Damphyr
by Colleen Hillerup

"Is it supposed to be blue or pink, or what?" Buffy Summers asked her best friend Willow.

"Um, neither, I think," replied the petite redhead. "It has little plus and minus signs. Plus is
positive."

"Then there's a minus sign?" Buffy asked hopefully.

Willow looked with concern at the little plastic rod. "I think you should look for yourself."

Buffy picked it up with trepidation. "Why is there a little plus sign? There's supposed to be a
little minus sign." She took a deep breath and looked at the white rod again. "I was right, then,
wasn't I? I'm not just getting the flu. I'm not late because I've been training so hard. I really am
pregnant."

"Now how in hell am I going to tell Spike?"

*******


Spike wasn't sure which of his homes he liked more - the crypt he had decorated himself or the
basement apartment in Buffy's home complete with blackout curtains. The apartment was
certainly more convenient, though the decor wasn't exactly to his taste. He didn't tell Buffy
though - she had been so excited the day she showed it to him, knowing that he could live with
her without worrying about falling asleep in her room and waking up on fire.

At the moment he lay on the bed in his apartment, newly awake for the evening, waiting for
Buffy's return.

******
Tired of waiting for Buffy, knowing that her sister Dawn was staying over a friend's house, Spike
decided to spend some time in his former home. As he stepped into his crypt's anteroom,
he was delighted to see Buffy sitting in the corner, her arms wrapped around her knees. He was
also pleased to see that she had lit all of his vast assortment of candles. Anticipating an evening
of romance, he bent down, lifted her chin and kissed her. He was disappointed when she didn't
respond.

Wondering why she looked so distracted, he wrapped his arms around her. "What's the matter,
love? Hard day?"

"You don't know the half of it," she replied. "I have something to tell you , and I don't know
how to even start."

"After all we've been through, you know you can tell me anything. Hey, there's nothing the
matter with Little Bit, is there?"

Touched by the concern in his voice, she reassured him. "Dawn's fine. As far as I know, she
had a good day at school and went to sleep over at her friend Jamie's place. It's not about
Dawn." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but when she tried to speak, the words
wouldn't come.

Spike looked into her face. "Look at me, Buffy. You know you can tell me anything. You're
starting to scare me. What's wrong?"

Buffy broke away from him and stood up. Facing him, she blathered, "You know how in
England when someone says they've been knocked up they mean they got a telephone call? Well
I got a call today from a dead rabbit."

A look of total confusion in his eyes, Spike said, "You couldn't be more cryptic, could you? I
mean, I might be able to understand what you're talking about. You haven't had a knock to the
head have you? Knock... Knocked up..."

"I'm pregnant."

Spike's eyes glazed over for a moment, and then they flashed with anger. "How could you?
Who did this to you? I'll kill him. Bloody hell, Buffy, I love you. I thought you loved me." He
slammed his fist into the stone wall of the crypt, and didn't seem to notice the blood oozing from
his knuckles. Tears were welling up in his eyes. "I love you," he whispered painfully.

Buffy was angry too. "How could you even think I'd let someone else touch me? There
has been no one else. Believe it or not, I am having your baby." She took him by the shoulders
and glared at him with determination. "Your baby."

"But that's impossible," he replied, with less assurance. "I can't father a child. I'm a
vampire."

"How can you be sure?" she countered. "Has a vampire ever loved a Slayer before?" She
realized her faux pas. The last thing she wanted to do was antagonize Spike with memories of
the past. "A long term, loving, intimate relationship? A vampire with a chip in his
brain that can do God knows what? A Slayer that was resurrected from the dead? We're looking
at a lot of variables here. Please believe me, I know that this child is yours."

"How do you know that you're pregnant? Did you see a doctor? Did you just do one of those
chemist's tests? You could be wrong. It could be a false alarm," he grasped at straws.


"Yes," she answered, "I did a drug store test. Then I went right away to see my family doctor.
I'm as pregnant as pregnant can be, so you'd better learn to live with it." Buffy looked defiantly
at Spike, for the first time noticing the blood on his hand. "You're hurt. You're bleeding." She
ripped a piece from her sleeve and wrapped it around the wound. "You make me so angry
sometimes."

Tenderly, Spike placed his hand on Buffy's cheek and stroked it. "A baby. My baby. How
bloody marvellous." He enfolded her in his arms. And this time, his tears were tears of joy.

******
"No, Giles, I said baby." Buffy was frustrated by the bad connection to Britain "Yes, I said I'm having a baby. What? I don't care if a Slayer has never been pregnant before. Giles, are you hyperventilating? Take a deep breath. Spike. Of course I said Spike. Good grief, Giles, I know he's a vampire."

Willow took the phone from her friend's hand. "Hi Giles, it's Willow. Giles? Say something,
Giles. Yes, she is. I was there when the little plus sign turned up. Plus sign. Don't worry. We
can patrol. We did it before. We'll all look after her. Well, you can come back if you want, but I
think we can handle things here. Yes, I know she said Spike." She put her hand over the
mouthpiece and turned to Buffy, "I think he's taking it pretty well."

*******

Buffy snuggled next to Spike on the bed of his downstairs apartment. As the sun set, he woke
with delight to find her next to him. She kissed him gently and rested her head on his cool
marble chest.

"So, how did the call to your watcher go?" he asked.

"Ex-watcher," she replied, "and it was fine."

"Fine, as in he didn't have a heart attack?" Spike knew that the news would be very upsetting to
Giles, who had never approved of his relationship with the Slayer.

"He was... concerned. He's afraid that the baby won't be... normal."

Spike held her closer, and stroked her forehead. Kissing her brow, he replied, "I know that
you're worried, love. There are so many things to think about with any baby. And we aren't just
any parents. But I have a good feeling about this, that everything is going to be all right. No
matter what, I love you, and I love our child." He gently placed his hand on her abdomen. "Not
even a little bump yet, and already making so much trouble. It has to be my baby."

Buffy placed her hands on top of his and smiled. "I want so much for everything to be okay. I
never really thought about having children. I'm the Slayer. I never thought that I'd have a
future. Now all I can think about is having a future with you and this baby." Her eyes clouded
with concern. "But I have to be realistic. This is not a normal pregnancy, and I can't go on
seeing my family doctor. There may be too many unanswerable questions."
"Giles knows a doctor here in Sunnydale that is familiar with the Hellmouth," she continued, "and vampires, and all the strange things that happen here. He gave me her number so that I can make an appointment. I'll let her check me out before I get too optimistic."

"Make it an evening appointment, love," he said, "I want to be there."

Buffy smiled, rolled over and looked into her lover's eyes. "There is something else worrying me. If my father finds out that I'm pregnant, he'll want to take Dawn away from me. I couldn't stand to lose her. There is no way that he could handle an unwed mother as a daughter. I'd lose my sister, and I'd lose whatever meagre relationship I have with him. He's going to find out, though. What am I going to do?"

Spike kissed her and smiled. "That's easy, love. Marry me."

******

Her hand tightly clasped in Spike's, Buffy knocked on the door to Dawn's room. "Come in," the
younger Summers sibling called. Buffy walked through the door with trepidation, Spike at her
side. Dawn had already been through so much in her young life, how would she deal with these
changes?

"Dawnie," Buffy said, "We need to talk to you."

Dawn looked up from her homework and her face clouded. Obviously there was something
wrong. In the town of Sunnydale, something could be a great deal. "There isn't a monster in the
house is there? Did someone die? What's the matter with you two?"

Buffy hurried over to her sister to reassure her. "There isn't anything wrong, not really. We've
just got something to tell you, and we aren't sure how to do it."

Dawn looked up into Buffy's face. "You aren't breaking up, are you? I mean, I really like
having Spike here all the time. You're good for each other, you really are."

"I'm glad you think so," Buffy replied. She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "How would
you feel about being an aunt? And a sister-in-law?"

Dawn stared first at Buffy, then at Spike. "Are you? You're not. Really?" Her face broke
into a wide grin. "Cool!"

She jumped up, giving her two favourite people a big hug. "I get to be a bridesmaid. And I don't
change diapers."

******


Buffy, dressed in a short white lace dress, and her sister Dawn met Willow and their friend Anya
in the front foyer of Sunnydale City Hall. "Where's Xander?" asked Buffy of Anya, who was
usually at his side.

Anya, known for her forthright answers, replied, "He isn't coming. He says he doesn't trust
Spike and he won't watch you throw your life away. I'm here, though. I like to watch
weddings."

Buffy reached out for Willow's hand and tried not to cry. Xander and Willow had been her best
friends since she had transferred to Sunnydale High years earlier, and the thought of not having
him here for this most important day hurt her more than she would have expected. "If he isn't
going to support me, or trust me, I don't need him here," she stated defiantly. "Thank you for
coming, Anya."

"So where's Spike?" Anya queried. "He didn't get cold feet - I mean colder than usual,
vampire-wise. I hope he shows up; I bought this dress just to wear today."

A voice spoke behind Buffy, "God, you're beautiful." Turning around, she let out a gasp of
surprise. There was Spike, not in his regular leather-coated attire, but wearing a simple black
suit.

Buffy smiled, "So are you."

"Well then," the groom said, "let's get this show on the road." The quintet made their way to the
room where the civil ceremony would take place. He pulled the marriage licence from his pocket.

"How did you get that without any documents?" Willow asked Spike quietly. "I mean, you don't
have a birth certificate or citizenship papers."

"Vampire black market," he replied. "We have some great forgers. The licence is real, though.
Buffy and I picked it up together."

Willow looked at the document. "I've always wanted to know your last name."

Spike snatched it out of her hand. "Never mind," he said, "It's going to be Summers now. That's
my family, and that's the name I'm taking."

Soon the ceremony began. The bride heard the officiator ask, "Do you William take this woman
Buffy?" and heard him answer, "I do," and she knew she had answered the same to the question,
"Do you Buffy..." but most of the rest was a blur until she felt Spike's lips on hers. Despite all
the odds, and all the reasons against it that she had battled with over the last few weeks, she,
Buffy the vampire slayer, was the wife of William the Bloody aka Spike the vampire. She
couldn't be happier.

*****

As the months passed, Buffy became acclimatized to her changing life. Apart from the
occasional vampire she was forced to fight, luckily without incident, she came to enjoy her more
relaxed evenings. Her friends easily were able to keep up nightly patrols, since demonic activity over the Hellmouth was at a wane. She was enjoying her monthly prenatal visits to her obstetrician as she tracked the progress of the child growing inside her.

"All ready to see your baby?" Dr. Marley Hall asked. Usually the sonagram would have been
the job of an assistant, but because of the unusual nature of Buffy's pregnancy, the doctor chose
to keep all aspects of the appointments to herself. She squirted a bit of gel over Buffy's
expanded belly. "This won't hurt, but it is a little cold."

Spike squeezed his wife's hand tightly at the head of the examining table. He hadn't articulated his
fears to her, but this was the moment of truth. Whatever the sonagram would reveal, he would
be there for her, as she was for him.

Dr. Hall ran the scanner over the anxious young woman's abdomen. "Let me look at the screen
first, so I can show you what to look for. It isn't an obvious picture." She turned towards the
monitor. "Yes, there you go. Head, feet, hands, body. All parts accounted for." She smiled at
Buffy's obvious relief.

Buffy and Spike stared at the screen as the doctor pointed out the baby's location. Spike kissed
Buffy's head, and whispered to her, "I'd like to say it's a beautiful baby, but..."

Buffy whispered back, "It looks like a blob. As long as it's a healthy blob."

******


"You can push now, Buffy," Dr. Hall encouraged her patient. "It won't be long now." Buffy
bore down hard and pushed. Even with her slayer stamina, she was starting to feel exhaustion
from the long labour.

"You can do it love, you can do it," Spike repeated as a mantra. He was grateful that the delivery
room had no windows, since he had been coaching all night and now long into the day.

"Good, Buffy, good. I can see the head," Dr. Hall told her.

"He's got a head!" Buffy exclaimed happily.

"Keep pushing," the doctor repeated. "Almost there, now, almost there. One more big push."
With that push the baby slid into the doctor's waiting hands. "Very good, Buffy. Look, she's
beautiful. Perfect," she said softly, "Perfect."

Spike was being driven mad by the scent of the blood permeating the room, but he focused on the
baby the doctor was holding. "And she's alright? She's... normal?"

He could see the doctor's eyes smiling above her surgical mask. "Better than normal. You and
your wife have a lovely little daughter."

"Spike, it's a girl. We have a girl," Buffy cried. She saw the tears in Spike's eyes as he kissed
her through his mask.

"You did it, love. You were bloody amazing."

Buffy reached out her hands to the doctor. "Can I hold her? Please?" The doctor placed the
baby in her mother's arms as Spike looked on in joy.

"Now let me clean her up a bit and you can try to nurse her." The doctor smiled into the baby's face. "She really is a lovely little thing. You both must be very proud."

*******

Buffy reclined on the bed in her hospital room and dozed lightly. Everything was like a dream.
She opened her eyes to a knock at her door. Willow and Dawn stood by her side, beaming. "The
doctor said only two of us at a time, so we get first shift. Besides, I get family privilege," Dawn
said, with a grin that threatened to divide her face in two. "We're so happy for you, Buffy. Does
she look like me?"

Willow looked around the room. "Where's Spike? I want to congratulate the happy papa."

Buffy pointed to the window. "I'd rather my husband wasn't a pile of ash, thank you. He was
pretty tired, being up most of the day, so I sent him away to get some rest. He's probably flaked
out in a broom closet somewhere. He'll be back at sundown."

"Did you guys see her yet? She's so beautiful."

Dawn replied, "No, she wasn't in the nursery when we looked. They're probably weighing her,
or giving her shots, or something. So, what are you calling my niece?"

Buffy smiled. "I want to call her Billie, after her father, but he wants to call her Joyce. It's
wonderful how much Mom meant to him." She smiled whistfully, wishing her mother could be
here with her. "So we're going with Billie Joyce Summers."

Willow said, "I'll let Dawn stay with you. There's someone outside who really wants to see you.
I'll be back later." She squeezed her friend's hand and went out into the corridor. "Your turn,"
she said.

A young man walked sheepishly into the room. "Xander," Buffy exclaimed. "Oh Xander, it's so
great to see you."

Xander Harris didn't feel great. He felt guilty for neglecting his friend when she had needed him.
"Hi Buffy," he mumbled. He looked into her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I've been such a total jerk.
Don't forgive me, because I'm not worth it. Just let me be here, please."

"I have missed you so much," Buffy cried. "I know you had a hard time, and you couldn't fake
being happy for me. I also know that you've been out patrolling every night, putting your life on
the line. Now come and give me a big hug before I slug you."

Xander rushed to his friend and embraced her tightly. "I am happy for you. I really am."

The three inhabitants of the room were so engrossed that they didn't hear Dr. Hall at the door.
"I'm sorry, but your visitors will have to leave. I have to speak to Mrs. Summers."

Dawn and Xander left, as Buffy waved them goodbye. "See you both later," she called.

Dr. Hall came to her bedside. Buffy's eyes misted with tears as she saw the look on her
physician's face. "Mrs. Summers," she said sadly, "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

**********

At sundown Spike returned to Buffy's room, well rested and peaceful. He had never hoped to
be so happy.

He looked at the tears staining Buffy's cheeks and his heart froze. She was crying, whimpering,
like one who had sobbed until there were no more tears to give. "Billie?" he murmured.

"She's dead." With the words she dared not speak the floodgates opened again, and the tears
flowed once more.

"But how?" Spike whispered. "She was fine. The doctor said she was perfect. She looked
fine."

"She doesn't know. One moment Billie was okay, and the next her heart had stopped. Dr. Hall
said she just wasn't meant to be." Buffy tried to curb her tears, but all she could feel was numb.
"Oh God," she sighed, "I want my baby."

Spike dropped to his knees beside his wife's hospital bed and cried. He held his hands to his face as tears streamed between his fingers. Buffy reached out and took his hand in hers, pulling him onto the bed beside her. Curled together, burying themselves in grief, they wept.

******

"I want to see Dr. Hall," Spike demanded, barely containing his rage before the nurse at the call
desk. "I want to see her now." Something hadn't made sense to him. Why hadn't she been back
to see them both? All through the pregnancy she had done her utmost to involve Spike in every
aspect. She knew that he was a vampire, and that he wouldn't have been back to Buffy's room
until nightfall. And why had the baby died so suddenly, without warning? No, something didn't
add up.

The nurse was used to irate patients and their families and wasn't easily intimidated, but Spike's
demeanour led her to think that she had best be honest with him. "Dr. Hall isn't here. She told
me that she had an emergency and left hours ago. I don't know where she is. She isn't
answering her pager."

Spike looked her in the eye determinately. "Now, this is very important. Was she carrying
anything with her?"

"She had a basket with some blankets in it. It made a little mewing sound," The nurse replied.
"She told me that she was taking a stray cat she had found to one of the patients in pediatrics. I
thought it was very nice of her, really, thoughtful."

Spike slammed his fist onto the desk. "Bloody hell!" he shouted.

********

Dr. Marley Hall placed the basket she was carrying onto her hotel room floor, beside a
well-stocked diaper bag. She knelt down beside the basket and peeled back the blankets, to
reveal the healthy, sleeping baby. "Hey, little one," she said, "Say hello to your new mommy.
My own little damphyr. Daddy was a vampire, Mama was a Slayer. Just what surprises do you
have in store for me, eh?"