Summary: This continues the story started in To Shanshu in Sunnydale. It follows the growth of the children and obviously Riley. Don’t read this unless you have read the 1st.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss etc etc etc
Feedback: Always!!!
IMPORTANT: IF U R A RILEY FAN DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!!!!!
NB: I know that many of you will think that these 2 children are too mature for 8 but I feel that maybe they are slightly advanced but considering the life they’ve led they will have had to have matured faster than most children and so will feel some adult feelings and have some more mature thoughts. Even though they will at times have a vulnerability most children lose before hitting they age these 2 are. This is because having to mature faster means you skip some childhood and so in many ways are more mature but still have an extremely childish side to them. Being the boy Will has a strong and overwhelming need to protect his mother and sister. Emily will be more in touch with the sensitive part of their life without a father. She will try to be strong to keep her mother okay and make sure her brother’s load is lighter but inside she has an unknown turmoil that she tries hard to keep in. sometimes however she can’t and lets brief spurts of emotion out. She does try to hide these incidents from her family. Will always keeps his feelings locked up because he knows he is the man of the house and so must act like one. I KNOW THAT SOME OF YOU WILL STILL PROBABLY BELIEVE THEY ARE TOO MATURE AND WHAT I’VE JUST SAID MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO YOU BUT I DO KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!
Part One
“WillLiam.” Part of him hated how his two names could be combined in such a way. When his mother named him, he was sure she hadn’t realised what the names were when said together, she had merely named him after the two people she loved best. The other part loved the combination because the only person who ever called him that was Emily. Emily was the only person in the world, apart from his mother, who could make him do anything she wanted. He had such a fierce desire to protect them both from anything that would cause pain. They were his world and he loved them. But Emily and he shared a bond that had been with them since they day they had been born. This bond had grown stronger and both had become more dependant on it, on each other since having no father and shouldering a lot of responsibility for children their age. If had been easier when their big brother had still been there but he was always going off on some jaunt. Will felt that he lied to their mother when he went away always promising that on one of these such jaunts he would find what he was searching for, Angel. In one sense Angel wasn’t just his and Emily’s father but was Spike’s too. Spike was a vampire. He was good though. He loved them. They were his family. Angel, his dad had been a vampire too. Since birth they had been different. They were the children of the Slayer and her ex vampire lover. Spike was the only one to share any real details about any of them. Although his mother had told the basics. Spike vampire, she Slayer, dad ex vampire. Demons exist and everything the only details of what they were like came from Spike so with him gone the days were longer. They knew nothing of what went on except his mother went out every night to slay. To patrol, they knew that in the End of Days battle their father had gotten his redemption, he became human. That’s when the hellmouth closed but the vampires and demons that still existed on earth had to be stopped and that’s why she still went. There was nothing he wouldn’t give to make his twin sister safe and happy. Circumstances had made them older than the 8 years they were but they had needed to grow up faster than most children because most children didn’t start their day like this.
“Could you call Auntie Willow while I’m in the shower, I’m guessing we need a ride to school again.” He sighed knowing instantly why.
“Is she bad?” Emily hated this inevitable part in their morning conversation that they’d been having more frequently lately.
“Downstairs in the chair asleep with his picture in her arms. She must have cried a lot since her eyes are still red and swollen. Yet it looks as though her eyelids are finding it hard to stay shut over big lumps of uncried tears.”
“I wish she would be happy and move on.”
“Move on! Move on! To what! The first man that comes along and shows her what she’s been missing… a little affection, if you want her to move on like that then she’d be jumping into Riley’s arms! Do you want that? Will she’ll never move on, how can she when she is still stuck in the land of not knowing.”
“I didn’t mean to that dweeb, I just want her to be happy.”
“And I don’t! She’ll never be happy, her happiness left 8 years ago.”
“I KNOW THAT! I just want a normal family, I want to be able to come home and just be a kid.”
“I know what you want. You think I enjoy having no time for any friends other than my best who I get by default cos he lives with me anyway. I don’t like having to come home and pick up the pieces of mom’s broken heart only for it to shatter again into even smaller pieces before we can even mend it. I want to come home and have a mom who nags me about doing homework. I want a twin brother/best friend to just play with. But most importantly in that little scenario I have this guy who walks in and lights up all our lives and looks at her with undying love in his eyes ad watches her every little moment until his ‘Little Princess’ and his ‘Little Buddy’ come to get him to join their game. I want a dad. I need a dad to hold me and tell me that whatever I do he’ll still love me cos I’m his little angel. I need the love and warmth of a father and I don’t have it and day by day I’m losing my mother too!” Tears had sprung into her eyes while she spoke passionately. The uncontrollable sobs begun to escape her throat where they had been rattling round trying to get out for days. Will wrapped his arms round his beloved sister as she wept bitter tears for their lost father and the mother who couldn’t hold herself together for much longer. Neither had noticed the petite blond woman who had heard the best part of their conversation.
After the semi-argument this morning she’d finally shared some of what she had thought belonged only in her heart. Emily had a tiring day and returned home with Will to find their mother sitting talking with Riley!
“Hi sweetie. And hello to you too my big man.” She could hardly believe this was the same mother she had left this morning.
“Hi Lord WillLiam and Lady Emily.” He smiled his sickly sweet smile at them making both want to barf.
“Don’t call me that. There is only one PERSON in the whole world who can call me Lady Emily and it’s not you.” Emily almost spat her words at the ex commando that had been trying to take her father’s place and win his way back into her mothers and into their affections for as long as she could remember. Her brother moved to her side. Together they were a united front against all evil, including the biggest, ugliest demon either had ever seen, Riley.
“And no one except Emily and well maybe my mom can call me WillLiam and as for Lord that is reserved for the only PERSON in the world that Em lets call her Lady Emily.” Both twins hated Riley and didn’t care if he knew it. The twins were blessed with unnatural strength considering the fact their mother was who she was so already both knew that they could easily take Riley. But their mother warned them against their strength so neither could get into fights especially school ones since they could forget how strong they were and seriously hurt someone. Riley hated it when they referred to Spike as a person. He could never truly accept that the line between demons and vampires and humans wasn’t clear. It was very fuzzy and not everything was black and white in fact most of it was grey. Riley hated Spike, he would never accept him. He hated the fact he lived with them. He was also jealous that Spike was so close to the woman he was obsessed with. Emily took the final dart and threw.
“Also since you weren’t even conceived in fact your great grandparents weren’t conceived and never existed in England where Lords and Ladies lived you simply have no idea what either one was like and therefore can’t say we are or aren’t.” both twins made a speedy escape from the scene before Buffy could say anything to them.
So after this long and tiring day Emily welcomed her bed and so was not pleased when a little after 2 in the morning someone began throwing stones at her window. She approached the window and stared out into the darkness. She made out a figure. She grabbed her robe and wrapped it round her as she went downstairs. She instantly noticed her mother wasn’t there and her father’s picture was in it’s place. This was the 1st night in 3 months that Buffy wasn’t here with the picture or the picture wasn’t up there with her. As any person in her position would she imagined it was something to do with Riley and not to do with what her mother had overheard. She unlatched and unbolted the door. The cool night air was welcoming against her hot wet tears, which were streaming down her face, stinging her cheeks.
“Lady Emily your white knight has returned.” Out of the darkness popped a figure that filled her heart with joy. She flung her arms round his neck and he picked her up her tiny body and swung her round. It was then he noticed the tears. He returned her softly to the ground and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Her arms again went round his neck and his arms slid round her waist offering her comfort.
“Oh Spike mom has finally given up. Not only is she moving on but it’s to…to…Riley!” her whole body began to convulse with tears while all the peroxide blond vampire could do was hold her and love her. He knew then he should have returned sooner. He found it hard to believe Buffy had given up let alone moved onto that bloody poof, Riley. Spike hated him and vice versa. Buffy had never seemed to hold any feelings for him, even when they had been together all these years ago. Riley had just appeared a couple of months after the twins had been born and began to make his presence known by showing up all the time and always bringing presents for the children and roses for Buffy. Spike found it sickly and Buffy and the children found him incredibly annoying, so he couldn’t fathom why she would suddenly welcome his attention. Especially when she knew Spike had actually got a lead and was following it. Spike’s lead was another story. He picked up the young girl and carried her inside. He shut the door and managed to lock and bolt everything while still holding her. He went to the sofa and sat and placed her in his lap. She never once let go of him. She snuggled into his chest as he began to tell her how everything would be better now he was home. And she believed him there was nothing her big brother would tell her that she wouldn’t believe.
“Hey kid your mom will kick Riley into touch when she hears what I’ve got to tell her.” Emily looked up through teary eyes and smiled at Spike. A smile that was reserved for only him.
“What?”
“You know I actually had a lead this time and it wasn’t just a shot in the dark from my memory,” she nodded and he continued “well I got another lead on him, from this guy I went to see and it’s looking even better. I mean it would have been nice to get these leads years ago but still now is better than never. I promise you by the time you reach 9 you’ll have your dad back. I swear.”
“Spike don’t promise me something you can’t keep. My birthday is only 7 months away.”
“I promise.” She snuggled further into his chest and fell to sleep. He wrapped his strong protective arms round this girl. She was so like the one who had captured his heart all those years ago. Emily loved to hear his stories about her namesake and Spike found she was the only person he could tell these things to easily. He had had a long journey and so it wasn’t long before he joined her in the land of dreams. His head dropped in sleep to rest on hers. She was the little girl who held his heart and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect her. She may have had Slayer strength but she was so fragile in so many ways. And he would give his life for hers. He would kill and torture anyone who dared hurt the sleeping bundle in his arms. This is how Buffy found them the next morning.
