Chapter 7

"Buffy, it's Phoebe." Angel said through the bathroom door. He was holding her cell phone that he'd had to dig through the hamper to find in a pair of her jeans near the bottom.

"I'm in the shower. Tell her I'll call her back." Buffy called.

"She says it's an emergency."
Buffy quickly turned off the shower and jumped out, wrapping a towel around her. She opened the door and grabbed the phone. "What's wrong?"

"It's Piper." Phoebe said. "She's in the hospital."

"Oh my God! What's wrong? What happened?"

"I don't know. She fainted and Leo couldn't heal her. We took her to the hospital and we're waiting on the doctors."

"Ok, can you send Paige here in, like, ten minutes?"

"Sure."

"See you in a little while." Buffy hung up and rushed to the closet.

"What's wrong?" Angel asked.

"Piper's in the hospital." Picking out some leather pants and a large white, turtleneck sweater, the Slayer rushed back into the bathroom.

"What happened?"

"She fainted and Leo couldn't heal her. God, I hope the baby's ok."

"And Paige is coming here?"

"In, like, eight minutes." Buffy quickly got dressed, ran a brush through her hair, and tossed it up in a clip. She was slipping boots on just as Paige orbed in. "All right, let's go."

"Want me to come?" Angel asked.

"Please?"
Angel grabbed Paige's arm and they orbed to the hospital in San Francisco. Paige, Leo, and Phoebe all filled Buffy and Angel in on what had happened down to the second. After a while, the doctor finally came out. Buffy, Phoebe, and Paige all squeezed onto Piper's hospital bed. Buffy's head was laying on Piper's bulging stomach and she listened to the baby.

"You scared us." Phoebe said.

"Me too. I guess I'm not so invincible after all." Piper said.

"Yeah, maybe we need to start taking better care of you." Paige said.

"No, it was my fault, everybody was telling me to slow down."

"It's not your fault." Leo said. "We're all in uncharted territory. The Elders said that this was a special child and anything can happen. Let's not forget that."

"I feel so bad I wasn't here." Buffy said, patting Piper's stomach.

"Don't be. I don't think there was anything you could have done." Piper said, petting Buffy's hair.

A female doctor walked in carrying a file. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh, tired and weak."

"I've got your test results here but I can't find your chart. When are you due?"

"Uh, six weeks."

"And who is your regular doctor?"

"Uh…. we don't have one."

"We've sorta been seeing alternative medical practitioners." Leo said.

"You don't have an OB/GYN?" The doctor asked.

"We're training to be midwives." Phoebe said, pointing at herself and Paige.

"I'm open to all forms of healing but a woman in her third trimester should've had ultrasounds and blood work done by now. A medical doctor could have caught your condition earlier."

"My condition?" Piper asked.

"Toxaemia. It's a form of high blood pressure in pregnant women. Do you deal with unusual stress in your life?"

"Very unusual." Buffy said.

"Is it serious?" Piper asked, lightly smacking Buffy's shoulder.

"Toxaemia restricts blood flow and food and oxygen to the placenta. It can result in a small baby, premature delivery or it can lead to other complications, none of which you need to worry about now. Most women respond quickly to the treatment." The doctor said.

"Ok, so give me the treatment."

"The treatment involves a no salt diet, no stress, and lots of bed rest. Do that and the symptoms should reverse. I'll be back later to check on you." With that, she left.

"That's probably why I couldn't heal you." Leo said. "High blood pressure isn't just physical, it's a state of mind."

"No stress and bed rest. Do you think you can handle that?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, I can handle that. I'll do anything." Piper said.

"So will we." Phoebe said.

"Yay! I get to have an unplanned vacation!" Buffy said.

"I better call Doyle and Cordelia and let them know." Angel said.

"I'll take Buffy to get some clothes for you guys. Make sure Piper doesn't try anything rash, will you Angel?" Leo asked. Angel nodded.

"I'm going with Buffy." Phoebe said.

"Why?" Paige asked.

"Cause I haven't seen Buffy in a few months."

"We haven't either."

"Well, you weren't twins in a past life, now were you?"

"Be back soon." Piper said.
Buffy kissed Piper's head. "Promise."

Leo orbed them out and Paige looked at Piper. "What's that got to do with it!"

Angel stood in the darkened kitchen cooking French toast and eggs when Piper, Leo, and Buffy got back from the hospital. "Hello?" Piper called.

Piper and Paige raced down the stairs. "Welcome home, honey." Phoebe said. "Or should I say your highness? Because from now on we are your loyal subjects. Even Angel pitched in. He's in the kitchen cooking you brunch."

"We even turned your bedroom into a royal throne room." Paige said.

"Let me take you there now, my queen." Leo said.

"All right, knock it off before I get Buffy to cut your heads off." Piper said. "I don't want any special treatment."

"Piper, we love you, let us love you." Phoebe said.

"Yeah, I mean, as your sisters, cousin, and your midwives, we feel it's our duty to provide you with solitude and serenity and…." Paige said. A goose squawked and three golden geese walked into the living room.

"A gaggle of geese." Buffy said.

"I thought you guys were gonna get rid of those." Leo said.

"You said you were gonna ask the Elders on magical gift return policies." Phoebe said.

"Ok, you guys, it's fine, everything's fine." Piper said. "It's not gonna bother me, I'm not gonna let anything bother me for the sake of my daughter."

"Come on, I'll take you upstairs." Buffy said. "Will one of you go and check on Angel? Make sure he doesn't burn down the Manor…. Or himself." She, Leo, and Piper headed upstairs.

"I thought you said you tied them up." Angel heard Phoebe say.

"I did, but the little flockers got loose." Paige said.

"Ok, we have to do better than this for Piper. I mean, if we can't keep geese away from her, how are we supposed to protect her from demons?"

"Ok, you're right, you're right, we should take turns guarding the Manor. You know, who knows what kind of weirdo stuff's gonna show up…."
Angel turned around and let out a yelp. "Phoebe! Paige!"
They walked into the kitchen to find a white unicorn standing there. "Oh my goodness, it's a unicorn." Paige said.

"Yes, it is. In our kitchen. Is that another baby present you think, maybe?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, the best one ever." Angel said, scowling at the thing as it ate the food he had cooked. "Paige, unicorns may be magical and cool, but I'm not so sure it's appropriate for a baby."

"Oh, come on now. Our little niece will grow into it." Paige said.

"I'm not so sure about that." Phoebe said. "Have you seen those hooves? And how are we gonna baby proof that horn?"

Angel noticed a card on the unicorn. "Hey, look, there's a card. 'From El.'" Part of the card was torn. "El? Do you know anybody in Spain?"

"I don't care who it's from, ok? It just can't be here now. Its way too much stress for Piper and the baby. So Paige, just orb it out of here."

"I can't. Unicorns are mythical beasts from another world." Paige said. "Where do you propose I orb it to?"

"I don't care where you orb it to, just get it out of here, ok?"

"Fine, I'll orb it somewhere safe and tie it up until we figure it out." She touched the unicorn and tried to orb out. She glowed in white orbs for a second and then the orbs vanished, leaving Paige still in the kitchen.

"What was that?" Angel asked.

"I can't orb it."

"Ok, stand back." Phoebe said. "Uh, take this beast, before I end her, ship her back, return to sender." Nothing happened. "Wait, why aren't my powers working?"

"Uh, apple." Again, nothing happened. "Nothing."

"Oh, no." Phoebe tried to levitate but couldn't. "I can't levitate, I'm grounded."

Leo and Buffy ran in. "Something's wrong, something's wrong, I can't orb." Leo said.

"And I don't have any Slayer powers!" Buffy said.

"I was trying to go to the Elders to find out how to get rid of the golden geese and why is there a unicorn in the kitchen?" Leo asked.

"Forget the unicorn, our magic's down too!" Phoebe said. She looked at Buffy. "How do you know you don't have any Slayer powers?"

"Leo dropped something under a dresser and I couldn't lift the dresser." Buffy said.

"How do you lose super strength?"

"Buffy's Slayer powers are rooted in ancient magicks." Angel said.

"This doesn't make any sense." Buffy said.

"Ok, well, whatever hit us, we have to assume also hit Piper." Buffy said. "She can't find out about this until we know what's going on because she…."

"Hello? Where is everybody?" Piper called from upstairs.

"Why is she out of bed?" Leo asked.

"I don't know." Buffy said.

"Go put her back." Paige said.

"Go, go!" Phoebe said. Leo and Buffy rushed out of the kitchen. "All right, Angel and Paige, uh, you two take the magical farm animals and put them down in the basement. I'm gonna get the book and I'll meet you guys down there." Phoebe rushed out.

"All right, you're Spanish. Andale!" Paige said to the unicorn. It didn't move.

"Why are you on your feet?" Leo demanded.

"I was coming down to get some food. A person could starve around here." Piper said.

Phoebe ran around the corner and headed up the stairs. "Hi. Bye!"

"All right, come on upstairs, Buffy and I'll get your food. You're supposed to be on bed rest." Leo said.

"Ok, well, bed rest doesn't actually mean…."

"Yes, it does." Buffy said. "The doctor said stay off your feet and relax."

Piper and Leo went upstairs with Buffy behind them. She saw the unicorn walk down the hallway and Angel and Paige running after it saying, "Here, unicorn!" Buffy shook her head and followed them upstairs. "Piper, you just need to lay back and relax a while."

"Relax." Piper said. "Everybody keeps telling me to relax, like it's something you do. Like, like switching off a light."

"You need to learn how to do it, Piper, if you're gonna get your blood pressure under control."

"My blood pressure would not be a problem if we had been seeing a doctor like we were supposed to."

"I knew that was coming." Leo said.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, sit down."

Leo helped Piper to the bed but she pushed him away. "Don't treat me like a baby factory, I can sit myself down." She sat on the bed. "All these fears about a magical baby and don't let the doctors find out and we'll buy a birthing ball and Paige and Phoebe will be midwives. And you know what? We were wrong."

"How can you say that?"

"Because somehow in the middle of all this we forgot the most important thing of all. What's best for the baby."

"Well, that's not fair. A lot of people decide to have babies at home." Leo said.

"Uh huh, maybe so, but I was not one of them. And this baby is not even out of the womb yet and I'm already screwing up as a mother."

"You're haven't screwed up."

"Yes, I did, Leo, I did. I have a disease that is threatening our baby and I could've avoided it if I had just trusted my instincts."

Buffy looked at Leo and then back at Piper. "Well, what are your instincts telling you now?"

"To have this baby in a hospital."

"Ok, I'll make arrangements today." Leo said.

"Oh, really. And what happens when she's delivered in swaddling orbs?"

"We'll deal with it then." Buffy said. "From now on we want you to feel safe and secure, ok?" She leaned over and kissed Piper's forehead and leaned back knocking over a side table and all the stuff on it. Piper went to freeze it, but Leo and Buffy both stopped her. "No magic! No magic! No magic!"

"It's just too much stress on your body." Leo said.

"Like that mess on the floor's not gonna stress me out?" Piper said.

"I'll clean it up." Buffy said. "It was my bad."

The phone rang and Piper answered it. "Hello? Uh, sure." She looked up at Leo. "It's one of your charges. Since when do they use the telephone?"

"Since I've been ignoring them to spend more time with my lovely wife." He took the phone. "Excuse me. Hello?"
Buffy saw Phoebe sneaking around the corner. "I'll go check on the food." She rushed out and grabbed Phoebe's arm. "Wait up."
They ran down to the basement where Angel and Paige were waiting. "Ok, look at this, check this out." Phoebe flipped open the book. The pages were blank. "The whole book has been erased."

"How's that possible?"

"I don't know and without the book, I don't even know how to find out. It's like someone's taken the magick and erased it from our entire family."

"I think it's bigger than that." Angel said.

Phoebe looked down and saw a squished golden egg. "Oh, is that from one of our golden geese?"

"Yeah, I don't think we're gonna be able to return them now." Paige said.

"What is going on?" Buffy asked.

"You know, this all started when El mystery mare arrived. Maybe she's a Trojan unicorn sent to suck away our magick."

"No, I doubt it." Angel said. "Unicorns are the essence of good magic. If anything, they should enhance your powers, not steal them."

"What about the sky last night?" Phoebe asked.

"What, the northern lights on the eve of a Sabbath? Yeah, it could be a mystical sign but don't those normally come in threes? Where's the third?"

"Have you been experiencing uncontrollable emotional mood swings in the last week?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"No, but read your horoscope. Jupiter, Mars and Saturn are all in Gemini. That only happens once every three hundred years."

"Holy Hannah. It's like the universe is practically screaming at us to get our attention."

"Yeah, but what is it trying to say?"

"I don't know. But I've got a lot of research books in the attic. I'm gonna go up there and check it out."

"Ok, I'll meet you up there. I'm gonna try to figure out a way to wrangle the geese."

"Good luck."

"I'm gonna call Willow and let her know what's going on. We may need her too." Buffy said. "She knows all the old remedies like what Eva taught you guys."
Not two seconds after she'd picked up the phone, she heard the sounds of a fight. Paige and a demon were fighting near the stairs. The demon knocked Paige to the floor. Buffy came in and went to jab him with a right hook, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted, then tossed her roughly to the floor. He grabbed a marble tabletop from nearby and held it above his head to smash Buffy. Angel ran in holding a knife. "Hey!" He threw the knife at the demon and hit him in his chest.

"My name will haunt you to your grave." The demon said, just before he died.

Angel helped first Buffy, then Paige up. "What was his name again?" Phoebe asked, standing next to Angel.

"I don't remember." Paige said. Green slime poured out of the demon's chest.
Leo came down the stairs. "What's with the leftovers?"

"Well, his magic ran out just like ours." Paige said.

"Ok, so we have no powers, demons have no powers, Slayers have no powers, what is going on here?" Phoebe asked, looking at Buffy's wrist.

"I don't know. I just got a call from a charge and her powers are down too. So I unplugged the phone just in case we get any more calls. I don't want Piper to panic."

"Oh, well, it's official. Magic's down everywhere."

"Are you ok?" Phoebe asked. Buffy's wrist was red and starting to swell.

"I think he sprained it." Buffy said, pulling it to her chest.
The unicorn neighed and walked into the dining room. "I thought you guys tied her up!"

"We did, she eats through everything." Paige said.

The doorbell rang. "Oh, god, what time is it? That's probably dad."

"I'll get the unicorn." Leo said.

"I got the body." Angel said. He hauled the demon's corpse up and took it over to where Paige held the door open.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Victor called from outside.

Leo took the unicorn into the kitchen. Buffy and Angel tucked the demon's legs into the closet, closed the door, and headed to the kitchen to help Leo while Phoebe and Paige headed to the door. "Somebody get that?" Piper called.
Phoebe opened the door to discover Victor and a woman standing there. "Phoebe, Paige, I'd like you to meet Doris."

"Doris?" Phoebe asked.

"My new wife and your new stepmother."

"Hi!" Doris said.