"Buffy, are you home?" Called Angel as he came into the house.
"In the kitchen." Called back Buffy.
Angel followed her voice and smiled as he saw what she was doing. Buffy was up to elbows in cookie batter. Angel could smell some baking in the oven. "Something smells good. For once!"
"Don't even go there mister, and besides I got hungry, and there was nothing to eat!" Buffy put a very innocent look on her face.
Angel went over to the fridge and as he looked inside he said. "Buffy the fridge is overflowing with food, and I bet that if I looked in the pantry and cupboards they would be full as well."
"OK so I needed something to do, and I had a very big craving for homemade cookies. Still do actually!"
Angel walked over to Buffy and was just about around the counter, when she moved to the other side. He knew she was avoiding him, and she wouldn't look into his eyes. He walked back to the fridge and took out a cup of blood and stood against the fridge and looked at Buffy. Finally she noticed.
"What?" She asked, still avoiding his eyes.
"Why are you avoiding me and my eyes?" He tried to catch her but she moved to the other side of the counter.
"Don't know what you are talking about!"
"Just a minute ago we were fine, then I try to come near you and you move away. Did something happen tonight?" He looked at her closely.
"No! I mean not in the way you think." Buffy suddenly looked up at Angel, her face was covered in tear streaks.
"Buffy?" But before he could move any closer, Buffy pulled her apron off, and Angel saw that the bump on her stomach had grown bigger. In fact, instead of looking 6 weeks pregnant, Buffy looked 8 months pregnant.
"I don't know what happened, I jus tried to put on a shirt and it wouldn't fit, and that's when I realized it. God, I am so scared Angel!"
He walked over to Buffy, and this time she didn't move away. Angel enveloped Buffy in his arms and whispered. "It's going to be okay, tomorrow we'll go and see a doctor…" Buffy cut him off.
"Angel, we can't! What if it isn't even human? What if they question us? Asking how it grows so quickly. Angel we are not going to see a doctor!"
"It's ok, I know someone who will be ok with it." Buffy looked a little confused. "Dr. Brown, I met her in New York back when I was a bum, she treated me for a gash some other vamps had given me. She knew about everything, vamps, magick, evil!"
"You're sure?"
"No doubt in my mind! I call her first thing in the morning, or considering it is morning, at the first reasonable hour. Now come upstairs and get some rest." Buffy and Angel went up Stairs and fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Buffy headed over to the hospital as Angel did the same only he took the less scenic route, the sewers! Angel was waiting as Buffy came out of the elevator.
"What took you so long?" He smiled as he took Buffy's arm in his, as they walked to wards Dr. Brown's Office.
"I think it was the huge lump of demon on my front!"
"It's not a demon!" Said Angel as they rounded the corner.
"How can you be sure?"
"My instinct!" Replied Angel as he knocked on the door to Dr. Brown's office.
"Come in." Called a very homey voice from inside the room. Angel opened the door, and he and Buffy walked in.
As she entered the office, Buffy saw the sweetest looking woman rise from her desk to come and greet them. But even the sweetness in her voice and appearance couldn't hide the no-bullshit aura around Dr. Brown. The woman walked to Angel and gave him the biggest hug, and Buffy was surprised to see how relaxed he looked in her arms.
"Angel, it's been too long! I didn't even know you were in Sunnydale!"
"I've kept to my main circle. By the way, you look as young as ever!"
"I see your wit has stayed as young as your looks!" Dr. Brown gave him one more hug then turned to Buffy.
"And you must be Buffy!" She gave Buffy a tight squeeze.
"Hi! It's really nice to meet you Dr. Brown. All of Angel's family or friends that I've met so far have tried to kill me!" The doctor turned and looked at Angel who looked away. "Anyways, you must call me Rita." She guided Buffy to a seat in front of her desk.
"Thanks." Said Buffy as Angel took a seat beside Buffy.
"So, anyone want to tell me how Buffy became pregnant?" Angel and Buffy looked uneasily at each other.
"I'm going to take a wild guess here and say it wasn't planned! Especially since Angel's human!"
"I tell I mean might as well be me!" Said Buffy pointing at her stomach. She then launched into the livid tale of her pregnancy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ok, so. Uh, that's quite the past few, uh months, er weeks you two have had." Rita sat, a little stunned in her chair, while Buffy and Angel looked expectantly at her.
"That's what happens when a slayer hangs out with a en-souled vampire." Suggested Buffy.
"True!" Rita smiled at the two in front of her. At this gesture they both relaxed, and she realized how much they looked like two human kids just starting a perfectly normal life together. "So I think, Buffy, we should start with an ultra-sound, so why don't we all go down to my other office, and get started!" Buffy, Angel, and Rita rose and headed down the hall.
Once in the examination room, Angel helped Buffy up onto the table and Rita started to prepare. First she hooked Buffy up to a heart beat machine, then one on her stomach for the baby. She then lifted up Buffy's shirt and cleaned her large stomach, and prepped the ultra-sound machine.
"Now this is going to be a little cold, but bare with me." Rita squirted a clear gel on Buffy's stomach-Buffy jumped a little at the coldness- and used the machine to spread it around as she switched on the machines. The machine with Buffy's heart beat on it bleeped away happily, and Rita smiled as she listened to her headphones.
Curious, Buffy asked, "What is it?" Angel looked as if he wanted to grab the headphones away and listen. Rita laughed.
"Listen." She said as she took off the headphones and turned a dial on the machine tracking the baby's heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump…
Buffy and Angel's faces lit up. "Angel, our baby has a heart beat!" Buffy exclaimed happily. She and he gripped hands. Rita laughed.
"Do you two want to see your baby?"
"Baby?"
"The thing growing inside of you!" Rita turned the monitor to the couple and they watched in silence as they saw their baby for the first time.
"Oh god, Angel, it's perfect!" Gasped Buffy.
"More then perfect!"
"You two wait till it's born then you can start admiring it properly." Laughed the Doctor. "Why don't we finish up? I'll print the picture you are seeing now, and then we'll move on."
Buffy just stared in awe of the life that was growing inside of her, all the while Angel kissed her head and if you looked close enough you might have even seen tears.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Buffy and Angel walked up to the school entrance still thinking about the day's events. After Rita had cleaned Buffy up, she then drew samples of Buffy and the Baby's blood to check. The couple was happy with the results, Buffy was fine and the Baby was fine and human. They had decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby till after, but were just fine with knowing it was human.
They walked into the library to find everyone lounging around, relaxing.
"Buffy, Angel! How did it go?" Asked a completely hyper Willow. Everyone else stopped what he or she was doing to listen.
"Well, good news and bad, which first?"
"Bad, it all seems okay in the end because if the bad news is horrible, the good will cheer you up!" Supplied Jenny.
"Ok, Angel? I'll do bad, you good?"
"That's a crazy thought now isn't it?" Muttered Xander.
Ignoring him, Angel replied, "Sure."
"Kay, so the bad we decided not to know what the baby's gender is!"
"Ohhhhh, but then we won't know what colors to buy the presents in!" Complained Willow.
"It's okay, go with yellow, Baby Vogue said it's the new blue and new pink!" Suggested Cordy.
"Can one color fill in for two?" Asked Oz. Then the whole group started in on baby merchandise.
"People, there are other matters at hand." Everyone turned to look at Giles. "Like if the Baby even has a gender!"
"Thanks Giles!" Said Buffy.
"That brings us to the good news." Said Angel, taking his time, clearly loving the looks of angst and exasperation on his friend's faces. "The baby has a…heart beat." Taking a deep breath he didn't need, "And…the baby is…human!" Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"You're sure?" Asked Jenny.
"We had Blood tests and a ultra-sound done. Here." Buffy fished the blood test results out and handed them to Giles and Jenny. Then she took out the picture of the baby and showed her friends. For the next hour or so, they all talked about how great this was and started to plan a baby shower.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"And you're sure her stomach is bigger than before?" Spike stood in front of one a vampire minion he had sent to spy on Angel and the slayer. It had been a few days since one of them had saw the two go to a hospital. The minion had just reported back, and Spike did not like what he was hearing.
"Yes, my lord. Before I was turned, I had children of my own. And if I were to make a guess, I would think that she is 8 out of 9 months pregnant."
"A guess! Think!" Spike grabbed the female vampire by the neck, raising her into the air. "Be sure!"
"Ghhh…I…am, ghst, sure, my lord!" The vampire struggled, even though she didn't need to breathe. Spike dropped her to the floor then began to walk out of the room, talking to himself.
"This is not good. The slayer could give birth at anytime. Then we would have to kill the baby."
"Spike?" Dru walked into the room, accompanied by Craig. Buffy and he had kept up friendly chatter, but he had denied all requests to meet Angel, always making excuses.
"The spy just got back!" Craig and Drusilla suddenly got very interested in what Spike was talking about. "Buffy's pregnancy is defiantly magical. She's gone from 2 bloody months to 8 in a matter of days!"
"Then it will have to be tonight!" Said Dru.
"She's right! But it must be everyone; we'll make it look like one big attack on the lot of them. The Essence of Evil was finished today. We'll have to gather all the vamps for this one, have five stay behind to work on the curse for Angel and I'll handle Buffy." Said Craig.
"Agreed." Spike said, lighting a cigarette. "Dru go down and check the cells, make sure they are strong. Craig, go and gather the five that will stay, get the curse set up and get the essence. I'll go gather the troops."
The two vampires and the human set off on their assigned tasks. Each of them delighting in the pleasure tonight's events would bring them.
An hour later, it was sunset, and everything was in place.
"Cages will hold them all and they won't escape! Not unless we want them to!" Dru smiled playfully.
"Plenty of time for that later. Now the final count for the troops is 56, that should be enough, and there's still more around the factory and town. Craig, I'll give you a call when we're ready for you, until then, have fun!" With that Spike, Dru and the army of vampires set out to Sunnydale High School.