3 Weeks Later: Early Morning
West Side of Cleveland: DeLuca Luxury Apartments: 11th Floor: Apartment #314: Kitchen
Slouched on the counter, Graham held his tired head in his hand as he waited for the coffee to finish brewing.
His eyes were closed, still not quite awake for the morning.
Dressed in army green tactical cargo pants, a t-shirt, and boots, Graham stood straight and lazily tucked the t-shirt into his pants. He ran through the list in his head of everything he had to do before the first training session—which was a very early one. He was going to surprise the girls in their dorm rooms and pound on their doors to get them out of bed.
When the coffee finished brewing, Graham poured the bitter black liquid into the cup placed in front of him.
He looked over his shoulders hearing strange sounds.
Placing the coffee cup down on the counter and followed the strange sound into the master bedroom, he had since moved into.
Graham noticed the bathroom door completely closed. He frowned and stepped over to it and wrapped his hand around the doorknob.
Slowly opening the bathroom door, Graham frowned and flicked on the light with his hand to find Buffy slumped over the toilet bowl.
Her stomach contracted violently as she heaved again into the toilet. The stomach-acid of vomit filled her nostrils and her eyes were watery when she dry-heaved again.
Stepping further into the bathroom, Graham crouched behind her and placed a hand on her back as she vomited again into the toilet.
With the back of his hand, Graham touched her sweaty forehead. He ran his eyes over her, she looked paled and miserable.
"I'm… I'm fine," she weakly swatted his hand away from her.
"No, honey, you don't seem very fine." He told her, pushing her hair off of her shoulder.
"I'm just feeling a little nauseous. It's probably something I ate."
Graham frowned, they had eaten the same exact thing last night and he felt perfectly fine.
For days, he's been finding her in the bathroom and her head in the toilet. And for days, he told her to go and talk to the Council's in-house doctor. Buffy refused, insisting that there was nothing wrong with her.
"Why are you bein' so stubborn?" He smirked at her, taking a seat on the bathroom tiled floor and rubbed his hand in circles around her back.
"No…" she told him weakly, pushing him away, "... I'm gross right now."
Chuckling, Graham pressed his lips against the back of her neck. "I don't care," he muttered into her ear.
"Well, I do. Get off of me." Buffy weakly pushed him away again then threw her head over the rim of the toilet, vomiting the remaining contents in her stomach.
Rubbing his hand in circles around her damp back, Graham hated that she felt so ill. He would do anything to make her feel better.
"Buf, you should really see the doctor."
Buffy groaned.
Shifting closer behind her, Graham rested his chin on her shoulder, "I'll go with you. I'll be right there."
There was a long silence. Graham half expected her to grimace at him but instead, she surprised him.
Leaning back, Buffy rested her back against his chest, letting him hold his arms around her. Graham kissed the side of her head and held her firmly—careful not to press on her queasy stomach.
"Okay," she mumbled tiredly, closing her eyes. She no longer possessed the energy to reject his recommended suggestion. "Hold my hand?"
Graham softly smiled at her meekly voice and whispered into her ear, "I'll never let go." His eyes dropped to their joined hands.
The Council Headquarters: Medical Facility: Examination Room 1B
Nervously twisting her fingers around, Buffy stared at the closed door waiting for the doctor to return with the test results.
The doctor had taken a sample of blood from Buffy's body and assured the Vampire Slayer that it would be only a matter of minutes to find out the test results with the enhancement of magics to push the process along.
When a medical instrument fell to the ground with a loud thunk, Buffy turned her eyes to Graham as he picked up the medical instrument. Sheepishly, Graham looked at her. Her eyes pierced straight into him, he placed the medical instrument on the counter with a nervous gulp.
He crossed the short distance over to her and wrapped his hand around hers. Buffy rested her forehead against his shoulder and felt comforted by his lips pressing to the top of her head.
The door opened.
Buffy and Graham immediately shot their attention to the doctor entering the room.
Doctor Ritter looked at the couple and softly smiled at them, finding their 'deer in the headlights' look quite humorous.
"Miss Summers," Doctor Ritter began, "I have your test results but I can come bac—"
"—No, no," Buffy shook her head, tightening her hand that was wrapped around Graham's. "Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Graham."
Doctor Ritter's gaze landed on Graham. A tight smile tugged at her mouth. "Very well." She opened the file folder in her hand and passed it over to Buffy and Graham to look at.
Buffy held the sheet of paper in her hand and frowned, not at all understanding what the graph lines and numbers meant. "I…" she looked at the doctor, "... I'm sorry, but I don't understand what this means."
Doctor Ritter took a step towards the couple and pointed at the graph. "This is the results of your blood work, Miss Summers. It appears that you do not have a stomach bug after all."
"Then what's wrong with her?" Graham frowned with concern, feeling Buffy's tension as she nervously squeezed his hand. "Flu? Food poisonin'?"
"Neither, Mr Miller."
Graham took the paper in Buffy's hand in search of the prescription information. "Well, if you can just give me the prescription, I can run to the pharmacy and—"
"—Buffy isn't sick, in fact, she's very healthy."
Buffy looked at the doctor, "Then what is it?"
"Miss Summers," Doctor Ritter lowered her gaze to the blonde Vampire Slayer, "you're pregnant."
Buffy and Graham stared blankly at the doctor, for what felt like hours. Their minds slowly wrapped around the word 'pregnant'. Neither could breathe or think about other than the word 'pregnant'.
Graham opened his mouth to say something but no words came. He snapped his mouth shut and turned his eyes away. His mind went into overdrive.
"I-I thought it was th-the flu?" Buffy stuttered. "Run the tests again," she demanded.
Patiently, Doctor Ritter smiled at the younger woman. "I ran them twice, Miss Summers and I assure you, you are pregnant."
"I can't be pregnant." Buffy frowned, shaking her head.
Graham looked at her with a deepening frown, unsure how to take the almost hostile tone in her voice.
"Miss Summers—"
"—No," Buffy said firmly. "I can't be pregnant because I've died—twice! Something must have happened to my body in the process of being resurrected again, right? Doctor, this has to be a mistake."
Doctor Ritter gently smiled at the blonde, "Miss Summers, I assure you, you are a very healthy twenty-seven year old woman. Your body is functioning perfectly normal."
Stilling standing at Buffy's side, Graham broke from his racing mind and looked at the doctor. "How far along is she?"
"I would say about six weeks," answered Doctor Ritter.
Quietly, Graham nodded his head and sunk back into his racing mind. He leaned back on the edge of the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I will give you some time and then we can schedule another appointment in four weeks. Congratulations, Miss Summers and Mr Miller." Doctor Ritter excused herself from the examination room.
Buffy watched the door close. Her eyes turned to Graham. He was quiet—much too quiet in Buffy's opinion. She hated when he was this quiet. It is so difficult to read him whenever he was this quiet. In fact, in many ways, Graham was even harder to read than Angel ever was, but Buffy knew when Graham was this quiet, he was lost in deep thought.
She could see it now. By the furrow of his brow and the thin line of his tightly pressed lips, Graham was lost in his own head.
"Pregnant…" Buffy couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real. "I-I still don't understand how this happened."
Graham raised his gaze from the abyss in front of him and shifted to his girlfriend. "We weren't exactly careful." He told her in honesty; thinking back to all of the times they've passionately made love. In the heat of the moment, lost in their desires to be together, all thoughts of protection went straight out the window.
"Yeah, I guess," Buffy said, wearing a look of dismay. Her eyes were on him, watching his every move as he rubbed a hand over his face. "This isn't what you want." Buffy had a sudden fear of Graham leaving her and this baby.
Snapping his gaze to her face, Graham frowned—offended by her off handed comment. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean what I said, this isn't something that you want—Me and a baby."
"I didn't say anythin'."
"You don't need to. Your thoughts are practically screaming 'this isn't what I want!'"
Confused, Graham pinched his brows together. He pushed himself from the counter and stepped in front of her. He took her twisting hands on her lap into his own. "You're no psychic, Summers. 'Cause if you were then you would actually know what I was thinkin'. And what I was actually thinkin' was…" Buffy swallowed, "... we should make the room next to the master bedroom the nursery. It would be easier to hear our baby that way." Buffy let out a breath, feeling her throat clog with emotion. "I was also makin' a list in my head of everythin' we're goin' to need for our baby. We gotta get a crib, a changin' table, a dresser, a stroller—but I'm not sure what kind." Graham frowned. "A baby shits like five times a day—So we're gonna need diapers in bulk. It would be easier to use some kind of delivery service…" he told her as he thought aloud.
Buffy looked at him with moist eyes, so grateful for having this man in her life.
His hands tightened around hers as he said, "Buf, I want this. I want you and I want our baby more than anythin'."
"You sure?"
"In my entire life, I've only been ever sure about exactly two things. The first is you. I just knew you were gonna be the best thing to happen to me." Graham watched her cheeks redden with embarrassment. "I am so in love with you, Buffy." He brushed the tear that had slipped from the corner of her eye and cupped her cheek.
"What's the second?" Buffy sniffled.
With Graham's free hand, he laid it against her flat stomach. A smile tugged at his lips. "The second is our baby."
Buffy unleashed a tearful smile and welcomed his kiss as her arms looped around his neck, hugging him tightly.
Holding a hand against his cheek, Buffy sniffled again and opened her eyes to his face. "I love you, too." And she meant it. It did not take her long at all to fall deeply in love with this man.
It surprised her how quickly it's all happened. They were friends, then they turned into lovers, and now, they were going to be parents. Buffy felt like her life was moving at lightning speed and she didn't want it to stop. For the first time in God knows how long, Buffy was excited about the future. She was excited to have a man she loved and a baby on the way.
Finally, Buffy thought to herself, something good.
Graham covered her mouth in a searing and passionate kiss, welcoming the exciting joy of having a baby with the woman he was in love with.
If someone were to tell him six months ago, that he would be not only having a sexual relationship with his best friend's girl, the fearless and beautiful Buffy Summers but they would be in love with each other and now, they were expecting a baby together, Graham would've laughed in their face.
