23

"That was dirty pool, luv." Spike pulled her close to him, just savoring the feel of her.

"If all I had done was talk, would you have listened?" Rose asked.

"Probably not," he admitted. "But are you absolutely sure that the doctor said..,"

"Yes, darling," she interrupted. It was far from the first time she'd answered that particular question. "Why don't you come with me on my next appointment? You can talk to the doctor yourself. Then, maybe you'll believe that he actually does know what he's talking about." She had at the time no notion of just how that particular idea was going to come back to haunt her. Or maybe a better phrase would be to bite her on the ass.

"I believe I'll take you up on that offer, pet," Spike murmured reflectively. "I've got a few questions of my own for the doctor. Are you positive that he said it was okay if we..,"

"Yes, love," she replied wearily.

&&&&&&&&&

"Wesley, can we please put some wards on my office?" Rose asked plaintively. "I haven't made a blind bit of progress on that prophecy yet because people keep sticking their heads in my door to ask stupid questions or just gawk. I can't even begin to concentrate. And Etruscan isn't one of my better languages to start with."

"That prophecy is written in Sumerian," Wes pointed out quietly.

"Didn't I say that?" Rose looked baffled.

"No," he disagreed. "You said Etruscan. You must be rattled if you can't tell the difference between Etruscan and Sumerian."

"I can tell the difference," she snapped. "It just must have come out wrong, that's all. Can we get back to discussing what to do about the snoop brigade? You'd think none of them had ever seen a pregnant woman before."

"Why don't we save the wards as a last-ditch resort?" he suggested mildly, thinking that the mood swings were already kicking in. "I'll have a word with the appropriate division heads first. Which ones are the worst offenders?"

"All of them," Rose remarked sourly. "People from all over the firm. People that I don't recall ever having seen before and don't know who they work for. And some of my uninvited visitors are division heads."

"Perhaps then I'd better speak with Angel about it," he conceded. "Was there anything else?"

"I'd love a cup of coffee," she said wistfully. "The diet the doctor gave me said in moderation, but some people don't understand the word moderation. And I don't mean me."

The Watcher grinned. "Just a small one then," he allowed. "And if Spike finds out, I haven't a clue who your supplier is."

"Your secret is safe with me as long as I get a cup of coffee out of it." Rose smiled back and offered him her hand as a co-conspirator, and Wesley shook on it.

&&&&&&&&&&

"Do you think we should tell her about it in advance, or surprise her?" Fred asked.

"Let's surprise her," Harmony replied. "Surprises are so much fun. We'll get everything set up and ready to go before we breathe a word of it to her."

"We don't want to wait until the very last minute, though," Fred cautioned. "We ought to give her a little bit of warning, or else we'll find that we're having a baby shower with no guest of honor."

Harmony pouted for a moment, then brightened. "Well, we could always just invite her over and then spring it on her. You know, make sure we're on her calendar, but she won't know exactly what for."

"That could work," Fred conceded. "I know that everyone is interested in being there, so how do we keep the list down? As far as I know, we're about the only female friends that Rose has."

"There's a psychic that did a reading on her once, I think," Harmony frowned in thought, the unaccustomed activity giving her a headache. "I know we don't want a big crowd, but we want more than two or three people, don't we?"

"I'm not sure," Fred reflected. "I know that the more people there are, the more gifts she'll get, and she's going to need everything. But do you think she's going to want a bunch of comparative strangers there?"

"Let's see, you, me, the psychic and the women in her department," Harmony ticked the list off on her fingers carefully. "That's only about six people. Do you think that will be enough?"

"It's not like it's going to be a media event," Fred pointed out. "Just a baby shower." She had a thought. "We could ask Spike if there's a neighbor or something that she's friendly with and might want there."

Harmony giggled. "Like Spike would know."

&&&&&&&&

"Angel, I know that Rose is something of a nine-days wonder right now," Wesley began. "But all the curious people stopping by her office are keeping her from getting anything accomplished. And according to Rose, they're from all over the firm. The word seems to have spread like wildfire."

Angel sighed. He felt as close to Rose as Spike would allow any male other than himself. But ever since her arrival, it seemed that three-fourths of all the upheavals that took place at Wolfram and Hart had Rose right at the center of things. To be fair, he couldn't blame her, it wasn't like she planned it. Even taking over the evil law firm and trying to turn it around sometimes seemed like a walk in the park compared to keeping Rose out of trouble. "I'll send out a memo," he promised. "Worded as strongly as possible. But that just means that people are going to go out of their way to think up 'legitimate' reasons why they just have to see Rose."

"Rose wanted me to ward her office," the Watcher commented. "They've got her so jangled that she can't tell the difference between Etruscan and Sumerian. Maybe I should just go ahead with it."

Angel shook his head. "We'll try the softer approach first," he decided. "But we may eventually have to go with the wards. If we do though, make sure they don't keep Spike out. If you tried to keep him away from her now, I think he'd probably conveniently forget he has a soul and tear your throat out."

"I haven't done anything like that since Spike was a specter," Wes pointed out a bit primly. "But if you could get that memo out immediately, I'd appreciate it. My department is losing a lot of productivity with Rose being unable to get any work done."

"Have you done anything on your own to see about a mystical reason for Rose's condition?" Angel asked. "I think that you and I both know that Rose would never cheat on Spike. So there's got to be some other force at work. The only acceptable possibility that I've heard of is that the rest of The Powers had a hand in it. But until we have some way of verifying that, I'd feel more comfortable with someone doing a little research on the side."

"Already working on it," Wesley assured him. "And I've shot down Rose's first theory that it had some sort of connection with her attending a Q'xlzr fertility ceremony. It would have absolutely no effect on a human. Other than ruptured eardrums."

Even tone-deaf Angel winced at the memory of hearing a Q'xlzr demon sing, so he could sympathize. "So go start digging," he suggested. "And I'll get that memo out."

&&&&&&&&

"Hey blossom, how's it going?" Lorne entered her office just at lunch time.

"It's not going at all," Rose grumbled. "If it's not all and sundry sticking their noses in here and interrupting my train of thought, it seems that my train of thought is jumping the tracks. I'm having a miserable time trying to concentrate. I've had this prophecy that Wesley dumped on me sitting here for a couple of days now, and I haven't even gotten the first paragraph translated." She paused and thought about it for a moment. "Does being pregnant take all the blood away from your brain?"

"Outside my field of expertise, sugarplum," the demon admitted. "But I didn't come here to analyze you, doll, just feed you."

"I brought my own lunch," she protested. "I'm not skipping meals, Lorne, really I'm not. I think Spike would skin me alive if I did."

"We're just concerned that you're taking proper care of yourself and the little one," Lorne replied. He took the sack with her lunch, examined the contents and unceremoniously tossed it in the trash. "PB&J? That's not exactly the most healthy meal imaginable, punkin. Luckily, Uncle Lorne is here."

Rose closed her eyes briefly and offered up a brief prayer for patience to whomever might be listening. "So, what is your idea of a healthy meal?"

&&&&&&&&&

Rose had finally been able to get Lorne off her case by informing him of the doctor's suggestion that she do some walking during her break. Otherwise she'd still be sitting in her office letting the demon stuff her full of various fruits and vegetables and lean meat all washed down with what seemed like a gallon of milk. She felt bloated. And fat, definitely fat. She picked up the pace. She knew that there was going to be an inevitable weight gain, but she was determined to keep it to the minimum that she could and still ensure a healthy baby. She went a little faster.

Gunn saw Rose and fell into step with her, not too easy since she was practically jogging by now. "Rose, what gives?"

"The doctor said I needed to get some exercise since I work sitting down," Rose panted. "I may not be getting much work done, but I'm going to get some exercise in. I think Lorne was trying to stuff a whole week's nutrition into one meal."

Gunn grinned. "Could you slow it down a little bit, Rose?" he suggested. "You don't want to overdo it, and going this fast makes it hard to talk."

She slackened the pace a bit. If Gunn thought it was hard to talk, she was finding it nearly impossible. She really did need more exercise, and not just for the baby's sake. "Did you have something particular on your mind, Charles?" she asked. "Or are you going to ask me how I got pregnant like everyone else?" Her eyes flashed warning signs.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he laughed. "Heard a lot of it, have you?"

"From Angel on down," Rose grumbled. "The only person who hasn't asked how is the one who probably has the most right to know. Except that I don't have any answers."

"Have you been to personnel about your insurance forms?" Gunn asked. "Having a baby can cost an awful lot of money. Let the insurance company take as much of the burden off you as possible."

"I think they asked me about insurance at the doctor's office," Rose admitted. "But I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. So they just asked me where I work and said they'd call here for me. Can you explain insurance to me?"

Gunn grimaced. He could give her all the legal ins and outs of insurance law, but he decided that that wasn't what was being called for on this occasion. "Each payday, the company takes something out of your check to pay for medical insurance," he explained. "Then when you need medical services, the insurance pays for part of it. Think of it as saving money for medical necessities."

"What a clever idea," Rose marveled. "Humans come up with some really amazing things sometimes. And you say that I have to go to the personnel office?"

"There will probably be a few forms to fill out, medical history and so forth," he replied, forgetting, even with her reminder that she didn't have much of anything in the way of a history.

"Um, Charles, how far back am I expected to go with this 'medical history'?" Rose asked.

"Everything, childhood immunizations and diseases and.., oh hell." Gunn stopped in his tracks. "I see the problem. You don't have a history, medical or otherwise."

"Exactly," Rose agreed. "Will this have any effect on the 'insurance'?"

"Damned if I know," he admitted. "You're a unique case, Rose. Tell you what, your next office visit isn't for a while, is it?" Rose shook her head. "I'll do some checking for you and see what strings need to be pulled. Don't worry, we'll find a way to work something out. A company that can insure vampires and demons shouldn't have a problem with you even if you don't have a medical history."

"What would a vampire need medical insurance for?" Rose wondered.

"I think it's for emergency blood transfusions," the lawyer replied. "But one thing at a time, okay? First let's make sure that your pregnancy is covered so you can waste your money buying cute stuff for the baby."

&&&&&&&&

The walk had taken Rose rather farther afield than she had intended, and she was about to turn around when she met up with Harmony.

"Hi Rose," Harmony burbled. "Spike told me the good news. Congratulations." She hesitated a moment, looking unaccountably shy. "Could I.., listen?"

Rose's face went blank for a moment, wondering what the littlest vampire was asking, then, it hit her. "You mean to the baby?"

"Yeah, I think it would be so cool." Harmony turned pleading eyes on her. "Nobody else here really likes me much. At least not the ones that are having babies. I just want to hear it. But they all seem to think that I'm going to bite the baby right through their stomachs."

"Go ahead and listen, Harmony," Rose invited. She had a soft spot a mile wide, and it wasn't difficult to engage her sympathy.

Harmony bent down and put an ear against Rose's stomach. "It's so fast," she said in awed tones. "This is absolutely incredible. Can I do it again sometime?"

"Of course you can, Harmony," Rose agreed. "But right now, I think I need to get back to my office."

&&&&&&&&&

"How was your day today, sweetheart?" Spike asked as he massaged her tired feet that evening. Rose was beginning to see a few advantages to her condition. Spike had always been considerate in the extreme, but he was finding new ways to pamper her of late.

"Hectic without actually being productive," she admitted. "But I think Wesley is going to try to do something about that. He said he was going to talk to Angel about everyone dropping into my office."

Spike sniffed. "Nosy buggers. Why don't they get lives of their own?"

"I don't think I could answer that one even if I tried," Rose mumbled, eyes drooping shut. The days were wearing on her nerves, and she was finding Spike's touch very relaxing, which was not one of the words she had previously attached to Spike touching her in any way. "The only people who haven't asked me how it happened so far have been Charles and Harmony."

"What did Harm have to say?" asked Spike suspiciously. He still hadn't gotten over his ex-tumble's initial animosity towards Rose.

"She just wanted to listen to the baby," Rose replied. "Just like you do every night. That was the easy part. I had almost as much trouble understanding Charles as I've had answering the idiot questions."

"What did Gunn want?" Spike was starting to scowl.

"Questions about filling out forms for medical insurance." Rose was more than half-asleep now. "He said he'd look into what could be done since I don't have a medical history."

"Bloody pain in the ass," he muttered. "Can't hardly wipe your ass without filling out a form, can you, pet?" When there was no answer, he looked up and saw that she'd nodded off. "Guess I'll take this to mean that I'm not getting any tonight," he remarked softly. He spent several minutes just looking at her, feeling the warm glow build up. Then, ever so gently, he lifted her into his arms and carried her off to bed.