Jenny woke slowly, the world seemed vary far away and it seemed to spin around her slowly. She opened her eyes and tried to focus but the light hurt her so she closed them again. She tried again slowly; she could hear a heart monitor beeping some where in the back round. There was also a weight on the bed beside her, she cautiously looked. It was Rupert he had his head laying on the bed close to her side, he was sound asleep. She reached up and ran a hand through his hair, immediately his head came up and he fumbled to straiten his glasses. As soon as he had he picked her hand up and kissed it " Hi" she said groggily " Hello" he said. Suddenly everything came back to her " Angel" she whispered then raw panic and fear ripped through her, Giles could see it in her eyes. " The baby" she whimpered " Oh Goddess Rupert the baby"-" Is just fine, " he said laying a hand on her stomach "And still safe where he or she belongs". Relief washed through her. He smiled wearily " You scared the hell out of all of us, we almost lost both of you but I got you here just in time. It was however touch and go for a while ".
He wasn't going to tell just how close it had been or that it was only by sheer luck or a miracle that they hadn't lost the baby. She'd been bleeding heavily by the time he got her to the emergency room, and at first the doctors had said it didn't look good for both of them. An event like she had could and almost did cause a late term miscarriage. However the reason though it hadn't and she was awake now, that and the baby's strong heart beat were both good signs, He smiled and entwined his fingers with hers " The doctor was just in, he said if you woke up then the little one and you would probably be fine". "Good" she whispered, she laid a hand on her stomach and was reassured by several healthy kicks.
" You've a small crowd waiting outside" Giles said " Do you want me to let them in or wait, you're not supposed to have any excitement yet" she smiled " Let'em in" she said. He stood dropping and dropping a kiss on her fore head went out in to the hall. Willow immediately popped in to the room followed by Buffy then Xander, Giles hurried off to get the doctor " Just to make sure everything was okay" but came back in all most instantly. "Hi" she said to them "Hey " Buffy said " Automatic stupid question, how are you?"" Mmm" Jenny said "Tired but alive, both of us, thanks to you"" All part of the job description" Buffy said. There was silence for a moment then Xander said " Will, why don't we go get some undrinkable coffee from the hospital cafe " Uh okay" Willow said, they both headed for the door leaving Jenny, Giles and Buffy in the room alone together. Jenny's smile disappeared with them, " Did you get Angel?" she asked " Yah" Buffy said" Kicked his ass, didn't kill him but he won't be bothering anyone for a while "Good" Jenny said
"Ms. Calendar, why would Angel come after you, he could have at anytime but why last night? "Buffy asked "The curse" Jenny murmured " I managed to translate the curse, it was on my computer, Drusilla must have seen it in a vision and told him" "You said in no way couldn't it be done" Giles said, " When have I ever taken no for an answer?" Jenny said groggily " I tried anyway and it worked, the translation program I created on the computer, changed it to English"" Why didn't you tell us?" Giles said " I wasn't even sure it would work " Jenny said tiredly "I didn't want you to be disappointed if it didn't, I would have told you after I was sure ". She was sure she had just ruined whatever little chance Rupert and herself had by yet again keeping things from him. " It doesn't matter now anyways " Buffy said, " Xander, said your computer was totally trashed "" No I backed it up on disk" Jenny said " And when I saw Angel, I dropped it somewhere " she tried to think of where she had dropped it but everything was still fuzzy. "I know it's in the lab," She said, " If it wasn't moved or taken it might still be there in the class"
" I'll go look," Buffy said and Jenny could see the flicker of hope her eyes, she hoped it wasn't misplaced. Buffy hurried off and Jenny and Giles were all alone together. " I'm sorry" Jenny said "For what?" Giles said, " For trying to protect her " he looked at her " For trying to help her, you've got nothing to be sorry for Jenny. I do wish you had come and told me sooner but I can understand where your coming from, I spend everyday trying to protect her, " He smiled " It becomes a habit after a while " "Really" she said " Really " he replied " You gave her hope Jenny, even a spark of it is worth a thousand apologies"" I love you" she whispered, he smiled at her ' I love you too" he said. She began to drift back to sleep "Rupert" she whispered " Your sure the baby's okay ". He nodded " She's fine and if you don't believe me the doctor will be in to see you in a little while." Jenny wasn't listening to most of what he said " She" she whispered "Opps damn" he said with a smile " Must learn to keep my mouth shut about certain things ". She had told him that night at his apartment that she hadn't found out when she could because she wanted it to be a surprise. " Well you might as well tell me now " she said sleepily. He nodded " They did an ultrasound while you were out, the doctor said it's a girl ". Jenny smiled weakly, (secretly this was what she'd been praying for) and drifted back to sleep in the early morning hours.
Buffy crept in to the School quietly as she could, it had taken her a while to get in because Snyder had been called and the police had been there .She was glad to see Jenny and the baby were going to be okay. Giles and Jenny may have had their issues but she doubted they would be apart now. She was okay with that, god knows somebody in their group of friends, should have a normal happy relationship. She opened the classroom door and looked in, suddenly she could see why Snyder had been looking more trollish then ever. The remains of the computer lay on the floor a hulking beast in shatters. She had to get in and out as fast as she could before somehow Snyder could pin this and the broken front window on her." A disk" She muttered looking around the lab " Well this shouldn't be too hard ". She checked the desk, it wasn't there, and it wasn't in the ruins of the computer or lying on the floor where she could see it. She looked for the better part of an hour and didn't find anything, so she was about to give up when something caught her eye from under Jenny's desk, a flash of yellow. She picked it up; it was a disk with Jenny's handwriting on it but she couldn't read it. This must be it she thought. She pocketed the disk and slipped out of the school.
Jenny was in the hospital almost four weeks and even then they only let her out with strict instructions to stay off her feet and rest. She took her maternity leave early much to Snyder's dismay. He had grumbled and snapped but there was nothing he could do to stop it since at almost eight months, Jenny was due to go on leave soon anyways. Willow was handling her classes' fine but Jenny was still going to help her write and mark the final exams. She lay resting one day (bored out of her skull) and looked at the disk lying on her nightstand table. She would never forget the look on Buffy's face when she had told her that it was the right one. It had been a look of pure hope and happiness. She picked up the disk, they didn't even know if the curse worked or not. Or for that matter if the disk even worked right, since it had been kicked around the floor. " Only one way to find out" she murmured, she picked up her laptop and slipped the disk in. She went in to the file and the curse popped up on to the screen, in perfect condition. She closed it down and got out of bed, slipping on a silk robe, and then she descended the loft stairs carefully.
Rupert was downstairs doing something .The decision for her to move in with him had been a no-brainer for three reasons. One they had wasted enough time apart already, two the doctors said it wasn't good for her to be alone at the moment and three Angel had warned them he would come for her. Since Rupert had re-invoked Angel's invite in to his house while she was in the hospital it seemed like the safest place for her to be. " Rupert?" she called quietly " In here" he said from the kitchen, he was making something that smelled really good to her, it bubbled on the stove. " Hi " she said, " What's cooking?" He smiled as she walked up to him and gave him a kiss " You'll see" he said, " Should you be up? Shouldn't you be resting?"" Rupert I'm fine," she said with a laugh " If I lay in bed much longer I'll grow mold". " Yes but remember what the doctors said," Rupert said worriedly," I know rest " Jenny said "But really I feel fine ". He didn't look convinced. She went and took a shower and got dressed in time for dinner. Which in turn was spaghetti (The sauce was what she smelt on the stove). She had to admit at home he was a totally different person. He was dressed in faded jeans and a blue Oxford sweatshirt (Something she wouldn't have guessed he owned let alone wore) He was a man of many mysteries and boy was she going to enjoy figuring them out.
They sat and ate and talked, Rupert began to fill her in on some fiasco involving the boys swim team and fish people. Suddenly Jenny blurted out " I want to try the curse" Rupert nearly choked on his coffee " What? " he said " I want to try to re-curse Angel " Jenny said " As soon a possible before he hurts more innocent people " "I don't think that's wise" Giles said " Your still weak " " I'm fine " Jenny insisted " Rupert it won't hurt the baby or me " " You don't know that " he said " I don't like the idea of you putting yourself or the baby in danger's way" " I don't ether " she said " And I'm not, honestly Rupert I can do this ". He still looked uncertain " Rupert listen to me" She said, " I have to do this, Angel is the way he is partly because I didn't step forward, it's partly my fault. I have to do something before more people get hurt or die." He saw the look of determination on her face, he was beginning to know that look very well." All right " he said, " What do I do? " " Talk to the kids" she said " Tomorrow and send Willow over here to pick up the disk, she can get it to a printer, I can't. Tell her to print it off and tell the others to be ready to do this as soon as possible "she looked at him " We need to get this done before all hell comes to town"
To be continued…