Chapter XVI - Labor Intensive

Back in Prague:

Buffy shot up in bed. It was dark all around her, like she was sleeping in ink.

It wasn't that she was afraid, after all she was the slayer, she was used to the dark.

But this was different. It was as if the dark was trying to stifle her.

Or maybe it was the silence.

"Oh my God." she whispered.

The sensation was so strange. So very hard to describe but she knew exactly what it was.

She slipped out of bed and walked to the door deciding not to wake Alex, who shared the room. She was a light sleeper. A good quality to have in the slayer's usual opinion but right now, she wished that Alex was, for once, sleeping soundly. She turned the knob slowly so as not to make a sound. When she had successfully made it into the hallway, she made her way across the hall and into Spike's room

"Spike?"

He groaned and rolled over.

"Spike?" she shook him gently. It was the wee hours of the morning and he had just got into bed. Not even Spike would be awake at this ungodly hour and he was naturally a night person, for obvious reasons. "SPIKE!"

"Slayer?" Spike muttered groggily as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and yawned groggily. At any other time, Buffy would've found it funny. Spike wasn't the yawning type. It was reather humanizing.

She couldn't believe she was humanizing Spike at a time like this.

"Are you awake?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," he said stating the obvious. "Thanks to you"

"Spike- this is important-"

"S'matter?" Spike asked scratching his neck, still unable to shake the sleep from his eyes. "Forgot how to get you're own glass of water, pet? One moment just let me-"

"No." Buffy started, "I just-"

A wave of gut wrenching pain washed over her.

Buffy cried out in agony.

Alex burst into the room.

Spike was immediately more awake. Awake and alert.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded. She was holding a stake in one hand and a dagger in the other, prepared to aid her parents in fighting whatever baddie the idiotic doctors had sent this time. "BUFFY?"

Spike took a millisecond to admire how well trained she was. Then he mentally kicked himself and forced his attention back to what was more important right now, Buffy writhing in agony. He quickly launched himself out of bed and hurriedly pulled on a t-shirt.

"Slayer?" he questioned.

After what seemed to be a million years, but was only a few second in reality the pain finally ebbed and Buffy was able too look up at them with surprising calmness. She had no idea where it came from.

"I think my water just broke."

Alex and Spike just stared at her for a second.

Buffy scolwed.

"WELL?"

They both recovered in an instant.

"Call a cab!" Spike yelled.

Not needing to be told twice, Alex made a mad dash for the telephone.

"Alright, Slayer" Spike said trying his very best to sound calm. "It'll be here in a second and we're going to the hospital."

Her position was getting to be exceedingly uncomfortable and her emotions surged once again out of control.

"I'm pregnant, Spike!" Buffy yelled not a semblance of the calm she had felt a few seconds prior was apparent, now she was hot, uncomfortable and severely pissed off. "Not stupid."