Chapter Forty-Five: To See For Certain What I thought I Knew

This chapter wasn't supposed to be this long but I decided to give my readers a reward for all their nice reviews so I decided to combine two chapters into one. Happy Reading!

"Morning," Buffy said, coming into the kitchen. Cordelia, Connor and Dawn were all sitting at the island with plates of waffles and bacon in front of them.

"Hi," Cordelia said.

Buffy sat down next to them and helped herself to some breakfast. She looked around and noticed two missing vampires, "Where are Angel and Spike? They didn't stake each other, did they?"

"Surprisingly no," Cordelia said. "They were down here, fighting last night but no damage done. Angel's sleeping upstairs and Spike came downstairs and took some breakfast down to the basement."

"He's eating in the basement?" Buffy asked, confused.

"I don't think so," Dawn said. "He took some blood down with him so I don't think he wanted waffles."

"Wait a minute," Buffy said, alarmed. "Jonathan's still down there."

"I haven't heard any screams," Cordelia assured her. "I think he's still alive."

Buffy sighed, annoyed at Spike. If he scared Jonathan too badly then he'd be no use to them at all. She quickly finished her waffles and went downstairs. Jonathan was tied to a beam in the basement. He was surrounded by bits of waffle, syrup and bacon. Spike was sitting across from him, holding a plate of syrupy waffles and bacon. He was eyeing Jonathan like a bug trapped in a jar and was tossing food at him, just out of Jonathan's reach.

"Having fun?" Buffy asked, looking at the two of them.

"It's feeding time at the zoo," Spike explained. He threw the rest of the food at Jonathan, again just out of reach. Then he stood up and walked over to Buffy. "Dru and I once went to a zoo. It was bloody fun to watch animal food being thrown at the animals by little league wannabes. They'd throw it just so, and then the animal couldn't reach it. I would spend hours just watching them try to reach at this one bit." He gestured to Jonathan, "Thought I would try it with him." He raised his voice so Jonathan could hear, "Thought he'd like to see what it's like to have someone starving him."

"Leave him alone," Buffy said. "He's not going to help us if you starve him."

"What do you think you're going to get out of him?" Spike asked. "Thought that truth spell did that job already."

"We need him to forget everything," Buffy said. "If his gang discovers what we know then we're in even more danger."

"You forget that Dru told me everything," Spike pointed out.

"And you're going to make her think that you've forgotten that too, that all you know is what we've told you," Buffy said.

Spike nodded. He gestured to Jonathan, "So when do we let him go?"

"As soon as we give him a memory drug," Buffy said. "There's a drug available that will wipe this whole thing from his memory. That way Tara won't have to cast a spell involving mind altering and the chance of his memory being retrieved through magic is impossible."

"Sounds good," Spike said. "You can give him the drug, then I'll take him to a bar and we can make it look like he's jut been on a very long binge." At Buffy's look, he explained, "He was supposed to meet the cheerleader for a date. They'll think she turned him down and he decided to drown his sorrows."

"Think they'll buy it?" Buffy said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Spike asked.

Buffy had to admit that she didn't. She just hoped that they didn't find out where Jonathan really had been. That would only make things worse. She turned and started to go upstairs, Spike behind her. Buffy paused and called down to Jonathan that they'd send him some real food soon.

When they got upstairs they saw that Angel had joined the group in the kitchen. Spike eyed him but didn't say anything. They had come to what passed for a truce between them and no one would thank Spike for ruining it.

Buffy glanced at the clock, "Dawn, are you ready for school? Xander's going to be here any minute to pick you up."

Dawn nodded, "I'm ready."

"Okay," Buffy said. "And come right home after school. Don't stop for anything."

Dawn nodded and rolled her eyes.

"Listen to your sis, bit," Spike said. "There's a lot of nasties out there, just waiting to snatch up a tasty morsel like you."

"In broad daylight?" Dawn asked.

"Yes in broad daylight," Spike said.

Dawn sighed in exasperation but she went with Xander when he came to pick her up.

"Okay," Cordelia said, as she tried to feed Connor his bottle. "What do you guys plan to do with your friend in the basement?"

"Shut up, Spike," Buffy said before he could make some kind of Passions comment about friends in the basement. She looked at Cordelia and said, "You and Angel are going to stay here and keep an eye on Jonathan. Spike and I are going to the hospital to get that drug."

"Me?" Spike said. He gestured to the outside, "Wrong time of day to talk a stroll."

"You are perfectly capable of getting around during the day as you have proven many times. You'll just bring your blanket and everything will be fine. Besides," Buffy said. "I uh have a doctor's appointment this morning and they're going to do an ultrasound. I thought you'd want to come."

"Uh," Spike stammered. "Sure, I'll come."

"Good," Buffy said. "So lets go." She grabbed a large bottle of water and tossed Spike his blanket.

"What's with the water?" Spike asked. "Is that to put me out when I start smoking?"

"No," Buffy said, annoyed. "The doctor said that he wants me to have a full bladder when he does the ultrasound. It'll make things clearer."

Spike nodded and the two of them hurried out the door to the car. Spike drove the car as fast as he could and hurried to the hospital and inside. Fortunately there was no one in the lobby to see Spike run inside smoking.

"Let's get one thing straight," Spike said, beating out a small fire on his arm. "This kid had better be born at night."

"I'll try and arrange that," Buffy said, dryly. The receptionist had entered the room and was sitting at her desk. Buffy let her know that they were here and they were shown right into the doctor's office. The nurse quickly took Buffy's blood pressure, pulse and made a few notes on her chart. Then she left, leaving Buffy and Spike to wait.

"Nice place," Spike commented, looking around. "Reminds me of Captain Cardboard's old hangout."

"It's not that bad," Buffy said. Although she did secretly agree with him, she didn't like the sterile walls and everything seemed too bright and harsh. If the delivery room was anything like this then Buffy wasn't too sure that that was where she wanted her baby to be born.

"You okay luv?" Spike asked, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I'm fine. I just hate hospitals."

"Me too," Spike agreed. "Whole medical profession's a bloody joke."

"Glad to hear your opinion of me and my colleagues," said a voice.

Both Spike and Buffy jumped as the door fully opened and the doctor walked in. "Uh," Buffy stammered. "Ignore him. He."

The doctor waved his hand and smiled, "That's fine. I've been called worse by both my patients and their husbands. It's one of the hazards of being an OB." He glanced at Buffy's chart. "So, Buffy, how have you been feeling?"

"Better," Buffy said. "The morning sickness is pretty much gone."

"I thought it would," The doctor said. "I thought you might feel better once you stopped taking those herbs. What were you thinking taking them?"

"I was seeing a midwife and she said that they would help me feel better," Buffy said. She had explained that the last time she had seen the doctor and she didn't want to go over it again. She couldn't believe that she had been fooled by Sarah.

"Well you should tell that midwife what she had been doing," The doctor suggested. "She might do serious damage to other patients."

"Don't worry," Spike said. "I've spoken with her."

"Good," The doctor said. Then he turned his attention to Buffy. "Alright, how about we see what's going on."

Buffy sat down on the examining table and adjusted her clothes so that the doctor could squeeze the gel onto her stomach. "What are you doing?" Spike asked.

"We're going to listen to the baby's heartbeat," The doctor explained. "I don't have the equipment here for a full ultrasound so we're just going to listen to the heartbeat. Then I'll send you down to the lab to get some blood drawn and then to radiology for the ultrasound."

Buffy noticed Spike's interest in the lab and blood. She decided that she would get that done alone. Spike might decide to swipe a few test tubes while they were down there.

"Okay," The doctor said. "Let's see what we can hear." He slid the transmitter around on Buffy's stomach. "Right, there we go," He turned up the volume on the monitor and the room was filled with the sound of a fast heartbeat.

"Is that it?" Buffy asked.

"That's it," The doctor said.

Buffy didn't say anything. She just lay back and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of her baby's heartbeat. Spike watched her. He had heard the baby's heartbeat countless times and recently he had begun to hear it whenever the room was silent. As excited as he was about hearing the baby's heartbeat through the doctor's machine he was more excited about seeing the look on Buffy's face as she heard their child's heartbeat for the first time.

"Does it sound okay?" Spike asked.

"Everything's normal," The doctor explained. He missed the look Spike and Buffy shot each other. Buffy's pregnancy was far from normal but the doctor didn't need to know that. "I don't see any problems."

Buffy sat up, wiped the gel off her stomach, and asked, "So there's no problem?"

"Not that I can see," The doctor said. "Do you have any questions?"

"Uh yeah," Buffy said. "It's about when my baby is born. I don't want to have my baby in a hospital. That's why I decided to go with a midwife in the first place. Is there any way I can have my baby at home?"

"I don't know," The doctor said. "Since this is your first baby I would recommend you giving birth in a hospital setting but if you really don't want to go to a hospital I could give you the names of some good birthing centers."

"What about someone who could come to my house?" Buffy asked.

"There are a few people who could," The doctor said. "Some of these centers have people who will come to your house."

"Can they be trusted?" Spike asked.

"Yes," The doctor said. "These people are perfectly competent at what they do. I would have no problem sending you to one of them."

"We'll talk about it," Spike said. After what had happened with Sarah, he wasn't sure he wanted to trust someone else.

Buffy glanced at him but didn't say anything. She took the pamphlets about the birthing center the doctor gave her, thanked the doctor and they left.

"We'll talk about it?" Buffy said, once they were in the lobby. "No we're not talking about anything. I'm the one having this baby so I make the decision on how it's born. Got it?"

"Right," Spike said. "You and your mates were the ones who decided to go with Sarah. If you remember right I was the one who said we shouldn't use Sarah."

"We had no idea that she was Warren's girlfriend and helping him to kill us all." Buffy snapped. "Now I don't want have this baby in a hospital so home is the obvious answer. What are you so worried about anyway? You, Charles and Charlotte were all born at home, weren't you? Your mother had to have used a midwife and she was fine."

"She was lucky," Spike said. He looked at her, "Look Slayer.Buffy, I just want you two to be safe. I lost you once before. I'm bloody well not going to lose you again, either one of you."

"We'll be fine," Buffy said. "Nothing is going to happen to me or our baby. Now come on."

Buffy went down to the lab to have her blood dawn. She had forced Spike to wait in the lobby. He had wanted to come with her but she had held firm. She'd quickly had her blood drawn and collected Spike from the doctor's waiting room.

Spike had used the time while waiting for Buffy to get his hand on the drug they needed to wipe Jonathan's memory. It hadn't been too hard to do. He had gotten the keys to the supply cabinet, swiped the drug and been back in the waiting room by the time Buffy got back.

Then they went down to radiology for the ultrasound. They were taken right to the ultrasound room. Like she had in the doctor's office Buffy lay back on the table and adjusted her clothes. Spike sat down on the stool next to her and waited for the technician to begin.

The technician spread some gel on Buffy's stomach and began to move the transmitter around, trying to find the baby. Spike and Buffy watched the screen, eager for a glimpse of their baby. Then suddenly, something appeared on the screen.

"It that it?" Buffy asked.

"That's it," The technician said. "See, there's the head, back, arms, and leg," She pointed to each part as she mentioned it. She moved the transmitter, taking pictures as she did. She glanced at Spike and Buffy, "It looks like everything's fine. The baby looks to be in good health." She adjusted the transmitter and said, "Do you want to know the sex?"

"Uh," Buffy looked at Spike, "Do you want to know?"

"Is it accurate?" Spike asked.

'Well nothing is 100% sure," The technician said. "But this is one of the most accurate ways to determine the sex of your baby."

"I want to know," Buffy said.

"You do?" Spike asked.

"Yes," Buffy said. "If we know what we're having then it'll be easier to plan and I'm tired of calling this baby It. So we're finding out."

"Okay," Spike said. "I guess we are." He didn't mind. A part of him wanted to if the baby was going to be a boy or girl too.

The technician nodded and studied the screen, "Well you're in luck because it looks like the baby's in a perfect position to see."

"So what is it?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"Congratulations kids," The technician said. "You're having a healthy baby boy."