Thanks to my faithful reviewers & readers! You words are so very encouraging.

Thanks to Meli for her work as a beta! :)

**Hugs**
Opal

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*Banner By Ariel Dawn*
Thanks AD! Hugs~Opal

Story Dedicated to Meli!
Thanks for being a great Beta. Hugs~Opal


Single Quotes = thoughts to oneself or between Buffy & Spike


Chapter 29 - Something New


After ensuring that both Buffy and William were comfortable in the limo, Spike opened up the console, reached in and pulled out two Diet Cokes, plus what appeared to be a bottle of red wine. After he handed the two Diet Cokes to Buffy and Willow, he then pulled out two wine glasses. Buffy shot her mate a look of discontent. Spike was confused, but only momentarily. Apparently, Buffy thought he was being disrespectful to her by offering her a child’s drink yet sharing the good stuff with his sire.

Little did she know how good the good stuff was. Well, he would get her good.

“I didn’t think you’d want some of this love, but if you’d like to try,” Spike said as he poured a small sample of the deep red liquid in the glass.

“I’m a big girl. Just no beer. Beer and Buffy equals bad.”

Drusilla smirked at Buffy. She had no idea what incidence Buffy would be referring to, but figured the Slayer must have learned some sort of lesson.

“We don’t need cave Buffy,” Willow said.

Slowly Buffy raised the glass to her lips. She sniffed the liquid and was surprised when she really could not smell anything. ‘Huh, wonder what all the wine sniffing is about if you can’t smell a darn thing.’ Gently she raised the glass to her lips and sipped.

No sooner had she ingested a small quantity of the liquid, she had spit it back out allover the floor of the limousine.

“Oi! Slayer, that’s some fine blood you just wasted!”

“Spike! You big, stupid…ugh!!! You infuriate me sometimes. How could you do that! I would have expected that from you before we mated, but now. I can’t believe you!” She cried at him. She promptly turned away from him and stared out the window of the limousine.

Spike could not help but laugh at his mate’s humiliation. He felt bad, but he also knew that she would still be sitting there seething with jealousy if he had not done that.

Dru moved from her seat on the far side of the window and sat next to the distressed blonde. She wrapped her arms around Buffy as a sign of solidarity and comfort.

“Hey now, don’t let him get to you. Deep down he’s just a little boy. You know what little boys do best? They tease the girls they like.”

“He should have just said it wasn’t wine and that it was blood. If he didn’t want to say it out loud he could have used the claim,” Buffy whispered. “He didn’t have to humiliate me.”

Spike winced at his mate’s words. What had started out as a lesson in jest had quickly deteriorated what was supposed to be an enjoyable ride home into a very tense one.

“Love, I...”

“Don’t,” Buffy replied.

“Buffy…”

“Don’t speak to me. Just don’t Spike.” Buffy asked.

Spike looked to Drusilla for help, but all he got in return was an evil glare from her. He knew if he did not rectify this soon he was not only going to have a pissed off wife, but also a sire with a wicked temper to deal with. He looked up to his last potential ally for help, but the witch just shook her head.

Three women against one of him; things were not looking up for Spike at the moment. William sensed the dissension between his parents. He began to whimper, and then managed to throw his pacifier at his dad.

‘Ok, four against one,’ Spike thought.

The sound of Buffy trying to stifle a snicker caught his attention again. When he looked up, he could see all three ladies trying not to laugh at him.

Finally, Drusilla broke the silence.

“Well Spike, it seems even your son agrees. You’ve been naughty in this case. What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll apologize to my lovely mate over there for fooling her only if she promises to show me more trust in the future that I would never openly disrespect her. In fact, when I think about it, I should be offended that you even thought that!” Spike replied with his voice slightly raised.

Buffy immediately became defensive.

“How was I supposed to know it was a bottle of California’s...”

“France’s,” Spike interjected.

“Whatever,” Buffy replied, “French is so passé, even I know that. The point is how was I supposed to know that was a bottle of blood. It looked like a bottle of wine.”

Willow spoke up, hoping to try to mitigate the situation from escalating further.

“You know Spike; it did look like a bottle of wine. I was kinda thinking along the same lines as Buffy, except I was more like the ‘hey I’m not a kid anymore’ line of thought.”

Buffy smiled and patted Willow on the back.

“But Buffy,” she continued, “Spike’s right. You should have trusted him not to be disrespectful to you.”

Buffy put forth her best pout, and it was Spike’s turn to pat Willow on the back.

“So what I’m saying is that what you both did essentially cancels out the other’s misdeed.”

Spike held out his hand to his mate. Buffy gently placed her hand in his as he pulled her over to him. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Sorry Spike.”

“Sorry love,” Spike replied as he wrapped his arms around Buffy and held her tight to him. He gently tucked one of her stands of hair behind her ear, and then placed a kiss on her forehead.

Drusilla sat back and smiled. ‘These two lovebirds will learn to complement each other soon enough,’ she thought.

Willow did not see fit to let the two blonds continue there cuddling. She had another priority, indicated by her growling tummy.

“Spike, so what else is in that console of yours? PB & J?”

“Willow!” Buffy replied.

“What?” Willow asked, completely unaware that Buffy’s reply was purposely over dramatic.

“Ugh. Can’t you see we’re having a moment here? Spike was just about to give me orgasms!”

Spike looked at his love as if she was off his rocker, until he heard Willow laughing hysterically. He then realized that this was some kind of inside joke. Willow brought her laughter under control before she commented on Buffy’s reply.

“Oh my, you are starting to sound just like Anya!”

“Anya?” Dru questioned.

“Yes, Anya.” Buffy replied. “You know, Anyanka, former vengeance demon now human, now dating the demon hating friend of mine.”

“Ah, so she was the one the powers deemed would be the player.”

“The player?” Spike asked.

“Yes the player. Don’t look at me like I’m loopy. I had a vision a while ago that someone would come along that would be able to provide ancient knowledge to help win an upcoming battle. After that happens, she truly wins the heart of the one who straddles the dark side,” Dru explained.

“But Xander’s all fluffy puppy dog, so does that mean Xander will get his heart broken?” Buffy asked.

“Um, Buffy.” Willow whispered.

Buffy looked over at Willow suspiciously. She was scared to think what the next words out of the witch’s mouth would be. ‘Could Xander be a demon too, or did Willow do a spell, or is he still a hyena?’

Once Willow was sure she had her friend’s attention again, she began to explain.

“Tara read his aura once. There is a light color and a dark color pushing against each other. The light color is the inside light of his aura, and the dark color is on the outside. She said it looks like it is love and hate constantly at war with each other.”

Spike could feel Buffy’s worry and concern for her friend through their claim. He placed a hand over hers and squeezed gently. Drusilla, could sense Buffy’s distress through her childe-sire link with Spike.

“Don’t worry. Everything will turn out fine. The light will win out in the end, but there is nothing that you all can do to try and help. I just thought that it was rather ironic that it was Anyanka would ultimately save a man’s heart.”

A collective sigh of relief was let out between Buffy, Willow and Spike. They had hoped for a little reprieve before the next drama began. Of course, with little William relief only lasted so long as the little babe began to scrunch up his face and turn beet red.

“Oh no,” Buffy cautioned, “Look’s like the waiting is about to begin.”

Spike looked over at Willow.

“I reckon now might be a good time to ask the driver to pull over and we can see about getting Red some grub while Buffy takes care of the little sprog?”

“Please?” Willow pleaded.

“Now is good,” Buffy agreed. “I can’t believe we are almost already half way home. It seems like we just left.”

“Except for the few moments you gave me the silent treatment love,” Spike replied.

“Tsk-tsk, Spike. Don’t be an ass.” Dru warned.

“Okay! Forgot you chits like to gang up on me. Gonna call Peaches and let him know what’s going on.”


****

Cordelia’s head snapped up to the sounds of AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells ringing from Angel’s phone.

“Finally,” she said as she snatched the phone off the console before Angel could grab it.

“Please tell me we are stopping for food soon,” she whined.

“We are at the next stop. There is a diner along the highway coming up.” Willow told her.

“Good. I’ll let Angel know. Thanks,” Cordy replied. She did not even wait for Willow’s response before she snapped the phone shut. Angel just looked over at the brunette, and expected her to start relaying to him where they were going.

“Diner coming on the right.”

“Are we stopping there?” Angel asked.

“Duh! You were just listening to the phone conversation, what do you think?”

Angel just rolled his eyes and did not bother replying. He looked over and saw Cordelia fiddling around with his phone.

“Cordy, could you not mess around with my phone. It’s bad enough Spike and Drusilla have already had their way with it.”

Cordelia looked at him, the expression on her face clearly conveying to the master vampire ‘no shit’.

“All done.”

“What did you do Cordelia?” This time Angel was sterner in his voice.

“Please, would you get the stick out of your ass? I swear sometimes I think Buffy shoved a stake up there. Look, it is clear that you need help in the fashion category, but it was glaringly obvious that “Mandy” was not a cool ring tone. I just had to make sure that you wouldn’t switch it back to that awful song again.”

As the car rolled to a stop behind the limousine, Cordelia threw the phone over onto Angel’s lap. The car had barely stopped before Cordelia jumped out to join the rest of the gang in the diner. Angel flipped open his phone to see what kind of damage she had managed to do. He flipped to the ringer menu so that he could change his phone back to his favorite Manilow tune. As he scrolled through the list of songs, he realized that Cordelia had made damn sure she would not have to listen to it again.

All of his Barry Manilow ringers had been erased. In its place, Cordelia had set the theme to the Muppet Show. As Angel tried to change it, he quickly realized that his attempts were futile. Cordelia had managed to find a way to lock him out of changing his own ring tones.

He placed the phone in his pocket, and decide he better join the rest of the gang inside.

****

Angel sat down just as the rest of the gang had finished ordering.

“Would you like anything sir?” The waitress asked of him.

“No, I’m all set?”

“Are you sure? Your friends said you’ve been traveling for hours with no break.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Thanks.”

Angel was pretty sure that she was about to insist he eat something, but another waitress had yelled out “Tasha” and beckoned the girl over to come take another order.

“Angel you could have just gotten a cup of coffee. It would have made the girl feel better you know.” Dru said.

“You know how I am Dru. You know I don’t eat what I don’t need.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.”

“You know that isn’t what I taught you.” Angel said. He was beginning to become frustrated that his childe was challenging him.

“Angel, you need to let go. I’m telling you this is not a contest, but telling you that in order to be effective as a warrior and a champion you need to hone all sides of you. If you can’t control you natural instincts, you could potentially obstruct yourself from being what you need to be, when you need to be it.”

Angel simmered down a bit, taking in his childe’s words.

“She’s right you know,” Buffy said. “Don’t be upset with her or any of us. It’s just you bottle stuff in and you feel you have to abide by a code that you set centuries ago. You have to be able to change the rules as the game goes, or you’ll lose.”

“Sorry Dru,” Angel said. “You both have a point, but I am stuck in my ways. It will take time. I have to ask though that you be respectful of me, and the way that I am. Remember, I’m not going to do things because it’s the hip new way of dealing with things.”

Spike could tell this conversation would probably continue to go nowhere fast. He spotted Angel’s hand placing the cell phone down on the table.

“Hey Angel, can my girl here borrow your phone?”

“Yeah. Just don’t play with it anymore.”

“No mate. Gonna have Buffy give her mum a call.”

Buffy reached her hand down to grab the phone being passed her way.

“I hope she’s back by now. I really hope nothing happened to her,” Buffy said as she dialed the numbers into the phone.

“Hello?” Buffy heard through the phone.

“Mom!”

“Buffy! Where are you?”

“Oh Spike and I went for a drive.”

“A drive?”

“Yeah. It’s a long, long, story. Let me tell ya.”

“Of course you can. Are you going to come over?”

Buffy was puzzled at her mother’s response. Of course, she was going to come over. She lived there.

“Yeah. After we drop everyone off Mom. Spike, William and I will be over.”

“Great. Your sister is so anxious to see her nephew. See you soon. Love you honey.”

Joyce hung up the phone, but Buffy was still hanging on the line with her mouth wide open.

“My sister?”


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Thanks for the lovely reviews last chappie. Next Chappie we will find out what William went back to!

*Hugs* Opal