Beautiful Disaster - Chapter 7

Buffy sighed as she closed the front door and began walking down the garden path. She closed her eyes as the early morning sun beat down, warming her skin and easing her worries. She’d left Spike in the kitchen with Elizabeth and William. He seemed to be adapting to family life well and had even managed to get the children breakfast this morning while she grabbed a quick shower before heading out to the Magic Box.

Last night’s patrol with Spike had been so different to how it usually was. There had been a great lack of demons to fight, which had given way to long silent periods, all of which were incredibly comfortable. She didn’t feel the need to speak once. She had just been happy walking with him, letting their feet lead them wherever they wanted to go and enjoying the silence. It had made her feel so relaxed, something which she never thought would be possible when she was around Spike, but it had happened all the same.

A small smile teased her lips as she thought about it.

She’d been so comfortable with him, like this was how things were meant to be and there was no need to fight it. She knew his feelings for her, and was gradually becoming aware of her feelings for him. There was a long way to go before she would have the confidence to put a voice to them, but she knew that he’d seen them in her eyes when they’d stopped at the cemetery gates on the way home. His expression had been so full of love and affection that she had found herself warming inside and smiling at him.

It had seemed like such a beautifully tranquil ending to the evening and she hadn’t even stopped him when he’d taken hold of her hand again.

Now she wished she could stay home with him and the children instead of having to go to work. Spike had offered again to give her the money she needed to pay for all the bills and things, but she wanted to stand on her own two feet for once. Her mother was gone and that meant she had to take responsibility. She had to keep a roof over their heads and have food on the table. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do that, even if it meant getting some money off Spike to make her earnings up to enough to pay for everything.

Pushing the door to the Magic Box open, she stepped in and let her thoughts drift back to her house and what might be happening there.


Spike heaved a long sigh as he listened to the excited chatter in the other room. He placed the last of the dishes onto the drainer and then grabbed his coat. Slipping it on, he rifled through his pockets and pulled out his cigarettes and lighter. He knew Buffy would kill him if he left the little ones alone, but he badly needed a smoke. The children had been steadily driving him up the wall. They were both restless and kept changing their minds about what they wanted to do. So far today he’d helped them draw, tried to read to them and had played numerous ridiculous games. He’d managed to get them to sleep long enough to give him time to clear away the mess they’d made and watch Passions, but now they were wide awake and even more restless than they had been before their nap.

Closing his eyes, he felt the sun going down outside and silently wished that Buffy would be home soon. He was tired, had a headache of mass proportions and just wanted a smoke.

“Daddy, daddy.”

Spike looked down to see William with a hand full of his leather duster.

“Watch the leather, little mate.” He warned him and then watched as William let go, his expression becoming sheepish. “Good lad. Now what’s the matter?”

“Lizbeth says I’m not like her.” William blinked up at Spike.

“Elizabeth, William, and you’re nothing like her. You’re a boy for starters.” Spike crouched down in front of William.

“No, silly…” William giggled. “She says I’m not a Summers.”

“Oh, I see.” Spike carefully considered the little boy staring back at him. “Way I see it, you’re made from me, my essence… so I guess you really aren’t a Summers.”

“What am I?” William’s blue eyes pleaded for an answer and Spike found he couldn’t say no.

“You’re a Thornton…” He smiled and then heard the front door close. “Don’t tell mu…”

“Mummy! Mummy!” William bolted into the hall and Spike hurried to follow him.

He found William running circles around Buffy’s legs.

“Lizbeth says I’m not a Summers and daddy said…”

“Yes, you are.” Spike gave him the same pleading look he’d been on the receiving end of a few moments before and William paused.

“What did daddy say?” Buffy asked as she saw that it was something that Spike clearly didn’t want her to know.

“That I’m a Thornton.”

“Bloody hell…” Spike moaned as Buffy giggled and looked at him with raised brows.

“William Thornton… very nice.” She gave Spike a wide smile as she followed the little boy into the living room.

Spike stood in the hall alone, thinking about the look Buffy had given him. She’d giggled at the revelation of his surname, but she had left it at that. He’d expected her to make some witty remark or abuse it, instead she’d said it was nice. He smiled. Sometimes he just couldn’t pin her down. He thought he knew her so well, but she could still surprise him.

Walking into the living room, he found her sitting on the couch and being mobbed by the children. He lifted Elizabeth off her when he saw how tired she looked and sat down next to her.

“You alright?”

“Giles really makes you work for your money.” Buffy slumped into the couch and watched the two children as they played with each other. She let her head roll to the side and looked at Spike. “Honey, what’s for dinner?”

Spike smiled. “God knows… blood?”

“Euch!” Buffy wrinkled her nose up in disgust. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

He watched her yawn and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

“How about take out? I don’t think we have anything edible in the house anyway.” Buffy made a mental note to buy food. “Pizza?”

“Sounds fine to me, love.” Spike watched her as she stood slowly and smoothed the wrinkles out of her clothes. “How about we eat out?”

Buffy smiled. Spike always seemed to know exactly what she needed. Eating out with the children sounded perfect.

“I’ll get the menaces ready.” She ushered the two children up the stairs.

Spike leaned into the couch and continued to smile. This was just what Buffy needed—a sense of normality with the kids.

A cry of pain cut into his thoughts and he took the stairs two at a time. Using his senses to locate Buffy, he bolted down the hall to her room and flung the door open. His eyes quickly scanned the room, taking in William and Elizabeth curled up in one corner together crying and Buffy kneeling on the floor a few feet from them and holding her neck.

She was also crying.

“Buffy, what happened?” Spike was instantly by her side.

“I… I was putting his coat on… I didn’t do anything wrong…” She looked up at him with wide eyes that were full of tears and didn’t take them away from his as he knelt beside her.

“What happened, love?” Spike smoothed her hair and frowned as he saw her hand. There was blood seeping through her fingers. Reaching out, he tried to prise her hand off her neck. “Let me see.”

Buffy slowly removed her hand and Spike’s eyes went wide when he saw the little teeth marks on her throat.

“I think he gets this from you…” Buffy tried to joke but only ended up crying instead.

“Baby…” Spike purred as he cupped her cheek and wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb. “Keep still.”

He leaned in towards her neck but she pulled back. Spike let his eyes meet hers again and sighed when he saw how frightened she was.

“Not going to hurt you… just going to close the wound.”

Buffy nodded and closed her eyes as he shifted into vampire guise. She inhaled sharply as she felt his cool tongue run over the cuts on her neck and frowned slightly as it made tingles dance along her nerve endings.

When Spike pulled back and slipped out of game face, he couldn’t help smiling at her. She had her eyes closed, her face a picture of ecstasy.

“There, all done.” He moved her hair over her neck and let his fingers run through it.

“Thanks.” Buffy looked at him and then glanced at the children. Her heart felt heavy as she saw William and she couldn’t help wondering why he’d tried to bite her of all people. Didn’t he like her?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Spike calling the little boy over to them and she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“William, come here.” Spike didn’t hide how angry he was with the boy for what he’d done. “Show!”

William hesitated for a moment and then shifted his face into vampire guise. Spike frowned at the little ridges he had and the small incisors. He was about to speak again when Elizabeth came forward and took hold of the little boy’s hand.

Spike sighed and found himself reaching for Buffy’s hand. He looked down at her as she held it tightly and moved closer to him.

“William, touch mummy or anyone like that again and I’ll lock you in the bloody basement.” He ignored the way William’s bottom lip trembled as he slid out of vampire guise and then helped Buffy up onto her feet.

“Guess dinners a bust, huh?” Her voice was shaky as she spoke through her tears and Spike could see all the bad thoughts going around her head as he looked into her eyes.

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he closed his eyes as she buried her face in his chest and cried. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him as he looked down at the two children beside them. He could see they were sorry for what they’d done, but it wasn’t going to change what had happened or how they’d made Buffy feel.

Stroking her back, he pressed his cheek against the top of her head and listened to her struggling to control her emotions.

“We’ll find out what’s going on, love, everything will be fine again.” He slipped his arm around her and started out of the room, the two children following in silence behind him.

Picking her cell phone up off the side table as they passed it, Spike handed it to her and smiled into her eyes as she looked at him.

“Call the troops. We’ll go to the Magic Box and hit serious research mode until we’ve found out what’s going on.”

Buffy nodded and sniffed back her tears as she dialled the first number.


Spike watched her as she paced near the research table. They’d been here almost three hours and so far no one had managed to find anything. Giles had thrown in a theory that this might be something to do with Spike’s blood, but Buffy had immediately discounted it. Spike could see that she didn’t want to believe that William had had vampiric tendencies all along. She wanted to believe that something had happened that was making William act this way.

He could see in her body language how drained she was. It wasn’t just the physical exhaustion from work she was feeling either. It was the emotional drain from the bad thoughts he could see plaguing her.

As she began walking up to the front of the shop, he left his place near the research table and followed her. He couldn’t bear seeing her so down. It was as though all her happiness had been stolen from her and her world had been shattered.

“Buffy?” Spike caught her arm and she looked up at him, her puffy sore eyes reflecting how miserable she was.

She just stared at him, waiting for him to speak because she didn’t have the strength to form words. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. William had bitten her. Why? Didn’t he like her? Did neither of them like her?

“Don’t think that.” Spike frowned at her and she frowned back at him.

“Don’t think what?” She turned away from him, her voice nothing more than a whisper as she wrapped her arms about herself.

“I can see what you’re thinking, love. They do like you… what happened, it was just a mistake. William didn’t mean it.” He ignored the way she snorted at what he’d said and then sighed as he moved around her so he could see her face. “I hate seeing you like this.”

“Like what, Spike?” She said with venom and then felt terrible inside as he gave her a hurt look.

Spike shrugged it off and continued. “I can’t bear seeing you so miserable all the time. Everything will be fine, Buffy. We’ll find out what’s happening and it’ll all be fine again. I promise.”

She looked up at him and then averted her gaze as she saw in his eyes that he had meant every word. She knew he’d do anything to make her happy, and she wanted to smile just so she could alleviate some of the hurt she could see in his face but she couldn’t.

“Take me home, Spike.” Buffy whispered and then felt a little better as he nodded and gently stroked her cheek.

“You need some sleep. Everything will seem better tomorrow.” He let his fingers slip from her cheek and then walked down to the others.

Buffy watched him as he made their excuses and then gathered up William and Elizabeth. She closed her eyes briefly as she thought about what he’d said to her and she hoped that he was right, because from where she was standing it just looked as though things could only get worse.


Blinking slowly, Buffy frowned at the little clock beside her bed and waited for the red digital numbers to come into focus. She frowned as she saw it was only three in the morning. Her sleep had been fitful at best. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, and her dreams were full of bad things that she hoped weren’t prophetic.

Sitting up, she walked quietly to the other side of the room and grabbed her dressing gown, slipping it on before heading to the door. She walked silently down the stairs and then frowned as she saw there was no sign of Spike.

Racing upstairs, Buffy’s heart pounded hard against her chest as she found the children were gone.


Spike gave the grey haired old man opposite him his best frown. He kept a firm hold of William’s hand as the man looked him over and then waited for him to pronounce what was going on.

“So, what’s the verdict, doc?” He eyed the man suspiciously as he drummed his fingers against each other while staring at William.

“They’re rare… it’s not unheard of, a half vampire.” The man leaned towards William and smiled as he backed away towards Spike. “They’ll age, mature, only tendencies they’ll show is strength and a nasty bite.”

His eyes moved to rest on Elizabeth where she was sat on the table.

“I’ll give you five grand for the little girl.”

“Hey, hands off her.” Spike pulled Elizabeth to him and wrapped his arm around William. “So they won’t go dusty, stakes and crosses and things?”

“No.” The man kept his eyes fixed on Elizabeth and licked his lips as she tried to hide in Spike’s embrace.

“Daddy?” She looked up at him.

Spike grabbed her mouth and smiled shakily at the man.

“I see…” He smiled wickedly at Spike and then at the children.

“You tell anyone… I’ll let them eat you.” Spike threatened him and then frowned as the man laughed.

“It wouldn’t be wise.”

“Why not?”


Buffy was near frantic. She was pacing a trench in the hall carpet as she counted the seconds. She couldn’t see why Spike would snatch the children, it didn’t make any sense. Why hadn’t he left her a note explaining what was going on? Why wasn’t Dawn here when she needed someone to calm her down?

She bit her lower lip as she tried to think of reasons why Spike would take the children without telling her. She thought that he of all people would see how much it would scare her to wake in the night and find them gone. Had he believed she would sleep the night through after what had happened?

She almost jumped as the front door opened and she found Spike standing there with the two children.

“Uh oh.” Elizabeth announced as she saw the way Buffy’s eyes darkened.

“What the hell were you thinking? You take the children in the middle of the night, leaving me alone in this damn house. You scared me half to death! I can’t believe you could do this to me… after everything we’ve been through… how could you?”

Spike watched her as she walked into the living room, continuing her tirade. He placed the two children down and gently closed the door behind them.

“Buffy…”

“No, Spike… this isn’t good enough. What the hell possessed you to run off with the kids?”

“Buffy…”

“And don’t tell me I’m overreacting. How am I supposed to react? I wake up from a nightmare to find the house is empty? How am I supposed to feel? I can’t believe you’d do this to me…” She walked up to him and stared hard into his eyes. “Why… why the hell, after everything that happened, why the hell do that to me? Were you trying to give me a heart attack, because you were pretty damn close…”

Spike placed his hand over her mouth and set his jaw tight as she tried to struggle free of his grasp.

“Love… listen to me.” He grimaced slightly as she tried to bite his hand and kept hold of her mouth. “I went to see a man who knows about these kinds of things. I didn’t think you’d appreciate me taking the kiddies to this place so I didn’t tell you. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have taken them without letting you know what I was going to do. I’m sorry.”

Buffy didn’t know how to react as he took his hand away from her mouth so she just stood there and looked at him and then the children.

“And?” She said quietly and tried not to get her hopes up.

“Apparently they’re half vampire and half human. They’ll be fine, provided they don’t go munching on someone. If they feed properly, they turn.”

Buffy nodded and then frowned as she realised her vision was getting increasingly blurry. She started slightly as Spike brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek, collecting the tears that were falling there. She gave him an apologetic look as he smiled at her, clearly sorry for scaring her. As she looked at him, she realised that he was right. She wouldn’t have let him go and see the man if he’d told her about it, but she was glad that he did go. She felt better knowing that their children were going to be okay.

Spike watched her as she yawned and then looked at the children. They all looked as though they were about to pass out on him. Picking up William and Elizabeth, he carried them upstairs and put them to bed. When he came back down, he found Buffy still standing in the same spot he’d left her in and sat down on the couch. Pulling her down so she was sat next to him, he put his arm around her as she yawned again.

Buffy curled up next to Spike and closed her eyes as her head came to rest against his chest. Sighing out her breath, she smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

Maybe things wouldn’t turn out so bad after all.

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