Disclaimer: Do I own BTVS? *laughs* Of course I do. Okay, fine I only own them in my dreams. Joss, UPN, and ME are the owners of BTVS not me, happy?
Feedback: Thanks to all to those who reviewed. Thanks Leanne8582, for your comments and yeah I do have to work on writing fighting scenes, which I always dread to write. I'll be sure to check out that fic you mentioned.
A/N: This chapter is set after Same Time, Same Place, meaning that the events of Willow's arrival happened like on the show except that Buffy did not get scratched by the Gnarl in her abdomen. Oh and Anya is still not aware of the news that Buffy is pregnant. In future chapters I will use references to the episodes in the show or write in scenes from the show except I will add original stuff to 'em. I will not include all the episodes, I'll try to write more of my original scenes.
The red headed Wiccan glanced out her window, taking in the view of the world bathed in golden sun light. Peaceful, that's the way it looked, unlike the jumble of emotions within her. She was back home. Home, yeah that's where she was. A place that made her feel so much. This was the place where she had been happy with her friends and girlfriend, but then again it had also been the place where she had felt so much grief during the loss of one of her friends, and now her lover. Except the grief for her friend, Buffy, had only been temporary because now she was alive. Tara unlike Buffy was gone forever and there was nothing she could do about it.
At the coven, they had helped her deal with her pain as well as taught her how to control her powers. The pain was still there, but also the acceptance of what had happened. She sighed, as she leaned back against the pillows. She didn't really want to think anymore, she had a lot of time to think back at the coven. Yesterday, she had been so afraid that her friends wouldn't accept her, that she had inadvertently cast a spell, that made her invisible to her friends and vice versa. When she was at the hands of the Gnarl, she had been more afraid of what the demon had told her than dying. Luckily, she now knew the truth. Her friends did care about her. Now, she was finally free of the thoughts that her friends didn't want her to come home. Except, now the thoughts of guilt were what remained in her mind.
She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them as quickly as she had closed them. She had heard something that sounded like gagging. Maybe it was Buffy back from the grocery store or maybe it was Dawn. She slid off her bed and left her room, walking softly towards the bathroom door.
She knocked on the door. "Buffy is that you? Or is it Dawnie? Are you okay?"
There was no reply, but Willow waited until the bathroom door opened, revealing Buffy.
"I'm okay, Wills. "
"Are you s-sure? It sounded like you were throwing up. Maybe you got the flu or something. Even if you are the Slayer, and have all those extra healing powers you aren't immune to illness," Willow said concerned. "M-Maybe you should go to a doctor or…"
"Willow," Buffy interrupted her friend. "It's okay. I already went to a doctor."
"You did?" Willow asked surprised.
Buffy nodded.
"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Willow asked worriedly.
"No, nothing's really wrong with me. It's just that well,uh… Maybe, we should talk about this in your room okay?" Buffy said, and lead the way towards the room.
Once they entered the room, Willow went straight to her bed and sat in the middle, cross legged. Buffy sat on the edge of the bed facing Willow.
"So, uh, what's going on with you exactly?" Willow asked.
"Well, you see… I'm pregnant." Buffy stated.
The red head eyes grew wide and a gasp escaped her mouth. "P-P-Pregnant?" Willow managed to squeak out that one word. Buffy nodded, unable to say more.
"Pregnant. Oh, uh, oh that's so, uh, oh…"
"Is that an oh, I don't know what to say or an oh, look what you've gotten yourself into kind of oh?"
"Well, yes and no. I mean, it was a oh, I don't know what to say, I'm in shock kinda of oh. B-but not the other type of oh. Oh goddess, this is just wow. Y-You're pregnant, that's, well really unexpected."
"I know," Buffy said.
"But see this is normal." Willow said, receiving a confused look from Buffy. "I mean, well, you're finally getting to do something normal. You've always said, that you wanted to do normal things in life and this is one of them. I don't think a Slayer has probably had a chance to have a baby before. Buffy you're really lucky."
"I guess," Buffy considered. Her best friend's support was quite shocking and overwhelming, but was glad to know that her friend was there for her.
"Except well the pregnancy is not so much of a normal pregnancy, see the father it's um, Spike."
"S-Spike? He's a vampire, they can't well you know. You're right it's not a normal pregnancy." Willow replied.
"Are you and Spike together?" Willow asked. She didn't know much about Buffy's relationship with Spike, except that they had been seeing each other secretly. And from what it seemed from the night she found out, they had broken up.
"No, we're not."
"Oh, but are you keeping the baby?"
"Yes, I couldn't get rid of it. As much as this scares me, I do want to keep the baby. Like you said, this is something normal at least for regular humans it is… B-But I don't think I can give this baby a normal life, I mean I'm the Slayer, not your average human."
"And the hell mouth is all rumbly again," Willow added. Seeing the Slayer's face she quickly apologized, "Sorry."
"See, not a normal life. I don't know if I could do this. It's too much, with Dawn a-and trying to pay bills and slaying duties."
"You're not alone. You have me, I can be all helpful and there's Dawn and uh, Xander. How did he take the news?" Willow wondered.
"Not so good, at first, but now he's willing to support me."
"That's good."
Buffy nodded. Neither spoke for a few minutes. Willow didn't want to pressure her friend into explaining the details of her relationship with blonde vampire, but she wanted to know one thing at least.
"Do you love him? Spike, I mean. It's okay if you do, b-but it's not bad if you don't."
"I don't l-love him. I think I c-care about him though."
Willow seemed satisfied with that and Buffy was glad that there were no further questions related to that topic. She didn't even make a comment about Spike being insane, as the conversation progressed, eventually steering into different topics that didn't have anything to do with themselves personally.
Willow looked across at the endless green grass in front of her where some people were kneeling and then turned back her attention to Xander.
"So the hell mouth's acting up again huh? 'From beneath you, it devours.' It's not the friendliest jingle, is it? It's no "I like Ike" or "Milk, it does a body good." Xander said trying to change the topic. The previous topic had been about Willow's magick problems.
"Yeah, I know. And now that Buffy's pregnant that's really not good," the red head added.
"Yeah, well the hell mouth is not exactly known for its perfect timing in deciding when to have an apocalypse. Whenever it wants to blow up, it sends the signal by having it rain toads or giant snakes. It may be Christmas, or during the Super Bowl, but when it wants to blow up, it's gonna blow up."
"Yeah, but this time it should wait a little while longer."
Xander sighed. "So, Buffy told you she's pregnant? Pregnant with that t-thing's kid. I can't believe it. It just makes me so angry I…"
"Xander, I know you've never liked Spike, but you've got to accept that he is the father of Buffy's child. I know it's hard, but it's going to be even harder on Buffy if you aren't there for her. I know how it is to feel like you don't have support, no solid ground. I thought you guys weren't going to be my solid ground anymore after all I did the last time I was here in Sunnydale. But I was wrong, you guys are still here for me being my solid ground and Buffy needs that too. She needs all the support she can get."
"You're right. I realized that too, the day she told me, after I came to my senses that is. As a good friend, I need to support her in everything and that's what I'm going to try to do. Uh, we're here are you ready?" Xander stopped walking and turned to the red head, who nodded in response.
She walked away from him heading for the grassy field and stopped when she reached the spot where a tombstone stood. She kneeled in front of it, placed two stones on top of it and traced the engraved letters with one of her fingers. It read: Tara Maclay. October 16,1980-May 7,2002.
"Hey baby, it's me." Willow said.