A/N: Thanks for the reviews and story follows, kittens. This will be my first story live-updating on FF, so I'm interested to see how this goes. All my other stories had been written and published elsewhere long before I thought about posting them on FF. Eager to read what you think about Chapter 1.

The sound of Buffy's light laughter met Faith's ears. She looked up from stirring her cup of coffee. "What?" she demanded, feeling self-conscious.

"You make the blackest, strongest coffee in the world," Buffy noted, a smile tugging at her lips, "and then you douse it with enough sugar to make you diabetic."

"And your point is?" Faith shrugged under her zip-up hoodie.

Buffy grinned. She playfully kissed the end of Faith's nose, immediately banishing the stubborn pout that had found its way onto the dark slayer's lips. "No point. You're just cute. That's all."

"I'm dark, dangerous, and mysterious," Faith countered.

"Right," Buffy smiled knowingly. "So dark and dangerous that you picked me up a pint of Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream on your way home from patrol last night."

"Whatever," Faith protested. "It was on the way. It's not like I –."

"Went to four grocery stores before you finally found some?" Buffy interrupted. Her playful grin nearly cleaved her face in two.

"It was only three stores," Faith grunted her defense. "Stuff's hard to track down," she grumbled.

Buffy nodded. "Yes. Definitely dark, dangerous, and mysterious."

"Anyway," Faith said in a tone louder than necessary, abruptly changing the subject. "Sure you don't want some? Just a sip?" She held out the mug.

Buffy grabbed the cup, her hands covering Faith's. She leaned in and inhaled deeply through her nose. She made a little moan that sounded too sexual for Faith to let pass without a snarky remark. "Damn, B," she husked. "Don't get off just from the coffee beans. I'm starting to get a little jealous."

Buffy swatted Faith's arm and leaned away from her and the ceramic mug. "Pig," she chastised with a smirk.

Faith shook her head. "I don't know how you do it. No caffeine, no fish, no booze, no nothing. I know you have a martyr complex, but damn, girlfriend. This is like saintly behavior."

Buffy made a face. "What's it to you? At least I'm still having sex."

Faith wrapped her free arm around Buffy's waist and gently pulled her close enough so their stomachs touched – which, granted, with Buffy's current swollen-state, wasn't close enough. "Oh and believe me, baby," she purred. "I certainly do appreciate that."

Buffy laughed and pushed the taller girl away. "Hurry up and finish your coffee," she urged. "You're going to make us late for my doctor appointment."

Buffy stared in wonder at the tiny being wiggling around on the monitor located beside her hospital bed.

Her doctor moved around the ultrasound wand, the cool gel on her stomach making soft suction noises. "And there's the heart beat."

Small computer speakers were filled with a sound that vaguely resembled what Buffy imagined a horse's hooves rapidly striking under water would sound like. She looked away from the ultrasound monitor when she felt a soft hand take her own. Faith's beautiful features smiled warmly at her, and she squeezed her hand.

"No matter how many times I see that little mango and hear it's heart, it's always like the first time, ya know?" Faith announced in an uncharacteristic public show of emotion.

Buffy swallowed hard, surprised at how Faith's sentiments affected her. She felt a lump in her throat and she nodded in agreement, afraid that if she spoke, the words would get stuck on the way out.

Damn pregnancy hormones. Crying at the drop of a hat was something she would not miss when her baby was finally born. At this point, even ESPN commercials were making her cry. But holding Faith's hand and, together, watching the life growing inside her, made her pause and reflect on how amazing her life had turned out.

Admittedly, since her 16th birthday, her life had pretty much sucked. But now, with a baby on the way and the woman she loved holding her hand adoringly, it finally felt like the Fates were rewarding her for all the trials and tribulations they'd thrown her way. She wasn't a particularly religious person, but she'd always believed in the adage that God never gave you more than you could handle. God must have thought Buffy Summers could handle a lot. Or, He had one twisted sense of humor.

"And there's the baby's profile." Buffy's OB/GYN's voice snapped her away from her mental musings, and she returned her attention to the tiny life on the computer monitor.

"Just a few more weeks," Dr. Azabi observed, a smile in her voice. She pressed a button and a small printer whirred to life, spitting out a few copies of the baby's latest ultrasound image. "Getting excited? Nervous?"

Buffy nodded. "A little of both," she admitted. "But we've got the nursery just about finished, so that's a load off my mind. Dr. Azabi, you're positive you don't have any vacation plans coming up that you've forgotten about?" she worried out loud. She'd built a close rapport with the woman doctor over the past few months and trusted her. She hated to think that anyone else would be put in charge of helping her give birth when the time came.

Dr. Azabi laughed and her kind features crinkled. "Yes, Buffy. I'm positive. I will be here to deliver your baby."

"Relax, B. If the good doctor's busy, I can always take over." Faith flashed her girlfriend a smile filled with two rows of perfect teeth. "How hard can it be?"

"You're not funny," Buffy said, sticking her tongue out.

Dr. Azabi presented Buffy with the latest printout of her baby's ultrasound image. The Chosen One analyzed the digital features of her unborn child. With each doctor's visit, it was looking more and more human, which for Buffy was an obvious relief. She tucked the stack of pictures safely away in her purse. She always requested extra images – one for herself to go into her Belly Book, one to send to Dawn at college, one for Willow and Kennedy, and one for Preston, the baby's father.

Preston typically came along for every doctor's visit, he standing on one side of the hospital bed and Faith on the other. Today, however, he'd had an important meeting that couldn't be rescheduled, and Buffy had reassured her former fiancé that missing one doctor's visit wouldn't doom him to a future of bad Fatherhood.

Dr. Azabi handed Buffy a paper towel to clean the gel off her stomach. She scooted across the floor on her wheeled stool and washed her hands at a small in-room sink. "And you're sure you still don't want to know the baby's gender?" she questioned.

Buffy shook her head as she wiped the ultrasound goop from her rounded belly. "I'm going to love it either way, regardless if it's a boy or a girl."

"I'll just be happy if it's a human," Faith piped in.

Dr. Azabi chuckled and shook her head. Over the past few months of having Buffy as a patient, she'd come to appreciate the dynamic of the brunette and the blonde's relationship. "You're horrible. How do you put up with her, Buffy?" she teased.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Believe me, I wonder that myself sometimes."

Faith opened her mouth, always ready with a retort dripping with sexual entendre, but she thought better of it. For Buffy's sake she'd been trying to curb the coarseness of her language, at least in public. She'd save that for the bedroom, instead. She wasn't whipped, she repeatedly told herself; she was just maturing. Plus, when she behaved, there was always some kind of reward when they got home.

"What are you smiling about?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

"Nothing," the dark slayer said in a sing-song voice.

Faith slid into bed beside her sleeping girlfriend, careful not to wake her partner up. Her muscles ached in the best way from a particularly active evening on patrol; nothing she couldn't handle, just a few more vampires than usual and one particularly revolting demon in the Cleveland cemeteries. She mentally reminded herself to tell Giles about it in the morning. Maybe the Hellmouth was getting anxious about something.

When she'd returned home from patrol, she'd taken a long, hot shoulder to help ease the tension that had built up throughout the evening's activities, but she should have taken a cold shower instead. She was too worked up for sleep and the local delivery places were all closed for the night. There was only one other solution to her current predicament.

"Hey, B?" Faith whispered into the dark.

Her girlfriend, sleeping with her back turned to her, slightly stirred.

Faith reached out and placed her hand on Buffy's hip. Her tank top had ridden up during the night, leaving a healthy patch of skin uncovered. The warmth pulsing from Buffy's body felt reassuring, comforting. Faith slid her fingertips along the smooth skin.

"Buffy?" she tried again. She scooted a little closer, curling her body until she was spooning Buffy's smaller frame. She carefully swept Buffy's loose hair over her shoulder, giving her access to the nape of her neck. She pressed her mouth, warm and generous, against her girlfriend's skin.

The imperceptible movement of Buffy's backside becoming flush against her front pulled a knowing smile from Faith.

"Baby," Faith whispered into the shell of Buffy's ear. She made sure to let her lips brush over the sensitive skin, and she breathed softly and wetly into her lover's ear. "Are you awake?" She moved her hand from Buffy's hipbone and slid it up to the flat plane between her breasts.

"Mmm….good patrol tonight, baby?" Buffy murmured, slowly emerging from her heavy sleep. Even if it wasn't time to get up, Faith was the best alarm clock.

"The very best," Faith quietly breathed in her ear. "I wish you would have been there, babe. I haven't gotten to take you against a mausoleum in ages."

"Faith…" Buffy groaned lowly, still not quite fully awake, but cognizant enough to know what Faith was trying to do. "…the baby," she gently reminded her partner.

Buffy sighed contently and her body responded to Faith's gentle, but insistent touch. Her body reflexively arched into Faith when she slid a warm hand down along her flat abdomen. She bit down on her lower lip, stifling a low moan as Faith's hand swept lower still, her fingertips toying with the lace edging of her underwear.

Wait a minute. Her flat abdomen?!

Buffy jerked away from Faith and threw the heavy comforter back. She stared down at her tank top-covered torso, by now used to sight of a tell-tale, swollen bump that for the past 8 months had been stretching out all her shirts. But instead of seeing her distended stomach, her belly was flat.

"What…"

She ran her hand down her abdomen. She hadn't been able to feel her stomach muscles in months, and yet here she was, supposedly 8 months pregnant, feeling her stomach muscles bunch and cord.

"This has to be a dream," she rasped. "I need to wake up."

"B…Buffy…what's wrong?"

Buffy flinched. In her panic, she'd nearly forgotten Faith was in the room, too. "It's…it's gone," she whispered, her eyes still locked on her stomach.

"What's gone?" Faith tentatively touched her partner's shoulder.

Buffy reluctantly tore her eyes away from her bare belly and looked up into dark, chocolate eyes that reflected concern. "My baby," she choked out. Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "Where's my baby?"

Faith's unlined forehead furrowed and her eyebrows knit together. "What baby?"

"The one that's been growing in my stomach the past 8 months!" Buffy shrieked, no longer able to keep her panic under control.

Faith reflexively reached out for the smaller slayer who was now leaping out of bed. Buffy moved too quickly however, and was on her feet before Faith could grab her.

"Buffy," Faith started gently, as if addressing someone poised to jump off a bridge. "I'm not sure what's going on. Tell me what's wrong."

"Don't you notice anything different about me?" Buffy blustered.

Faith raised an eyebrow and raked in the site of her beautiful, if slightly manic and disheveled girlfriend. With Buffy in just a thin tank top and underwear, she wanted nothing more than to get her back in bed to continue what she'd started.

Realizing that Buffy was serious and waiting for a response, Faith shrugged helplessly.

Buffy jerked her body, turning to the side to become in profile. Her abdomen was more than flat, it was concave. "Really?!" she cried. She yanked the bottom hem of her shirt up and patted her naked stomach hard enough for the skin on skin to slap. "Still not ringing a bell?"

"Babe…just tell me," Faith emphatically urged. "You know I'm no good at reading your mind."

"Why am I not pregnant anymore?!" Buffy finally yelled. She clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. Her body was screaming at her to do something. To fix this. To jump into action. But she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what could have possibly happened.

The confusion on Faith's face fell away to be replaced by sorrow. "Buffy…" she said gently, quietly. "We've been over this before, sweetheart. You…you miscarried."

Buffy blinked once. "No." The word tumbled past her teeth.

Faith's mouth twitched. What was going on with her girlfriend? Yesterday she'd been normal. What could have possibly happened over the night? She swallowed hard, preparing herself for the tale: "Remember, honey? It was the day of you and Preston's wedding. You left Preston at the church because some demons had taken over the Mall. One of them…they stabbed you in the stomach."

"Why are you telling me all of this!?" Buffy demanded angrily. "I remember. I was there. Of course I remember," she grit out. "You carried me out of the Mall and got me to the ambulance."

Faith nodded. "Right. And when we got to the hospital…" she trailed off. She looked away, not able to meet her girlfriend's expectant gaze. "It was too late," she said thickly. "The baby. The baby didn't make it."

Buffy blanched. "You're lying," she managed to choke out just before she rushed out of the room.

"No, Buffy," Faith said, full of remorse. "I wish I was, but I'm not."

"I'll prove it to you," Buffy bellowed. She abruptly turned on her heels and sprinted out of the bedroom.

"Buffy!" Faith called after the other woman.

Buffy stormed down the hallway towards the 3rd bedroom. Even though she was currently away at college, Dawn's things occupied the 2nd largest bedroom in the house, and the 3rd bedroom had previously served as storage and an office. Over the past few months, however, she and Faith had been converting the space into the baby's nursery since there was really no need for them to have an at-home office.

Buffy yanked down hard on the handle and flung the door open. She reached inside, fumbling for the light switch. When she found the toggle and the room was finally bathed in light, she fell to her knees, crippled by disbelief.

The walls were beige, not the cheerful yellow she'd painstakingly picked out for the nursery. In the far corner was a worn, wooden desk, not the large white crib they'd just assembled, decorated with green and blue cartoonish owls. The bookshelf that she remembered filling with all of her favorite picture books from her own childhood wasn't even put together – it lay in pieces in the center of the room. Cardboard boxes filled the space with words like "winter jackets" and "sweaters to donate" scrawled in black marker on the side. The mural of a large, sprawling tree that she and her friends had spent a weekend drawing and painting wasn't anywhere to be seen. In short, there was no evidence, not a single item in the room, to suggest this was ever going to be a nursery.

"I don't understand," Buffy choked out, blinded by tears.

She felt Faith's hand cup the curve of her bare shoulder. Her words did nothing to console or offer any explanation. "I know, baby. I know."

TBC