Chapter 4:
Buffy couldn't remember much of what had happened, but at some point Spike had convinced her to watch a marathon of Passions and she found herself as drawn into the plot as he was. In fact, the couple was so drawn in that, when the door opened and the Scooby Gang all walked in with take-out in tow, they barely registered the commotion. It wasn't until Tara audibly gasped that the pair turned their heads towards the crowd.
"Buffy, what the hell are you doing here with unliving dead here?"Xander spoke to break the silence the room had fallen under.
Anya smacked Xander on the shoulder and promptly said without missing a beat,"Isn't it obvious they were watching tv together."
Spike looked at Anya as if nonverbally agreeing with her astute measuring of the situation, but Buffy was more timid in her reaction and said," Maybe we should call Giles on speaker phone and then I can tell everyone at once."
"Tell us what, Buffy?"Willow asked as she looked between Buffy and Spike with an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Buffy shook her head and rushed over to the phone without answering her. Spike looked up as if he was tempted to follow her, but had decided against it at the last minute. There was no need to rile up the group even more by attempting to soothe Buffy's worries. He turned back to the television and began to watch Passions as if he had never been interrupted. He heard Buffy dial Giles number and begin to whisper urgently to his voice mail that she needed him here.
Tara, Dawn, and Anya promptly sat down on the sofa next to Spike. Willow and Xander took their bags of take-out and carried them to the kitchen to separate into individual orders. No one said much of anything until Buffy returned from her phone call, then chaos broke loose in the living room.
"Buffy, why are you wearing Spike and Tara's clothes and why is Spike anyway? Were you two patrolling and decided to become bosom buddies and share clothes," Willow couldn't help but voice her distress at the scene she had walked in on.
Xander quickly followed suit by saying,"Yeah, Buffster, what's with the funky get-up? I mean last night you come home giving Frankenstein's bride a run for her money and now...Well, what gives?"
Dawn and Tara remained silent, but still stared at Buffy in expectation of her reply. Spike looked around at the group as if they had all grown a second head. He couldn't believe he never noticed how much Buffy's so-called friends ridiculed her even when they were worried about her. Did they not see how much their teasing insults hurt her at times?
Anya broke the awkward silence that followed Xander and Willow's questions by stating,"Personally, it looks like Spike and Buffy were getting it on all day. Obviously he gave her such good orgasms that she cant comfortably wear her own clothes anymore."
Anya nodded as she looked between Spike and Buffy as if certain her assumption was the best one in the room. Buffy, however, found the truth behind her words oddly unsettling and suddenly felt faint. Spike noticed the sway in her body and jumped up to catch her before she hit the ground, much to Anya's delight.
"See!See? I was right," Anya shouted as Giles burst in the door to find the slayer unconcious in the arms of a vampire.
"Well it looks like we made it here just in time, eh Rip?" Wesley muttered more to himself than to his former watcher counterpart.
"Indeed,"Giles replied as he walked toward the blonde couple on the floor purposely ignoring the looks of shock on the Scooby Gang's face at his appearance.
"We need to get her to L.A. to see Lorne and a demonic obgyn," Wesley spoke softly to Spike and Giles as he sized up the Scooby Gang for the first time in a long time.
"Wh--I mean why--,"Willow tried to ask, but lost her voice at the words demonic obgyn.
"Look," Giles began,"Buffy is infected with a viral form of a demonic entity. It's effecting her otherwise supernatural pregnancy in monstrous ways and Wesley and I will be taking her and Spike to L.A. to determine the best means of going about this before the infection hurts her or her offspring."
"I don't understand--,"Xander began to ready himself up for another meaningless rant about what was going on around him.
"Look,"Tara whispered effeciently haulted Xander before he could really begin his sentence,"Buffy's stomach...it..it's.."
The entire room looked at Buffy to see she had woken up from the faint only to look at her stomach in pure shock. It was growing every so slightly, but enough for the casual observer to notice. The pain didn't begin until the growing had stopped.
"Ahh,"Buffy started to scream and thrash about as the pain seemed to spread from her insides before releasing itself from her pores.
It took Spike, Giles, and Wesley to hold the tormented slayer down long enough for Wesley to administer a stong pain killer. The pain instantly subsided, but it left Buffy drowsy and sufficently drained. Spike stood up with her in his arms and looked around at the room's occupants.
"Whatever's hurting her is bad,"he began in a calm, even tone of voice,"and it doesn't care that most of you lot don't want me near her. It doesn't care that slayers and vampires shouldn't have created what we have. It only cares about itself and I am not gonna let this thing take over the woman I love or our baby bit. Say what you want, but we're going where someone cares."
With that being said, Spike looked at the pair of former watchers for further orders. His eyes were brimmed with strong emotions for the strong, young woman he held in his arms and he dared anyone to try and take her from him.
"Can Tara and Dawn come with me?"Buffy asked softly to no one in particular and after a small pause,"and Willow because I'd feel better with the strong magicks and my sister."
Spike looked down at her small request. It amazed him that in spite of everything she had been through, she still was calm about this. She could have been denying everything that he had admitted to her friends, but she accepted it. Maybe she could love him if she allowed her friends to know that he loved her? Maybe she could come to accept him in her and the baby bit's life if everything turned out well?
"Of course they can,"Giles acknowledged softly," I was about to suggest the same thing. Xander, Anya, and myself will stay here in Sunnydale in Buffy's absence."