Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy. I do own Sophie, Lily, Jesse, and Echo.

AN: I meant to say this earlier, but I forgot. A few elements of this fic have been taken from the Season 8 comics with my own little twists, but you don't have to have read them to know what's going on. Those who have can probably guess the villains, who make their first, unnamed appearance in this chapter.

"I hate this!" Anya shrieked as she stormed around the house, gesturing to her now six-months pregnant belly. "Look how disgustingly fat and unattractive I am already, and there's still three months left!"

"Anya, you are not unattractive" said Xander, trying to calm her down. "And you're not fat. There's just a little more of you to love for a while, and.. uh-oh." He knew that had sounded bad as soon as he'd said it.

"That's the same as fat!" Anya snapped.

"Okay, I'm sorry, neither off us are great with words, but.." Xander yelped, dodging the hand that his wife swung at him, and looked to where Jesse, the only person seemingly immune to his Mother's mood swings, sat on the carpet playing. "A little help, Buddy?"

"You look beautiful, Mommy" said Jesse, smiling his sweetest, Mommy heart-melting smile.

"Aww, that's Sweet, little human" said Anya, patting his head, "But you won't really know what beautiful is until you hit puberty and develop raging male hormones."

"What are.."

"Sorry, Mommy can't talk anymore. She has to go pee 'cause one of your Tiny Twin Siblings kicked my bladder again!"

"We really can't win right now" Xander sighed.

"Bloody women."

"Jesse!"

"What? Uncle Spike says it all the time!"

"Great.."

While one pregnant Scooby lamented their baby belly, the other was rejoicing in the early signs of one.

"Faith, look!" Buffy squealed excitedly from in front of the mirror, running a hand over her slightly rounded stomach. "I'm starting to show a little, see?"

"I see" Faith grinned, crouching to kiss the bump. "Hey, Peanut."

"Peanut?" asked Buffy, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, I figured she was about that size when I first tried talking to her, and it just kinda stuck in my head" Faith explained, a little embarassed.

"It's cute" Buffy smiled, pulling her Wife up to kiss her. "I love you."

"Love you too, B." Realizing they were both still in their underwear, she peeked at the clock over Buffy's shoulder. "But we better get dressed now or we'll be late for our ultrasound appointment."

Buffy looked at the clock herself, and yelped.

"Hurry!"

Buffy and Faith had chosen the same OB/GYN as Willow and Tara had for Lily, knowing that there wouldn't be too many awkward questions about how the pregnancy had come about.

"Ah, there" He smiled, pointing at the screen. "That's your baby."

"That's our baby" Buffy whispered, squeezing Faith's hand.

"Yeah" Faith smiled, squeezing back. Her insecurities about impending Motherhood were still there, but she could be excited at the same time, couldn't she? Come to think of it, The Dark Slayer was an expert at juggling conflicting emotions. What seemed like an eternity ago now, she had both loved and hated Buffy at the same time.

"And if we just prod around a bit more here.." The Doctor did so, then fiddled with another dial on the machine, "There's the heartbeat."

Both Slayers gasped as the sound reached their ears.

"Wow" said Faith, awestruck.

"Yeah" Buffy agreed, unable to form any other words to describe what they were hearing. "Wow."

That afternoon, Sophie and Lily stood waiting at the school gates. Auntie Faith was supposed to pick them up today, because Mommy Willow's car was getting serviced.

The oldest Rosenberg daughter clung tightly to her little sister's hand, glancing around nervously. Something didn't feel right..

"W-What's wrong, Sophie?" Lily asked, sensing her sister's discomfort.

"I feel like somebody's watchi.." before she could finish her sentence, Sophie spotted her Aunt's familiar car pulling up nearby, and, relieved, tightened her grip on Lily's hand as they rushed towards it. Auntie Faith had said to tell her if she sensed any further signs of trouble. "Auntie Faith.."

"Hey, Little Red, Lilypad" Faith was beaming. She held up a small black-and-white picture as her nieces got in the car. "Look, we got a picture of your cousin! There's a DVD too, you can watch it when we get home.."

"Auntie Faith.."

"Yeah?" Faith grinned.

Sophie sighed. She'd forgotten that the Ultrasound was today. Auntie Faith was so happy. She couldn't ruin that, she just couldn't. Besides, there wasn't any immediate danger.. This time.

"..She's gonna be a beautiful baby" Sophie finished, forcing a smile.

"Hell yeah, she is!" Faith grinned again. "Have you seen where she comes from?" The Dark Slayer's smile suddenly turned into a frown. "Crap, what am I gonna do when she starts datin'?.."

As the car took off down the road, the woman that had been watching from the park across the street slunk back into the shadows, and disappeared.

"Why can't we just do it now?" The woman frowned at her companion when she had returned to their hide-out.

"Because, it's my plan!" The other figure, who could barely be called human anymore, snapped. "I say when it goes ahead! We can't 'just do it' after one stake-out! We have to know their schedule inside and out. Wait for the perfect moment, then snatch those kids and finally get revenge on Willow Rosenberg for what she's done to me.. I mean us!"

At 'snatch those kids' the woman felt a pang of guilt for dragging a pair of innocent children into their plot. They seemed sweet, from what she'd observed.

"But we're not actually going to hurt the kids though, right? I mean, they haven't done anything.."

"Of course not, babe."

She involuntarily grimaced at his unpleasant grin.

"They're just the bait."

That night, after returning from Patrol, Faith stared at the ultrasound picture for a while before finally placing it in the long-empty space on her bedside table.

"Finally filled that spot, huh?" Buffy whispered from her side of the bed, having woken when she sensed her Wife's presence.

"It's not full yet" said Faith as she got in and snuggled up beside Buffy, kissing her forehead while her finger began tracing circles over the blonde's baby bump. "I've got room for a few more."

"There'll be plenty more" Buffy grinned.