CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Anya rolled over to find Xander's side of the bed empty. "Xander?" The bedroom door opened and Xander strode through carrying a silver tray with assorted breakfast stuffs on it accompanied by a single red rose. She smiled brightly as he slipped the tray on to the dresser.

"Happy Anniversary, baby." He smiled as he leaned down and caught her lips in a gentle kiss.

"Happy Anniversary, Xander," she said as he slipped back under the covers and kissed her nose lightly.

"So what do you wanna do today?" he asked her.

"Well there's one thing, but I've been keeping it a surprise," she giggled.

"A surprise? You? You normally ruin the surprise," he chuckled and she batted his arm playfully then got out of bed and rooted through their closet, fishing out a shiny blue box.

She hesitantly handed it to him with a quiet, "Open it. No don't open it. Okay... open it." She held her breath and bit her lip as he looked up at her.

"Ahn, what do you want me to do here?"

"Open the damn box, Harris!" she squealed. He took the lid off the box and peered inside as she bounced in excitement. "I wanted to be sure, you just never know these days."

He upended the box and several pregnancy tests clattered to the bed, looking like an oddly shaped game of pick up sticks. "Uh... Anya?" She just looked at him and smiled, nodding her head slightly. "Am I gonna be a daddy?" She nodded. "Are you gonna be a mommy?" She nodded again and he jumped out of bed, sweeping her up in his arms and kissing her passionately. "This is amazing!"

XXXX

Buffy sat up slowly, stretching and rubbing her eyes before she looked around the empty living room. "Spike?" She stood up from the couch and went upstairs to check on Amelia, but the baby was nowhere to be seen. The pyjamas she'd worn to bed were crumpled at the end of the changing table and there was baby powder spilled on the floor in front of it. Buffy checked the bathroom and the other bedrooms then flew down the stairs shouting, "Amelia? Spike?" She quickly checked the kitchen and even poked her head into the basement, shouting for Spike as she darted from room to room. The house was empty. Her eyes fell on the front door and she jerked it open then sprinted across the lawn toward the street, almost crashing into a huge dog.

Its owner looked at her peculiarly when she asked, "Have you seen a man with a baby?" She held her hand a few inches above her head. "About this tall... the man, not the baby... white blond hair... probably wearing a long leather coat and stupid black boots?"

The man took a wary step back from the small, wild-eyed woman and nodded over his shoulder. "Yeah... just down the street there."

"Thank you," she said as she took off in that direction, completely unaware of the fact that she was running around in public in her yummy sushi pyjamas with bed hair and no shoes.

XXXX

Xander and Anya laid in bed in perfect bliss. "I have to go to the doctor later," she smiled as she picked up a pregnancy test.

"This is the best anniversary ever," smiled Xander.

"Just think, Xander, I have your little tiny pink child in here," she said placing his hand on her belly.

"It's amazing." He smiled brightly as he caressed her stomach.

She lay back down and he wrapped his arms around her. "We have to pick names..." she said, tracing the pregnancy stick along his jaw.

"Ahn, would I be right in thinking that you've peed on that?" She giggled and he jumped out of bed to go wash his face.

XXXX

Buffy ran and ran until she finally caught up with Spike. "Are you a complete idiot?" she yelled as she looked into the stroller. Amelia was asleep, her tiny mouth making sucking motions every few seconds.

"Sorry, Buffy, I should have left a note," he said sadly.

"I was worried sick!" she shouted again, pushing him a little and knocking him off balance.

"It's okay, Buffy."

"Okay? You think kidnapping my child is okay?"

"I didn't kidnap her! I fed her and changed her and took her for a walk! She's perfectly fine!"

"And she's perfectly MINE! You don't get to take her without my permission, Spike! Jesus! You're not her father!"

Spike flinched and stepped away, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Sorry. Forgot that I'm not wanted. I'll see you around, Buffy."

Buffy reached out and snagged his arm with a sigh, "No, don't go. I'm sorry, Spike, I was just freaked out when I couldn't find her. I know you didn't mean to scare me."

He nodded, but didn't step any closer and kept his eyes on the sidewalk in front of his feet. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you, and now's a good a time as any, I suppose." He took a deep breath. "When you and Angel were together... Did you tell him you loved him?" He held his breath and clenched his hands into fists inside his pockets as he waited for her answer.

"What's that got to do with anything?" She wrapped her hands around the handle of the stroller, squeezing it hard as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "You can't ask me that."

"That means you did." His own eyes formed tears and he didn't have enough in him to keep them from falling as he turned away and started trudging down the sidewalk.

Buffy's heart clenched at the dejected set of his shoulders, but she called out anyway, "Not like it matters, there's nothing between me and you anymore. You made completely sure of that when you left me." His flinch hit her like a punch to the gut and she quickly turned the stroller around and walked off in the opposite direction.

She managed to get all the way home without crying, but as soon as the front door closed behind her she fell apart. She scooped Amelia out of her stroller and hugged her closely as she sat down on the couch, tears streaming down her face and dripping off her chin to soak into Amelia's overalls. She rocked her daughter gently as she sobbed and didn't notice that someone had entered the house until she heard the front door slam. "Go away, Spike!" she shouted as she wiped the tears from her face.

"Buffy?"

She lifted her tear stained face to see Angel standing at the end of the couch. Immediately she stood up and started backing away from him. "Angel... What are you doing here?"

"How is she? How are you, Buffy?"

"I've been better, thanks," she spat as she pointed to her red and puffy face.

"Buffy, I left her. I left Darla," he blurted.