Chapter 24

Willow, Xander, Spike, and Illyria all sat in the lobby and watched through the office window as Buffy paced in front of the desk and yelled at Angel and Giles. Dawn was upstairs helping the newly arrived Slayers get accustomed to their surroundings. They were waiting for Buffy to finish with Angel and Giles before she came out and started yelling at them. All of them were silent, contemplating whether they made the right decision on not telling Buffy themselves. It was Spike that broke the silence.

"Ten bucks and a pack of cigs says that Blondie goes into labor before she gets to us." He said.
"That's really not funny." Willow said. "If she goes into labor, that means all hell is going to break loose."

"Is he even trying to calm her down?" Xander asked.

"I think he's trying, but she's pissed." Spike said.

"Where's Connor and Faith?" Willow asked.

"They went to find the boy." Illyria said.
"What boy?" Spike asked.

"Elijah."

"What about my boyfriend?" Dawn asked behind them.

"You're still dating him?" Xander asked.

"Well, I'm not sure considering I haven't called him in over a week. I can't seem to find my cell phone."

"Men, who needs them anyway. You're better off on your own. Take some Dawn time to grow into yourself."

Dawn shook her head and looked in the office. "Damn, she's going to blow a gasket and go into labor."

"S'what I was saying." Spike said.

"I'm going in there."

"You should just..." Willow started.

Too late. Dawn opened the door and Buffy's angry voice floated out into the lobby. "I can't believe you would keep something like this from me! I'm the one trying to run this show, but apparently, I'm wrong."

"Buffy..." Angel said.

"No, Angel, you should know better. When things like this happen, I should be the first person you come to. Those are my girls out there. I'm supposed to be protecting them, but if the people I'm supposed to trust to tell me what's going on don't do just that, then I can't protect those girls. Now look at what's happened. We've lost almost the entire Slayer line, we have no idea where Shy is at, and Dawn's been dating the enemy."

"What?" Dawn asked.

Buffy didn't hear her. "You better damn well hope that Connor and Faith find him without anything happening to them. If he's working with Shy, that makes him even more dangerous than we thought. Who knows what all he's done to Dawn."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dawn yelled. "Elijah's not evil!" Angel and Buffy looked over at Dawn. "How could you even think such a thing? It's just because he's my boyfriend, isn't it? You don't like him because I do."

"Dawn, that's not it at all and you know it." Buffy walked over to Dawn and shut the door, blocking the hearing of the spectators in the lobby. "Sit down." She helped Dawn to sit in one of the chairs and then she scooted into a chair across from her. "You said it yourself that you didn't know what had come over you."

"I don't know why I said it..."

"Yes you do. You said it because you knew there was something wrong with you when you were with him."

Dawn shook her head and tried to hold back her tears. "I thought he was such a great guy."

"That's what he wanted you to believe." Angel said gently, coming over on Dawn's other side.

"You didn't noticed anything strange when you were with him?" Buffy asked.

"Not that I can think of." Dawn said. "He was so nice and gentle and..." She sighed. "And his kisses made me forget my problems." Dawn paused. "Wait."

"What?"

"His kisses."

"Ok, we don't need the poetry and the graphics..." Angel said.

"No! I really did forget my problems when I kissed him. I can't believe I never thought of it."

"You forgot things when he kissed you?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. I remember thinking about how worried I was that you had been in the hospital and I was even planning on coming to see you, but then he kissed me and... I forgot. All I wanted to do was be with him after that."

"It was the same when you came to the hospital, too?" Angel asked.

"What?"
"When you came to the hospital... You wanted nothing to do with any of us. Especially Buffy. You acted like such a..."
Dawn looked away and Buffy caught on. "Oh, Dawnie..."

"What?" Angel asked.

Buffy hugged her sister. "I'm not mad."

"You're not?" Dawn asked.

"What's going on?" Angel asked again.
"Angel, just... Could you give us a minute?" Buffy said.

"But..."

"Angel, please?" He nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him. Buffy turned back to Dawn. "I'm not mad."

"Just disappointed, right?"
"Well, only a little." Buffy sighed. "Dawn, I know what you're going through. Been there done that myself. And I won't let him hurt you. Hey, you're my Dawn. I jumped off a really high tower to save you, remember?"

"I'd like to forget."

"Well, then, just kiss Elijah." Dawn snorted. "Now listen, if Elijah IS working with Shy, Faith and Connor could be in trouble. Is there anything you can think of to help us find him quickly?"

"Like what?"
"Like where does he hang out? What does he do? We know that his apartment's been cleaned out and there aren't any records of him at the school."

Dawn looked away. "I don't... I don't know. Oh! Um, there's this really old theatre... The, um, the Los Angeles Theatre, I think it's called. He mentioned that he really liked it there."

Buffy nodded. "It's a start."

"Buffy... What if he is working with Shy? He knows everything I do. He could hurt you and the babies."

"Listen Dawn, I promise nothing is going to happen." Just then, Buffy let out a scream and grabbed her stomach.

"Buffy!" Dawn jumped to Buffy's side just as Angel ran in.

"What's going on?" He asked, grabbing Buffy to hold her up.

"I don't know!"

"No!" Buffy screamed as her legs gave out.

"Baby, talk to me. What's wrong?" Angel asked desperately. All he got was another scream. "That's it." He picked her up into his arms and rushed into the lobby.

"What's going on?" Spike asked.

"I don't know." Angel was having trouble holding Buffy. She was thrashing and grasping at her stomach. "We're going to the hospital."

"What about Connor and Faith?" Willow asked.

"Call them and let them know what's going on. Dawn..."

"I'm coming with you." Dawn said.

"Good. Let's go." As Angel rushed out, he noticed the newly arrived Slayers standing on the second floor landing. "Keep an eye on them." He called back before the doors shut.

An hour later, Willow, Xander, Spike, and Illyria in the guise of Fred ran into the hospital waiting room. They didn't see Angel anywhere, so they went to the nurse station. "Excuse me?" Willow said.

The nurse sitting at the computer looked up at them. "Hello. How can I help you?"

"What room is Buffy Summers in?"

"Summers?" The nurse typed on her keyboard for a minute. "Oh."

"What?"
"She's on the fourth floor. The maternity ward." The group started to head up there, but the nurse stopped them. "You can't see her. She's in a private room and only her husband is allowed in there. I'll call up there and see if they can get him."

Ten minutes later, the elevator doors opened and Angel walked out. Willow was the first to notice him. "Angel..."

"Where's Connor and Faith? And where's Giles?" Angel asked.

"They're still looking for Elijah. Giles is at the Hyperion with the Slayers. Where's Dawn?"

"She's in the waiting room upstairs." Angel looked around. "Come on." He led them into the elevator.

"What's going on?" Xander asked.

"She's in labor."

"What!"

"It's irregular though. Kind of like what happened before..."

"We remember." Willow said.

"They're prepping her for surgery right now. She has to have a C-section since Connor was one."

"Is she going to be ok?" Xander asked.

Angel looked down at the floor and shook his head. "I don't know. They said there's something wrong with her. In was in medical terms, but I didn't understand it."

"Now my question is: are WE going to be ok?"

"What?"

"Buffy's having those babies today. Doesn't that mean the Powers should be raining down hell?"

"In thoery."

"Maybe they don't know yet." Spike said. "It's possible this took them by surprise too and they're scrambling around trying to rally the troups." The elevator doors opened and everyone looked down the hall and out the window where it was raining fire. "Then again..."

"Oh God." Willow said.

"Angel!" Dawn ran up to him. "What's going on? It just started."
"Buffy's having those babies, that's what it is." Xander said as something incredibly large flew by the window. People around them in the hallways and in the rooms with windows facing the outside world began to panic. There was screaming and crying and loud shouts all around them. "That's not good."

Angel grabbed Spike. "Get out there. Find Faith and Connor. This thing's started and it's not going to stop."

"I'm going too." Xander said.

"No. You go to Giles and get the Slayers." Xander nodded and started to get in the elevator. "Take the stairs. You never know when the power could blow." Spike and Xander ran towards the stairs.

Illyria changed from Fred to her red leather clad self. "I will go with Spike." Then she disappeared.

"Willow, I want you here." Angel said.

"Aren't I needed..." Willow started.

"No. I need you here to protect Dawn."

"Oh, ok."

"Take Dawn into the waiting room and don't let her out of your sight. And try to get a hold of Connor and Faith. Let them know Spike's out there looking for them." With that, Angel headed back towards Buffy's room. The doctors were scrambling around frantically, trying to finish prepping Buffy for surgery. Buffy looked so tiny and helpless against the hospital sheets and medical equipment. She saw Angel and reached out her hand to him. He rushed over to her and grabbed her hand. "Hey."

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.

"You know what's wrong. But don't worry about it, ok? You just worry about getting those babies into this world safely."

"We've gotta move." One doctor said, pushing Buffy's bed towards the doorway.

Angel jumped out of the way, then rushed to follow them down the hall. The doctors and nurses stopped him, but he was persistant and they finally gave him some hospital scrubs. He quickly put them on over his clothes and ran into the room. They had thrown a sheet up, blocking Buffy's view of anything below her chest. She winced in pain, but the spinal tap they had administered earlier took the edge off of it. One of the nurses brought a stool up next to Buffy so Angel could sit down and hold her hand.

"Hey beautiful." He said quietly. "You're doing good." Buffy just gripped his hand and closed her eyes. Angel decided to see what they were doing, so he stood up and peeked over the curtain. One of the doctors was making an incision across her stomach. Just as he finished the building shook as if something large had smashed against it. Buffy's eyes grew wide and Angel gripped her hand. "Shh, it's ok. We're safe." He stroked her hair and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

"Daddy, here comes the first one." The doctor said.

Angel peeked over the curtain again and watched as the doctor brought out the first of the tiny babies. He sucked the fluid out of the baby's lungs and Angel's second son began to scream and cry. "It's a boy." Angel said to Buffy. "The first one's a boy!" A tear coursed down Buffy's cheek and she smiled. Angel watched as they cut the umbillical chord and whisked the baby off to be cleaned and put in intensive care since he was seven and a half weeks early. Then, the doctor reached in and pulled out the other twin. Once again, the doctor quickly cleaned out the baby's lungs and Angel's first daughter began to cry. "The other one's a girl!" Angel cried. "Baby..." Angel looked down to see that Buffy had closed her eyes and she was starting to look a little grey. "Baby?" Suddenly, chaos broke around him. The doctors began rushing around and two nurses pushed Angel out of the room. "What's going on? Buffy! What's happening?"

"Sir, you have to leave." One of the nurses said.

"What's wrong!"

"Wait out there." The nurses shoved him out of the room and locked the doors. All Angel could see through the small windows was the nurses and doctors rushing around Buffy frantically. One of the nurses came out and instructed Angel to wait in the waiting room. He started to protest, but she said there was nothing he could do, so he should go wait for the doctor.

Spike and Illyria made it outside and discovered the city had been taken over by fire and demons everywhere. The demons were attacking the humans that tried to run away and there were a few vampires out now that the sun had gone down. Xander had made it to his car and had barreled out of there towards the Hyperion. "Well, Blue, let's go. These people aren't going to save themselves." Spike said, throwing himself at a demon twice his size.

All around them, people screamed and ran. Some were bleeding from the neck, others were bruised and bloodied on various parts of their bodies. Spike had no clue where all the demons were coming from, but there were a lot of species he'd never seen before. One demon he took down was a teal color and had eyes on its fingers, a mouth where it's nose should have be, and weird, razor-sharp fins on each side of its head where its ears should have been. The next demon that he battled had tentacles instead of arms and legs. The thing beat Spike around for a while, but Illyria was suddenly there, ripping out the thing's heart.

They weren't even a block from the hospital when Connor's Mustang came screeching to a hault in front of them, knocking three vampires out of the way. Faith and Connor jumped out and got to work. "How's mom?" Connor called.

"Don't know!" Spike yelled back. "She was going in for surgery when we left."

"I gotta get up there!"

"Connor!" Spike called, but the kid took off.

"I hope Giles is having a better time than we are." Faith said.

Xander had run over countless demons and vampires on his way to the Hyperion. They were everywhere. He was gald he was driving a nice, big SUV and not a little sports car. He smashed into the garden through the gates and came to a screeching hault just before he hit the fountain. There were two demons in the garden headed for the back doors. Xander pulled his sword out of the back seat and jumped out. Instead of shooting off a witty comment, he decided to just slice and dice. They were tough, but he managed to get the best of them and he ran into the lobby.

Three Slayers barricaded the door while Giles and another Slayer hauled a large steel beam from the cage downstairs to put through the door's handles. There were a few dead demons and lots of piles of dust all over the place. The other two Slayers stood at the bottom of the stairs to the garden holding weapons at the ready. They almost took Xander's head off, but they stopped themselves just before either weapon could touch him. Ignoring them, Xander ran over to Giles.

"This is terrifying!" Giles said.

Xander took the end of the bar Giles was carrying and helped the Slayer guide it through the door. "Tell me about it. You should see it out there."

"Yes, well, I'd much rather not. It's bad enough in here."
"I can see that. Any other Slayers show up?"

"I'm afraid this is all that was left of them at the compound."

"But there're more out there, right?"

"I would assume. The ones who'd had training before they became Slayers were sent back to their homes to defend them. I can only hope they're faring well enough on their own."

"Well, if this is the big battle, it won't matter, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"If we defeat the Powers, won't that mean there won't be anymore evil? They won't need to be Slayers."

"It's a theory. A theory I'd like to test, but at this rate, it doesn't look like it's going to happen." Giles led the way back to the basement to get another steel bar for the other doors. "Kasey, please go around and check the other doors. Make sure they're locked tight and barricaded. Chelsea, go with her." Xander followed Giles to the basement. "How is Buffy?"

"She's in labor."

"I figured as much."

"Last I heard, she was headed for surgery to get the babies out."

"What about Angel?"

"He wasn't leaving her."

"No, he wouldn't. And Dawn and Willow?"

"They're at the hospital too. Willow's protecting Dawn and Spike and Illyria went out to find Connor and Faith."

"I only hope they're all ok."

Angel stood with Dawn and Willow in the waiting room. People were panicking all around them, but the three of them weren't paying any attention to any of it. They didn't know what was going on with Buffy, they had no clue if Connor and Faith were ok and if they'd found Elijah, and the fates of everyone else that mattered to them were unknown as well. Their cell phones were no use. The rain of fire had knocked them out. Things were looking really hopeless until Connor came running in.

"Where's mom?" He cried.

"She's in surgery." Angel said. "She's... I don't know. I don't know if she's ok."
"She's not." A voice said behind Connor just before he was sent through the windows across the room.

"Connor!" Angel cried.

"Elijah!" Dawn yelped.

"You should have just stayed with me Dawn." Elijah said. His features were changing. They were turning purple and starting to look like Shy's features. "It was the right side. I would have made you my queen. Now you're going to die just like your sister."

"What?"

Angel's face changed and he charged Elijah. Willow and Dawn rushed to the window to see if Connor was ok. He was bloody, but he was up and fighting his way back to the hospital entrance. Dawn looked over at Willow and the witch's eyes had turned completely white and her hands started to crackle with energy. She turned to face Elijah and there was Shy, completely restored with a new arm. Angel had pushed Elijah out of the way and had gone after Shy. Elijah got to his feet and glared at Dawn. He started towards her and Willow let a large, white fireball fly towards him. Elijah flew backwards through a wall, his arm on fire.

"Dawn, go to Buffy's room." Angel yelled. "Check on her."

Dawn nodded and ran out of the room. Elijah grabbed her ankle and she fell to the floor, slamming her chin on the tile floor. The impact split her lip and blood flowed freely down her chin. She let out a scream as she realized that her pants' leg had caught on fire from Elijah's arm. Willow was there suddenly, kicking Elijah in the face and knocking him away. Dawn slapped at her pants' leg and put out the fire and then jumped to her feet, wiped away the blood, and ran for Buffy's room. The doors were still locked, but she could see through the windows. To her dismay, Elijah had been right. They were covering her sister up with a sheet and the doctors were removing their gloves. Dawn let out an anguished scream and collapsed to her knees, sobbing.