THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.
CHAPTER 15-THE GOOD NEWS, THE NEW ARRIVAL
She had wrestled with the news for almost a week. She had taken more than three home pregnancy tests and had even gone to two doctors and both had come back with the same conclusion, Buffy, the chosen one, the twice dead slayer was pregnant. She hadn't told anyone the good news, but then after some thought she decided that the only two people in the world that would understand her situation were Spike and Molly. After a few short weeks of trouble spots Buffy and Molly had settled into almost the same familiar routine that Buffy had gone through with Dawn. Spike was usually asleep until at least ten, mostly because many of his money making jobs and opportunities took place late at night. Buffy would rise first, but only after hitting the snooze bar a few times. By the time that Buffy found out that she was pregnant she and Spike had gone through almost two dozen alarm clocks, most victim of one or the other not wanting to get up and using a little bit to much force to hit the snooze bar.
Buffy's first task in the morning would be trying to get Molly up, a feat in and of itself notwithstanding the fact that Molly was every bit as strong as Buffy, a fact that at times Buffy would forget. More than once Buffy had found herself on the floor after Molly had refused to wake up and tried to push her away. Finally Buffy had resorted to simply grabbing Molly by one leg or arm; whichever she could get a hold of and just pulling Molly straight out of her bed and shoving her into the bathroom. If Spike was up each would take a leg and pull. Spike had to adjust his sleeping habits as he could no longer sleep in the nude with Molly in the apartment, at least not when their bedroom door was unlocked. It was a Friday night, where Buffy and Spike had taken Molly out to see a movie with one of her friends, before Buffy was finally able to summon up the strength to let Spike in on the secret. She had to wait however until they were getting ready for bed to do it because after the movie Spike had put Molly through a quick workout session. Ever since they had become stuck in the past Spike and Buffy had begun teaching Molly everything that they knew about fighting, taking her on patrol with them every night that they went out.
"Uh Spike…," Buffy asked softly, her voice and hands trembling slightly as she shut and locked the door before letting her slip drift down to the floor at her feet.
"Yeah pet," Spike replied with a tired yawn as he pulled his jeans off and threw them into a nearby chair, casting an appraising eye across the bed at his naked slayer.
"You know when we talked last week…after watching that movie, you know that whole bit about what we'd do if I…," Buffy started to say with a nervous frown on her face before her resolve left her and she sat down on her side of the bed.
"Yeah…but what does that have to…bloody hell," Spike mumbled back his reply at first with a confused and somewhat worried look on his face before he realized what Buffy was trying to say.
"N…no, no bloody and no hell…but," Buffy stammered back with an angry and now scared look on her face as she turned back to face Spike.
"So…you're saying that there's…I mean that you're…I mean," Spike said back softly while trying to keep a nonchalant smile on his face before Buffy looked up at him, biting her bottom lip and trying to hold back the tears that were just begging to be let out. Rather than let her wonder at his continuing Buffy slowly nodded her head before collapsing onto the bed and letting the tears flow. Before she knew it Spike had picked back up into a seated position and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her cheek against his chest as her hair soon became damp with his own joyous tears. "I love you…," Spike whispered softly down to Buffy before he kissed the top of her head.
"I love you to," Buffy whispered back through the sobs that she was desperately trying to hold back.
"This kid's going to be spoiled rotten you know," Spike added with one of his best sneaky grins on his face as he lifted Buffy's head up by her chin to look him in the eye.
"So…you're happy…," Buffy questioned with an easily seen look of hope on her face as she was almost begging Spike with her eyes to be happy and calm her nerves.
"Of course luv…of course," Spike replied with an overjoyed smile on his face before Buffy pulled him down into a kiss, an act followed closely by the two falling back into the bed and Spike pulling the sheets up over them with his free hand.
* * * * * *
After Angel's announcement of the Scourge's involvement with the Beast he had ushered Cordelia up to one of the empty rooms to get cleaned up. Giles had wanted to stay and plan but he had grabbed Andrew by the collar and ordered the former villain and the new slayers in the lobby to the basement to continue their training. Gunn and Fred had accompanied Giles and the other potentials downstairs in the hope to work off some of their anxieties. Rhona and Vi had started to complain but a stern look from Giles cast their way had gotten them all moving. Xander and Anya had disappeared almost as soon as Anya had finished hugging everyone. Willow and Kennedy had begun their search through the hotel to try to find something to eat. Wesley had collected all of the books that he knew of that had references to the Scourge and laid them on the small table in the lobby before digging into the first one, with a helpful looking Dawn at his side. Robin had dragged Faith back up to what the new slayers had labeled as their room before shouts were heard and Faith had come storming back down the stairs, trying her best to control her temper.
"Something wrong Faith," Wesley asked, the concern evident in his voice, as he lifted his gaze from the book that he was trying to scan through and focused it directly on Faith, who had taken off her coat and was in the process of pushing her sleeves up.
"Wrong…no Wes…nothing's wrong…," Faith replied with a grumpy scowl on her face before she plopped down into a chair on the opposite side of the table from Wesley. Almost immediately Faith picked up one of Wesley's books and started to flip through it, completely ignorant of the fact that Wesley's gaze had lingered on her.
"If it was something I said then I apologize," Wesley said with a sincere color to his voice as he laid the book down that he had been holding and now fully fixed his gaze on Faith.
"No…it's not that, he's just being an ass," Faith replied quickly with an uncaring tone to her voice before she quickly glanced up and then shot her gaze back down to the book in her hands. Dawn watched the exchange between the two and stayed silent for several seconds before hazarding to speak up.
"About what…you said he was being an ass…I was just wondering about what," Dawn asked with a nervous flinch at first before she became bolder and looked straight at Faith as she continued.
"Dawn…," Wesley said with an exasperated and nervous sigh as he couldn't summon up the courage to look over at Faith.
"No Wesley, Dawn here wants to know why Robin's being an ass…fine, she's a big girl, she can handle it…," Faith exclaimed with a very driven scowl on her face as she glared over at Wesley for a second before turning to Dawn after seeing that he wasn't looking at her.
"Shit…meet fan," Wesley thought with a nervous and uncertain scowl on his face as he tensed up, ready to react to whatever happened.
"He's being an ass because I didn't call him last night and tell him where I was," Faith said in her most truthful voice, thoroughly scared that Dawn would see through the flimsy excuse and deduct the real reason for Robin's frustration. During the few seconds that she had spent up in their room he had asked almost point blank if something was going on between her and Wesley, she had denied it but could tell that he didn't believe her. Her own uncertain feelings on the subject had boiled up inside of her until she had blown her top and shouted out a tirade and stormed down the stairs.
"Oh…and here I thought it was because he thought that there was something going on between the two of you…silly me," Dawn said with an almost amused smirk on her face before she dropped her head back down into her book to keep her quickly growing grin from showing. Wesley and Faith sat as still as stone for several seconds, seemingly waiting for the sky to fall before casting each other a nervous look.
"Yeah, silly you," Faith mumbled back with a short and nervous laugh before she turned to Wesley. "You find anything yet Wes," Faith asked in a very pointed matter as it was evident that she was desperately trying to change the subject.
"Uh…not yet, there are few references to the Scourge in any of my books, and there'll all pretty vague, unfortunately the council was never able to get very good intelligence on the Scourge," Wesley replied with a slightly taken aback frown on his face as he almost dropped his book because of his nerves.
"Hmpf…probably to scared to get near these guys," Faith snorted with a sarcastic scowl on her face as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, picking a hair off of her sleeve as she did so.
"No…actually every agent that the council contracted out to try to get information on the Scourge ended up in a body bag, ten good men died trying to collect information," Wesley started to say with a nervous sigh before he finished with a very sad frown on his face.
"How do you know all of this, if I tried my head would explode," Dawn asked with a frustrated moan as she dropped her head into her hands and slumped her shoulders.
"Simple Dawnie, all those nights of being dateless left ole Wesley here plenty of time to memorize all kinds of useless information, he could probably even tell you the names of those ten men…," Faith added with a joking smirk on her face, one that instantly disappeared when she saw the sad look in Wesley's eyes.
"Actually you're right Faith, I could tell you all of their names…you might be surprised to learn that for all of their formality the watchers council did tend to socialize a great deal, with the right people of course, every year there were dinner parties and soirees on special occasions, it didn't take long before you knew every member of the council and his or her family," Wesley replied with a sullen frown on his face before he put the book that he had been holding down on the table and rubbed his tired eyes.
"So…did you know any of those guys, the ten that they sent off to collect the information," Dawn asked with a timid frown on her face as she locked her knees together and brushed some dirt off of her shoes.
"I did…two of them, one was almost like an uncle to me when I was a boy, and the other probably would have become your watcher instead of me Faith, had he lived that is, he was my cousin…we used to spend hours together dreaming about what we'd do if we ever became a watcher," Wesley answered with a nervous shrug of his shoulders as lowered his head down into his hands and tried to keep from remembering the horrors that he had seen as a child being reared to be a watcher. Under the watchers council stiff exterior and careful conduction of actions there was a seedy underbelly, of sorts that is. From an early age those deemed to have a possibility of being a watcher were at times forced to view different demons being killed as part of their training. Sometimes the demon would be killed without the council's soldiers losing a man, other times the toll was high. All the viewing of those killings was to show the young boys the proper way to kill certain demons and to shock home just how serious their business was.
"That must have sucked…," Dawn mumbled with a bummed out frown on her face as she jutted out her bottom lip and looked sadly at Wesley, who had taken off his glasses and was running a hand through his hair.
"Yes…it did…now if you'll excuse me I…," Wesley started to say with a nervous and hesitant frown on his face before he stood up and walked out of the lobby and into Angel's office, pushing the door shut behind him. With a tear rolling down her cheek Dawn looked to Faith before the former rogue slayer went into action.
"Hey…Wes…," Faith called out with a worried frown on her face as much as she hated to admit it but she could feel a swell of tears rising up before she pushed the office door back open and went inside. Luckily, at least to Dawn, the door this time didn't go all of the way closed and so Dawn sat, riveted on the edge of her seat, and watched from a distance the interaction between Faith and Wesley. She was to far away and the two were speaking to softly for her to hear but Dawn got the impression by the body language that Faith was trying her best to cheer Wesley up as the former watcher was trying to keep a stiff upper lip. She leaned over the back of the chair just enough to see Faith slip a supporting arm around Wesley's waist and give her former watcher a tight hug before her spying was interrupted.
"Whatcha looking at Dawn…," Andrew asked softly through a mouthful of food as he walked up behind her and then tried his best to swallow the food in his mouth.
"Look…," Dawn mumbled back softly with a slightly lovey dovey smile on her face as she watched Faith lay her head on Wesley's shoulder and bring up the hand that she had slipped around Wesley's waist and start to slowly rub circles on his back.
"I thought you were supposed to be researching," Robin asked with a gruff tone to his voice as he descended the stairs, shocking a misty eyed Dawn and Andrew out of their momentary stupor.
* * * * * *
It had taken almost three weeks after Buffy had told him that she was pregnant that Spike was finally able to truly accept it. It hadn't been that he didn't believe her but the entire concept of one day actually becoming a father and having to raise a child, especially with the way that his life had gone, had been a little to much for him at first. But one day he had let his feet do the walking and ended up in a store that specialized in baby supplies. He had spent the next three hours slowly searching the halls, his brows furrowing more and more as he began to become accustomed to how much would truly go into having and raising a child with Buffy.
Of course from the onset Molly had been ecstatic about the news, going so far as to call babysitter rights for life shortly after hearing the news. Her enthusiasm had to be tempered though as she could not tell anyone at school about the good news because of the fact that she would be leaving in a couple of short years and most likely never see any of her classmates ever again. As the months went on Spike had to pull out all the stops to keep Buffy and Molly from buying them out of house and home with everything that they'd need for the baby. Over the course of her pregnancy Buffy had obsessed many times about exactly what world her child would be born into and if she would be able to lead a normal life, unlike the one that Buffy had experienced. Spike had tried his best to set her mind at ease but up until the day of the birth Buffy was constantly worried about the future. In that time rumors and other information had begun to trickle in about the sorceress Noxon's location.
It was a Friday morning when Buffy shook Spike awake at three in the morning and informed him that her water had broken. Spike had initially still been to asleep to realize what she was saying but Buffy had then squeezed his arm tightly and repeated her announcement. That had been enough and so the frantic dash to the hospital had begun. Rather than take the time to actually unlock and open the door Spike had been in such a big hurry that he had simply pulled a pair of old sweatpants on and barreled through the door before yelling at Molly to get up. It wouldn't be until almost nine hours later that Joyce Ann Wilmington was born. Spike had chosen the name Wilmington rather than Windholm because Buffy had pointed out to him one day that even back these seven years like they were there still existed a Molly Windholm somewhere in England, and it would raise suspicion if a young woman with the same exact name were to turn up going to high school in Texas.
* * * * * *
After shocking Dawn and Andrew out of their momentary stupor Robin was about to follow their line of sight and storm into the office when Willow and Kennedy walked into the lobby through the kitchen. Their entrance was closely followed by a cleaner and happier looking Cordelia as she sauntered down the stairs with Angel close behind. The two and a half century old vampire looked very tired and frustrated but tried his best to not let it affect his actions. He hoped that now that everyone was back together things would be getting better; he was not however prepared for what would happen next.
"Uh Angel…there's something that we need to talk about…," Willow said with a nervous and slightly fearful look on her face as she approached Angel, who almost collapsed down onto the space on the couch that Wesley had vacated before he responded.
"Okay…shoot, what's on your mind," Angel replied with a tired shrug of his shoulders as he tried to rub the stiffness out of the back of his neck.
"Well remember when you said that we should let Buffy sleep…well actually see…there's a problem with that…she's not here," Willow stammered out slowly, almost as if she expected Angel to jump out of his seat and strangle her at a moments notice.
"Not here…what do you mean, where is she," Angel asked with a growing look of anger and frustration on his face as he leaned forward and closed one of the books that Wesley had been looking through.
"The question isn't where she is Angel…it's when," Kennedy said with a serious frown on her face as she laid a supportive hand on Willow's shoulder.
"When…wait did I miss something…," Angel asked, the look of confusion on his face growing steadily with each passing second as he looked around the lobby.
"Yes…sometime while we were racing to Wolfram and Hart to make sure that no one was being massacred a portal opened up and sucked Buffy into it, the portal apparently served as a sort of time warp, sending Buffy back in time, how far and where we don't know, I can't tell you anything more until I get a team over here to study the area," Wesley said with a very worried look on his face as he slowly walked out of the office, with an equally nervous Faith close by. Faith was so close in fact that only Angel was able to notice Faith's hand resting in the middle of Wesley's back.
"This just keeps getting better and better, we take one step forward and then fifty thousand steps back," Angel moaned with a frustrated and defeated slump of his shoulders as he dropped his head into his hands.
"Well look on the bright side, at least we know where she is…," Andrew piped up with a more than chipper smile on his face before the former villain seemingly shrank out of sight.
END OF CHAPTER 15