Chapter 41 – Born to
Run
Let me in
I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your
dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs
round these velvet rims
And strap your hands
across my engines
Together we could
break this trap
Baby, we were born to
run
Bruce Springsteen
There were advantages to coming home, Spike decided as they pulled into their driveway. He didn’t even have a chance to turn off the motorcycle before his little girl was bounding out of the house to greet them. By the time Buffy and he had taken their helmets off, their daughter was dancing around their feet. A wide smile graced her face as she held her arms up for one of them to pick her up. He laughed, reaching down to scoop her up into his arms. Her arms wrapped around his neck while she placed a loud kiss on his cheek.
“I missed you, Daddy,” Joy announced, followed by another kiss.
“I’ve missed you, too, princess,” Spike responded with a laugh. He hugged her tight before turning to grab one of the backpacks that Buffy was holding. She flashed a smile at him, seemingly undisturbed by their daughter’s lack of welcome for her. “Didn’t you miss, Mummy?”
“Mummy always comes back,” Journey said. “You go away too much so I missed you lots.”
Her simple, honest answer hit him in the gut with the force of a sledgehammer. Did his daughter fear that one day he wouldn’t come home at all? Had he been blinded to his family’s need for him? He stopped in his short walk to the house to really look at his home. This was the place that he, Xander, and Buffy had rebuilt with a lot of time, sweat and love. Here Buffy became his in every way possible, and here their family came together. It truly was a home.
His home. A strange conclusion to a lifetime spent more in evil than in good.
“Hello, Dad,” Elijah said, breaking through his thoughts. He didn’t rush to them like his sister, but instead stood waiting on the top of the front porch steps. His solemn appearance made Spike’s heart lurch in love for the boy who carried too much on his small shoulders. Spike finished walking over to Eli, then pulled him closer.
“Hello, son,” Spike said, clasping his hand around his son’s neck. “You doing okay?”
“Pretty well,” Elijah answered, giving him a half smile as he raised his arms to be picked up also.
“Enough of a handful there?” Buffy asked, darting around them to open the front door for them. She was on the verge of giggling which only made Journey want to join her. The two females shared a look before Joy clamped her tiny hands over her mouth, trying to hold back the laughter. “I think Daddy is getting old,” Buffy teased. “Maybe he can’t hold both of you anymore?”
The playfulness was contagious as Elijah laughed and held tighter to his father as if he was afraid of being dropped. It was one of those moments where it seemed like nothing could touch his family. Spike played along, pretending to stagger under the weight of his children and the backpack still slung over his shoulder.
“Watch it,” he said. “Careful Daddy’s falling,” he joked as they moved into the house. “Here we go,” he yelled, running into the living room and dropping the children onto the couch. “Didn’t think I could take much more of that,” he said, laughing. “You two have gained a lot of weight since Mummy and I left.”
“We have not,” Elijah said, leaning over the back of the sofa to watch his parents. “You’re just getting old like Mum said.”
“Am not,” Spike quibbled, picking his son up again and tickling him unmercifully. “Take that back.”
~~~~~~~
Buffy rolled her eyes at the sight of the big bad vampire playing with his son. Having children had brought out a side to Spike that she didn’t even know existed. The man who once wouldn’t dance because he was afraid people would make fun of him had no qualms about everyone seeing him being silly with his children. Family life was good for them both especially in a world that had little innocence left in it. She turned to Journey and held out her arms.
“Hey, baby,” she said, settling her daughter on her hip.
“Let’s leave the boys to play,” she nodded to the two males who were still
rough housing it. “And let’s go find
“She was a minute ago,” Journey informed her. “Max and Faith went home already.”
“Yeah, I know,” Buffy said, heading for the back of the house. “They needed to do things at the Hyperion.”
Their friends had waited until they knew for sure the couple
was back in town before they headed back to
Journey gave her a solemn nod then thrust her bandaged arm under Buffy’s nose. “I got hurt.”
“So, I heard,” Buffy said, pushing open the door to the
kitchen. It was just as she suspected
“They’ve been perfect angels,”
“Let’s hope not,” Buffy replied, setting Journey down on the counter. “Can Mummy look at your boo-boo?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her friends to take care of her children properly, or even just motherly concern. There was still the feeling of guilt for the choices that she made while pregnant with her youngest that compelled her to be a bit protective. In Buffy’s mind everything that went wrong in Journey’s life could be linked back to that unfortunate time in her life. And everything right was because Spike and she had fought it out so that they could still be a family. Mistrust tore them apart and love somehow healed them.
Buffy smiled at her daughter who held her arm out trustingly for her mother to inspect her injury. “I have to pull the bandages off,” Buffy said. “I’ll make it quick so it won’t hurt too much. You ready?”
“Yep,” Journey said, nodding her head. “I look the other way so it will be a surprise.”
“Okay.”
After taking a deep breath for both of them, Buffy yanked the tape off on one side of the bandages. She froze when she saw Journey’s arm though. Something wasn’t right as she ran her hand along her daughter’s forearm.
“What’s wrong, Mummy?” Joy asked, peeking over the gauze to look at her arm. “It’s all gone.”
Buffy could only nod. She looked toward
“What’s wrong, Buffy?”
~~~~~~
“Hey, everybody just left us behind,” Spike said, sauntering into the kitchen with Elijah slung over his shoulder. “What’s going on?” he asked, seeing the worried expressions of the two women. Something was wrong with his little girl. Stuck in the slow motion of wanting to be somewhere else where nothing bad happened, he slid Elijah down to the ground before taking a tentative step to the small cluster of females. “What’s wrong?” He was afraid to breath, to think, to hope, in case his world was going to go crashing in on itself.
“Spike,” Buffy said, taking his hand and pulling him closer. “She’s almost completely healed.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Journey protested, shaking her head as fat teardrops slid down her face. “Don’t be mad.”
“We’re not mad,” Spike soothed, reaching over to take the rest of the bandage off that had been left dangling. “It just makes you a very special little girl, that’s all.” He kissed Joy’s forehead, before pulling Buffy close to him.
“You sure, Daddy?” Joy asked with a sniffle while running her hand over her arm. “Why did it get all better?”
“It’s like your father said,” Buffy said, picking her daughter up to nestle her close to them. “You’re a very special little girl.”
“You have a gift,” Elijah spoke up. “Like Raven and I do.”
It seemed to alleviate his daughter’s fears as her face lit up with a smile again.
“Oh,” Joy said. “Guess I’m not normal like Sean says. Can I tell him?”
“Not yet, baby,” Spike said, making eye contact with Buffy then Del. The truth, for now, couldn’t go any further than this house. Memories of the Council wanting to ‘research’ the offspring of a vampire and a slayer returned, along with the fight they went through to keep them away. Although they now had control of the Council, it was still filled with the old school Watchers who were less than compassionate with the girls. And as it was the way with them, it seemed they had one more secret to protect within their family.
~~~~~~~
He smiled as he easily entered the Hyperion despite the protection spell around it. They would never learn it seemed. At least a hundred, maybe double that, invitations was being called out to it. He lived in each one of them, waiting for that moment, that singular moment when he could gain control. Free will was something they should never have been given by their loving benefactor. It made them weak and so easily swayed by his truth.
Almost all of them were lost in that place where they were linked. The Watchers, meant to protect them, were blind fools too busy with preparing their bodies that they never bothered to study their collective soul. The demon that was a part of each Slayer lived in all of them, joining them, given to be passed on upon their death.
He just needed one. One weak link at this time of slumber and he could have them all. And she called to him so strongly. Damaged, her mind was already lost in that place that was truly his, Dana, slept with all her fears screaming for completion. He watched her for a moment before slipping into the guise of the one she missed.
“Dana, wake up child,” he called. “It’s your grandmother, come to take care of you.”
~~~~~~~~
It was late and finally everything was done for the night. Things were back in his control as Spike climbed the steps leading to the attic. He felt Buffy before he saw her, the hurt radiated off of her in heavy waves, and his stomach tightened in apprehension. It didn’t take him asking what was wrong. He could detect the scent of her menstrual blood in the air. She didn’t even look up at him as he made his way over to where she was making their bed. Without waiting to be asked he grabbed the sheet to help her tuck it in.
“You okay, pet?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said. She gave him a small smile. “I knew it wasn’t going to happen so quickly, but I was hoping.” She sighed as she grabbed the comforter off the chair.
“It’ll happen,” he reassured her. “Journey is proof of that.”
“I know,” Buffy said, sitting on the bed. She wrapped her arms around her knees. “Now, I’m wondering if we should even try. If the old farts left on the Council find out that Joy has special abilities, they’ll want to do research on her.”
“I’ll kill them first,” Spike promised, sitting beside her. “No one is going to do that to our child…any of them.” He brushed her hair over her shoulder. “You know that there are still other options in place if things get out of hand. We’ll disappear if we have, too.”
“Thank you,” Buffy whispered, turning to him. “I know you’ll always take care of us. I love you so much. You make me feel safe even when I know everything might not be.”
“That’s my job.”
Spike kissed her softly. It was his job, had been since the day he found Buffy living in his crypt. She was his responsibility as was their family was now. It was just the way things were and he accepted it. Nothing would hurt them if he had anything to do with it. He wrapped his hand around hers to tug her down onto the bed when the phone made them both stop.
“Hello,” Buffy said, after picking up the cordless on the nightstand. Spike leaned closer to his wife. It couldn’t be good news with the lateness of the hour.
“Buffy, it’s Faith. You been asleep yet?”
“No, why? What’s going on?”
“Don’t,” Faith said. “And get your asses down here as soon as possible. We’ve all had the same dream.”
“What are you talking about?” Spike asked, unable to keep out of the conversation.
“Every Slayer has had the same dream. A fucking nightmare and things are in chaos down here. Giles has already had Essie send some men up to get Raven and Connor to tell them to get home,” Faith paused. “It’s bad; B, if it’s prophetic then we’re fucked.”
to be continued…
