Babies Daddy

"Spike."

Hank glared as he took the chair opposite the desk, facing his ex-son-in-law.

"Hank, I want to thank you for coming here," Spike said, noticing the look of contempt the older man was giving him. "I just hope you can help me after I'm done telling you about why I left your daughter."

"Either that, or I'll kill you," Hank said in a matter of fact tone, his expression angry.

Spike nodded his understanding, believing the man wasn't lying. He figured it was best to start from the beginning. So many things concerning his own childhood affected his actions concerning his son.

"I was raised by my mother, my father left when I was barely two years old. I never saw hide nor hair of the man since he left. Not, that my mum did a bad job at raising me, but I always missed me Da. So when Dru showed up with Nigel and gave me the ultimatum of leaving Buffy and being with them or she'd take him where I would never find him again, it made me act rashly. I knew she'd make good her promise and I'd never see my boy again. Dru is not my mum, do I have to say more?" he explained, wondering if it made a difference with Buffy's father.

Hank leaned back in his chair and watched the emotional display before him. Most of it he already knew from when he'd done a background check on the man before he married his daughter. The rest he would find out later today once he ran a background check on this Dru person.

"I take it you do not trust the mother of your son to take care of him properly?" Hank asked.

"No, I don't," Spike answered, "Over the last couple months I've tried to find evidence against her, but I keep coming up empty handed. I get the feeling she’s threatened him not to say anything to me when I'm alone with him. I need to protect my son from his mother and the only way is either to stay with them or find a way I can leave and take him with me. She cannot ever be alone with him again."

Hank recognized the deep pain in the younger man's eyes and wished he too could make it all go away. He realized that Spike Bledsoe had made one of the toughest choices in his life when he had chosen his son's safety over his own happiness.

"I’ll do whatever I can to help you. But if I find you are lying to me for some reason, there is no where you can hide from me," Hank warned him, still believing the young man was not lying.

Spike sighed in relief for just a second before he told Mr. Summers the rest of his plan, "I plan on getting my wife back." He felt Buffy's father should be made aware of his intentions toward his daughter.

"I'm glad to hear that," Hank replied, giving the young man an encouraging smile. "She needs you more than you know. Does she know why you left?"

"I told her just what I told you, but I'm thinking that she wasn't really paying that close of attention," Spike said as he realized she probably didn't hear him, but instead focused on what she thought it meant. "She is my world, my everything, but she has family and friends to look after her. My son only has me."

"Not anymore. He has us," Hank reassured the young man. "Let me get some people on this and I will get in touch with you. I think it would be best if no one knew we are talking."

"I agree," Spike said right before he asked, "How is she?"

"Maybe you should call her up sometime, ask her yourself. In fact I think you should call her very soon," Hank said, hoping Spike would do as he said.

Today, seeing Spike voice his love and what he had tried to sacrifice for his son made him look at the young man in a different light. Unlike him, Spike had thought about his child before his own happiness. Hank remembered a long time ago when he'd placed the job before family, it had been the worst decision of his life. The one mistake he would pay for, for the rest of his life.

"Maybe I’ll just do that," Spike replied, feeling better now that he knew he was not alone anymore.

"I’ll need everything you can give me on this Dru character," Hank informed him as he became very down to business.

Spike wondered what line of business Hank was in, but had never asked before now. "Hank, what do you do for a living?"

Hank just smiled as he answered, "There are just some things you just don't talk about. You never know who might be listening in."

Spike nodded his head in understanding as he pushed forward the large envelope toward the secret agent man. He decided not to ask any further questions as he watched the older man put the information inside his briefcase.

"Take care of you and your son, and if you need anything call me," Hank said before he turned and left Spike sitting at the table looking at his cell phone.

Hank was sure he would have everything he needed to know about Nigel's mother and Nigel by the time he got back to his office. His gut instinct had told him to do it ever since Spike had called him. He had some of Drusilla's information from the background check on Spike.

******

Buffy again found herself somewhere from her past. She looked around the church where she was supposed to be married a long time ago. The people looked happy and excited to be there. Dawn was peeking out of the door leading to the back of the church. Things she had missed, having been locked away in the back putting on her wedding dress.

She noticed Faith was sitting back in the church, in the last pew, with a smug look on her face. It was as if she knew a head of time what Angel was going to do and was here to watch it happen. It hit her then that the bitch had actually come to gloat.

Once she heard the Church Bells ring, she looked toward the back of the church and watched as the door flew open. Out ran her past self with tears falling and a look of devastation on her face. That day Angel had come to her and told her he didn't love her and never did, and he couldn't marry her.

It would seem he had only thought of how she fit the image of an executive's wife. How she would have been the right one for the job to raise the children. Instead, she had insisted on staying in college and making a career of her own.

"Buffy, I tried, honest I did. But I just can't marry you," Angel told her, as she stood before him in her wedding dress with a shocked expression on her face.

"Angel, it's our wedding day," she replied, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't put on the monkey suit and make myself lie anymore," Angel explained, with a look on his face telling he wanted nothing more then to just turn around and leave her there.

They had dated for the last two years when Angel had asked her to marry him. Now the day was upon them and he was tearing her world apart.

"Why would you be lying?" Buffy whispered as the tears threatened to fall.

"Because I'm not in love with you is why," he said with a shrug of his shoulders as he looked at the door as if it was means of escape. "Buffy, I found someone else. Someone, who completes me, and gives me what I need."

"Then why did you ask me to marry you?" Buffy asked, as she wrapped her arms around herself wondering when she was going to wake up from this nightmare.

"Other than Cordy, you were the best one for the job of being my wife," Angel said as he gave her a look of indifference that told her he wasn't lying. "You fit the image of hostess, wife, and mother, when we first started dating."

"You were never in love with me, it was all a lie," Buffy voiced mostly because she finally realized she was just another step in his career plans.

"I could have come to love you I think, but you wouldn't put me first. You planned on finishing school and starting your own career, not once thinking I would need your support," Angel explained. "Well, I found the woman who is willing to put me first and is willing to do more in bed thean just have sex."

Buffy felt like he had just stabbed her with a knife. The pain to her heart was so great she found herself unable to breathe at first. She had to leave. She could no longer stand there and listen. She lifted her dress and ran as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

The whirl of white passing her made her dizzy, or was it she found herself suddenly standing in her mother's house once more. Finding herself again a spectator on her past life, wondering where this was leading her.

It wasn't until weeks later, running out of the church that she found out who Angel had left her for. For about three weeks, she had locked herself away in her room. She only came out to use the bathroom or when forced by her mom to eat something. Finding out that Angel had left her for Faith was totally by accident.

"I can't believe he married her so soon after leaving my girl on their wedding day," Joyce fumed at her husband.

"I know dear, I wish I could do like in the olden days and call him out," Giles agreed, the anger in his voice evident for anyone listening to hear.

"Faith of all people, I just can't believe it."

"I can, after all she is the mayor's daughter," Giles sighed. "She opens a lot of doors for Angel's future."

"Yes, but she is such a, how do I say it without sounding like a bad person?" Joyce's frustration sounded in her voice as she tried not to talk ill about the loose woman.

"I know what you mean, my dear wife," Rupert said as he put his arm around her and pulled her close. "I cannot believe they married so quickly."

"I can't believe he had the nerve to marry her in the same church he was supposed to marry Buffy in," Joyce started to rant.

"Angel married Faith? When?" Buffy asked, feeling like her world was spinning out of control once more.

"Buffy, honey I didn't know you were down here," Joyce moved toward her daughter only to stop when she noticed her step back.

"Just tell me," Buffy demanded, her voice sounding angry.

"They were married yesterday at St. Catherine's," Giles reluctantly told her.

"St. Catherine's, he married her in our church," Buffy repeated as she turned back to the stairs. "I think I need to get out of here for awhile, get some air."

Joyce and Rupert watched as she climbed the stairs as if in a trance. Not twenty minutes later she came down freshly showered dressed in her running clothes and shoes.

"I’m going for a run," she told them offering up a weak smile.

Hearing that he'd moved on with Faith Wilkins, made her realize she could not let this break her. But she did promise herself never to let anyone this close ever again.

Buffy watched herself leave the house and wondered why she had not stuck to that vow. Why did she let Spike Bledsoe worm his way into her life? She should have had this trip down memory lane before they were married.

*******