Recombination

A/N: Thanks for the review Marzbar, glad the story is intriguing you but Spander *lol* very yum ;)

Wesley lunged; the fiend was cleverer and more cunning then he had originally anticipated. He moved slowly along the floor, his feet barely making a sound his stance rigid as he stalked it. Seeing a blur of red on his left-hand side, he lunged, grabbing and pulling his quarry towards him.

Tiny giggles reverberated up his arm and he grinned to see the mischievous look in the dark brown eyes. "So you escaped again then, mind telling me how you got out this time?" he inquired. He raised an eyebrow as the giggling fit increased, "Well you know what happens to little girls who won’t stay in bed, don’t you?"

The tiniest shake of her head was accompanied by a fresh wave of giggles. Wesley sighed, a truly ‘woe if me’ sigh before pushing the toddler to the floor and mercilessly tickling her under her arms and chin. The small shrieks and giggles only encouraged him further and he found himself laughing along with her.

His own freedom was short-lived when he let her go, concerned that she might actually laugh until she was sick. Annemarie pounced on him her enhanced strength taking him slightly by surprise and knocking him onto his back. She launched herself at his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and winding him. Wesley gasped, then choked out a laugh as she began determinedly tickling him, aiming for his weak spots.

Luckily being only half vampire and still extremely young, his was able to sit up mid laugh and push her off, gently but firmly. He gave an extremely un-manly shriek as she pounced on his feet, her small hands slipping underneath and taunting his toes; gasping for breath and unable to stop laughing, Wesley grabbed her pulling her up to his level and holding her upside-down until she screamed blue murder to get him to stop.

His grin widened when he put her down, to see that she was pouting. A look of great indignation and injustice on her face, her lower lip jutting slightly out- the pout vaguely reminded him of Angel when his singing habits were criticized.

Ruffling her hair and eliciting a smile and the sticking out of her small tongue, Wesley moved to the kitchen stretching slightly. He returned to the lounge several minutes later, a tea in one hand, and a kiddie cup filled with blackcurrant juice in the other. He thanked the powers that be that she was still sitting where he left her, her thumb in her mouth, good as gold.

His eyes narrowed, that innocent thumb-in-the-mouth look meant something; most usually ‘the blood somehow fell on the floor again’ and ‘I got out of my playpen again-and you’re never going to find out how’ or since the day before ‘I’m watching reruns of American Gothic and not going to bed’. The latter wasn’t so bad although he couldn’t understand her fascination with Lucas Buck and Merle. She seemed intrigued by the supernatural especially when watching it on Television and for one so young and new- was obsessed by stories of ‘how daddy Wesley came to America.’

He hadn’t properly gone into how daddy Wesley and daddy Angel stopped being friends, he’d decided not to until she was older and asked him, but he did make it clear that she had two daddies. Daddy Wesley, himself who took care of her and loved being with her, and Daddy Angel who had been the one to get her from the stork. She had gone slightly cross-eyed by his hypothesis of the stork and daddy Angel being the one to get her from said stork most probably because she got the gist of babies coming from mummies from the various books she had read. And, he had to suppress a shudder, the inordinate amount of times that she’d tried to watch Jerry Springer over his shoulder when she should have been in bed.

He hadn’t told her about Darla yet; he figured that could wait until she got a little older, she obviously knew she came from a mother but seemed to have cast Wesley more into that role. He hadn’t gone into great detail over Connor either but in case the boy turned up, doubtful that it was, he had just told her that she had a brother who was a lot bigger then she was and he was working with her second daddy’s friends. He hadn’t felt elaborating with ‘And he shoved your father in a box and let him sink to the bottom of the sea’.

Wesley sat down handing Annemarie the kiddie cup, she still had a little more weight to gain but over the last few days had made good progress. She still didn’t speak but made her demands known, and boy could she scream; whether it was all children or just demon ones he wasn’t sure but it was downright hair raising to hear her scream when she went for it, and the amount of time she screamed for too, forty-five minutes without a break once. Wesley had been close to snapping.

Annemarie crawled onto his lap, stealing the cable remote and switching the television on. She seemed to struggle over her decision at first, American Gothic or my little pony. Wesley had to laugh at the ludicrousness of the two choices- extremely different and for different age groups and yet both her favourites.

My little pony won out and Wesley let his mind drift back to the night before last. Giles had rung him to let him know that the Sunnydale crew would be in Los Angeles by midnight, they would head over to a motel, unpack and get some sleep. In the morning Buffy and Willow would and had, according to Giles, gone over to the Hyperion to confer with Fred and Gunn. Wesley was positive that wouldn’t have been a pleasant meeting especially with Conner in the hotel too and with the girls knowing about his actions towards Angel.

Although Willow hadn’t gone into the detail when she’d phoned him at lunchtime the tension in her voice was clear, apparently they had also brought Spike and Xander with them. Although Wesley was still dubious about Spike he was willing to trust Giles and although the recommendation hadn’t been enthusiastic and excellent, Rupert’s three words had put him at ease "I trust him."

The foursome had then headed, via the sewers to follow one of Gunn’s more promising leads after swearing both Fred and Gunn to secrecy, the two were confused but agreed to keep Connor in the dark about it. According to their ‘source’ a vampire named Marissa had been feeding near where Angel’s car had been found, and she may have seen what had happened. Spike and Buffy had scared the girl almost into her second death and Willow had tested her answers with a truth potion. The answer was clear; Connor and Justine had kidnapped Angel and dumped him in the ocean, presumably on the day he went missing.

Buffy had been none too impressed and had prepared to go and ‘kick some sense’ into Connor, only the presence of Xander who’d stood in her way and Spike who was harping on about wanting to do it himself even though he hated the old git, had stopped her. When they had left a message almost all talking at once, he’d barely been able to decipher it, but the message ran. "Found out what happened to Angel, the brat is going to get it. Going back to the hotel to play nice and keep Connor busy, Spike and Xander are coming over have everything ready then we’re going to take a boat trip and then we’re back to Sunnydale with your present for Giles.

That was half an hour ago and Wesley had barely been able to keep Annemarie under control, she was full of energy and running around which meant it was hard to pack her clothes without her seeing him do it. He hated to send her to Sunnydale without him, even if she was in the company of a slayer and a vampire and would be completely safe but he couldn’t join her straight away. Wolfram and Hart were still searching for her, so Lilah regularly informed him, so he had to lie low for a few weeks.

She had told him that Angel was coming back, even though Wesley had not voiced his news. Apparently Linwood had pissed off the senior partners, royally pissed them off in fact and he’d got the chop as Lilah put it, which automatically put her in charge. Knowing Wolfram and Hart it probably meant that bits of him were floating in the rivers nearby. Once Angel returned and started up his champion business Wesley could safely leave. Until then, he was entrusting her care to Rupert.

Wesley jumped slightly as the doorbell went, he saw Annemarie freeze, eyes wide staring at the door and felt the urge to grab her and run. Quelling his fear and reassuring himself that it was indeed Xander and Spike, he calmly picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, putting his fingers to his lips and whispering that she stay there.

Wesley took a deep breath and strode towards the door; at first he decided to open it a crack but theorized that a crack wouldn’t stop most demons anyway. Bracing himself, he opened the door and stared, his mouth dropped slightly open "come in," he choked out at the couple before him.

Spike, naturally, was the first to enter. Disentangling his hand from the inside of Xander’s pants, he sauntered nonchalantly inside whilst his boyfriend blushed a deep red and moved quickly in after him. "Nice place, must have cost a pretty penny, so you ready then?" Spike asked, checking the apartment out, presumably Wesley believed, for valuable items. Xander was still blushing and seemed completely speechless.

Wesley nodded, "I have a few things to grab and then we can go on our way." He answered shortly; he was still trying to think up a way to subtly introduce Annemarie.

Spike sprawled out on the sofa and cast a glance at Wesley "We’ll what are you waiting for? And a drink would go down well too watcher, ex- whatever you are!" he yelled as Wesley scurried into the kitchen still trying to think of introductions. Xander punched Spike lightly on the shoulder as he sat next to him on the sofa, glancing towards the kitchen.

"Oh no Xander I have great hearing he’s not coming I don’t even think he’s in," he mimicked in an extremely bad British accent.

Spike wrinkled his nose. "If I sound like that shoot me, better still stake me; what do you expect, there’s still a bit of the bad in me," he emphasized and smirked at Xander as he grabbed the TV remote. "Wonder if there is anything good on, maybe a Passions rerun." Spike grunted, grabbing a cigarette and absently putting it into his mouth.

Xander pulled a face. "If you loved me you wouldn’t smoke that," he said pouting slightly.

Spike rolled his eyes. "If I loved you I would have gone insane and shagged you by now," he reminded the boy.

"Are you saying you don’t?" Xander demanded in an outraged voice. Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Err, Harris. We’ve only been dating…"

"Are you saying you don’t want to be with me? I’m fat aren’t I, I’ve let myself go." Xander cried shifting so that his back was facing Spike and the vampire couldn’t see his smile. Spikes eyes widened and he cast a panicked glance towards the kitchen

"Come on Xander this isn’t funny, we…"

"There’s someone else isn’t there." Xander sniffed trying to hold his laughter back. "It’s Willow isn’t it or the demons who keep coming after you."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Ha, bloody, ha. I get it. You don’t like Passions so let’s wind Spike up about it," he said slightly grumpily.

Xander turned towards him still trying not to laugh. "Had you going for a while didn’t I?" he smirked. "You just wait, you ever, ever do that to me again and it’s Transformers and Thunder Cats reruns for you. No Passions, no nothing."

Spike ignored him; there was no way Xander would carry out that threat; he’d be too wound up by the slowly going insane and horny vampire he was trying to torture by cooping up. He smiled slightly, a charming and insincere smile that had Xander looking at him suspiciously but he switched on the TV before he could say anything.

Both males stared at the screen captivated by sight before them. Bright coloured little ponies danced across the screen introducing themselves, Spike managed to mute it just as a yellow flying one started singing. They shuddered simultaneously both wondering why Wesley was watching my little Pony.

It was Xander that first voiced the terrifying idea, "You don’t suppose he likes ponies do you?" he asked softly, hoping Wesley couldn’t hear, "I mean I know some weird, strange people like anime." Spike gave him a look "Okay and I’m one of them, but hey this is…" he couldn’t think of the words.

"Wrong on so many levels." Spike made a face, and turned it off. "We never mention it again," he said firmly, just as Wesley exited the kitchen, tea in hand, and stared inquisitively at them.

"What do you never speak of again?" he asked, now decided on his mode of action. He grew confused as Spike and Xander both shifted, exchanged a glance and looked away. "Well that makes things really clear," Wesley murmured, he glanced at his watch. "Better drink up, we only have a few minutes." He informed them as he headed into the bedroom.

He could hear whispered voices from the lounge, something, which was bewildering him. *What on earth could make Spike embarrassed?* He wondered as he quickly pulled Annemarie into a stand, encouraging her to step into the small denim jeans; he pulled them up quickly, getting ready to latch them whilst still trying to listen in on Spike and Xander’s conversation.

Seeing Annemarie jigging slightly as he started to do up the jeans, he gave up on listening to their conversation and headed to the en-suite bathroom, settling her on the potty as he squirted some deodorant on and grabbed her trainers and top.

A sharp tug on his leg alerted him that she was finished and he quickly disposed of the waste and washed both of their hands. He smiled slightly as he pulled the top of the red sleep suit off and pulled the small red T-shirt over her head, glad to not have to wrestle her that night. Besides the fact, that he still had to introduce her to Spike and Xander, he needed her. Angel had once mentioned that he was able to sense those that he had sired and although Spike had informed Giles that he couldn’t feel Angel, there was the possibility that Annemarie could; hence they were taking her out on the boat with them although Wesley had decided that she would stay below deck with Spike if they did happen to find Angel.

He doubted Angel would have the strength to attack anyone but still, he couldn’t take the risk. He snapped up Annemarie’s jeans and pulled on the plimsoll trainers; giving his and her hair a quick going over with his brush, he settled her onto his hip and walked out into the lounge.

Wesley had the strangest urge to laugh as he viewed for that, for once, Spike and Xander appeared to be speechless. Granted he didn’t know them very well but from what Rupert had told him, they rarely were.

His amusement doubled as Spike stared from him to Annemarie and back again before staring hard at the child. Xander just looked confused. "You’ve got a kid, you didn’t have a kid before did you? Where did she come from?" he asked, and then something like understanding and relief flashed across his face "That’s why you were watching My little ponies, you’ve got a…"

"She’s not his…" Spike interjected in a low voice, his eyes still fixated on Annemarie who seemed to be glowering back at him. "She’s his."

Xander still looked confused but neither Wesley nor Spike bothered to add more, Wesley glanced at his watch. "We have to go, I’ll explain on the way. To cut to the chase so to speak, her names Annemarie, you’re taking her back to Sunnydale with you for Rupert to take care of…" He handed the stunned vampire the case. "She’s not dangerous and she’s not safe here, now questions and comments will have to wait until we get on the boat." He glanced at the two as he left the room, both wore identical confused expressions, which he had to admit was adorable. "Well come along then."