A/N : I'm so into my writing right now, getting a lot done, and that means faster updates for you! Aren't you so glad I'm feeling all inspired? Reviews help with that y'know, big thanx to the latest reviewers; Amandamanda3, Moonjava, Ape18, Lindsay, RoleModelGirlie, Celestia Nailo, bella-lover, spuffy4eva, Moluvsnumber17, pixiecorn, Spuffyfan4eva, Freezyboncoolipants, spikespet2002, sheilamarie, Time Rowanwood. Your support means a lot to me, especially on chapters that I'm not so confident about like the previous one.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15

"Doesn't matter how many times I end up sitting here, never gets any more comfortable" Xander sighed as he shifted in his seat in the private waiting area at the Sunnydale General Hospital. Cordy put her hand in his and gave him a reassuring smile. She hated this place too, after so many times of ending up here, waiting and wondering if people they cared for would have survived the latest trial life had thrown at them.

"You think they'll be okay?" Josh asked his mother, looking genuinely scared. Usually these things didn't get to him so much, or if they did he hid it well. Cordy used to call him her little warrior-man when he was a small child, always wanting to fight the big evil with his extended family. Now he knew things were so very serious. A demon that had done all that the Joh'ran had was truly something to be afraid of. The fact that it was dead was a small mercy. It's death could not undo all the damage that had been done.

Buffy had lost a lot of blood when the creature threw her against the wall with great force. She'd hit her head which had knocked her out but she'd also sliced her leg on a piece of metal jutting out of the crumbling wall. The gash leaked out a river of blood before Becky could get her mother out of danger and to a doctor. Though they were doing their best to stabilise her, and she had the Slayer-healing powers working in her favour, there were no definite answers about her condition as yet.

Angel re-entered the waiting room, having just called Willow and Tara at Revello Drive, where they were sitting with Mandy. He came to sit down next to Joyce and Giles, his head in his hands as he replayed the nights terrible events.

Half way to the Magic Box, Faith had started to stumble and he'd caught her in his arms as she lost consciousness. Though she'd come to again just moments later as he continued to run, carrying her like a child in his arms, he knew something was badly wrong. She too was now being checked over by a doctor that so far had nothing to report.

The youngest Slayer, Becky, had been told by a nurse that she ought to be checked over, when she came stumbling in to the hospital, carrying her own mother. She was near the point of collapse, the strain of the fight, the exertion as well as distress over Buffy had taken their toll and the medical staff absolutely insisted she be admitted so they could patch her wounds and run some tests. She was too tired to argue and allowed it all just to happen.

Xander felt terrible for lying to Becky, but that was what he had done. She wanted to know where Spike was and though he'd told the truth and said he was back at home with Willow, Tara, and Mandy, he neglected to mention the vampire's condition. She was proud to know he'd fought and killed the Joh'ran, she was ignorant to the fact that the very same demon had almost killed him too.

Spike's life hung in the balance, possibly even to a greater to degree than Buffy's or Faith's did. The poison the Joh'ran had injected into the vampire was deadly to that very species and Spike had caught a fairly large dose. Nobody could bring themselves to tell the teen who was already so panicked about her mother and aunt. They all hoped the witches might find something in the way of a cure for Spike, but they were already preparing themselves for the worst.

"How are they?" Tara asked as Willow came back down the stairs.

"Mandy cried herself to sleep" she said sadly, "and Spike...if anything I think he's getting worse" she admitted, a tear creeping down her cheek, "Oh God, why is all this happening, Tara?" the red-head cried, thinking of not just Spike, but also Buffy and Becky and Faith. So much suffering amongst their group, and all because of one demon. The world was a cruel harsh place, she'd known that for years, but it didn't make it any easier to understand.

Tara stood from the couch and came over to hug her girl to her.

"This could still turn out okay" she sad softly, rubbing Willow's back and trying to comfort her, "Slayers are tough and they have incredible healing powers, they should be fine" she said more positively than she felt, "and Spike...we could find a cure, it might be possible"

Willow sniffed and pulled away to look at her.

"It has to be possible" she said tearfully, "He's one of us now, we can't just let him..." she was going to say 'die' but found the word stuck in her throat.

"Come on, Will" Tara said forcefully, putting a hand to her girlfriends face, "You're my big strong Willow tree" she told her, almost crying herself but managing to hold it together, "We're still here, you and me, and we can do anything together"

Willow nodded fighting back the tears that threatened to take over once again.

"Let's find that cure" she said sniffing hard as they sat down on the couch. Tara started on the next pile of books whilst Willow tapped away on her laptop, both praying they'd find something useful before it was too late.

"Mr O'Connor?" the doctor said questioningly as he came into the waiting room and looked around.

"Yeah, that's me" Angel said, getting up, "How's Faith? Is she okay?" he asked, looking uncharacteristically afraid. He'd come to love his wife so much, the thought of anything terrible happening to her made him feel physically sick.

"Your wife has suffered a concussion, Mr O'Connor, and she has a few cuts and bruises that'll be with her for a while" the doctor explained, "I think her collapse may also have been related to stress and exhaustion, but she's recovering very quickly" he said with a smile, "At present there is no need to panic, Mr O'Connor. As it stands both your wife and child are doing just fine"

"Child?" Angel said, looking dumbly at him, "but I don't...I mean..."

"You do know your wife is pregnant, Mr O'Connor?" the doctor checked, looking down at his notes and verifying he was talking to the right man about the right patient.

"I didn't..." Angel shook his head before continuing, "Can I see her?"

"Certainly" he was told as the doctor spoke to a nurse and he was led through to where Faith lay in a hospital bed and not looking happy about it.

"Hey you" she smiled when Angel walked in, "Sorry about the whole passing out thing, not usually my style" he smiled.

"Faith" he said, coming to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. The cuts and bruises on her face and arms would be healed in a few days with her Slayer healing, and the concussion didn't seem to have bothered her much because she was as upbeat as ever. What puzzled him was that she was having another child and she hadn't told him. In fact she'd gone into battle apparently knowing she was risking their unborn baby.

"Doc told you, didn't he?" she said, looking suspisciously at him, "Son of a bitch, I wanted to be the one to do that" she complained.

"He told me you were pregnant, yeah" Angel nodded, "What were you thinking, Faith? Or were you even thinking at all?" he asked, anger rising, "You went into a fight that could've killed us all, knowing you were carrying our child!"

"We had to help B, you know that" she told him, getting equally angry, "If I told you about the kid, I knew you'd go into hyper-drive and make a deal out of me not fightin' in this battle"

"Of course I would, Faith" the ex-vampire agreed, "We're talking about you losing a baby here, our baby. If this is how it's going to be why didn't you just take Mandy to the Hellmouth with us and let her get killed by the demon too!" he yelled.

Faith brought her arm back and slapped him across the face, almost knocking him from the bed. He reeled from the strike but she pulled him forward by his shirt and got right up in his face, making him listen.

"You say whatever you want to me, I don't care" she said dangerously low, "but don't ever, ever question how much I love my kid" she warned him. She pushed him away then and tried to turn her back on him as much as she could without getting up from the bed - her head still felt a little too woozy for that.

"Faith, I didn't..." Angel felt awful for what he'd said, and as much as he wanted to apologise he couldn't find the words. He loved Faith and he knew she loved him. Mandy was the centre of their entire world, he'd never dream of questioning that, but she made him so mad endangering a child he hadn't even known existed till now. "I'm sorry" he said, trying to take hold of her hand but she pulled it away.

"Sorry don't cut it" she told him crossly, turning back to meet his eyes, "I changed for you Angel, God knows I never meant to but...I don't say it much" she sighed, "but I love you, and I love Mandy and I love this kid inside of me...but B, and the gang, they're like family too. You know we couldn't let them do this alone"

"I know" Angel nodded, knowing she was right, "but I just, I wish you'd told me"

"Well, now you know" she shrugged, "You at least wanna pretend to be happy your gonna be a Daddy again?" she smirked, her anger somehow forgotten because it was Angel and she loved him too much to fight him all the time, especially now.

"Happy?" he repeated incredulously, "Faith, I'm ecstatic" he assured her, putting his hand to her face, before leaning in to kiss her lips.

"You think me finding out I'm pregnant'll always lead to me slapping you?" she frowned a little as he pulled away.

"I hope not" Angel told her as he realised what she meant...

It was two months since Angel had got the Shanshu and been re-instated as a member of the human populous. There were so many advantages to his change, but one he and Faith had taken full advantage of was the fact he definitely could not lose his soul if they slept together. They had a lot of time to make up for and sometimes forgot that they should be careful. Faith wasn't sure whether she was pleased or saddened by this fact as she held the pregnancy test in her hand and stared down at the the blue lines on it. She glanced up into the bathroom mirror and studied herself. She just didn't look like a mother, and she felt like she never would. The idea of kids wasn't repulsive to her but that was Buffy's gig, not hers, and then there was Angel to consider. Would he even want kids? They hadn't talked about it much.

"Faith? You okay in there?" he called beyond the door and she froze, realising now was the time to find out what her long-tern boyfriend thought about it.

"Yeah, just a sec" she called back, emerging into their bedroom a moment later, "Angel, we kinda have to talk" she said seriously, causing him to frown a little. She looked way too serious for anything good to come out of this conversation, he thought.

"What is it?" he asked as she came to sit beside him on the bed.

"Okay" she decided after several moment of awkward silence, "Really only one way to say this so here it comes; I'm pregnant"

That knocked the wind completely out of Angels' sails. It was really the last thing he'd been expecting, not least because he wasn't yet entirely used to the fact he was no longer sterile as he was when he was a vampire. It seemed he was definitely firing live ammunition these days and Faith was carrying the proof inside of her. Of course that meant a major boat-load of manly responsibility had just landed on him, but he didn't mind.

"That's incredible" he said, smiling widely, "I...well, Faith" he said, dropping to one knee in front of her and taking her hand in his, "Will you marry me?" he asked.

"Angel..." she said looking terribly uncomfortable, "Why are you doing this?"

"You're having my baby" he frowned, wondering why she didn't get it when it seemed so obvious to him, "I've been thinking this over for a while, the financial benefits of us being married alone, and now with a baby on the way..."

"You bastard" Faith interrupted, pushing him away and getting up from the bed.

"What did I say?" he asked and she laughed humourlessly.

"You don't get it, do you?" she half-yelled, "I don't want to marry you for money, or for this kid. What happened, Angel?" she asked, looking so angry, "Did you use up all the romantic lines on B?"

The ex-vampire tensed at the mention of his former girlfriend, already angry that Faith was being like this when he was proposing marriage.

"Maybe I did" he seethed, "Maybe she was just easier to love than you"

She brought back her hand and slapped him then, following it up with a couple of punches that almost sent him sprawling.

"You son of a bitch!" she raged at him, hating that she couldn't stop the tears from pouring down her cheeks. She stopped hitting him when she realised it was getting her nowhere and she was sobbing as she fell into his arms. He whispered apologies over and over into her ear as he held her to him, waiting for her to stop crying before he said anything else.

"Faith, baby" he said, pulling away enough to see her face and wiping tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, "I love you, more than anything else in this world, and I want to marry you for that reason" he assured her, "The rest is valid too, but you have to believe the thought wouldn't enter my head if I wasn't completely and totally in love with you"

"Okay, so you saved me at least one cheesy romantic line" she said, managing a slight laugh. Angel smiled and kissed her softly.

"I can't believe we're having a baby" he said, still grinning when they pulled apart.

"I'm gonna be a lousy mother" she groaned, hiding her face in his chest for a moment. He put his finger under her chin and made her look up at him again.

"You will be the best mother, and we're gonna have the most loved kid in the whole world" he told her firmly. She didn't know if she believed that or not, but it was good to hear.

Angel was told his wife was well enough to go home so long as she did nothing to strenuous for a couple of days and any sign of change for the worse in her condition she was brought straight back to the hospital. Those terms agreed she was free to go and the Scoobies were pleased to see both her and Becky who emerged moments later looking pretty good considering all she'd been through.

"Mom's awake" the youngest Slayer told the gathered friends and firmly, "She's still pretty out of it, and she's lost a lot of blood, but she's gonna be okay" she smiled. Although the group were pleased to hear the Slayer was okay, they knew that one of them must now break the terrible news of Spike's condition to both Becky and Buffy. It was Giles that stood up and asked Becky to take him to her mother, because he needed to speak to them both. None of the Scoobies were jealous of the Watcher as he exited the waiting room. Nobody wanted to be in his shoes, forced to impart the news that he must share.

"Buffy?" Spike asked softly, finding just moving his lips enough to form words was almost too painful to bear.

"No, sweetie. It's Tara" the witch said gently as she pressed the cold cloth to his forehead. It was strange to her that she was trying to cool down a feverish vampire, she'd never known anything like this before.

"Demon, gotta kill..." Spike forced out, desperate to get up and move but finding his entire body felt like lead

"The demon's dead, Spike" Tara told him, gently holding him still, "You killed it already, remember?"

His eyes were barely open and he had trouble focusing on her as he tried to remember. everything was so muddled in his head, and every part of him hurt.

"Buffy, and Becky?" he asked, knowing if they weren't safe then he would give up fighting, let whatever the hell was trying to kill him do just that.

"They're okay" she promised him, "Joyce just called from the hospital, they took some nasty knocks but they're going to be just fine"

Spike nodded slightly, confirming he understood before the darkness dragged him back under. The pain was too severe to let him stay awake for very long at a time, and with his lack of breath it was difficult to know if he was still alive in there. Only the heat from his usually cool body proved he wasn't a corpse, and although she didn't like to think about it, Tara was certain that to be truly dead, Spike would have to be dust. So long as he had his human form, they had a shot at saving him she hoped.

"Tara!" she heard Willow scram her name and she stumbled as she hurried to the stairs.

"Will, what is it?" she asked worriedly as she ran to meet her girlfriend in the hall.

"Tara, I found something" she said excitedly, so pleased she'd found anything even semi-useful, "The poison the Joh'ran secretes is the main ingredient used in several mystical compounds that were made to kill the undead. It's not much, but it's a start"

Willow passed the book to Tara who skimmed down the page, realising something that her girlfriend hadn't, the information continued further on in the book. She rapidly turned the pages and read aloud from the next relevant paragraph.

"The poison is used primarily in a mystical compound who's Latin name translates roughly into Killer of the Dead" she recited, "the cure required for the manufactured poison will also save any undead creature infected by the Joh'ran's venom" she paused and looked sadly at the paragraph that ended abruptly, "Now if only we knew what the cure was for this Killer of the Dead" she shook her head sadly and passed the book back to Willow who took it without a word, "Will?" her girlfriend looked worried and even more so when the red-head's knees buckled beneath her and she landed on the floor with a thump, thankfully still conscious and in a more-or-less seated position.

"It can't be" she said almost too quiet to hear.

"Willow, you're scaring me" Tara told her as she knelt down beside her, "Tell me whats wrong" she begged.

"I know the cure" she said flatly, "He has to drain the blood of a Slayer"

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Okay, so if you're not so shocked that you can't move at all right now, please review and give your opinions on this chapter!