Title: Family Part 3

Email: tirel@pcnuthut.com

Author: Velvet Crypt

Disclaimer: Joss is God. I own nothing.

Spoilers: Umm…total non canon.

Summary: Secrets are found out.

"Oh, my God, that was amazing!" Lys bounced up and down in front of her uncles and her brother. Nate exchanged grins with Xander and Spike. "Have you ever seen a cooler movie, Uncle Wil?"

Spike shook his head, smiling. "Nope, Nibblet. Never in all my years." He looked fondly at her as she bounced down the street regaling them with tales of the glory of the flick they'd just finished seeing. He shifted Ellie on his shoulders as she tried to lean backwards.

So into the moment, it took Spike a second too long to realize that they weren't alone. Lys skipped down the road and bounced into a hard, large body that wrapped arms like steel bands around her, pinning her arms to her sides.

They stopped.

Spike counted eight. Five fledges, three who must have been older, because they weren't in game face. He glanced behind them. Shit. Seven more. He brought his gaze back to those in front of him and gently tugged Ellie down.

He pushed her into Nate's arms. Nate caught her up and looked in wide-eyed terror.

"Uncle Wil?" Ellie piped in. "What's wrong with their faces?"

The vamps laughed. Lys stood trembling, her eyes entreating her uncles to do something.

"Let the girl go." Spike demanded quietly.

More laughter. "Awful bossy for someone as outnumbered as you. Even if you are William the Bloody, Scourge of Europe." Derided the one who held Lys.

"Fine. You know who I am. Obviously you're here for me. Let the kids and the man go, and you can have me."

"No, Spike." Xander refused. "I'm not leaving you with them." He put his back to Spike's and faced the seven behind him. "Stake."

Spike smiled. Course he wouldn't leave. Stupid White Knight complex. Fine. He pulled a stake out of his pocket and passed it to Xander. If his hand lingered on the warm flesh for a second longer than it had to, oh well. They were about to get their asses kicked.

"Nate. Stay there. Keep a hold of Ellie. When Lys is free, I want you three to run like hell. Go to Buffy's." He pulled his own stake out.

"Let's do this."

He and Xander launched themselves at the vamps. Spike’s first target was the vamp holding Lys. He flew by him; turning at the last moment and kidney punched him. Grunting with pain, the other vamp stumbled. Lys did her part by stomping on his instep. A minor irritation, at best, but he'd obviously not been dead long enough to realize that.

He loosened his hold on her and she spun free of his arms. She flung herself towards Nate and Ellie and the three of them frantically looked for a way out to do as Spike had said. None was there. The vamps had them cornered. They huddled in a pile and watched in horror as the monsters attacked their uncles.

Spike grinned at Lys' spunk, and then jammed the stake in the vamps back when he'd ascertained that she'd made it to safety. He threw himself into a cluster of vamps, not realizing that his own game face had made an appearance. Kicking, punching, and whirling...he was like a black blur. Bodies flew and dust filled the air. He was having the time of his life.

Xander approached his opponents more cautiously. He waited until the first one made its move and then flung himself to the side. His flight seemed to confuse the vamps, who were expecting him to meet them head on like Spike. Uh Uh. Sorry. Frail human here. He tackled one of the confused vamps and rolled with him.

He pulled away and let the vamp keep rolling off of him. With a hard jab, he slammed the stake sideways into the prone body. It exploded in a flurry of dust. He looked up just in time to see another vamp taking advantage of his reclining position. As the vamp lunged down on him, he braced his stake on his chest. The vamp had a moment to look startled and shamefaced before it impaled itself.

He scrambled to his feet. He was being circled. As one, they leaped at him. Picturing a corny Saturday morning cartoon, Xander crawled out from under the pile, stabbing random body parts as he went.

Spike looked down at vamp number five as it whooshed into dust. Stupid bastard. He swung his arm backwards and caught the next vamp; the human faced one, right on the chin. It went down, but so did he. A blinding pain shot through his head and stars filled his vision.

He screamed in pain and staggered towards the last place he'd seen Xander.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He growled. "Xander? They're fucking humans!"

Xander kicked the vamp off of him and rolled to his feet. He saw Spike swaying on his feet, rubbing his temples. With a curse, he ran past the blonde. As he went, he pressed his stake against Spike's chest.

"Here, switch sides."

Spike shook the last of the pain away, though everything seemed really bright now, and charged into the four remaining vamps.

Xander took a running jump and his feet connected with the chest of one of the humans. With an oomph of air, the human was knocked down. Xander hit the ground too, but was up and moving in less than a second. He and the second human traded blows for a long minute, and Xander felt worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

He was taking too much time. The others were going to gang up on him any second now and he'd be down for the count. Sure enough, he felt a grip on each arm and he was pulled back away from his foe. The first two humans held him, squirming, as the third began to rain blows to his midsection.

He was beginning to see spots when the grip on his right arm was loosened. Then his left arm. Then his attackers were falling. What the hell? The man in front of him looked around, then turned and ran. Xander turned around wobbling and saw Lys and Nate standing behind him, Lys holding a metal bar and Nate holding a rusted metal car part. He looked down at his feet where the knocked out humans lay, and he grinned.

Spike turned all of his fury onto the last vamps. How dare they attack him when he was with his family? How dare they threaten his family? If he found one scratch on any of them, he'd resurrect them and kill them again. He felt curiously bereft when the last bit of vampire dust floated away on the wind.

He fell to his knees and gasped for air. Not that he needed it, it was just a reflex. And it made him feel more connected. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Xander crouch before him.

They shared a smile, which grew to a grin, which grew to a laugh. Xander plopped down in the street and looked behind Spike's head. "Are you guys okay?"

Footsteps, then a hiss of indrawn air. Spike glanced up. Nate and Lys were staring at him like they'd never seen him before. Ellie crawled into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and looked into her eyes.

She reached out a hand and touched his forehead with a very serious expression on her face. "Why do you look like the monsters?" She asked. Spike shot a horrified look at Xander and quickly shook his head, his features melting back into their human visage.

"Because I am one of the monsters, poppet." He whispered, a sick, cold feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

Ellie stared at him a moment longer, then nodded and snuggled down into his coat. "Okay." she said. "I'm cold. Can we go home?"

Spike shut his eyes against the tears, fearing to meet Lys and Nate's gaze, and then stood up. "Sure, poppet. I'll take you home." He began walking, not looking back to see if anyone was following. Just holding the little piece of heaven he knew he'd have to give up as soon as he got her home.

_________________________

Nate and Lys watched them go. Xander watched Nate and Lys. They turned as one to him and stared. He smiled.

"Spike is a vampire." He said simply. The gig was up. No use trying to explain it away. They were too smart for any lie he could think of now anyway. "He's 126 years old. He has a chip in his head, implanted by the government, that won't let him hurt humans. He drinks blood, but only from a bag or from someone who offers it to him.

He can't hurt you. It hurts him every time he's violent with a human. He will blow away to dust if he's staked through the heart or if he walks into the sun. It hurts him to be touched with holy water or crosses or garlic."

"Y-you have had a vampire watch us to keep us safe?" Nate asked incredulously.

Xander looked at him disapprovingly. "No, I have had Spike watch you to keep you safe."

Nate continued to stare at him. Xander sighed. “Come on. Let’s take this conversation home. I don’t want to get jumped again by whatever the hellmouth has to offer tonight.”

He herded the flummoxed teens towards home, following the black duster in the distance. Ah, Spike. He winced. What will happen if they don’t understand? Will they be afraid of you? I don’t think you could take that. Will they hate you? I couldn’t stand to see your heart break over it. Will they never want to see you again? You’d still watch over them, I know. You’d be there in the shadows, killing anything that dared threaten your family. But then I wouldn’t have you either. And I think that hurts as much as losing the kids.

When did you sneak into my heart? When did I let you into my life? Was it when you defended three kids you’d never met? Was it the first time you held Ellie in your arms as though she were the most sacred of beings? Was it the first time we shared a parental smile? Doesn’t really matter. You’re here now. Ensconced so firmly in my life and my thought that I don’t know how I’ll ever get you out.

I don’t want you out. I want to be with you. I want to share every second of the day with you, with the kids. I want us to be a family. I need you. I can feel you tugging at my soul sometimes. When you’re sad, or lonely; I can tell. I don’t know how, I just know I need to be there for you. And you can tell when I’m wound tighter than I can handle. When I want to scream and beat my head against a wall. You know. And every time, you put a hand on my shoulder. You sit next to me and have a guy chat. You hand me Ellie to hold and go about the business of taking care of whatever frustrated me.

I’m afraid. I’m afraid to have you in my life. You’re an evil vampire. Right. Okay, being realistic, that’s just stupid. You’re a man. Yes, you are a man. And Nate has already expressed his feelings about a gay uncle. Could he handle his gay uncle’s a gay vampire lover? Probably not. And then there was the idea of your past. How could I hope to compete with 100 years of Drusilla? Or of however many years of Angelus?

They were beautiful. They were powerful. They had a part of you I could never touch. They inspired a devotion in you such as I’ve never seen before. How could I compete with that? What do I have to offer? I’m just the donut boy. No special witchy powers. No Slayeryness. Just Xander Harris. The guy who gets his ass kicked.

He looked up and realized that they had made it to the apartment. With a sigh, he went forward to meet his fate.

They found Ellie at the table, eating a pop tart and drinking a juice. Spike was quietly gathering his belongings together. “Spike?” Xander said. The vamp twitched, but didn’t look up. “I think we need to talk about this.”

Spike shook his head, stuffing a pile of t-shirts into the bag. “No, I don’t think we do Xander.” He replied.

He finished and zipped the bag up. Heading to the door, he found his way blocked by Xander. “Move, whelp.”

“No.”

“Xander, don’t make me move you.”

“Cause you’re such an evil vampire that you’ll do what? Ask me to move again?”

“Don’t start with me, whelp. I was the Big Bad for 100 years before I met your gang of scoobies and got chipped. I may be biteless, but I still have connections.”

“I’m not afraid of you Spike.”

“Yeah, well…seems to be the story of my life lately. Now move.”

“Please, Spike. Don’t walk out until we’ve talked about this.”

“Xander, what is there to talk about? I am a vampire. I am a killer. I am an evil fairy tale come to life. The kids are terrified of me. And if they aren’t, they should be. I’ve overstayed my welcome. Just let me go while I still have some dignity left.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Wil.” Nate said hesitantly. Spike turned his gaze to the boy. “I have to admit, I’m a little freaked out by the idea that vampires are real and you happen to be one of them. But I’ve seen you everyday for months. You’ve watched movies with us, you’ve taken us for ice cream, you’ve made funny shaped pancakes for us, and you’ve read bedtime stories to my little sister. I may be afraid of vampires, but I’m not afraid of you, Uncle Wil.”

Xander’s eyes filled with tears. He saw Spike’s ironclad will weaken. And when Nate stepped up to him and gingerly slid his arms around the vamp’s waist, he saw it shatter. Spike dropped his bag and drew the boy into a tight embrace. His eyes were squeezed shut and he looked as though he was trying desperately to keep his own tears in check.

“I love you, Uncle Wil. Please don’t leave.” Nate said against the blonde’s chest.

Spike drew in a shuddering breath. “I’ll be here as long as you want me, luv.”

Lys threw herself against her brother and each male freed an arm to gather her into his embrace. Xander smiled and put his hands in his pockets. Nate lifted his head and smiled through his tears. “Uncle Xander?” He whispered, and moved so that a space was opened next to him. Xander joined the group hug with a laugh.

A moment later, Spike felt a tug on his duster and looked down to see Ellie standing demandingly with her arms up. He picked her up and put her in the center of their hug. Everyone’s arms wrapped around her. They stood for long moments, just drinking in the feeling of being held by family. Had Willow been there, she would have seen a green glow surrounding them and faint green lines connecting them to one another.

They couldn’t see the glow, but they could feel it.