A/N: Thanks for the great reviews everyone!! Last line is taken from the Buffy season 3 episode "Graduation Day Part II"

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me Away – Ch. 3

I watched you suffer a dull, aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines,
Can make me feel bitter or treat you unkind

In the months that followed the call from Buffy and Angel's doctor, the couple had been trying to stay as positive as they could and not give up hope. It was hard not to just give up when they had come this far and beaten the odds to get where they were only to find out that they might not to have what they've always wanted; a family.

One afternoon, Angel was at the slayer training facilities doing his everyday tasks of checking in on slayers, tracking down ones that have yet to be found, and planning trips to get to them. Buffy was out with Xander getting a late lunch and doing some errands for the office. Buffy said she would call when she was doing the errands to see if there were any last minute things Angel or anyone else needed. That was almost two hours ago and Angel was starting to get concerned. It was second nature for him to worry about Buffy; it was just what he did. He tried to tell himself over and over that there was nothing that could hurt her now, they weren't in that line of work anymore and that she probably just forgot. Forgetting to call was something that Buffy would do, and she did have a lot on her mind at the moment.

Just when Angel was about to leave his office to ask Willow if she heard from Buffy, the desk phone rang. Angel dashed over to the desk and answered the phone, hoping it was Buffy.

"Mr. O'Connor?" said an unfamiliar male voice.

"Yes?" Angel replied.

"This is Judy Worth, I'm an RN at Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. You're listed as Miss Buffy Summers' emergency contact. You should probably get down here as soon as possible. There's been an accident."

Angel had probably never driven faster in his exceedingly long life than he did on the way to the hospital. When he got to the ER waiting room, the first person he recognized was Xander. He was sitting in one of the waiting room chairs, his head resting in one of his hands and the other hand was holding an icepack to his knee. When he looked up as Angel entered the waiting room there was a cut above his eyebrow that had a bandage on it. Xander put down the icepack on a nearby table and winced as he stood up to face Angel.

"What happened!?" Angel asked frantically, trying to catch his breath.

Xander sighed and struggled to recount the events of that afternoon. "We were going through a green light and someone blew a red light and…it was so quick, there wasn't anything she could have done to avoid it."

"Well what happened to her? Where is she?" Angel said, wanting answers.

"She's…" Xander started before trailing off as he looked at something behind Angel. Angel looked at him, waiting for an answer and then saw that Xander was looking behind him. Angel turned around and saw that a doctor with scrubs on was approaching him. There were a few spots of blood on his scrubs and rubber gloves and since Angel couldn't smell the blood anymore, he feared that the blood belonged to Buffy.

"Mr. O'Connor?" the doctor asked Angel, who couldn't bring himself to do anything but nod back. He suddenly felt very numb. "I'm Dr. Greg Degray, your wife Buffy, was in a car accident this afternoon-"

"Yeah, I know, where is she?" Angel said, getting impatient.

"Well we've finally got her stabilized; she's broken a few ribs and has some cuts and bruising but we do need to take her into emergency surgery to repair some internal bleeding," the doctor told Angel.

Angel paused, trying to process this before saying, "So what does that mean?"

"She's going to be fine. This is very common for ER doctors and I'm confident the surgery will be a success. But there's something else that I should tell you…" he trailed off, glancing at Xander who was hovering around nearby.

Xander saw that the Doctor wanted to tell Angel something private and said, "Oh, uh…I'll go get myself some coffee," and walked towards the double doors that lead towards the stairway.

Dr. Degray pulled Angel towards a few chairs in the corner of the waiting room so they could have a little more privacy, and they sat down.

The doctor took a deep breath before continuing. "It appears that at the time of the accident, Ms. Summers was pregnant." Angel's head snapped up at the doctor's words. He just sat there, staring at Dr. Degray with him mouth slightly open, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Unfortunately, due to the internal bleeding and trauma of the accident, the baby was lost. Buffy was probably only two months along, she probably wasn't even aware that she was pregnant. I'm very sorry." Dr. Degray looked at Angel for a moment before getting up and getting back to work.

Angel couldn't believe what he was just told by the doctor. They had done it. They had beaten the odds and done what science and the supernatural world told them couldn't be done. But of course, nothing could ever be easy for Angel and Buffy. Angel wondered if the Powers were ever going to give them a break and let them be happy for once.

Angel numbly walked back to where Xander had returned to sitting, now with a cup of coffee. "I called the rest of the gang, they should be here soon," Xander said quietly. Angel gave a barely perceivable nod and the two men sat in silence for a few minutes before Xander spoke again. "You know, the accident was so quick, I thought that I couldn't remember any details," Xander started slowly. "But I've just been replaying it over and over again and…I remember something." Angel barely turned his head in Xander's direction, just to let him know he was listening. "The car that blew the red light and hit us…well it was coming from the right side. It should have hit me."

This time Angel fully turned his head to face Xander, a confused look on his face. "But I figured it out," Xander said before giving a dark chuckle. "She saw the other car. She turned her car at the last second so it would hit her side…not mine. Damn slayer reflexes…" Xander finished quietly.

Angel sat there, trying to sort out all the information he had just been bombarded with. What if Buffy hadn't sacrificed herself for Xander? Would he be sitting with her now, waiting for Xander's surgery to be over, unaware of the life growing inside of her?

Xander cracked a tiny smile which vanished almost instantly, like he felt guilty for doing so. "That's just something Buffy would do though, isn't it?" Xander said, looking at Angel. They both knew very well that it wasn't the first time that Buffy had sacrificed herself for someone she loved.

Xander was right. It's exactly something Buffy would do.

A couple hours later, Dr. Degray came into the waiting room and faced the crowd that had gathered there. Willow and Dawn had arrived a few minutes after Xander called them and they had all been waiting anxiously since then.

"We've got in her recovery, the surgery went great, she's going to be fine," Dr. Degray told them with a smile on his face.

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief at the good news. Angel immediately stood up and asked to see Buffy. Dr. Degray nodded and said, "Of course. She's still asleep right now but the anesthesia should wear off soon and she'll be up then. I'll show you to her room." Angel followed the doctor down the hallway and stopped when he stopped in front of a closed door and turned to face Angel. "Obviously she doesn't know about what I told you earlier…" the doctor said, hoping Angel understood what he was talking about. Angel felt his stomach drop as the doctor reminded him of that conversation. Of course he understood what he was talking about. "Would you like me to tell her, or do you want to when she wakes up?"

"Oh, um…" Angel replied, not expecting this question. "Yeah, I'll tell her." The doctor nodded and let him in.

Angel gulped before he entered the room, bracing himself for whatever condition his wife may be in. She looked very tiny and fragile on the hospital bed; not his tough-as-nails slayer that could light up a room with her smile. Angel tentatively sat down in a chair next to her bed and took her tiny hand in his own. He saw that there was an IV poking into her skin on the backside of her hand and cringed a little as he thought about how much she hated hospitals. He sat there for what seemed like forever, just studying her sleeping face and dreading the inevitable conversation he was going to have with her.

Angel was pulled from his thoughts when Buffy's hand gave his a barely perceivable but definite squeeze. "Buffy?" he said, as he heard her groan a little and watched her eyelids flutter open. "Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Angel asked her with a warm smile, grateful that she was awake.

"Hey," she said, her voice still hoarse. She struggled to sit up and winced as soon as she did so. "Oh God, it feels like I got hit by a truck," she murmured.

"You broke a few ribs…Buffy, do you remember what happened…" Angel asked cautiously.

Buffy wrinkled her face in concentration. "Um, I was driving…Xander was there and then there was…" Her concentration turned to panic as everything that happened came rushing back to her. "Oh God, Xander, is he-"

"He's fine," Angel answered for her. "Just a few cuts and bruises, he's out in the waiting room with everyone else." Angel took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the news he was dreading to tell her. "Like I said, you broke a few ribs and there was some internal bleeding that was repaired surgically."

Buffy gave a soft snort and said, "Figures…I never was a good driver." Angel gave a tiny smile at her attempt at a joke, not wanting to reveal that he knew that it was because of her sacrifice that she was lying in a hospital bed.

"Buffy, there's something else that the doctor told me…" Angel started. When Buffy didn't say anything he sighed and continued. "He said that they were able to determine that at the time of the accident…" Angel tried not to look at his wife's expectant face, knowing what he was about to tell her would crush her. "You were pregnant."

Buffy's eyes widened at what her husband told her. "What…" she said, getting a little breathless. " 'Were'…what do you mean 'were'?" she finished quietly.

"The baby was…lost in the accident. The doctor said that you weren't that far along and probably wouldn't have known for a few more weeks," Angel told her.

Buffy covered her hand with her mouth as tears welled in her eyes. "I was…pregnant?" she said with her voice cracking on the last word. Angel just nodded. He felt a few tears spring to his own eyes as he watched his wife break down. "Oh my God," she said. "It's all my fault! The car… and I turned and…Oh God…" she cried.

Angel reached over to her and took her hand with one of his and wiped away her tears with his other hand. "Hey, hey, shh…listen to me," Angel said quietly. "You did what you did because you are a good person who cares about the people she loves. Look, we beat the odds. We proved the Powers wrong, and if we can do it once, we can do it again. We can do this Buffy. It's not over yet."

Buffy gave a little sniffle and nodded weakly, suddenly remembering that she told him something similar years ago… "It is never over…"

I know...a little depressing...but it's not over yet!! Keep the reviews comin'!

-sailor's delight