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- Anything from Buffy might come up

Chapter 9

Spike held Buffy as she cried in his arms. All the strength seemed to have left her. He had never seen her so distraught before. When Dawn had been taken she had coped in a different way. At least she wasn’t comatose now. That was good, right?

Suddenly he sensed movement. He turned to see Willow coming around. The witch opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She held her head and moaned.

“You all right, Red?” Spike asked.

Willow looked over. “My head hurts.”

“You took a nasty hit.”

Blinking, Willow focused on her best friend. She took in the hysterical slayer. “I-Is she okay?”

A frown marred Spike’s expression. He sadly shook his head.

Buffy’s nails dug into the vampire. “They took her from me,” she sobbed. It was the only coherent thing he had been able to get out of her since Rebecca had been taken.

“Check on Dawn,” Spike told Willow.

The red-head noticed the teen for the first time. She hurried over to Dawn’s side. She rolled her over, checking Dawn’s pulse and breathing. To her relief the girl was taking in regular puffs of air and her heartbeat was strong.

“Dawnie?” Willow whispered.

Dawn stirred. She let out a groan.

“Dawn!” Willow said, her voice rising.

Dawn’s eyes fluttered. “Willow?”

Grabbing Dawn’s hand, Willow smiled. “Yeah. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Buffy? Spike? Rebecca?” Dawn got out.

Willow opened her mouth to respond, but Buffy spoke first. “They took her!”

The slayer’s sister managed to lift herself on her elbows. “Buffy?”

“They took her!” Buffy cried again.

That was it. Spike couldn’t take this anymore. He took Buffy and made her look into his eyes. Her vision was blurry, wetness streaming down her face. She was a mess.

“Listen, luv, this isn’t helping a bit. Pull yourself together! For Rebecca’s sake,” he demanded.

She shook her head. He grabbed her face and stilled it.

“We’ll get her back,” he said firmly. “But you need to stop blubbering. Come on, slayer!”

Buffy stilled. Something rushed over her. She inhaled deeply. She pulled away, scanning the room. She saw the worried gazes her friends were giving her. In a fluid motion she stood up. Her stance was tall and commanding. She brushed the tears off her cheeks.

“Willow? Dawn? You able to walk?” Buffy asked.

Willow and Dawn helped each other up. They tried a few steps. Dawn had to hobble a bit, but her feet supported her.

“Good. Now, let’s get to the magic shop. We need to find everything we can about a vampire named Ethan.”

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The Scoobies assembled at the magic shop to research. Willow hacked away at her laptop, while the rest of them dug into the books. They spent hours scanning text until their eyes swam.

Suddenly Xander shouted, “I found something!” He ran his finger over the words in the book. “Uh . . . Ethan, a vampire transformed in 1951.”

Spike snorted. “Not very old. Are you sure this is our vamp?”

Xander went on, ignoring Spike. “His history is kinda boring. He maimed and killed blah blah blah. That’s about it.”

“Not our guy,” Buffy stated.

“How can you tell, Buff?” Xander asked.

“This wasn’t the run of the mill vampire. He was strong. Way strong. Like Glory/Caleb strong.”

Xander looked over the passage again. “You’re right,” he agreed. “It says this Ethan was dusted twenty years ago in Brazil.”

The slayer slumped in her seat. “See, told you. He’s not the one.”

Spike reached out and put his hand over hers in a comforting manner. “Don’t worry, we’ll find somethin, luv.”

Her eyes glazed over.

“Buffy?” Willow questioned with worry.

Something snapped in Buffy. She let out a frustrated sound and took the book before her, hurling it across the room. It hit a display of candles, knocking them to the floor. Then she put her face in her hands, sobbing.

Buffy’s friends were stricken. They had never seen Buffy lose it like this. She had always been the strong one.

“We’re never going to find anything. R-Rebecca is gone,” she choked out.

Spike took the slayer into his arms. He met the gazes of the others across the table. They were all thinking the same thing. Buffy had lost so much. How much more could she take?

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The vampires locked Rebecca in a cage. She was surrounded by bars that made her feel like an animal. She paced around inside.

“You’re going to be sorry!” she shouted. “My daddy and mommy are going to find you and dust your butts!”

A vampire with red hair stormed into the room. He came up to the cage and held out some kind of gun.

“Have you ever seen one of these, little girl?” he asked.

Rebecca studied the weapon. She took a step back, shaking her head.

The vamp smiled. “It’s a taser. Won’t kill you, the boss won’t let us yet. But trust me, kid, it’ll hurt like hell. So . . . SHUT THE HELL UP!”

Rebecca’s eyes widened. Frightened, she obeyed. She curled up in a corner, drawing her knees to her chest. Soon she fell asleep.

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Both Buffy and Rebecca woke up from their dream. It left them a shard of hope that they would see each other again.

Sorry for the long wait. Um . . . Okay the ancient wait.