Time passed with no further signs of Angelus. It seemed that his ultimate goal at this point was to hurt Buffy by proxy. He wanted to scare her, she knew. He wanted her to know he was coming for her last, after he'd taken care of everyone she cared about.

Willow had decided to stay longer, for which the slayer was grateful. She and Spike could take Angelus, if he ever decided to actually show his face, but who knew what else he would throw at them before then. In the past, Buffy would have had that go-get-em attitude, wanting to track him down herself. But now that she was a mother, her number one priority was to protect her daughter at all costs. Spike had stayed over every night since they'd returned from L.A.

At first, Buffy had insisted they stay in the City of Angels until Dawn was completely well, but after much persuasion, had opted to return to New York. Eric and Dawn promised to head their way as soon as she was able to, and then take Camilla and head across the ocean.

Buffy's fear and paranoia were beginning to get the best of her and the people around her, not just Spike and Willow, had begun to notice. She'd had to take some time off work so as not to completely freak out her co-workers. And if Angelus decided to make an attack on her personally, she didn't want to endanger innocent bystanders unnecessarily. And she didn't want to be away from Camilla for any amount of time. Not until she was safe with Giles and the other slayers.

This was the main reason Buffy was unable to focus on what she was doing at the current moment.

"Planning on serving the plastic, too, luv?"

Buffy snapped out of the trance she hadn't been aware that she was in. "Huh?" she said before following his gaze to the chicken she was rubbing with marinade, the chicken still in its plastic wrapped container. She cursed out loud, causing Spike to let out a chuckle.

"I'm just worried."

Spike leaned against the counter beside her. "They've only been gone half an hour."

"And any number of things could have happened to them by now," she said violently ripping the plastic off of the chicken breasts she intended to bake.

She felt a hand on hers and met the deep blue eyes of the man beside her.

"Let me."

She held his gaze for a few moments longer before dropping the chicken on the counter and taking a step back.

"Willow is a very powerful witch," Spike tried to reassure her, even though he had to admit, he didn't like the little girl being gone either.

Camilla had begged for over a week to leave the apartment and when Willow said she needed to do a little shopping, the girl had pleaded and pouted until Buffy had agreed. No one liked to be cooped up for too long and even though she would have rather pulled out her own eyelashes before letting her daughter out of her sight, Buffy knew she would be safest with Willow. And the witch had played a part in the decision as well. It would be good for all of them, she'd said. And promised to do whatever necessary to protect Cam were anything to happen.

Buffy walked to the sink to rinse her hands, whilst Spike removed the chicken from the plastic and placed it in the baking dish. He began pouring the ready-to-bake marinade over the chicken.

"They'll be back by 5:30," he continued, "Dawn and Eric should be here by 6:00, and we'll all have a nice, relaxing dinner together."

Buffy laughed, despite herself. "Well, aren't you Dr. Phil." She dried her hands on a kitchen towel and then opened the oven so Spike could put the chicken inside.

Spike gave her a mock-evil look and then went to wash his own hands.

"There won't be anything relaxing about dinner," Buffy said with a sigh. "We're all on edge. You forget Dawnie and Eric are only coming here because they were attacked once already." She looked out of the kitchen area towards the front door, willing it to open and reveal that Willow and her daughter had returned early.

Buffy felt arms wrap around her from behind and leaned back into Spike's embrace. His hard body pressing up against her made her thoughts drift to other things. They'd shared a few more kisses in the week or so that had passed, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for Buffy to ignore the warm sensations in her lower belly when they touched.

"I can think of something else that could help relax you," Spike said into her ear, sending a shivery sensation to the tips of her toes and… other places.

Spike realized after the words had left his mouth that that probably hadn't been the best phrasing. He'd meant that there was some wine in the cabinets, but he was beginning to think she would have little to no interest in that. She rubbed herself back against him, if only ever so slightly, and it caused him to have a shudder of his own.

He closed his eyes in an attempt to get control of himself before he let this get too far. He knew Buffy was stressed, she was tired, and she was worried beyond belief. He wasn't sure she was ready for this next step, but she was a grown woman, and she most definitely was not pulling away.

So instead of doing the smart thing, backing away from her and taking a cold shower, Spike began to trail kisses up and down her neck, earning himself another shiver and a soft moan.

Buffy closed her eyes, relishing in the sensation. She wanted him. God she wanted him. Her whole body ached, almost painfully. And why shouldn't she give into it? Her feelings for him were growing stronger with each passing day. He loved and cared for her daughter, and though he hadn't said it out loud, she was sure he still loved her, too.

She turned her head and the lips that had been working their way to her jaw, met hers with a passion she hadn't experienced in what seemed like lifetimes. Their tongues met and the kiss quickly gained intensity. She turned completely in his arms and pressed her body flush against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

This was it. If she didn't stop this now, there would be no turning back. But could she possibly want to turn back at this point? After everything that had happened in the past few months? No, going back now would be stupid… pointless and painful.

So instead, she kept her mouth pressed firmly against his as she led him toward the bedroom.

---

---

He was sick of this, walking in the shadows. It felt like an eternity since he'd seen the sunlight, felt it on his skin. But it was in the shadows that he could travel unnoticed, where he could watch without being seen.

The little girl was wearing a yellow dress today, one he'd never seen her wear before. He didn't like the color. It was too bright, too noticeable. It would be easier for someone to spot her in such a dress. He much preferred the navy blue one she'd been wearing on her last day of school before Buffy had pulled her out and kept her home.

It made it much more difficult to watch them whilst they were locked away in their tiny apartment. He could easily break in, he suspected, but he didn't know what he might find once he did. The witch was there and he knew enough about magic to know not to cross her just yet. He'd wait until she returned to England. And he knew that she would, he'd heard her talking about it.

Then his only problem would be Spike. He felt anger rising in him as he thought about the undead bastard touching Buffy, kissing her. Even though he despised her and would enjoy watching her die, the idea of Buffy and the Billy Idol wannabe together filled him with rage.

The vampire had proved to be a pain in his ass, and now he was with Buffy and her daughter 24/7. But he already knew how to take care of that little problem.

The little girl and her guardian witch began to move again, having paid for their items. He watched them make their way towards the exit and then, slowly, followed after them. Always remaining in the shadows.

It was only a matter of time now.

---

---

Buffy curled up to his side and put her head on his chest. "I almost forgot how good that could feel."

Spike absently ran a hand up and down her back. He still could not quite wrap his head around the fact that they'd just shagged, and she was not running away. Instead, she seemed content to lie there forever. He sure as hell was. He had imagined this moment many times, but until recently, he'd never thought it would actually happen. He loved this woman with all of his un-beating heart and knew that no matter what happened, he always would.

He thought again about what Camilla had asked him, about being her daddy. He hadn't brought it up to Buffy and suspected Cam hadn't either. He wasn't sure if now was the best time. Sure, they had slept together, but that didn't mean she was ready for him to take on such a great role in hers and her daughter's lives.

"Luv, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"Shoot," Buffy said with a contented sigh. She hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time and wanted to bask in every moment of it.

Spike took an unneeded breath. "The bit asked me to be her dad."

His statement caught Buffy off guard and she moved her head to look at him. She hadn't expected that. She knew Camilla was fond of Spike, had heard her say she loved him, but asking him to be her dad… that was something new. It wasn't that the idea was an unpleasant one. And it wasn't that she herself had not considered the possibility. But last time she had been thinking about the future, it had scared her into pulling away from him and demanding friendship. She didn't want that to happen again.

"And what did you tell her?"

"I told her I would need to talk with you. I didn't know what else to say. I've never been in this position before."

"She really loves you, you know."

Spike could sense the slight worry in her voice. "That bother you, does it?" he asked in a gentle tone.

Buffy's head snapped up towards him. "No, it doesn't bother me. It just… scares me a little. And I don't mean that in a bad way," she added quickly. "It's not that I think you'll hurt her. But…"

"But I'm a vampire."

It was something they'd both been skirting around since he had moved to New York and gotten himself more involved in her life. Sometimes it was easy for Buffy to forget that his heart didn't beat. She knew that in the long run things between them would probably get complicated, i.e. when she aged and he didn't. She'd probably caught up to him in human years by now and she would just keep getting older, whereas he would always be… however old he'd been when he'd died.

"I've always taught her that vampires were bad," Buffy continued. "I don't know how to suddenly explain that I meant all but one. A part of me thinks she could handle it, but she's only five."

Spike was surprised by the 'one' in her statement. Though Angeles was currently on a mission to destroy her, Spike always assumed Buffy would try to find a way to save him if she could. Though, she had yet to mention anything about trying to restore his soul, as far as he knew. He fought the urge to ask her why she'd given up on the supposed love of her life. Maybe she really had changed more than he'd originally thought.

"She's a tough little thing," Spike said. "Wonder where she gets that from."

Buffy smiled and placed a kiss on his lips. "Beats me."

"If you decide to keep me around, I may even start to rub off on her."

The slayer feigned a look of horror. "Oh God. I hadn't thought of that."

That earned her a slight poke to the ribs. Buffy jumped and immediately grabbed his hand. "Don't even…"

Spike did his best to look innocent. "What?"

"I'm not afraid to kick your ass."

He raised his eyebrow and gave her a sexy smirk. "That how you wanna play?"

Buffy nodded and ran a finger slowly down his chest, stopping right below his navel. "Is that a problem?"

In response, Spike flipped them over, more or less pinning her under him. Instead of fighting back, like he knew she was capable of, Buffy laughed. He kissed her again, more deeply this time and her arms drifted up and around his neck.

When he finally pulled back, she was gasping for breath. She found herself wondering how she had ever thought this wouldn't feel right. He was looking at her like he'd never seen another woman and it made something stir inside of her chest. She had fallen for him. Of that much, she was certain.

"Spike," she began. "I just want you to know… that I…" Buffy was cut off by the sudden change in Spike's demeanor "What?" she asked. The slight look of worry on his face caused her to inwardly panic.

"Do you smell that?" he asked, rolling off of her.

"Smell what?"

"Smoke."

Her first thought was that Angelus had found them and since he had not been invited into the apartment, had decided to burn the whole place to the ground. But Spike did not seem to be jumping out of bed and realization dawned on her.

"The chicken!" the slayer said, jumping up from the bed. She grabbed Spike's t-shirt from where it had been discarded on the floor and slipped it on as she walked quickly to the kitchen.

After putting his boxers back on, Spike followed her. Buffy pulled the burned remnants of the poultry on the stove and waved back the smoke. Luckily, Spike had smelled it before it could reach the smoke detectors. The last thing she needed was a visit from the local fire department.

"We burned it," she said with a sigh.

"In our defense, we were a little preoccupied."

Buffy couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. One of the things she had been most afraid of in taking the next step with Spike was how she would feel after. When they'd been sleeping together in Sunnydale, she always felt somewhat guilty and wrong afterward. And though she was sure that she cared deeply for him now, the fear that it wouldn't feel right had been set in the back of her mind. But now that fear had been relinquished. Being with him had felt nothing short of incredible and there had been nothing wrong about it.

"We could try to fix it," she said, as he approached her, giving their ruined dinner a once over.

"I think it's a lost cause, luv."

"Maybe we should just order pizza."

Spike nodded in agreement as Buffy picked up the phone to call Domino's. After the pizza was ordered, Buffy gave a quick call to Willow to check on their whereabouts. After being reassured they would be back within the hour, Buffy hung up the phone and sighed. She hated worrying and these days, it was all she could seem to do.

"She's safe," Spike said, reassuringly.

"I know. I just…"

"You're being a good mum."

Spike took a step closer and she wrapped her arms around his mid-section, smiling up at him. "You're pretty great, you know that? Sometimes I still can't believe you're here."

Spike agreed fully with that statement. It was hard for him to believe it, too. He kept thinking he would wake up back in that hell of a desert dimension, all of this having been some demonic induced dream. He bent down and kissed her lips softly, reassuring himself she was really there.

"You know," Buffy said, "Willow said they wouldn't be back for an hour." Her tone was low and tinged with desire.

Spike was about to take full advantage of her offer when the door to the apartment swung open.

"Hey, Buffy, we're… here." Dawn's mouth dropped slightly open when she saw the more than half naked couple, both positioned to attack. "Whoa, just us."

Buffy and Spike let themselves relax when they realized it was Dawn and Eric standing in the door way. Neither had realized it, but they had both unconsciously been on full alert.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Buffy demanded of her sister, unable to keep anger in her voice. Truthfully, she was more than thankful that Dawn and Eric were finally here. With them in close proximity, it would be one less thing she had to worry about.

"Uhh, Buffy…" Dawn said with a slight forced cough.

Buffy realized Dawn was non-discretely pointing at her. The slayer looked down at herself and realized she wasn't wearing pants… or underwear. She tried desperately to pull the black t-shirt down over her naked thighs.

"Well, this is awkward," Dawn said.

"We're just gonna… go put some clothes on," Buffy said, backing towards the bedroom.

Spike gave a nod to the two younger people and followed after Buffy.

"Great. The day they finally decide to have sex has to be the same day we show up," Dawn said, dropping her duffel bag on the floor beside the couch.

"I told you to knock," Eric said.

---

---

"I thought you two weren't due in until later," Buffy said.

"We weren't, but we decided to catch an earlier flight," her sister explained. "We thought we'd surprise you, but it looks like we were the ones surprised."

Buffy fought the blush that threatened to redden her cheeks and threw a half-threatening glare at Dawn. "Surprises and Buffy are unmixy things. Especially when there's someone trying to kill us."

"When is there not someone trying to kill us?"

"It's like we're back in good ole Sunnyhell," Spike added.

"New monster of the week."

"Or not so new monster," Buffy said.

A moment of awkward silence overtook the group, each remembering the last time Angelus had wreaked havoc on them.

"But we'll deal with it. Like we always do," the slayer continued.

Spike fought the intense urge to ask her why she was acting like killing Angelus was an everyday thing that would be no problem. The last time she'd had to kill him, she'd run away from home. Or at least, that's what he'd heard. He reasoned that he would ask her later, once they were alone again. If that ever happened.

He heard them before the door opened.

Camilla stopped in the middle of her sentence, something about unicorns, and squealed. "Aunty Dawn!" She ran to her aunt, who embraced her with all of the strength she could muster.

Dawn had to admit that even though most of her wounds had healed and she felt a lot better, she was still not in peak condition and sometimes still found small tasks tiring. But she loved her niece and knew that if it came down to it, she would do anything she could to protect her.

The pizza arrived soon after Willow and Camilla and the lot of them sat down to eat and watch the Little Mermaid.

"So she's willing to leave her entire family to be with a guy she's known for a few days?" Buffy said skeptically.

"Apparently you've never analyzed the time span of any Disney movie," Dawn answered. "It's always love at first sight. And I can attest to the realness of that." She smiled at her fiancé.

"Me too," Eric supplied, giving her a light kiss.

Buffy shook her head but couldn't help but be happy for them. "I guess it just takes me a little longer." She spared a glance at Spike who picked up on her meaning.

If he'd been sitting closer to her, he would have done as Eric had and kissed her, but as it were, he was seated in the chair off of the end of the couch with Camilla sprawled out across his lap. She wasn't asleep, but she was close.

"Why don't they ever make Disney movies about two princesses falling in love?" Willow said, more to herself than anyone.

"You should write a letter to them and complain," Dawn said with a laugh. "I've even got the perfect storyline." She went into a whole spiel about how the Princess of kingdom one and the prince of kingdom two were set to be married. That is, until the princess met the prince's sister and fell madly in love.

"They both wear wedding dresses?" Camilla asked sleepily.

When Dawn told her they would the girl put a finger to her chin as if thinking hard about something.

"I think one should have pink and one should have purple," she said after a moment. "That would be so pretty." Then she said, "Aunty Willow, are you gonna marry a girl?"

Willow smiled at her adopted niece. "I hope so."

"Then you should wear the pink cause pink is my favoritest color and your hair is red like Ariel's."

Willow simply agreed with a smile that she would consider pink. Camilla then asked Dawn what color she was gonna be wearing and if she was gonna be a flower girl and what did flower girls have to do cause she didn't know how to be one. After her duties had been explained to her, Camilla seemed to get more excited about the prospect.

"That sounds really fun. And I can do it. I can do it in your wedding, too, Aunty Willow. And mommy's when she marries Mr. Spike."

All gazes in the room immediately went to Buffy. They all seemed to be silently asking, 'is there something you're not telling us?'

"Camilla, who told you I was marrying Spike?" Buffy asked, hoping she didn't hurt her lover's feelings in the process. It wasn't that the idea of marrying Spike was abhorrent, but he was a vampire and they had just officially consummated their relationship a few hours ago.

"Nobody told me," she said as if that were obvious. "But I think you will."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Bit." Spike knew the subject of marriage was not a comfortable one for Buffy, and given that it had taken her this long to even admit she wanted to be with him, he figured spending a lifetime in marital bliss was not even on the table. And may never be, given his slight problem of being undead.

"You have to marry Mr. Spike, mommy, cause then he can be my daddy. And then we can be a family and live happily ever after, just like Ariel."

And for the life of her, Buffy couldn't think of anything to say to that.