Chapter One
Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since I posted the prologue, which means I
still do not own the Buffy characters.
"Wahh!" That piercing scream was the only sound Anya needed to here. The sound that told her that her child was alright. He/ she had survived the birth, as did she. Although she still could not bring herself to tell anyone about the child, that scream somehow assured her that things were going to be alright in the end. She was a new person. She had a new person in her life.
"Congratulations," the doctor announced, holding the tiny child out and placing it into Anya's eager arms. "You're the mother of a healthy baby boy," he continued, though his voice was lost on Anya, all her attention on the young boy in front of her.
She smiled down at him, adoring everything there was on his tiny body. His little fingers clutched tightly forming a little baby fist, his tiny pink face with his sparkling blue eyes unmistakably coming from Spike.
Spike.
Anya groaned, knowing that he would have to know the truth one day or another. As the father of the young child, he deserved to know. She sighed, turning to face the small black cordless phone resting on the nightstand right beside her bed. She reached over, holding it in her hands, absorbing the meaning of it before clicking the 'Talk' button. Wait, she thought to herself, what am I doing? Spike is a vampire- he wouldn't have a phone.
She sighed, placing the phone back down as she rocked her newborn son in effort to get him to stop crying. The tears and shrieks were cute when he as first born, but now after listening to them for a few minutes, they were getting to be annoying.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" the young nurse asked as she leaned over the bed, smiling warmly at the baby.
"Um, no, not yet," Anya responded softly. Sure, she had a name already picked out from the day she found out that she was pregnant. She wouldn't know if the child was going to be a boy or girl, but she had names picked out either way. But those names. Alexis or Alexander. The only name seriously on her mind was Xander's. Besides the baby, Xander was probably the only person Anya cared about.
The nurse nodded understandably as she left the room, allowing Halfrek to enter finally. She had not been allowed in during the birth, but now she was. "Well," Halfrek began excitedly, walking over to Anya, "what'd I miss?"
"Only his birth," Anya replied, though her thoughts were not on the conversations in the room.
"Any name yet?" Halfrek asked, her excitement still blossoming.
Anya shook her head, looking up at Halfrek. "Not exactly," she admitted honestly. Surely she had looked through the naming books on numerous occasions, trying to pick a good one besides Alexander to name her child, but she couldn't. No matter how many different names she looked at or how many different variations of the names there were, the only name she could settle on was Alexander.
"You still love him," Halfrek declared, picking up Anya's ashamed head, meeting her fellow vengeance demon in the eye.
"What?" Anya asked, pretending to have no idea whatsoever of what Halfrek was talking about. "Me? Love someone? A.a him someone?" She shook her head at the idea. "Nonsense, the only him in my life is this little guy," she added with a small grin as she gestured down at the tiny boy in her arms. "He's all I got."
"I didn't mean him and you know that," Halfrek argued within an instant. She sighed, moving strands of her brown hair out of her face. "I was talking about Xander." She turned back to Anya. The look on the other vengeance demon's face, the look of shock as well as warmth, answered her question immediately. "If you weren't a vengeance demon, I'd tell you to call him."
Anya sighed once more, her eyes wandering over to the phone. There it was, sitting there practically begging Anya to grab it and dial the number she still knew by heart. 555-6703. The number that would connect her to Xander. After positioning the infant in such a way that she could hold him with one hand while keeping his head supported, she began reaching for the phone. "Wait," she muttered to herself, "what am I doing? I can't call him. Not after everything."
Halfrek shrugged, looking at the door anxiously, sensing that someone was about to walk through. Or maybe that was just the quest for vengeance from some person out there in the world, presumably close by. "Well, I better go. Vengeance calls." She smiled, waving at Anya before teleporting herself away.
Anya nodded back in response, looking down at the baby in front of him. "You hungry there?" she asked him in a motherly tone of voice. A week later
Spike frowned, glaring at the television screen in front of him. The reception wasn't coming in good this day, the same as it had the day before and would probably do the day after. He groaned, clicking it off. Passions had ended, so there really was no point in watching anything else.
The sudden burst of rapid knocking interrupted his daily thoughts. "Bloody hell." Groaning, he walked over to answer it. "Come on, Slayer, you already broke up with me. I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that any more!"
"Um, Spike." the voice on the other side of the door definitely did not belong to his Buffy. Though feminine, it was not filled with the usual anger Buffy gives him when she actually comes by to talk.
Opening the door with confusion, Spike sighed. "Demon Girl," he greeted, stepping back a little as a way to allow Anya in. He frowned, double checking to make sure he had seen what he thought he saw in her arms. He nodded, realizing that he had. A blue bundle, with a head sticking out of it, no doubt belong to a baby. "With a baby," he announced, amending his greeting. "What's this all about?"
"Look at him," Anya commanded, her tone of voice harsh, definitely telling that she meant business. Carefully, she transferred the baby over to Spike's arms, making sure that he held him properly. "Really look at him," she commanded once again.
Spike sighed, walking over and sitting down in his telly chair, glancing down at the baby. For the most part the child was bald, with a few patches of dark brown hair sticking out, definitely coming from Anya. His face was structured fine, not to high check bones or anything like people had accused him of having. And his eyes. There were two of them, kind of in the middle of his face. "He looks healthy, if that's what you mean," Spike told Anya honestly, though he was still confused about why he was holding it.
"I know that," Anya replied bitterly.
Spike frowned, glancing up at Anya in confusion. "Well, then what am I supposed to be looking at?" he asked, his tone of voice hinting that he was very annoyed.
Anya groaned, knowing no other way to break the news to Spike. "Um, Spike, a few months ago, y'know, with the whole us thing.it was kind of a bit more than just fun for one night."
"Demon Girl, I'm undead and you're immortal," Spike pointed out gently. After looking over at Anya's annoyed expression, he figured that wasn't what she was referring to. Frowning, he glanced down at the young child, the sinificance of her presense finally sinking in. "Oh!" he blurted out in realization. "This is.this is ours?"
Anya nodded slightly, her blond hair moving up and down against her back as she did such. "He is," she admitted quietly as she reached forward, clearly telling Spike that she wanted to hold the boy again.
Spike nodded, gently handing the sleeping child back to his mother. He was shocked, clearly. This had never been his intention. Oh, God he thought to hiself. What am I going to tell Buffy? He sighed, coming to his senses, having to face the fact that he was a father, and Anya was the mother. Not how he would have envisioned the senario, but still. "How did this happen?" he asked. Immediately after the words left his mouth, Spike reaized how stupid the question was. "When did this happen? No, wait, I know when. When was he born?"
"Last week," Anya answered softly. It was still uncomfortable for her to be there, but it was better to have this discussion last week rather than far off in the future. "His name's Joseph, unless you don't like it."
Spike shrugged. "Does't matter much to me," he answered honestly. That answered one question, but there still were dozens more that needed answering. "How are we going to raise him?" Spike asked, getting the most important question out before anything else. "'Cause I'm not exactly sure I can raise a child." he began, the fear creeping out in his hesitant voice.
"Well, technically, I'm his legal guardian, so."
"That's great!" Spike ansewered instantly, leaping up from his chair and wrapping one arm around Anya in a joyful hug. "You raise him and I'll do the fun stuff." He sighed, glancing down at her annoyed expression, releasing his grip on her and taking a more serious approach to the issue. "But I will help you in any way you need, but I would appreciate it if news about this little guy doesn't hit town, especially the 1630 Revello Drive part of town."
"Oh, absolutely," Anya instantly agreed. That was good. Spike wuldn't tell anyone, so as long as Willow didn't do a truth spell on him or anything, her secret was safe.
"Good," Spike responded with a nod.
"What's good?" Buffy asked, walking in through the door, Xander right behind her, both of them armed with stakes. "There is no good here. Spike, there's a nest of vamps and.woah!" Buffy exclaimed, catching a glipse of Anya and the baby for the first time.
"Anya!" Xander exclaimed happily as he allowed his stake to drop to the ground, running across the crypt to the woman he loved, ready to swing her around joyfully in his arms, as if nothing else mattered anymore. Once approaching, he noticed the blue bundle. "What's that?" he asked, almost as if he were worried about it.
"What's going on here?" Buffy asked, looking over at the vengeance demon and chipped vampire.
"Wahh!" That piercing scream was the only sound Anya needed to here. The sound that told her that her child was alright. He/ she had survived the birth, as did she. Although she still could not bring herself to tell anyone about the child, that scream somehow assured her that things were going to be alright in the end. She was a new person. She had a new person in her life.
"Congratulations," the doctor announced, holding the tiny child out and placing it into Anya's eager arms. "You're the mother of a healthy baby boy," he continued, though his voice was lost on Anya, all her attention on the young boy in front of her.
She smiled down at him, adoring everything there was on his tiny body. His little fingers clutched tightly forming a little baby fist, his tiny pink face with his sparkling blue eyes unmistakably coming from Spike.
Spike.
Anya groaned, knowing that he would have to know the truth one day or another. As the father of the young child, he deserved to know. She sighed, turning to face the small black cordless phone resting on the nightstand right beside her bed. She reached over, holding it in her hands, absorbing the meaning of it before clicking the 'Talk' button. Wait, she thought to herself, what am I doing? Spike is a vampire- he wouldn't have a phone.
She sighed, placing the phone back down as she rocked her newborn son in effort to get him to stop crying. The tears and shrieks were cute when he as first born, but now after listening to them for a few minutes, they were getting to be annoying.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" the young nurse asked as she leaned over the bed, smiling warmly at the baby.
"Um, no, not yet," Anya responded softly. Sure, she had a name already picked out from the day she found out that she was pregnant. She wouldn't know if the child was going to be a boy or girl, but she had names picked out either way. But those names. Alexis or Alexander. The only name seriously on her mind was Xander's. Besides the baby, Xander was probably the only person Anya cared about.
The nurse nodded understandably as she left the room, allowing Halfrek to enter finally. She had not been allowed in during the birth, but now she was. "Well," Halfrek began excitedly, walking over to Anya, "what'd I miss?"
"Only his birth," Anya replied, though her thoughts were not on the conversations in the room.
"Any name yet?" Halfrek asked, her excitement still blossoming.
Anya shook her head, looking up at Halfrek. "Not exactly," she admitted honestly. Surely she had looked through the naming books on numerous occasions, trying to pick a good one besides Alexander to name her child, but she couldn't. No matter how many different names she looked at or how many different variations of the names there were, the only name she could settle on was Alexander.
"You still love him," Halfrek declared, picking up Anya's ashamed head, meeting her fellow vengeance demon in the eye.
"What?" Anya asked, pretending to have no idea whatsoever of what Halfrek was talking about. "Me? Love someone? A.a him someone?" She shook her head at the idea. "Nonsense, the only him in my life is this little guy," she added with a small grin as she gestured down at the tiny boy in her arms. "He's all I got."
"I didn't mean him and you know that," Halfrek argued within an instant. She sighed, moving strands of her brown hair out of her face. "I was talking about Xander." She turned back to Anya. The look on the other vengeance demon's face, the look of shock as well as warmth, answered her question immediately. "If you weren't a vengeance demon, I'd tell you to call him."
Anya sighed once more, her eyes wandering over to the phone. There it was, sitting there practically begging Anya to grab it and dial the number she still knew by heart. 555-6703. The number that would connect her to Xander. After positioning the infant in such a way that she could hold him with one hand while keeping his head supported, she began reaching for the phone. "Wait," she muttered to herself, "what am I doing? I can't call him. Not after everything."
Halfrek shrugged, looking at the door anxiously, sensing that someone was about to walk through. Or maybe that was just the quest for vengeance from some person out there in the world, presumably close by. "Well, I better go. Vengeance calls." She smiled, waving at Anya before teleporting herself away.
Anya nodded back in response, looking down at the baby in front of him. "You hungry there?" she asked him in a motherly tone of voice. A week later
Spike frowned, glaring at the television screen in front of him. The reception wasn't coming in good this day, the same as it had the day before and would probably do the day after. He groaned, clicking it off. Passions had ended, so there really was no point in watching anything else.
The sudden burst of rapid knocking interrupted his daily thoughts. "Bloody hell." Groaning, he walked over to answer it. "Come on, Slayer, you already broke up with me. I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that any more!"
"Um, Spike." the voice on the other side of the door definitely did not belong to his Buffy. Though feminine, it was not filled with the usual anger Buffy gives him when she actually comes by to talk.
Opening the door with confusion, Spike sighed. "Demon Girl," he greeted, stepping back a little as a way to allow Anya in. He frowned, double checking to make sure he had seen what he thought he saw in her arms. He nodded, realizing that he had. A blue bundle, with a head sticking out of it, no doubt belong to a baby. "With a baby," he announced, amending his greeting. "What's this all about?"
"Look at him," Anya commanded, her tone of voice harsh, definitely telling that she meant business. Carefully, she transferred the baby over to Spike's arms, making sure that he held him properly. "Really look at him," she commanded once again.
Spike sighed, walking over and sitting down in his telly chair, glancing down at the baby. For the most part the child was bald, with a few patches of dark brown hair sticking out, definitely coming from Anya. His face was structured fine, not to high check bones or anything like people had accused him of having. And his eyes. There were two of them, kind of in the middle of his face. "He looks healthy, if that's what you mean," Spike told Anya honestly, though he was still confused about why he was holding it.
"I know that," Anya replied bitterly.
Spike frowned, glancing up at Anya in confusion. "Well, then what am I supposed to be looking at?" he asked, his tone of voice hinting that he was very annoyed.
Anya groaned, knowing no other way to break the news to Spike. "Um, Spike, a few months ago, y'know, with the whole us thing.it was kind of a bit more than just fun for one night."
"Demon Girl, I'm undead and you're immortal," Spike pointed out gently. After looking over at Anya's annoyed expression, he figured that wasn't what she was referring to. Frowning, he glanced down at the young child, the sinificance of her presense finally sinking in. "Oh!" he blurted out in realization. "This is.this is ours?"
Anya nodded slightly, her blond hair moving up and down against her back as she did such. "He is," she admitted quietly as she reached forward, clearly telling Spike that she wanted to hold the boy again.
Spike nodded, gently handing the sleeping child back to his mother. He was shocked, clearly. This had never been his intention. Oh, God he thought to hiself. What am I going to tell Buffy? He sighed, coming to his senses, having to face the fact that he was a father, and Anya was the mother. Not how he would have envisioned the senario, but still. "How did this happen?" he asked. Immediately after the words left his mouth, Spike reaized how stupid the question was. "When did this happen? No, wait, I know when. When was he born?"
"Last week," Anya answered softly. It was still uncomfortable for her to be there, but it was better to have this discussion last week rather than far off in the future. "His name's Joseph, unless you don't like it."
Spike shrugged. "Does't matter much to me," he answered honestly. That answered one question, but there still were dozens more that needed answering. "How are we going to raise him?" Spike asked, getting the most important question out before anything else. "'Cause I'm not exactly sure I can raise a child." he began, the fear creeping out in his hesitant voice.
"Well, technically, I'm his legal guardian, so."
"That's great!" Spike ansewered instantly, leaping up from his chair and wrapping one arm around Anya in a joyful hug. "You raise him and I'll do the fun stuff." He sighed, glancing down at her annoyed expression, releasing his grip on her and taking a more serious approach to the issue. "But I will help you in any way you need, but I would appreciate it if news about this little guy doesn't hit town, especially the 1630 Revello Drive part of town."
"Oh, absolutely," Anya instantly agreed. That was good. Spike wuldn't tell anyone, so as long as Willow didn't do a truth spell on him or anything, her secret was safe.
"Good," Spike responded with a nod.
"What's good?" Buffy asked, walking in through the door, Xander right behind her, both of them armed with stakes. "There is no good here. Spike, there's a nest of vamps and.woah!" Buffy exclaimed, catching a glipse of Anya and the baby for the first time.
"Anya!" Xander exclaimed happily as he allowed his stake to drop to the ground, running across the crypt to the woman he loved, ready to swing her around joyfully in his arms, as if nothing else mattered anymore. Once approaching, he noticed the blue bundle. "What's that?" he asked, almost as if he were worried about it.
"What's going on here?" Buffy asked, looking over at the vengeance demon and chipped vampire.