131

"You drank the blood?" Angel's voice couldn't possibly have sounded more disbelieving. "Rose, drinking blood can make a human very sick. That much should have made you sick." He looked to Spike for confirmation, but Spike was still sitting there in stunned silence.

"I'm really sorry I drank up all the blood, Angel," Rose apologized. "But, I'm not sure how to explain this. I just felt like I needed it."

"Like you needed that bloody awful pizza last night?" Spike asked weakly, still having trouble dealing with the concept of Rose drinking blood.

"No," said Rose reflectively. "I wanted the pizza. I really wanted it. But the blood, I felt like I needed it. Like I was going to be sick if I didn't have it."

Spike and Angel exchanged a glance. "You're the resident expert on vampire pregnancies," Spike remarked to Angel. "What's your take on the thing?"

"That was different," Angel protested. "Both of Connor's parents were vampires. You can't go comparing Rose to Darla."

"Wouldn't want to," Spike commented. "I always did think Darla was a bitch. But one of those kid's parents is a vampire, and according to that prophecy, they're going to be the start of a race of vampires with souls. So maybe she really does need the blood." Rose had scooted away from him, distancing herself from a possible scolding. He snagged a wrist and pulled her back over to him for a cuddle. "She might need it for the kids," he repeated, patting Rose's stomach gently.

"Maybe we ought to have Wolfram and Hart's medical staff check her out," Angel suggested. "Or possibly one of the psychics."

"And have it going all over the sodding place that Rose is drinking blood?" Spike asked. "What in hell are you using for brains?"

That pulled Angel up short. Much as he hated to admit it, Spike had a point. Rose and Spike had been a hot topic of office gossip almost from the get go. And no matter how much he cautioned, or even threatened for, silence, there would still be heavy amounts of speculation going on. Possibly enough to get the attention of the senior partners. And they already knew more than he felt comfortable with. "So what would you suggest?" he inquired.

Spike shrugged. "Go with the flow, for now," he replied, planting a kiss on the top of Rose's head. "Doesn't appear to have hurt her, and you and me can keep a sharp eye on her. Put a stop to it if it looks like it's not doing well by her."

"What about the possible effects on your kids?" Angel asked pointedly. "On one hand, they may need it. On the other, it may do them some irreversible damage."

Rose was getting a teensy bit put out by them talking about her like she wasn't even there. "If it can hurt the babies," she began. "Then why did they want it?"

Two pairs of male eyes swiveled to look at her. "What do you mean, they wanted it?" Angel demanded.

"Well, Spike can verify that I'm not in the habit of drinking blood," Rose replied. "So why else would I feel such a.., a compulsion to drink it?"

"Maybe we should just back off of this and let Rose and the kids run the show," Spike suggested. "Seein' as how there's that prophecy and all, I don't see how the in-laws are going to let something muck it up."

"The in-laws?" Angel murmured lamely. Somehow, it just didn't seem to be the right way for Spike to be referring to The Powers That Be.

&&&&&&&&

Wesley handed Angel a report. "As far as my department can tell," he said. "The senior partner's suite checks out clean. And it would remove a source of worry, not having to fret about Rose being abducted every other week."

"It hasn't been quite that bad," Angel protested, although his heart wasn't really in it. For some reason, everyone seemed to want to get their hands on Rose. "I'm still waiting on a couple more departments to report in, but so far, it seems to be okay. If everyone else green lights it, we should be able to start getting them moved in by next weekend."

"What about the remodeling?" Wesley asked. "That could take some time, surely. Are you so anxious to get shed of Spike that you'll insist that Rose put up with living with all that fuss?"

"Aside from setting up a nursery, which they'll no doubt want to do themselves," Angel replied. "I don't think that they'll really be interested in remodeling all that much. Not to mention that the thought of the senior partners bearing gifts always runs a chill up my spine."

"Still, even doing up a nursery could be costly," Wes remarked. "Why not spare Rose and Spike the expense?"

"Money isn't going to be a problem," Angel said with a grin. "All those pretty baubles M'rek had Rose decked out in fetched a nice price."

"I can't imagine Rose accepting the money," Wesley mused. "How did you talk her into it?"

"I didn't." Angel shook his head, but he was still grinning. "But there is someone around here that Rose has a very hard time saying no to."

"How very obvious," Wesley commented. "And Spike would certainly have no compunctions about it. I'm sure he would consider it no more than just compensation for what Rose went through."

"That was pretty much his sentiment," Angel agreed. "Although his take was something like it didn't half pay for her being collared and leashed. He still can't talk about it without getting pissed off."

"I don't blame him," the Watcher murmured. "I do believe that I'd feel the same way if it was Fred."

&&&&&&&

Angel met Rose and Spike at the door to the parking garage.

"What do you think you're up to, ponce?" Spike asked suspiciously.

"Just because M'rek is gone doesn't mean we shouldn't take precautions," Angel replied. "I'm the back-up today."

"I almost forgot something," Rose exclaimed. She turned to Spike. "Pockets."

Spike looked pained. "Aren't you going a little overboard with this, pet?" he asked weakly.

"Pockets," Rose repeated firmly. She stood squarely in front of him, hands on hips.

Spike sighed and started turning out his pockets, putting the contents on the hood of the car.

Angel watched with interest, even though he had no idea what was going on. "Hey," he said. "Why do you still carry a lighter when you don't even smoke anymore?"

Spike shrugged. "Habit as much as anything, I suppose," he answered. "The primal need for fire. And you never know when you're gonna want to torch something." He stood there, pockets all inside out, and looked at Rose. "Satisfied, luv?"

"I guess so," Rose said a little dubiously. Then, she smiled and hugged him, which produced a crackling sound, like paper being crumpled. She stepped back, eyes blazing. "Unbutton your shirt, Spike," she ordered.

"We're going to be late, sweetheart," Spike hedged.

"We will if you don't unbutton your shirt," Rose said sweetly.

With another sigh, Spike complied. Before he was half-way down, the top of a piece of paper became visible, and Rose snatched it out.

"Here now, you gave me a paper cut," Spike protested, trying to distract her. It didn't work, and Rose was obviously ticked.

"You can stay here and start packing stuff," she informed him. "Angel can take me to the obstetrician's."

"But, Rose," Spike said pleadingly, buttoning his shirt back up.

"'But, Rose' nothing," she snapped. "William, how could you? After the way you embarrassed me before?"

Spike at least had the good graces to look ashamed. "I'm just trying to take care of you, babe," he muttered. "I don't know what's going on here, and it seemed to me that your doctor is the only one who can really clue me in." He gave her a big dose of puppy eyes. "He's going to be taking the pictures today. I want to see our kids. Please."

Rose felt herself caving in despite all her resolutions. And to be fair, they were Spike's children every bit as much as hers, he did have some rights. She took his hands in hers and looked into his eyes. "Promise me that you won't ask the doctor any stupid questions," she demanded.

Spike was going to protest the use of the term 'stupid' but stopped himself before he got that far. That would definitely not help his case. "No questions at all?" he asked plaintively, giving her hands a squeeze. He saw in her eyes that she was wavering, so he pulled her into his arms. "I just want to be a good father to our children, babe," he whispered, well aware that Angel was close enough to hear every word, and not caring at the moment. "And if I haven't mentioned it, there's no one I'd rather have as the mother of my kids than you." He kissed her forehead, each cheek in turn, then finally, her lips, and her response let him know that he had won a reprieve.

&&&&&&&&

Spike was going over his much truncated list irritably. "Why did you cross off question number three?" he asked.

"Which one was that?" Angel rejoined. He looked over Spike's shoulder at the list. "Why on earth would you think that she shouldn't be using a microwave?"

"Never mind," Spike sulked. He gave up. Angel and Rose had both gone over his list, crossing off any questions that they hadn't felt were appropriate. Which was most of them.

&&&&&&&

When Spike and Rose emerged into the waiting room again, Spike was well over his sulks. In fact, he was practically crowing, along with waving a couple of pieces of plastic in the air.

"Look at them, Angel." He all but thrust them under his grandsire's nose. "That's our kids. Told that doctor there were two of them."

Angel checked out the images dubiously. They barely looked human from his point of view. But there were definitely two of them. He squinted at them to see if that would help to bring out any details. It didn't. They still looked like a couple of underdeveloped polliwogs to him. "Was the doctor able to say if they were boys or girls?" he asked. That seemed a safe enough question.

"He thinks it's both," Rose replied. "I mean, one boy and one girl." She snuggled up against Spike. She had to admit that on this visit he had been particularly well-behaved. A look of consternation crossed her features. "So what color are we going to paint their room?" she asked in dismay.

Spike shrugged. He personally didn't give a rat's ass what color the room was. "Does it really matter, pet?"

"Well I thought blue was for boys and pink was for girls," she explained, then the confusion left her face to be replaced by consternation. "It's not actually a rule, is it?" She had missed the boat again. Sometimes it was quite frustrating to her trying to pick up on being human.

"No, Rose, it's not a rule," Angel assured her. "Paint the nursery any color that you want." He had a brainstorm. "You could ask Fred and Harmony to help you decorate."

Spike groaned. All he needed was three of them ganging up on him, and he was pretty sure that that was exactly what was going to happen. Then he looked and saw that Angel was trying to trace the outline of one of the babies on the scans. "Here, gimme that," he snapped. "You're going to get your fat fingerprints all over them."

&&&&&&&&

"I could help," Rose said sulkily. They were busy getting moved into their new home.

"No lifting," Spike said firmly. "The doctor even agreed with me on that one, luv. He said no unnecessary lifting. And we have enough hands helping that it is not necessary for you to lift anything." Rose had actually been going to cross that question off the list, but Angel had overruled her.

And Spike wasn't exaggerating about there being plenty of hands available for the job. Everyone had volunteered to help.

"If you really want something to do, Rose," said Wesley, who had caught part of the conversation in passing. "I believe that the coffeemaker has already arrived. Any chance that those of us who are working could get a cup?" He gave Spike a look that suggested he didn't mean Rose when he'd hinted that someone wasn't working.

&&&&&&&&

They were more or less settled in by the time the day was done. All the essentials had been unpacked, and what was left wasn't much until the bulk of their possessions were gotten out of storage. And now that the worst of it was over, Spike and Rose were settling in for the night.

Spike pulled her close thinking that even though she was now becoming visibly pregnant, Rose turned him on as much as ever. Maybe even more. "It's nice to have you all to myself again, babe," he murmured into her ear. "And now we've got a whole new place to break in. Want to see if we can cover the entire flat before the weekend is up?"

"Not in the nursery," Rose replied. Somehow it didn't seem right to her, making love in a room where their children were going to be sleeping.

"Not in the nursery," Spike agreed. "But anything else is fair game." He kissed her. "I love you, Rose."