Chapter 9

Buffy burst through the Manor door just as Piper let out a scream. Phoebe and Paige had caught up to her and Angel and picked them up. Now all four of them rushed into the house. Buffy started to head towards the stairs, but Paige stopped her. "No, no, he's not gonna hurt her while she's in labor."

"Ok, well, what if Leo's hurt, or Uncle Victor?" Buffy asked.

"There's only one way to save them." Angel said. They headed for the basement and Paige grabbed a knife on her way past.

"You guys go. I can't leave Piper alone with them." Buffy said, running out before any of them could stop her. She found Victor laying on the floor, bleeding from a stab wound. "Oh God, Uncle Victor!"

"Save Piper." Victor said through gritted teeth.
The door to Piper's room opened and Buffy stood and pressed herself against the wall, letting Cronyn walk past. With a glance at Victor, she snuck past and into Piper's room. Doris was sitting on the edge of the bed squeezing water into a bowl from a washcloth.

"We're not going to hurt your baby, Piper." Doris said. "We're going to raise her as our own. She's going to be a powerful leader, a great force of evil. You should be proud, very proud."

"I don't think mothers are proud when their babies are kidnapped and turned evil." Buffy said. Just as Doris turned, Buffy side kicked her in the head and knocked her out. "And that was without Slayer strength, bitch." She looked at Piper. "Can you walk?"

"I can try." Piper said. She let Buffy help her off the bed. They headed down the stairs and were almost to the bottom when another contraction gripped Piper and she tripped, falling to her back on the stairs and taking Buffy with her.

Cronyn came in and glared. "Stupid witch. You could've killed the both of you."

Doris ran down the stairs holding the back of her head. "Ohh, the Slayer caught me off guard."

"Just get down here." Doris walked to the bottom of the stairs. Cronyn went up to Piper and Buffy. He took out a knife and slashed at Buffy. She fought back, but he managed to slash her in the stomach. She cried out and doubled over which was when Cronyn punched her, knocking her out.
Piper threw herself as best she could over Buffy. "Get away from us!"

"Her contractions are less than a minute apart." Doris said.

"Oh, god, please not now."

Angel, Phoebe, and Paige came around the corner. "Step aside, bitch!" Phoebe said.

"Yeah, that's our job." Paige added.

Cronyn held the knife up against Piper's neck. "Move, even breathe and she's dead."

"Vanquish him, Phoebe." Angel said.

"Your sister will die."

"It's to save the baby." Piper said, still trying to protect Buffy.

"Oh my God." Paige said.

"I'm warning you." Cronyn said.

"Kill him." Piper said.

"How can I?" Phoebe asked.

"Do it!"

"But I…."

"Phoebe, if you love me, you will send this crazy bastard straight to hell."
Victor made his way down the stairs and pounced on Cronyn. With all his strength, he threw Cronyn over the railing. Paige threw a handful of unicorn dust over Cronyn. "Now!"

"Beast of legend, myth and lore, give my words the power to soar, and kill this evil evermore." Phoebe said.
Cronyn and Doris ran for the door but were vanquished before they could get there. The demon sent by Cronyn, dead in the closet, exploded and disappeared. Angel ran over to Buffy and helped her up, holding her tiny form in his body. "Is everybody ok?" He asked.

"I feel like I'm dying." Piper said. "Is Buffy ok?"

"She'll be fine. Just hurry up and have that baby." Angel set Buffy down in a chair and then went over to Piper and picked her up.

Phoebe raced into the dining room with a doctor's kit. "Baby's coming, baby's coming!" She put the bag down and covered the dining room table with a sheet. She got a couple of pillows and placed them on the table. Angel put Piper up on the table and she leaned back on the pillows. "Ok, you're doing great, sweetie. Yes, you are. Let's see what we have here." Phoebe pulled up Piper's nightgown as Angel helped Buffy stand and walk over to hold Piper's hand. "Oh! I see a head of dark hair."

Piper started to cry. "You do?"

"What'd you expect? A blonde?" Buffy asked.

Leo ran in through the front door. "What'd I miss?"

"A lot!" Piper said. Leo ran over to them. "Dad and Buffy need help."

"Here, try this." Paige threw Leo the satchel of unicorn dust. Leo went over to Victor and sprinkled unicorn dust onto Victor's wound and healed him then he did the same to Buffy's wounds.

"Ok, breathe. Keep breathing, keep breathing." Phoebe said.

"It's ok. Breathe, just breathe." Paige said.

"Very good. Ok, relax, relax, you're ok."

"Dad?" Piper asked.

"Yeah honey?" Victor asked.

"I'm sorry about your demon wife."

"Oh, hush. Don't think about that."
Leo walked over to Piper and put his arm around her. "I'm right here, baby."

"I love you Piper." Buffy said, crying. "I don't think I've told you that enough."

"I love you too Buffy." Piper put her forehead to Buffy's. "I don't care if you're just our cousin by blood. You're so much more. You're our little sister. This is your niece too."

Buffy hugged Piper tightly as Phoebe said, "Ok. You ok? You're alright. Ok. You're doing great, you're doing great. Push, ok? Last push."

"I can't!"

"You have to. A big one. Big one! Push!"

"You can do it." Leo said.

"I can't." Piper said.

"You can, you can." Phoebe said.

Buffy gripped Piper's hand tightly. "You can do this Piper. You have to."

"Ok, push." Piper pushed. "Push. Come on, push!"
Piper squeezed the edge of the table and pushed. Above the entire group, a blue light shone down on them. "I guess magic's coming back." Angel said.

"Here we go, here we go. Oh, I see a shoulder. Oh, and another shoulder. And an arm." Phoebe helped the baby out. "Oh, and something else, something else." She picked up scissors from the medical kit and cut the umbilical cord. She picked the baby up which was glowing in orbing lights. "Hi, baby. Hi." She used a suction and cleared the baby's mouth. The baby cried and Phoebe turned the baby around to show everyone. "Look!"

"Oh. Is that what I think it is?" Paige said.

"Uh, if you're referring to Mr. Winkie between the legs, yes."

"You mean, I got a boy?" Leo asked.

"Here you go, mama." Phoebe handed Piper her baby.

"Hi. Hi, little guy, what are you doing? Look what we did." Piper said.

"I see." Leo said.

"It's a miracle." Paige said.

"A little miracle." Piper said.

"He's beautiful." Buffy sniffled.

"You are safe, you are loved, and you are wise." Piper smiled at her son. "How ya doing?"

Buffy, Angel, Phoebe, and Paige sat around the living room two days later eating lunch. Angel had fixed everyone grilled paninis and seasoned steamed vegetables. Piper and Leo were upstairs sleeping. Buffy was rocking the baby in his little bassinet next to her.

"So, when are they going to pick out a name?" Angel asked.

"Soon, I hope." Phoebe said.

"They're trying to pick out good names that start with a P to carry on the tradition." Buffy said. "Not an easy thing when the only one I can think of is Peter and that's not even close to good."

Paige laughed. "You look so natural doing that." A sad look came over Buffy's face and she sighed. "What?"

Phoebe leaned over and said, "They can't have kids."

"Because Angel's a vampire? They can do amazing things with science these days. And there might even be a spell…."

"It's ok." Buffy said. "I've accepted it. Besides, I'm so not ready for kids at the moment. I don't know if I'll ever be."

"You will. And you can adopt."

"Yeah!" Paige said. "There's lots of kids out there who needs a good home."

"Good home?" Buffy snorted. "I don't think our home qualifies as a good home when it's constantly being attacked."

"Well, this is a good home and we're always being attacked."

"But the baby's going to have powers to protect himself."

"Oh, true."

Buffy shrugged. "Angel and I are perfectly content with just being Angel and I."

"Exactly." Angel said. "Besides, I'm 250 years old. I doubt I'd know how to take care of a kid."

"Are you kidding?" Phoebe said. "That should give you great insight on being an awesome parent."

"No. I was evil for over a century. And after I got my soul, I was a loner until Buffy came along."

Buffy smiled. "It's perfectly ok with us. We've accepted the fact that being parents isn't in our future. Besides, we may not have a future. We could die tomorrow."

"Way to look it." Paige said sarcastically.

"Sorry. It's just an outlook I've carried for a very long time. Hard to ditch when it's the truth."

Angel's cell phone rang and he picked it up. "Yeah? Doyle. You did? And? No. Hold on." He moved the phone away from his ear and covered the mouthpiece, looking at Buffy. "Doyle had a vision. He said that it's going to happen sometime in the next couple of hours."

"Oh." Buffy said.

"You can stay. I've got this one."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Angel put the phone back to his ear. "Ok, Doyle. I'm coming back." He hung up. "Paige, would you….?"

"Oh, sure." Paige said.

"I'll bring your clothes and everything back later." Buffy said.

"Thanks." Angel said.

"Be safe."

"You know me." He leaned down and kissed her gently. "See you later." Paige orbed them out.

Phoebe looked at Buffy. "You're not fooling me."

"What?" Buffy asked innocently.

"You're my twin, here, Buff. We share thoughts and feelings. You want a baby."

Buffy sighed sadly. "Eventually, yeah. But that's never going to happen."

"Sweetie, if there's anything I've learned from being a witch it's that anything's possible."

"I don't think there's anything more impossible than having a baby with Angel."

"Well, look at Leo, he's dead but he's making babies."

"That's a different kind of dead, Phoebs. Angel is all the way dead. As in nothing in there works."

Phoebe laughed. "Well, I can think of one thing that works."

Buffy smacked Phoebe's arm, laughing. "Not in front of the baby!"

"What's not in front of the baby?" Leo asked from behind them.

"Sex talk. Good afternoon, papa." Phoebe said. "Enjoy your nap?"

"Not hardly. One of my charges kept calling me." He plopped down in one of the chairs. "I need sleep."

Buffy laughed. "Get used to it, daddy. This is how it's going to be for a good long while."

"We'll pitch in." Phoebe added.

"Of course."

"But we have jobs too."

"And I don't even live here."

Leo shook his head and went over to the bassinet. "How is my little guy?"

"He's doing good." Phoebe said.

"Waiting on a name." Buffy added.

"Yeah, we're working on that. But there aren't a lot of boys' names that start with P that seem good enough."

"Oh! How about Pierce?"

"As in Pierce Brosnen?"

"As in the sexiest James Bond next to Sean Connery." Phoebe said.

"Totally." Buffy agreed.

Leo shrugged. "I'll run it by Piper."