Ch. 25

Willow let out a small scream and Xander fainted. Anya tried to move toward him but found she was stuck.

"Oh my Lord." Giles covered his mouth which was hanging open in shock.

"Not possible. No way is this possible." Cordelia's eyes continued to grow wider.

Ora got up off the couch and held out a hand to steady herself. She reached across and pinched her arm, hard. When she finally registered the pain, she began to walk over to where Buffy stood.

"I dreamt you were here." Ora whispered. She lifted her hand and touched her fingers to Buffy's cheek. Upon finding that she was as real as anybody, Ora fell against her mum and began to sob loudly.

"Oh darling, please don't cry. I'm here and I'm alive. Please don't cry."

"Mum. Mum, you're really here. I missed you so much. Oh God I missed you. Please don't ever leave me again. I need you so much. I love you, I love you."

Ora clung tightly to Buffy and Buffy let her tears fall.

"Oh baby I missed you as well."

Buffy kissed her then pushed her gently over to Willow who had begun to move over to them.

"Hey Will."

"Hey Buffy. Don't die again or I may get cranky."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"Resolve face." Willow said pointing to herself.

"I can't mess with that."

Willow pulled her into a hug.

"I'm glad you're back."

"Same here."

The next in line was Giles. Buffy smiled shyly at him.

"Hey Giles. How have you been?"

Giles pulled her into his arms and began to cry into her hair.

"Oh my darling girl. I prayed this day would come."

"I'm here and I'm not planning on going anywhere."

Buffy turned to the rest of the group.

"Hey guys. Miss me?"

Buffy was knocked to the ground by the force that was her friends. They all charged her at once, each fighting for the first hug. Eventually Cordelia triumphed

"Okay back off." Cordelia smiled at her friend. "It's good to see you."

"You too Cordy."

"If you dare die again, you and me are gonna have words."

"Sure thing."

One by one, Buffy got a hug of each of her friends and received a warning from each of them. Finally Spike came up to her.

"Hello pet. It's good to hear your voice again."

"Yours too."

Spike pulled her into a hug and kissed her. Buffy allowed it but didn't deepen it.

"You haven't done that in a while." She commented.

"Well it's not every day that your ex comes back from the dead is it."

"I suppose not. Unless I'm your ex that is."

Spike's eyes widened slightly and he discretely placed a hand on her stomach. Buffy winked at him and moved on to Dawn. Her sister kicked her in the shins and crossed her arms.

"You did it again." Dawn told her.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Buffy smiled.

"You're in big trouble."

"Get in line." Buffy retorted as she glanced at the group behind her.

"You die again and I'm killing you myself."

"Okay."

"I missed you."

"Me too. Can I have a hug now?" Buffy asked her. Dawn smiled

"Welcome home."

"No place like it." Buffy took a quick look over sister's shoulder, "How has he been?"

"Not good. He's only just started to recover."

"God, I didn't want this for him, for any of you."

"Buffy, take it easy with him. Life has been extremely hard for him; I'm surprised he was even able to function."

"I know Dawnie. I am sorry. Can you give me a few minutes with him?"

"Of course we can. I love you sis."

"Me too."

Buffy let Dawn go and moved over to Angel who was still kneeling by the couch. He was starring up at her with tears in his eyes. He seemed unable of any movement at all.

"Angel, baby. Please talk to me."

Angel shook himself and stood up furiously.

"Talk to you. You want me to talk. Do you have *any* idea the hell I've been through. I held your body. You died in my arms."

"I know Angel. I am so sorry to put you through that. I had no choice."

"Because of the bond. I don't care about the stupid bond."

Buffy reeled back in shock

"I saw you die, by my hand and you think I care about a stupid bond? Faith would have given her life but you had to act all stupid and die again."

"Angel don't."

"Don't what, don't *feel*. Well congratulations Buffy, for your information I have been numb for months. Do you have *any* idea how that feels?"

"YES! Angel, I was torn out of heaven by my friends. I was unable to feel for months. I wasn't able to feel anything except hurt and suffering and pain. You know the thing that kept me sane? It was you. The knowledge that you were safe and alive was what was keeping me alive. The hope that you may one day love me again."

Angel turned away from her so she couldn't see the tears in his eyes,

"I'm sorry. My love and devotion may mean absolutely nothing to you but that's okay. I'm happy because I got to see your face one more time. Thank you for at least giving me that."

Angel took a deep breath to calm himself then turned around. All he found was a group of people looking at him in disbelief. Buffy was nowhere in sight. Ora came up to him and took his hand.

"Daddy, are you okay?"

"Yes Ora. I'm fine."

"Good." She then used all her strength and slapped him, "I never thought I could hate you." Ora spoke to him in a voice forged of steel. She ran off leaving Angel to think about what had happened.

"What have I done?" Angel whispered more to himself

"Well for one thing peaches, you broke a little piece of unbreakable Vampire lore. Second, you just lost any chance you ever had at having a family."

"Spike what are talking about?"

"Vampire lore mate. You dismissed a bonding as if it were nothing, a bonding which you had fully accepted. If she were a vampire I would bet the farm that she was off to kill herself. Thankfully, the chit is human and a hell of a lot smarter than most."

"I know what I did Spike, and more than ever I wish I could take it back. But what does it matter now?"

"Angel, you are the stupidest person to have ever lived. Don't you feel anything for her at all?"

"Of course I do. I love her more than life. She's oxygen, I need her to survive. Why do you think I was so angry with her? She went away from me and took away my reason to live."

"You stupid git. She gave up her life so that you can live. You say you need her to live and she gave herself to you so that you could."

"I just can't believe that she's back. Buffy came back to me. I had hoped she would, I dreamt about it every night."

"Well just so you know, you completely blew it."

"Spike I have to find her. Please help me find her before she does something that she's going to regret."

"Oh like say, hurting herself."

"Spike please, please help."

"I will on the condition that you don't go off at her again. I love her mate, and I can't stand to see her in pain."

"Me neither. God, I can't believe I did that."

"Oh and just so that you know, I'm not as worried about what she may do to herself. I'm just scared that she may run off again and we won't be able to find her."

"Wait, why aren't you worried about what she may do to herself?"

Spike sighed and looked away for a moment before looking his sire right in the eye.

"Because I know she isn't stupid enough to hurt her baby."

"Well duh. I mean who would even want to hurt a…what did you say?"

"Your girl is I believe about four months pregnant."

"Oh my God. She's…I mean…My…Our bab…"

Angel started to hyperventilate and had to sit down. Giles came up and frowned at the blond vampire

"What do you mean baby. That's completely impossible. There is no way she can be pregnant."

"Well as far as I'm concerned watcher, coming back from the dead is pretty impossible but hey, she's managed that a few times. So bringing back a kid, well that would be a walk in the park."

"My God. Does she know" Giles asked. Spike just glared at him before turning back to Angel.

"So Angelus, what you gonna do? Angel? Angel man where are you?"

Spike spun 360 degrees but couldn't find him.

"Good, well now that that's settled, I'm going to go and have a chat to Ora." Spike calmly walked upstairs while the rest of the gang sat down in shocked silence.