Chapter 57

Wesley reached for the phone on the night table as Fred turned and gave the device a deadly look. Leaning on his elbow, he looked at the clock and raised an eyebrow; it was nearly four thirty in the morning. Lifting the receiver, his face dropped as he listened to the nurse on the other end of the line. Hanging up the phone, he leapt out of bed and grabbed at his pants. Fred sat bolt upright, a horrified look on her face.

He said, by way of explanation, "Buffy's had the baby. Or is having the baby. The nurse didn't give me much information, but something went wrong. Buffy was taken to surgery to have an emergency C-section."

Jumping out of bed, Fred grabbed the closest pair of jeans that were lying on top of the hamper and pulled on a t-shirt. Picking up the phone, she started dialing the number she knew by heart as Wesley prepared Allison to leave. By the sounds of it, the baby was not happy at being woken hours before she was due to get up.

Gunn answered on the third ring. Explaining the situation to him, she gave him the name of the hospital and told him to call Will. Throwing the receiver into its cradle, she grabbed a light jacket and took hold of Allison as Wesley found his keys and the small family hurried out the door. After situating Allison in her car seat, Fred rubbed her tired eyes and shut the passenger side door just as Wesley started to pull from the curb.

"What did the nurse say?"

"That Buffy and Angel came in a little while ago and the baby was in distress. Angel gave her our number to call; he followed Buffy into surgery."

"That's it? She didn't say anything else? What kind of distress?"

"I don't know Fred. I don't think she's allowed to give that kind of information over the phone."

Rubbing her face again, Fred tried to smooth her rumpled hair. Taking deep breaths, she fished her cell phone from her purse and dialed Dawn's number. Waiting impatiently for the young woman to pick up, Fred tried to relax and tell herself that Buffy and the baby would be fine. Dawn answered on the second ring.

"Dawn? Where are you?"

"I'm on the highway."

Not bothering to hide her exasperation, Fred said, "The highway? What highway? What are you doing?"

"I was on a trip over the weekend. What's wrong?"

Sighing, Fred tried to relay the message as calmly as possible. "Buffy's in the hospital. There's something going on with the baby, she's having an emergency C-section."

The absolute silence on the other end of phone forced Fred to ask Dawn if she was still there.

"Yeah, I'm here. I can't be there for another hour and a half, maybe two. I'll get there as fast as I can. Tell Buffy I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone, Dawn looked to her partner just as his cell phone started to ring. Will listened to Gunn for about two seconds before giving a curt reply and hanging up. Pressing the accelerator to the floor, Will gripped the steering wheel so tightly Dawn thought it might break.

"Will she be okay?" Knowing that Will didn't have the answer to that question, and knowing that he would try to reassure her, she asked it anyway.

"I really don't know. I hope so. Buffy's strong. She's been shot, stabbed, and beaten to death. I think she can do this."

"Can the baby do it?"

Pausing, Will pressed the accelerator even closer to the floor. "A kid that was made by those two? I'll be surprised if he isn't lifting cars over his head to throw at demons by age three."

Swallowing the fear in her throat and wishing they had left earlier, she tried to ignore the disconnection between what Will was saying and what his face and hands were doing. Knowing that he was just as nervous as she was, she grabbed the door handle a little tighter and prayed they wouldn't get pulled over.

Closing her eyes, she snapped them open and fished for her cell phone when she realized that everyone had probably forgotten to call Xander or Willow or Giles. Xander didn't answer, which was odd. Leaving him an urgent message to call her back, she disconnected before dialing Willow's number.

A perky Willow answered her phone. "Hey Dawnie."

"Willow…Buffy's having the baby."

Willow took a deep breath on the other end of the line. She could tell from Dawn's tone of voice that the situation wasn't going well. "It's not good is it?"

"She's having emergency surgery. I don't know anything else and I'm about two hours away. What do I do?" The pleading quality of her voice was almost overwhelmed by the desperation.

"Calm down, Dawn. Don't get in an accident. There's nothing you can do if she's in surgery. Let me call Giles. I'll be on the next plane out, okay? I'll try to be there tomorrow. Please keep me posted? Call if something goes wrong?"

"It's going wrong. Buffy's in trouble, Willow."

Trying to stay calm, Willow fingered the edge of her sleeve, and tried to sound calmer than she felt. "I'll call Giles and get people to cover here and I'll teleport in, okay? I'll probably get there before you. I'll call you when I'm there."

"Do you need to know where she is?"

"I could find her anywhere in the universe, Dawn. I'll be there soon."

Hanging up, Willow put her head in her hands and tried to tap in to Buffy. The static was too high, there was something terribly wrong. Picking up the phone, she waited an impossibly long time as the long distance was connected to Giles' personal line.

He answered just before the answering machine picked up. "Yes? Yes? Giles here."

"Giles, its Willow. Dawn just called me. Buffy's in the hospital, something went wrong with the baby."

The alarm was evident in his voice when he spoke. "Is she alright? What happened?"

"I don't know. She's having emergency surgery. Whatever happened, it's not good. I can't connect with her."

"I'm calling my travel agent. I'll be on a plane in a few hours."

"I'm going to get Cerise to cover things on my end and I'm leaving. I'm not taking a plane."

"I'll get there as soon as I can."

Willow sat for a moment before standing and collecting her senses. Writing a note for Cerise, she explained the situation and asked her to cover all administrative emergencies until she returned. Closing her eyes, Willow concentrated with all her might, bending reality around her. The air was sucked from her lungs for a moment before she opened her eyes again.

She allowed herself a moment to adjust to the darkness before looking around the parking lot and getting her bearings. Swallowing hard, she entered the hospital and used her senses to try and judge where Buffy was. Following her instincts, she took the elevator to the third floor and walked down a hallway until she saw Fred and Wesley sitting in a waiting area.

Breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn't the only one there, Willow sat down next to Fred, giving the other woman a supportive hug as she did so. Leaning over to squeeze Wesley's arm, Willow gave a supportive smile. After greeting each other, they looked up to see Gunn coming down the hallway. He didn't sit. Pacing anxiously, he looked to them, asking if anyone knew anything.

"We haven't heard anything, but we've only been here a few minutes."

Gunn nodded. "Where's Dawn? And Will?"

Fred answered, "We called them. They're on their way."

Willow looked up, "Did anyone call Faith? Or Xander?"

Shaking their heads, Wesley reached into his pocket and found his cell phone. A grumpy Faith answered with a few choice expletives. Giving her the address, he gave her a brief explanation and hung up. Leaving a message for Xander to call him, Wesley shoved the phone back into his pocket. The group waited with baited breath until a man in scrubs approached them.

Explaining he was a nurse, and still had no word on the baby or the mother, he led them to a different waiting area. This area was more cornered off from the hall, it was more private. Fred recognized that the privacy was due to the fact that grieving families were lead here. Babies or mothers with poor prognoses usually could expect their families to be in waiting areas like this. Wesley had been in such areas, waiting for Fred, many times before.

Trying to believe that this was not a bad sign, Fred sat gingerly, holding her sleeping daughter. Suddenly regretting bring Allison, she wondered how Buffy would react to seeing the infant if she had lost her baby. Hoping with all her might that Buffy and the baby were both healthy, she rocked her own daughter against her breast and remembered the pain of loosing her unborn children. She would wish that pain on no one.

They seemed to sit for hours, when in reality they had been there only half an hour or so. Finally, a bedraggled Angel, wearing track pants, running shoes and a t-shirt appeared from the hallway. Everyone immediately stood to great him with multiple questions and exclamations.

Sitting heavily, his shoulders slumped and arms lung limply at his sides. "They resuscitated the baby. The cord was around his neck. Buffy lost a lot of blood, but she'll be okay. They're moving her to recovery now. Brady's in the NICU."

"Brady? It's a boy?" Fred let the relief play freely across her features.

Putting his head in his hands, Angel leaned forward. The doctors had told him there was no guarantee. They had given Buffy and Brady good prognoses, but they had emphasized that there was no guarantee. Angel started praying for one.