TITLE: Destiny's Child
AUTHOR: sugarwater
E-MAIL: DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, all bow down to the mighty Joss
TIMELINE: Begins mid Season 2
SPOILERS: Probably just about everything
SYNOPSIS: B/A! The Powers That Be have a surprise in store for Buffy and Angel. Btvs re-write – Angel doesn't leave. Whole lot of Fluff and little bit of Angst.
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, if you want it, take it, just let me know!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Very very long epic type story, Chapter 2 picks up from the end of 'Killed By Death'
FEEDBACK: Craved, oh please, please, please, REVIEW! Constructive crit very welcome
RATING: T
It had been a week since the incident with Angel and Miss Calendar and Buffy's life hadn't been getting any easier. Giles was distant and had spent hours at Jenny's bedside, there had been no slayer – watcher training sessions and to top it off she had gotten sick and ended up in hospital. The one positive thing to come out of her recent illness was finding and slaying the demon that had been killing children with the same virus as her.

Buffy brought herself to her feet and looked down at the dead demon before her. She could imagine how terrifying it must have been for her cousin and all the other kids who were killed by this guy.

Xander approached her slowly and looked down in the direction that Buffy was staring in before looking up at her. "Are you ok?" he asked tentatively.

Buffy turned to face him with a smile on her face. "Actually? I think I'm starting to feel better". As the slayer stepped forward her knees buckled underneath her sending her right into the arms of Xander who caught her before she fell.

With her friend supporting her they made their way to the stairs. "He's dead right? I mean I heard something snap" Xander asked nervously.

"That would be his neck" Buffy explained.

"You're not gonna yack on me are ya?" Xander worriedly enquired.

"Sorry Xand, I don't make promises I can't keep" Buffy jokingly replied.

Once they had returned the children to their own ward, they made their way back to Buffy's room where the doctor was waiting for her. "Buffy I have had my security guards looking all over for you after that episode in the hall" the doctor said sternly.

"Oh, About that, I'm real sorry, it must have been the fever I was totally out of it. I just really wanted to go get some air…which I think has done me the world of good, I'm totally ready to go home now" Buffy said as convincingly and charmingly as possible.

"Well, I guess so, but first I need to talk to you about your test results…alone" she eyed Xander as she spoke.

"Sure, I'm just gonna go call Giles. I'll be back in 10 minutes" Xander said as he left the room.

The doctor walked over to the door and shut it before turning around to Buffy who was sitting on the bed. "Buffy when you came in here we took a blood sample from you. It's routine that we check this for various things." She began.

Buffy noticed the note of concern in her voice and sensed that this was something important. "What, what did you find? What's wrong with me?" Buffy asked distraughtly.

"Nothings wrong…but…Buffy, you're pregnant." The doctor said calmly. "I assumed you didn't know since you never mentioned it to us"

Buffy stared at the wall numbly. She could barely take in what was being said to her. That word was just echoing in her mind, repeating over and over while she tried to process it. Images of the night her and Angel had made love filled her mind as it sunk in. Tears began forming in her eyes as she was suddenly brought back into the room and heard what the doctor was saying.

"Buffy? Are you ok?" the doctor asked with a concerned look on her face.

"No, I mean yeah. I'm ok. I think. But no, I didn't know…." She trailed off once again looking at the wall as her vision blurred and the tears glazed over her eyes.

"Well you should decide as soon as possible what you want to do and then get in touch with us. We can book you in for an appointment" The doctor said as she left the room.

This was impossible. She couldn't be. She had only ever been with Angel and he couldn't have children, he had told her so himself. But it had to be his, it couldn't be anyone else's. What was she going to do? She was the slayer, she wasn't supposed to have children, let alone with a vampire. This was too much. How was she going to tell her mother?

Xander entered the room again and interrupted Buffy's train of thought. "Well Giles says good work, Cordy said eww a couple of times and Willow says get well soon. What did your doctor have to say, anything important?" Xander enquired noticing the redness of her eyes.

Buffy instantly pushed all her thoughts to the back of her mind and smiled up at him. "Oh no it was nothing. I'm just peachy"

"Great! So can I take the Buffster home now?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yup. Can't wait to get out of this place" Buffy replied honestly.

"OH, oh oh and another bag of cheesy chips!" Xander shouted to Buffy's mom as she was about to leave the room.

Buffy had been back from the hospital for two days now and she was recovering fast. The three friends had been lying on Buffy's bed all day watching TV while Joyce brought them juice and snacks. On hearing Xander's last request she turned around and raised her eyebrow.

"Uhh, you ate the last one" she replied matter-of-factly.

Xander shook his head and tossed the empty bag aside "No, there's another bag hidden behind the raisins."

Joyce sighed inwardly, defeated. "Im on it" she replied with a feigned a smile and left the room.

Xander turned to Buffy and looked insulted "Your mom's tryin' to Bogart the cheesy chips. What's that all about?"

Buffy merely smiled at the amusing exchange between her mother and her best friend. Joyce suddenly returned to the room taking an envelope out of her pocket.

"Oh, Buffy, here. Um, this came in the mail." She said, handing the letter to her daughter.

Buffy flipped it over and read the address on the back smiling "It's from Ryan."

"The boy from the hospital?" her mother queried.

Buffy took out the paper inside and unfolded it. She has holding a picture of herself standing on top of Der Kindestod, its neck split open and blood pouring out.

Joyce smiled "Oh, he drew you a picture….How…nice" she said unconvincingly as she noted the gory detail of the drawing.

"If you're trying to stall me with the chips I won't forget" Xander said smiling.

Joyce walked towards the door once more "Ok, Ok, Coming right up"

"So have you heard from Giles today?" Willow asked her friend.

"He gave me a quick call earlier to see how I was" Buffy said looking troubled.

"How did he sound? Is he holding up?" Willow asked honestly.

"I think so. He's still visiting Miss Calendar on a daily basis." Buffy picked up her juice and sipped it as her thoughts were brought back to the realisation of what she had to do once she was feeling better.

"There's still no change huh" Xander asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, none at all. The chances of her waking up are getting slimmer by the day" Buffy told him, suddenly feeling extremely guilty for what she had failed to stop Angel from doing.

"Poor Giles, I know he's trying to keep happy for us but he's not. It must be eating him up inside. I think he's getting his hopes up that she'll recover" Willow said sadly.

"Well sometimes miracles can happen. We don't know for sure that she won't wake up. She still has a chance even if it is a small one" Buffy said reassuringly while smiling at Willow.

"Where has your mom got to with those cheesy chips!" Xander asked incredulously.

"Is it possible for you to think of something other than your stomach right now?" Buffy mockingly chastised.

"Hey, you want to talk to me? I just need my fuel first" Xander said as he got off the bed and walked out the door.

"Oh and see about my refill while you're at it!" Willow called to him.

The red head turned to her friend who was staring into space. She had been doing a lot of that lately and it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"So, Giles aside, what's up with you?" Willow asked genuinely hoping for a real answer.

Buffy turned to look at her friend and tried to look puzzled. "Huh? Me? Nothings up with me. I'm great. I'm chilling out watching TV with my two best friends and I don't have to go to school…these are good times, Will". Buffy was trying her best to reassure her friend but when it came to Willow she could always tell when Buffy was lying.

"Are you sure? Cos you've been acting really…distant, lately. Is there anything on your mind? Is it Angel?" Willow enquired further.

Buffy desperately wanted to tell her, she hated lying to Willow, but she just couldn't share this info right now. She hadn't really admitted it to herself yet and didn't have a clue how she was going to admit it to her mother.

"No, I'm fine. I know what I have to do." Buffy smiled warmly at Willow hoping that she would believe her. "I'm just still a little bit phased by this whole Miss Calendar thing and I'm still feeling a bit icky is all"

Right now telling her friends about this wasn't an option. There were still so many questions she had to find the answers to. How was this possible? How could a vampire have children? Technically he was dead so what was going on? Was it something mystical? Or prophetic? The only person who could help her with that question would be Giles, but he was probably the last person she could imagine taking it well. He was like a father to her and she wouldn't want to disappoint him. With everything else that was going on she just couldn't face this. And he had too much going on in his life to be bothered by her problems. This could wait. She figured she had a while before she would have to tell people. First she had to sort out Angel. Then she would concentrate on the baby. Besides, right now she really couldn't deal with other people knowing. She needed time to get used to the idea herself.

Willow was enjoying acting as substitute teacher. Her fears about the class not recognising her authority had been unfounded. They all seemed to respect her and enjoy her lessons.
"So, for next time read the chapters on information grouping and binary coding." She said walking along the front of the classroom.

Giles looked in from the hallway at the class and observed quietly.

"I bet you'll think coding is pretty cool. I mean, if you find two-digit, multi-stacked conversions and primary number clusters a big hoot." She joked.

The students all laughed and Willow beamed at her success. The bell rang and the class began to file out. As Willow watched them go she noticed Giles standing in the doorway.

"Giles! I made them laugh, did you hear? I did the joke thing!" she gushed.

"Yes, yes, so it seems. I-I mean, um, uh, you did indeed. Good, good, good show. I-I-I just stopped by to, to see if you needed any assistance, but you seem to have things quite under control." He stammered sitting on the desk and smiling at Willow.

"Well, I had good lesson plans. Ms. Calendar had them on her computer." Willow told him gently.

"Yes, yes, she's very, um... uh, dedicated." Giles said, his voice portraying the pain he was feeling.

Willow tried to change the subject "And I found a bunch of files and Internet sites on paganism and magic and stuff." She smiled at him brightly.

"Oh?" Giles said.

"Yes, it's really interesting." Willow continued.

Giles looked down away from her, his mind clearly still on Miss Calendar. Willow reached into a drawer in the desk and pulled out a light pink quartz stone.

"And, uh, I found this in her drawer. She told me it was a rose quartz. And it has healing powers." Willow told him as he stared at the stone intently.

"I thought maybe you could take it to her, it might help" Willow said kindly.

Giles got up from the desk and slowly took the necklace from her.

"Oh, thank you, Willow, that's, um... that's very thoughtful of you."
With that he left the classroom leaving a worried Willow to watch him as he walked slowly away.