Spike stretched, feeling the cool sheets slide across his skin. He debated staying bed for a while longer, but he was hungry so he forced himself to get up. He walked over to the wet bar in the corner, enjoying the thick carpeting under his feet. He pulled a pack of blood out of the frig under the bar and poured it into a mug. He got a good laugh when he read the print on it. 'Brits do it royally.' Thirty seconds later he had a hot, delicious meal. Sgt. Blake, if he weren't mistaken. He hadn't taken him any time at all to figure out that his 'meals' were voluntarily donated by the members of Xander's squad. He'd found a pack of Xander's blood the night before. There were two more on the shelf, but he wanted to save them for a bedtime snack. He'd had the most interesting dreams while he slept.

I wonder if Nummy is actually that much fun in bed. Given the least bit opportunity, I'm going to find out.

Spike finished breakfast and actually rinsed his mug before heading for the shower. He turned the water over to its hottest setting and stepped inside.

He stayed in the shower until the water started to cool. He walked back into his room and got dressed. New silk boxers, black jeans, socks, black T-shirt and his boots. He opened his bedroom door just as someone started to knock.

The woman on the other side jumped a little when the door opened so suddenly under her hand, but then she smiled at him.

"'Ello, Luv. You must be William. I'm Maggie. I look after the Major, and I'll be looking after you now too. I've got the kettle on, would you care for a cuppa?"

Spike grinned, "'Ello, yourself, Luv. A cuppa sounds good. I don't suppose you have any Irish to put in it?"

The woman laughed, her whole face lighting up. "I might at that."

Maggie soon had them installed at the kitchen table with tea, scones, orange marmalade and a 'bit' of Irish. She pushed a scrapbook over to Spike and said, "Take a look in there, I think you'll be surprised."

Spike opened the scrapbook and almost swallowed his tongue. There, on the first page was a picture of him, his parents and his little sister, Mary. "How in the Hell?"

Maggie pointed at Mary, "Your sister, Mary, was my Great-Great-Great Grandmother. So, Uncle William, how have you been the last hundred years?"

Spike just sat there with his mouth open. Maggie laughed, "I know, Ducks, it was a shock for me too. To find out that Xander's friend Spike was actually my Uncle, William the Bloody." Maggie traced her finger over Mary's face, "She never forgot you, you know. She told all of her children about her big brother, William the Bloody. And they told their children and their children. There isn't a member of the family who doesn't know about you. She wrote everything down in her diary. A member of the family has kept it going all these years. I have it, if you'd like to see it sometime. I can't wait to put this entry in. It should be quite a smash at the next family gathering. She was quite vexed with you actually. She kept waiting for you to come see her."

"I, I couldn't." Spike stared down at his little sister's picture, "I went to her funeral, you know."

"Yes, I did know. Her son, William, saw you there. He wanted to speak to you, but you'd left by the time he could get away."

Maggie took a sip of her tea and laughed again, "You know, about ten years after you were turned, a bloody Watcher came to the house to get information about you. Grandmum gave him a piece of her mind. From what she wrote in her diary, I gather the young man was rather rude and she bloodied his nose for him."

Spike laughed, Mary had always been a hellion. Their mother had despaired ever making a lady of her. "That's my Mary. She was the only one I missed."

Maggie patted his hand, "You should come with me next time. There are currently three boys bearing your name. The oldest and his wife just had their first baby. A little girl. Go ahead and keep looking. There are pictures of everyone in there."

Spike flipped through the book, "There's a bloody great bunch of us, isn't there?"

"Oh my, yes." Maggie pointed at one picture. "There's my brood. Seven children, all grown, married with children of their own. I have ten grandchildren now."

Spike pointed at the man standing next to Maggie in the picture. "Is that your husband?"

"Yes, Ian McGlumphy. He passed on years ago. Bloody fool, got drunk at the pub and fell under a lorry. Bloody Irishman, bastards, the lot of them."

Spike was still choking on his tea when Xander came into the kitchen. "What's so funny, Spike."

Maggie smiled; she'd been looking forward to this for a long time. "I was just showing William here the family pictures. His sister was my Great-great-great Grandmum, you know. So that makes him my Uncle. It's so nice to have family, isn't it?"

For once, Xander couldn't think of a thing to say. Spike took one look at his face and fell off his chair.

**********

Xander led Spike down the hall to the holding cells, still reeling from Maggie's revelations. He'd seen the pictures and was having a lot of trouble equating his Spike with the serious young man in those pictures. The opportunity for blackmail was incredible, but he decided not to use it. At least not yet. He was keeping the picture of Spike wearing a tweed suit in reserve for desperate circumstances. All in all though, he decided he liked this Spike. Black leather duster, boots and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Not that he was willing to tell Spike that though.

**********

Spike sauntered out of the holding cell, characteristic smirk firmly in place. "Sorry, Pet, he wasn't too thrilled with the offer."

"Did you have to rip his spine out? You got slime all over the cell!"

Spike shrugged, "Said something nasty about me Mum. She left a lot to be desired, far as Mums go, but it's a matter of pride."

Xander closed his eyes for a moment and prayed for strength. "Spike, you can't kill everyone that pisses you off."

"Why not?" Spike asked, curiously.

Xander realized that laughing would be a bad thing, but he couldn't help himself. "Spike. I know you. If you kill everyone that pisses you off, there won't be anyone left."

Spike's face shifted into his vampiric guise, "Yeah, well, the bloody humans are safe aren't they?"

"I'm sorry, Spike. I wasn't thinking about that." Xander said, sincerely.

"Old news, mate. How many more of these bastards do I have to talk to today?"

"Five, I think. Want to take a break for a while?"

"Could use a fag and something to drink."

Xander grinned, "Come on, I've got some A- with your name on it."

**********

Spike was more than ready to get back to business after his 'snack'. He and Xander were nearing the corridor where the holding cells were when they heard the screams. Spike vamped out and burst through the door, Xander hot on his heels. The scene in the hallway was one out of Xander's nightmares.

One of the demons had gotten loose somehow. Rom was down on the floor, bleeding from a gaping wound in his belly. Blake and Jamison were both out cold. The demon turned back to Rom's whimpering form and opened its gaping maw. It had more teeth then any one creature could possibly need.

Spike leapt over Rom and grabbed the demon by the jaw. The teeth dug into the palms of his hands, but he ignored the pain and the blood. Spike braced one booted foot against the demon's belly and pulled as hard as he could. The demon's clawed hands racked down his back, again and again. Spike yanked hard to the left and then down. The jaw broke and the demon went limp. Spike dropped the corpse and turned back to Rom.

The young man who had been so kind and had taken such good care of him was still alive, barely. Xander was holding his wadded up shirt against the wound with one hand and holding a phone in the other. He was yelling at the person on the other end. "Get the fuck down here! Now! We need a gurney and an emergency team!"

Spike looked into Rom's pain glazed eyes. "Steady on, mate. Help is on the way."

Rom tried to smile through his tears. "Too late. The damage is too severe. Part of me is missing. Let me die."

Xander completely lost it. "No way, Rom. We've been through too much together. They'll be here in a second."

Spike turned Rom's face towards him. "Rom. I can still help you. You'll be whole, but you'll be like me. It's not all bad, course; they'll probably give you a bloody chip too. But I need your permission. I can't turn you against your will."

Xander grabbed Spike's arm. "What the Hell are you talking about, Spike! You can't bite."

"I'll explain later, we're running out of time. What do you say, Rom?"

Rom looked up at Xander, "Sir? I don't really want to die."

"Do it, Spike. Just fucking do it." Xander said, harshly.

Spike ripped open a vein in his arm and held it up to Rom's mouth. "Drink, all you can. It won't hurt anymore. I promise."

Rom felt the blood fill his mouth and slide down his throat. Spike told the truth, it didn't hurt anymore.

**********

Xander watched as Rom was put into the hospital bed. It was the same room Spike had been in. The doctor who had done the exam shook his head. "I hope this works." The older man turned to look at Xander and Spike. "Rom is a good kid. You did the right thing. There is no way we could have helped him. Almost a third of his internal organs were destroyed. I'm not sure how he lived as long as he did."

Xander nodded and pulled Spike out of the room. "Explain this to me, Spike, please."

"I'd also be interested in hearing this."

Spike and Xander turned to see General Marshall coming down the hall towards them. "Let's take this somewhere private, gentlemen."

They found an empty office and the General shut the door. "Now, Spike, if you please, explain what happened."

Spike shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know how he got hurt. I killed the demon and he was still alive. I asked, he said yes, so I turned him."

"Yeah, but Spike, you didn't drain him."

Now Spike looked really uncomfortable. "Some of the old legends are true, but we don't really talk about it. If a vampire feeds from the same mortal more than three times, they can turn them without draining them." Spike looked at the General, "But it has to be willingly. The blood has to be given willingly. And they can't be turned unwillingly. Even if I'd feed a hundred times from Rom, I couldn't turn him without his permission."

General Marshall looked at Xander, "Who knows about this?"

"The three of us and the doctor in charge, Wilson I think his name is." Xander said.

"I know Wilson; he's a good man. He'll keep it quiet and do what needs to be done. Spike, can you control Rom without the chip in his head?"

"Yes, he's my Childe now. He'll do as I say. And as long as he's fed, he won't need to hunt. It'll take a couple of weeks, but you won't really notice much of a change." Spike shifted in his chair. "Right. Now listen up. This can't be told to anyone. And I mean anyone. When humans become vampires, they don't really change much. The personality stays the same. The demon just gives strength, speed and agility. It also weakens inhibitions. But it won't turn a good person into a bad person. The capacity for violence has to be there in the first place. Otherwise a vampire would only kill to feed, and once the initial hunger is under control, they don't even need to kill."

"What about you, Spike? I saw those pictures of you when you were human. How did you go from William to Spike?"

"Dru was my Sire, not Angelus. You know what my dark princess was like. The Sire has a great deal to do with how a Childe comes out. The poof took me in hand and feed me some of his blood. That helped, but it still took a long time for me to regain control. And now that she's gone, our link is broken. So now I'm in control."

"Druscilla was your Sire? Not Angel? All the books at Gile's said Angel was your Sire."

"May as well have been. Dru turned me and forgot me. I'd have died if Angelus hadn't stepped in."

"Could someone please tell me what the Hell you're talking about?" General Marshall asked.

**********
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