149

Rose, now used to the routine was sitting on the cold table clad in the indecent gown with Spike fidgeting nearby waiting for the doctor to arrive. The door to the examining room opened to admit a doctor, from the looks of him, but it wasn't her usual doctor.

He was tall, with twinkling blue eyes and wavy black hair and a dimple in his chin. He was smiling as he entered the room, chart in hand. "Ms. Powers is it? I'm Dr. Mitchell."

"Where's Dr. Pratt?" Spike growled. He did not look happy.

Mitchell spared a smile for the sulky Spike as well. "He's out of state at the moment. He went to be with his daughter while she gives birth to his first grandchild. I'm filling in until he gets back." Noticing that Spike still did not seem to be mollified, he added. "I am a fully qualified ob/gyn. And if you're worried about it, I'm sure that Dr. Pratt will be back by the time your children are ready to make an appearance." Explanations out of the way, he turned his attention back to Rose.

Rose didn't know what had gotten under Spike's skin, although she was sure that she would find out later. She sat patiently through the exam and even remembered the questions she had. Especially if it was going to be twice as bad with twins.

"Actually, it ought to be a little easier on you having twins," the doctor reassured her. "Twins tend to run a bit smaller than single births. And while I may not have been delivering babies as long as Dr. Pratt, I've delivered enough to know that usually the pain is all but forgotten when a woman gets to hold her little one for the first time." He flashed her another smile. "Are you going to be okay with this now? Because it's a little late to back out."

&&&&&&&

Angel was waiting for them when they returned to the law firm. "How did the doctor's visit go?" he inquired, helping Rose out of the car. Rose was starting to need help for things like that now. She couldn't even put her own shoes on, Spike had to do it for her.

"Ask him," Rose indicated Spike with a jerk of her head. "He's been sulking ever since Dr. Mitchell walked into the room."

"I thought your doctor's name was Pratt," Angel remarked, puzzled. "So who's this Mitchell guy?"

"Dr. Pratt is away and Dr. Mitchell is filling in for him," Rose replied. "Spike seemed to take exception to his presence, although for the life of me, I can't figure out why."

"Poncey git looked like he stepped out of a toothpaste commercial," Spike grumbled.

Angel smiled in understanding. Spike was all bent out of shape because another good-looking male had been looking at Rose, and never mind that it had been in a purely professional capacity. "When are you going to grow up, Spike?" he asked. "The guy was just doing his job, which at the moment happens to overlap with yours, taking care of Rose. Certainly you don't have a problem with taking care of Rose, do you?"

Rose finally saw the light. "You were jealous?" she queried incredulously. "Why would you be jealous of my doctor? Or jealous at all? Have I given you any reason to be?"

Spike looked from one to the other of them a little helplessly. He was the injured party here, so why were they picking on him? "You wouldn't understand," he muttered. He could already see a heart to heart in the offing with Angel, pouf couldn't keep his nose out of it. But he really didn't want to get into it with Rose right now.

"No, I don't understand, and I'm not sure that I want to," Rose replied. She was overtaken by a huge yawn. "Goodness, it seems that about all I do lately is sleep, and I'm still tired."

"Why don't you go on up and have a little lie down then?" Spike suggested. "I'll see you later, babe." He kissed her good-bye before their paths separated. As he suspected, Angel stuck with him. "Go ahead and say your piece," he invited. "I know you won't bloody well leave me alone until you do."

"You're a jerk, Spike." That seemed like a good enough place to start out. "But," Angel went on. "You must be starting to show some restraint. Because if you had gotten so territorial at the doctor's office, Rose wouldn't have been confused, she'd have been pissed."

"Too damn right she would have," Spike mumbled. "And I don't much fancy sleeping on the sofa." Then, because he still felt that he had some justification for his discontent, he added, "You should have seen the prancing nancy-boy. All smiles and charm and..,"

"Trying to put Rose at ease with an unfamiliar doctor?" Angel suggested. "Spike, I know this is going to be a difficult concept for you to grasp, but you're going to have to get over the idea that every man that sees Rose is going to want to jump her bones."

Spike gave an inelegant grunt. "They'd be damn fools if they didn't," he remarked. "That woman is bleeding amazing."

"She is," Angel agreed. "If for no other reason than she puts up with you. But not every male on the planet is going to see that." He thought about it for a moment. "Have you ever thought of giving up the whole bleached blonde thing? I think the peroxide might be destroying the last few brain cells you have left."

"Piss on you." Spike flipped him the bird and went on his own way.

&&&&&&&&

Rose was surprised to find mail waiting for her. Aside from the usual junk, of course. Living at the law firm, not only were they only paying a nominal rent, but it included the utilities, and so the monthly bills had virtually disappeared. And since the people they associated were the ones they saw every day, indeed, Rose didn't know anyone that didn't live in L.A., personal letters were almost a foreign concept. She perused the envelope. It was addressed specifically to her. Not to Spike, and not to both of them, just to her. No return address, either. More than a bit curious, she tore open the envelope.

It was a single sheet of common notebook paper. The ink that comprised the writing could have come from any number of mass produced ballpoint pens. The writing was childish and unformed, almost deliberately so, it seemed. But the words were spelled correctly, and the sentiment expressed was far from a childish one.

'Your unborn brats are an abomination and the spawn of hell. If you had any vestiges of humanity left in you, you would destroy yourself and them along with you before you bring such evil into the world. Your very behavior of co-habiting with one of the living dead is proof that you have no decency in you. You may think that the mere fact of the dead bringing about life is a sign that it is right, but it is pure evil. Destroy yourself before your actions destroy the world.'

That was it. Not the slightest hint of who had penned the condemnatory missive. Rose surprised herself in that she was less upset than she was curious. Whoever had sent her the note obviously had no conception of what was going on. But on the other hand, who knew that the father of her children was a vampire except for those here, that knew that Spike had a soul? She found it disturbing, not in that it raised any sense of panic, but the mere thought that there was someone so disturbed that they could not only write such sentiments, but pass them on to her as well. She gave a moment's consideration to just throwing it away and forgetting about it, but that was all it was. If her anonymous critic went this far, they might go farther. And even though she was in about as secure place as there was on the planet, a truly determined lunatic could no doubt find a way to get at her.

But who was she to tell? Rose immediately crossed Spike off the list. Spike would just go off the deep end and get even more protective of her, if that was at all possible. It had to be someone who could find out who was behind it. She supposed she should take it straight to Angel. She didn't want to upset him, either, and she suspected that he would be more upset about it than she was. But it was the right thing to do. With a sigh, Rose headed for Angel's office. She gave a brief thought to her shoes, which she had kicked off upon entering. Her swollen feet were never happy in shoes these days. But she just couldn't reach to put them on herself. She shrugged and headed out the door, barefooted.

&&&&&&&&

"I'm sorry, Rose, but he's not in his office," Harmony told her.

"Do you know where he is, Harmony?" Rose asked. "I don't want to bother him, but I think it is kind of important."

Harmony rolled her eyes and looked disgusted. "He never tells me anything," she griped. "Except what to do. But he never gives me any information. Look, if you want to wait in his office, you can, I know Angel won't mind, but I can't even guarantee that he'll show up there again today."

Rose took a moment to digest the information. "I think I'm doing enough waiting now as it is," she said, patting her bulging belly. "I'll go find someone else to tell. Who knows, maybe I'll run into Angel on the way."

"Good luck," Harmony replied. Then, she blew a kiss towards Rose's stomach. "Auntie Harmony loves you."

&&&&&&&&&&

Rose wandered down hallways, half in a daze. Who should she tell now? Angel was the one in charge, the one who knew who did what, the one with the authority to set things in motion. But she couldn't very well tell him if she couldn't find him. She kept the envelope clutched in her hand, walking slowly, but thinking like mad. Who could she tell?

Then, from around a corner, she heard a running monologue, like someone talking on a cell phone. A smile lit up her face as she realized who it was. Lorne might not have any answers for her, but he always did make her feel better.

"Talk at ya later, guy, gotta run." Lorne finished up his conversation. Then, he saw who was headed his way. "Well, Rosebud. What brings you into forbidden territory, doll-face?" He gave her a quick visual and added, "And where are your shoes?"

"It's a long story, Lorne," Rose replied. "I really needed to see Angel about something, but Harmony doesn't know where he is or when he'll be back. And I don't know who else to tell."

Lorne became serious on the instant. "What's the deal, blossom?"

"I got a letter in the mail," Rose answered. "It's a bit threatening, and a lot disturbing. I thought that Angel would want to know about it."

"Let me see." The empath held out a green hand. Rose handed him the letter, and Lorne gave it the once over. If possible, it seemed that he turned a little greener. "Disturbing doesn't half cover it, sweetcakes," he muttered. "Whoever sent you this left disturbed behind a long time ago. But your instincts were right. The big guy definitely needs to see this."

"But how can we show it to him if we can't find him?" Rose pointed out. "Listen, Lorne, when I got home today, the biggest item on my personal agenda was a nap. Now, I have this to deal with."

The Pylean steered her into his office, where he'd been headed in the first place. "You just take a load off and let Uncle Lorne handle it," he advised. "If I do say so myself, I have a better network going than Harmonica. We'll track Angel down."

&&&&&&&&

Angel barely resisted the urge to crumple up the piece of paper and perform whatever other acts of violence he could think of to commit on such an inert object. But they needed it intact. This note was going to get a major going-over, everything from physics to psychics. "And you have no idea who would have sent you this?" he asked again.

"I haven't a clue," Rose confessed. "It was just laying there waiting for me when I got back from the doctor's office. Since we moved in here, I haven't had anything but junk mail, so it was sufficiently out of the ordinary that I opened it immediately."

"That's going to stop," Angel ordered. "From now on, Rose, when you get a letter with no return address like this, bring it straight to me. There could have been something in there, or even had a spell keyed to it. You're lucky it was just a piece of paper. But there could have been something that would have killed you and your kids."

Rose went pale, and if she hadn't already been sitting down, her knees would have buckled. "I still have trouble grasping the thought that someone would want to bring harm to my children," she said in a tremulous voice. "How could someone want to hurt innocent babies?"

"Because whoever this head-case is," Angel growled. "Doesn't think of your children as innocent anything." He sighed and fought to tone the anger down a notch or two. It wasn't doing anyone, most especially Rose, any good. "We'll find out who is responsible for this Rose, I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you and your kids."

"Liam?" Rose hesitated for a moment. She wasn't even sure about asking this question, let alone really wanting a straight answer to it. "Do you think I really ought to tell Spike about it?"

"Spike doesn't know about it?" Angel asked, then smacked his forehead. "Of course, Spike doesn't know about it. If he did, he'd be here, hovering over you and climbing the walls and driving everyone around him to do the same." He pulled himself together. "Rose, look into your heart and tell me the answer."

"They're Spike's children too," Rose replied slowly. "So he has a right to know if someone is threatening them."

"Not just the children," Angel pointed out. "There was an implied threat to you, too. And the kids aside, you're more important to Spike than anyone else. He'd tell the whole world to go to hell to keep you safe."

Rose sighed and picked up the phone and dialed Spike's extension. "Hello? Oh, Josh. Would you please tell Spike to come to Angel's office right away? Thank you." She hung up the phone and looked back at Angel. "I hope you know that I am not looking forward to this."

"That makes two of us," Angel agreed. "But I really don't want to set things in motion until Spike knows. It just wouldn't feel right that other people knew before he did." Since they were going to have a few minutes to kill before Spike arrived, he did have one question that he just had to ask. "Where are your shoes, Rose?"

Rose sighed. What was this thing everyone seemed to have about shoes?