94
Spike lay in the darkness, listening to Rose's regular breathing. It had taken her a while to reach this state. She'd been uncommon restless tonight. Now that she had finally fallen asleep, he was wide awake, but not about to stir for fear of disturbing her.
Perhaps needless to say, he had her spooned up close to him, taking joy in just feeling her nestled against his body, breathing in the scent of her. Heaven. One hand was draped across her midsection to rest against her stomach, which was just showing the first infinitesimal traces of expansion. He almost jumped out of the bed in shocked surprise when he felt something under the surface of her satiny skin move under his hand, which he yanked away from her as if it had been burned.
He tried calming himself down. Good thing his heart no longer beat, he mused idly, because if it did, the frenzied pounding would no doubt be all that he could hear now. Cautiously, he put his hand back where it had been. Nothing at first, then the same small movement. A smile crept across his face when he at last realized what he was feeling. Life. The living, growing babes within his beloved's womb were moving. He remained still and silent for a long time thereafter, hoping to feel his kids moving in Rose's belly again, but evidently they, like their mother, were asleep.
&&&&&&&
"It was absolutely incredible, Angel." Spike was wasting no time in spreading the news. "I felt them move. Last night I felt my kids move."
If Angel didn't know better, he could have sworn he saw the hint of a tear glistening in the corner of Spike's eye. And Spike had imparted the bulletin without a single insult. He felt a brief pang at the thought that the one thing in the world he had always counted on to stay the same might indeed be changing. He felt a larger stab of pain at the memory of Connor, and a surge of jealousy washed over him that Spike was getting to share in a lot of the firsts that he had been denied. And would, no doubt continue to do so, unless, god forbid, something went wrong. He gave himself a mental shaking. As far as Connor was concerned, what was done was done. But that was no reason to go bursting Spike's bubble. He'd never seen Spike quite like this before. He positively effervesced.
"That's great, Spike." He forced a smile, which became more genuine when a sleep-tousled Rose emerged from the bedroom. "What did it feel like to you, Rose?"
"What did what feel like?" Rose asked, mystified. Except for sleeping there was only one activity that she could recall taking place since she had seen Angel last night, and she was positive that he wasn't asking about that.
Angel looked to Spike, who looked a little shamefaced. "Okay, what am I missing here?" he asked.
"Well, you see, Rose was asleep," Spike mumbled sheepishly. "She'd been so long dropping off that I didn't want to wake her. She does need her rest, you know."
"You didn't wake her for something like that?" Angel was incredulous. "Spike, they're her kids too. Didn't you think she'd want to be in on it?"
"Be in on what?" Rose queried, a little crossly. All she could tell from the conversation so far, was that whatever they were talking about concerned her.
Spike went over to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her so that he could rest his hands on her stomach. "Last night after you went to sleep I felt the kids moving in your belly, babe," he said softly. "Our kids, moving around inside you." His tones were that of utter awe.
"They moved?" Rose fought down a sudden wave of panic. It must be all right, or Spike wouldn't be so happy about it. "They're supposed to move?" she asked in slightly less tense tones.
Angel couldn't suppress a laugh, which earned him a glare from Spike. But the glare didn't last long. Spike had other things on his mind.
"Guess you hadn't got to that page in your books yet, luv," he crooned in her ear. "Yes, pet, they are supposed to move. And I felt it happen for the first time." He was grinning from ear to ear again.
&&&&&&&&
"Lorne, can you spare me a minute?" Rose popped into the Pylean's office first thing Monday morning.
"Sure, Rosebud, take as many minutes as you want." Lorne turned off his cell phone so that the number of calls that could interrupt them would be limited to the ones coming into the phone on his desk.
"I want you to read me, please." Tones were calm enough, but there was a hint of worry around her eyes.
"Is something wrong, precious?" Lorne sincerely hoped that it was just feminine vapors brought on by the surge of hormones. He hated to think that something might be wrong with Rose or her kids.
"I don't know," Rose admitted. "I don't think so, I just want to make sure that everything is all right with my children."
"Sweetie-pie, reading a pregnant woman is not a day at the beach," Lorne warned her. "As a matter of fact, I usually can't get diddly-squat from it. I think it may come from having more than one person in there."
"Couldn't we at least try?" Rose begged. "It's just kind of scary, Lorne. I've never even been a baby, let alone had anything to do with them. And now I'm going to have two."
"We could give it the old college try, I suppose," Lorne said dubiously. "I find it hard enough to read you at the best of times, blossom. I find that golden voice of yours too distracting."
"Let's try this then," Rose suggested. She started singing wordlessly, her voice just gliding up and down the scale in nonsense syllables, but after a minute or so, Lorne shook his head.
"'Fraid not, doll-baby," he muttered. "I'm sorry as I can be, but there's just nothing coherent to read." He paused a moment in thought. "If it's just the munchkins that you're worried about, there's someone else who's definitely tied to them. Do you think you could talk that blonde love-muffin of yours into crooning a tune for me?"
"I don't know," Rose replied helplessly. Then, the helpless look left her features to be replaced by a crafty conniving expression. "Maybe I can." She gave Lorne a peck on the cheek. "Thanks, Lorne. I'll see what I can do about Spike."
Lorne just stood there for a few minutes after her departure. "God help that boy," he murmured to himself. "She's discovered feminine wiles."
&&&&&&&&
Rose was met by Josh and his partner at the entrance to the vaults as was becoming a habit. "Good morning, Josh, Matt," Rose said. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late this morning, but I had something to do. Are you ready to spend the day being bored to tears?"
Matt said nothing, but kept an emotionless expression on his face. It was just another job to him, and he enjoyed playing the stoic. Josh, however, grinned at her. "Hey, this is easy money," he said, and recalled another time when he thought that Rose was going to be easy money. This was better.
"Well, I can't deny that I like having the company," Rose admitted. "I know this place is supposed to be secure, but it gives me the creeps all the same."
They had developed a system. Rose would chose her spot to work, and the two men would stand facing away from her several feet away in each direction so that they could stop anything coming at her. They never suspected that something could beat that system.
It was late morning, and the grumbles Rose's stomach was producing was announcement enough that it was about time to break for lunch when a swirling distortion in the air beside her heralded the opening of a dimensional portal. Rose looked up in time to see two large men of the same stamp as the first five that had tried to capture her. She let out a surprised yelp and dove for the floor.
The two ops men turned simultaneously and seeing a clear target, opened fire on them, spattering the nearby filing cabinets, and incidentally, Rose, with orange blood. The two would-be abductors fell to the floor, dead before the portal even closed.
Josh was immediately at Rose's side, making sure none of the shots had come near her, none of the blood was hers, and just generally seeing that she was all right. Matt was on a cell phone talking to Spike and filling him in on the occurrence.
Soon enough, the vaults were a veritable hive of activity. People from research coming to remove the bodies to the lab. A forensic crew from the same department to analyze anything that might be worth analyzing. A clean-up crew standing patiently by waiting for their turn. And last, but certainly not least, Spike and Angel.
Spike, heedless of the fact that Rose was liberally coated with the luridly-colored gore rushed to take her in his arms. "Are you okay, babe?" He cuddled her close just to reassure himself that she was still there.
"I'm fine," she replied, voice muffled on account of her face being pressed against his chest. "I'd like to breathe, though, love."
Angel had been holding a quiet conference with her bodyguards, and now was punching buttons on his cell phone. "Wes? I want someone warding these vaults against portals, and I want it done yesterday." He flipped the phone shut without waiting for a reply. He turned to the lovebirds. "Spike, let her up for air, will you?" he requested. "How are you doing, Rose?"
"I'm a little shaken," Rose confessed, voice sounding clearer now that Spike had loosened his hold on her a bit. "And gross. Why do I always seem to be where all the demon blood is flying?"
"Better theirs than yours, sweetheart," Spike remarked. "Damn, I've got it all over me now, too."
"Why don't the two of you call it a day?" Angel suggested. "Go get cleaned up. Get her out of here, Spike, she's paler than you are."
&&&&&&&&&
"My Lord?" Kraj crept into M'rek's presence timidly, cringing.
"What now?" demanded M'rek impatiently. Kraj should be leading Rose into his chambers at this moment. That he wasn't was a sign that things had not gone his way again.
"It appears that she was guarded, most august M'rek." Kraj gulped nervously. "The warriors sent after her fell before the portal dispersed. Indeed, some of their projectiles entered the still-open gate and wounded the mystics who summoned the portal."
"I see that you are unscathed, worm," M'rek observed. "You seem to lead a charmed life. Perhaps I should send you to seize my property, since the lesser creatures seem so incapable of it."
Kraj bowed his head. "If my Lord so orders it," he whined. "Gladly would I lay down my life in your most glorious service, my Lord."
"I sincerely doubt that, Kraj," M'rek remarked. "But if it is required of you, you shall do so. Now, it seems we must wait. They have not yet let down their guard, and now they shall be doubly cautious. We must reflect on the matter a while."
"I have no will but yours, oh mighty M'rek." Kraj scuttled out of the chamber. That had been too close for comfort. Kraj was beginning to feel that the thrice damned prophecy was an omen of his doom.
&&&&&&&&&
Spike rinsed the last of the shampoo and other less innocuous substances out of Rose's hair. "At least this stuff isn't dissolving your pretty hair, pet," he commented. "Good thing too, or you'd be nearly bald now."
Rose gave a shudder at the memory. She'd held together well enough, but being sprayed with someone or something else's bodily fluids was not her idea of a good time. Under most circumstances. She quelled her fears. It was all over, and she was here, safe, doing nothing more dangerous than showering with Spike. "Do you want me to wash your back for you, darling?"
"Back, front, whatever you like." Spike turned her to face him so he could kiss her. "Why don't we see what runs out first, us, or the hot water?"
&&&&&&&&
"Well, they're obviously from the same place the first guy was from," Fred reported. "But the bodies really didn't tell us much. Wesley said that these people don't really have a dimension of their own anymore. Mostly they're just scattered around different dimensions, usually as slaves."
"Do they have their tongues cut out like the others did?" Angel asked.
Fred used gloved hands to open one of the corpses mouths. "Yep. Same as the others," she replied. "At least these two have their original clothes on, since they didn't expect to be seen by anyone. Maybe we can get some idea of where they're from by analyzing it."
"Get right on it and keep me posted," Angel instructed. Then, as though thinking aloud, he said, "I wonder how they knew just where to find Rose?"
&&&&&&&&
Wesley not only had his entire staff, minus Rose, assembled, but all the witches on staff as well. Warding the entire area of the vaults was not going to be an easy job. But obviously an essential one, so a way would be found. And like Angel, he wondered how the kidnappers knew just where to find Rose.