Notes: It's finally here… how Maggie came to be! This chapter (and possibly the next few chapters) will flashback and forth between season 6 and the year 2007 (which is when the story is taking place). I hope it won't be too confusing. Thanks to all of you fantastic readers who are reviewing. Your wonderful reviews are keeping me on target :)

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Buffy took a deep breath, getting ready to tell Spike how Maggie had "happened".  "Ok, Spike. Here's how it happened. This may get a little confusing, but I'll do my best to explain."

"Ok, Buffy." He gave her a reassuring smile as she started to describe events that unfolded five years earlier.

"Alright then. We have to start in the middle, with me finding out I was pregnant, to get to the beginning, of how it happened- well, not exactly how it happened, because we both know *how *- but you know what I mean…"

Spike just smirked as Buffy rolled her eyes and started telling him the story.

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*Sunnydale, April  2002 *

Buffy walked out of the training room at the Magic Box, to find Willow and Xander sitting at the table, staring at a large pile of books.
"Whatcha doing, guys? I don't remember there being anything around that we needed to go into research-mode over."

Willow looked up at Buffy, and noticed that she looked a little pale. "There's not. That's just the thing, though. Doesn't it seem a little strange that we haven't seen anything resembling a Big Bad lately? I mean, we do still live on the Hellmouth, right?"

"Yeah, I never thought I'd say this, but life is a little boring without some nasties to research and hunt down. Guess my Big-Bad non wedding scared them all away." Xander laughed a little bitterly, and tried to change the subject that he really didn't mean to bring up. "Buff, are you ok? You're looking a little pale these days."

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine." Buffy said as she swayed a little, lost her balance and flopped rather ungracefully down on the nearest chair. "Or, maybe I feel just a little woozy. I probably just have one of those 24 hour bugs or something."

"Buff- I don't ever remember you being sick before. Don't Slayers have some sort of, like, super hero immune system or something that goes along with your super healing powers?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at Xander. "I guess. But I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe I'm just a little tired from working so much lately, or maybe I just picked up some Doublemeat germs or something." They all laughed lightly at the mention of the DMP.

"Well, Buffy, since there's not really anything to research or slay tonight, why don't you go home and get some rest? Xander and I can take Dawn out for pizza and an movie, and you can have the whole house to yourself. Maybe you'll feel better after a long bath and some extra sleep."

"You know Will, that actually does sound like an excellent idea. Are you guys sure that you didn't have other plans tonight? I hate to feel like I'm pushing Dawn duty off on you."

"We don't mind at all Buffy. You go, and get some rest"

With that, Buffy headed out the door and toward home. Once there, she filled the tub with warm water, adding in some of her favorite vanilla bubble bath, and grabbed her newest copy of  Cosmo from her room. As she settled into the water, she realized that reading in the bath was *not * going to work. She tossed the magazine to the floor and proceeded to enjoy her bath. Once out, she plucked the magazine from the floor and strolled to her room, deciding to read it while she was snuggled into her bed.

While flipping through the pages, she stopped on an article that for some odd reason caught her attention. The headline drew her in… "True story: Surprise pregnancies in the new millennium" She was reading it and was  totally engrossed in the women's stories, before she even realized it. Buffy read one girl's story and made a noise that sounded something like a cross between a snort and a laugh when she read the line "I didn't even realize I was pregnant until I was about 4 months along. I was always so active that it didn't even occur to me that I'd missed my cycle all those months." * Ha * Buffy thought, *What kind of dummy doesn't realize when they've missed FOUR months in a row?*  

She suddenly felt very sick to her stomach, and left the book lying there while she ventured to the kitchen to find something to settle the queasiness she felt. When Buffy returned to her room with Saltines and Ginger Ale, he eyes fell back on the article she'd been reading. …it didn't occur to me that I'd missed all those months… Buffy's eyes darted back and forth between the book, the calendar on her wall, and the glass of ginger ale in her hand, while trying to push away the waves of nausea she still felt.

"No." She said out loud to herself. "There's no way. Absolutely no way. Is there?" Looking at the clock, she knew she had at least two more hours before Dawn and Willow would be home. Buffy jumped up, grabbed on the first clothes she picked up, and headed out to the nearest drug store.

The next morning, she woke up before anyone else in the house, on purpose. She'd taken two tests the night before, but they'd both said that you get the most reliable results if you take the test first thing in the morning. So, first thing in the morning it was, and Buffy found herself sitting in her bathroom, staring at two more little white wands balanced precariously on the edge of the sink. One sported two little blue lines, one stared back at her with a pink plus sign; both gave her the same results as the two tests from the night before.

She heard someone stirring in the hallway, then a soft knock on the door. Willow's voice called through the door "Buffy? Are you ok? You're up awfully early…"

Buffy cracked the door open, and motioned for Willow to come in. "No, Will, I'm not really ok. And I'm not too sure how to tell you this…"

"Buffy, what's wrong?"

"Well, remember how you and Xander were bummed that there was nothing to research? I think I've found something. You see, for the past few months, Spike and I have been… well, together. And now…" Tears sprang to Buffy's eyes as she became light headed again.

"Buffy, you're scaring me. What's up, and why would we need to research anything about you and Spike, although I can't really say I'm shocked by this revelation."

Buffy motioned to the two little wands on the sink.

"Oh." Was all that Willow could manage to say.

"Yeah. Do that for about ten more hours and you'll be about where I am. Well, minus the being pregnant with a vampire's child and all."

"What are you going to do, Buffy?"

Buffy started to cry. Willow hugged her best friend, and led her back to her room. "Buffy, you know that you can tell me as much or as little about this as you need to. I promise that I won't judge you. I mean, I'm the last person who should be judging anyone these days."

Buffy calmed down, and told Willow the whole story. Everything from how she and Spike first got together, to how she'd recently broken up with him and told him that being with him was killing her. "But ,Will, I miss him. I need him, a part of me has always needed him I think. And this baby is a part of us. No option other than having this baby ever entered my mind."

"So, when are you going to tell him?"

"I- I don't think I can tell him. Willow, he won't believe me. I don't even know how this is possible. Vampires aren't supposed to be able to… will you help me find out how this could have happened? In the meantime I think I need to go to the doctor, and make sure everything is alright, and then once I've got more facts, I'll tell him."

"Sure, Buffy. What ever you need. You know I'll help however I can. Xander will too. He'll probably be a little wigged at first, but he'll just have to get over it."

"Thanks Willow. So I guess we should head over to the Magic Box and get started on reading some dusty old books, huh?"

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The girls and Xander plundered through the books all week, after Buffy broke the news to Dawn, who took it amazingly well. The four friends sat around the table, scouring every volume that Giles had left behind, looking for anything that could explain Buffy's "delicate" condition. Buffy had managed to get an appointment with her doctor, who confirmed what the four home tests had already told her. She was indeed pregnant. About four months along, she'd told Buffy, and the baby seemed to be in perfect condition. She even went ahead and did the first sonogram, producing the first official "picture" of Buffy's baby. The baby wasn't turned the right way in the first sonogram to tell the gender, but Dr. Birch had told Buffy that they would try again on her next visit. The picture from Buffy's sonogram was lying on the table one night as Spike came breezing through the back door of the Magic Box.

"Well, hello, lovelies." He said as he strolled toward the table, taking in the sight of Buffy, Willow, and Dawn all with their nose in a book. "What's going on that has you three up to your ears in research at this late hour?"

"Not much, just researching the latest weirdo occurrences in Sunny-D, that's all" Buffy said lightly as she stood up and faced him, trying to ever-so-slyly slide the sonogram picture off the table and into her pocket. "What brings you around to annoy us while we are busy doing actual work?"

"Well, you know, pet, I wasn't actually coming to annoy. I was walking by, and saw the lights on, and thought it was rather late for the Scoobies to be researching, so I thought I'd see if I could help. I see now that was a mistake." He started for the door.

"Spike, come back" Dawn called. "You probably can  help us." Buffy shot Dawn a warning glare.

"No, Lil'Bit. I think big sis has made it all too clear that I'm really not needed. So I'll just go." He turned when he reached the door. "Night 'Bit, Red…. Slayer."

Buffy cringed and looked away when he called her Slayer. She couldn't really remember him calling her that in the last few months. It had always been 'pet' or 'love' or even 'Buffy'. Not 'slayer', not recently. When she turned back around, he was gone.

"Buffy, you should have told him" Dawn instructed.

"I know" she replied, as tears formed in her eyes and fell down her cheek.

"Oh! Buffy look! I think I found something… this has to be it. I mean, it describes the two of you exactly."

Buffy turned her teary gaze to Willow. "What is it, Willow?"

"A prophecy… it seems that you've fulfilled yet another one of these cryptic prophesies. I think."

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"Wait." Spike interrupted Buffy's story. "That night. The night I left. You knew then that you were pregnant with our baby?"

"Yes" Buffy whispered.

"Why didn't you tell me? Buffy, I never would have left if I had known."

"Well, I didn't exactly know that when you said 'I'll just go' you meant for good!"

"You still should have told me. I mean, I was right there, for crying out loud, and you couldn't even bother to say, 'Oh by the way, I'm carrying your child'?"

"Would you have believed me if I had just blurted it out like that?" Buffy glared at him.

"Well, probably not. But you still could have told me, and then worried about convincing me later."

Buffy could tell Spike was hurt that she hadn't told him that night. "Look, Spike, I'm sorry. Ok? Of all the really stupid things I've ever done, not telling you that night ranks as number one in my book. But you know now. And I have all this stuff to show you" she reached for the book on the coffee table. Just then, a shrill cry pierced the night and Buffy and Spike both jumped up at the sound coming from upstairs.

"Mommy!! Mommy! Monsters, hurry!!"

They both bolted up the stairs, immediately forgetting the impending argument they were about to have. They reached Maggie's room, and found her lying in her bed, kicked out from under the covers, and squinching her eyes tightly as she fought off monsters in her sleep. Buffy sat on the edge of her daughter's bed and gently gathered the child in her arms, while Spike watched from just inside the doorway. Maggie immediately clung to Buffy, still sleepy-eyed and crying.

"Shh, baby. Mommy's here. What happened? Did you have a bad dream?"

Maggie nodded. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"I was lost, and couldn't find my way home, and there were big green monsters and ugly white ghosts everywhere, and they chased me, and said that they would take me away and that I'd never see you again."

"Well, it was just a bad dream, sweetie. I'm right here. And I'll never, ever let anything happen to you."

Maggie opened her eyes and looked at Buffy. "I know Mommy." She caught a glimpse of Spike's blonde head over Buffy's shoulder. "Will-yum! You came back!" Buffy turned and saw him standing there, and motioned for him to come into the room.

"I did, pet.  So what's this I hear about monsters sneaking into your sweet little dreams?"

"They were mean, and ugly." She told him.

He reached out and stroked her hair, trying to comfort her. "Well, I'll just have to see if I can't find those mean monsters, and have a little chat with them. Tell them I won't have them interrupting your dreams anymore."

"You can do that?"

"I'll certainly try." He assured her.

Buffy tucked Maggie back into her bed, and she and Spike both kissed her forehead and watched as she drifted effortlessly back into sleep, before sneaking quietly back into the hallway.

"So, love, about this prophecy…"

Buffy nodded and led Spike back downstairs to fill him in on the rest of the story.