Third Person

It's late in the night as everyone in the house is sleeping. While everyone is sleeping, Buffy's egg project was doing something that an egg shouldn't be doing. The egg started rocking back and forth, while a small hold appeared on the side of the egg. A part of the egg broke open, and a long, thin tentacle began to make its way out. The tentacle angled over towards Buffy and branched out into several fingers towards her.


Later in the night, the tentacle was closer to Buffy as one of its fingers was in her ear while another laid itself across her left eye. A third covered her right eye as another went across her neck and went into her other ear. It wasn't before long that all of the tentacles were laying down on her face.


Time Skip

It was morning, the Gorch brothers were relaxing while waiting out the sunlight. Tector was having breakfast as Lyle was lying back with his feet up and his hat on his face.

"I'm tired of rat. How come we can't stay in a nice place?" Tector said as he placed the dead rat down. "A motel or something? Maybe, uh... Maybe with an ice machine."

"'Cause we got to keep a low profile till we get this Slayer business taken care of," Lyle replied.

"Well, how come Angelus was getting all cuddly with one of them, Lyle? I mean, does the man have no code?" Tector questioned.

"Tector..." Lyle said as he leaned on his elbows. "You gonna be pestering me with these questions all damn day?"

"I just don't like it here. Ain't a decent whore in the whole city limits," Tector responded.

"So this is the thanks I get?" Lyle voiced as he stood up. "Well. Don't I take care of ya? Didn't I near raise you myself? Hmm? The burden that you were, maybe I should have left you on that doorstep when Momma blew town."

"Don't say that, Lyle." Tector returned.

"Now, I'm taking care of this," Lyle responded.

"You afraid of the girls?" Tector questioned.

"I'm just playing it safe. We're just gonna follow her around a little while longer, and find the right time because this ain't over!" Lyle answered.

"I think you are afraid of these Slayers!" Tector exclaimed.

"Alright. I'm gonna beat you like a redheaded stepchild," Lyle replied as he nodded. "Throw your ass out into that sunlight. C'mon." He pointed towards the sunlight glaze.

"You think you can?" Tector questioned.

"Giddy-up, son." Lyle goaded him as he adjusted his hat and coat while he waited for Tector to stand.

Tector stood as he adjusted his hat and smiled at his brother. Tector reared backwards as he took the first swing at Lyle. Lyle looked at his brother and nodded before punching him hard in the face. Tector took a couple of steps backwards to keep himself from losing his balance.

"Oh, man!" Tector laughed as he came back towards his brother and punched in the gut.

His brother doubled over for a moment before straightening up and giving Tector a wide smile.

"Yippe-ki-yay, matey!" Lyle responded as he threw another punch at his brother.


Back at the Slayer house...

Aurora POV

I woke to hear my baby lightly crying and the sun shining through my window. I look to see the strange egg still in my table. I could hear Buffy next door moaning as she began to wake up. I walked over to my desk to see that Brianna had a doctor's appointment after school today for her first-month checkup. Brianna started crying as I knew she was getting hungry.

"I'm coming, Brianna," I said as I walked over to Brianna's crib.

I picked her up and out of the crib and placed her onto the changing table. I changed her diaper and placed her into a clean one. I changed her into clean onesie before picking her up and gently placed her into the bouncer chair.

"Aurora, I'll watch her while you shower and dress," Cole said as he came into the room.

"Thank you, love," I replied before kissing him.

I quickly headed to the shower with my bathroom stuff. Ten minutes later, I was finished showering, and my hair was dry. I walked into my room and changed as Cole got Brianna's stuff ready.

"Okay. I'll take these and meet you downstairs," Cole stated as he took my bag, the egg and Brianna's bag before shimmering out downstairs.

I took Brianna out of her chair and headed downstairs.


When I got downstairs, Jenna opened the door to Cole, Andy and Leo.

"Morning, boys," Jenna said.

"Morning, Jenna," the boys replied.

"Let's get some breakfast before school," Kate responded as she came up behind me.

"Aurora, I placed Brianna's bag and our bags into the car," Cole told me.

"Thank you," I whispered as he took Brianna from me.

We headed into the kitchen.


We walked into the kitchen to see Aunt Joyce making tea, coffee, and a bottle of formula for Brianna.

"Morning, Aunt Joyce," Kate, Kyra, Jeremy and I said.

"Morning, Mrs. Summers," Andy, Leo, and Cole said.

"Morning, girls, boys," Aunt Joyce replied. "You must be Andy. Kyra told me about you. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Andy responded.

"Aurora, I made Brianna her bottle for her," Aunt Joyce told me.

"Thank you, Aunt Joyce." I voiced.

"Your welcome," Aunt Joyce replied as she handed me the bottle.

I took the bottle and began to feed Brianna the bottle as Kate, Kyra, and Jeremy started making our travel mugs up for school. Tea for me and Kate and Coffee for the rest of the group. Leo, Cole and Andy handed their travel mugs over as Kate and Kyra grabbed for them. Jenna pulled out the banana chocolate chip muffins that I had made two nights ago for breakfast.

We turned as Buffy came into the kitchen with her egg. I handed Jenna the empty bottle as Brianna was done. I burped her before getting her situated into the car seat. We watched as Buffy grab a cup of coffee and sat down on one of the stools.

"Honey, at least eat something if you're going to drink that," Aunt Joyce piped up.

"Not that hungry," Buffy responded.

"How's the parenting going?" Aunt Joyce questioned as she broke off a piece of toast and munched on it.

"Fine," Buffy and Kate said as the rest of us nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure your egg is secure in that?" Aunt Joyce asked.

"Did I ask for backseat mommying?" Buffy returned as she looked up at her.

"Are we a little touchy this morning?" Jenna responded.

"No, I just feel all funky," Buffy replied.

"Hmm," Aunt Joyce said as she felt her forehead. "You don't have a fever."

"Oh, no, it's not that, I just... didn't sleep very well," Buffy stated.

"What's the matter? Your egg, keep you up all night?" Aunt Joyce questioned.

"You're killing me. Parenting is a pain!" Buffy responded as she gave her a look.

"I find it enjoyable but annoying with an egg as well," I muttered to Cole.

"Wait till it starts dating," Jenna responded.

"We have to get to school," Kyra pointed out.

We grabbed out travel mugs and muffins before heading out the door with Brianna. When we got outside, we separated at the cars. Cole, Brianna, Kyra, Andy and I were with Jenna. Leo, Buffy, Jeremy and Kate were in Kate's car. We got in the cars situated Brianna before heading off to school.


When we got to school, we headed straight to our teen health class only to find out that it was cancelled. So we headed to the library with Xander and Willow to meet up with Giles, Jenna and baby Brianna.

"Hey, why aren't you in class?" Jenna asked us as we came into the library.

"Got cancelled," Leo responded as Giles came out of the stacks with some books.

"Oh! Why are you all doing hanging about?" Giles questioned as he jumped. "Don't you have classes to go to?"

"Teen health got cancelled," Willow responded.

"Mr. Whitmore's out. Couldn't find an egg sitter or something," Xander brought up.

Buffy, Willow and I walked up a few steps and stopped.

"Well, then, can you give me a hand?" Giles asked.

"No," Buffy, Willow, and I responded as we sat down on the steps.

"Sure!" Xander, Leo, Andy, and Jeremy exclaimed as they started shelving some books.

"How did the, um...hunt go last night, Aurora?" Giles asked me as Buffy was not hunting last night.

"No, go," I stated.

"Uh, 'no'... 'no' you didn't go, or, or you were unsuccessful?" Giles questioned.

"No Gorch Brothers," I told him.

"Apparently, Aurora has decided the problem with the English language is all those pesky words," Xander said as he looked down at Cole and I. "You... Angel... Cole... big... smoochies?"

"Shut... up," I responded.

"I-it's true, Buffy, you, Aurora and Willow do seem sluggish," Giles stated.

"Are you quite sure everything's alright?" Jenna asked.

"I didn't sleep very well," I responded as Buffy and Willow exchanged a look.

"Maybe something they ate," Kyra said.

"Or perhaps its the burden of parenthood. Notice how Buffy and Willow taking it seriously with the whole egg thing," Xander said as Willow and Buffy clutched their egg baskets in their arms.

"Aurora has nightmares sometimes," Cole said. "I know this because I'm connected to her."

They ignored Cole as Xander continued on, "While I, in turn, have, uh, well, chosen..." As he took his egg out of his shirt pocket. "A more balanced approach," Xander started tossing the egg around.

"Xander, maybe you shouldn't..." Willow started to say with concern.

"That's exactly, what I'm talking about," Xander interrupted as he tossed the egg. "You can't stress over every little thing!" He threw the egg up again. "A child picks up on that. Which is a one-way ticket..." He tossed the egg once more. "...to neurotic city."

We watched as Xander tossed the egg again but missed catching it. The girls and I gasped as the egg hit floor but didn't break. I also heard Giles yelp from above us.

"It didn't break!" Kate exclaimed with surprise in her voice.

"How come it didn't break?" Willow suspicious questioned.

"Which is another secret to conscientious egg care: a pot of scalding water and about eight minutes," Xander stated.

"You boiled your young?" Kyra questioned.

"Yeah! I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind! I mean, you can bet that Xander Jr. here is thick-skinned now," Xander responded as he reached down for the egg and picked it up.

"Technically, that would be cheating, yes?" Giles sought out as he reached up to place a book on the shelf.

"No! It's like a short cut. You know, when you run a race?" Xander returned.

"That would also be cheating," Leo voiced.

"You should be ashamed," Willow said as she shook her head.

"I suppose there is a sort of... Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression," Giles replied.

"I resent that!" Xander exclaimed as he got a look from Giles and Jenna. "Or possibly thank you."

We turned our heads towards the doors as we heard the open. I walked over to the playpen and picked Brianna up as she was crying.

"Figures you would all be hanging in the dungeon while something major's going on at Sunnydale High," Cordelia said as she came towards us.

Cole came over to me and took Brianna from my arms and took her to change her diaper.

"And what would that be, Cordelia? Barrette Appreciation Day?" Jeremy questioned as he, Xander and Leo went back to shelving.

"Mr. Whitmore didn't show today," Cordelia stated.

"That news is of the past," I told her.

"He's missing?" Cordelia said as we looked at Giles. "Presumed dead?"

"Presumed by whom?" Giles questioned.

"Well, me!" Cordelia exclaimed as she crossed her arms.

"Before we continue with this, I have to hand these out," I voiced as I handed everyone an invite, including to Cordelia. "Giles, can you hand this to Miss Calendar?" As I gave Giles another invite.

"What is this?" Cordelia asked.

"An invite to Masquerade Ball back in Mystic Falls. I believe all need some needed vacation away from Sunnydale, and it's on Spring Break." Kate answered.

"When do we leave?" Willow asked.

"We leave on Sunday, all outfits for masquerade will be picked and bought there. So you only need clothes for 6 days," Kyra stated.

"It's a party," Cordelia said. "I'm there."

"I'll have to ask. I'm there as well," Willow replied.

Xander nodded in agreement, as did the other boys.

"Okay, anyway, back to what we were talking about. I think we should give your teacher a few hours before we have given up on him completely," Jenna stated.

"Well, I think we should look around, don't you, Xander?" Cordelia questioned.

"It can wait," Xander said as he looked at her and shook his head.

"Well, his body could fall out of a closet somewhere," Cordelia replied.

What she had said brought back a memory from last year with our science teacher being killed by a demon bug.

"Here," Cole said as he handed me Brianna and a bottle of formula.

I started to feed Brianna the bottle of formula as we noticed Xander looking a bit nervous.

"So we should check some closets to see if he's in a closet?" Cordelia added.

"You're right," Xander said as he pointed at Cordelia. "There could be a closet. Let's go," Xander pointed at us as he came down the stairs. "You guys look for more clues. We'll meet back here." He took Cordelia by the arm and guided her out of the library.

Brianna started to cry. She needed to be burped. I burped her before laying her down in her playpen.

"We'll get right on it," Buffy unenthusiastically said.

"Are they getting weirder?" Willow questioned. "Have you noticed the weirdness of them?" She looked over at us.

"They're weird," Cole voiced.

"Should we have guilt about not looking for Mr. Whitmore?" I questioned.

"I-I'd rather you conserve your strengths for hunting the Gorch Brothers," Giles stated.

"We'll be fine by tonight. Maybe we'll sweep the cemetery?" I responded.

"Well, be careful, i-if you're still feeling a little sluggish," Giles said with concern.

"No worries," Buffy voiced.

"Angel and Cole are helping you, right? Aurora?" Willow asked me.

"We do what we can," Cole stated.

"Well, let's get back to work," Andy voiced as he, Jeremy and Leo continued on stacking the shelves with books.

The girls and I headed to the tables and began reading books before we had to head to our next class.


Time Skip

After classes, we headed home. We did our homework, had a quick dinner before Buffy, and I changed for patrol. Both of us headed out to the cemetery before separating for the night. I met up with Cole and Angel before they pulled me into another passionate kissing session.

"Ah..." I said as I kissed Cole and broke it off. "As much as I hate to say this, we should really go kill the bad guys." I kissed Cole again.

"It's late. You should really get home to Brianna. Hmmm?" Angel said as he kissed my shoulder.

"What about the Gorch Brothers?" I questioned as I switched to Angel and kissed him.

"We'll hunt," Cole said as he kissed my shoulder.

"Really?" I replied as I pulled back from Angel and looked at Cole. "You'd do that for me?"

"Not like I have an early day tomorrow," Angel told me.

"Mm... True," I responded as I kissed him before the three of us started to walk. "I still have to go home, check on Brianna and do that stupid egg diary."

"Your what?" Angel questioned.

"Oh, I thought we told you, we have to take care of an egg for school," Cole answered.

"I mean, already have a baby at home," I voiced as I faced Angel. "I already know the feeling of taking care of a baby. But someday in the future, I will have more children but having another baby now is just a little too much to deal with right now."

"I wouldn't know," Angel said as he looked at her. "I don't... Well, you know, I... I can't."

"Oh, but Brianna will always know you, Cole and my last two mates as their fathers. I know your kind of vampire can't do those things," I replied. "You know, like work for a company, or volunteer for the Red Cross, or... give me children."

All of a sudden, I got a vision of Angel holding a baby boy, but I could tell that the baby wasn't mine.

"What is it?" Cole asked.

"Nothing," I responded as I shook my head.

"So, you don't think about the future?" Angel asked.

"Sometimes, not right now, no," I responded.

"Never?" Angel questioned.

"No," I changed my answer.

"You really don't care what happens in a year from now? Five years from now?" Angel inquired.

"Angel, Cole, when I look into the future, a-all I see is you and our other mates! All I want is my soulmates," I exclaimed.

"I know the feeling," Angel and Cole stated.

Angel pulled me into another kiss before Cole kissed me as well.

"We'll walk you home and finish patrolling," Cole said as he broke the kiss.

We started walking out of the cemetery.


Ten minutes later, we were outside of the house. I kissed both Cole and Angel goodnight before climbing up into the house. I quickly changed out of the patrol clothes placed them into my laundry hamper. I had a quick shower before changing into my PJs. Before I got into bed, I heard Brianna crying.

"Miss Brianna, what's the matter?" I questioned as I walked over to the crib and picked her up. "Ahh, you young miss has a wet and dirty diaper."

I changed her diaper and rocked her back to sleep.

"Your mama has a long day ahead of her tomorrow. You'll need to be patient with her tomorrow," I whispered to her as I placed her back into the crib before checking on the egg and locking it into a box.

I got into bed and went to sleep.


Third Person

At the high school, one of the night watchmen were walking along the halls and checking the doors to make sure they were locked. As he got to the hallway intersection and looked down one way and then the other. The nightguard noticed that a door on his right was standing ajar. He walked over to it and opened the door wider, looked in and walked in. He walked down a couple of steps making an attempt to be completely quiet. He tried to turn on the light, but it didn't work.

"Hello?" The watchmen said as he saw the doors to the boiler room open. "Is anybody in here?" As he walked into the boiler room. He took out his flashlight and turned it on, and he continued through the room.

He noticed that the lights on the boiler controls were active, and the fires were burning. As he walked past the boilers, he noticed that there was a large hole in the concrete wall behind a bunch of stacked barrels and boxes. He slowly walked over to the stack with his flashlight held over his shoulder, lighting the way as he went. The nightguard pushed aside the tower of boxes that were blocking the way. He noticed that the tunnel continued beyond the hole. He picked up his flashlight again before stepping up to look through the hole. What the nightguard didn't know that Mr. Whitmore appeared behind holding a pick. Mr. Whitmore slammed the nightman across the back with it, making him fall through the tunnel and which knocked him out. Mr. Whimore climbed through the hole after the watchman.


Back at the Slayer house...

Buffy had just gotten home from patrol before she had time to change, she heard a notice her egg was rocking back and forth in its basket. She stared for a moment before going over to it. Buffy bent down to look at it more closely, not expecting it to hatch. Buffy got closer as she got more curious about it. She stared at it intently as the top half of the egg cracked into thirds. All of a sudden, two of the pieces flew away while the third just fell backwards, and noticed a purplish-gray thing with tentacles that were curled up inside the egg.

"What the?" Buffy whispered as it jumped out at her, and she fell back.

It falls to the floor and quickly crawled under the bed. Buffy quickly got composure and reached down into her wicker basket for her iron. Buffy stood back up and looked at the darkness that was under her bedspread. She slowly approached her bed and knelt down as she quickly raised the spread and looked underneath with the iron held a ready position. When nothing happened, Buffy stood back up and scanned her room. Whatever it was, it's nowhere to be seen now. All of a sudden, Buffy felt something fall onto her back from above. It started to crawl down, only for her grab it and flung it off her. It crawled quickly behind her desk and along her wall past her bookcase back towards her bed. Buffy looked around for another weapon and grabbed for the pair of scissors that were on her desk. Without her noticing, the creature disappeared again. She approached the bed once more with the scissors ready in case of anything. What she didn't know was the hatchling was crawling along the wall behind her. Buffy sensed it before swinging around the scissors and nailing against the wall. Buffy grabbed the scissors that were tacked into the wall with the creature attached started stabbing it into the ground. She continued to stab it until she was ready to believe it was dead. Buffy walked over to the phone and dialled the number she needed.


Aurora POV

I woke to Brianna crying and something being thrown against the wall. I quickly got up and ran towards Brianna and picked her up.

"Shh, Brianna, Mama's got you. Let's go see what wrong with your Aunt Buffy," I voiced as I walked out of my room.

"What's going on?" Kate questioned as she came out of her room with Kyra coming out of her room as well.

"I don't know," I whispered as we slowly headed towards Buffy's room.

We walked into Buffy's room saw Buffy trying to call someone.

"Come on! Pick up!" Buffy said.

"Hello?" We heard Willow on the side of the phone.

"Willow! Are you okay?" Buffy asked.

"Why shouldn't I be?" We heard Willow's question.

"Your egg! I-is it doing anything?" Buffy questioned.

I quickly handed Brianna over to Jenna before running to my room. To kill the egg that was in the box. I opened the box and killed the creature as it came up at me with my silver stake. I quickly headed back to Buffy's room with Jeremy, Kate, and Kyra behind me.

"Did you kill the creature inside your egg?" I asked them.

"Yeah, as soon as we heard Buffy ask Willow about the egg," Kate responded.

When we got back into Buffy's room, Buffy was still on the phone with Willow. I took a sleeping Brianna from Jenna and slowly but quickly walked into my room and placed Brianna back into her crib. Cole was there. I gave him a look before heading back into Buffy's room.

"Doing what?" We heard Willow ask in confusion.

"Break it! Right now! I want you to smash it with something heavy!" Buffy told her.

"Buffy, what..." Willow started to say.

"My egg! It went..." Buffy interrupted her. "It went postal on me! The thing hatched, and it sprung this creepy-crawly thing, and it attacked me!"

"Are you okay?" Willow questioned.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine, but your egg!" Buffy cried out.

"I-it's totally normal. Uh, I put it in the fridge," We heard Willow respond.

"Oh," Buffy whispered.

"Maybe it's a trap. Something the Gorch brothers planted for you and Aurora?" Willow questioned.

"Maybe. Yeah, uh... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you," Buffy voiced. "Uh, g-go back to sleep."

"You sure?" Willow challenged.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm better. I'm fine," Buffy stated.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Willow said before hanging up.

Buffy hung up the phone and turned to us.

"Guys, your eggs..." Buffy started to say.

"We already killed whatever they were," Kyra interrupted.

"What's going on in here?" We heard Aunt Joyce say from behind us.

We turned our heads towards her as Buffy covered the egg basket with a cloth.

"Girls, Jeremy, why are you up at this late hour?" Aunt Joyce asked Kate, Kyra, Jeremy and I before turning to Buffy. "Buffy, who are you talking to at this ho...?" Buffy scrambled to her feet. "Why are you dressed, Buffy? Where exactly do you think you're going at this hour of the night?"

"Nowhere," Buffy responded.

"Who was that on the phone?" Aunt Joyce questioned as she came further into the room.

"Um, uh, Willow. She wasn't feeling very well today," Buffy quickly answered. "So, I was just calling to make sure she was feeling better."

"We woke to Buffy on the phone," I told Aunt Joyce, but she ignored me.

"You're gonna have to do much better than, young lady," Aunt Joyce said as she crossed her arms.

"I had a bad dream?" Buffy voiced.

"Oh, no, you're going to have a bad dream!" Aunt Joyce exclaimed as she stood between Buffy and I. "A dream that you, Buffy, are grounded for the rest of your natural life."

Which means for the next couple days of grounding for Buffy.

"Goodnight," Jenna said before heading to bed.

Aunt Joyce followed her without saying a word to us. Buffy got changed into her PJs and turned to us.

"Kate, could you call Giles and ask about this egg creature thing?" Buffy questioned.

"Okay. Goodnight," Kate responded as she headed out of the room.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Night," I voiced as I headed out of Buffy's room with Kyra behind me.

"Night, Aurora," Kyra said.

"Night, Kyra," I replied as I walked into my room. I closed the door and locked it.

"What happened?" Cole asked as he appeared from Brianna's hidden nursery.

"Demon egg creature thing," I answered as I placed the dead creature into the box.

"Are you okay?" Cole questioned.

"Just tired. Could you stay the night with me?" I responded.

"That would be nice," Cole replied. "Just one moment," Cole said as he shimmered out and shimmered back in with his school bag and clothes for tomorrow.

I got into bed, and he joined me as we fell asleep in each other's arms.