Disclaimer: They aren't mine...but you knew that already...

Chapter 3:

With the coming of the sun, Dawn woke up and tiptoed to her sister's room. She knocked on her sister's door in a feeble attempt to wake her. She knew that Tara had somehow managed to get into the room to speak with Buffy, but could not figure out how the quiet girl had done it. Eventually she gave up, changed, and went downstairs to grab some sort of breakfast before going to school.

When she reached the kitchen, she saw Willow and Tara already awake and eating sliced fruit salads. Dawn grabbed a bowl and began to dig in as well. Glancing up every now and then to see if Willow or Tara would mention anything about her sister. Dawn's eyes brightened up when Willow cleared her throat in preparation to speak.

"Xander will be here in a little while to give you a ride to school," Willow stated.

Willow stood up to put the now empty bowls in the sink. When she turned around she heard Xander pulling up in the driveway. She heard his familiar footsteps as he jogged the path to the door, then his complimentary three knocks before opening the door in greeting.

"Why hello, lovely ladies. Everyone ready to move out for the day?"Xander said is his usual way.

The three girls nodded, grabbed their bags and headed out the door before him. Dawn was still very curious about what Tara and her sister had talked about last night, but it did not look like she was going to find out until later tonight. Nighttime always seemed to be the time when secrets were revealed in this house.

Meanwhile, upstairs the blonde-haired couple stirred in their sleep. Spike woke up first to the steady sound of Buffy's heartbeat. He lifted his head and looked down at his sun-kissed goddess hidden in the sheets. Her limbs tangled with his was a purely erotic sight in his mind. He stifled a yawn and leaned down to kiss Buffy awake, but haulted when the faint whisper of another heartbeat hit his ears. He vamped into his vampire visage in order to hear it better. If possible his face visibly paled lighter than it already was and he jumped away from his slayer as if burned.

His sudden movement woke Buffy up. She opened her eyes groggily and pushed her hair out of her face. She smiled a little when she saw Spike standing up nude before her, but her smile faded away as her eyes cleared and she saw the look of shock and horror on his face.

"Spike? What's wrong?"Buffy's eyes looked questionally at her lover.

Why does he look at me like that? It's like he fears something. We were making love and enjoying each other's prescence a little while ago, but now he looks as if I have wronged him. Could that be it? Could letting him in my cold exterior front have made him hate me all over again?

"Who's is it Buffy?" Spike spat at her in revulsion to break her train of thought," Some random git's whose name you didn't know?"

Spike pulled on his jeans before searching his duster pocket for a cig. How could he have been so foolish? He fell for her lies and pretty body. He was just her fuck buddy and whoever she had slept with other than him could have her. He had had to share Dru with every bloke she had gotten a liking to, but he would be damned if he let the slayer turn him into a lovesick puppy. He was not going to be love's bitch this time around. Especially not when the woman in question was nothing but a deceitful...

"Wh--"Buffy started to ask Spike, but stopped herself as she felt bile rise up her throat.

She sprang from the bed and raced to the bathroom, not even caring that she was still naked. She barely made it to the toliet before the vomit raced up her throat and out of her mouth. She'd never thrown up so much in her entire life. Buffy was so spent after the initial vomit, that she didn't even feel Spike holding her hair back or wiping her face with a cold cloth. She barely registered in her mind that he had lifted her up and carried her back into her bedroom. She barely felt Spike leave the room only to return moments later with gingerale and crackers.

How could he be so mean one moment and so caring the next? The vampire bastard is going to drive me insane one of these days. Buffy stopped her mental rantings to notice something. Spike had asked who's is it. Could he mean..Buffy never finished her most recent thought because she finally noticed Spike had been whispering things to her the entire time he had been caring for her.

"Spike?" Buffy whispered in an attempt to get him to speak louder.

"Yeah slayer,"but he answered her as if she were asking him for the time.

"What did you mean by 'who's is it'? What were you talking about?"Buffy eyes were troubled as she mumbled the question and looked down.

"You mean you don't know," Spike asked her in awe," but you're a few months into it at least..."

"Into what!"Buffy demanded and stared Spike down as if she wanted him to lie to her,"Into what?"

"You've got a baby bit growing in you love. Has been for a while by the sound of its heart, but I don't remember hearing--"Spike started to rambled but was cut off by Buffy pushing him away and running back into the bathroom.

Spike could hear her strangled sobs, but knew there was nothing he could do or say to make her open the door anytime soon. Eventually he heard her throwing up again before hearing the shower start. He hoped she was going to be okay with this turn of events because he was not sure he would be. Spike was positive he would have noticed the soft humming of the unborn babe's heart before today if Buffy had been pregnant. That meant something was off with this entire scenario and he would get to the bottom of it, but first he would make things right with his girl.

He headed towards the door after listening to the sound of the shower for about five minutes. He figured she had had enough time to simmer down and listen to what he needed to say. He hesitated before knocking on the door. What if she had hurt herself? What if she had gone suicidal and slit her wrists in the bathtub? It was not as if there was a shortage of sharp objects in the bathroom to do it with. Not with all the women that were able to shave in this house.

Spike pounded on the door yelling her name, his voice clouded in worry. The shower continued going and eventually Spike began to use his shoulder to push the door in. When the door sprang open and the broken lock clattered to the floor, Spike looked up to see a startled Buffy holding a razor blade dangerously close to her wrist. His worry had led to him finding her just in time, but what if he had been too late? What is she had succeeded in cutting herself? Would her slayer healing kick in to prevent her dying from the blood loss? He hoped he never had to find out.

Spike ran to Buffy and pulled her into his embrace. He whispered how sorry he was for being so stupid earlier and begged her not to shut him out of her life again. Buffy dropped the small blade to the bottom of the tub and clung to Spike as he whispered his promises to her. Both of them silently hoping that everything would be okay in the end.

Maybe she could get through this if he was here? Maybe things would work out somehow? Maybe she could still live with herself and the thing growing in her belly. This thing that had already lurched forward in its existance another couple of weeks because her stomach had grown before her own eyes. The sight had made her vomit again, but from horror this time. She had picked up the razor in an attempt to cut the monster from her belly, but Spike had rushed into the room to save it just in time.

He had been so worried about her. Spike had nearly lost his slayer to her own tormented emotions. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He helped Buffy out of the tub and turned off the faucet for the shower. A few nearby towels were used to dry the pair off before they headed back to the bedroom.
Buffy needed to put on clothes, but she feared her growing belly would eventually ruin any outfit she put on. Spike solved this small problem by giving her his button down shirt and Tara's only pair of jeans. It was doubtful the wiccan would mind the borrowing considering the circumstances. Spike lead Buffy downstairs and towards the kitchen. He knew she was hungry and automatically began to prepare something for her to eat.

"When did you learn to cut?" Buffy asked to soften the heavy silence that had fallen over them since this morning.

Spike smiled softly at her as he flipped a pancake over and answered," When you're my age, luv, you pick up a few things."

Buffy giggled slightly as Spike placed a plate with pancakes in front of her and began to cut them into pieces before feeding them to her.

"Now open up, slayer, you need to keep up your strength," Spike teased as he feed her and himself from the plate.

The light mood in the kitchen would do both of them good, he reasoned as he cleaned the dishes. He turned around when the slayer's eyes were beginning to bore a hole into his back. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at her before finishing the dishes. Today would be about pleasing his girl because he knew tonight there would be a hell of an argument over this entire situation. Until then, though, he would enjoy being in her company. In fact, he could almost forget that she didn't really love him if he didn't think too much about it.