Domestic Shadows

By Heather Martin

Summary- AU Set in the future after season 7. When Spike saves a little girl’s life, Buffy and his life are turned upside-down. But who could resist a five-year-old’s sweet smile and innocent eyes? They just couldn’t help but bring the little girl into their hearts. But when she turns out to be more than a regular little girl, how far will they go to protect the child from evil?

Spoilers- Get It Done

Chapter 3

Rebecca woke up before Spike. She sat up and studied the prone vampire. His blond hair was disheveled from sleep, and he was bare from the waist up. Any woman of age would call him down-right sexy, but she thought he looked silly.

She gently shook him. “Time to wake up,” she instructed.

There was no response. When she processed this and the fact that his chest wasn’t moving, fear filled her. He looked the way mommy had when she went away, although not with the blood. Then she had to remind herself that he wasn’t like other people. He was like the monsters after her, but good. His kind turned to dust when they died. Relief came over her. He was only really tired and didn’t want to wake up right then.

Okay, Rebecca thought, I’ll let Spike sleep some more. She hopped off the cot and headed up the stairs. She wondered if the nice lady from yesterday was still in bed too. The aroma of something cooking filled her nostrils as she opened the door leading into the kitchen.

A woman with red hair was frying food in a skillet. The little girl climbed up on a stool to the island so she could get a good view of what was being prepared. A squeal escaped her. “Oooo, French toast!”

The woman became startled, almost dropping the spatula. She spun around. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Huh? Who-Who are you?”

The child smiled. “My name is Rebecca. What’s yours?”

Blinking, the witch replied, “W-Willow.”

“Hi, Willow.”

“Um, hey,” Willow said in a small voice.

Just then a yawning Dawn came into the room. She stopped when she noticed Rebecca. She pointed a finger at the little girl. “Whoa, who is that?”

“Uh, she says her name is Rebecca,” Willow informed.

“Ok, and what is she doing here?”

“I don’t know.”

Rebecca smiled. “Do you live here? With Spike and the nice lady?”

“Nice lady?” Willow exchanged a glance with Dawn. “Buffy?”

The teen stepped over to stand before Rebecca. “How did you get here?”

“Spike brought me here to keep me safe from the monsters.”

At that moment Buffy came in. She was fully dressed and she looked much more vibrant than the day before. “Hey,” she greeted.

“Buffy, do you know about the little girl that’s in our house?” Dawn asked.

The slayer went to the cabinet and got down some plates. “Oh, Rebecca. Yeah. Spike saved her last night. No big, we‘ll just have a guest for a couple days.”

Dawn shook her head. “This is so weird.”

Willow shook her head. “Well, I guess I’ll have to fix more food,” she stated. She got out a few more slices of bread, still looking puzzled.

The girls ate the delicious breakfast with ravenousness. Especially Rebecca, who drowned her toast in syrup. She downed the orange juice and asked for another glass. Dawn was willing to serve, and poured the child some more. After they were done, Willow went upstairs to use her computer. Dawn had to work on a project for school. So, that left Buffy with Rebecca.

They slayer eyed the little girl critically. She noted the outfit Rebecca wore. I bet she’s worn that for days, Buffy thought by the look of it. After a few moments she made up her mind on what to do about it. She went upstairs and grabbed a brush, and then came back down to get out Rebecca’s tangles. When she was satisfied with her charge’s hair, she helped her tie her sneakers.

“Are we going somewhere?” Rebecca asked. Excitement could be heard in her voice.

“Yes, we’re going to go get you some new clothes,” Buffy answered.

“Oooo! I want some pretty stuff. With butterflies and flowers.”

Buffy couldn’t help but smile. “Okay.”

They walked downtown to the budget shop. Buffy wished she could take the kid to the mall, but she was short on cash. But it all turned out fine. Rebecca found some cute stuff for a good bargain.

It was around two when they arrived back home. Spike was sitting on the couch, and looked over when he heard them enter. Rebecca came into the living room, full of energy.

“Spike, Spike, I got some new clothes!” she cried.

The vampire leaned forward in his seat. “Really?” He shifted his gaze to fall on Buffy. “So much for letting ol’ Spike take care of the bit then, huh?”

Buffy shrugged. “She needed clothes. And you were asleep,” she defended.

A smirk formed on his lips, but it was clearly in good nature. He turned back to Rebecca. “Get anything nice, itzy-bitzy?”

The five-year-old nodded, enthusiastically. “I gotz lots of neat stuff. Wanna see?”

Just then the commercial on the TV ended to return to Passions. Spike’s attention was grabbed and he watched as Tabitha showed Kay the power of the dark side.

Buffy giggled. “You won’t be able to get through to him while his show is on,” she told the little girl. “Why don’t you show him your things after it’s over.”

“Okay,” Rebecca answered.

Buffy took the two shopping bags and went upstairs with them. When she came back down she had to stop at the scene before her. She found Rebecca on Spike’s lap, eyes glued to the television along with his.

“What does the mean dolly want to hurt people for?” Rebecca questioned.

“Well, ya see pet, this demon Charity made the doll. It came from hell,” Spike replied.

“Oh,” Rebecca said.

Buffy laughed. They were so adorable together. A thought suddenly struck her. She had been planning on contacting child services, but she had to wonder if she would be able to. She seemed to have a strong instinct to want to keep the little girl for herself. Which was absurd. She definitely wasn’t the parent type. Besides, Dawn was enough to take care of as it was. She couldn’t possibly keep Rebecca. . . Could she?

************************

The young vampire bowed before the throne. “Master.”

“Lucas,” the master vamp acknowledged. “What is your report?”

“The mother is confirmed to be dead,” Lucas said.

“And the child?”

Lucas kept his eyes downward, afraid to speak.

“And the child?” the master reiterated, his voice rising.

“She’s only a kid,” Lucas said. “What can she do on her own?”

A growl emerged from the master. He clutched to the arms of his chair with great strength. “Do I have to read the prophesy to you again!?”

From the shadows, a beautiful vampiress stepped into view. She came to stand next to the master, who was her mate. The torch on the wall allowed her features to be seen in the darkness of their lair. She had long black hair that cascaded down her back to stop at her waist. Her eyes were deep blue, almost purple. She wore a gray gown that enhanced her luscious curves.

The female patted her mate’s hand, trying to calm him. “Now, Ethan, dear, you must learn to control your temper. Remember what the doctor said when you were human. You had a high blood pressure.”

Ethan made an effort to relax. “Ok, Clorinda, for you I shall try. But I do think our Luke here needs to hear the prophesy again.”

She pierced her rosy lips. “Fine, if you say so.” She crossed over to a table. She picked up a piece of paper. On the parchment was the translation of a passage they had recovered from an ancient tome. She cleared her throat and began to read it.

Lucas was trembling. “I-I still don’t get it,” he stammered.

Ethan gritted his teeth. “Why don’t we ‘explain’ it to you again then! One of many! The damn snotty nose kid is gonna grow up someday, right?”

Lucas nodded.

“What do females do that males don’t? They reproduce, moron. If we allow this messiah girl to grow up she’s gonna create a whole army of her kind.”

“B-But, h-how many can she possible give birth to?” Lucas said.

“Think about it, Lukey. Chances of daughters are fifty percent. Get one of those and she has her own fifty chance of giving birth to a daughter. If they have more than one offspring, think about it. Soon we’ll be ambushed by these little higher power champions. It is worse than the slayer. At least there is only one of her.”

There was a span of silence. The fledgling was afraid to say anything.

“Get it?” Ethan demanded.

“Yes, master,” Lucas responded.

“Good. Now go get me some lunch.”

Lucas scrambled to his feet and hurried away.

Clorinda settled down in her mate’s lap. She stroked his face. “You worry too much, dearest.”

“Yes, but I have good reason to. If we don’t do something these kids sent by the higher powers are going to know exactly where we are. They can sense evil, Clor. Not like the slayer. She has dreams of the future, sure. But these beings are gonna be able to detect us from a hundred miles away simply by will.”

Clorinda ran her hand under his shirt. “Don’t worry, we’ll find this little girl. We’ll kill her before she can make anymore of her species.”

Ethan grabbed Clorinda and smashed his lips to hers. They grabbed at each other’s clothing, their minds turning to other things.

__________________________________________

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