Categories: Season 6, Alternate Reality
Characters: Spike
Summary:
The story starts from Spike's point of view pacing in front of Buffy’s house growing increasingly worried about the continued screaming of newborn magical baby Dawn that has yet to be addressed by Buffy inside. It’s been several months since Buffy chose to sacrifice Ben’s life over her own “Not Real” baby and is facing moral issues as well as the disappointment of Giles, her mother’s unexpected illness and death, as well as being abandoned by Riley after he learned the baby was not truly his.
In Spikes opinion, the wanker just couldn’t handle that Buffy refused to play the “weaker role” in the relationship and Captain Cardboard wasn’t willing to play “wife.” Now Buffy is struggling with the loss of her mother, boyfriend, and mentor; debt, school, chores, heartbreak from Angel being an asshole, moral issues of having to kill Ben to defeat Glory, being a new mother to a premature baby, having PPD, as well as her Slayer's Duty with Death Wish attached.
Buffy refuses to rely on the others, which makes Spike rage at the blindness of her friends and at Buffy's own stubbornness that is weighing her down.
Story kicks off when Spike enters the house to find baby Dawn with the beginnings of possible throat damage from the crying and struggling to breath as well as the heartbreaking site of Buffy curled up in a corner of her mother’s room rocking herself also crying.
The Challenging part of this is to leave a lot of the past action up to the interpretation of the reader and to really show Spike having to struggle with wanting to help, but being buffered from both the Scooby Gang and Buffy feeling she must be the worst mother and Slayer ever to have to ask or depend on Spike, a soulless evil creature, for help. Through stubbornness alone Spike must manage to work around the interfering Scoobies to provide Buffy some money and slowly learn and adapt himself to help give care to months old baby Dawn.
Must have:
~Deep psychoanalysis for Characters.
~There is no quick fix talk or instant “I’ll go out and solve all these problems” or sudden instant knowledge of how to deal with babies.
~Buffy must show the effects of having just given birth a few months ago and suffering from Postpartum Depression and Baby Blues. However, she tries to hide it from the others thinking she is just weak, which causes more depression. Buffy must also start to lash out physically when her stress reaches an all-time high, with having to care for baby Dawn, the house, hiding all her troubles from her friends and the supportive pressure Spike is leaning on her to ask for help. She can lash out at Spike but when she starts going after her friends it can add to the drama of them trying to “fix” her.
~Spike must make mistakes but honestly try to help. He just has the moral issue going against him, and Anya isn’t that helpful in giving advice on that front. Spike and Tara end up being Dawn’s primary caregivers and support for Buffy but bump up against Willow constantly.
~Tara is reluctant to speak out against Willow and is weary of Spike, but acknowledges that he is trying, he just needs someone to teach him.
~Willow overdoes it on giving Buffy advice and starts to lose interest in Dawn when she is buffered completely by Giles, Anya, Tara, Spike, and Buffy that practicing magic on a premature Baby is dangerous. Especially when the baby is made out of magic already. This does not prevent her from trying things in secret though, that of course, go horribly wrong, adding to the angst.
~Realistic descriptions on the struggle of baby care.
~Spike must end up in at LEAST the position of Buffy’s chosen partner if not love interest.
~Point of Views can change but only from chapter to chapter, not during. EX: viewer shouldn’t be able to see two characters inner thoughts at the same time.