Precious Souvenir

Chapter 1 – The quiet before the storm

Note:

This one is set in season 4. Some time after "I Will Remember You".

Lorne is already a good friend of Angel's. Parker never happened. Buffy and Riley are in the very early dating stages, if you can even call it dating. And Faith will definitely appear later on in this story.

Also, I am not taking a break from my other stories, they are being written. I just sometimes need to take a step away from them, to get some perspective, and give them time to mature. So, in the meantime my take on IWRY.

It had been a quiet night, just some newly turned vamps. They were easy opponents and not at all a challenge for Buffy, more like a warm up. She decided to call it a night and go to bed early. She had been tired all day, so she welcomed that once in a while things were quiet when she needed them to be. When she was almost home, she saw a vampire stalking a girl.

"Damn, almost made it home scot-free. Well, one more or less… here we go."

Not in the mood for fighting, Buffy crept up on him quietly and aimed her stake, planning to impale the vamp from behind. But he must have heard her approaching, as he ducked at the last moment, spun around quickly and hit her right across the face.

"You shouldn't have done this," Buffy said. "I was gonna give you a painless death, but seems like you prefer it the hard way."

But before she could attack again, the vamp kicked her in the chest and sent her flying against the next tree, knocking the air out of her lungs and the stake out of her hand. Buffy could feel the impact in every bone of her body. Damn, usually she wasn't that affected by one single blow. Maybe she really needed some time off, or at least to sleep in. Luckily, tomorrow was Saturday. But first she had to finish off that annoying vamp.

Looking for her stake, she bent down to retrieve it, but before she could face her demonic attacker again, she was grabbed from behind. Buffy tried to throw him over her shoulder, but couldn't muster the strength. Now she was starting to get worried. All she could do was wiggle in the vamp's grip.

"What, don't you have any witty remarks now, little girl?"

"Hey, no name calling."

"Fine with me, let's get down to business." He lowered his fangs to Buffy's neck. In one last effort, Buffy managed to lift her arm high enough to drive the stake through his eye, making him loose his hold on her. Before he could recover, Buffy quickly drove the stake through his chest, leaving only dust on the ground. Damn, that had been way too close. That vampire should not have been able to even touch her. Maybe she was coming down with something.

When she got home, she was hurting everywhere and so tired that she didn't even bother to shower. She just wanted to sleep. She pulled off her clothes and, out of the corner of her eye, saw that her back was covered in ugly, colorful bruises. Buffy examined them closer. She never bruised like that. Too tired to further think about this now, she put on her pajamas, crept into bed, lying down on her stomach, and fell asleep.

The next morning, when Buffy took a shower, the bruises had all vanished. Had she just imagined them? Had she hit her head in the fight, too? She certainly didn't imagine almost getting killed by your average stupid vamp last night.

While shoving down a quick breakfast, peanut butter and jelly, a thought occurred to her when her eyes fell on the peanut butter jar. Or rather a memory of her 18th birthday. She looked in the shelves to see if there was a yet unopened peanut butter jar. When she couldn't find one, she opted for the cutlery. It would do just as well. She grabbed a knife with both her hands and tried to bend it. It gave way easily. Her slaying powers were still intact. Relived, but not completely at ease yet, she finished her toast and headed over to Giles' place.

"Hey, Giles."

"Buffy. Did everything go well on patrol last night? Or did you encounter any unusual activities?"

"No, not really. But I might be coming down with something."

"Oh, maybe then you should take it easy for a couple of days."

"Maybe it's nothing."

"Well, since you are here, maybe you could help me with those books?" He pointed to some boxes of books standing next to the doorway. "I ordered some new volumes from England. If you could carry them over to the book shelves for me, I'd appreciate it very much."

"Sure." Buffy grabbed one of the boxes. But before she had taken three steps, the box became unusually heavy and she had to drop it to the floor.

"No, not again," she groaned. Then she turned to Giles. "Is there any other stupid test the Council requires of their Slayers?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Buffy."

"Give me a knife."

"A knife?"

"Yes, a knife. A peanut butter jar would also do, but I don't think you'd have something like that."

Confused, Giles handed her a dagger from his weaponry chest. Buffy grabbed the dagger tightly, but she couldn't bend it one degree. "My powers are gone."

"Gone?"

"Yes, gone. Last night, some vamp beat me up like I was a rag doll. But this morning, everything was okay. And now I can't even lift some books or bend a knife."

Giles was still confused about the knife and peanut butter, but he chose to ignore it for the moment.

"Did you do something to me?" Buffy asked angrily. "Is this another crucifix test or so?"

"Do you mean cruciamentum?" Giles asked confused.

"Whatever, did you do it?"

"No, heaven forbid. I would never do something like this to you again. I swear, Buffy. There are no further tests."

Buffy believed him. "But then… what's happening to me?"

Giles came over to her and checked her forehead. "Maybe it is just the flu."

"What if it isn't?"

Buffy did not get the flu. Her slaying abilities came and went as they pleased. And they usually deserted her in the most inconvenient situations. The Scooby Gang went over all the demons Buffy had slayed over the last few days, looking them up for possible poisons or diseases they could transmit. They came up empty-handed.

One day, Willow caught Buffy alone. "Um, Buffy, have you considered that you might be pregnant?"

"Willow! Get your mind out of the gutter," Buffy said jokingly. When she saw that Willow wasn't joking at all, she said, "I am not."

"But, you and… Riley…"

"Willow, we haven't… we are not even dating."

"He likes you."

"Liking somebody doesn't get that somebody pregnant."

"Well, I thought… it was just a thought. It just popped into my head, since we have considered everything else already."

"Well, obviously we still haven't considered everything yet."

"Maybe it will go away on its own. Maybe your slaying powers just need a vacation."

Buffy gave Willow a doubtful look. Then something occurred to her. "Willow, what if you are right?" Buffy asked with worry.

"About the vacation?"

"No, about me being pregnant."

"But you said you haven't…"

"I haven't, but… we do live on the hellmouth." Buffy said uneasily, not wanting to finish that thought.

"Oh… oh… you think that… something…"

"I don't know. I hope not."

"I'm sure you are not," Willow tried to reassure her.

Buffy didn't look convinced.

"Just do a pregnancy test. I am sure you are not pregnant."

"Willow, I don't think a pregnancy test would tell me if I was… if there is… something in me that shouldn't be there."

Still, Buffy did a pregnancy test, several actually. After the sixth she gave up. Three had been positive, three had been negative.

"Maybe they don't work on Slayers?" Buffy said to Willow.

"Well, they don't work for everybody. And especially in the early stages they are rather useless. And since we don't know when… um… if… you know… if you really are pregnant, we have no idea when it happened. It could be too early to tell," Willow pointed out.

Willow continued researching possible, unwanted, demon-related pregnancies and other unexplained events that could match Buffy's case on the internet. Buffy had asked her to keep their newest suspicion quiet from the rest of the gang. Being the loyal friend, Willow did just that and kept these particular aspects of her research to herself.

One night, one website caught Willow's attention. It had an interesting advertisement. Some green demon calling himself 'The Host' offered his services. He claimed to read people's auras while they were singing karaoke. It seemed that his place of business was located in LA. Willow showed the ad to Buffy.

"It's probably just a joke," Buffy said. The longer her slaying powers were playing up, the more afraid she got to find out what was really wrong with her.

"Don't you think it's worth a try? You could call Angel. Maybe he has heard of this demon and knows if he can be trusted."

"Angel, hi, it's me."

"Buffy. How are you?"

"Um… fine," she lied.

"Why are you calling?"

"I'm looking for some demon."

"In LA?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

"Um, yes, he is green and reads people while they are singing."

"Oh, what do you want from Lorne?"

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he is a friend of mine."

"So he can be trusted?"

"Yes, he's a good guy."

"Oh, okay."

"Buffy, is something wrong?"

"Would you mind if I come to LA and you introduce me to your friend?"

"No, of course not. But, Buffy, why do you want to see Lorne?"

"I'll be there tonight." She hung up.

Angel had been on edge ever since Buffy's phone call. Why would she want to see Lorne? Was she alright? The more he thought about it, the more concerned he got.

When Buffy came through the door Angel observed her closely. She looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep lately.

"Buffy."

"Angel."

"Are you okay? Why do you want to see Lorne?" Since she had come alone, it was obvious that this concerned her personally somehow.

"I… um…" She needed to tell him something. "My slaying powers are… off."

"Off? Gone?"

"No, not gone. They come and go."

"So you are not fine. On the phone you said you were fine," he said accusingly. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't want you to worry."

"I worried anyway."

"Sorry."

Angel could see that she truly was. And her mind seemed like it was not really on the here and now. She looked slightly nervous. "It's okay. I'm sure you had other things to worry about. So, you have no idea what the cause could be? Any theories?"

"Um… no, not really."

This time he got suspicious. "Buffy…"

"Can you just tell me how I can find this demon?"

"Lorne."

"Yeah, Lorne."

"Sure, I'll take you."

Buffy wasn't too keen on having Angel come with her. But on the other hand, she wasn't sure if she wanted to do this alone either.

"Interesting place," Buffy remarked when they entered Caritas.

"It's a bit like Willy's, just with more good people added to the mix."

"A very interesting place."

When Lorne spotted them coming through the door, he immediately made his way over to them. "Now, what do we have here? My favorite vampire and…?" Lorne mustered Buffy.

"Lorne, this is Buffy, a… good friend of mine. She could use your help."

Lorne looked back and forth between Buffy and Angel. Then he raised an eyebrow. "A good friend? Yeah, right… I don't need to hear you sing to know that that is the understatement of the year. Well, in your case probably the understatement of the century, am I right?" Lorne gave Angel a self-satisfied smile.

Lorne turned to Buffy. There was still something strange about the girl. Something that didn't make sense. "You are not a demon. But neither are you a normal human."

"I am-"

Lorne held up a hand. "No, let me guess." He looked excitedly at Buffy. "You are from another dimension? Just visiting maybe?"

"No," Buffy answered, slightly annoyed.

"Hm…" They had the air of star-crossed lovers, but why? "You are a witch and his evil alter-ego killed someone in your family. And now your family doesn't want Romeo and Juliet together?"

Angel flinched. He immediately had to think of Jenny Calendar and the gypsy girl. Neither memory was sitting well with him.

"Sorry," Buffy said, "wrong person."

"But I was close, wasn't I?" Lorne ask hopefully.

"Too close for comfort actually." Buffy gave Angel a sympathetic look. "I don't have all night. I am the Slayer."

"Wow!" Now the vibes coming from them made even more sense, a Slayer and a vampire in love, how tragic.

Lorne pulled her towards the stage. "I think I have exactly the right song for you." Lorne pointed to a title on the list of songs.

"I will not sing that," Buffy protested.

"Why not?"

"You just need to hear me sing, right? The song doesn't matter."

"Exactly, it doesn't matter what you sing. So you might as well sing that one. It's just a song. It doesn't have to mean anything."

Before Buffy could protest further, Lorne dragged her onto the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, demons and other unworldly beings. Tonight we present a talent from out of town. She is a bit nervous, so let's give her a round of applause."

Lorne consciously avoided mentioning that Buffy was the Slayer. His bar was neutral ground, but some of his guests might still feel intimidated and leave. The girl was already nervous enough, a fleeing audience wouldn't exactly boost her confidence. Lorne gave Buffy a little shove towards the microphone and gave the sign to start the music.

Buffy felt terribly uncomfortable on the stage. But she was trapped. She had to do this, if she wanted to know what was going on. She hoped there wasn't a demon from Sunnydale in the audience. She'd be the laughing stock of the cemeteries for years to come. Unless it was a vamp and she could stake him afterwards. Taking one deep breath, she closed her eyes and started to sing.

I know I can be a little stubborn sometimes

You might say a little righteous and too proud

I just want to find a way to compromise

Cos I believe that we can work things out

...

"Oh, dear," Lorne said.

"What?" Angel asked.

"Ssh."

...

All I know is I'm lost without you

I'm not gonna lie

How am I going to be strong without you

I need you by my side

If we ever say we'll never be together and we ended with goodbye

Don't know what I'd do

...

"Oh, dear."

"What is it?" Angel asked again, more insistently this time.

"Ssh."

...

Baby I'm so lonely all the time

Everywhere I go I get so confused

You're the only thing that's on my mind

...

"Oh, dear, oh, dear."

"Will you stop saying that?"

"Will you stop distracting me?"

...

I'm lost without you

I keep trying to find my way but all I know is

I'm lost without youI keep trying to face the day

I'm lost without you

...

After Buffy had finished her song, Lorne pulled her aside. "Come on, we'll talk somewhere more quiet."
Angel automatically followed them, but Lorne said over his shoulder, "Have a drink. We might be a while. It's on the house."

"Do you know you are pregnant?" Lorne asked.

"Um… well… I… I did a pregnancy test, several actually, but they were both positive and negative. And these things are never a 100% and… I can't be pregnant since I haven't slept with anyone recently. So I thought maybe those tests don't work on Slayers or something. Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"It can't be."

"I see your problem, honey."

"Problem? Don't you think that's a slight understatement?"

"But you suspected it anyway, didn't you?"

"Well, I live and slay on the hellmouth. There's hardly anything we haven't seen. Although I wouldn't have minded another apocalypse instead."

"Why?"

"Why? Are you really that dense or are you trying your hand at some teach yourself how to be a demonic shrink?"

"No, I am just wondering why you think being pregnant is so bad? Most people start crying tears of joy when they find out."

"Again, a rather stupid question. But let me spell it out for you. I haven't slept with anyone. Not since… it's been ages, okay? Therefore, the most probable reason for me being in this state is a) a one night stand I can't remember or b) some demonic spell or other that put a spawn of evil into my body."

"I see why you would be upset over option b), but a) isn't too bad, I mean compared to b). Well, unless one would combine a) and b)."

"That's it, I've had it. Angel said you could help me, but obviously you just repeat my own words, make fun of me and think that is the answer to my problems. Have a nice life."

"Not so fast, little one. Okay, here it comes. Your skin crawls when you think it could have been a one-night stand because you feel like you would have betrayed Angel and that would finally, absolutely, irrefutably put the lid on any hope that he would come back to you."

Buffy had to sit. His words had been head on. "You got all this from one song?"

"I am good at what I do."

"So, was it a one-night stand?"

"Well, actually… um… that depends… on your definition of a one-night stand, I guess."

"What, are there different definitions depending on the demon or what?"

"Not exactly. Let's cover option b) first, shall we? I can assure you that there is definitely no evil power at work here. The baby is fine and so are you. My guess is, what you are experiencing, those slaying power fluctuations," Lorne waited for Buffy to confirm this. She nodded weakly and he went on, "it's not the baby draining you to get you hurt, but your powers trying to protect the baby."

"So the baby is human?"

"Yes, pumpkin. Absolutely."

"That still leaves the question of how did it get there? Wait a minute, is it mine?"

"Of course it is. Why shouldn't it be?"

"Well, because I had no part in this, at least not that I know of. Maybe somebody just mixed things up."

"I guess, living on the hellmouth can make people paranoid," Lorne said with a pitying look. "I don't think there was any mix-up," he assured her in a kind voice.

"And why do you think that?"

"You really have no clue who the father is?"

"God, I thought we covered that already, like two or three times."

"I guess."

"But you do know what happened to me?"

"No, not exactly."

"Then what do you know? How the hell did I get pregnant?"

"That is a really good question and I am curious to find out myself. I bet it makes for a very interesting story."

"So besides telling me it's not the devil's spawn I'm carrying, you don't know anything else?"

"That's not quite correct."

"Not quite correct? Can you be any more cryptic? Whatever you know, spill it now. It's my body, I have a right to know."

"Okay, okay, I am pretty sure I know who the father is."

"Great, I am not sure if I want to know, but tell me anyway," Buffy said resigned.

"Well, I am not so sure if that would be such a good idea right now."

Buffy groaned, "And why would that be?"

"Well, since you don't remember how it happened, maybe that bit of information would go well with the other still missing bit of information. And I have a feeling that Angel might be able to fill in some blanks for us," Lorne said carefully.

"Angel?" Buffy asked confused.

TBC

Note:

The song is "Lost without you" by Delta Goodrem.

Next chapter: How will Buffy deal with the truth? My guess is, Angel should hope Buffy doesn't have a stake on her. ;-)