inkisrunning

Normal? Never
by DearOne

Part 6: Come Again?

[-NN-]

"Thanks for watching him for me," Buffy said, as she took Alex from Fred’s arms.

"No problem, He was such a good boy," Fred replied. And then to the baby, she cood, "Who's the good boy? Are you the good boy? Yes you are, yes you are." Glancing at Buffy and the others, she realized the tension gathering in the room. She cleared her throat and excused herself from the room, “okay there is work to be done, problems to be solved. Beep me if you need me.” She smiled and tickled the baby once more before she walked out of the room.

"So are you going to tell me who the father is?" Spike asked, hoping to sound nonchalant.

Turning to face Spike and shifting Alex in her arms so that he was also facing him. "Well, why don’t you ask him?"

"You expect him to--"

Then he saw them: two bright blue iridescent orbs looking right back at him.

"Eyes can tell you a lot, and just about anything, don’t they?" Buffy asked, smiling as she caught the look of recognition on his face.

Glancing from Buffy to the baby, he was rendered speechless.

"I...I named him William Alexander, It just sorta fit together when I had him,” she said. Looking at his now expressionless face, and growing worried, she tried to break the ice because if he didn’t say something soon she wouldn’t know what to do. "Do you want to hold him? Because it's okay if you do...or if not, that’s okay too..."

Spike just couldn’t grasp what had been revealed to him, he felt like he was going in slow motion and everyone and everything else around him was going ten times as fast. Impossible, he thought.

At that moment, as if on cue, Alex giggled.

Hearing it, Spike was pulled out of his trancelike state. "He's..." Spike shifted his hands around, not knowing what he should do with them, till he gave up and finally just did what felt natural. He brought his hand up expecting to just touch him-- to make sure what he was seeing in front of him was real and not just a figment of his wild imagination. But Alex had other plans. He grasped and wrapped his fingers around Spike's pointer finger, and held on. Spike looked at Buffy with an amazed smile that reached his eyes. He was giving into the possibility. In the world they lived in, anything could happen after all. He tilted his head and he whispered, "…Mine?" Then with awe and confidence, and more to himself than to the woman in front of him and the intruding spectators lounging about the room, he whispered again, "Mine."

"Yours." Buffy confirmed, returning his smile with a smile of her own, just as genuine.

Glancing from Buffy to Alex and grinning from ear to ear, he let it sink in. “I have a son,” the news must have drained him because he found he was getting dizzy and was ready to drop. "I need to sit down." But instead of doing just that, he wrapped his arms around Buffy's waist and scooped both of them up, and started to twirl them around. "I have a son, Buffy," he said letting a chuckle overtake him. "You... you gave me a son." Then lowering his voice to a whisper, "we…he’s ours...”

Buffy let out a sigh of relief, letting her nerves calm down, and giggled. She laughed along with Alex, as Spike twirled them around. "Yes, we have a son."

As he put them down, Buffy touched her forehead to his. "I love you," she whispered.

"Oh baby, you have no idea how much I love you.” Then looking at Alex again, he whispered in astonishment, “he’s…you’re my son… William Alexander.”

“Okay I think we just about covered that. Now will you let us know what the hell happened?”

Spike swiveled his head to face the speaker, “shut it for just a minute, will you? Don’t you see I’m in the middle of something important here?” he said and then added mentally, “You ponce of a sire.” Spike looked back at Buffy and held out his arms, “Umm… can—"

“Of course you can.” She handed Alex over into Spike’s open arms.

“Hey there, Alex… I’m your father.” Glancing at Buffy he held out his free hand and took hers, moving them to the couch. He was smiling like an idiot, but he didn't care.

Once seated, Buffy leaned into his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her. “How?" he asked, still baffled.

TBC...