Part XXVI

As the light streamed through the Venetian blind on her windows, Buffy felt the soft warmth of the morning sun slowly stir her from her sleep. Her eyes began to flutter open to greet the sun. She was in no hurry to face the day with her lack of telling her mother and her future meeting but then suddenly a painful rumble inside her stomach caused her to promptly sit up on her bed and rush over to the nearest bathroom.

She barely made it to the stall before she felt her entire stomach being emptied out. ‘I don’t remember eating that!’ Buffy cursed to herself as she felt herself getting sick over and over again.

“Buffy, are you alright?” Joyce asked in her concerned motherly voice as she gently knocked on the bathroom door. Standing outside the for only a few moment, Joyce became impatient at her daughter’s unresponsiveness of her question and her worry over her daughter and she cracked the door open slightly to find Buffy kneeling on the floor next to her daughter. “Oh, Buffy!”

Buffy turned her head slightly to greet her mother in a small smile while Joyce promptly turned on her heels to grab a towel, run hot water over it and place it gently on the back of Buffy’s neck. Joyce quickly knelt on the tile floor next to her daughter, placing the warm cloth on the back of her neck and softly stroking her back, while Buffy’s body continued to try to expel anything from her stomach.

As soon as she felt her sickness to be open, Buffy pulled back away from the toilet and met her mother’s questioning eyes. “Thanks, Mom,” she smiled weakly.

Joyce reached behind her daughter’s head and took the towel from the back to tenderly wipe her daughter’s mouth clean. “Your welcome, honey. Are you feeling better now?”

Buffy nodded her head and answered, “Yes. Much better actually, I am just going to have to remember what I ate last night and never eat it again.”

A faint laugh came from both women. “That is a shame, no more hide-the-meat anymore,” Joyce smiled.

In a very sarcastic voice, “Oh no, I am really going to miss that! Boo-hoo.”

The laughter got a little louder as both rose from their knees to stand next to each other still inside the bathroom. “Oh don’t give me that. I know you have always loved it when I cooked that dinner.”

“I hate to break it to you but, when a dish is known as hide-the-meat and it is questionable if the product in the food can be really classified as meat, then I tend to stay away,” Buffy admitted.

“Alright, I will remember that next time,” Joyce assured as she tapped her finger lightly on her head, right at the temple. “I have to give you credit though.”

As they walked out the bathroom door, Buffy turned to hit Joyce with a questionable glare. “Credit? Credit for what?”

“I haven’t seen anyone as sick as that in at least 20 years. That would be the time that you decided to grace me with your presence and every morning I had to race myself to the bathroom,” Joyce revealed and made Buffy stop in her tracks.

Buffy’s eyes became wide from Joyce’s words and she couldn’t find any words to say. She had almost prepared a whole speech for last night with Angelus by her side but with Xander’s unexpected arrival, all plans to tell her mother where shot down.

“You should probably jump in the shower. It always made me feel better when I got sick to take a long bath and just soak myself till my hands had more wrinkles than the laundry that I have to iron every week. By the way, you really should pick up those clothes on your floor, they were awfully wrinkled and I don’t remember you wearing them this week,” suggested Joyce while she placed a soft kiss on the top of Buffy’s head. “I will have some food ready downstairs when you are finished.”

“Thanks again,” Buffy said while Joyce walked away from her and toward the stairs to go downstairs.

“Got to love motherly impulses,” she smiled as she left Buffy to go back into the bathroom to shower.

~ ~ ~

It took Buffy only a few minutes to get herself ready for the day. After the long shower, she felt totally regenerated and prepared to meet her Watcher. Buffy had no clue if it was her nervousness over having to tell Giles or her morning sickness that made her sick, but for the time being she would say it was a little bit of both.

“How was your shower?” Joyce asked her daughter as she had set a glass of orange juice on the kitchen counter for her daughter. “Good, I hope.”

“You bet,” Buffy assured her mother with a smile. “What time are you going to the gallery?” Joyce had been rustling around the kitchen trying to find different sets of papers that she had needed for today.

“About noon,” she said and continued on with her search. “We have a few new potential buyers in the neighborhood, plus they might sell the gallery some painting also. It should be a pretty interesting day.”

“Always exciting to hear about sales and merchandise,” Buffy mocked her mother.

“What are you doing today?” Joyce asked with a raised eyebrow. “Planning a mid-afternoon picnic outside with Angelus, by chance?”

Once again Buffy’s eyes became as wide as they could go before she could think of something to say. “Angelus is more of a night person, doesn’t get around much during the daytime. Actually, I am going to the Magic Box to talk to Giles about something.”

“Don’t tell me, he’s a vampire?” Joyce laughed but was slowly silenced by Buffy not being able to look her in the eye. “I INVITED A VAMPIRE IN MY HOUSE!!” her voice became a little raised as she panted nervously.

“It is alright, Mom. I promise you that he is not bad,” Buffy shook her head at her fidgety mother. “He would never hurt me, that I can be sure of.”

Joyce couldn’t believe the words that were escaping her daughter’s mouth. She wanted to openly protest as to Buffy’s actions and words, but with one look in her face, she knew that Buffy was telling the truth. Through her eyes, Joyce could see every emotion that she felt for him and she knew that no matter how hard she could try, if her daughter loved someone, she must give him a chance. “You are going to have to explain this to me, little lady.”

“I will,” Buffy said then looked at the clock on the wall, “but I can’t right now. Got to run.”

“Pencil it in, discussion tonight,” Joyce commanded as she watched her daughter leave her house.

“I’ll be here tonight, I promise,” Buffy assured as she walked out the house and made her way toward the Magic Box.

~ ~ ~ “So, Giles’ what’s the what?” Buffy asked as soon as she stepped through the main entrance of the Magic Box.

Giles was making himself busy by organizing some of the cards that he had in the shop and as soon as he heard Buffy’s voice, he was so startled that he threw all the cards up in the air. “Oh, Buffy, I didn’t expect you to come in till later,” he panted.

“Did I interrupt you with a personal moment or something with your…” Buffy said while she knelt down to pick up some of the cards and read one of them. “Memoirs of the Slough Demons… Sounds interesting, I wonder if it comes in paperback.”

Giles sent her a chastising glare and promptly pulled the card from her fingers. “Actually, it really isn’t all that bad, as soon as you get past the descriptions of the demon’s scent, it is quite lovely.”

“I think we have had this discussion before, you need a life STAT!” Buffy laughed faintly at him. “So you needed to talk to me about something, and voila, here I am.”

“I know, Buffy,” he whispered with a hint of shame in his voice. His eyes never met hers after his words; he only stared at the ground. “I don’t know what to say.”

“How did… Wait scratch that, that’s good, now I don’t have to break the news about it,” Buffy looked deeply at him. “So, what do you think?”

“I am in utter disbelief,” he told her truthfully as he rooted underneath the front counter of the shop and pulled out the package that came in the mail from London.

“I know, it is kinda odd considering that slayers aren’t supposed to be able to have children, that is what I remember you telling me,” she started to get angry at him for his previous words.

“I wanted to protect you, Buffy,” he finally looked at her with concern in his eyes. “News such as that could really hurt a person and I love you too much to hurt you like that.”

“Well, you hurt me anyway,” she accused him with malice in her voice.

Giles hung his head in humiliation at her words and he couldn’t look her in the eye anymore. “I am so sorry, so sorry,” he apologized. “And if there is anything that I can do to help out here, just let me know.”

Buffy looked at her Watcher and she wanted to hate him. She wanted to hurt him as his words had hurt her, but as she watched him, she knew that she could not hold a grudge against him. She loved him and nothing was going to change that. Buffy quickly went to the other side of the counter and took him in her arms and they held each other like a father would be holding his daughter. “There is one thing you can do,” she whispered in his ear.

“Anything,” he answered back.

“Tell me congratulations,” she said plainly.

‘Congratulations… Congratulations?’ he thought to himself. ‘Did I just hear right?’ He pulled from her embrace to look her straight in the eye. He could see that she really meant for him to say that but he had to have thought wrong. “I have something for you.”

“Ooooh, presents already?” Buffy asked with stars in her eyes.

“Not yet, tell me one thing, are you sick in the morning?” he asked.

“This morning was the first,” Buffy admitted to him. “Wasn’t fun if that is what you are asking.”

Giles quickly unwrapped the pill bottle inside the brown paper and took two pills from the container. “My mother took these when she had morning sickness, they seemed to help.” He caught her eyes with his confident stare and Buffy put her hand out to take the two pills in her hand. “I will get you a glass of water.” He turned on his heels and headed to the back room to retrieve a bottle water to wash down the medicine.

While Giles was in the back, Buffy stared down at the pills and she couldn’t help to wonder what these pills were really for. She knew that she should question Giles but after her experience on her 18th birthday, her Watcher had not put her in any danger like that day. “By the way, what is your mother’s name?”

“What?” he called from back and strode through the doors out to the counters. “My mother’s name?”

“Yes,” Buffy said.

“Molly,” he said clearly. “Why?”

“That is such a beautiful name, I like it. I always wanted to name my daughter Molly, now I may get that chance,” Buffy admitted as she took the water from his hands. She stared at the pills for a few more moments, and then popped them in her mouth. “Bottoms up,” she said as she swallowed them down with a big gulp of water.

“BUFFY!!!!!!” Willow, Tara, Cordelia and Doyle all yelled as they sprinted through the doors.

“Guys, what is wrong?” Buffy asked with worry in her voice.

“Something happened to your mom and we need to tell you something,” Willow said with forced breath.

“Mom?” Buffy said with fear in her voice.

Part XXVII

The room was filled with absolute silence; even a pin dropping on the floor would have resonated to what seemed like a large boom. Buffy ran as quickly as possible towards the front door and grabbed Willow by the shoulders.

“Willow, what happened!?” she asked demanding an answer.

Taking her friend by the arm, Willow pulled Buffy forward. “I will tell you on the way.”

Buffy’s eyes became wide with concern as she shook her head in compliance.

“Do you want me to come?” Giles asked finally finding his voice after Buffy swallowed the pills.

Over her shoulder, Willow shot Tara a glance relaying a message that only they could understand with each other’s eyes. “Actually, Mr. Giles. I have some questions for you to answer if you have a moment? They’re kind of urgent,” Tara spoke up.

“I am sorry, Tara, but it doesn’t seem to be the right time to have me answer your inquiries,” Giles shook his head at her. “I should go with you, Buffy.”

Willow removed her glare from her lover straight back to her friend to relay the same message with her eyes. ‘Keep him here,’ she pleaded which Buffy promptly understood.

“That’s ok, Giles. You can meet me up at the hospital later,” Buffy said to him.

“We have to go now!” Cordelia begged.

“You all go, I will meet you at the hospital later,” Giles said as he watched everyone inside his shop except for Tara run outside.

As quickly as possible, Willow, Buffy and Doyle jumped into Cordelia’s car and sped away towards the hospital. By the time that Buffy finally found her voice, they were already almost to the emergency room of Sunnydale General.

“Wills, what happened???” Buffy demanded.

Sitting next to her friend, Willow quickly placed Buffy’s hand in hers and squeezed gently in reassurance. In a soft voice, she answered, “I called your house early this morning trying to get a hold of you after a phone call from Cordelia and your mom answered the phone. We started talking about something, I can’t really remember and then…” She placed a pause in her sentence to catch a deep breath.

“And???” Buffy continued, desperate to know what happened.

“While we were talking all of a sudden, I heard her take a large gulp of air and the next moment I hear the phone clatter against the ground,” Willow said. “I could feel something was wrong and I quickly hung up the phone to dial 911.”

“Did the paramedics come?”

“I called up Xander to run to your house to see if they came for her while Cordy and Doyle came to get me to run to get you.”

“Is he there at the hospital with her?” Willow nodded to assure her friend that her mother was not alone and Buffy was quite grateful that someone was there with her. Even though Xander had hurt her so much in the past couple of days, she still valued her friendship with him. She only hoped that maybe they could talk while they were together and thing will get better between them again.

“We’re here,” Cordelia broke their conversation and hastily turned off the engine while her passengers sprinted out the car to run inside.

Buffy felt herself being consumed by the seemingly unending blandness of the colorless walls of Sunnydale General. The walls were painted in the same opaque beige color and door after door looked exactly the same. Buffy found the nearest clinical nurse and demanded where her mother’s room was while her friends stayed closely behind her.

“Where is Joyce Summers’ room? I am her daughter,” Buffy nearly shook the nurse in urgency.

The nurse looked behind her shoulder slightly and looked back at the concerned slayer in front of her. “She’s in room 614. Your mother is not conscious yet but the doctor looks hopeful that she will pull through.”

“Thank you,” Buffy nodded her head slightly right before she sprinted into room 614 to find Joyce lying pale and still on the hospital cot, connected to numerous tubes and wires that were attached to her body. Tears came to her eyes as she watched her mother there, as still as death. Memories that Buffy prayed to forget soon came back to plague her of the time months ago when her mother was here with her brain tumor.

Her eyes scanned the room momentarily and came to rest on Xander who sat across the room in a stiff chair, not allowing his eyes to leave her mother. Buffy could tell that Xander had not had much sleep lately. He was a sight to behold with his extremely disheveled clothing and dark shadow that cast across his face where he didn’t shave for a while.

No words could come out of her mouth at the moment because her emotions were too caught up with her mother lying there. Xander stood up and placed a soft hand on her shoulder to assure her that everything will be all right. “I came here with her, I think she is going to be fine. She is a fighter, just like her daughter,” Xander told her.

“I am nothing compared to her,” Buffy felt tears on her cheeks.

“We all will be outside if you need anything,” Xander said as he exited the room to leave mother and daughter alone together.

Buffy took soft footsteps towards her mother’s bed and pulled a chair next to it in order for her to hold her hand. Joyce’s hand felt cold to the touch and from that contact, Buffy’s fears increased ever more so.

“Hi, Mom,” she sniffled back tears. “I thought we swore that we would never be here again. Hospitals can be such a drag,” she tried to joke. “Open your eyes, Mom. Please open your eyes.”

The only response that was made to her pleas was the soft clunking of the respirator that controlled Joyce’s breathing pattern. “I need you. You can’t leave me yet, please!” Buffy held on to her hand with tender pressure. With the soft pad of her thumb, she gently massaged the back with small circles.

“If you don’t wake up for me, at least wake up for your grandchild,” Buffy whispered softly. “Can you believe that, me pregnant? I need you now more than ever. I don’t know what I am doing and you are the only person I can rely on for this.

“Angelus is the father, in case you want to know. I know that he is a vampire, but I love him, I love him more than I can ever imagine loving someone,” she confided in her unconscious mother.

Buffy waited for a response from her mother and yet got nothing. She prayed for her to yell at her and give her a long lecture, anything would be better than silence.

Anything.

“Please, Mom,” she pleaded one more time as she place her face on the white sheets next to Joyce’s motionless legs.

“Are you Buffy?” a voice came through the stillness and she quickly brought her head up to meet the man with that voice. She nodded as he came closer to her with his hand extended in a handshake. “I am Dr. Lee. I was with her when she was brought here to the ER.”

“What happened to her?” she could barely speak above a whisper.

“There were complications to your mother’s brain surgery. From what tests have shown, there was a small back up of blood around her frontal lobe where the surgeons opened up her brain and it caused her to black-out momentarily,” he informed her with little inflection in his voice. “She is quite a lucky woman that your friends were able to call the paramedics in time to get her transported here.”

“Is she going to be ok?”

“I believe chances are good for your mother to regain consciousness but I will tell you one thing, the longer that she stays in this coma, the least likely that she will ever come out of it.”

Buffy could barely hold back the tears from falling when she heard the doctor’s words. She knew that her mom would wake up. She had to…

“I want to check on a few things with her, so do you want to go and get a cup of coffee or something,” the doctor asked her now showing signs of compassion.

She shook her head and stood up from her chair to join her friends that were standing outside the door, giving her some time alone with Joyce. “Hey guys,” she said weakly.

Willow quickly ran to her friend and threw her arms around Buffy’s shoulders. “Are you ok?”

Buffy pulled her in tight for a comforting hug and shook her head, telling Willow that she was fine. “Where’s Xander?” she asked hoping to thank him for what he did.

“He went to the restroom for a moment, he will be back in a moment,” Cordelia informed the slayer. “He’s been in there for a while now, so he should be out any time in the near decade.”

“Thank you guys,” Buffy humbled herself in front of everyone. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I hate to not lighten the mood at the moment, but Buffy, you need to know something,” Doyle broke through.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Did Giles try to give you any pills to take to help with your pregnancy?” Cordelia wondered aloud.

“Yeah, he gave me something for morning sickness.”

“Did you take them?” Willow inquired.

“Yes.”

“Don’t!” Doyle commanded. “I hate to tell you but he just gave you abortion pills. He wants you to get rid of the baby.”

Buffy’s eyes became wide with shock and suddenly her emotions turned to anger. She quickly pressed a firm palm on her abdomen in the attempt to shield her child but she thought that it was probably too late. “What am I going to do?” she screamed silently wondering if she was going to loose her child.

“I got something for you,” Willow stated calmly and pulled a fresh flower out of her pocket. With the small flower in her palm, she gently place a hand on top of Buffy’s womb and over the child. “Contego at Medicor,” she whispered softly as a warm glow went under her hand and filled Buffy’s body with warmth. “That should work.”

Just this little response made Buffy a little more confident that she didn’t just destroy her child’s life. “Thanks, Will.”

“Piece of cake,” Willow assured as she placed the flower back in her palm and wiped her hands together as if the feat was no sweat.

“What did I miss?” Xander asked as soon as he came close to his friends.

“Not much, you have fun in the bathroom,” Cordelia shot at him.

Xander looked directly at her and shot daggers with his eyes. “Actually yes, if you must know.” Then he turned his attention back to Buffy and asked, “How is she?”

Buffy began to answer but then the doctor’s voice came through and interrupted her. “Buffy Summers, you might want to come in here? Your mother is awake.”

A look of relief spread over her face as she ran as quickly as possible to the side of her mother’s bed. She took her mom’s hand in hers one more time and she felt her mother’s tight squeeze in response to her presence. Joyce’s eyes gazed at her daughter as she tried to move her mouth as to talk.

“Here Mrs. Summers, you can’t talk while the respirator is in, write on this,” the doctor handed her a piece of paper and a pen.

With a very shaky hand, Joyce accepted it and moved her hand on it to write something to her daughter. Buffy saw that she was done writing and pulled the piece of paper up to her face and read, “You have some explaining to do, young lady.”

Buffy looked from the note and smiled at her mom with all the love a daughter can give her mother.

Part XXVIII

With a smile still on her face, Buffy turned around slightly to face the doctor that was leaning up against the opposite wall, watching the interaction between mother and daughter. “Is it time to take that think out?” she asked as she pointed at the tube that was down her mother’s throat.

“I think it will be all right, as long as we can run a few tests right now to make sure all respiratory functions are working normally,” the doctor spoke as Buffy returned her attention back to the bed. “I want to ask her a few questions, do a few tests, just to make sure that everything is fine. Why don’t you go outside and tell your friends that your mother is just fine and I will come and get you as soon as I am finished in here?”

Buffy nodded her head in agreement but before she left the room, she took Joyce’s hand in hers and gave it a tender squeeze of love and reassurance. Her mom gave her a slight nod and Buffy left her in the room, alone with the doctor.

Everyone sitting and waiting patiently outside of Joyce’s room promptly rose to their feet as soon as they saw Buffy emerge through the door.

“What happened?” Willow fired quickly. “Is she going to be all right?”

“Just a little scare, that’s all,” Buffy sighed gratefully and paused momentarily to slowly relax her tense muscles. “We were very lucky.”

Huffy rather loudly and rolling his eyes, Xander responded to her comment with the tiniest hint of venom in his voice. “You can say that again.”

Hearing his words, which she could almost feel the disdain dripping from, Buffy turned to Xander to question his meaning. “What do you mean by that?”

“What do you think I mean?”

Willow, deciding no would probably be a really good time to step into the conversation, chastised her friend. “Xander, don’t you dare start!”

“No, Willow,” Buffy came in. “If he has something to say to me, then say it.”

“Now is not the time and place,” Willow insisted.

“Oh, I think it is a perfect time,” he raised his voice. “Buffy, have you even paid attention to your mother in the past couple of weeks. She could have been hurt at any time and I doubt that you would have even noticed with your time consuming recent activities.”

“Such as?” Buffy egged his rant forward by quirking an eyebrow in his direction and crossing her arms directly over her chest.

“If you wanted to become pregnant so badly, you didn’t have to invite a cold, dead body to implant himself between your legs. How could you?” he almost began to scream. “You are the vampire ‘slayer,’ you are not supposed to have them come into your home and into your bed…”

“Xander!” Willow shouted. “Stop it!!!”

“I am nowhere near finished here!” he shot actually rather calmly. “Tell me one thing, Buffy… Was it that good? Have that cruel, murdering thing in fact inside your body? Feel those same hands that deprived so many others of their lives, fondling your body and you allowing it? Tell me honestly, I am dying to know!”

“I think dying might be the operative word used in that short speech of yours,” Angelus’ voice came out like fiery ice as he walked out of the hallway of the hospital after hearing most of what the boy was saying. “Hello, Xander, have we not learned anything?”

Xander was caught in absolute horror to see the dark vampire slither out of the shadows and intimidate him so with his very presence. At first he was stunned for words to say, but then his fear suddenly turned into anger. “Ahh… Speaking of the devil himself, are you here to kill all those helpless patients in here that can’t defend themselves?”

“Actually, no, I heard that my girlfriend’s mother was in the hospital and I wanted to make sure that all was well,” he spoke matter-of-factly. He took his hatred filled glare from Xander, looking toward Buffy while he replaced his loathing with affection. “Is she going to be all right?” he whispered in concern.

Buffy quickly crossed the distance between them, and placed herself in the strong folds of his arms, burying her face in his muscular chest, covered in soft velvet. “She will be just fine,” she could barely be heard for her words were muffled by his shirt. A soft sigh of relief came from both of their throats as he tenderly ran his fingers through her hair in comfort.

“Not like you give a damn,” Xander huffed. “You have already destroyed her life, why do you care about another?”

His comments were the last straw and Buffy’s anger could no longer be leashed. “Xander, I suggest you leave my sight right now or I will be forced to do something that we both may one day regret.”

“Yes, Xander I think it is best for you to leave right now,” Angelus warned also as he brought her head back to his chest. “I would watch your step for the time being.”

“Ooooo… I am so worried,” he said, using sarcasm to mask the horrible tremor that was raking through his entire body.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Willow screamed not caring who had heard her outburst. Through her anger, he eyes were encased in a thick curtain of blackness as she turned toward her friend. Willow abruptly placed a firm palm on Xander’s chest and spat through gritted teeth, “AHEBBAN!!!!” and his feet no longer found ground as he was tossed halfway across the room with her anger.

“Is everything alright out here?” the doctor’s voice was heard as he opened the door to tell Buffy that she could go in and see her mother.

Willow turned toward the doctor, with her eyes still black as the darkest night and assured to him, “Everything is just fine, we were just having a little argument but I think I probably won.”

“Well, umm… I guess that is a good thing,” he said then turned his attention to Buffy. “Buffy, your mother is ready for you to see her.”

“Thank you, doctor,” she said gratefully as she through her arm around Angelus’ waist and together they walked toward the door just after the doctor left them to be alone. “Willow, would you take him home for me, I would really appreciate it,” Buffy asked as she turned softly to look at her redheaded friend.

“Sure,” she agreed as she walked toward Xander who was still lying on the floor in stunned shock. She leaned down towards him to help him back on his feet but before she offered her hand, she whispered in his ear. “I just saved your life, you owe me!”

~ ~ ~

Buffy and Angelus walked tentatively into Joyce’s room, preparing themselves for the verbal smash they were probably going to withstand as soon as they told her the story.

“Hello, Buffy. Hello, Angelus,” she greeted with her voice hoarse from the tube that was placed inside her throat. For a brief moment, the room was filled with silence because not one person knew what to say at the moment. “So will someone tell me what is going on?!” she pleaded.

“I, ummm… Umm… How much did you hear?” Buffy stuttered in nervousness.

“Basically everything,” Joyce answered truthfully. “You forget that I am your mother and I know all and hear all!”

“Well you see Joyce,” Angelus began to speak. “Did I mention how much I like your hair?”

“No, but I believe that is beside the point,” Joyce cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Well you see…” he started saying again but was quickly cut off by Joyce.

“Angelus, could you do me a favor?”

He looked directly into her eyes waiting for her to continue on what she was about to ask.

“Would you leave me alone with my daughter for a moment?” she asked sweetly but the anger could be easily found inside her words.

Angelus reached up and tenderly rubbed Buffy’s back in reassurance before he stood up and exited the room, leaving Buffy alone with the firing squad in the form of her mother.

“So when were you going to tell me?”

“I—I mean, we, wanted to tell you the night of the dinner but that was quickly put to a stop when Xander came in,” Buffy admitted openly. “So, what do you think?” she honestly wanted her mother’s opinion but she feared for the answer.

“How could you, Buffy? I mean, what could you have been thinking?” she started to accuse her daughter. “You are only 20 years old, how are going to provide for this child? I always was telling you that I wanted a grandchild, but I didn’t think I would be getting one this early!”

Buffy’s head drooped down towards the floor and she felt tears come to her eyes. She could handle, somewhat, her friend’s disappointment in her, but her mother’s was more than she could bear. All her hopes and dreams of Joyce’s acceptance slowly began to crumble into dust. “I am so sorry,” she breathed loudly.

Joyce tried with all her might to sit upright in her bed and with all her efforts; she was able to move her body so that she could look at Buffy eye to eye. She saw the pain in her daughter’s face but she couldn’t forget the look of happiness and love that was in her beautiful eyes right before their talk began. Tenderly, Joyce moved her hand to place it gingerly on her daughter’s abdomen in the hopes to feel the tiny life that was growing there.

“Don’t be,” Joyce shook her head at her daughter and smiled faintly. “I couldn’t be any more proud of you at the moment that I am right now.”

Buffy looked up from the floor to stare at her in the eyes. “Really?”

“I do not doubt that there will be rocky times ahead and you will have a lot of problems, but yes, I couldn’t be more proud of you if I tried,” Joyce said truthfully. “Even though, through most of your life as the slayer, I have tried to block out all the difficulties that you have had to face such as being expelled from your old high school, but a mother could not ignore some of the times that I saw absolute loneliness and pain in your eyes. You have had to deal with much in your short life, and it has molded you into such a wonderful woman.

“As soon as I saw your eyes light up when you are around him, there was a happiness there that had been lacking for so many years. You have found a peace in this and it makes me happy just to see you like this. I love you,” she confided in her. “Nothing that you will do will make me stop loving you.”

Hearing her mother’s words, Buffy hastily threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders and pulled her in a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered in her ears as her tears of sadness turned into tears of joy.

After a few minutes in each other’s arms, Buffy pulled away from her mother only to have Joyce bring her hand up to her face to wipe away some of the tears that had stained Buffy’s white cheeks.

“Just remember, if you plan to live in my house with the baby, I am not going to wake up when he or she begins to cry at 3 in the morning,” she smiled. “I have been there and done that, and I don’t want to relive that nightmare.”

Buffy pouted her lower lip at her mother’s words, and began to plead with her. “Please, I just get off of work right before that.”

“You think slaying is difficult, wait till you are a parent,” Joyce scoffed jokingly.

“I can’t wait,” Buffy smiled at her.

“Neither can I,” Joyce agreed with her with a large grin spanning her face.

Part XXIX

“What were you thinking in there?” Willow asked as she drug Xander out of the hospital and began to walk him home.

The only response that he could muster was a soft grunt as he tried to walk beside his friend, rubbing his backside from landing on it roughly when Willow sent him flying across the room. “Where is Cordy and Doyle with the car?”

“They left an hour ago and I am pretty darn tooting happy about that because now we have all the time in the world to have a little heart to heart,” Willow admitted. “I mean, you are more deep in shit than you were when you decided in fifth grade to steal Percy’s basketball from him and refused to give it back.”

“He deserved that,” Xander defended himself. “He threatened to take away my Superman comic collection.”

“Are you suggesting that Buffy deserves what you are doing to her right now?” she insinuated trying to swing back their conversation into the point that she was going to make. Xander said nothing so Willow felt it necessary to continue on. “Tell me honestly, what were you thinking in there. You have almost openly challenged the two strongest people on the face of the planet to an all out war.”

“Angelus is not a person,” he corrected her with a huff.

“That makes no difference, I am just telling you that you really need to cool it for a little while.”

“How can you accept what she is doing?” he asked in a manner demanding an answer.

“Why is it so bad that she is happy with him and going to have a baby? Do you have any emotions as to what she could be feeling right now?”

“I love Buffy, make no mistake about that, I just think she is making the biggest mistake that you could possible do,” he shook his head in disappointment. “She is going to fall into a trap, just like Jesse did.”

“Wow… Jesse, huh??” Willow said in surprise. “This is the first time I have heard you mention his name in about 5 years and I say that it impossible to make a comparison between Buffy and Jesse. I mean, come on, he was dumb and had no idea what he was doing. Buffy isn’t dumb and she know what she is doing.”

“True, Buffy is not stupid but does she really know what she is doing or getting herself into? Does she really??” he shot her the question. “Buffy is just one of those people who look for the good in every person but all the good that Angelus has is the first layer of dead skin. She cannot see the horrible demon inside of him because all she sees is his face, but I know differently.

“It also doesn’t help that she is the only person in our little gang that doesn’t have someone to snuggle up with at night,” Xander said but couldn’t finish because Willow cut in.

“What about Giles, he doesn’t have anyone?”

“Well, he… He… Let’s just get back to the point I was trying to make,” he stuttered. “She gives up her love and trust too easily because she is lonely. Jesse was the same way, he was tried of being tossed and spurned from the opposite sex that he went after a vampire and look where that took him—a big pile of dust.”

“At your hand no less,” Willow cared to remind him.

“He was pushed into me,” he interjected. “I would have given him a second chance.”

“What makes him any different than Angelus? Can’t you give him a chance, not even a second one, just a chance?” Willow tried to make him begin to reason. “Buffy has been the happiest that I have seen her in the longest time, why can’t you just accept that?”

Refusing to drop his opinion, he shook his head. “She may be happy now, but what will she be when she had to deal with that thing?”

“It is a baby, not a thing!” Willow corrected him with rage in her voice. Throughout the walk, she had been trying exceptionally hard to suppress the magic that wanted to come forth and attack him, but with his insinuation that Buffy’s baby is not a person, really pushed the limits.

“Alright, what will she do when she has a baby? Will she be happy then?”

“I am pretty sure that she will be more content if she has all her friends’ support,” she admitted to him. “She needs all the help that she can get right now.”

“And I will always support Buffy but now, I still think she is making a huge mistake by trusting this guy. I am just telling her what I think,” he shrugged.

“What a fine and dandy job you are doing right now!! You are breaking her heart and if you do it one more time, I swear I will be forced to hurt you,” she threatened as her hands clenched at her sides.

“What is Giles opinion about all of this?” he asked.

“Oh my gosh, I almost forgot…” she hit her forehead for forgetting something. “We need to make a stop by the Magic Box, Tara is there and I wanted to walk her home from the shop.”

“Why don’t I get my car and I will drive both of you?” he was being hospitable.

“Fine with me,” she sighed loudly and followed him to his house to get his car.

It only took a few more minutes to run to his house and get his car before driving back to the Magic Box to pick up Tara.

“Lucy, I’m home!” Xander yelled as he and Willow walked through the front entrance. His outburst was met with relative silence.

“Tara, baby, are you here still?” Willow meekly cried out.

Both Xander and Willow cautiously walked straight through the middle of the store, trying to figure out if anyone was still there. The front door was found unlocked so they assumed that someone was there but the silence of it said something totally different.

“Oh, hello you two,” Giles greeted as he came suddenly out of the back room causing both Willow and Xander to jump at least five feet in the air. Clutching their chests, they could hear their pulses in their ears after being surprised by Giles’ sudden entrance. “How’s Buffy’s mom?”

“She is going to be fine,” Willow tried to catch her breath. “Where’s Tara?”

“She’s in the back room,” he directed her. “I needed her to do something for me while I run down to the basement to get some more merchandise for the shop. Go on back if you want?”

Willow nodded her head before she headed back leaving Xander waiting next to the cash register in the main room.

“Tara?” she called out. “Are you here?”

“Willow,” she whispered and beckoned her towards where she was standing. “I have something to show you.”

“What is it?” she answered back with the same voice.

Tara pulled a small bag from her skirt pocket and opened it slowly to reveal its contents to her girlfriend. Inside the package was a small collection of pills. “I found it under the front counter, back behind something. It had the Watcher’s Council’s name on it.”

“Are those what I think they are?” Willow asked as she tentatively moved her hand to touch them.

“I think these are the abortion pills that Giles was planning to give Buffy,” she suggested to Willow. “I have been working all day to figure out a way to destroy them and for some reason, I think they have a spell on them because they won’t disappear.”

“Well, now we know that it isn’t just science going into these suckers,” Willow hissed. “I am pretty sure there is something at our apartment that could help us with this problem.”

Tara nodded her head at Willow and quickly stuffed the pills back into her pocket before the two left the back room.

~ ~ ~

Standing there next to the door, Xander heard every word that the two were muttering in their secrecy.

“Abortion pills?” he asked himself quietly before returning his attention back to their conversation and his act of being a spy. “Buffy needs them.” He watched everything that they did and quickly ran back away from the door when he saw them walk towards him to get out of the back room.

“So are my girls ready to go?” he asked rather sweetly.

“Ready and willing,” Tara shook her head as she took her girlfriend’s hand in hers as they walked out the front doors behind Xander.

They only took a few strides before they reached his car where Tara and Willow both slid in the back behind Xander. “So what took you guys so long back there?”

Willow quickly turned towards Tara and gave her a ‘play with me’ look. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she asked suggestively as she breathed heavily on her girlfriend’s neck.

“Hey, hey, hey, none of that in my back seat,” Xander chastised them. “That is Anya’s and my spot.”

“Ewww… Ok, we stop now!” Willow laughed as both raised slightly on their feet so that they no longer were sitting on the seat for fear of what was clinging to the cloth of the backseat.

The rest of the trip was taken in silence right before Xander reached the front door of their apartment complex. “Now you girls have a lovely night,” he wished and raised his eyebrows at them.

“Stop that,” Willow chuckled as they left Xander’s car and walked toward the front door. “I wonder why I ever liked him long ago,” she asked as they watched him drive away.

“A lapse of judgment maybe?” Tara suggested as she placed her hand in her pocket to find nothing. “OH MY GOD!”

“What is it?” Willow asked concerned.

“I don’t have the pills anymore, they’re gone.”

“Oh fudge,” she muttered under her breath. “That’s ok, we will get them tomorrow, I will go through Xander’s car to find them.”

“Are you sure?” Tara asked.

“Positive.”

~ ~ ~

While Xander was driving away, the light in his rearview mirror was just getting on his nerves a little too much. “I don’t think I need a rectal exam at the moment and if I do, it won’t be from you,” Xander yelled back at the car that was driving dangerously close to his bumper.

From the corner of his eye, something caught his attention; a little bag was lying on the back seat. For a few moments, he wondered what it could be but then the thought hit him like a truck. “The pills!!” he screamed before he pulled a u-turn in the middle of the road to go back to Giles.

Xander floored the car and headed back to Giles to return what the girls had stolen from him. He didn’t even turn off his engine when he got back; he just jumped out of his seat to grab the little bag and sprint to the Watcher.

“Giles!!! Giles!!!!!!” he yelled aloud until the ex-librarian came out to meet him.

“Bloody hell, what the…” he started to say but then was stopped when Xander threw the bad in his direction only to quickly catch it. Looking down at them, his eyes got wide with recognition. “Where did you get these?”

“You know you should take more care of things especially abortion pills for Buffy.”

“How… how did you know?” he stuttered.

“Not important at the moment,” Xander shrugged. “All I know is that Buffy needs to take those and I will help you in any way for that to happen.”

“Fine,” Giles shook his head as he watched a sly smile spread across Xander’s face when he agreed with him.

Part XXX

“I think my mom took the news rather well,” Buffy admitted as she and Angelus decided to walk home late that night after speaking to Joyce about their relationship and the baby. “I think you are in the clear, for now.”

“Should I have been worried in the first place?” he asked with his trademark arrogance and half smile.

“Oh yeah. You never mess with Summers’ women when it comes to matters such as these,” Buffy warned him. “We can be quite vicious creatures.”

Angelus shook his head in disbelief at her statement. “I have tamed one, I think I could handle another.”

“Don’t be so sure, remember dear sir, I can still kick and later stake your sorry ass if you would ever cross me,” she mentioned. “I am nowhere near tame. I am as wild as they come.”

“Can we test that out?” he asked suggestively as he snuck behind her as she was walking to wrap his arms around her body and pressing her back firmly into the hard wall of his chest. In response to his actions, Buffy snaked her arms around his body to stealthily palm the corded muscles of his ass.

Both of them relished their prospective positions before Buffy removed her hands and turned to stare him straight in the eyes. “Do you find me that easy? You have got to work a little harder than that.”

“You know I always like a challenge,” he growled as he moved to hold her yet again but she stepped out and wagged a finger in his direction.

“I don’t think you could handle this,” her voice was lowered to a seductive velvet.

“Don’t tempt me,” as he jumped forward to halt her in her steps and pulled her into his body. “Your friend, Xander, is tempting me enough.”

Buffy looked at him with mock confusion. She knew what he was referring to his asking to be murdered by him, but now felt like the right moment to tease. “Oh really, Angelus, I didn’t know you thought of Xander in that way. Should I be jealous?”

“Tempting me to murder him is what I am referring to.”

“That makes me feel so much better, because for a while there I had to wonder if Xander has ever done this to you,” Buffy hissed as she stood up on her tiptoes and began to kiss his neck, and then slowly move her tongue in circles where his pulse should be. Angelus leaned into her embrace only to have Buffy retreat far enough to whisper. “Or this,” she breathed as she moved her hand over his tight black jeans towards the rather large bulge in the front of his pants. She brushed her hand over his problem before moving her hand upward towards the waistband of his pants and dipping her fingers inside slowly, grating against the trail of hair that was running below his navel.

Buffy could feel his body tremble faintly under her touch. Knowing that he liked what she was doing to him with her mouth and hands, her fingers dug a little deeper coming closer to his almost painful erection. “Or how about this,” Buffy panted breathily as she opened her mouth a little wider to take some of his cold flesh between her blunt teeth and bit down suddenly to draw a little taste of his powerful blood into her mouth.

Her last action to him was his undoing. Suddenly, without warning, he broke from her only to pick her up and hoist her on his shoulder and making a mainline sprint towards his home. “I think I hit a nerve,” she laughed as her hands made their way down his back to yet again find the firm curve of his buttocks.

“I told you not to tempt me and now you are going to have to pay for that,” he warned as he ran as quickly as possible towards their destination.

“Is that a promise?” she purred as her hands repetitively palmed his ass and causing him to run a little faster than he normally would.

~ ~ ~

When Buffy woke the next morning with all her limbs entwined in his, she turned to look at his serene face as he slept. All his chiseled features demanded her touch, her kiss.

He was absolutely breathtaking in his sleep. Angelus’ skin glowed as if he swallowed the moon due to the light intake of her blood as they made love numerous times that evening. She felt her own skin glow a soft pink as her body was still recovering from the many climaxes that made her scream his name aloud.

She didn’t want to remove herself from his strong arms as they held onto her, but she knew that she had to speak to Giles about what he was planning on doing to her and her child. With quiet motions, she scooted away from him only to feel his body trying to pull her more tightly into his. She sighed as she noticed his unconscious efforts when she could no longer move. Buffy decided it was time for drastic measures.

Instead of the traditional way of waking a person up from their sleep by just nudging their shoulder, Buffy moved her face into his and began to softly kiss his lips and across his jaw line until she felt him respond to her actions. Angelus refused to open his eyes, but Buffy knew he was awake. She heard him groan as he pulled her tightly into his chest and rolled over so that she lay on top of his naked body.

Buffy broke her kisses only momentarily to say, “Good morning.”

Angelus only answered her with a grunt with his eyes opening only into small slits to look at her simmering face.

“Well, aren’t you going to say the same to me,” she stated.

“Why would I do such a thing, it is still bedtime for me. I am not a morning person,” he answered her with sleepiness in his voice. Now a sly smile spread across his face. “And since it is still not time for me to wake up, we still have plenty more time to sleep.”

“Maybe for you, but I have things to do today,” Buffy admitted.

“They can wait,” he said as he suddenly flipped them over and had Buffy pinned beneath him with her legs parted around his slender hips. Just feeling her in his arms and the scent of her sent his body on a roller coaster of feelings and suddenly he was hard and ready for her. With her being unable to move underneath him, he positioned his erect cock at her now wet entrance only to tease her with its presence but not fully sheathed inside.

“I have things to do with the gang today,” she stated then groaned faintly as she felt him inch inside her with torturous slowness. Her mind was telling her to shy away from what he was doing but her body wanted to thrust into him to make him move quicker inside her.

“What kind of things?” he asked with a pant as he was close to entering her fully.

“Doesn’t matter, it can wait,” she said with a smile as he abruptly pushed himself to the hilt inside of her and she gasped through gritted teeth in the pleasure that he was providing for her.

~ ~ ~

Angelus kept Buffy occupied for the next three hours with his insatiable hunger for her. By the time that she finally made her way out of his arms and bed, it was already pretty late in the afternoon and she knew that Giles and the rest would be wondering what had taken her so long.

“I’m here,” she yelled aloud as she ran into the Magic Box.

“Oh good Buffy, I was afraid that we would have to send a searching party out looking for you,” Giles said with a smile on his face. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Just great actually,” Buffy said smiling and her skin glowing still from her night with the man she loved. “My mom is going to be fine and I think tomorrow she will be able to come home. It was quite scary for a moment there, but Angelus helped me feel a lot better.”

“I bet he did,” Xander hissed as he came from the upstairs where the books were held. “Did you have a good night?”

Fed up with his constant criticism, Buffy turned to him to shoot him a look filled with ice. “Xander how is your sex life? I haven’t heard Anya speak of it lately.”

“That is none of your business,” he warned with a snap in his voice.

“Then it is none of your business about mine, so I will tell you to say out of it!”

“Well…” Xander began say because he couldn’t allow her to have the last word but Willow quickly shut him up.

“Xander, remember what I threatened,” Willow stated coolly as she put a hand on his shoulder to turn him around to face her. The blackness of her magic was beginning to creep into her eyes as a warning to not piss her off or she will not be responsible to what happens to him.

“For now,” he agreed shakily as he moved behind the counter and waited for Anya to come up from the basement. “Anya and I need to go anyway so you won’t have to deal with us for too much longer.”

“Yes, we have to go to the store to buy more condoms,” Anya admitted as she came up from the basement to walk behind Xander and pull him towards the front door.

‘That’s a good thing you are doing that because I would pity the child who would call you daddy,’ Buffy thought to herself but didn’t say it. “You guys have fun,” she wished with saccharine sweetness in her voice.

“Back to your health Buffy,” Giles tried to return their conversation to what he said previously. “Any morning sickness?”

“Actually no,” Buffy admitted truthfully. “Those pills of yours must have really helped, I don’t think I will be needed them from now on.”

Giles moved behind the counter to retrieve another pill from underneath. “You had better take another one, for safety’s sake. They won’t hurt you if you take them and don’t need them.”

Cautiously she took it from his hand, knowing that he was openly lying to her and that she would not take any more. “Thanks Giles, I will just take it into the bathroom to get a glass of water.”

He nodded and watched her as she walked toward the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and ran the water in the faucet to make the illusion that she was getting a glass of it, only to slip the pill in her pocket then walk back out. “So what’s my chore for today?” she asked concealing her previous actions.

“I think you are going to look more information about the first slayers with Willow up in the loft. She is went up while you were in the bathroom and is currently waiting for you.”

“Sure thing boss-man,” she joked as she made her way up the ladder towards her friend. “Hey Wills,” she whispered softly. “I have something for you.”

“Is it one of those pills?” Willow asked.

Digging down into her pocket, Buffy found the small white pill and handed it over to her friend. “See if you could figure out some way to destroy them for me, ok?”

“Sure thing,” Willow agreed. “Tara and I have already started to work on it. I am just glad that this one will always stay with me. Last night, Tara and I tried to sneak them out but we dropped them somewhere, I guess Giles got them back or had a new batch ready for you.”

“I don’t think he is done yet with trying to make me take them, I think it has only just begun.”

“You’re probably right,” Willow agreed with her friend.

~ ~ ~

For the next couple of months, Giles was relentless in trying to have Buffy take those pills and every single time she was able to deceive him and hide them from him. After a while Giles was getting suspicious as to whether they were working on his slayer and he called the Council to have them answer a few of his questions.

“Watcher’s Council,” a voice with a thick British accent picked up on the other line.

“Yes, I would like to speak to Quentin Travers, please. Tell him that it is Rupert Giles and it is an emergency,” Giles said in a commanding manner.

It took only a few minutes of waiting and Travers came on the line to talk to him. “How are things on the Hellmouth?” he quickly asked.

“I don’t think the pills that you gave me are working,” Giles said without hesitation. “She has said not one thing to me about the baby being miscarried and now she is starting to grow a small belly.”

“Hmm… Very interesting?” Travers spoke aloud to himself. “Are you sure she has been taking them?”

“Yes,” he answered with definite confidence. “I have watched her take them.”

“Then just give them a little more time,” he stated. “Just remember Rupert it is for her best good to have the baby die.”

“Why is that?” Giles began to question. “For some odd reason I have a feeling that Buffy wants this child to be alive and to keep it.”

“She feels sympathy for the baby and that is all,” Travers assured. “The baby needs to be destroyed or she will suffer greatly.”

“What do you mean by that?” Giles shot cynically.

“In only a few weeks she will start to be physically weakened by this baby and she will grow ever more ill with every passing week,” Travers warned. “This thing will begin to kill her and it will be too late for her if she tries to keep it.”

“I have seen nothing that would prove your point true.”

“The Council has information on this topic that not very many Watchers have seen, I can understand your reluctance to agree with me. But what I am telling you is the truth,” he persuaded. “A human is not supposed to carry a vampire’s child.”

“Even if that human is a slayer?”

“Especially if they are a slayer because slayers can only be impregnated by these creatures. If you love her, you will protect her.”

His fatherly love for Buffy surged in his chest and he knew that he would do anything to protect her. “I promise you I will.”

“Good, have a nice evening Rupert.”

“You too, Quentin,” Giles wished as he heard the other end of the line go dead.

Part XXXI

“Buffy, honey, it’s time to get up!” Joyce yelled to her daughter after waiting an hour for her to drag herself out of bed.

Buffy had been hearing her mother every time that her mother had yelled up to her, it just seemed that all the energy was pulled from her body and she didn’t even have the strength to pull herself to the sitting position before she felt completely exhausted.

“Honey, are you alright?” her mom asked as she made her way up the stairs to go and see if she needed some help or anything. She circled Buffy’s bed momentarily to assess what is wrong with her daughter, and all she found was her child curled up in a small ball in the center of her bed. Buffy tried to hide from her gaze by pulling her sheets all the way to her chin but nothing would stop her mother from her mission. Quickly she pulled the sheets away and the sight that she saw was enough to stop her heart.

She had never seen Buffy so pale in her entire life. There was only the barest of difference from her pallid skin than the whites of her half opened eyes. A fine sheen of perspiration covered her entire body, causing the thin material of her pajamas to cling to her skin. Buffy trembled faintly at the cold rush of air that caressed her skin as soon as her mom pulled back her covers.

“Oh My God,” she could barely force from her throat. “What is happening to you? You look like death.”

“Now, that has to be an exaggeration, Mom. I have seen death and I can in no way compare to that,” Buffy tried to lift the mood of the room by jesting with her mother as she painstakingly sat up to stare at her mother.

“Buffy, what is going on??” Joyce sounded so desperate and concerned when she asked her daughter a second time.

In response, Buffy just shook her head. “I really don’t know. When I went to the doctor yesterday for my checkup, he told me that the baby is developing beautifully and he couldn’t find anything that would cause what I am feeling right now. He told me that pregnancy can cause all types of problems in different women, in my case it caused exhaustion and weakness.”

“But how is that possible??? You are the slayer, and I thought that you had all these superpowers and stuff to beat this kind of thing,” Joyce asked rhetorically.

“I am just as stumped as you are,” Buffy sighed as she swung her legs over the bed to make her way to her bathroom to shower. “But normally I feel a little better after taking a long bath and so I am going to go and try out that theory.”

Joyce watched her daughter as she swaggered out of her bedroom with her growing abdomen and right before she saw Buffy shut the bathroom door, she called out to her. “If you need anything, you have a mother fit for the job.”

Buffy nodded toward her mother and assured her, “Don’t I need an application or something?”

“Ha ha,” Joyce mocked as she watched her daughter retreat into the bathroom.

As soon as Buffy stepped inside, she had to brace herself on the bathroom counter to stop from toppling over onto the ground. With her hands still on the cold tile, Buffy looked up at her reflection in the mirror and she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. This woman that she was staring at, she couldn’t recognize. ‘Wow, I do look like death,’ she thought to herself as she stared long enough that her face just became one big blur.

Over the past couple of months, Buffy had felt such a change in her body; it was so difficult to comprehend. She felt both never more alive and more exhausted at the same time in her whole life. It brought her sadness that she was losing her strength slowly and gaining a belly, and yet it gave her such joy the first time she felt her baby kick inside her and felt it’s tiny feet pressing up against her skin.

Buffy placed a warm clammy palm on her abdomen in protection as she made her way to the tub to draw the hot water into the porcelain basin. As the water began to fill to the rim, she shed her already damp clothes and carefully slid into the warm liquid that encased her swollen body.

She felt completely relaxed in this environment and she released a loud sigh in recognition of that feeling. Unconsciously she moved both of her hands to her distended belly and lightly stroked her skin as the water slowly lulled her into exhausted sleep.

~ ~ ~

Joyce had no idea what to do. She could tell that something was seriously wrong with her daughter, but she had an inkling that there was nothing in the medical field that could help at the moment, the cure would be magical. With that in mind, she ran down the stairs and reached for the phone to call the one person that could be of some help in this situation.

“Hello,” the heavily accented voice answered on the other side after only a few rings.

“Mr. Giles, it’s Joyce Summers,” Joyce told him.

“Ah yes, Mrs. Summers, how can I help you?” he asked in his always polite and courteous tone.

“It’s Buffy, I think there is something really wrong going on with her or the baby,” Joyce confided in him. “I was just wondering if you could help her.”

“What’s wrong?” Giles asked in hopes that she would tell him something along the lines that she had a miscarriage and the child was destroyed. “Did the baby die?”

“From what I know, the child is quite fine, better than Buffy I am afraid. She is so exhausted anymore, I don’t even know if she can get out of bed anymore without some help,” Joyce admitted then she paused momentarily to look back at his previous question. “Why did you ask that?”

“Oh no reason, I just have heard that when a mother looses a child, she can become depressed that could explain the exhaustion part. You can grow attached to the child and when it dies, then it is traumatizing. But maybe it was for the best.”

“Mr. Giles, what are you saying?” Joyce shot at him with a slight hiss in her voice. “You seem so cold on this topic, are you hiding something?”

“No,” he quickly denied. “I am just speaking the truth. You have to be prepared for anything to happen.”

“Why what did you do?” There was just something in the way that he was speaking to her that seemed odd. “You didn’t… You couldn’t… You wouldn’t do anything to hurt her or her child would you?”

Giles wanted to come out with a lie really quickly, but then Joyce promptly stopped him in his tracks. “You DID do something didn’t you?”

“Surely ma’am, I don’t know what you are referring to?”

“Just call it motherly 6th sense and I know something is going on that you aren’t telling me. But I assure to you that if you have done anything that could hurt Buffy or her child, you think you should fear Angelus, he is nothing compared to what I will do to you,” she threatened.

“I don’t know what is wrong with Buffy but if I find anything, I will surely let you or her know,” Giles recovered for himself.

“That would be wonderful, but if I find out that you did anything, you had better not come near my daughter ever again,” Joyce warned as she slammed the phone down in Giles ear, and then quickly picked it up to dial Willow’s number.

A very groggy voice picked up on the other line. “Hello?”

“Willow or Tara, whoever is available,” Joyce requested.

“Mrs. Summers, what’s wrong?” Willow found a more solid voice.

“Buffy’s sick, she needs you.”

“We will be over in a second!” Willow said rapidly then hung up the phone, got Tara to wake up and quickly got dressed to go over to Buffy’s house. As soon as Joyce heard the click on the opposite end, she made her way up the stairs to Buffy’s room to find her daughter asleep, with her still wet body, asleep haphazardly on her bed.

It took only about 20 minutes for both Tara and Willow to come to Buffy’s front door. Joyce graciously welcomed them inside with open arms as she lead the two girls up the stairs to Buffy’s room where Buffy was still laying there as still as death on top of the sheets.

“My God,” Tara exclaimed as she placed a hand on her mouth from saying anything further. Willow seemed to be stunned in silence as she just stared at her friend lying there, looking almost helpless. Buffy was never helpless and that scared her more than anything.

“There is something wrong, I know it,” Joyce proclaimed as she watched both young girls go to her daughter’s side.

“Here, let me see something,” Tara whispered softly as she moved closer to Buffy and took her hand in her own. As soon as she touched the clammy flesh, something passed through her body and she had no idea what it was. It was completely cold and draining, leaving nothing in it’s path. Then another odd sensation fluttered under her fingertips.

Blood.

Tara could feel Buffy’s life almost draining from her small body with the beat of her heart and the pulse that vibrated under the skin. The sensations were getting too much for the young Wicca and suddenly she found herself on the floor next to Buffy’s bed breathing erratically.

“Tara baby, what’s wrong?” Willow asked as she knelt down to hold her girlfriend.

“She’s dying,” Tara admitted with a feeble voice.

“What!!!” Joyce demanded after hearing her words. “What???”

“Why haven’t we seen anything before?” Willow asked.

“Buffy has been hiding how she has been feeling and now it might be more than she can handle. I suggest the books now,” Tara stated as Willow helped her to her feet and all three made their ways out to the living room to go through the books that Buffy still had there.

~ ~ ~

So many hours had passed and yet they found nothing. Willow even called Cordelia and Doyle to join in their hunt and even their efforts remained fruitless.

“I think I have already read this one,” Cordy exclaimed as she pressed her fingers to her temple and Doyle softly rubbed her back relieving some of the tension that was radiating off of her back. “Have we found anything yet?”

“Nothing,” Willow admitted as she closed yet one more book, just one of the twenty that she had already been through.

Both Tara and Joyce all responded the same way that Willow had and all seemed hopeless.

“Well, great. We got absolutely nothing after 4 hours of page turning,” Cordy sighed in frustration.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that we got nothing out of this experience,” Doyle assured her.

“Yeah, he’s right. I got at least 10 paper cuts, doesn’t that count for something,” she mocked her boyfriend sarcastically.

“I would agree with that,” Tara smiled as she put her hands in front of her face to evaluate all the redness that was tattooed on her skin.

“I say we have it rock bottom,” Joyce sounded defeated. “Now what???”

Suddenly after hearing those words, Doyle’s head nearly slammed into his lap as another one of his painful visions ripped through his brain. The dark flashed of black, red, and white confused and distorted the image but Doyle was able to see what it was trying to tell him. As soon as it was finished he looked up at the girls in the room, and gave a thin smile through his pain. “I got it,” he assured as he stood up and rummaged through the books.

Everyone waited anxiously for him to pull what he was searching for. In no time at all, he pulled a book from the pile and began to skim through the pages. He found what he is looking for and opened the page to hand it around the room to the rest of the gang. “There it is,” he said sounding pleased with himself.

Willow caught the book and looked down at what she was reading. “It is just another spell which I have all the ingredients for,” she said aloud as she shook her head. “Well that is all of them, except for the last.”

“What does the last say?” Joyce asked interested.

“Nothing exactly, only words that make up some sort of description, I believe of what we need.”

“What is it?” Tara asked.

“I can’t read it, the ink is sort of smudgy at the end and it cannot be deciphered,” Willow commented.

“Well, from what you can read, maybe we can figure out what it said,” Doyle tried to push this forward.

“Ok, it says,” Willow paused to skim over the text that she could read. “’To give is to receive, to make whole to beat back the flood, just find the one hidden by darkness and yield it’s…’” she stopped.

The whole crew was stunned by silence, as they could not figure out what the ending could be. They all began to think really hard but then the loud booming of Angelus’ voice in the background thwarted all their efforts.

“Blood, the end says blood,” he clarified for everyone as he stood in the doorway and stared down at them all. “And guess who comes to be a donator?”

Suddenly the truth hit them all and they knew he was right. Getting up off the floor, they wanted to run to Buffy to tell her the good news.

“Willow, go and get the ingredients that you need. I will be up with Buffy,” Angelus stated as he slithered through the hallway and made it up to where his mate lay waiting.

~ ~ ~

Tara left with Willow to get the ingredients and as soon as they were done, they came back to Buffy’s house.

Together they said a few magical words and mixed everything together in a very unusual concoction. Handing it over to Angelus, Willow gave it to him. “You have to drink this then make her drink your blood,” she instructed as he quickly put it to his mouth and forced it down his throat.

“Now it is all up to you,” Cordy stated as she nodded her head at the vampire that went into her room and shut the door behind him.

“Buffy,” he whispered as he stepped toward her. She didn’t respond and so he knew he had to make his tone a little more demanding, “Buffy, Get Up!!!”

“I heard you,” she groaned as she opened her eyes to meet the vampire’s. “You could have been a little more kind when waking me up.”

“No time for that,” he admitted to her as he moved to sit on the bed next to her and took her hand in his. “Buffy you need to do something in order to get better.”

“What?” she asked in a curious manner.

Angelus pulled from his pocket a short blade and made a shallow cut across his skin with the knife. He moved his bleeding arm towards her mouth and quickly she backed away.

“What are you doing?” she asked with anger in her voice.

“I am curing you,” he stated plainly.

“Like hell you are! I am not drinking that, I don’t know what it could do to our child,” she shook her head.

“Buffy you have to,” he insisted.

“No!!” she stated again.

Angelus knew that her stubborn nature would probably not let her see that she needed to do this, so he did the first thing that popped up in his head. With a strong hand, he quickly slapped her across the face.

Buffy was so stunned by his actions that she froze momentarily with her mouth open to yell at him for striking her. But with her mouth open, Angelus thrust his wound into her mouth and poured some of his powerful blood into her mouth.

Much to her surprise, Buffy was not in the least repulsed by his blood. The warm coppery taste of it caressed her tongue and slowly dripped down her throat. Her tongue licked his cool skin in an erotic manner and she felt a soft moan escaping her lips as she did so.

As soon as he felt the bleeding stopped, he pulled away from her and watched her flop her back down on her bed. He watched her as her body slightly trembled from what just happened.

With her eyes still closed, she spoke aloud to him. “I will get you back for that. I won’t be happy when I wake up from this and you have got to be aware, I will kick you ass.”

“I will be waiting,” he assured to her as she fell to sleep. As the seconds ticked on, a rosy color began to spread across her skin and her cheeks as a smile spread across her face.

Part XXXII

As Buffy drifted off to sleep, Angelus stood at the end of her bed with his eyes never leaving the slumbering slayer.

His slumbering slayer.

A smile crept across his face with that idea in mind. She was his; there was no doubt to that fact. The truth of it lay in the tiny life that was growing, living and feeding inside her slight body. With soft footsteps, he went to the side of the bed and knelt down to stare directly in her serene face. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful; she was just completely amazing lying there. Cautiously he moved closer then with slow actions he softly pressed his lips to hers and felt their warmth flow into his cold flesh.

She responded to his kiss while she still remained unconscious and it took much effort to pull from her warm mouth, but he did. He pulled away only to see a small smile spread across her face and a faint whimper rise from her throat. Then with a steady hand, he traced her distended abdomen with gentle circles, feeling everything underneath his touch.

For only a moment, he kept his hand still and he felt the soft padding of a tiny foot pushing against his hand. Without warning, the baby kicked so hard that his hand actually jumped from Buffy’s stomach and flew a few inches in the air.

He beamed over the power that the baby had just exhibited. “Just like your father,” he whispered as he placed his hand back down on her stomach then stood up to go out and talk to her anxious friends, waiting for some news.

Angelus made his way to her bedroom room, only to turn to take one last glimpse of her while she was sleeping before he headed out the door.

As soon as he opened the door, both Joyce and Willow attacked him at the exact same time. Both women had the same look of fear and desperation in their faces, just waiting for news of Buffy.

“Is she ok?? Is Buffy all right???” they both inquired at the same time, barely able to take in a full breath before repeating their same questions multiple times over.

“She is fine,” Angelus answered plainly giving them no further responses to their questions. Even though his answer was quick, both women let out a sigh of relief because they knew that everything was going to be fine now.

“See, I told you all that she was going to be fine,” Cordelia said confidently with the slightest hint of superiority in her voice. “She is all super girl and she has this overwhelming ability to get knocked down then get right back up again. I don’t know about you guys, but I didn’t worry.”

“’Delia,” Doyle said as he came up behind her, grabbed her hand and placed it in front of her face. Looking straight at her fingers, she saw that busy teeth wore down her index fingernail, gnawing on her almost perfectly manicured nail. “You can tell the truth and still save face.”

Cordy promptly pulled her hand from his and hid it behind her back. “Ok, ok, you got me. Believe you me, it will be the last,” she stated as she stared straight into his eyes and scrunched her nose at her boyfriend.

“Well now that we got that straightened out, can I go and see her??” Willow asked as she turned her attention back to the vampire in Buffy’s doorway.

“I don’t think so, Willow,” Joyce said quietly. “Buffy probably needs her sleep, you can probably see her in the morning.”

“It is getting pretty late, but you can guarantee that Tara and I will be as soon as we can tomorrow,” Willow yawned and nodded her head as she led Cordy and Doyle downstairs and out the door. “I will tell Xander and Giles to come and see her, hopefully they will be actually civil and come over.”

Joyce watched as Buffy’s friends left her home then turned her attention back to her daughter’s boyfriend. “Thank you,” she graciously said to him with a relieved smile on her face. “I know you really and truly care for my daughter and it probably means a lot to her that you stay here for the rest of the night.”

Angelus nodded his head in agreement and turned quietly to walk back into Buffy’s room, but before he could open the door, Joyce placed an arm on his and pulled him around to look directly in his eyes. “Remember this, Buffy needs her sleep tonight so if I would hear anything come out of that room other than the sounds of breathing in your sleep, I will stake you myself,” Joyce warned him.

“Yes mother,” Angelus stated snidely when his sinister smile spread across his face.

“Do you think I am joking?” Joyce asked with only a slight trace of jesting in her voice. “I mean what I say young man.”

Normally that type of threat would really piss him off, but he could understand her concern of her daughter so he thought he would give her a reprieve… for now. “I promise to be a gentleman in there,” he said with very little sincerity.

Joyce accepted his answer then turned to walk down the hallway towards her room. She had an early morning at the gallery tomorrow, and then as soon as she was finished she would go and check in on Buffy.

Angelus watched Joyce as she walked away then added a little something with only a whisper of his voice. “But I can’t guarantee that she will act so nobly when I walk in the door,” he stated as he made his way into Buffy’s room.

~ ~ ~

When Buffy opened her eyes the next morning, she had never felt this good in her whole entire life. It might be from the fact that she was stark naked with her limbs entangled in the slumbering vampire next to her, but there was something else.

She took a deep breath and felt energy filling her entire body just as her lungs were filling to the brim with air. He entire body seemed to hum as she stretched then curled back into Angelus’ body to feel a little bit more of his cool skin.

“I love you,” she declared quietly as she closed her eyes once again and snuggled up against his skin. Buffy took his hand as it lay there limply next to her and placed it on her stomach, along with her own to feel the baby move inside her.

It was so peaceful just lying there next to him she never wanted to leave.

~ ~ ~

Giles and Xander both arrived at Buffy’s house, before Willow and Tara came, the next morning with the same thought in mind—the death of Buffy’s baby. Only Giles was a little more considerate than the other because he brought her a bouquet of flowers in order to help her feel a little better through her grief.

“Good morning, Xander,” Giles greeted as they made their way through Buffy’s opened door and up the stairs. “What have you heard about her?”

“Nothing much, maybe that is a good sign,” Xander shrugged his shoulders. “From Willow’s explanation, she was quite sick, I don’t think the baby would survive what she told me.”

“Let’s just see first, alright,” Giles said with confusion in his voice. He knew what he was supposed to do, but the past couple of months have tried on the goals of the ex-librarian. The pills that the Council had given him didn’t seem to work on her and she seemed to be excited about the baby. She was happy about the child and he didn’t know what to think about this anymore. Everything was wrong and he didn’t like the feeling of not understanding what was going on.

Cautiously he brought his hand up to the door and knocked softly on it. “Buffy are you decent?” he asked through the shut door.

“Oh Giles, yes. You can come on it,” she stated with a downright cheery voice.

“Stay out here,” Giles warned Xander before he opened her door and came face to face with an image that he would never had imagined. Buffy was completely well, she almost seemed to glow as she lay on her bed with her back resting up against the head board and her arms resting on her swollen abdomen in almost a protective manner.

“Isn’t it a little early for you watcher types?” Buffy asked with an insincere grin on her face.

“You look well,” he stated as he walked toward her bed and lifted the flowers to hand to her.

“I guess so considering all the ickyness that I have already been through,” she shrugged at him nonchalantly. “It could have been better lately if I didn’t have to deal with all the people that don’t want me to have this baby.”

“Who would that be??????” Angelus asked with a hiss in his voice.

“Oh Giles, I don’t know if I had introduced you two yet,” Buffy sat up a little more on her bed. “Angelus, this is Giles. Giles, this is Angelus.”

“The Scourge of Europe??” Giles asked stunned and slightly afraid.

“I don’t really like to brag, but a feel an urge right now,” he said with ferocity in his voice.

“W-w-well, nice to meet you,” Giles stuttered as he raised a shaky handshake towards the vampire.

Angelus refused to lift his hand toward the man, because there was just something there that he did not like. And when he didn’t like something, normally he would promptly get rid of the problem.

“Angelus,” Buffy warned. “Be nice.”

With a loud growl, Angelus met the Watcher’s handshake and squeezed it painfully. He wanted to send a subliminal message to the older man to beware of himself and by the look on Giles face; he knew that the Watcher got the message.

As soon as he dropped Giles’ hand, Angelus slinked his way behind Buffy so that her back now rested against his muscular chest instead of the backboard. His arms traveled across her small body where both his hands rested across her stomach in a very possessive manner.

“So, Buffy, how are you feeling???” Giles asked shakily.

“Good, better than good actually. I feel great,” she said with a large grin on her face as she moved her hands and placed them on top of Angelus’. “It must be something in the water when I take the pills.”

“What pills??” Angelus asked with a rumble.

“Oh nothing, honey. Only prenatal vitamins,” she assured him but she knew that she was telling Giles that she knew what he was doing to her. “Enough about that, so Giles, do you want to feel the baby?”

Not knowing what to say or think at the moment, Giles just declined with a firm shake of his head. “No that’s all right, maybe next time.”

“Yeah, maybe next time,” Angelus spoke up as he glared at the Watcher.

“Well, I better give you time to rest, so I will leave and send the next visitor in,” he stated as he placed the flowers at the end of his bed and walked out the door.

“So how is she??” Xander asked with no concern in his voice.

“You will just have to go in and see yourself,” Giles answered him plainly.

“That good or that bad?” he pried further but Giles refused to tell him anything and turned to walk down Buffy’s stairs.

“Well, this should be interesting,” Xander breathed out loudly as he watched Giles leave but was suddenly stopped in his tracks from going through the doors by the sound of the Watcher’s voice.

“Xander, be nice to her, she doesn’t need the stress right now.”

Hearing those words, Xander thought that Buffy must be grieving right now, and that meant it was time for him to party. With great effort to suppress a huge grin, Xander opened Buffy’s door and looked inside.

Xander was also shocked by the sight in front of him. Buffy and Angelus were lip locked in a passionate kiss, as he just stood there and watched. Buffy seemed to be just fine, almost glowing in fact. They broke their contact with each other only when they heard Xander walk through the door.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Xander fumed as he watched both of them stare evilly at him then turn back to each other to give another kiss. Shaking his head in disbelief, he ran from the room, down the stairs and out the front door.

He hopped into his car and with breaking every speed limit throughout the town; he stopped in front of the Magic Box and ran through the doors.

“Anya!! Anya, where are you???” he called out with a pant. He heard no response from anyone so he made his way to Giles’ office to search through his desk to find something.

He tore everything from left to right looking for anything that he could use right now. After awhile he uncovered a pad of paper with a phone number written on it in Giles’ penmanship.

Pulling that paper in front of him, he picked up the phone and dialed the number that he read. A few rings later he heard someone pick up on the other line. “Yes, Watcher’s Council… I need to speak to Quentin Travers, it is urgent!”

Part XXXIII

“You did the right thing, young man,” Travers stated towards the end of the phone conversation he had been having with Xander.

“When can you be here??” Xander asked urgently.

“A few members of the Council and I will catch the next flight available. We should be there tomorrow, the day after at the latest,” Travers estimated

“Good,” he muttered under his breath. “Good, the sooner the better.”

“Yes, well, excellent. We will come as soon as we can.”

“We’ll be waiting.”

“No, we won’t be waiting,” Travers corrected. “You, only you. I don’t want any other person know that we are coming. The less people who know, the better.”

“You’re probably right. I know for a fact that Buffy and Angelus would probably hit the road if they knew you were coming. I won’t tell a soul, you have my word on that.”

“Would you ever consider a position in the Watcher’s Council?” Travers asked, out of the blue.

“I never really considered it, I assumed that the job revolves about reading and intellect. Those have never been Alexander Lavelle Harris’ strong points,” Xander admitted.

“We’ll have to discuss this when we get to Sunnydale. With this type of loyalty, you would be a wonderful addition to our team.”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“You do that and we will see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Xander stated as he heard the other end of the phone go dead. ‘Great, wonderful, grand, God I hate waiting,’ he thought to himself as he hung up the phone.

“What are you doing here, Xander?” Giles asked as he walked into his office inside the Magic Box.

“Have you seen Anya??” he asked trying to find some excuse as to why he would be there.

“She, Willow, Cordelia, and Tara are all at Buffy’s house today. You should have known.”

“It must have just slipped my mind or something. I best be leaving and wait for a call to come and pick her up, so I will bid adieu,” Xander said as he slipped to the side of Giles and walked toward the front door.

As soon as Giles was alone, he went straight for his desk and rooted through some of the papers that lay on top. After not too strenuous searching, he found some damning evidence that Xander was up to a little bit of mischief. Underneath one piece of paper, lay a little strip of paper, which had the Council’s phone number on it.

Picking it up and deeply sighing, Giles held his head down in shame. The Council was coming and what was he going to do about it? “God, I need stiff drink!”

~ ~ ~

As promised, the Council boys arrived in Sunnydale the next day right before the sun began to set in the sky. The deep color that blanket the earth and enriched the air, filled their lungs and bodies with extra energy, making their drive to fulfill their goals easier.

They knew their first destination. They had to meet an old friend, and they knew exactly where to find him. The Magic Box.

“Rupert Giles, so nice to see you,” Quentin Travers slithered into the shop followed by at least 10 other men that Giles knew worked as the muscle men for the Council.

“Quentin, what a pleasant surprise,” Giles greeted unhappily as his words slurred together from the excess alcohol that he had been drinking for the past day and a half. He had many problems and he began to believe that he could drown those out with a couple bottles of Jack Daniels and Scotch.

“A good Watcher should be prepared for anything, especially a little visit from your bosses,” Travers chastised Giles’ obvious behavior.

“Well, maybe I’m not a good Watcher. You should probably fire me, but wait, what’s that I remember. Oh yeah, you have done that already, what’s the point of redundancy?”

“Where’s your slayer??” a tall, lanky man spoke up in a gruff English accent.

“Inside a vampire’s pants, on purpose no less,” Giles began to laugh hysterically. “Who would have thought that possible??”

“Are you going to be any help to us or are you just going to sit there and stare at us foolishly?” Travers asked.

“I’m not the only fool in this room. Oh no, we are all fools,” the drunken librarian admitted as he raised the bottle in cheers toward Travers. “First, Buffy gets pregnant by a vampire on purpose, expects to keep it while you are shoving down centuries old dogma down my throat telling me to kill her baby. You are a fool for believing that the baby will automatically be evil and I am a fool to think you are right. What a crazy world, don’t you think?”

“So are you going to help us or not?”

“I think you would have to sew my head to the carpet before I would ever listen to you again,” Giles admitted truthfully. “Do I need to make my opinion on this matter any more clear?”

“Quentin, he is not going to be any help to us in this condition. He will only be a liability,” the lanky man whispered in Travers’ ear.

“Next time when you speak you need to talk a little louder, it is rude to keep secrets,” Giles bellowed.

“Drug him,” Travers ordered as another man came forward with a tranquilizer gun in his hand.

The man grabbed the ex-librarian by the collar and pulled his throat into open view. “Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless you…” Giles began to doze off as the tranquilizer took hold.

“So now what do we do boss??” a woman’s voice was heard now. “I don’t believe a seven month pregnant woman is going to be out on patrol so we can’t get her while she is working.”

“I say we make a house call,” the lanky man suggested.

“That probably won’t be a good idea considering the vampire will probably be there with her and we don’t have the man power to beat back a master vampire such as ‘The Scourge of Europe,’” Travers shot that suggestion down.

“May I suggest an alternate route?” another spoke up.

“I am all ears,” Travers stated.

“Misdirection.”

“What do you mean?” the old man asked.

“While they are looking left, we go right with a little distraction.”

“What type of distraction are we talking about here??” the woman asked.

“You will just have to see what I mean.” Those were the last words spoken before the entourage of Council members exited the Magic Box while Giles still lay unconscious on the floor. They knew Buffy would be in her house right now, all they had to do is get her away from any means of protection and she will be in their control.

~ ~ ~

“Have you guys seen Giles or Xander lately??” Willow asked Buffy and Angelus as they sat on her bed.

Suddenly a growl exited the vampire’s throat and they all knew that right now, the location of those two men seemed to be a pretty touchy subject. “If I see either of them, it will be too soon.”

“I would have to agree with Angelus on this one,” Buffy admitted as she gripped his hand tightly in hers. “Where is the rest of the gang??” she changed the subject very quickly.

“Cordelia took Doyle around town, to see the sights. They left an hour ago,” Willow informed them.

“Is there enough things in this place to be looking for over an hour?” Angelus asked.

“If you know Cordy as we know her, she could hold a day long conversation about chewing gum. Once she starts going, nothing will stop her,” Buffy chuckled softly.

“Ahhh,” Angelus muttered, as he finally understood.

“Anya had to start her shift at the Magic Box and Tara is…” Willow stopped suddenly as she smelled the air. “Does anyone else smell that??”

Both Angelus and Buffy sat up as hastily as possible as they smelled the air around them.

Smoke. Something in the house reeked of smoke.

“Guys, something is on fire??” Buffy stated in almost a panic. She tried to raise herself on her hands to stand up, but Angelus caught her shoulder and made her sit right back down.

“Buffy stay,” Angelus commanded. “I won’t have you putting yourself or our child’s life in danger right now.”

“Oh yeah, smart move, Angelus. Have me stay here like a sitting duck just in case the fire comes upstairs and traps me up here without any way down!”

Seeing her point, Angelus shook his head in defeat. “Willow, take Buffy outside while I search the house.”

Willow nodded in agreement, took Buffy’s arm and escorted her out the door and down to the front door while Angelus went further into the house. They had been standing outside for a few minutes and suddenly Buffy felt a horrible feeling running throughout her entire body. “Angelus is still in there, I have to go in!”

Grabbing her arm quickly, Willow stopped her friend from entering the house. “He will be out in a moment, don’t worry.”

“Ah, Wills do you know what happens to a vampire that gets a little too close to fire? Flambé al sexy man in tight leather pants, that’s what!” Buffy tried to pull her way forward but Willow held her ground.

“It is not safe in there for you. You shouldn’t go in there?” Willow pleaded.

“For once Miss Summers, you should honestly try to listen to someone’s suggestions,” Travers’ voice broke through their conversation and Buffy’s eyes landed on him with complete contempt.

“Oh I get it now, that wasn’t smoke we were smelling, it was a huge rat!” Willow snarled as she felt her eyes begin to turn black. “I knew you had something to do with all this.”

“Guilty as charged,” Travers mocked the women with a courteous bow. “But it is not you that we are after, my dear, we are after the slayer.”

“Oh hell no,” Willow cursed as she felt her magic run throughout her entire body. She felt her body start to levitate off the ground as her anger rose.

“Anger management classes might be good for you,” Travers stated without much concern in his voice. “Get her!”

Suddenly a strong beam of light pierced straight towards Willow and knocking her back to the ground. In a crumpled heap, Willow’s body hit the floor leaving Buffy almost defenseless against her attackers.

Buffy could not hold her anger any more. She rushed toward Travers with her fingernails as sharp as talons going for his throat. Quickly someone grabbed her from behind and held her within a hairs distance from the old Watcher.

“You should be cautious, Miss Summers. Think what you could have done to your child if you would have struck me and hurt yourself.”

“I think the baby would be forever grateful,” Buffy sneered as she continued to fight being held by five people.

“I don’t think so,” Travers sighed. “Drug her too and take her to the van!”

Before Buffy could continue to fight, her whole body felt like it was slowly shutting down. She could feel the drugs go through her system and the last thought that crossed her mind before everything went dark, was “Angelus!”

~ ~ ~

“Angelus!” slap, “Angelus!!” slap, “Angelus!!!!” Cordelia screamed at the unconscious vampire as he lay on the floor of Buffy’s basement. “WAKE UP, YOU ASSHOLE!!”

“’Delia, honey remind me never to have you wake me up in the morning,” Doyle stated with laughter in his voice.

“My hand is starting to hurt and if he doesn’t wake up soon, we won’t find Buffy in time,” Cordelia whined.

Angelus the whole time had been floating between consciousness and sleeping when he heard his mate’s name said. With hearing Buffy, his eyes quickly opened and he looked around the room. “Where is she??” he asked in a growl.

“The Council got her,” Cordelia informed him as he started to sit up.

“I got a vision while we were away, I guess we didn’t get here in time to warn you,” Doyle said apologetically. “She’s gone.”

‘She’s gone,’ repetitively ran through Angelus’ mind as his wrath suddenly began to consume him. With anguish in his heart, he released a roar that shook all the small windows that lined the basement walls.

After what seemed like an eternity, Angelus’ howl ceased as he looked at Buffy’s friends as they coward at the other end of the room. “Feeling better?” Cordelia asked.

“Not yet, but I know how to make solve that problem,” Angelus snarled.

“What are you going to do?” Doyle asked in curiosity.

In almost complete calmness, he turned toward the two people standing in the room and stated, “Kill people.”

Part XXXV

“So when do we leave?” Cordelia asked as she walked through the front doors of the Magic Box with Doyle, Anya, and Tara right behind her. After no response from Angelus or Willow, she continued, “We are going to find her, right?”

“We are going yes, but you’re not,” Angelus clarified quickly.

“Excuse me?” she retaliated with a spark of her attitude.

“You heard him,” Willow added. “You need to stay here along with Doyle and Anya. Tara, I need you to come with us.”

“Do I have any say in this matter?” Anya commented. “Where you take Xander, I want to go along.”

“It’s alright Ahn,” Xander spoke up in a grimace as his chest still burned from the mark that Willow left on his skin. “It could be dangerous were we go and I couldn’t bare to see you get hurt.”

“And yet you had no problem to hurt my daughter!” Joyce ran into the Magic shop and screamed at the top of her lungs. She looked around the room to see the startled faces of Buffy’s friends and she thought her anger was probably well understood by all.

“Ms. Summers,” Giles found his voice first. “Lovely to see…”

But before he could finish is statement, Joyce rushed across the room and promptly smacked him with an open palm right across his cheek. “Where the hell is my daughter??”

“The Council has her, Joy… Buffy’s mom,” Xander informed her.

“What in the world is the Council?” she screamed aloud trying to find anything that my answer her questions as to what happened to her daughter.

“Do you remember two years ago when Buffy turned 18 and it seemed that all her powers were taken from her?” Willow asked.

“Yes,” Joyce remembered that time that she was kidnapped by a vampire and held hostage until Buffy came to save her.

“The Council took away her strength and coordination with drugs in order to test her.”

“But that still doesn’t answer my question.”

“The Council is a group of individuals that are responsible in the education and training of every slayer since the beginning of time. They prepare slayers, such as Buffy, to fight evil in all its forms.”

“Unless that evil is they themselves,” Joyce quipped sarcastically.

“Yes, well, that would be correct as it seems,” Giles nodded his head in agreement.

“Now here’s my main question, why would you trust them today even after all that they caused Buffy to go through? How stupid can you be?” Joyce sneered at the Watcher.

“Lapse of judgment maybe?” Giles shrugged but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Joyce slapped him again. “Where is my daughter?”

“They are taking her back to London, we are going to go and get her back,” Angelus stated.

Hearing the words coming out of his mouth, Joyce turned her attention from Giles to the calm exterior vampire. She stepped in front of him, staring him straight in the eyes. Joyce could see and feel the anger and rage under his cool manner but to awaken his entire body to that anger, she reached up and also slapped him.

The breath in everyone’s throat caught as they watched her dangerously lash out at an extremely unbalanced vampire. No one knew what to say, they were transfixed in their stances watching the play unfold in front of their eyes.

“If it wasn’t for you, my daughter would not be in this position!” she screamed as Angelus forcefully twisted his head back to look down at her allowing the amber glow of his eyes, shine forth. “You better go and get her and if you come back and she isn’t with you. I will have your testicles in a jar on the top of my desk.”

Grimacing at the imagery, Angelus allowed his anger to be repressed momentarily and the coolness to enter into his body one more time. Angelus wanted to say angry words to her but he knew that she was just as scared and worried about Buffy as he was. He totally understood her threat and he knew that he would get the job done.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Summers. We will get her b-b-back,” Tara stuttered trying to break the tension in the room.

“Good, when do you leave?”

“Now!” Angelus commanded as he watched Willow flick her hand toward Xander and Giles, thus releasing them from their bindings. They exited the room leaving Anya, Joyce, Doyle and Cordelia behind.

The group piled into Angelus’ black convertible and as soon as they were all situated, he press the gas and started going as fast as they can towards the airport. Willow and Tara sat most quiet in the back seat before Tara turned toward her lover to ask her a question.

“When did we go for a new look?” she asked as she gently ran her fingers through Willow’s silky red hair that now was streaked with black.

“It’s a little extreme don’t you think?” Willow sounded concerned over her new look.

Tara leaned into her body and pulled one of the black streaks into her palm and lowered her lips to it. Kissing it lightly, she pulled up from it to stare into Willow’s dark green eyes. “I’m already starting to get used to it.”

~ ~ ~

“How much longer is it to London?” Travers asked the pilot as he stepped through the door to the cockpit.

“Only about 5 more hours,” the pilot informed him.

Travers nodded his head then shut the door behind him to return back to his crew that waited in the center of the plane.

“How much longer?” a young woman asked him when he came back.

“Not too much longer, I assure you,” Travers stated.

“The drugs that we gave her will only last for another hour or so then it will take about 5 to 6 more hours to be totally recovered,” an older man with black wired glasses spoke up while he looked down at his watch.

“How is she back there?” the young woman asked with real concern in her voice.

“She is completely sedated and comes in and out of consciousness at random intervals,” the older man stated.

“I think I am going to go back there and check on her,” the woman stood up and started to walk back but Travers caught her arm and made her sit back down into her seat.

“No that is alright, Mary. I will go back and check on her,” he informed her and made his way to the back of the plane before she could mutter her opposition.

When he made it to the back and opened the door that separated the rest of the Council from her, he looked down at the slayer who was chained to the walls of the plane while she sat on the floor with her arms wrapped protectively over her swollen abdomen.

“Ms. Summers,” Travers whispered loudly as he watched her flutter her eyes trying to stay awake. “Ms. Summers…”

“Let us go, please,” Buffy pleaded for her and the life of her baby.

He shook his head at her request. “I am sorry, Ms. Summers but I don’t think we can do that.”

“Please, I will do anything. I beg of you,” Buffy felt tears begin to flow down her cheeks as she looked up into his cold eyes. “What are planning to do with us because believe me you can hurt me all you want, but if you hurt my child, you are going to wish that you were never born.”

“Temper, temper. You don’t want to bump up your blood pressure, it could be bad for the baby,” he shook his head at her as he watched her temper start to flare. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt your baby.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe?”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh yeah,” she huffed sarcastically. “I trust you as much as I would trust Xander to do my calculus homework.”

“Well, I just came back here to see how you were doing so, I will leave you now,” Travers turned to walk back out the door.

“Never asked you to come back anyway.”

“We should be arriving shortly so don’t make yourself too comfortable back here.”

“I don’t think I can,” Buffy said through gritted teeth and watched his feet as he exited the room but was suddenly stopped when he bumped into a woman whose voice Buffy recognized from before.

Buffy could not hear their conversation due to their muffled voices and her body slowly falling back into unconsciousness. The only sound she was able to distinguish was the sound of feet softly walking towards her.

“Are you alright, honey?” the woman named Mary asked her as she sat down in front of her.

Mary reached up to smooth a strand of Buffy’s hair behind her ear, which Buffy promptly shied away from her touch. “Why do you care?”

Ignoring Buffy’s statement, the woman continued. “Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“No thank you,” Buffy spat forcefully.

“I think it is awful what they are doing to you. I am so sorry.”

“Why should you be sorry, you are one of them!”

Mary shook her head at the truth of the blonde’s statement. “Yes, I am a part of the Watcher’s Council, but not to this. Not to chaining you to a wall in your condition or treating you like a common dog not a human being. Believe me, if I could help you, I would.”

“You would help me?” Buffy asked as she looked into her eyes and knew, deep down, that she was telling the truth. “Would you do something for me?”

“Of course.”

“I need you to tell my friends where I am. Please, I need your help.”

“Don’t worry, I will. I promise,” Mary nodded her head. “I probably should be going back soon. Before they think I am plotting something with you.”

“I hate to admit it, but you are plotting something with me.”

“True, true,” Mary started to laugh. “But what they don’t know, can’t hurt them. I will be back to see you soon. Hold in here, okay?”

“Bye,” Buffy whispered as she watched her stand up and walk away. As soon as she left the room, Buffy closed her eyes and met the darkness of deep slumber.

~ ~ ~

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