Chapter 12
Lullaby
"Holtz... my God." Angel said.
"You have no god, demon." Holtz replied.
"The Tro-Clon.. the prophecy..raised up from light to bring darkness.. it's you." Holtz just glared at Angel. "Holtz, whatever brought you here.."
"You did." Holtz made a gesture and a neck clamp came from nowhere and attached itself to Angel. It was followed by wrist clamps. They were all held by three grapplers by long poles. "You and your demon bitch. For two hundred years I slept. For two
hundred years I dreamt of nothing but this moment." Holtz laid a sword to Angel's throat.
"Which would explain why you look so well rested."
"You haven't changed." Holtz pulled the sword back.
"Actually, I have. While you were sleeping, a lot changed."
"Really?" Holtz threw Holy Water on Angel's face. It began to burn him like acid and Angel morphed into vamp face for a couple of seconds. "Somehow things seem the same to me."
"You're wrong."
Holtz put the sword back to Angel's throat. "I WILL have justice."
"No. I don't think you will. There is no justice for the things I did to you."
"You didn't do them to me. And you didn't do them alone. Find the female. If he's here, Darla can't be far." Holtz told one of the grapplers. "Or are you going to tell me that's changed, too?"
"Actually.."
Buffy screamed again.
"Angel's not back with the scrolls yet. I'd feel a lot better if we had the ancient prophecies to guide us." Wes said.
"Please! Women have been giving birth without ancient prophecies for years!" Cordy retorted.
"What we could really use right about now is some Vaseline and a catcher's mitt." Gunn said.
"I don't think she's ready to deliver yet." Fred said.
"We have to go. We can't stay here. It's too exposed. Angel should have been back by now." Wes said.
"Something must have happened." Gunn said.
Willow and Xander held tightly to Buffy's hands. She was trying not to squeeze too hard.
"Just breathe Buffy." Willow said.
"I.. don't.. know.. how." Buffy said.
"What?" Xander asked. "You don't know how to breathe?"
"I.. quit.. lamas.. classes." Buffy screamed. "They were.. cheesy!"
"Now it's up to us to protect Angel's unborn child. Buffy, we're trying to take you out of here. Relax. The breathing goes something like this: heh, heh, heh, hoh, hoh, hoh, heh, heh, heh.."
"I! Quit!" Buffy screamed as she punched Wesley, sending him back into a wall. "AAAANNNNGGGGEEEELLLL!" Buffy sat there and cried. "Ow." She whined.
Holtz was looking at Angel's swords.
"You're still human. How'd you manage this?" Angel asked, still held by the grips.
"So, the question becomes: now that I have you what's the best way to get her?" Holtz said, putting the sword back.
"Only dark magicks could have brought you this far."
"She was always the trick, you know, not you. Darla was the unpredictable one."
"Was it a demon or something else?"
"What if I just kill you now?" Holtz held a stake to Angel's heart. "Would she somehow sense it? Would she then come running? Would that bring her bursting through those doors, I wonder?"
"Did something come to you, or did you seek it out?"
"She might show herself in the service of revenge. It can be a powerful motivator."
"Yes, it can. What did you have to give up for this second chance?"
"Give up? I had nothing to give up. You saw to that."
"We took a lot from you, that's true. But we didn't get everything. We couldn't take your soul."
"What do you know of a soul?"
"I know yours will be destroyed if you allow yourself to be used in the service of evil. You're a good man, Holtz. A righteous man and you're being used for some purpose other than justice."
"Could it be you really have changed? I don't remember you ever pleading so cravenly before."
"And I remember you used to work with men."
Holtz backhanded Angel across the face.
"Smack him again." Gunn said.
Cordy smacked Wesley across his cheek.
"Ow." Wes opened his eyes. "That hurts."
"Well, you know what they say: birth.. painful."
"Yes, but generally for the mother, not the bystanders. How long have I been out?"
"Not long, but we seem to be between contractions now." Fred said.
They all looked at Buffy who was sitting in the backseat gesturing and obviously talking to herself despite the fact that Willow and Xander were still in the car with her.
"Yep. She's been doing that." Cordy said.
"Hormones." Gunn said.
"Come on then. Buffy? Buffy, do you feel well enough to travel?" Wesley asked. Buffy nodded a little.
"Good."
"I think it stopped." Buffy said in a little voice.
"What?" Gunn asked.
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Those were some pretty heavy screams, girl. Are you sure?"
"I don't know. I want Angel." Buffy said.
"Well.. Buffy.." Willow started, not wanting to get hit.
"What?"
"He's been gone for a while. He.. He may not come back."
"What?" Buffy said. "He.. He has to come back. That hurt and he's supposed to be here."
"Wes, what are you waiting for?" Cordy asked.
"I presume we have a tire iron in the trunk?" Wes asked.
"Yeah, why? We got a flat?" Gunn asked.
"And how about a hurling ax, or some sort of heavy mallet?"
They all looked up and saw a few Grappler demons standing at the opening of the alley.
"Also a shotgun wouldn't be a terrible thing at this juncture."
They all turned and saw that there were more demons at that end of the alley also.
"Are you still concerned about my soul, Angelus? My vampire priest?" Holtz asked. The door opened and a Grappler demon came in. "Excuse me." He said to Angel. Holtz walked over to the demon to receive the news that the demon had brought. "You've got her? Good. Bring her in."
Angel watched with wide eyes, thinking he had Buffy, or even possibly Darla. But Lilah walked in instead. "Lilah." He said.
"This isn't her." Holtz said. He threw Holy Water on her. "She's not even a vampire."
Lilah wiped her face dry. "No, I'm an attorney."
"Let me guess: dead guys all over my floor.. friends of yours?" Angel asked.
"Look, if I'd known you were torturing him, I wouldn't have interrupted. Please, continue. I'll wait until your finished."
"When I'm finished, he'll be dead." Holtz replied.
"Really?"
"You say you're an attorney. You deal in man's laws, I deal in God's."
"Ah, right. A good guy."
"Do you know what he is?"
"Yeah, I know. Vampire, cursed by gypsies who restored his soul. Destined to atone for centuries of evil, wacky sidekicks, yada, yada. I'd have him killed myself, except the people I work for have this," Lilah made air quotes, "'policy.'"
"Hm."
"Hmm."
"What does she mean 'cursed by gypsies?'" Holtz asked Angel.
"Long story, Holtz. I doubt it would interest you much." Angel said.
"How about I go to my car for about twenty seconds? That should give you enough time in here. Then I gotta call some people to clean this mess up. I've got an early staff meeting in the morning." Lilah said.
Angel spotted a grenade on the floor in the hand of a dead man.
"I can't allow you two leave." Holtz said to Lilah.
Angel craned his neck to look at the elevator behind him.
"What do you mean? Of course you can."
"No. You said you work for the law."
Angel put the tip of his shoe under the dead man's open hand.
"No, I didn't. I said I'm a lawyer. I don't care about the law."
"Lilah?" Angel said.
"What?" she asked, turning to him.
"Duck." Angel flipped the grenade up and caught the pin in his mouth. He shook his head and the grenade flew free from the pin. The top came off the grenade as it landed on the floor and exploded a moment later, blasting Angel back and throwing Holtz to the floor.
In all the confusion, Angel took the opportunity to escape through the elevator shafts. He ran back to the alley that he had left his wife and friends at.
Wes, Gunn, Cordy, and Fred held off the demons while Buffy sat in the car with Willow and Xander arguing with herself again.
"Keep the moving!" Wes called.
"Don't let them get behind you!" Gunn called.
Buffy shook her head and climbed in the driver's seat. While everyone continued to fight, Buffy started the car up and put it in drive.
"Buffy, what are ya doing?" Xander asked.
"This." Buffy drove forward and plowed down two demons. Then, putting it in reverse, she ran over one behind the car. Braking again, she put it in drive and drove right out of the alley.
Angel came up and stood behind the group standing in the alley. He craned his head so he could see over everyone's shoulders. "What are we looking at?" he asked. They all turned and stared at him.
Buffy drove like crazy. She wanted to get out of there right then and there.
"Buffy, where are we going?" Willow asked from the back seat.
"I don't know. I just want to go somewhere that's away." Buffy replied.
"What about Angel?" Xander asked.
"If he's still alive, he'll find me."
"Where is this away place?"
"Xander, please just shut up!"
"Hey, you kidnapped us. Remember?"
"I didn't kidnap you. You came willingly."
"Holtz?" Wes asked.
"Yeah." Angel answered.
"The vampire hunter that tracked you and Darla.."
"Through the late seventeen hundreds, yeah."
"Sure it wasn't his great, great, great-grandson?" Gunn asked.
"No, it was him."
"Maybe he's part of what's supposed to rain down ruination upon mankind. The Nyazian Prophecies did say that the Tro-clan was going to be a confluence of events." Fred said.
"And the sudden appearance of an eighteenth century vampire hunter in the twenty first century does seem pretty confluey." Cordy said.
"You think he's here for the baby?"
"I don't think he even knows about it. He didn't even know about Buffy."
"He wouldn't have to. That's the tragic beauty of a cosmic convergence. I.. I mean, he just plays his own small part. He.. he comes here looking for Angel and Darla, and in the process ends up finding Angel's unborn child in Buffy, who, as it turns out, wasn't evil at all as we feared, but was actually meant to be some sort of Messianic figure. But Holtz kills it before it's even born and his vengeance somehow triggers the end of the world!" Fred said, smiling at the others, who just looked at her. "Or not! It could go either way."
"We need to find Buffy before Holtz finds out about her and gets there before we do." Wes said.
"I can find her a lot faster on my own." Angel said.
"Of course."
"If you guys could just find some place safe for her to have this baby, we'll come to you."
"We can do that." Gunn said.
Angel turned to leave, but Cordy called him back.
"Angel! The scrolls, you didn't manage to.."
"No." With that, he was gone.
"I'm sure we'll be fine without them." Wes said.
"You always did love a view. You even died with one hell of a view." Angel said gently. He had found his car and Willow and Xander sitting in it. They had told him that Buffy had brought them here and that she was on the roof.
"Look at it. Listen to it. Can you smell it? This world. This horrible world. Why would anyone want to bring a baby into it?" Buffy asked sadly.
"To make it better, maybe?"
"Or to destroy it finally."
"Why is it everyone insists on planning my son's future before he's even born?"
"Our son." Buffy walked past Angel.
"Buffy.."
"Angel, I'm not having this baby."
"Okay, not sure you have a lot of choice in the matter.."
"No, I mean I'm not. It wasn't time."
"Oh."
"But it hurt so bad. I've never felt pain like that before. I don't think I ever want to feel pain like that again. Do you know what I'm thinking right now, Angel? I'm thinking the exact same things that I thought the night I came back to this Earth. This is hell."
"No, it's not."
"It is! Why would you want to bring our son into this world? It's so full of pain, death, filth, horror.. Horror cause by humans! September 11th? You remember that? I wasn't here for it, but I saw it happen through the wonderful magic of television. How could anyone do that? I don't want to raise Conner in a world full of evil. And that's what this world has turned into.. evil. I've spent seven years of my life trying to stop evil, but I've been stopping the wrong kind. Humans are the true evil in this world. I don't know what to tell Conner when he asks me why things like September 11th happened. I'll know what to tell him when it comes to demons and vampires, but I won't know what to tell him when he asks about a crime committed by humans. Humans with souls." Buffy was sobbing now.
Angel walked up to her and held her. "Shh."
"I can't do this Angel!"
"Yes you can. You're going to. You're Buffy Anne Summers. You're the strongest person I have ever known."
"No, not when it comes to this!"
"You are. Where would I be without you? I would be on the streets, or I might even be dead. You were my savior. You made me see the world in a different light. You made me become someone. And you're going to help our baby, our son become someone."
"I can't."
"You can. And you're not going to do it alone. You have me. You have Dawn, you have your friends, you have everyone that loves you here in LA."
Buffy was silent for a few seconds before she started to sob. She cried so hard that she nearly fell. Angel caught her in his strong arms and held her in place. They stayed there, holding onto each other while Buffy released her frustrations. She did it as she'd always done it: have a breakdown in his arms after a long time of holding it all in and waiting until something would trigger her breakdown.
After a time, Angel's phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and opened it. "Yeah?"
"We found a place." Willow said.
"Is it safe?"
"I'm sure by the time you get here it'll be safe as houses."
Angel closed the phone and put it back in his duster pocket. "Hey Buffy? We should get going. I feel a storm coming. You okay?"
Buffy was holding her stomach now.
"Is it a contraction?"
"No. No, I don't think it is any way. This is my first kid. I've never felt contractions before, unless you count earlier tonight, but instincts say no, it's not."
"Then what is it?"
"Maybe the hospital wouldn't be such a bad place."
"Come on. I need to get you somewhere safe."
Buffy came willingly with Angel holding her up the whole way down to the car. He helped Buffy sit into the passenger seat, then he climbed in the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Willow asked.
"A friends." Angel answered as he revved up the car and shot through the night.
"Buffy, are you gonna be ok?" Xander asked.
"Maybe. Yeah. I should be." Buffy answered a little uncertainly.
"She said that the hospital wasn't looking so bad right now. We'll take her there as soon as we know that it's safe." Angel said.
"Angel, maybe we should go to the hospital now. I mean, even though it is Buffy.. this looks like it's going to be a difficult birth." Willow said.
"It's not time." Buffy said.
"What?"
"It's not time. Those contractions, I don't know what they were, but they weren't for real."
"You mean you were faking your contractions? That's sick Buff! How could you do that to Angel? You always said he was a good lover." Xander joked.
Buffy stared at him and Angel just rolled his eyes and drove faster.
Willow whacked Xander on the arm and turned to Buffy. "You must have been experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions. They're like false labor."
"False? As in not real?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"Yeah."
"That's cruel! God Will, they hurt really bad."
"I could tell."
"No, you don't understand. I don' think I can go through with giving birth to this baby if it's going to hurt that bad."
"You can." Angel said. He took her hand and kissed it.
Lullaby
"Holtz... my God." Angel said.
"You have no god, demon." Holtz replied.
"The Tro-Clon.. the prophecy..raised up from light to bring darkness.. it's you." Holtz just glared at Angel. "Holtz, whatever brought you here.."
"You did." Holtz made a gesture and a neck clamp came from nowhere and attached itself to Angel. It was followed by wrist clamps. They were all held by three grapplers by long poles. "You and your demon bitch. For two hundred years I slept. For two
hundred years I dreamt of nothing but this moment." Holtz laid a sword to Angel's throat.
"Which would explain why you look so well rested."
"You haven't changed." Holtz pulled the sword back.
"Actually, I have. While you were sleeping, a lot changed."
"Really?" Holtz threw Holy Water on Angel's face. It began to burn him like acid and Angel morphed into vamp face for a couple of seconds. "Somehow things seem the same to me."
"You're wrong."
Holtz put the sword back to Angel's throat. "I WILL have justice."
"No. I don't think you will. There is no justice for the things I did to you."
"You didn't do them to me. And you didn't do them alone. Find the female. If he's here, Darla can't be far." Holtz told one of the grapplers. "Or are you going to tell me that's changed, too?"
"Actually.."
Buffy screamed again.
"Angel's not back with the scrolls yet. I'd feel a lot better if we had the ancient prophecies to guide us." Wes said.
"Please! Women have been giving birth without ancient prophecies for years!" Cordy retorted.
"What we could really use right about now is some Vaseline and a catcher's mitt." Gunn said.
"I don't think she's ready to deliver yet." Fred said.
"We have to go. We can't stay here. It's too exposed. Angel should have been back by now." Wes said.
"Something must have happened." Gunn said.
Willow and Xander held tightly to Buffy's hands. She was trying not to squeeze too hard.
"Just breathe Buffy." Willow said.
"I.. don't.. know.. how." Buffy said.
"What?" Xander asked. "You don't know how to breathe?"
"I.. quit.. lamas.. classes." Buffy screamed. "They were.. cheesy!"
"Now it's up to us to protect Angel's unborn child. Buffy, we're trying to take you out of here. Relax. The breathing goes something like this: heh, heh, heh, hoh, hoh, hoh, heh, heh, heh.."
"I! Quit!" Buffy screamed as she punched Wesley, sending him back into a wall. "AAAANNNNGGGGEEEELLLL!" Buffy sat there and cried. "Ow." She whined.
Holtz was looking at Angel's swords.
"You're still human. How'd you manage this?" Angel asked, still held by the grips.
"So, the question becomes: now that I have you what's the best way to get her?" Holtz said, putting the sword back.
"Only dark magicks could have brought you this far."
"She was always the trick, you know, not you. Darla was the unpredictable one."
"Was it a demon or something else?"
"What if I just kill you now?" Holtz held a stake to Angel's heart. "Would she somehow sense it? Would she then come running? Would that bring her bursting through those doors, I wonder?"
"Did something come to you, or did you seek it out?"
"She might show herself in the service of revenge. It can be a powerful motivator."
"Yes, it can. What did you have to give up for this second chance?"
"Give up? I had nothing to give up. You saw to that."
"We took a lot from you, that's true. But we didn't get everything. We couldn't take your soul."
"What do you know of a soul?"
"I know yours will be destroyed if you allow yourself to be used in the service of evil. You're a good man, Holtz. A righteous man and you're being used for some purpose other than justice."
"Could it be you really have changed? I don't remember you ever pleading so cravenly before."
"And I remember you used to work with men."
Holtz backhanded Angel across the face.
"Smack him again." Gunn said.
Cordy smacked Wesley across his cheek.
"Ow." Wes opened his eyes. "That hurts."
"Well, you know what they say: birth.. painful."
"Yes, but generally for the mother, not the bystanders. How long have I been out?"
"Not long, but we seem to be between contractions now." Fred said.
They all looked at Buffy who was sitting in the backseat gesturing and obviously talking to herself despite the fact that Willow and Xander were still in the car with her.
"Yep. She's been doing that." Cordy said.
"Hormones." Gunn said.
"Come on then. Buffy? Buffy, do you feel well enough to travel?" Wesley asked. Buffy nodded a little.
"Good."
"I think it stopped." Buffy said in a little voice.
"What?" Gunn asked.
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Those were some pretty heavy screams, girl. Are you sure?"
"I don't know. I want Angel." Buffy said.
"Well.. Buffy.." Willow started, not wanting to get hit.
"What?"
"He's been gone for a while. He.. He may not come back."
"What?" Buffy said. "He.. He has to come back. That hurt and he's supposed to be here."
"Wes, what are you waiting for?" Cordy asked.
"I presume we have a tire iron in the trunk?" Wes asked.
"Yeah, why? We got a flat?" Gunn asked.
"And how about a hurling ax, or some sort of heavy mallet?"
They all looked up and saw a few Grappler demons standing at the opening of the alley.
"Also a shotgun wouldn't be a terrible thing at this juncture."
They all turned and saw that there were more demons at that end of the alley also.
"Are you still concerned about my soul, Angelus? My vampire priest?" Holtz asked. The door opened and a Grappler demon came in. "Excuse me." He said to Angel. Holtz walked over to the demon to receive the news that the demon had brought. "You've got her? Good. Bring her in."
Angel watched with wide eyes, thinking he had Buffy, or even possibly Darla. But Lilah walked in instead. "Lilah." He said.
"This isn't her." Holtz said. He threw Holy Water on her. "She's not even a vampire."
Lilah wiped her face dry. "No, I'm an attorney."
"Let me guess: dead guys all over my floor.. friends of yours?" Angel asked.
"Look, if I'd known you were torturing him, I wouldn't have interrupted. Please, continue. I'll wait until your finished."
"When I'm finished, he'll be dead." Holtz replied.
"Really?"
"You say you're an attorney. You deal in man's laws, I deal in God's."
"Ah, right. A good guy."
"Do you know what he is?"
"Yeah, I know. Vampire, cursed by gypsies who restored his soul. Destined to atone for centuries of evil, wacky sidekicks, yada, yada. I'd have him killed myself, except the people I work for have this," Lilah made air quotes, "'policy.'"
"Hm."
"Hmm."
"What does she mean 'cursed by gypsies?'" Holtz asked Angel.
"Long story, Holtz. I doubt it would interest you much." Angel said.
"How about I go to my car for about twenty seconds? That should give you enough time in here. Then I gotta call some people to clean this mess up. I've got an early staff meeting in the morning." Lilah said.
Angel spotted a grenade on the floor in the hand of a dead man.
"I can't allow you two leave." Holtz said to Lilah.
Angel craned his neck to look at the elevator behind him.
"What do you mean? Of course you can."
"No. You said you work for the law."
Angel put the tip of his shoe under the dead man's open hand.
"No, I didn't. I said I'm a lawyer. I don't care about the law."
"Lilah?" Angel said.
"What?" she asked, turning to him.
"Duck." Angel flipped the grenade up and caught the pin in his mouth. He shook his head and the grenade flew free from the pin. The top came off the grenade as it landed on the floor and exploded a moment later, blasting Angel back and throwing Holtz to the floor.
In all the confusion, Angel took the opportunity to escape through the elevator shafts. He ran back to the alley that he had left his wife and friends at.
Wes, Gunn, Cordy, and Fred held off the demons while Buffy sat in the car with Willow and Xander arguing with herself again.
"Keep the moving!" Wes called.
"Don't let them get behind you!" Gunn called.
Buffy shook her head and climbed in the driver's seat. While everyone continued to fight, Buffy started the car up and put it in drive.
"Buffy, what are ya doing?" Xander asked.
"This." Buffy drove forward and plowed down two demons. Then, putting it in reverse, she ran over one behind the car. Braking again, she put it in drive and drove right out of the alley.
Angel came up and stood behind the group standing in the alley. He craned his head so he could see over everyone's shoulders. "What are we looking at?" he asked. They all turned and stared at him.
Buffy drove like crazy. She wanted to get out of there right then and there.
"Buffy, where are we going?" Willow asked from the back seat.
"I don't know. I just want to go somewhere that's away." Buffy replied.
"What about Angel?" Xander asked.
"If he's still alive, he'll find me."
"Where is this away place?"
"Xander, please just shut up!"
"Hey, you kidnapped us. Remember?"
"I didn't kidnap you. You came willingly."
"Holtz?" Wes asked.
"Yeah." Angel answered.
"The vampire hunter that tracked you and Darla.."
"Through the late seventeen hundreds, yeah."
"Sure it wasn't his great, great, great-grandson?" Gunn asked.
"No, it was him."
"Maybe he's part of what's supposed to rain down ruination upon mankind. The Nyazian Prophecies did say that the Tro-clan was going to be a confluence of events." Fred said.
"And the sudden appearance of an eighteenth century vampire hunter in the twenty first century does seem pretty confluey." Cordy said.
"You think he's here for the baby?"
"I don't think he even knows about it. He didn't even know about Buffy."
"He wouldn't have to. That's the tragic beauty of a cosmic convergence. I.. I mean, he just plays his own small part. He.. he comes here looking for Angel and Darla, and in the process ends up finding Angel's unborn child in Buffy, who, as it turns out, wasn't evil at all as we feared, but was actually meant to be some sort of Messianic figure. But Holtz kills it before it's even born and his vengeance somehow triggers the end of the world!" Fred said, smiling at the others, who just looked at her. "Or not! It could go either way."
"We need to find Buffy before Holtz finds out about her and gets there before we do." Wes said.
"I can find her a lot faster on my own." Angel said.
"Of course."
"If you guys could just find some place safe for her to have this baby, we'll come to you."
"We can do that." Gunn said.
Angel turned to leave, but Cordy called him back.
"Angel! The scrolls, you didn't manage to.."
"No." With that, he was gone.
"I'm sure we'll be fine without them." Wes said.
"You always did love a view. You even died with one hell of a view." Angel said gently. He had found his car and Willow and Xander sitting in it. They had told him that Buffy had brought them here and that she was on the roof.
"Look at it. Listen to it. Can you smell it? This world. This horrible world. Why would anyone want to bring a baby into it?" Buffy asked sadly.
"To make it better, maybe?"
"Or to destroy it finally."
"Why is it everyone insists on planning my son's future before he's even born?"
"Our son." Buffy walked past Angel.
"Buffy.."
"Angel, I'm not having this baby."
"Okay, not sure you have a lot of choice in the matter.."
"No, I mean I'm not. It wasn't time."
"Oh."
"But it hurt so bad. I've never felt pain like that before. I don't think I ever want to feel pain like that again. Do you know what I'm thinking right now, Angel? I'm thinking the exact same things that I thought the night I came back to this Earth. This is hell."
"No, it's not."
"It is! Why would you want to bring our son into this world? It's so full of pain, death, filth, horror.. Horror cause by humans! September 11th? You remember that? I wasn't here for it, but I saw it happen through the wonderful magic of television. How could anyone do that? I don't want to raise Conner in a world full of evil. And that's what this world has turned into.. evil. I've spent seven years of my life trying to stop evil, but I've been stopping the wrong kind. Humans are the true evil in this world. I don't know what to tell Conner when he asks me why things like September 11th happened. I'll know what to tell him when it comes to demons and vampires, but I won't know what to tell him when he asks about a crime committed by humans. Humans with souls." Buffy was sobbing now.
Angel walked up to her and held her. "Shh."
"I can't do this Angel!"
"Yes you can. You're going to. You're Buffy Anne Summers. You're the strongest person I have ever known."
"No, not when it comes to this!"
"You are. Where would I be without you? I would be on the streets, or I might even be dead. You were my savior. You made me see the world in a different light. You made me become someone. And you're going to help our baby, our son become someone."
"I can't."
"You can. And you're not going to do it alone. You have me. You have Dawn, you have your friends, you have everyone that loves you here in LA."
Buffy was silent for a few seconds before she started to sob. She cried so hard that she nearly fell. Angel caught her in his strong arms and held her in place. They stayed there, holding onto each other while Buffy released her frustrations. She did it as she'd always done it: have a breakdown in his arms after a long time of holding it all in and waiting until something would trigger her breakdown.
After a time, Angel's phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and opened it. "Yeah?"
"We found a place." Willow said.
"Is it safe?"
"I'm sure by the time you get here it'll be safe as houses."
Angel closed the phone and put it back in his duster pocket. "Hey Buffy? We should get going. I feel a storm coming. You okay?"
Buffy was holding her stomach now.
"Is it a contraction?"
"No. No, I don't think it is any way. This is my first kid. I've never felt contractions before, unless you count earlier tonight, but instincts say no, it's not."
"Then what is it?"
"Maybe the hospital wouldn't be such a bad place."
"Come on. I need to get you somewhere safe."
Buffy came willingly with Angel holding her up the whole way down to the car. He helped Buffy sit into the passenger seat, then he climbed in the driver's seat.
"Where are we going?" Willow asked.
"A friends." Angel answered as he revved up the car and shot through the night.
"Buffy, are you gonna be ok?" Xander asked.
"Maybe. Yeah. I should be." Buffy answered a little uncertainly.
"She said that the hospital wasn't looking so bad right now. We'll take her there as soon as we know that it's safe." Angel said.
"Angel, maybe we should go to the hospital now. I mean, even though it is Buffy.. this looks like it's going to be a difficult birth." Willow said.
"It's not time." Buffy said.
"What?"
"It's not time. Those contractions, I don't know what they were, but they weren't for real."
"You mean you were faking your contractions? That's sick Buff! How could you do that to Angel? You always said he was a good lover." Xander joked.
Buffy stared at him and Angel just rolled his eyes and drove faster.
Willow whacked Xander on the arm and turned to Buffy. "You must have been experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions. They're like false labor."
"False? As in not real?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"Yeah."
"That's cruel! God Will, they hurt really bad."
"I could tell."
"No, you don't understand. I don' think I can go through with giving birth to this baby if it's going to hurt that bad."
"You can." Angel said. He took her hand and kissed it.