Chapter 26

Buffy was laying in bed staring at the ceiling. She was now 23 weeks along and she had a perfectly round belly that wasn't so big it overpowered her. Phoebe kept telling her she was the most beautiful pregnant woman ever. Sometimes the Slayer didn't feel like it.

Angel was out with the girls demon hunting and Buffy was watching Wyatt. They'd been playing with his toys up until a few minutes ago. He'd gotten bored and had tried to climb up on the bed to lay with Buffy. She'd pulled him up and he'd curled up next to her to sleep.

"Ok, here you go." Paige said from downstairs.

Piper walked upstairs. "Buffy?"

"In here." Buffy sat up without disturbing Wyatt. "How was it?"

"Oh, you know…. We got the demon. Was he good for you?"

"He was perfect. What's up with the tone?"

"What tone?"

"You have a tone."

Piper sighed. "Let me put Wyatt in his crib and we'll go downstairs."

"You go ahead. I'll meet you down there." Buffy walked out and headed downstairs. Paige, Angel, and Phoebe were standing around Wyatt's playpen staying in. Inside the playpen was a small baby chewing on a teething toy.

"I still can't believe we vanquished his mommy." Phoebe said.

"Yeah, but we didn't know it was a mommy, and besides, mommy tried to kill us." Paige said.

"I know."

"Demon baby?" Buffy asked.

All three of them turned. "Yup."

"Hey baby." Angel said, kissing her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired."

"Look at how cute he is." Phoebe said. "So adorable. Oh, except when he does that weird little thing with his tongue."

"What weird little thing with his…." The baby flicked its forked tongue and Buffy gasped a little. "Oh that weird little thing with his tongue."

"I wonder why he looks so human." Paige said.

"He won't for long." Angel said.

Piper walked down the stairs. "Ok, Wyatt's upstairs, so at least he's…." Wyatt orbed down into the playpen next to the baby. "Safe."

"Don't worry about Wyatt." Buffy said. "He's got his protective bubble. He'll use it if he needs it."

"Plus, it looks like he likes his new friend." Paige said.

"That is not a friend. That's a demon." Piper said.

"No, he's just a baby!"

"Excuse me. Were you at the same vanquish as me? Because it took all three of us to stop its mother."

"It doesn't mean he's gonna turn out that way."

"Paige, he doesn't have a choice. It's genetic." Angel said.

"No, I don't think so. Ok. Maybe I'm a little biased because I am, in fact, adopted, but I really think there's something to the whole nurture versus nature thing and predicting how a kid is gonna turn out, you know, the classic environment versus biology argument."

"But this is not a child. It's a demon." Piper said.

"Ok." Buffy looked at Phoebe. "Why don't you go over there and see if you can sense anything evil?"

Phoebe looked a the baby in the playpen. "All right." After a moment, she shrugged. "Nothing…. Good or evil."

"My point exactly!" Paige declared. "Clay to be molded."

"Yeah, I don't know about that." Piper said.

"Still, the question remains, what are we supposed to do with him?" Phoebe asked.

Chris orbed into the room, his back to the playpen. "So you vanquished the demon?"

"Yes…. And no." Piper said.

"Well, the good news is the demon you sent us after is, in fact, uh…. gone." Paige said.

"And the bad news is whatever ate it….. left us that." Angel said, pointing to the baby. Chris turned around and saw the baby flick its tongue out at him.

"I think he likes you." Paige said.

"I don't care. Vanquish it."

"Chris!" Buffy said.

"I mean it. Now."

"No!" Paige said. "We are not vanquishing a baby. What's wrong with you?"

"I'm just concerned that this could be the future evil that gets to Wyatt."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"What? I'm being ridiculous? There's a demon in the playpen."

Before anyone could answer, the telephone rang. "I'll get it." Paige turned to leave.

"Hey, if it's Jason, tell him I'm in the shower." Phoebe said.

"Are you avoiding him?" Buffy asked.

"Uh…. Kind of. I, um…. Sort of told him that I loved him last night."

"And this is bad?"

"No. Except I said, 'I love you, too,' as if he said, 'I love you' first…. Which he didn't."

"So, wait…. You told him that he loves you before he told you that he loves you?" Phoebe nodded emphatically. "Yeah, that's not good."

"Yeah. I'll be lucky if he doesn't move to Hong Kong permanently now. I really thought I had my empath power under control."

"Forget that." Chris interrupted. "What are you gonna do?"

"What am I supposed to do? I mean, you tell a guy that you love them, and they bolt. It's just what they do."

"About the baby. I meant the baby. We gotta do something." Behind Chris, the baby cooed and everyone looked at it. At that moment, the baby saw the pacifier across the playpen. He flicked his tongue, stretching it out across the playpen, and picked up the pacifier with it bringing it to his mouth to suck on. "Fast."

Wyatt was in his playpen with Piper and Buffy sitting next to it. Piper was playing peek-a-boo with her son. "Where's Wyatt? Where is he? Look, look, wait. Listen. Where's Wyatt?" She moved her hands. "There he is! Look! Look!" She covered her eyes. "Where's Wyatt? Where's Wyatt?" She moved her hands away again. "There he is!" Wyatt wasn't interested at all. He shook his head and went back to playing with his toys. "All right."

"I don't think distracting him is the answer." Chris said behind them.

"Wyatt, bad demon. Very bad demon."

Paige walked back into the conservatory to join the rest of the group just as Phoebe walked in with Angel. "Hey, was that Jason?"

"No. That was my raison d'etre."

"Pardon?" Buffy asked.

"That was Darryl. I've been wondering why the temp agency hasn't called, and now I know why. I needed to be free to help him."

"To do what?" Piper asked.

"Well, to save an innocent. Why else would he have called? And, more importantly, why else would I have been the one to answer the phone?"

"Cause you were the closest to it?" Phoebe said.

"No. Because it's my reason for being. Call me if you need help." Paige walked out the door.

"What? You're just gonna let her go?" Chris asked.

"You're welcome to try and stop her." Buffy said.

"I should go talk to Jason." Phoebe said, standing up.

"And her, too." Piper added.

"Wait. Stop. Where are you going? Are you slightly concerned that there's a demon in the house?"

"Chris, this is a baby, ok?" Relax." Phoebe looked at Buffy. "You call me if you need anything." She knelt down and started baby talking to Buffy's belly. "Bye, bye, Alex! Bye, bye, sweetheart. My little niece. Yes you are! Yes you are!"

Buffy pushed Phoebe away with a laugh and said, "Love you, too."

"Don't."

"Sorry."

"And you guys are ok with this?" Chris asked. "Them dumping this on your laps?"

"Well, they don't seem too worried." Piper said.

Chris looked down at the playpen. "Well, they should be. I need to figure out what kind of creature we're dealing with here." He orbed out.

"He's way too serious." Buffy said.

"Uh huh." Piper agreed.

Buffy looked over at Angel sitting on the couch. "You're quiet."

"Just thinking." Angel said.

"About?"

"If Paige is right about molding a baby instead of him being born evil."

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes the craziest killers grow up with the most normal lives." She looked back at the demon baby who smiled up at her.

Chris paced the attic with the Book while Buffy, Piper, and Angel sat on the couch talking amongst themselves. "'Vicious demons with supernatural strength and venomous claws, manticores communicate with high-pitched cries and tend to travel in packs.'" Chris nodded and looked over at his audience. "Uh…. Hi! Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. Manticores." Piper said.

"I say we get rid of the little brat before the pack comes looking for him."

"What do you suggest we do with him, call social services?"

"No, I suggest you vanquish it."

"Chris, I'm a mother. I can't go around vanquishing babies, no matter how evil they are."

"Buffy…."

"Sorry, Chris. I'm with Piper." Buffy patted her belly.

"It's not how evil he is. It's how evil he's gonna be. You gotta stop looking at him like he's a little baby and start looking at him like he's an unstoppable killing machine, because that's what he is."

"I realize that, but still…." Piper said.

"But still nothing. You're supposed to protect the innocents, right? Think of all the future innocents you can save by vanquishing him right now."

"Don't you think we know that?" Buffy snapped. "I'm scared to death of what he could possibly to do Wyatt, or even to Alexis, but we can't even separate those two." She gestured at the playpen where Wyatt was playing with the demon baby.

"Guys, there's one thing you can do, and you know it. And you'd better do it fast before any other manticores show up. There's no known vanquishing potion."

"We just can't do it." Piper said.

"Ok. Well, if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to Leo." Chris orbed out.

Angel shook his head. "Didn't even ask my opinion."

"Because you'll answer the same as we did." Buffy said.

Inside the playpen, Wyatt was playing peek-a-boo with the demon baby. He would cover his eyes and the demon baby would shimmer out. When Wyatt uncovered his eyes, the demon baby shimmered back in. Buffy and Piper chuckled.