Chapter Fifty: Everyday I'm Learning
"Morning," Spike said, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself a mug of blood.
"Afternoon," Dawn corrected. She gestured to the clock. "I'm already home from school."
"Where's your sis?" Spike said, looking around for Buffy.
"She went out after I left for school," Dawn explained, not looking up from her homework.
"And where did she go?" Spike asked.
Dawn shrugged, "I don't know. I just found a note when I got home saying that she'd gone out but that she'd be home before dinner. Oh and we're in charge of dinner." She held up two menus, "Pizza or Chinese?"
"Chinese," Spike said. "Nothing better than a nice Chinese Slay.egg roll," He quickly covered.
Dawn rolled her eyes and ordered dinner for all of them. She knew what Spike was going to say. She'd read about how Spike had killed the Chinese Slayer.
"So where did you go last night?" Dawn asked. "I heard what time you got in."
"I stopped to check on the crypt," Spike explained. "And the cats."
"How are they?" Dawn asked eagerly.
"In the basement," Spike said.
"Really?" Dawn said. She hurried downstairs and returned with Fluffy, the female tabby cat, in her arms. "Does Buffy know?"
"No," Spike said. "Not yet. I'll wait until I make a profit off them."
"And ever if she does find out," Dawn said, scratching Fluffy under the chin. "How could she resist this face?"
Spike took the cat out of her arms, "Don't get attached. They're not pets, remember."
"Right," Dawn said. "They're dinner."
"They're worth a lot," Spike told her. "So just think of them as furry cash."
"Cute cash," dawn said, petting the cat. "And her kittens are going to be adorable."
"They're going to make us money," Spike corrected. "That's it." He tilted his head and handed Dawn Fluffy. "Take her down to the basement."
Dawn obeyed and was able to get the cat out of the kitchen before Buffy walked in
"Hey," Spike said. "Where were you?"
Buffy pulled some papers out of her purse and laid them on the island, "I was checking out some of the birthing centers that the doctor recommended." She handed Spike a sheet of paper. "I liked this one the best."
Spike quickly read through the information she had given him, "Looks good," He said.
"You didn't even read it," Buffy protested. "Oh well," She said. "I guess it doesn't matter."
"Why not?" Spike asked, suspiciously.
"Because," Buffy started to say but she was interrupted by the arrival of dinner along with Willow and Tara, who had been out shopping for their apartment.
Everyone sat down at the table and opened the different cartons of Chinese food.
"These are good," Willow said, taking a bite of an egg roll.
"It's a new place," Dawn explained. "So new that when I gave them our address they didn't recognize it."
"We have got to learn how to cook," Buffy said. "We can't live off take-out for the rest of our lives."
"Fine," Spike said "Learn how to cook."
"Me," Buffy protested. "Why should I have to?"
"You want Spike to be the one in charge of our meals?" Dawn pointed out.
Buffy thought about that for a minute, "Maybe," She said, an idea forming in her mind.
"I like the old days better," Spike said, grabbing a water chestnut from Buffy's plate. "We sat down to dinner and it was served."
"Right," Willow said. "By servants, underpaid and overworked."
"We paid them very well," Spike said. "Put a roof over their heads, took care of them."
"But you still had servants," Willow pointed out.
Spike didn't bother to explain that in his house servants had practically been a part of the family. His nanny had been more of a mother to him and the twins than his own had been and the housekeeper and cook had been like a grandmother and doting aunt to them.
"Well we don't have them," Buffy said. "So starting tomorrow each one of us is going to rotate being in charge of dinner. Breakfast and lunch are on your own since Dawn has school. Takeout can only be used in the event of an apocalypse."
"Or dinner burning," Dawn added.
"Or dinner burning," Buffy agreed.
"What made you decide this?" Willow asked.
Buffy gestured to her carton of Chinese food, "I'm sick of takeout. I'm sick of delivery boys knowing our address and it's getting too expensive and unhealthy to eat out all the time. With a baby coming we can't afford to." She looked around the table, daring anyone to argue with her.
"Whose turn is it tomorrow?" Dawn asked, practically.
"I'll start," Buffy said. "Since I don't want Spike to burn the house and you don't even want to try your own cooking experiments." Again no one argued with her since neither Spike nor Dawn wanted to be the first to be in charge of dinner.
"And I want it to be healthy," Buffy added. She looked at Spike, "We'll go grocery shopping tonight afterwards." She looked at Willow and Tara, "Are you guys doing anything tonight."
"No," Willow said. "We were just going to do some packing."
"We went shopping today and found a lot of furniture today," Tara said. "It's all being delivered so all we have to do is pack up and move in."
"While you're packing can you stay with Dawn?" Buffy asked. "Spike and I are going out tonight."
"What?" Dawn asked and Spike looked confused. This was the first that he had heard of it. "I can stay by myself," Dawn protested.
"No you can't," Buffy said. "It's too dangerous right now. Once this is settled than maybe."
"And by then you'll have gone from needing a sitter to actually being a sitter," Spike added.
"What?" Buffy asked. "She's not old enough to take care of a baby."
"Yes she bloody well is," Spike said. "Besides then we don't have to pay sitters."
"I'm not baby-sitting for free," Dawn protested.
"Roof over your head, meals, clothes, pretty sweet deal," Spike said.
Dawn look like she was about to protest but Buffy interrupted her before she could speak, "We'll discuss this later," She told Spike. "We have to leave soon." She stood up, grabbed her empty cartoon and took it to throw away.
"And where are we going?" Spike asked.
"I didn't tell you?" Buffy asked.
"No," Spike said. "What the bloody hell is going on?" He followed Buffy up and into her room. She was searching through her clothes, looking at first one outfit discarding one and considering another.
She turned and studied him, "I hope you own something different to wear, anything that doesn't look like it belongs at Woodstock."
"This isn't what I wore at Woodstock," Spike protested. "And no I don't have anything else." He'd gotten rid of the nancy boy clothes he had bought to try and impress Buffy a long time ago and gone back to his usual wear.
Buffy looked him up and down and sighed, "It'll have to do. I don't have time to take you shopping." She turned away from Spike and studied herself in the mirror. She was wearing black stretch pants and a flowered sundress that didn't hide her pregnancy but didn't conceal it either. She smoothed her dress over her stomach and said, "That's the best I can do." She looked and Spike and then at herself in the mirror. "We're going to look like a couple of teenagers who don't have a clue about what they're doing."
"You're right there," Spike said. "I don't have a bloody clue about what's going on so would you mind telling him."
"I though I told you," Buffy said.
"No, Spike said. "Now for the last time, what the bloody hell is going on here."
"We have our first class tonight," Buffy said.
"Class?" Spike asked.
"Right," Buffy said. "When I talked to the people at the birthing centers I only found one that would come to the house and deliver the baby here. So I decided on that one. They have requirements, though. And one of them is that all parents are required to take parenting classes. Our first class is tonight."
"What?" Spike exclaimed, shocked. "Parenting class?"
"Right," Buffy said. "And then we also have to take a CPR and first aid class along with Lamaze." Spike looked like he was about to protest so she continued, "It's a requirement. I had to sign us up or they wouldn't have agreed to let me have the baby at home." She glanced at the clock, "And we're going to be late." She hurried out of the room.
Spike followed her downstairs. Buffy called to Dawn, Tara and Willow that that would be back soon. They took Joyce's old car. Spike didn't mind driving it but at times like this he wished he had the DeSota back.
"Okay," Buffy said. "On the forms I had to fill out I left most yours blank. They'll want you to fill out the rest tonight."
Spike nodded and parked in front of the building. He really didn't want to be here but he had a feeling that if he said one word of protest he would wind up as a big pile of dust. He did have one opinion about the clinic she had chosen, "Looks a bit pricey. How do you plan on paying for this, luv?"
"Dawn and I are on my dad's insurance plan," Buffy explained. "His insurance will cover this. She just hoped he didn't look at the bills and realize that his insurance company was paying her pregnancy bills.
"Not for long," Spike muttered under his breath. As soon as the kittens started making a profit he'd be able to completely provide for his family.
He and Buffy walked into the clinic and found their way to a room that resembled a living room. Couches and chairs were arranged in a circle and coffee tables were in front of or next to them. There was also a TV and VCR in one corner. They weren't the first to arrive either. There were several other couples there, all different ages, although it looked like Buffy was the youngest mother and Spike appeared to be the youngest father there. The women were all in different stages of pregnancy. Some looked like they were about to give birth on the spot and others weren't even showing but the majority looked like they were about as far along as Buffy.
Spike and Buffy looked around and at each other. They had prevented several apocalypses, fought demons and vampires in their spare time, had faced a hell god and both of them had died. They could deal with their latest challenge: parenting class.
"Morning," Spike said, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself a mug of blood.
"Afternoon," Dawn corrected. She gestured to the clock. "I'm already home from school."
"Where's your sis?" Spike said, looking around for Buffy.
"She went out after I left for school," Dawn explained, not looking up from her homework.
"And where did she go?" Spike asked.
Dawn shrugged, "I don't know. I just found a note when I got home saying that she'd gone out but that she'd be home before dinner. Oh and we're in charge of dinner." She held up two menus, "Pizza or Chinese?"
"Chinese," Spike said. "Nothing better than a nice Chinese Slay.egg roll," He quickly covered.
Dawn rolled her eyes and ordered dinner for all of them. She knew what Spike was going to say. She'd read about how Spike had killed the Chinese Slayer.
"So where did you go last night?" Dawn asked. "I heard what time you got in."
"I stopped to check on the crypt," Spike explained. "And the cats."
"How are they?" Dawn asked eagerly.
"In the basement," Spike said.
"Really?" Dawn said. She hurried downstairs and returned with Fluffy, the female tabby cat, in her arms. "Does Buffy know?"
"No," Spike said. "Not yet. I'll wait until I make a profit off them."
"And ever if she does find out," Dawn said, scratching Fluffy under the chin. "How could she resist this face?"
Spike took the cat out of her arms, "Don't get attached. They're not pets, remember."
"Right," Dawn said. "They're dinner."
"They're worth a lot," Spike told her. "So just think of them as furry cash."
"Cute cash," dawn said, petting the cat. "And her kittens are going to be adorable."
"They're going to make us money," Spike corrected. "That's it." He tilted his head and handed Dawn Fluffy. "Take her down to the basement."
Dawn obeyed and was able to get the cat out of the kitchen before Buffy walked in
"Hey," Spike said. "Where were you?"
Buffy pulled some papers out of her purse and laid them on the island, "I was checking out some of the birthing centers that the doctor recommended." She handed Spike a sheet of paper. "I liked this one the best."
Spike quickly read through the information she had given him, "Looks good," He said.
"You didn't even read it," Buffy protested. "Oh well," She said. "I guess it doesn't matter."
"Why not?" Spike asked, suspiciously.
"Because," Buffy started to say but she was interrupted by the arrival of dinner along with Willow and Tara, who had been out shopping for their apartment.
Everyone sat down at the table and opened the different cartons of Chinese food.
"These are good," Willow said, taking a bite of an egg roll.
"It's a new place," Dawn explained. "So new that when I gave them our address they didn't recognize it."
"We have got to learn how to cook," Buffy said. "We can't live off take-out for the rest of our lives."
"Fine," Spike said "Learn how to cook."
"Me," Buffy protested. "Why should I have to?"
"You want Spike to be the one in charge of our meals?" Dawn pointed out.
Buffy thought about that for a minute, "Maybe," She said, an idea forming in her mind.
"I like the old days better," Spike said, grabbing a water chestnut from Buffy's plate. "We sat down to dinner and it was served."
"Right," Willow said. "By servants, underpaid and overworked."
"We paid them very well," Spike said. "Put a roof over their heads, took care of them."
"But you still had servants," Willow pointed out.
Spike didn't bother to explain that in his house servants had practically been a part of the family. His nanny had been more of a mother to him and the twins than his own had been and the housekeeper and cook had been like a grandmother and doting aunt to them.
"Well we don't have them," Buffy said. "So starting tomorrow each one of us is going to rotate being in charge of dinner. Breakfast and lunch are on your own since Dawn has school. Takeout can only be used in the event of an apocalypse."
"Or dinner burning," Dawn added.
"Or dinner burning," Buffy agreed.
"What made you decide this?" Willow asked.
Buffy gestured to her carton of Chinese food, "I'm sick of takeout. I'm sick of delivery boys knowing our address and it's getting too expensive and unhealthy to eat out all the time. With a baby coming we can't afford to." She looked around the table, daring anyone to argue with her.
"Whose turn is it tomorrow?" Dawn asked, practically.
"I'll start," Buffy said. "Since I don't want Spike to burn the house and you don't even want to try your own cooking experiments." Again no one argued with her since neither Spike nor Dawn wanted to be the first to be in charge of dinner.
"And I want it to be healthy," Buffy added. She looked at Spike, "We'll go grocery shopping tonight afterwards." She looked at Willow and Tara, "Are you guys doing anything tonight."
"No," Willow said. "We were just going to do some packing."
"We went shopping today and found a lot of furniture today," Tara said. "It's all being delivered so all we have to do is pack up and move in."
"While you're packing can you stay with Dawn?" Buffy asked. "Spike and I are going out tonight."
"What?" Dawn asked and Spike looked confused. This was the first that he had heard of it. "I can stay by myself," Dawn protested.
"No you can't," Buffy said. "It's too dangerous right now. Once this is settled than maybe."
"And by then you'll have gone from needing a sitter to actually being a sitter," Spike added.
"What?" Buffy asked. "She's not old enough to take care of a baby."
"Yes she bloody well is," Spike said. "Besides then we don't have to pay sitters."
"I'm not baby-sitting for free," Dawn protested.
"Roof over your head, meals, clothes, pretty sweet deal," Spike said.
Dawn look like she was about to protest but Buffy interrupted her before she could speak, "We'll discuss this later," She told Spike. "We have to leave soon." She stood up, grabbed her empty cartoon and took it to throw away.
"And where are we going?" Spike asked.
"I didn't tell you?" Buffy asked.
"No," Spike said. "What the bloody hell is going on?" He followed Buffy up and into her room. She was searching through her clothes, looking at first one outfit discarding one and considering another.
She turned and studied him, "I hope you own something different to wear, anything that doesn't look like it belongs at Woodstock."
"This isn't what I wore at Woodstock," Spike protested. "And no I don't have anything else." He'd gotten rid of the nancy boy clothes he had bought to try and impress Buffy a long time ago and gone back to his usual wear.
Buffy looked him up and down and sighed, "It'll have to do. I don't have time to take you shopping." She turned away from Spike and studied herself in the mirror. She was wearing black stretch pants and a flowered sundress that didn't hide her pregnancy but didn't conceal it either. She smoothed her dress over her stomach and said, "That's the best I can do." She looked and Spike and then at herself in the mirror. "We're going to look like a couple of teenagers who don't have a clue about what they're doing."
"You're right there," Spike said. "I don't have a bloody clue about what's going on so would you mind telling him."
"I though I told you," Buffy said.
"No, Spike said. "Now for the last time, what the bloody hell is going on here."
"We have our first class tonight," Buffy said.
"Class?" Spike asked.
"Right," Buffy said. "When I talked to the people at the birthing centers I only found one that would come to the house and deliver the baby here. So I decided on that one. They have requirements, though. And one of them is that all parents are required to take parenting classes. Our first class is tonight."
"What?" Spike exclaimed, shocked. "Parenting class?"
"Right," Buffy said. "And then we also have to take a CPR and first aid class along with Lamaze." Spike looked like he was about to protest so she continued, "It's a requirement. I had to sign us up or they wouldn't have agreed to let me have the baby at home." She glanced at the clock, "And we're going to be late." She hurried out of the room.
Spike followed her downstairs. Buffy called to Dawn, Tara and Willow that that would be back soon. They took Joyce's old car. Spike didn't mind driving it but at times like this he wished he had the DeSota back.
"Okay," Buffy said. "On the forms I had to fill out I left most yours blank. They'll want you to fill out the rest tonight."
Spike nodded and parked in front of the building. He really didn't want to be here but he had a feeling that if he said one word of protest he would wind up as a big pile of dust. He did have one opinion about the clinic she had chosen, "Looks a bit pricey. How do you plan on paying for this, luv?"
"Dawn and I are on my dad's insurance plan," Buffy explained. "His insurance will cover this. She just hoped he didn't look at the bills and realize that his insurance company was paying her pregnancy bills.
"Not for long," Spike muttered under his breath. As soon as the kittens started making a profit he'd be able to completely provide for his family.
He and Buffy walked into the clinic and found their way to a room that resembled a living room. Couches and chairs were arranged in a circle and coffee tables were in front of or next to them. There was also a TV and VCR in one corner. They weren't the first to arrive either. There were several other couples there, all different ages, although it looked like Buffy was the youngest mother and Spike appeared to be the youngest father there. The women were all in different stages of pregnancy. Some looked like they were about to give birth on the spot and others weren't even showing but the majority looked like they were about as far along as Buffy.
Spike and Buffy looked around and at each other. They had prevented several apocalypses, fought demons and vampires in their spare time, had faced a hell god and both of them had died. They could deal with their latest challenge: parenting class.