Title: Well of Realms Author: Nightmelody email: nightmelody@hotmail.com Season: post Chosen Summary: Yet another human-Spike- post Chosen fic. Pairing: S/B Rating: R Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon Chapter 17 Missing Xander sat on the couch, drinking one of Spike's imported beers, even though it was only ten in the morning. Could life get more bizarre? Since he had been at the Summer's new home, he had observed a human Spike cut the lawn. Then Buffy had eaten a three egg omelet, washed down with a quart of milk, while Spike smiled fondly at her. Dawn got dressed for the day in black leather, studs, lots of bare parts and thick black rings of makeup around her eyes-and Buffy and Spike had just mildly told her to be home by curfew and did she have money, her cell phone, and a stake? And was that a hickey on her neck? Not that Buffy and Spike had said anything about that. I must have gone through some kind of dimensional portal. Willow will be here soon, Buffy reassured him. Good. She'd get him back to his own dimension, where Spike was dead and Dawn dressed like the kid she was. And Buffy was her normal bird like picky eater. And Andrew had ordinary hair. And Spike was dead. He and Spike had made a beer run, because Xander had emptied the fridge. Spike said he needed beer. "Buffy's making me do laundry. With her. She says that's what couples do." Spike said. He sounded a little morose. "Just wait. She'll make you dust and vacuum, too. Anya always made me do it on Saturdays." Spike gave Xander a truly evil grin. He bought some Zima. "We'll get Andrew tipsy and make him clean the living room." Xander nodded. Maybe this human Spike was tolerable. Xander left Spike matching socks from a pink laundry basket, an activity Buffy did seem to place high on her couple-o'-meter. He and Buffy went to the sun porch, shaded by an awning, to talk. "So, what's this about a baby?" They sat on a cushioned porch swing and looked at the back yard, which was tidier than the yard on Revello drive, no training equipment, with barrels of flowers here and there instead.. Nice.. "I'm pregnant," Buffy said simply. "Spike is the dad. We were together the night before our battle. I found out I was pregnant while in England, but didn't find Spike until a few weeks ago. Andrew found him." Andrew was currently in the living room, dusting and drinking Zima. " I don't want Giles to know, for good reasons that I don't want to go into right now. And I don't want Angel and his gang finding out. He has Wolfram and Hart, now. Big science labs. I don't want anyone deciding to study my pregnancy or my baby. Making us test subjects. So I have to ask you to not tell Angel or Giles." "And you're going to marry Spike." Buffy's lips curved into a smile. Her eyes twinkled. "Technically, I'm marrying Dave Green. But, yeah. I have the chance to live a life I never thought I could have, with a man I love, and a baby..." "You loved Spike even before he turned human, didn't you?" "I did, but everything was complicated and confused. I couldn't see much of a future for myself, or Spike, or us together. And I didn't have the courage to try to make a future for us... But now we have a future. Especially if Spike completes his task." "You're talking about this magic well thingy?" "Yeah. It's wicked cool. Wait until you see it. We've been sleeping at his place in Shepard's Creek, because it takes over my basement. But also, Spike is finding pieces of an ancient scroll that will help us stop the string of Apocalypses we've been dealing with." She sighed and rubbed her tummy. "I'd sure like to raise my baby in an apocalypse free world." "Yeah," Xander thought about it for a minute. A baby, a little Buffy...wow. "Anything I can do to help?" Buffy grinned. "You know, I think I need to add on to the back of the house. A rec room and laundry. That way Spike's well can take over the basement. Got any suggestions?" Before he knew what was really happening, Xander had a construction job in Belville. "Let's take Xander to see the Well. We can all have lunch in Shepard's Creek." Buffy announced, a short while later. Spike and Andrew enthusiastically abandoned their Saturday chores and they all piled in the minivan. Willow and Sylvia would stay and meet them there. "Think you should tell him about Sylvia?" Spike asked Buffy. "Sylvia is a goddess," Andrew piped up. "A six foot tall Valkyrie with Swedish Bikini team hair...and ...and voluptuous...parts. And she smells like ...carnations." "Sylvia and Willow have kind of hit it off. Um. Romantically." Buffy said. "And I couldn't be happier. Sylvia is wonderful, and Kennedy was just too..." Buffy's voice trailed off. "Too spoiled? Violent? Demanding? Rude? Immature? In need of anger management 101? Okay, I was never on the Kennedy band wagon." Xander said. Later, back at the Summer's home, Xander drank another beer on the sun porch with Andrew. Buffy and Spike had gone upstairs to 'nap'-- though he and Andrew could hear the bed squeaking. Eww. But you had to hand it to Spike, he had some stamina... Xander gulped down half his beer. The funny thing was--as bizarre as this all had been, PG Buffy, meeting super human Spike's roommates, seeing his magic well, seeing the soft looks Willow bestowed upon the tall blond girl...it seemed like ...home. Like that kitchenette motel he stayed in would never be. It was the best he'd felt since losing the eye, since losing Anya. The phone on the kitchen wall rang, and Andrew answered. "Spike, Buffy!!" He was hysterical. "That was Kate -- Emma's missing! She took Marie down to feed the ducks before naptime, and never came back upstairs. Kate checked--there's no one down there!" He burst into noisy, Zima fueled sobs. "I l--like Emma, She's always nice to me and she's going to have twins anyday now and she said I could video them all I liked." He flung himself on Xander as if Xander was his last hope. The next half hour was a blur. "So stupid." Spike ground out. "I'm so stupid. I should have figured if a family of ducks could show up out of no where, then things could come up out of the well. Some guardian I am." He slipped the weapon Willow had altered in to a leather belt around his waist. "If something happens to Emma..." he left the sentence unfinished. They were all assembled at the well. "I can do a locator spell, but I don't have a way to break through a ward, like you described, if you run into a wall again. That will take me some time to figure out." Willow said. Spike groaned in frustration. "Wait," Sylvia spoke in a soft voice. "Look at her aura." She was looking directly at Dawn, who Buffy had brought along for mutual support. "I can see it. It shines in the light from the pool. She is the key. She can unlock the door." "Wait. But, no. I mean-- I was! But that was a long time ago. With Glory...I'm just ordinary, now." Dawn rushed out the words. "No, you're not. You have power." Sylvia insisted. "The key--Dawn, you're still the key!" Buffy said.