The Seventh Depth of Hell
Sataaran listened carefully as Asmodeus explained his plan and offered him his place as the ruler of the lowest depth of hell in exchange for his help. Sataaran had spent half of eternity waiting for Asmodeus to do something as foolish as this so that he could rule in his place. Nodding in agreement he said, “Send for the two who will do our bidding.”
Buffy’s House
The alarm went off with its usual annoying buzz! buzz! buzz!
Buffy cracked her eyes open and saw that the room was entirely dark. 4:00 the digital display read too cheerily from across the room. The alarm was still going off. Rolling over and throwing the blanket back, she padded to the clock and threw it against the wall. It was the only way to turn it off.
Taking her robe from the back of her desk chair, she put it on and tied the belt loosely and went back to the bed. She admired the covers for a moment. They had been a present from her mother upon her release from the hospital, when she had brought her babies home. Ripping the comforter from her bed, she encountered the white sheets underneath surrounding a form topped with hair blonder than hers.
She peeled back the sheets to reveal his face still caught halfway between sleep and wakefulness. She continued to pull the covers so that his sinewy shoulders, chest and arms were exposed. She began to pull some more and he donned a mischievous smile and yanked the blankets back from her as hard as he could. He failed. As he was still holding the sheets, Buffy pulled as hard as she could and he wound up sprawled on the floor.
Picking up the entire mess and leaving Spike pouting on the floor, Buffy began making the bed.
The Magic Box
It was a few minutes before sunrise when Buffy and Spike with Angela and William in tow arrived at the magic shop. Buffy had finally recovered from the entire birthing process. She had gone for a checkup yesterday and gotten a clean bill of health from Dr. Everhart. The doctor still wanted to see the children, but Buffy had demurred saying that they had hired a full time nurse who took care of all of their medical needs.
The twins were still growing rapidly. It had been a week and a half since they first met Annelise, Lisanne and Madeline and they now resembled eight year olds. Mentally, however, they were a paradox. They were amazingly intelligent, but still acted and reacted like any normal eight year old child. They had begun clamoring to be taken places two days ago, and finally Buffy and Spike had given in and taken them to the magic shop this morning. On the car ride over in Joyce’s sport utility vehicle, they fought continually in the back seat. They were reading as many books as they could get their hands on be they Giles’ tomes, brought over by Willow or Xander, or “The Cat in the Hat”.
Tonight, they would be heading to Los Angeles to visit Angel. It had been almost five weeks since he last saw his children. Would he recognize them? Buffy thought to herself as Giles let them in. Angela looked exactly as she did when she was eight. Did William look like Angel when he was that age? Buffy thought he probably did. She and Spike spoke about Angel as ‘Daddy’. But, as far as the twins were concerned, Uncle Spike, Uncle Xander and Uncle Giles were all that really mattered. They were excited that they would finally get to meet Angel, but then again they were incredibly excited at their first real outing all together.
As Buffy looked around the shop, she couldn’t believe what had been done. Willow, Anya, Xander and Tara stood under a sign that had been painted which read “Welcome, Angela and William!!!” The duo ran, delighted, into the arms of her friends. There were presents in a pile and large cake covered in chocolate icing on the main table.
Spike took Giles’ offered hand and shook it as hard as he could without letting the chip in his head do its work. Giles readjusted his glasses and glared at Spike. The Englishman’s face broke into a smile and he clapped Spike on the back, hard.
“You guys didn’t have to do this,” Buffy remarked as Willow came over to offer her a hug as well.
“Well, we probably won’t ever get to throw them a birthday party, and what kid’s life is the same without at least one childhood party experience?” asked with a small hopeful smile on her face.
“Thanks, Will.” Buffy’s smile seemed genuine, but in her heart, she knew that Willow was right. At the rate they were growing, they would look like they were her age in less than a month. She wondered what would happen then.
Madeline said that something was going to happen here in Sunnydale, and soon. She was behind the counter with a neglected cup of coffee, poring over one of the many dusty books in the establishment. There hadn’t been too many obvious signs of extremely bad supernatural occurrences. But, strange things were happening, mostly involving Buffy. She had conceived the not dead yet Oracles on a day that never happened, they were born and she had died along with Faith, calling two more Slayers, she had a sister when she never did before and oh yeah, her lover was a vampire. Hardly evil, just normal life according to Buffy Summers. Still, Madeline insisted on looking for any prophecies that went from Buffy-normal to evil.
Leaving Angela and William to the care of her friends as they gleefully tore into their presents, Buffy opened the door to her training room. Inside, Annelise and Lisanne were sparring. They were literally flying all over the place. Madeline had mentioned that the girls had taken gymnastics as part of their training along with many of the martial arts, fencing and archery, private tutoring and Slayer training. They reminded her of Kendra. Being brought up from an early age, knowing that they would each be chosen. It made her a little jealous. As she continued to watch them, Buffy studied their style. It was all Faith. They clearly enjoyed what they were doing.
As Lisanne caught Annelise in a headlock, Annelise dropped to the ground and flipped her sister over and made the motion of a stake through the heart. Quick and resourceful, Giles thought as he moved behind Buffy with barely her notice. They were so much like the Slayers he had known, but especially Buffy. They were each at least as strong as her, if not stronger. Even as Annelise extended her hand to help her sister up, Lisanne tucked into a roll and brought Annelise down.
Annelise got up quickly and put her hands on her hips and scolded her sister, “If you were a vampire, you would be dust right now and you couldn’t have done that.”
Lisanne took on an identical pose and admonished her in turn, “You were off your guard. What if I was a demon? I could have played dead and in the half second your back was turned, killed you just now.”
Buffy walked into the room and removed the coat she had put on earlier to keep out the cool pre-dawn air. She smiled sunnily at them and arranged herself into a fighting pose. “My turn?”
The Magic Box, Late Afternoon
The three of them had competed all morning and taken a break for lunch, which consisted of left over cake and pizza, and wanted to train a little more in the afternoon. They wanted Spike to join them. He had first protested because his soap operas were on and he couldn’t miss a single minute. Afterward, he said that he was too tired. Finally, he admitted to Buffy, that he wasn’t sure how he could fight them, considering he wasn’t able to before. He didn’t want to end up hurt or worse, even more dead. Finally, Buffy got him to agree to a ‘tag-team’ match against them, the losers having to clean up the children’s mess in the shop. Spike couldn’t refuse that; he hated to pick up after himself, let alone them.
Annelise and Lisanne remembered being in awe at the cemetery where they met not one but two legends. Later that evening, when Buffy and Spike told their entire story, they were speechless. Now, two people who were just names without faces, were people they knew and considered friends. At first, they didn’t know what to make of Spike. A vampire, but not souled like Buffy claimed Angelus to be, so he was essentially bad. But to watch him with the children, and then with Buffy, Spike was the man he was before he was turned. Hopelessly in love and no more harmless than a puppy. When they sparred, however, he was more than their match and Buffy and Spike won easily over them.
The sun was beginning to set and it was time to go. Angela and William whined the whole time while they packed away the goodies that Buffy’s friends had given them and entered the backseat of the Grand Cherokee. They didn’t _want_ to leave, couldn’t they just stay for another hour? Uncle Giles had another book for them to read, Aunt Tara was going to do a magic trick for us, do we HAVE to go?
As Spike made sure that they were secured into their seat belts, Buffy ignored their questions. Instead, she filled Annelise and Lisanne in on all the hot spots of Sunnydale and left them Angel’s hotel’s phone number just in case something happened back at the ranch.
Outside Los Angeles
The twins had quieted down as Buffy drove them out of Sunnydale. They watched with wonder as the landscape passed by them at the California state speed limit. It wasn’t the most beautiful landscape in Buffy’s opinion. It was mostly small hills, houses, concrete and more cars, but the kids were spellbound.
The Jeep crested a hill and from the top they could see the sparkling lights of L.A. not ten minutes away.
Angel Investigations
Cordelia pointed to each of her fingers as she said aloud, “Formula, diapers, camera, crib. Do you think we need to get more film?” she asked Wesley as she continued to pace.
“For heaven’s sake Cordelia, calm down. I’m sure Buffy is bringing everything that she needs, and no, we do not need any more film. Six rolls should be enough,” he finished dryly.
“I didn’t get –,” Cordelia began, then realized that Wesley was kidding. He had been coming out of his shell since Faith had died. This, however was his first attempt at humor. It should be a good thing, but she was upset that it had been directed at her. She smiled tightly and went to wait on the steps in the foyer of the old hotel.
Three knocks sounded at the door, and before Cordelia could get up, Angel had flown past her and opened the door to Buffy, smiling brightly and throwing her arms around him in a hug. Behind her, a black clad figure loomed and Angel looked out over her shoulder. “Spike.”
Spike pushed his way past Angel and Buffy and plunked himself down on the thickly padded sofa further inside. He put his boots up on the coffee table and proceeded to exhale as if in rapture and light a cigarette.
Cordelia was up before he had a chance to put out the match. “Listen here, buddy. This may be how you act when you are at home, but I’ve got news for you, this isn’t it. Get your clod hoppers off of this table,” she concluded and shoved Spike’s feet off the table. She had just dusted after all.
Angel and Wesley hooted with laughter and when they finally calmed down, Angel noticed the absence of baby carriages, carriers, strollers, etc. “Where are they?”,. he asked Buffy.
She opened the second door and behind it stood two eight year old children. “William, Angela, this is your father, Angel.”
Angel was in shock and would have guessed it was a joke, except the boy, William, looked exactly as he did when he was eight. Over two hundred years ago and he still remembered. He kneeled down in front of Angela and took her hand in a handshake, taking care not to squeeze too hard. This little girl was going to grow up to look just like her mother, he thought to himself. “Hi,” he said softly.
Next he turned to William and stood. Despite Spike being his namesake, he was filled with an incredible sense of pride. These were his children. Never mind that they were eight when they were supposed to be five weeks old; he would find out why later. He held out his hand to the boy and he took it and shook it vigorously. “Hi, Daddy,” the boy said staring up as high as he could to see all of his father. Still holding his son’s (his son!) hand with his right, Angel gave his left hand to Angela and they walked into the foyer so that they could be properly introduced to Cordelia and Wesley.
Buffy watched as Angel held his children and couldn’t help but be sad. In another world, they would be a family, and these children would still be babies. They would be happy and in love and there would be no such things as vampires or demons. But, in that other world, she wouldn’t be with Spike. He was far more than she ever expected, in every way. Angel finally let the children run free around the hotel and invited Buffy and Spike to sit.
“What happened?” Angel asked as they made themselves comfortable, sharing a small loveseat, indicating the kids as they ran first up one side of the stairs and down the other.
Buffy shrugged her shoulders and said, “Giles thinks their growth has been accelerated so that they will be able to take up their roles as the Oracles as soon as possible. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
Angel just stared at his children and nodded slowly. His expression gave no indication of the emotions brewing just underneath. Pride that his children were healthy and strong, hurt because he had missed every part of their brief childhood, jealous because Spike had been there, for Buffy and his children. He glanced over to Spike and noticed the young vampires’ smug expression. He knew that he could be everything to Buffy that Angel could not. At this thought, Angel felt a twinge of discouragement. She was who he was working for. Forget the Powers that Be, forget redemption, because at the end of all that, she was the real goal. To be with her, to love her and never let her go. If he was rewarded with humanity in her lifetime, he knew that Spike would have to be dealt with.
Cordelia looked from Buffy to Angel and said, “I guess we won’t be needing that formula after all.”
An Undisclosed Location
She blew her blonde hair out of her eyes in frustration as she watched the darker woman stare vapidly into space.
The darker woman nodded and murmured to herself. “Daddy has lambs. They told me where to find them!” she concluded as she spun slowly with her arms outstretched, giggling.
Santa Monica Pier
Angel managed to find a parking space for Buffy’s mom’s SUV and she, the twins, Spike, Cordelia and Wesley piled out. They had decided to go to this small amusement park instead of staying at the hotel. Angel desperately wanted his children to get to know him and like him, so he was determined to show them a good time.
He watched, as he paid the entrance fee as the children cavorted and easily grabbed at Spike, calling him uncle. He couldn’t help his frustration from showing. Buffy noticed the dark looks Angel was passing at Spike and gathered their children to her. She kneeled down and said a few words to them and they nodded. Slowly, they made their way to Angel and dutifully clasped his hands.
Buffy turned to smile at him encouragingly and told the children to be good for Daddy. Walking towards the park, she faced forward again and grasped Spike’s hand.
Sadly, Angel stared down at his children as they took in the sights of the park with wonder. They would only be in this world for a short time. It hurt that he couldn’t be with her right now, that Spike was where he wanted to be. But, he would have to wait. His children came first tonight.
Later
After they had ridden several rides and eaten together, the group split up. Cordelia had gone with Wesley to try out the mountain climbing apparatus situated in the middle of the park. Spike, at Buffy’s request took the children from ride to ride and rode each one with them over and over again as they wanted. Angel and Buffy leaned on the railing of the pier and stared eastward at the lights of L.A.
“So.” Angel began.
Buffy looked up at him. “So.”
He took her hand and held it to his chest. As always there was no movement beneath it. “Are you happy?” he asked her.
Buffy took her hand back and turned to stare at the lights in the distance. “What’s happy?” she asked already holding back tears. “If it is with someone who I love and trust, who loves me no matter what, then yes.” She continued, still not looking at him. “Spike knows how much I love you. He knows that it is more than I can ever love him, but he stays with me, and is there for me. He won’t ever leave me, especially when I need him the most.”
Angel listened at her thinly veiled accusations of him. How could he make her understand that every time he left, he was heartbroken as well? How could he explain that until he was worthy in his mind and in those of the Powers that be, that he would not and could not allow himself to be a part of her life? That he was not yet redeemed and until he was, their love would have to wait? All these questions unasked, he stared into her eyes, which were full of hurt.
“Oh, Buffy,” he said softly, crushing her into his chest. He had only wanted the best for her. To have the life that he couldn’t give her. He knew that someday she would get over him. He didn’t realize that she had to get over him every day of her life. A normal life wasn’t possible for her. And though it hadn’t been his fault, he hadn’t helped.
She pulled away from him and looked as though she was going to say something when Cordelia and Wesley ran up to them.
“Angela, William, they’re in danger!” Wesley blurted out breathlessly
Angel growled, “Where are they?”
Cordelia shook her head. “I had a vision that knocked me right off of the mountain climbing thingy. I couldn’t see where they were, but felt that they were being taken away from here. Spike was with them.”
Angel grabbed at Cordelia’s shoulders, “Where are they?”
She protested from his clutch, “I didn’t see! I saw two others in the car and saw them heading back to the city.”
He shoved her aside, rougher than he wanted, and Cordelia was sent sprawling. He raced towards the parking lot and the car. Buffy was right next to him. He was sure that her expression was a mirror of his own. He heard Wesley and Cordelia struggling to keep up with them. They reached the car and on the windshield was a piece of paper with a very familiar letterhead.
You know where to find us. The children for Angelus and our family will be together again.
The paper was unsigned and was crushed in Angel’s fist as Cordelia and Wesley entered the car. Buffy looked at him questioningly and he shook his head.
“I know where they are.”
TBC.