AUTHOR'S NOTE: Set after 'Selfless' when Anya loses her vengeance demon powers. Instead of Anya and Xander walking away from each other however, they got back together. This is maybe a couple of weeks after that episode - Spike has a soul, but is not insane and completely googly-eyed over Buffy (as much as that is the perfect pairing in my mind). By the way, let's just say this is 3 months or so after 'Entropy'. Also, the First can delay its attack on humanity by a few months. Maybe a year.

A Bundle of Trouble?

Part 1: Misconceptions

Anya sat in the Summers' bathroom, on the edge of the bathtub, her hands rubbing against it nervously. Every few seconds, she'd check her watch to see if ten minutes had passed, immediately after that looking at the little white stick facing downwards that was placed at the edge of the wash basin.

She hadn't thought about it, but now it seemed more obvious. . .she'd been throwing up some of these days, but she just assumed she had been ill with some bug or something similar. Nothing to this extent had occurred to her.

3 minutes left. . .

She supposed Xander would be happy. Even though they'd just gotten back together, he had made it clear he would stay by her side, because he still loved her - and she loved him. If this test was positive, it would change their lives forever, but would only make them grow closer.

2 minutes left. . .

There was a knock on the door. Anya jumped at the surprising sound breaking the silence in the locked bathroom, as her boyfriend's voice called out to her.

'An, sweetie, you coming out soon?'

Anya hesitated in answering. She could hardly move, let alone speak. He didn't know about this, and she didn't want him to find out with a block of wood in between them.

'I'll be out in a minute!' she called out, but admittedly her voice was shaking. "He's going to think something's wrong. . ." she told herself. But Xander didn't notice anything.

1 minute left. . .

'Alright. . .' Xander replied oddly. 'But there are some people out here that need to pee. . .'

'Out in a minute!' she replied, this time more urgently. Xander impatiently walked away from the bathroom door.

Time was up.

She stood up, using her hands to hold herself up because of her knees going very weak all of a sudden. She delicately placed the stick in her hand, and holding her breath, turned it over.

It was red.

She was pregnant.

**********

That evening, she had organised a meeting with Xander. She sat, waiting eagerly on the couch, rocking herself back and forth.

She was pregnant. . .she would tell him. . .she couldn't believe her luck. This baby suddenly symbolised everything amazing in her life, and how it would all get better.

A door burst open, but unfortunately it wasn't Xander who had barged in. It was Spike.

'Anya!' he said warmly. He walked over to her smiling, but as soon as he saw the look on her face, he frowned. 'Is something wrong? You look as if you're about to puke.' He looked up at the ceiling. 'Then again, now that you're back with Harris, I understand you entirely. . .'

'Look Spike, what do you want?' she snapped at him. She hadn't meant to, but she was so jumpy and nervous, she couldn't control her emotions. Plus, there was that hormone thing.

Spike gave her a surprised look. 'Well, someone's feisty this evening.' Anya rolled her eyes. 'Just wondering if you know where Buffy is,' Spike finally said, a sense of innocence in his voice.

'No idea,' she tried to brush him away. Xander would be here any moment, and him and Spike in the same room would only result in a fight - and she didn't want him in a bad mood when she revealed that he was going to be a dad. It's not that she didn't like Spike - he was a nice enough vampire, especially since he'd become all soul-having. . .but she really didn't need him there at the present time.

Spike sighed deeply. 'Alright. Just wanted to ask her something.' He waved goodbye and walked out the house into the night.

Just then, Xander hurried down the stairs into the living room. 'Anya, hey!' He jumped down onto the couch beside her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. 'What did you wanna talk to me about?'

She fidgeted with her hands. This seemed to be more difficult than she had expected. . .she wanted to tell him, but a part of her was afraid that she wouldn't get the reaction she was hoping for.

'OK, Xander. . .' her voice could barely keep still. He looked at her intently, realising this was something serious.

'Something really huge has happened. Humungous. Just promise me you won't go all abandoner on me when I tell you.'

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, as he awaited this apparent 'huge' thing. 'Sure, Anya, anything. . .what is it?' His shirt suddenly felt too close to his throat as he felt the urge to pull it away with his hand.

'I'm pregnant Xander. We're going to be parents.'

She'd just said it plainly, yet the words hit him like a blow to the head. His face remained blank for a minute, as he contemplated what this all meant.

'You're pregnant. . .' he managed to stammer. 'We're having. . .a baby. . .' he was shaking, as Anya nodded tearfully. Why wasn't he showing some sort of emotional reaction to the fact that he had just become a father?

A wide smile spread across his face, and before he could contain himself, he threw his arms around her, crying himself. 'I'm gonna be a dad!' he shouted. In between shouting this out, he hugged her affectionately and showered her with kisses. 'Oh my God, I have a kid!' He was dancing around now, and it was noticeably very loud.

Willow ran down the stairs, as did Dawn, who had both been up in their own rooms.

'What's going on?' Willow said as she eyed Xander dancing around. Anya was about to answer, but he interrupted.

'She's pregnant Will! I'm gonna be a dad!' He ran over to his best friend, and hugged her so tight she was barely able to congratulate him.

'Xander, Anya, that's fantastic!' exclaimed Dawn. She involved herself in the Xander/Willow hug, but then ran over to Anya, getting down on her knees and talking to Anya's stomach. 'You're the luckiest baby in the world, you know that? You have the most amazing mommy and daddy ever!' She hugged Anya's waist, and the mother-to-be stroked Dawn's hair.

Eventually, the four of them were all up and in a group hug. The joy in that room was unbelievable - something they all hadn't felt in a long time.

'My G-d Anya, when did you find out?' asked Willow still in shock.

'Just this afternoon,' Anya confirmed.

'With a doctor?' asked Xander carefully. Anya shook her head.

'Home-made test.'

Dawn protested, but in her own sweet concerned way. 'You need to see a doctor right away - check that everything is perfect - but of course it will be, right?' She ended excitedly.

Anya nodded. 'I certainly hope so.'

**********

Now she sat with Xander in the waiting room of what she assumed was the pregnancy ward in the hospital. Xander was holding her hands tightly, and seemed to be strangely more anxious about this than Anya herself.

She tapped her fingers on her knees, as she looked around at the happy- looking hopeful couples. A random thought came into her mind, as she wondered whether these expectant and eager parents-to-be knew that they would be bringing up a child on the Hellmouth, among demons and vampires. Of course, her and Xander's kid would too - but hey, they were best friends with the Slayer - that wasn't so bad.

'Ms. Anya Jenkins?' A doctor emerged from behind a door, holding a clipboard and flipping over a piece of paper on it. He was in his mid- fifties and wore glasses. It occurred to Anya that most doctors were like that.

She and Xander stood up simultaneously and made their way towards the doctor. Anya went into the office, but Xander was stopped by the man with the overcoat.

'I'm sorry sir, woman for the check-up only allowed in here,' he informed.

Xander protested immediately. 'But that's my baby!'

'We know sir, but we'll have to ask you to wait outside. . .'

Xander stood firmly in his position, but realised it was no use fighting this guy. He wouldn't win. He reluctantly walked back to his seat, as the doctor turned around to face Anya.

'Please, come and sit down,' he offered her a comfy looking chair (the kind you get in dentists' offices) and she took her position.

'Now, you say you think you're pregnant?' the doctor asked soothingly. Anya nodded, a lump in her throat.

The doctor smiled at the muteness of his patient. 'You must be feeling very stunned. Let me guess - you didn't plan for this to happen?' Anya didn't say anything, so the doctor went on. 'Don't worry. I'm sure everything's in order - I'm just gonna use the sonogram and we'll see if we can get a nice image of your baby. . .'

Anya kept nodding, still unable to speak, as she lay back on the chair. The doctor removed a device from the side, and turned a machine on.

'Your partner,' he said, making small talk, as he tried to get some kind of signal of the baby. 'He seems like a nice guy, really devoted. It's good when you get fathers-. . .' He was interrupted by a low drumming noise in the background.

On the sonogram, a tiny little ball was visible, and as Anya squinted to look at it closer, her own heart began beating wildly. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

'Oh my God. . .' she put her hand over her mouth, but only as a gesture of overwhelming joy.

'Ms. Jenkins. . .I believe this is your baby.'

Anya reached out with her fingers at the screen, stroking the little ball gently. 'Little Xander and Anya Junior. . .' she whispered. In all her years as a vengeance demon, she'd never seen something as remarkable as this was. This little thing was alive. . .inside of her. She was responsible for it. . .and she couldn't wait to see its face.

'Everything seems to be in order for the first 3 months or so,' the doctor was saying, as he wrote something down on his clipboard.

Anya froze. '3 months?' He looked at her. 'Yes.'

She shook her head slowly, but then more emphatically. 'No, that's impossible; Xander and I weren't together then. . .' She stopped, as a cold sweat fell down her brow.

There was no way. . .it was ridiculous. A vampire couldn't create life. . .but there was no one else. This couldn't be real.

'Doctor!' Anya said angrily as she jumped up. She grabbed him by the shoulders. 'Please tell me you made a mistake. Please tell me that it's been only a week or two. . .not 3 whole months. . .' she said the last part desperately as she began to weep.

The doctor was lost for words. He didn't know what to tell this poor girl. 'It's definitely at least a 3-month old baby. A foetus doesn't get that big after only a couple of weeks. . .I'm sorry.'

Anya grabbed her head, as she sank to the floor. She was sobbing hard, and the doctor came down next to her to comfort her. 'I'm sure it'll be fine miss, everything will be fine. . .'

Anya sat there on the floor, knowing that nothing could be fine if the father of your baby was a vampire - and not just any vampire, a vampire who your boyfriend couldn't stand. It didn't seem physically possible, but it was true.

Spike was the father of her baby.

**********

A/N: TBC very soon. . .review in the mean time!