"She's fine." Angel said into the phone. "The doctors are going to keep her here overnight, just to be sure." He looked at his wife asleep on the hospital bed. On the other side of her was a beeping machine that monitored her heartrate and the twins' heartrates. "Hey, has Dawn checked in with you?"
"We called and left her a message on her voice mail, but she hasn't called us back." Willow said.
"She hasn't shown up here either."
"Well, I'm sure she hasn't stopped caring about her sister."
"Has Connor gotten back from school yet?"
"Yeah. He was on his way over to the hospital about twenty minutes ago."
"Ok. Listen, Willow, I'm going to go. I don't want to wake Buffy up."
"Ok, Angel. Give her hugs and kisses from all of us."
"Bye." Angel hung up the phone and went back over to Buffy's side. He took her hand and gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb.
Connor walked in with Dawn behind him and Elijah trailing behind her. Angel motioned for them to be quiet and pointed out into the hallway. They filed back out and Angel shut the door. "Hey, is she gonna be ok?" Connor asked.
"She's got some bruising on her back and she was knocked around pretty good, so they want to keep her overnight to observe the twins."
"She's ok, though, right?"
"She's going to be fine." Angel looked at Dawn. "Haven't heard much from you lately."
"I've been busy." Dawn said. "So, if Buffy's ok, can I go?"
"Why did you even come if you didn't want to be here?"
"Connor came and dragged me here. I was headed to class."
"Don't you think that the twins and Buffy are a little more important than classes?"
Dawn rolled her eyes. "So, can I go?"
"Your sister might want to see you."
"She's asleep." Elijah said. "We'll come back when she's awake."
"You stay out of this." Connor said. "You're not family."
"Don't talk that way to him." Dawn said.
"What's he even doing here?" Angel asked.
"Dawn wouldn't come without him." Connor said.
"I thought maybe there'd be a chance you all had grown up and maybe you would give Elijah a chance, but I can see that you're all still being babies about it." Dawn said.
"How do you expect any of us to act when you move out in the middle of the night and then don't call us for weeks?" Angel said. "You seriously need to evaluate your outlook on life. I don't think we're the ones that need to grow up."
"I can't believe you'd say that to me!"
"And I can't believe that you would even think that you're grown up!"
"I am."
"Oh, because sneaking out in the middle of the night and not talking to anybody about it is so grown up."
"I knew how you guys would react, so I skipped the fireworks and went straight to MY happiness."
"Dawn, we could have come to an agreement, but you're the one that chose to leave."
"And it's not like it's all my fault that I don't talk to anybody. I don't hear one peep from any of you."
"Maybe that's because you never answer your calls or check your messages." Connor said.
"Oh please, I have caller ID and not one of your numbers has shown up."
"Did it ever occur to you that he could be erasing them?"
"Why would Elijah do that?"
"Why don't you ask him?"
Angel noticed the nurses noticing the commotion. "Dawn, take your new boyfriend and leave. Buffy doesn't need this stress."
"Fine!" Dawn turned and stormed away. Elijah glared at Connor and Angel for a minute and then turned and followed Dawn.
"Was it just me, or did you get the sense that he's not right?" Connor asked.
"I got that sense too." Angel said.
"Do you think mom's right? About him being a demon, I mean?"
"I don't know. But something's off."
"Angel?" Buffy called. Angel and Connor rushed into the room. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, baby. Connor and I were just talking." Angel said, kneeling down and taking his wife's hand. He pressed it to his chest and used his other hand to gently move her hair out of her face.
Buffy looked over at Connor. "Hey sweetie."
"Hey mom." Connor took Buffy's other hand.
"Boy, I'm getting the royal treatment. I've got my men taking care of me."
"Is there anything I can you? Are you thirsty?"
"A little."
"Anything specific?"
"Orange juice?"
"Coming right up." Connor left the room.
Buffy looked back at Angel. "He's such a good kid."
"He takes after his mother." Angel said. He smiled at her and kissed her gently. Then, he laid his head on her growing stomach and listened to the two heartbeats of his babies.
Buffy watched him carefully. She was still in awe that she was pregnant, but it completely blew her mind that she was having twins. She was so sure that she and Angel were not destined to be parents. She had been so sure that because they had failed so miserably at Connor, this chance would never have come again. She was determined to make it work this time. "Angel?"
"Hmm?" He asked, his head still laying no her stomach.
"I'm going to quit."
"What?"
"Being a Slayer. I'm going to quit." Angel looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "The others don't know it... Well, Giles does, but he's not telling anyone. But when these babies are born. That's it for me."
"Are you sure?"
"I've never been more sure. The way I see it... We failed so bad with Connor. He should be almost four years old right now. He should be a happy, healthy baby going to preschool soon. But this is our chance to make it work. This is our chance to raise these babies right. I'm not saying you have to quit. I don't want you to if you don't to, but there's plenty of Slayers out there who can take my place. My destiny lays with these babies now." She smiled. "I'm going to be a mommy."
Angel's eyes welled with tears as his heart took in her last sentence. "Yeah, baby, you are. And you're gonna be damn good at it."
"You think so?"
He laughed and kissed her stomach. "I know so." Angel lifted her shirt and massaged her stomach. "Daddy loves you guys. I can't wait to see you in another five months."
"I can't either." Buffy groaned. "God, I'm going to be bigger than the Hyperion."
"But you'll be overwhelmingly beautiful."
"Oh my God! You just agreed that I'm going to be huge!"
"But beautiful." Angel laughed until Buffy punched him in the shoulder. "Ow."
"Wimp." Connor said, walking back in. He handed Buffy her tall glass of orange juice.
"Ah, sweet, yummy juice of life." She sipped at it and then squinched her face up. "But a fully concentrated life."
"Sorry, they didn't have any with pulp in it. I promise, before you come home tomorrow, the refridgerator will be stocked with plenty of orange juice and yummy Ben and Jerry's in all flavors of the spectrum that you can mix to your stomach's content. Baskin Robins will be suing you for outdoing their 32 flavors."
Buffy laughed and then got deadly serious. "Boy, you better not be joking. It could be fatal."
Connor looked momentarily frightened. Angel laughed and ruffled Connor's hair. "Ask Willow to go shopping with you."
Connor breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, what about the nursery? We were supposed to paint that today."
"Doesn't look like it now." Buffy said. "We've got five months. No big."
"It looks like my pregnant mom."
"Even sounds like her." Angel said.
"But she's not blowing up over no spilled paint."
"Be careful." Buffy said. "I still could." Then she added pointedly, "Especially if there isn't Ben and Jerry's in the fridge when I get home."
Dawn was worried about Buffy, but she couldn't figure out why she didn't care like she should. Her neices and/or nephews could have died, but she had acted so stupidly. Maybe she should go back and say sorry. Maybe she should go check on her sister. As soon as class let out that's what Dawn was going to do. She was going to go see her sister in the hospital. She was going to buy her sister two teddy bears, one blue, one pink, and lots of balloons and surprise her at the hospital. Sure, she didn't regret her decision to move out. She was loving her new found freedom, but Dawn loved her family and missed them. She couldn't understand why they hadn't called her. According to Connor and Angel, they had tried numerous times, but she had never received one.
Dawn was a smart girl. She knew something was off about Elijah, but then again, all guys were off in her world in some way. Angel was a vampire with a soul. Spike was a vampire that used to be evil, but got a chip and then a soul and now he fights the good fight. Xander... well, he was Xander. Enough said. Her father was a lame absentee prick. Shall I continue? So she figured, if there was something off about Elijah, then everything was normal. She seemed to love him and that's all that mattered.
The bell rang and Dawn jumped up from her chair. She headed out towards the parking lot and towards the mini-Coup Angel and Buffy had gotten her for her last birthday. Elijah was there waiting for her.
"Hey." He said smoothly.
"Hey yourself. I thought you didn't have any classes today." Dawn said, putting her books in the passenger seat.
"I don't. Doesn't mean I can't come see my girlfriend." He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "Have anything planned this afternoon?"
"Uh, yeah. Actually, I was going to head over to the library and start on this project for chemistry." Dawn lied, heading for the driver's side.
"Need any help?"
"Oh, no. I'm fine. I'll see you at home." Dawn kissed Elijah gently on the lips.
"Are you sure?"
Dawn completely forgot what she had been planning. "You know what? I can skip whatever it was I was doing."
"Want to go for lunch?"
Dawn smiled. "Sure."
"Welcome home, Buff!" Xander said as Angel shut the door behind him and Buffy. "How are you?"
"Decent." Buffy said. She had been released just this morning and she was so glad to be home.
"Everything ok with the twins?" Willow asked.
"Peachy with a side of keen."
"Well, I was thinking…. If it's ok with you and Angel…. Maybe you and I could go shopping for the babies….. And you."
"Why me?"
"Buffy, you're not going to be able to fit in your clothes once you get bigger."
"You're busting out of your pants as it is." Xander said. Buffy glared at him. "Not saying it's a bad thing." He patted her stomach. "It's a very good thing."
"You need maternity clothes."
"But they're all…. Pink…. And frilly. And people think your stomach is an open buffet to touch and coo at." Buffy said. "Can't we just…. Go online and shop?"
"By the time they get here, you'll be fitting into Angel's pants."
"I'm not fat!" Angel said. He realized the error of his words when Buffy delivered him a swift, hard punch to his sternum. "I didn't mean you." He wheezed.
"Come on Buffy. You still haven't bought cribs or changing stations or anything. The only thing you've bought is purple paint."
Buffy groaned. "All right. Can I at least change?"