A/N Yes, I admit it! I love Charmed too! I'm very, very angry that they killed Cole. But anyway, I might do a Charmed/Buffy crossover fic one day. Right now I have something else in the works that won't be out for a while, but I think you guys might like it. Thanks for the reviews.

June 21, 2006

"Angel, it hurts!" Buffy cried. She was sitting in the hospital room going through another contraction. They had been there for the past three hours. Buffy had been headed to the kitchen to get something to drink when the first labor pain hit her.

"Just breathe Buffy. It's almost over." Angel said. He was gripping her hand and watching the fetal monitor as it showed the progress of the contraction.

"Here," Sandra said. She walked over to the foot of the bed and held up Mr. Gordo. "Use this as your focal point."

Through gritted teeth and gasping breaths, Buffy asked, "What the hell is that?"

"It's your favorite stuffed pig baby." Angel said.

"I know WHAT it is! What's a focal point? OW!"

"Just concentrate on it." Sandra said. Buffy glared for a moment and then looked at the pig. "Good. Now breathe deeply and slowly."

After a couple more minutes, the pain subsided. Buffy laid her head back and looked at Angel. "I want drugs." She whined.

"I know. The doctor said when you're dilated to six or seven then he'll give you the epidural."

"I know, but I need it now. It hurts!"

"Shh." Angel stroked Buffy's hair. "I know baby."

"No, you really don't! Not unless you're pissing a bowling ball you don't!"

Sandra laughed. "She's got a point."

"Are Giles and Willow and Xander coming?"

"I called them two hours ago. They were in Nashville getting ready to board their connecting flight." Angel said.

"They should be here in an hour then." Sandra said. "It takes about three hours to get from there to New York."

"Sandra, thank you so much for being here with me.. Us" Buffy said. "You're the closest thing to a mom I've got right now."

"Oh sweetheart. You're welcome. I've been through this four times. It's only hard the first time."

Buffy nodded and perked up when the doctor opened the door followed by a man with a cart. "Oh, thank God! I need drugs! It hurts a really lot and I'm so small hipped that I think I might need a little bit more than normal women. Plus, I'm not exactly all that normal myself, so if you could just put about a liter more in there.."

"It's ok Mrs. Calaghan. You'll get drugs as soon as I check on how far you're dilated and the position of the baby." The doctor said.

"Ok.. Just, can you hurry?"

The doctor smiled at her and went to work. She checked her dilation and then pushed on her stomach a little. After a few more light pushes, she went and talked to the man with the cart. He took the sheet off the top to reveal a long needle and some colored liquid. Angel's eyes widened. Buffy smiled.

"Ok Mrs. Calaghan, this Dr. Olin. He's our local anesthesiologist here to administer your epidural. First I want to go over what everything is, ok?" Buffy nodded and then winced. "Another contraction?" Buffy nodded again and started to breathe hard. Angel gripped her hand. "How long has it been since the last one?"

"About five or ten minutes." Sandra said.

"Good. We're moving along great then. This is the third part of the first stage of labor."

"There's three?" Buffy asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes. You'll be fully dilated I'd say within the next couple of hours and then you'll be able to push. That's the second stage. After that we have to deliver the placenta. And that's the third stage. As soon as that's done, you're done."

"Yay." Buffy gritted sarcastically. She closed her eyes and squeezed Angel's hand tighter. He stroked her hair and gave her a sip of water.

"Almost there Buffy." Sandra said.

"You're doing great sweetie." Angel said.

Buffy gave a small scream and laid back, breathing heavily. "Oh I hate that."

"We all do." The doctor said. "I've been through it twice. Ok, take a sip of water." Dr. Olin stepped up. "Buffy? Hi, I'm Dr. Olin. I hear that you could use a pretty strong cocktail right now."

"A cocktail is what got me in this mess." Buffy said.

Angel blushed slightly and Dr. Olin just laughed. "Yes, well. Anyway, this is what we're going to do. This tube thing is called the catheter. I'm going to put this in the small of your back and tape it there so we can administer more of the epidural throughout delivery. You've already got your IV in place. That's to keep your blood pressure from dropping, just in case they didn't tell you." He picked up a small needle. "This is just a numbing agent that's going to really dull the pain of the actual epidural."

"Whatever. Just get that drug in me now. Please."

"Ok." Dr. Olin chuckled. "Roll over on your side please."

Buffy rolled over towards Angel as Dr. Olin moved over to her other side. She felt a tiny prick after he had cleaned the area where he was going to put the epidural. Then.. Nothing! Buffy gave Angel a small, goofy smile. Then, Dr. Olin placed a sheet over her back and she felt a dull pressure on the small of her back. After a minute, it went away and the feeling from her waist down did too. He removed the sheet and Buffy rolled back over.

"Yay! That feels so much better. Thank you so, so much." Buffy said.

"You're welcome. I'll come back and check on you in a little bit."

Buffy waved and watched him go. The doctor walked up to her. "Are you comfortable?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Good. I'll be back in to check on you. Hopefully the next time I come in, it'll be time to head to delivery."

"Goody!" Buffy waved. "Bye!"

Angel looked at her. "You ok?"

"Hehe, I'm fine. Just happy I have drugs."

"Can you feel anything?"

"Another contraction. Ow." Buffy squeezed Angel's hand tightly.

"I thought the drugs were supposed to take the pain away."

"Not completely." Sandra said. "She's feeling immense pressure. It's not as bad though. See."

She was right. Buffy wasn't crying or screaming or yelling at Angel for putting her in this position. She had her eyes tightly shut and she was counting to herself. After she got to 60, the pain was gone and she looked up. The first person's eyes she found were Angel's.

"Hi." She said.

"Hey. How you doing champ?" Angel asked.

"I'm ok. Actually, I'm ready to get this show on the road. These contractions are starting to get annoying."

"Annoying? I've never heard anyone say that before." Sandra said.

"I'm good with pain.. Sometimes."

"Oh, ok. At least you're not some freaky dominatrix woman." Sandra paused. "You're not, are you?"

"Will it get me fired?"

"No."

"Ok then, yes. Angel and I play Mistress of Pain every other weekend. I have leather bondage and chains."

"Oh, interesting."

"Sandra?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm kidding."

"I know. I'm just watching you. You're contractions are getting closer together."

"That's a good sign, right?"

"Yeah. It means the baby's about ready to come out."

"Finally." Buffy gave a small smile and then it was gone. "Oh, here's another one."

"Are you kidding?" Angel asked. "It's only been a few minutes."

"Good sign, remember?" Buffy breathed.

"Right." He nodded and rubbed her stomach lightly with one hand while squeezing her hand with his other.

An hour and a half later, Buffy and Angel were getting ready to head into delivery when Giles, Willow, Xander, Spike, and Lita ran in.

"Buffy," Spike said. "How are you?"

"I hurt." Buffy said, gritting her teeth.

"It's a contraction." Angel explained. "We're going into delivery now."

"Angel, I need to push!"

"Not now baby." Angel stroked her sweat soaked hair. "Wait till we get there and the doctor says to start pushing."

"No, I want him out now! You have absolutely no clue how bad this hurts! I need more drugs!"

"Shh. It'll be over soon."

"Not soon enough!"

"Hey Angel, love your outfit." Spike drawled.

"Not now Spike." Angel said.

"I was just trying to get you to smile."

"Sorry we weren't here sooner." Lita said.

"Yeah, we went by the apartment and found your note on the door." Willow said.

"So we came right over." Giles said.

"Geez Buff, you'd think you'd want a home birth after all the time you've spent in hospitals." Xander said.

"We're taking her in now." One of the doctors said. She shooed everyone out of the way and directed them to a waiting room right outside the delivery room as they wheeled Buffy in. Angel stayed a moment.

"Sorry we're not home right now. We didn't exactly plan this today." Angel said to Willow.

"It's ok. This is what we came here for anyway." Willow said.

"Angel!" Buffy yelled from the delivery room.

"I uh.. Gotta.."

"Go."

Angel ran into the delivery room. Willow and the others all decided it might be a while, so they went and sat down. After a while, Spike decided to start pacing. Then Giles joined him. About an hour later, they heard the screams of a baby coming from the delivery room. They all smiled and started hugging one another as Angel popped his head out and gave them a thumbs up and a "he's beautiful!"



Spike, Giles, and Xander stood with Angel outside a window looking in at all the little babies in their cribs and incubators. Angel motioned to the nurse and told her the last name. The nurse nodded and brought over one of the babies in a blue blanket.

"That's him guys. That's my son." Angel said.

"He's gorgeous Angel." Spike said.

"He's got his mother's hair and eyes." Giles said like the proud surrogate father he was.

"He's definitely got Angel's face though." Xander said.

"I couldn't imagine anything more perfect." Angel said, a tear sliding down his cheek.

"Buffy's father is coming tomorrow." Giles said. "We called him not long after you told us your son was born."

"Good, Buffy will love to see him."

"He was angry that no one had bothered to call him sooner and tell him that his daughter was pregnant."

"He'll get over it."

"I'm sure he will."

"I'm going to go check on Buffy." Angel said, walking towards Buffy's room. "She was sleeping the last time I checked on her."



"Don't leave me!" Buffy said. "I need you here. I don't know how to do this without you!"

"Buffy, honey.." Joyce said, grasping Buffy's hands.

"No! Please don't. I need you. I don't know how to raise a baby."

Joyce put her hand on her daughter's cheek. "Oh my poor Buffy. You were forced to grow up too fast. Trust me, you'll do fine raising your baby boy. Angel will make sure of that."

"Why do you have to leave me? You're never here when I need you."

"Oh, I'm there. You just can't see me."

"Why do people say that? It doesn't really comfort anyone. Especially not me. I know that you're not really there for me. You're somewhere that I can't reach you. I can't touch you, or talk to you the way I want."

"Just talk to your heart. I'm there."

"But you don't answer back."

"I do, just not in the ways you think."

"I love you mommy."

"I love you Buffy."

"You have to go away now, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to say goodbye."

"Then don't. Just say what you've always said."

"Later?"

"Later." Joyce started to disappear.

"Mommy!" Joyce smiled at her and kissed her forehead and Buffy sat up in bed. She looked around and found Angel sitting next to the bed.

"Hey." Angel said.

Buffy laid back painfully. "Hey."

"Are you ok?"

"I had a dream."

"What was it about?"

"Nothing of importance. Actually, it just hit me that we haven't named our son."

"You've been sleeping."

"I know, but we need to." Buffy pushed the call button and asked the nurse to bring in their son.

"Do you have any ideas of what you want to name him?"

"Actually, yeah. I had another dream before the one I just had. It reminded me of a name I'd heard before that I really liked.. No, that I really loved."

"What is it?"

The nurse walked in with the sleeping baby being wheeled in his little plastic crib. She smiled and handed Buffy the baby before walking out. Buffy held him lovingly, a huge smile spreading over her face.

"Hey there. I'm your mommy and that big, tall, handsome man climbing in the bed with us is your daddy. We love you very much Connor."

"Connor?" Angel asked. "I like it. Where did you get it?"

"Let's just say an angel told me and keep it at that for now."

"For now, but I am going to ask you about it later." Angel looked down at the tiny hand that was gripping his large finger. "Hey Connor. You've got some grip there little guy." He leaned over and kissed his son on the forehead.

Willow, Xander, Lita, Spike, and Giles all walked into the room with flowers and balloons. They spread them out on the dresser across the room and then crowded around the hospital bed to look at the baby.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Connor Angel Callaghan. Connor, that's your aunt Willow, your uncle Xander, your uncle Spike, your aunt Lita, and your grandpa Giles." Buffy said.

"Grandpa?" Giles asked.

"On my mom's side of course."

Giles smiled. "I'd be honored."

"Good."

"Smile!" Xander said, holding up a disposable camera. Angel put his head on Buffy's and smiled with her as she held the baby. The picture was perfect. The very essence of a happy family. "That's gonna be a good one."