Days in the Sun





January 22nd, 2002 - Father (2)

Leaning over his infant son’s crib, Spike was watching William sleep. Lightly, he touched the tiny open hand where it lay by the baby’s face. The small fingers immediately curled around his, holding on surprisingly tight for such a small hand, bringing a soft smile to the vampire’s lips.

He would have thought that the novelty would have worn off, but there he was, as enthralled by this beautiful creature he had helped create as he had been – was it only a year before? – by Lisa. As he still was, actually. He sometimes caught himself staring at his children in awe. Vampires and kids, not really compatible, usually. But in this case, they were the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him. Them, and Buffy.

Quiet noises from the room next door, Lisa’s room, pulled Spike out of his contemplation of the newborn angel. He gently freed his finger, and walked to Lisa. Unsurprisingly, she was standing in her low crib, her arms raised up for him to pick her up, which he obligingly did, eliciting a clear laugh from his little girl.

It was just as well that she had awoken already from her afternoon nap, he decided. If they allowed her to nap too much during the day, she could spend the whole night without a single yawn. And while Spike didn’t mind, Buffy did not appreciate it too much. It was rather obvious whom their daughter had inherited her sleeping habits from.

Absentmindedly caressing her longish light brown curls, he carried her downstairs, where she wouldn’t risk awaking her baby brother. She babbled lightly on the way down, senseless words to which he smiled. Mostly senseless. One of them, that she repeated insistently once he put her down at the bottom of the stairs, was not. Mummy. She first toddled to the kitchen, peered inside and called out for her mother, then came back out and darted toward the living room. Spike followed her, catching her and spinning her around until she giggled in delight.

“Mummy is gone,” he informed her. “You want to read a book with Daddy?”

Book was a word Lisa knew – and loved. She squirmed in his arms until he put her down again, and then led him by the hand to his office. There were children books by the rocking chair under the window, and Lisa lost no time choosing one and presenting it to Spike. He grinned at her choice – it was her favorite, probably because of the beautiful and colorful drawings on each page. And although no one could have tortured the admission out of him, he liked it too, for it somehow reminded him of a certain Slayer and her Vampire love.

He sat down in the chair, and immediately Lisa climbed on his lap and took hold of the book again, indicating that they were to start. And so Spike complied, and started reading out loud, pointing out to the pictures as he did so.

“Once upon a time, in a faraway land…”

Buffy had only been gone for three hours, just long enough to have a little time with her mom, a coffee, and some belated birthday shopping. Spike had insisted that she needed time for herself, out of the house, away from the babies and their constant demands. Only three hours, and she felt somewhat guilty about leaving Spike to deal with the two of them alone. They could be quite a handful when they both demanded attention at the same time. So, slightly guilty. But immensely grateful, too. It was the first time she had been out in more than a week. Since William’s birth, actually. And she hadn’t realized how claustrophobic she was becoming until she had been out. Her captivity in London, and the necessary self-inflicted restrictions that had followed, had left her with a slight anxiety of being in closed spaces for extended periods of time. Thankfully, the house was spacious and open enough on the inside that it didn’t make her feel caged, at least not unless she remained there all the time.

Waving goodbye to her mom as she drove away, she stepped inside her almost silent home. Shrugging out of her jacket and shoes, she followed the only sound. Spike’s voice. On the way, she stopped by the living room to retrieve her camera, and finally came to stand by the office’s door. Trying not to disturb the reading duo, she took a couple of pictures of the Big Bad slowly rocking back and forth on his chair as he read, with appropriate voices and sound effects, Beauty and the Beast to their enraptured daughter. She now felt far less guilty, because Spike looked like he was enjoying himself just as much as Lisa did. The Master Vampire had undoubtedly found his calling the day he had become a father.

She knew he was aware of her presence, he couldn’t not be, and indeed he gave a quick look up at her, and a wink. Lisa, on the contrary, was completely oblivious, caught up in the storytelling and images. For a little while, Buffy just listened, until the story came to an end and Lisa finally noticed her. She practically jumped off Spike’s lap and rushed at Buffy with a happy shout of ‘mummy’. As she picked her up, Buffy kissed her forehead and Lisa hugged her neck. Spike joined them, and when he wrapped her in his embrace, it was lips that her own lips sought, until Lisa’s giggle brought their attention back to her.