay?’

“Yeah, but the fighting between us is making them insecure. I guess their parents didn’t fight a lot. I don’t know.”

Buffy laughed, “For us, we’ve been hardly fighting at all since they got here.”

“That’s not all. They’ve been hearing us at night. And Elijah is still thinking I’ve been hurting you.” Spike said as he flopped onto his back. “I guess we need to be making some changes.”

“I guess so. Like you not making it your goal to make me scream.”

“But Buffy it’s no fun unless you’re screaming my name.” He practically purred as he rolled over on top of her. His lips returned to nuzzle her neck.

“Ego trip.” Buffy managed to eke out before she surrendered to him. “Yeah, we need to make some changes.”

And as Spike made love to her Buffy added the problem with the children to her list of things that needed to be taken care of.

TBC