Six months later…
Jenny had several words running around in her head. One was coward, which is what she felt like at the moment .The other was pissed, which was what Rupert was going to be when he found out she was seven months pregnant with their baby and hadn't told him yet. She had decided to keep the baby shortly after finding out she was pregnant. If Rupert didn't like it he could go to hell. That is when she informed him finally, It wasn't like she hadn't tried she had several times. Each time however he had ether been talking to Buffy or he had just politely blown her off saying " I'm quite busy and can't talk now" in a frigid voice. So she had decided to e-mail him, only to remember how much he hated computers. Writing him had been her next option but that and phoning him seemed so pitifully cowardly. So now she was trying to think of a way to tell him. Until then as cowardly as it seemed avoidance and the right concealing cloths seemed key. Avoidance wasn't easy in a place as small and gossip filled as SunnyDale high. She was managing, though she knew she couldn't hide it for much longer. Her stomach was getting a little rounder everyday and eventfully he would notice. And then the shit would really hit the fan. " Well that day comes when it comes," she murmured to her stomach. It would come soon; her stomach was already becoming a round bulge. Hard to hid under the baggy sweaters and skirts she had been wearing. She hurried in to the school cursing under her breath in Romanian, of all days today she was running behind.
She hurried in to the computer lab and began to set things up for the test she had going in first period. Deciding she had time to grab a much-needed cup of coffee, she hurried towards the staff room. She hadn't given up caffeine, thinking the poor child would probably end up a caffeine addict anyways. In fact things hadn't changed much, her life was still in the same routine as it had been before. Just with her slowly rounding out like a beach ball. Everything had been blissfully uneventful (With the exception of a love spell disaster that left her still wanting to throttle one Xander Harris). That had been her last attempt to tell Rupert about the baby. Twice that day she had tried to talk to him to tell him, then the spell had kicked in and everything had been shot to hell. She poured her coffee and caught a whiff of the rich java smell, suddenly her stomach rebelled and she set the cup down and made a beeline for the staff room's washroom.
When she emerged a few moment's later, she felt the sickest she had ever felt in her life. She had thought she was over the whole morning sickness thing, apparently she was wrong. Another wave hit her and she ran back in, suddenly grateful the bathroom was soundproof. This time when she came out, she wished she could run back in. Rupert and another teacher (Mrs. frank from the history dept.) Were sitting at the staff room table. They both looked up as she crawled out of the washroom. " My God Jenny are you alright?," Mrs. Frank asked. " I'm fine Emma " Jenny said picking up her cup and forcing herself to take a swallow. " Maybe you should lye down for a while," the older women suggested. " No" Jenny said, " Really I'm fine, just a little nauseous ". The bell rang, Jenny had never been so grateful to her it. " I have to go, " she muttered hurrying out of the staff room, avoiding Rupert's eyes as she did so.
" Poor thing" Mrs. Frank mused to Giles " It's been really hard on her I think". Giles looked at her uncomprehendingly. " What has? " he said " Her pregnancy of course" Mrs. Frank replied. " Pregnancy " Giles said " Yes" said Mrs. Frank " I thought you of all people would know" " I doubt she's pregnant " Giles said, " She probably has the flu". Mrs. Frank shook her head " I have five daughters Mr. Giles and four granddaughters, I know a pregnant women when I see one" she smiled at him " I really thought you would know, I'd better go before I'm late too" with that she hurried out of the staff room, leaving Giles alone in the silence. It couldn't be true what she said, could it? He thought back to the time they had spent together, in the heat of the moment he knew they hadn't used anything. She would have told him though if a child had come out of it. Jenny had betrayed him before but he doubted even she would keep some thing this massive from him. He shook his head, he didn't even know if what Mrs. Frank had said was true, the women was nice but she had the reputation of being a gossip. Jenny probably had the flu, Buffy and Willow had both had it and to be all honest he wasn't feeling all that good himself. He glanced at the clock " Damn" he swore, he was supposed to have met Buffy in the library ten minutes ago. With a sigh he set down his tea and set off to get himself pummeled.
Jenny tried not to hate people, Principal Snyder however was one of her few exceptions. Miserable little toad, now on top of exams he wanted her to put together the up coming tech-fair and help Rupert scan the new books in to the library. She still hadn't figured out, how the hell she was going to get out of that one. She shifted in her seat, principal Snyder had done this on propose, because he disapproved of her pregnancy she just knew it. He and two other teachers were the only other people she had told. Snyder because he had to sign for her maternity leave and the other teachers because, she was close friends with them. She knew despite her efforts most people around the school knew, without her telling them. It wasn't that hard to tell, with her stomach rounding out a little more each day. Willow knew, she had been covering Jenny's classes when she had to go to doctor's appointments or was just too sick to teach. She was really surprised some one hadn't told Rupert, oh well it was better that way until she could tell him herself. She sifted through books on her desk and one dropped to the floor. She picked it up, figures she thought this was the book Angel curse was in. Untranslated like it was however it was gibberish. She tinkered with the computer; suddenly she had an idea and sat bolt up in her chair. Using her scanner she scanned part of the text on to her computer and ran it through the translation program. The computer whirled and then text appeared on the screen " sample text to small, verbal parameters undefined " She rescanned the bigger sample and tried again, biting her lip all the while. When it failed she tried again and again, resolved to try and make the program work for everyone's sake. If she could translate the curse, then she could re-curse Angel and start to fix everything she had done wrong. As if agreeing with her the baby kicked soundly.
To be continued…