AN: Yes, I'm still alive. Just horrible at writing fan-fictions lately. Almost a year since my last update. Just can't seem to get back into the swing of it, despite having more stories for this saga.
September 2009
Eight months into her nine month sentence and Buffy felt like a whale. No, maybe not a whale, those were graceful in the water...something more lumbering...like a cow! Yes a cow, a pregnant cow, a cow pregnant with five or six calves. She certainly felt like she had the three stomachs for it the way she's been eating lately. She ran her fingers over her swollen stomach, groaning slightly at how wide she was. "I love you, but I also can't wait for you to get the hell out of me... not that the agony of labor is an all to alluring prospect..." Tearing her hazel green eyes off the mound of blubber surrounding her midsection, she scanned the room for her spouse. "Now where the hell did your daddy go? He promised to rub my feet." Deciding she had enough of waiting, Buffy struggle to her aching feet, heavily using the chair armrest and waddled to the office door to go find her missing husband, grumbling. "I swear, I spend more time looking for Angel than anything else I do in my life."
She'd only taking about five or six steps when she felt the pain flair in her lower abdomen. "Oh gees, that wasn't a contraction...so what the hell was it?"
20 minutes later, the slayer was sitting up on the cold light blue vinyl exam chair in Cassidy's office, swing her legs and nervously crinkling the crappy paper dress she was wearing. " That wasn't a labor pain, was it?" Buffy asked, already knowing it felt like nothing she'd experienced with either Katie or Liam.
The redheaded medic pulled the damp rubber gloves off her hands, folded them up into themselves and shot them into the trashcan beside her. "Unfortunately, no. No it was not." Cassidy pointed to a grainy, blurry, mix of gray colors on the sonogram print out as she explained, "This line here is your uterine wall, and this over here is your placenta. The problem is this little section here in between, has a gap." Fear exploded though Buffy's gut as she automatically clutched her bump, "My baby..."
Cassidy cut off the panicking mother, "Your baby is perfectly fine, this isn't life-threatening to her at all, at least as long as it stays like this and doesn't get any worse."
Buffy didn't feel the relief she thought she would, "How do I keep it from getting worse?"
Cassidy frowned, "That's the part your probably not going to like."
...
Several weeks later - Summer's home, late in the evening
"I'm so done with this."
Angel put down the book he'd been reading and eyed his wife, who was fidgeting for a comfy spot in the bed beside him. "Done with what?" He asked, figuring he might as well get the ball rolling on whatever was bugging his spouse, as it would come out eventually and he'd rather it be now than later when he'd be trying to sleep.
"This." Buffy replied, playing at shoving her nine month swollen stomach away. "So done with being fat and tired and hungry and moody and achy...and probably another hundred things I don't feel like thinking about at the moment. I want my body back..." Adding after a brief pause before he could answer, "And if you tell me I'm not fat, I'll punch you in the neck."
Those exact words died on his tongue as he tried to think of something else that hopefully wouldn't land him out in the tree house for the night, finally settling on, "Umm...I love you?"
Fortunately she wasn't really listening to his reply as she mumbled to herself, going over the top ten 'How to induce labor naturally' list she'd looked up earlier that day. Setting on a course of action, she scooted off the bed, pulled on her robe and waddled to the door, "Be right back."
Angel sat there wondering if he should follow, but instead picked his book back up, figuring he'd let her have a little more 'me' time before the baby arrived.
About ten minutes later, she reappeared, tugging off her robe and carefully maneuvering back under the covers.
A daintily little burp filled the air around his sensitive nose with a sharp and spicy scent.
"Sorry, just ate a jar of hot peppers. I'm sending a message to this little freeloader that the eviction is imminent."
"Right," Angel replied, doubting that would actually work.
Not three minutes passed before Buffy began to fidget again, "Damn, it isn't working."
The semi-demon beside her shook his head, "Even if it does, I'm positive you wouldn't see instant results."
With a pout, she tried to remember some of the other tricks to induce labor.
'Sex.' She thought dejectedly, 'Sex can induce labor...and of course that had to be taken off the menu a whole month ago!'
Angel had gone back to reading his book, but the sex idea wasn't exactly leaving her brain willingly.
'Well...maybe Cassidy was being over-cautious... I bet we can do some things...' She shifted in bed, thinking of the mist of pent up sexual tension that had hung between them over the last several weeks.
Deciding to go for it, she leaned over, pushing his book off his lap and replacing it with herself as she honed in on his mouth.
'What the...' Angel thought as he was suddenly invaded.
Not that he wasn't enjoying the burst of affection, but this couldn't lead to anything good in their current situation. "Buffy." He gently pulled back, breaking the kiss, "You know we can't."
"No, we can't use my lower half, but my mouth is just fine." She illustrated the point by leaning back into him and resuming their kiss.
He wondered briefly how much of her mouth she was intending to use, as after weeks of hanging by the side lines, his balls felt pretty blue and his dick was getting overly excited from just a little lip action.
"Well, looks like I've successfully woken something up." Buffy teased as she felt him hardening against her.
"You have, although I'm still not sure I understand why." He sat back against the headboard and looked at his wife, "Cassidy made it very clear Buffy, we can't make love without the risk of tearing more of the placenta from your uterus. You could start bleeding..."
Yes, they wanted sex and not much could usually deter them, but risking their unborn child's life was one of them.
"Sex isn't limited to penis into vagina you know, there are other options." The hormonal slayer remarked, hands roaming over his chest.
He was well aware of that, and they'd had plenty of experiences exploring some of those over the years.
"Buffy, all our options are limited if you aren't supposed to have orgasms." He stated, as when it came to being with her, orgasm was the ultimate goal. Without it, he didn't feel like he'd done his job as a man. When Cassidy had used that phrase specifically 'no orgasms' it had felt like a punch to the solar plexus.
Frowning at him, "I really didn't think you'd be telling me no." In fact, she'd thought he'd jump at the chance for a little lovemaking, she figured he had to be just as hungry for sex as she was, if not more.
Sighing, he cupped her cheek when she tried to move away, "I'm not saying no, I just don't want to put either you or the baby at risk...nor do I want my own pleasure to come if yours can't." He leaned in and kissed her deeply, "Besides, your arousal is what usually drives mine, without it, it isn't the same."
Leaning against him, she went for his mouth again, after a few moments she smirked as his growl. It went without saying she was letting the aroused out of the barn and his demon nose was now sensing it.
He hadn't lost the earlier firmness in his pants, in fact, they were getting very uncomfortably tight.
Freeing him, she teased his length with her fingers, bringing another growl from him, the kind that made her nipples harden from the vibration.
Wanting a little attention herself, she quickly lifted her arms and brought her shirt up over her head, "My turn." She proclaimed, sliding onto his lap and plunging her cleavage into his face.
He took the offer, his tongue and left hand taking over her nipples as she stroked him with her free hands.
"Oh!" She gasped not long into the tit-tease, and not in the 'this feels great' sense.
"Buffy?" He questioned when he heard the tenseness of her gasp, looking up at her and noticing her slight flinch, "These sore?"
Leaning back away from his hands, Buffy sighed, pulling her swollen breasts away from him, "Yeah, more so that I realized."
"Maybe we shouldn't do this then..." He hesitated, now even more at a loss on how to make love to his wife when all the doors were closing on him.
Taking his hand and guiding it between her legs, she told him, "Pretend it's a fight, when a new line of defense arises, switch tactics."
His fingers activated then, brushing the tender skin as he leaned close and ran his mouth along her neck, nibbling along her throat and up to her ears. The rings great for nibbling.
Her right hand still grasped him under the covers, coaxing him along as she felt herself building from his touches.
When she felt herself close, his ministrations focused on her 'yes!' point and drove her over the edge.
Shuttering, she gasped his name as she rode the sensation, most of it pleasant, a small tiny stab of uncomfortable echoed in her lower abdomen as the orgasm swept though her. 'Okay, so maybe Cass wasn't exaggerating when she advised against orgasms.'
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Angel asked worried, breathing heavy himself but having been thrown off his groove when he noticed something cross her face that wasn't total pleasure.
The goal wasn't to discourage him, but she wasn't about to lie about it either.
"No, it didn't exactly hurt...but to be on the safe side, let's not do that again." She admitted, glad she'd had at least a little taste of her lover's intimate touch, but also sad she wouldn't likely get any more until after the baby was born. Even the best orgasm wasn't worth risking their child's health and safety.
Nodding, he moved back, trying to reel in his desire now that it wasn't going any further.
"Hey." She stopped his retreat, "I said no more orgasms for me. I never said I was done with you."
With that said, she leaned down and drew him into her mouth and quickly resurrected his sagging interest.
Angel's eyes squeezed shut and a growl escaped his throat at the amazing sensation of his wife's tongue and teeth, the intensity of the suction, her strong fingers on his testicles.
It didn't take long for his release to come, especially in the way she eagerly swallow and lapped at him. Protein is protein.
He wasn't squeamish about oral, so as soon as his seed was down her throat, his lips found hers again, hungry for the taste of himself mixed in her mouth.
After a few minutes, Buffy broke the kiss and leaned against him, snuggling against his chest as he slid down from against the headboard. His arms wrapped around her waist, lightly brushing his fingers over her bump, "Soon".
A slight frown tugged at her lips as she nudged closer, "Not soon enough."
A smirk slid across his face, "Look on the bright side, pregnancy is the easy part. Next comes the crying, sleepless nights, diaper duty, spit up..." After a beat, he added, "Officially being outnumbered, two to three."
Buffy's eyes widened in the realization, "Oh my god! You're right! There will be more of them then us!"
He grinned, kissing her neck, "But we're still bigger."
"For now." Buffy groaned, thinking at some point the kids would all likely be taller than her.
"We'll be fine, there's nothing we can't handle together. Right?" Angel assured as he rubbed her stomach.
Smiling at the thought, she nodded, "Right."
That thought finally chased away the urge to try and induce labor, realizing he was right. This was the last few days before the real storm hit, even if she was feeling like an over inflated balloon.
"Fine, I'll give the freeloader another 48 hours." The young mother relented, "but if she stays even a second longer than that, I'm forcing Cass to do a c-section."
Angel laughed to himself, knowing she was all bluff. He grinned and kissed her crown as they settled back down for the night.
...
November 5, 2009
"Ahhh!" Buffy cried out as the contraction tore threw her like a physical thing, weakening her legs and causing her to drop to the ground, clenching her stomach. "Oh no, no, no, no!" She muttered, her eyes darting around wildly at the chaos flaring up all around her. "Not now, please baby, not right now!"
The answering contraction was a good indication that the baby wasn't going to listen, it was coming and it was going to be right now.
At the worst possible moment.
Cursing, Buffy crawled as best she could though the pain to the least busy area of the field, the surrounding land was quickly filling with bodies as the battle around her continued on unfazed by her distress.
'Angel.' She thought, trying again to spot him though the melee, praying he could feel her pain or smell her blood or whatever his demon did to let him know she needed him.
A laugh from behind her drew her attention. "Well, well, well, look what he have here. The legendary Slayer, on the ground and whimpering. Not so much the destroyer of demons now, are you princess?"
The creature standing there could only be described as a monster, it wasn't a demon she was familiar with but looked similar to the fuzzy blue monster from Monsters, Inc, if he'd been evil and obviously not a cartoon, which made him inherently creepier somehow. Like a Disney nightmare while on LSD.
Slipping a stake from her back pocket, Buffy forced her body to rise, despite the screaming ache in her groin as her body began to open. "I've slayed bigger under worst conditions." 'Not exactly a lie, I was never in active labor while fighting, but I did fight the Master right after being dead.'
What could have been a hundred teeth appeared as the creature smiled, "That isn't much different from what the other one said, and look where he is now."
Blue moved to the side and Buffy finally found her spouse, or what was left of him.
The broken body on the grass was missing it's head, but Angel's shocked expression looked back towards her from a good three feet from his left foot.
Something heavy moved inside her, falling, and it had nothing to do with the life fighting to exit her womb.
Pain suddenly erupted from her stomach, sending a jolt though her whole body.
With a gasp, she looked down at the length of honed steel protruding from her swollen gut, seeing but not quite believing it was there until it swung to the left, opening her like a can of sardines.
Buffy dropped to the ground as her severed infant fell from her body like a bloody raggedy Anne doll.
Her eyes barely registered the demon laughing again as the blade came down across her neck.
…...
With a scream, Buffy sat up, clutching her belly as the scene of her nightmare ended.
The body next to her nearly fell off the bed with the sudden jolt and yell. "Buffy! What is it? Are you alright?" Angel, now far from the deep sleep he'd been in, asked as he scanned his wife for injuries or signs she was in labor.
Her response wasn't a verbal one, just grabbing him into a crushing embrace and burying her face against the side of his neck, where she could feel his pulse throbbing strongly against her cheek.
Realizing it must have been a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare, he wrapped his arms around his shaking wife and peppered the top of her head in kisses as he spoke softly, "It's alright, everything is all right, whatever it was, it wasn't real, just relax Buffy, I'm right here."
Neither knew how much time had passed like that before Buffy softly spoke about what she saw. When the tale ended, she sat up and pulled away, her hands fiddling with her belly, "What if it was real? What it is was prophetic?"
"It wasn't." Angel's reply came with no room for discussion as he pulled her back up against his chest, his right arm tightly holding her flush against him.
She nodded, but her heart still felt heavy from the nightmare, and it took a long time before either of them fell asleep.
…...
Exhaustion was high up on her annoyances list the following day, leading to most people leaving the cranky slayer alone.
She'd been cleared by Cassidy that morning, after the medic had given her a full evaluation once she'd coaxed the full details of the previous night from the pinked cheeked slayer. Despite the annoyance Cassidy felt at her medical advice being ignored, the test results showed no noticeable expansion of the small tear in Buffy's uterus.
In fact, Cassidy was surprised they lasted as long as they did without getting hot and heavy.
The expecting slayer left the Med-Ward with a prescription to relax as much as possible for the next few hours because labor wasn't far off.
Waiting as the worst part.
There were very few things the antsy slayer hated more than waiting.
Her thoughts flashed back to graduation day and the horror that the sadistic Mayor Wilkins had been about to deliver his whole speech. It was the one time she could say she was glad about someone turning into a demon.
Not knowing what else to do with herself and needing a distraction from baby thoughts, any distraction really, she headed to her office and inched down behind her laptop, opened her work inbox, which had been sorely neglected as of late. Her hazel-green eyes disinterestedly scanning the numerous unread emails for the next few minutes.
Poking around, she opened one that looked mildly important and read downwards, suddenly spotting a familiar name and feeling as though she'd been smacked in the face. "What!" She yelped, suddenly furious at her spouse as she noticed his name on the roster for the reconnaissance mission leaving today and heading to a small town in northern California, which would take the better part of the day to get there and likely not return for several days.
Fueled by anger, the raging slayer stormed from her office into Angel's next door, where the unsuspecting living vampire was caught in the act of packing a bag.
"So this is the thanks I get for carrying your damn child for 9 months, you up and disappearing right when it's about to be born!"
Angel dropped a pair of pants he was holding, suddenly caught in the wall of angry his wife was throwing at him, "What? Buffy, what are you talking about? Why are you yelling at me? What did I do?"
Repeating what she'd seen on the email, she finished by pointed to the bag he was packing, "Hello, packing a bag to leave with."
He stared at her a moment, reading the 'could be staked at any moment' that was radiating off her, before replying in a calm and steady voice, "Buffy, I'm unpacking. These are spare clothes I keep here for when I need to change at work. I needed to restock from home. And yes, I'm briefing the team today before they head out, but I'm not leaving the building."
He walked over to her, reaching up and running his right hand gently down her cheek as his left cupped her stomach, hoping his touch would help defuse her, "Our family is about to grow, there isn't anything more important to me than being here with you for that."
She blinked at him a moment before punching him in the shoulder, "You jerk." She muttered, wiping at her streaming eyes, "Go ahead and make the overly hormonal slayer cry."
He smirked at her halfhearted punch, instead, drawing her into his arms as her tears soaked into his shirt. "It's okay Mo chuisle, let it out, just let it all out."
And she did, she let it all out. The anger, the frustration, the fear. She was going to be the mother of three soon, and it terrified her how much she loved her children and how deeply they depended on her and Angel. Every new life was adding to how much she had to lose if something happened to them.
It felt like forever before her tears slowed then dried up on her lashes. It was easy to lose track of time when she was lost in her husband's embrace. However a sharp kick to her bladder reminded her that someone else was getting as impatient as she to be born. "Ouch, ungrateful little devil." She groaned as she peeled herself off her spouse and headed for his bathroom. "Don't go anywhere, I'm not done snuggling you."
Angel shook his head, a grin on his lips, as he resumed putting his garments into the little closet.
When his wife returned to his side a few minutes later, he held out his arm to her, "I have a few hours to kill before the team meets, let's grab some snacks and get the kids exercised in case we find ourselves occupied with a baby later."
Liking the snacks idea, she took his arm and leaned close against him, "I'll say yes to anything relating to food right about now."
…...
When 2pm rolled around, Angel excused himself from the ruckus in the nursery/playroom/soon-to-be-nursery-again. Several of the resident slayers were recruited to babysit and paid a hefty sum to take the kids to the park to help tire them out as Buffy followed her spouse back to his office so he could grab his notes.
"Ugg, even walking hurts right now." Buffy grumbled, her whole body achy with been-pregnant-too-long symptoms.
"Why don't you stay here then, I won't be gone more than 30 minutes tops, probably half that." He grabbed the paperwork off his desk and made it back to his wife before she made it half the distance, "Just relax Buffy, neither of us will likely get much down time the next few weeks."
"After dealing with two in diapers 9 months apart, the one solo baby might seem like a vacation." Buffy reminded him, also thinking she best make sure a repeat of that fiasco don't happen this time around. There would be blood if it did.
"Raising children is hardly comparable to a vacation, if anything, it's closer to being in a battle."
"Speaking of which, those slayers will take off without your debriefing if you don't get your butt down there." She reminded him, noticing the clock was ticking.
"Okay, I'll be right back, and if you feel anything happening here." He placed his hands on her extended belly, "Just call me and I'll be back up here in under 30 seconds."
She pulled him down and placed a quick, "good luck" kiss on his lips before shoving him towards the door, "Now go so you can come back."
He flashed her a grin before he vanished out the door.
Now alone in his office, she stood there a few moments, just rubbing her belly before her feet reminded her they were under much more stress than usual and to be off them ASAP. With a huff, she headed over to the couch, feeling like a mentally handicapped duck as she waddled to it. Once there, it took her a good solid minute to ease down onto plush dark blue cotton. "Oh come on, hurry up and get out already." She grumbled to what felt like a beachball under her dress. "I really wish pregnancy came with a few vacation days..."
The furniture was one of the things she loved best about their offices.
They weren't official office catalog furnishings that consisted of stiff padding, plastic coverings or soulless colors schemes. No, they were the types of furnishings they would have bought for their home. Being as such, the couch, abet small, was super comfy, and could pull out into a full sized bed, which had come in handy over the years.
Leaning back into the fluff, Buffy felt herself finally beginning to relax.
For one small second, she thought she might have nodded off, which would have explained the bang and following earthquake-like shaking part of a dream, however the alarm system blaring to life assured her it had been reality.
Suddenly feeling the opposite of relaxed, Buffy sat up and tried to focus her ears on anything besides the wailing alarm and flashing strobe lights that were sending the world into chaos. "What the hell happened?" She asked herself as she began to long process of lifting her excessive weight up off the cushy couch, which felt more like a sand trap at the moment.
Once upright, she grabbed her cellphone off the coffee table and immediately dialed her husband's number, fully aware he hadn't already rang her and feeling nervous about it.
The discomfort only grew with each passing ring as he failed to answer. "Come on, come on, Angel pick up!"
She was immediately glad now the kids were half-way across town at the park.
She'd experienced earthquakes, this hadn't been one of them. It had only lasted a second. No, this was something else and whatever it was, sounded like it caused some serious damage to the building. An explosion seemed likely, and it felt like the foundation itself had been rocked.
Not one to wait around for answers to come to her, she hurried towards the door until a full blown contraction nearly made her fall to the floor, "Oh no, no you didn't just do that!" Buffy gasped in disbelief.
The lights suddenly flickering off and plunging the room into darkness didn't help either, but it did at least end the screaming alarms as the power failed.
After a few seconds of her eyes adjusting, she found the whole room hadn't plunged into darkness, the entire top floor was mostly windows and at early evening it was still brightly lit inside the office.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as someone burst into the room calling her name, the relief short lived as the dark haired man running into the room was Xander and not her husband.
"Hey Buffy, you in here?" He called, not immediately noticing her hunched over form, until his eye adjusted to the dimmer back lighting coming in from the wall to ceiling windows, then upon realizing she was on the ground rushing up to help her, "Oh shit, are you alright? I didn't think the explosion would have reached up here!"
"What explosion?" Buffy grit out over the next wave of pain, "What the hell happened down there? Why isn't Angel answering his phone?"
He was momentarily perplexed by her distress, Xander then noticed her holding her stomach, "Oh! Oh! You're in labor! Oh! I...oh not good, not good."
The slayer rode the next pain surge by yelling a much more colorful version of the questions she just asked.
Helping her back to the couch, Xander rushed out what little he knew. "Will just sent a magic text, she and Cassidy are helping with the injured. They don't know what happened yet, but there was some sort of explosion in the lobby area. Maybe a car bomb? We don't know. The phones are down, even the cells, and the whole power system is out."
At her threatening glare, he continued, "It's bad Buffy, the lobby was hit hard, I think we lost at least half of the departing team on impact."
"Angel?" She asked, suddenly fearing he'd been sent up here to tell her he was dead.
"They don't know yet, there are still some...missing." It was gentler than saying not all the bodies were identifiable.
"I need to get down there." Is what she said, but while trying to rise, Buffy yelped as a spasm in her legs dropped her back onto the couch.
"I don't think that's an option right now, hang tight, I'll go get Cass or a nurse or someone." The nervous man stated, wanting to help but not trained in handling child birth. Now if she'd needed a sandwich or a patio addition, that he could have managed.
She didn't want to stay here, not when there were slayers that needed help, but walking was out of the question right now. "Just find Angel." She managed to grit out, clenching her jaw at the pain.
"I'll do what I can, hang on Buff." He said as he jogged out of the office, fiddling with the flashlight he had in his pocket, to navigate the dark staircases to find Cassidy and then to check on the emergency generator in the basement.
Time passed, she wasn't sure exactly how much. It was beginning to all bleed into a series of breaths taken in and out as her body opened a lot slower than she'd expected.
Katie and Liam had been born very quickly, what was happening now, didn't feel like it had with them.
"Ah, found you at last." Came a hard gravelly voice from across the room.
Startled, Buffy looked up from her breath-count cycle, something that looked similar to a man but wasn't stood in the office doorway. What at first looked like a knife in his hands, where actually claws, twitching as he strode towards the prone slayer, still speaking. "The Queen of the slayers, the famous Buffy Summers, the contract that will get me enough to finally retire."
"Contract?" She questioned, her pain filled brain fuzzy for a moment before suddenly realizing this guy was a mercenary out to kill her.
Great, the frosting to her crappy day.
He grinned, showing off yellowed pointed teeth, "Sorry about the distraction downstairs, nothing personal, but I admit I get a bonus for every slayer I take out and that half-breed vampire of yours was worth almost as much as you."
She didn't miss the use of the past tense when he spoke about Angel, but she wouldn't let herself focus on it, not yet.
Her whole body hurt, but right now she couldn't focus on that. She had to fold that whole 'in labor' thing up and store it in the I-can't-deal-with-you-right-now box in her head.
"So, what exactly? You're going to claim being the best Mercenary in the world by killing an unarmed woman in labor? Good luck with that." She retorted, wishing her stake was in her pocket, but her dress didn't come with a pocket and she hadn't gotten around to adding the stake holder to it yet. Subtly she was trying to move her hand to reach the one stashed under the couch cushion beside her, because even it there wasn't one on her person at all times, there were at least a dozen hidden in the room.
He raised his claws as he approached, seeming to growing taller as he did, "Not looking for fame, long as you're dead, I get paid, that's all I care about. Retirement is calling, I'm answering."
Something was wrong, and it wasn't the creature moving towards her with the intent to kill her, there was something happening inside her with the baby, it still wasn't coming like it should be.
Not that it looked like it would matter, she was about to be murdered.
Her dream was flashing in her mind, Angel was dead, her child would die, she would die. The dream had been prophetic, this would be the end.
For a moment, it didn't seem worth fighting.
But then that moment passed.
Katie and Liam were alive, her baby was still fighting inside her, so would she.
The cellphone by her hand made a poor choice of weapon, but it was all there was in reach and it made a decent bruise as it slammed square between the merc's eyes, making the slightly greenish brute stagger a moment and swear.
She tried to rise in those few seconds, to get to the stake, but her body wasn't cooperating and he was quick, already grabbing her hair and yanking her head back to expose her neck to his claws.
"Times up slayer, now you die."
She tried to throw him off but he was solid, but then the seconds passed and she risked opening her eyes to look at his way too close face when the grip on her seemed to loosen.
His slotted black eyes were bulging out, looking shocked as he opened his mouth. The only thing that came out was some blood before he gasped and tilted sideways, moving back to revealing an enraged living vampire standing behind him.
"You feel that asshole? That's what a vise around your heart feels like." Angel's voice spoke, burning with hate.
The twitching demon didn't respond with anything legible, just a slight gurgle.
"And this." Angel continued in his most threatening voice as he slowing backed away with the demon, "Is what happens to anyone targeting what's mine."
In the next moment, the demon's eyes bulged impossibly larger as Angel tore his embedded hand out of the demon's back and quickly shoved the creature's still beating heart into it's slack mouth before slamming it's jaw shut and literally forcing the beast to eat its own heart.
"Now he knows what it feels like." The half-demon muttered as he let go of the mercenary and watched it drop dead to the floor.
"Angel!" Buffy called in relief for him being alive, but the relief didn't last long, her body was still laboring and nothing was happening.
Dropping down in front of her, Angel pulled a blanket off the couch and wiped his soiled hands on it. Even in the rush, he didn't want demon blood touching his unborn. "Buffy, don't push yet, just look at me, okay?"
She nodded, but tears were already flowing down her cheeks, this was wrong, it felt all wrong.
Something was ripping inside, she knew it, her placenta had torn and her baby would die.
He put his hands down on her stomach, sensing, feeling, and pushed a little, it hurt, but she keep her eyes on him, "Is she alive?"
"Yes." He answered immediately, "but in distress."
He moved his hands again, tapping a finger here and there, a few times she felt a weak little kick in response. He moved to sit behind her, his arms pulling her close as he messaged her stomach, "That's my girl, don't push, just relax."
Her body was screaming to push, but she wouldn't. She didn't know why she couldn't, just that Angel said not to.
The kicks felt weak, the little life inside her felt like it was fading away. "She's dying, isn't she?" The world felt like it was shrinking, growing colder, farther.
"No." Came Angel's assured voice, he pushed on her stomach again, then whispered, "Neither of you are, I'm not letting that happen."
Then she was air born, at least if felt like it when Angel picked her up and starting running.
The stairs were grueling to endure, the jarring, but she would, because he said he wouldn't let their baby die and she believed him.
If felt like seconds passed, but when she opened her eyes again they were in the Med-Ward, Cassidy was pulling on a fresh pair of gloves as Angel lowered her onto a cot, rolling it towards the delivery room as he spoke to the medic.
It was dark, but the lights looked to be on. Nothing seemed right, like the world was caught is a fog.
Buffy wasn't sure what they were saying, everything felt far away, hazy and distant.
She felt cold, weak, light headed...like her body wasn't really there any more.
She barely acknowledged there was blood on the bed already, from between her legs, the skirt of her dress was soaked with it.
Too much of it.
Time seemed to both stop and fast forward at once, everything blurred together, except one thing.
Angel's urgent voice in her ear, and it said to push.
"Now Buffy, push!"
And like a switch was flipped, the contraction hit and she pushed with all she had.
Everything jumped back into focus, her breathing, the contractions, her body parting, a new small body exiting.
Angel's arms were around her, strengthening her with his touch and words as she breathed in and pushed hard along with the contractions.
And just like that, the baby was out.
And everything became way too quiet.
Until that long expected cry finally filled the silence.
It was the greatest sound she'd ever heard.
"You did perfect Buffy." Angel spoke into her ear, his eyes watching Cassidy as she quickly cleared the airway and prepped the infant.
Buffy was almost surprised he was still on the bed with her, he had a habit of stalking whoever was holding their newborn at time of birth until he could hold it.
"What happened?" She asked, her eyes drifting off Cassidy's back just long enough to notice the IV in her arm.
"The baby was breech and you were losing too much blood." He spoke softly, she imagined it must have been hard for him.
Then their attention was caught by Cassidy, "She's a little thing like her mom at 5 pounds, 7 oz, but other than being small, she seems healthy, if not happy."
Buffy couldn't stop the grin from filling her face as the squalling bundle was placed into her awaiting arms, "Oh, she's so perfect." The little red screaming face began to quiet and smooth as Buffy rocked her, noticing the lightness in her fair hair. "And she so looks like me."
"Perfect." Angel agreed, his arms still loosely around her, "What's her name?"
Buffy was mildly surprised he wasn't trying to wrestle the baby away, which was his usual pattern, but he did sound exhausted.
She'd had a few names floating in her mind, but she'd refused to divulge to her spouse until birth, so she could make sure the face and name matched. In this case, the name did match with the adorable little person in her arms, "Joan."
She felt Angel's smile from behind her, his voice adding a middle name, "Joan Anne Summers."
When she felt his weight shift, she thought he was going to try and snatch the baby from her, instead, she watched helplessly as he dropped to the left and would have fallen completely off the bed and smashed his head on the floor had Cass not slid a cot against hers to catch him.
"Angel?" Buffy questioned, for a moment thinking he somehow fainted, but then noticed for the first time his face was vamped. Now that she thought about it, he'd been vamped since the moment she'd seen him upstairs.
She'd assumed it was because he was maddened by the merc...but now...
The baby in her arms was the only thing stopping her from rushing to his aid, but Cassidy was already hauling him onto his own cot, "I'd tell you not to worry, but I know it wouldn't help. He'll live, I guarantee it, he's just crashing now the adrenaline is wearing off."
"Crashing from what?" Came from the demanding wife, however the question turned out to be moot as the medic moved the cot with her spouse and Buffy got her first real look at him, which wasn't pretty, especially his back, which had a good half dozen shards of glass protruding from it.
"He must have been blown into the lobby's glass wall during the explosion, but before I could pull the glass out he went demonic and tore off to find you. And when he returned to the Med-Ward, well you were semi-conscious, hemorrhaging, and the baby was in full distress. I knew I wouldn't be able to touch him until you and the baby were stable, so I've been waiting for him to pass out." As she explained, the doctor was already grabbing the tools she needed to pry the glass out of him, and the IV lines to help re-hydrate him.
Buffy started to say something, then stopped, then started again before falling silent. "Idiot." Was the first thing she managed to say, but instantly changed her mind, "I love him but also I want to stake him."
Cass shrugged as she inserted his IV, starting right off with blood, "Well since I had no idea you were in labor, let alone suffering a class III hemorrhage, this could have ended a lot worse had he not gone after you."
"I don't know if it was me he was after or the mercenary." Buffy asked, somewhat fuzzy about that whole incident.
"The what?" Cassidy asked, not looking up from the glass she was pulling out of Angel's back.
Buffy, now rocking the restless newborn in her arms, explained about the merc causing the explosion as a distraction to kill her and Angel telling her the baby was breech.
"Of course someone was trying to kill you." The medic muttered sarcastically as she worked, furious that these sons-of-bitches caused such pain for profit. "Don't get me started on those f*ckers, anyways, Angel must have done something to turn the baby before you arrived down here, because she wasn't breech when you starting pushing." Cass replied.
"He was pressing on my stomach." The slayer informed the medic as she watched the minor surgery to remove the glass from her spouse's body.
After removing several of the larger pieces, the doctor added a refill to his blood IV then switched back to Buffy, helping to deliver the afterbirth and check on the bleeding, which was quickly ebbing as her uterus contracted. Cassidy didn't want to say anything out loud, but if the bleeding hadn't have slowed on its own now that the baby was out, she'd have had no choice but to perform an emergency hysterectomy.
It was only a matter of time before the chaos of the others wounded in the explosion called her away, so Cassidy packed as much medical treatment as possible in to a short time frame.
There were a good dozen slayers going though battlefield medical training, currently half were administering first aid to the non-life threatening injuries. There were three well trained nurses helping with those worse for wear. Based on Angel's demon's tendency to react poorly to most people when he was injured, Cassidy was the sole members of the staff authorized to treat him, so she pulled shards of glass out of him in between offering advise and quick training sessions to the other nurses as they all worked to heal the injured.
Buffy remained uncharacteristically quiet during most of the processes, her fuzzy mind having trouble focusing with so much going on at once. There was her newborn in her arms that easily could have died, her own pain and treatment after losing an unhealthy amount of blood, there was her unconscious husband, the loss of slayers, worry over her other two children as they were miles away from her...
"Buffy!"
The weary slayer looked up as Xander came charging into the Med-ward. "Oh thank god you're here! I was on my way to get Cass when this green guy knocked me out and when I came too, I went back to your office, found the guy dead, you gone, and a lot of blood on the floor..." His mouth continued to move but no words came out as he spotting the bundle in her arms, "Oh! We have baby!" He managed to yell out to someone still out in the hall.
"What! The baby came during this?!" A female voice asked before Willow appeared, her own belly swelling with child, although still some months away from delivery.
The one eyed man turned to his oldest friend, "Really? That actually surprises you after all the other crazy chaotic events we've lived though?"
Willow, ignored him as she bombarded Buffy with questions, adding a few about Angel as she noticed Cassidy working on the still unconsious living demoon a few steps away.
The direct line of questioning helped to pull Buffy out of her own mind, giving her something to focus on as she answered as best she could.
After a few minutes, she couldn't help asked one of her own. "How many slayers did we lose?"
Both Willow and Xander shook their heads, not knowing the answer.
Cassidy turned to face the eldest slayer, pausing in her stitching, "It wasn't as bad as we first thought. Those that looked dead when we entered the lobby were actually unconscious. The five closest to the detonation didn't make it. Of those, two were dead on impact, the other three died from shrapnel but the remaining 12 or so slayers in the room were injured but alive last I checked."
Five.
It wasn't the worst number Buffy had heard, but it was bad enough.
The loss of her slayers snapped Buffy back into leader-mode.
"Xander, please make sure the building is still structurally sound and then verify the power generator stays up until we can switch back to the electric system. If we have structure damage, evacuate the building immediately."
"Willow." The slayer addressed the witch, "Please check the magical defense perimeter spells, that merc somehow got through, we need to seal the hole as we've vulnerable to another attack right now."
The two nodded, understanding time to celebrate the new baby was going to have to wait and headed out to grab team members to help with the tasks.
When Cassidy finished patching Angel up, she wheeled his bed beside his wife's and locked the cots together. Then triple checked Buffy with both visual and ultrasound to assure the bleeding was completely stopped and her IVs were filled.
"Okay, you're both as good as I can make you right now, but I've got to help out on the floor. If you need me, yell." With that, the medic headed out to help with the other injured, leaving her healing patients to rest.
It didn't seem like much time passed before Dawn found her way into the labor and delivery room, a mix of sadness for the loss of life and joy over being an aunt again mixing on her face.
Giving her sister the baby, Buffy took a few minutes to check on Angel, finding him still out cold gave her a little anxiety, but the demon mask had faded away, his breathing was strong and steady and his wounds looked to be healing.
With him face down, she could clearly see the damage to his back and felt herself shiver at the thought of him running around and even carrying her with glass still embedded in his flesh.
Sparing a quick glance towards the infant in Dawn's arms, 'If he hadn't, neither of us would likely be here now.' Not only would the merc have killed them, but even if he hadn't, she'd have bleed to death in his office before Cass reached her.
"Giles just left to meet the slayers at the park and bring Katie and Liam to your house." Dawn informed her sister as she rocked her fussy new niece, "They're safer there then out in the open, and we can pop them between here and there with the portal when you guys are recovered enough."
Nodding, Buffy fought a yawn. Apparently emergency delivery takes a lot out of a woman, even a slayer.
As chaotic as today had been so far, Buffy was content. Her baby was alive and healthy. Her body, although bruised and sore, was hers again. Angel, although injured, was alive. The nightmare hadn't come true, but there had been enough similarities to convince her that this particular slayer dream hadn't been totally nonsense. It had an air of warning to it, one she'd remember for future reference.
Taking back her newborn from the proud aunt, Buffy asked her sister to let their dad, Connor and other friends and family know that Joan arrived safely, but that visiting hours would come later, after the mess at AI was cleaned and the fallen slayers were buried.
Understanding, Dawn left to do so and help coordinate the burial arrangements for those lost.
Turning on her side so she could face Angel, Buffy laid the newborn down on the cots between them. Angel's right hand moved unconsciously to rest on the little bundle of white blankets covering his newest daughter.
With a weak smile, Buffy rested her left hand atop his before drifting off in an exhausted sleep.
…...
Angel stirred at a movement under his hand.
When his heavy lids slid open, he found himself with a mighty fine view. Not only was his wife sleeping across from him, looking far less pale, but his newest child was laying right in front of him for the snuggling.
"Jackpot." He whispered, rising up off his stomach. He felt stiff and achy, but the tiny little bundle of baby he was scooping up made all that fade away better than any drug.
"Hi there cutie." He grinned at the newborn, already memorizing every little detail and eagerly unwrapping the bundle to make sure she had the right number of finger and toes. Not that it would matter if she didn't, but he still wanted to memorize everything of his youngest's.
When Buffy woke about an hour later, it was to her husband making ridiculous yet somehow cute baby faces at their newborn.
"Don't scare her." Buffy teased as she yawned and sat up, already planning on how to get the baby away from him.
Her body was still sorer than usual, so instead of trying to fight him for Joan, she simply slid up against her spouse and burrowed in, so they could doubly hold the baby and one another.
"You're the one who scared me." He answered as he placed a kiss on her crown, "You both nearly gave me a heart attack earlier, between the merc and Joan being breech and your bleeding..." There had been so much blood. Usually her blood made his demon hungry or even horny. This had done neither, it had terrified him to the core he could have lost his wife.
"So I've heard. I'm sorry, I don't remember most of what happened upstairs or down here. Just your voice in between fuzzy bits." The memory of how he killed the merc, by literally making the creature eat his own heart, was still lingering in the recesses of her brain, but that would be dealt with later, when they weren't holding their newborn.
He nuzzled closer, "We're alive and together, that's all that matters right now."
"Not all of us." Buffy whispered, thinking of her lost slayers.
They both sat in silence for a while, in their own thoughts as they watched the new life in their arms while they contemplated the five that perished.
"Do you know who we lost?" Buffy asked, glancing up at him.
Shaking his head, "The explosion knocked me out. When I woke, my demon was in overdrive. I vaguely remember Cass talking to me, but I could sense death and the scent of an intruder." After a moment, "All I really remember is rage and needing to find you."
Leaning over, she panted a kiss on his cheek, both of them quiet as they wrestled with the mix of bitter sweet emotions that had filled their day.
Cassidy, ever in motion, rotated though the Med-Ward periodically, making sure all was well within her walls. When she found her two most stubborn patients awake, she quickly went about checking vitals and assuring herself both were fit-for-baby-duty. Not that if she found they weren't she'd have been able to remove said newborn from them with her arms still attached, but being thorough was part of her job.
…...
By late that evening, Angel was up and mobile, having been called home to deal with Katie and Liam, who'd been very insistent on seeing their parents, although not so much the new baby. To the kids, it just meant someone else to share their toys with. Buffy had wanted to leave the Med-Ward as well, but neither Cassidy or Angel were convinced when Buffy said she was fine.
"Tonight" Angel whispered to his wife when Cassidy left the room, "We're sleeping in our bed, even if I have to carry you out of here."
She thanked him with a kiss before he'd headed for the portal home.
After several hours, Angel was getting antsy at home without his wife and newborn and the kids wouldn't go to sleep until they could see their mother.
He thought of spending the night at the Med-Ward, but decided it was better for them all to be home.
It had been nearing midnight when Angel walked into the Med-Ward and scooped his wife into his arms, Buffy waving Joan's little hand at Cassidy's frowning face as they headed out.
The medic shook her head, pondering why she even bothered trying to set rules when it came to discharging either of them.
…...