AUTHOR: Goddess Isa
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com
SUMMARY: You know, I never tire of the stories where Buffy winds up pregnant after IWRY. I mean, really. How many times can the girl have unprotected sex and not get pregnant? It's not like being a Slayer makes you infertile.
SPOILER: IWRY
DISTRIBUTION: Sandee, of course - My site - http://planetslaythis.homestead.com - Crystal and Butterfly if they want it - A Soul's Redemption - Anyone else - sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-PG
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Joss Whedon does. If he ever decides to give them to me, that would be nice. =) The song I use a very small amount of is by the Backstreet Boys.
"Okay, Buffy." Willow handed her a blueberry muffin and a glass of orange juice. "I've got to get going or I'll be late. The remote is right here and your book is--"
"I'm not an invalid, Willow." Buffy said with a smirk.
"I know, but Doctor Kelleher told you to rest and--"
"I'm resting." she smiled. "I'm *fine*."
"You sure?" Willow asked cautiously. Ever since Joyce kicked Buffy out of her life six months ago, Buffy and Willow had been living at her house. Will's parents were in India on some research thing and had no idea what was going on in their house. Had they known, Willow probably would've been an 'orphan' as well.
"I'm fine. Go. Get smart."
Willow smiled at her best friend and took off for one of her summer classes. As soon as she was gone, Buffy carefully pried herself from the bed and went into the bathroom. She quickly got dressed and grabbed the handle of her small suitcase on wheels, pushing it down the stairs ahead of her. She followed it and after sliding down step-by-step on her ass, she stood up and took the handle of her suitcase.
She was just going to sit in the living room when the cab honked to announce its arrival. Buffy taped the letter she'd written Willow to the door, and left.
"You go hospital lady?" the cabbie asked her when she got into the car.
"No. Los Angeles. I'll be more specific when we get there."
He nodded and began driving. Buffy watched the familiar town disappear and prayed she'd never have to return.
*****
"What did you see?" Angel handed Cordelia a glass of water and she downed it then made a face.
"I was hoping for tequila." she shook her head. "I can't tell you what I saw."
"What?" Angel demanded.
"Why not?" Wesley asked. "If you're in danger, telling will--"
"I'm not in danger." she rolled her eyes. "No one is." she grinned at Angel.
"What?" he asked.
The grin widened. "You'll see."
*****
Angel kept pacing in his apartment. He didn't know why but he did. He felt like something was going to happen, but he had no idea what.
He put on some music to calm him, but all the wordless beats did was make him tense. He pushed the button to switch to a talk radio station and instead got..
"Show me the meaning of being lonely. Is this the feeling I need to walk with? Tell me why I can't be there where you are. There's something missing in my heart."
Angel shut it off firmly, making a face.
"There's something to be said for silence." he told himself. He was about to go to bed for awhile when he jumped.
The doorbell was ringing.
No one ever used his doorbell. Cordelia had a key and Wussley wasn't bold enough to come up himself, he always buzzed from the elevator.
Carefully, he moved towards the door and opened it.
Then his eyes widened, his mouth dropped and he threw the door all the way open. "BUFFY?!"
She was quite a sight for someone who hadn't seen her in almost nine months. Not only was her hair short again, curling under just below her shoulders, but she was--
"Are you.....you seem..."
"I'm pregnant. Do you think I could come in and sit down?" he nodded and she pushed past him, leaving her suitcase by the chair. She sat on the couch and rested her hands on her belly. "This is probably not how you picture me in a sundress."
Angel just stared at her for a moment.
"I just....I'm sorry, Angel." she finally said.
He closed the door and sat next to her, waiting for her to say something. Finally, when she kept silent, he said, "Are you....both okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Do you wanna feel the baby kicking?" she reached for his hand but he shook his head.
"You know it's yours," she said softly. "Don't you?"
"It?" he asked.
"I don't know the baby's sex yet. I didn't want to know."
"Oh. The baby can't be mine, Buffy."
"Yes, it can, and it is. You may think you're the only one that remembers fighting the Mohra demon. You may think you're the only one who remembers what it felt like to eat chocolate and ice cream in bed and make love 'till we were both so tired we could've passed out. I remember everything, Angel. I always have."
"But how--"
"I told you I would never forget." she said simply.
"But that's not...you couldn't--"
"Even the PTB can't erase love, Angel." she whispered.
"Why are you here?" he finally asked.
"I came to ask you to marry me, and to start a new life with the baby and I here in LA."
"Marry," he repeated, the words barely registering.
"Yes. Is that too hard a concept for you to understand? 'Cause I always thought you were very intelligent, I'd hate to be one hundred percent wrong about you."
He snorted. Then he turned serious. "You know that I love you more than anything Buffy, bu--"
"If a 'but' follows that sentence, you're dust." Buffy said seriously. She stood up and took a stake out of her purse and then put it back. It was not a case of out of sight, out of mind. "Got it?" she asked him.
Angel nodded, knowing she meant business. He remembered from when his sister Anna was pregnant over two hundred years ago that you never argue with an expectant woman.
"I've come here when I really shouldn't have," Buffy carefully began pacing around the room. "And I'm asking you not only for myself but for this baby. Don't you think Megan would like to know who her father is? That she'd want to be able to spend time with him and be a part of a real family?"
"Megan?" Angel asked, confused. "I thought you didn't know the baby's sex."
"I lied." she sat back down and sighed. "Megan Michelle O'Connelly," she smiled at him. "I've had that name picked out since the day I first found out I was pregnant."
"And if it had been a boy?" he smirked.
"David Angelus." she smiled at him. "Give any thought to my little proposal?"
"I did. And--"
"And?" she asked hopefully.
"I'll be right back." he went into the bedroom and Buffy's face fell. Why couldn't he just be a man? Why couldn't he just stand up to her and be there when she needed him?
He came back and said, "Close your eyes."
"Ang--"
"Just do it." he knelt it front of her and picked up her left hand. He slid a simple silver Claddagh with a very small stone in its heart on her finger and kissed it. "Open your eyes."
She did and she beamed. "Angel, it's beautiful."
"It's not, but it was my grandmother's. Her husband gave it to her, and she gave it to my mother. It originally belonged to my sister Mary because she was the oldest, but when....I've had it all these years. I don't know why, I never thought I would find someone that I...." he stopped babbling and looked into her eyes. "Will you marry me?"
"You know that I will." they were kissing and Buffy was running her hands over his hair when all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain in her lower back.
"Angel, let me up!" he moved and she went into the bathroom. A few moments she came out and said, "Do you have a car?"
"Of course. Why?"
"My water just broke!"