"That's it." Xander said.
"What?" Buffy asked. She was sprawled on the couch at her house with her head laid on the back of the sofa. She looked like death.
Xander had come to pick her up since Angel had taken Dawn and Connor to some seminar for their school, but when he had gotten there, he had found Buffy throwing up in her bathroom upstairs. "I'm taking you to the doctor."
"No, Xand, I'm fine. Really."
"You're not fine. I know you've been good at hiding this from Angel, which still baffles me, but for some reason I keep finding you with your head in a toilet. And I know that you're not working on your imitation of a thirsty Labrador.
"It's just the flu."
"Yeah, well, the last time you had the flu, you landed in the hospital."
"Because Angel put me there."
"I'm not arguing about this anymore." Xander walked over and lifted her off the couch in his arms.
"Xander!"
"No. Just be quiet. I'm taking you to the doctor."
"I just wanna find out what Willow's learned on that key."
"It can wait. The health of our lead Slayer is more important right now."
"And what about Shy?"
"Still nothing from him."
"It's been three weeks. That can't be good."
"Buffy…." Xander slid her into the passenger's seat of his car, strapped her in, and shut the door. He got in on his side and buckled up, starting the car. "We'll worry about that later. Right now, it's the hospital for you." He looked over at her to see that she'd fallen asleep already.
"Has anybody heard from Xander and Buffy?" Angel asked. It was 11:30 in the morning and they were both supposed to have been there over two hours ago.
"No. Their cell phones are turned off." Willow said.
"Is she at the house?" Spike asked.
"I tried there. No one's picking up."
"You don't think Shy made his move, do you?" Faith asked. "Wouldn't we have known about it?"
"I don't think he did." Willow said. "We would have known by now."
"Maybe they're stuck in traffic." Illyria piped up. They all looked at her.
It was Spike that explained. "I've been letting Big Blue watch movies. She's picking things up quick."
"Well, that's great, but I really don't think they're stuck in traffic." Angel said.
"Where's Connor and Dawn?" Willow asked.
"They had some classes to get to. They'll be here later."
"Maybe Buffy and Xander went with them."
"Why would they?"
Willow shrugged. "I don't know."
Angel sighed. "This is horrible."
"I'm sure they're fine." Spike said. "Buffy's a big girl. She can take care of herself and the Boy Wonder."
"Spike's right." Faith said. "Let's just wait a little longer before we kick the worry meter up a few thousand notches. I'm sure B's five by five."
"What? How?" Buffy asked.
"I'm sure I don't need to explain that to you." The doctor said.
"Not that part, but…. How?"
"Sorry, this is really big news for her." Xander said.
"Are you the father?" The doctor asked.
"No. I'm the uncle. Could you just…. Give us a few minutes?"
"Sure." The doctor nodded and left the room.
"This can't be happening." Buffy said. "This is…. No. It can't be."
"You heard what he said."
"Pregnant? Yeah, I got that. But I don't…. How? Is there another prophecy out there? Was Connor a fluke and this is the real deal?" Buffy paused. "No. Wait, that's wrong. Connor did kill Sahjahn."
"I don't know the how. But this is great!"
"How is this great? This is the worst timing ever!"
"Maybe this apocalypse won't go down with a big blow out like the last fourteen have." Buffy stared at Xander incredulously. "Ok, that didn't come out right."
"This officially puts me out of commission."
"No. No it doesn't. Does it?"
"Yeah! I can't fight Shy and be pregnant! The baby wouldn't make it."
"Connor did."
"I didn't fight any big demons like Shy while I was pregnant with Connor and also…. Connor was protected."
"Maybe this one is too. Maybe the Ancient Ones sent this one to you to for a job well done."
"But why now? Why not after this is all over?" Buffy buried her face in her hands.
Xander took Buffy's hands and made her look into his eyes…. Uh, eye. "To show you that there's still hope left. That we're going to find a way to bring them back and fix this crazy world."
"I can't tell Angel."
"Why not?"
"Well, I can't tell him right away. What if this baby isn't protected? What if I get into a fight with a normal vampire and one good blow kills him… her…. The baby? It would break his heart."
"At least you wouldn't be alone in your grief."
"I can't tell him. Not yet. Promise me you won't tell anyone."
"I promise. But you can only keep this secret so long. Eventually you're gonna get fat."
"Oh, that's real funny."
"That's my job."
"Hello everyone, we have finally arrived!" Xander announced as he and Buffy walked into the lobby of the Hyperion. There were a few Slayers standing around who looked over and then away. Buffy knew they were in trouble.
"Where have you two been?" Angel asked, walking up to them. "We were worried sick that something had happened to you two."
"We, uh….." Buffy started.
"We got hungry and Buff here just HAD to have some really good pizza, so we decided to head down to Pizza By The Pound. There was a long wait, but when a Slayer's hungry…. Am I right?" Xander asked, covering quite well.
"You went out for pizza on the other side of town?" Willow asked skeptically.
"Yeah. Wouldn't you if you had a huge hunkering for pizza?"
"At nine in the morning there was a wait?" Angel asked.
"We had to wait for it to open." Buffy said.
"And then it took you…." Angel looked at his watch. "Four hours to eat?"
"You didn't let me finish. Before we ate, we went window shopping. The Buffster here saw this great shirt she really wanted to buy, but the store wasn't open. So, after we ate at eleven, we went back to the store only to find out that the shirt was a maternity shirt." Xander noticed Buffy's eyes widen. "I told her she should buy it…. Just in case she ever needed it again any time soon, but…. She didn't want to waste her money."
"You went shopping?" Willow asked. "For maternity clothes?"
"It was an accident! Who puts maternity shirts in store windows of stores that aren't strictly maternity?"
"Why didn't you call?" Angel asked Buffy.
"We left our cell phones in the car." Buffy said. "So, what'd I miss? Did we find out anything more on the key thing?"
"Willow's been searching everywhere she can on the net, but the Powers have pretty much erased everything there is on these Ancient Ones." Angel and Buffy headed into the office.
Willow looked at Xander. "Pizza and shopping? You couldn't come up with anything better?"
"I was in a tight spot there. At least Angel bought it."
"That's because he's a little naive when it comes to Buffy's safety. Where were you two really?"
Xander made sure Buffy wasn't looking and then pulled Willow into the bathroom in the back. "Buffy's pregnant."
"What?"
"Shh! She told me not to tell anyone, especially Angel, but I'm like a gossipy little teeny bopper. I had to tell you. When I got to her house, she was throwing up in the bathroom. I carried her into the living room and set her down on the couch. The woman was like a rag doll. So, I got worried and took her to the hospital."
"That's where you two were all that time?"
"Yeah. The doctor told her she was pregnant."
"Oh my God! That's great."
"She doesn't think so."
"Why not?"
"She thinks that this baby is going to distract her from defeating Shy and the Powers."
"Oh. She's got a point there."
"I know, but I think that this is these Ancient guys are trying to show her that they're still here in some form and they're trying to give her hope."
"Oh, that's good."
"But whatever you do, do NOT tell Angel."
"Why?"
"Because she doesn't want him to know just yet. So if you tell him, she's gonna know that I told."
"And she'll kill you." Xander nodded and Willow gasped.
"What?"
"Why did you tell me?"
"What?"
"Why did you tell me? I'm horrible at keeping secrets."
"Put a binding spell on you or something."
"Xander."
"What?"
"Xander?" Buffy called.
"Uh oh." Xander walked out of the bathroom. "Yeah?"
"Where's Willow?"
"In the bathroom. She was showing me this cool... glowy trick, thing."
"Oh. Can you tell her that I want to talk to her when you guys are through?"
"Sure thing."
Buffy sat with Spike in the chapel at the graveyard a few miles from the Hyperion. Everyone had gone out on patrol and Buffy had asked Spike to stick with her because she had wanted to talk to him. When the groups had split up, Spike and Buffy had headed to the cemetery and the large mausoleum slash building that housed many dead people that were slid into the walls of the place and the big, beautiful chapel that the two of them sat in. "So, I was right then?" Spike asked.
"Yes. You were right." Buffy said.
"And why can't I tell Angel? Or anybody else for that matter?"
"Because if something happens to the baby, then... Then it won't hurt that many people."
Spike pulled her into a hug. "You're secret's safe with me, luv. No worries."
"Good."
"So, when are you due?"
"Eight months from yesterday."
"A July baby? Poor kid."
"Why?"
"It's bloody hot in July! Who wants to be miserable on their birthday?"
"Oh, well, that's just great Spike! Not only does the kid have to worry about fighting for its life before its even born, now it has to worry about miserable birthdays too." Buffy started to say something, but a crash outside the chapel interrupted her.
"Time to spring into action, then, eh?"
Angel came, literally, flying through the doors and landed at their feet. "Angel!" Buffy kneeled down and held his head. "What happened?"
"Shy…." Angel managed to groan.
"Shy?"
"He's here."
Buffy helped Angel to his feet just as Willow, Connor, Faith, Xander, and Dawn ran into the chapel. "Where are the other Slayers?"
"Out on patrol, I guess." Willow said. "Angel and I ran into Shy and started to run back here to find you. I called everyone to come back, but I guess the Slayers didn't get the message."
"Never mind all that. Where is he?" Spike asked. What was left of the doors to the chapel flew off their hinges and landed in the pews with a crash. "Oh, there he is."
Demons started to swarm in from behind Shy and attack the group. Shy seemed to ignore them and headed for Buffy. Everyone around Buffy was fighting, but Buffy was staring at Shy completely paralyzed to the spot, staring at Shy as he walked towards her. "The key, Slayer. I know you have it."
Buffy couldn't speak she was so scared. She couldn't bring herself to fight. The life of her child seemed to take on a whole new form of the fight or flight struggle within her and it practically collapsed towards flight. But Shy was so close now, that she couldn't get her legs to cooperate. "Buffy!" Angel yelled. He tried to get to her, but three demons knocked him down.
"Slayer, I don't have all day." Shy growled. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.
"No!" Spike yelled, but he couldn't break free from the demons he was fighting. Willow was too busy concentrating on keeping the demons around her away from her, she couldn't concentrate on Buffy and Shy, Faith and Connor were fighting off demons and vampires of their own, and Xander was holding his own too far away with a group of bloodsuckers and puss-demons. No one could get to her as she felt her lungs start to burn from the lack of oxygen. Buffy's fear for her baby was going to kill her.