Confirmation and Panic

The shop girl seemed irritated by the mere presence of customers in her store. Looking up at Buffy with a scowl she then looked past her to where Spike was examining bottles of pills, and made no effort to try and hide the fact she found him attractive, running her eyes up and down his body, but when she caught the look Buffy gave her in return she went back to scowling. "Look, if you and your boyfriend ain't gonna buy anyth-"

"He is not my boyfriend," Buffy interrupted her, and the girl was taken aback, but not as much as Spike. He turned to face her, raising both eyebrows, caught between fear and confusion. Buffy winked at him before concluding, "He's my husband."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Spike stalked over to her and grabbed hold of her slim figure, spinning her round slightly as he kissed her. "Had me going for a moment there, Slayer," he whispered in her ear.

Buffy smiled up at him, "Couldn't resist."

Once more he pulled her closer, "I'll show you what I can't resist."

Simultaneously blushing and giggling, Buffy pushed him away slightly, "Not here."

"Yeah," agreed the shop girl, rolling her eyes, "Not here."

Spike kissed Buffy once more before letting her go and turning to put the items he'd selected – a pregnancy test and folic acid pills – on the counter, for the girl to ring up. Telling him the price Spike noted an air of judgment about her. She was really pissing him off. Snatching the receipt and his change from her hand he leaned in close, almost snarling, "Have you got a problem?"

"No," she said, trying to sound confident, but he could hear her heart racing in fear.

Pushing forward across the counter a couple more inches, getting right into her face, he whispered, "Good," before pulling away completely and carrying Buffy out of the store.

"What is wrong with bloody people?!" he asked, rhetorically.

Buffy laughed and shook her head saying, "You shouldn't get so wound up. She's not worth it."

"No," he agreed, "She's not, but you don't deserve that. You're worth everything."

That was all he needed to say to get her kissing him passionately again.

Buffy sat on the edge of the bath looking the instructions for the testing kit, and Spike stood against the wall watching.

"How many times you gonna read that, luv?" he asked, finally. "It's not rocket science. You piss on a stick and it changes color."

She looked up at him with a frown. "I'm wondering if it'll work right now."

"Why?"

"Well, because we just… did that thing, and won't our, y'know… fluids, or whatever, mess it up or something?"

Spike shook his head and kneeled beside her, "How can you do the things we do and still be all shy about it sometimes?"

"I… I don't know. I'm scared."

"You forget we already know the answer."

That caused her to smile. "It's really real?"

"Really is. Just take the test, you'll see."

Buffy nodded, and Spike went to leave the room.

"No, stay!" she commanded him, then added more softly, "I mean, if that's okay? Is that gross?"

Spike shook his head again, "Nothing you do is gross to me. But I am gonna turn my back, alright, Slayer?"

She nodded, "Thank you."

"Spike!" Buffy yelled, and he spun around in a panic.

"What? You okay?"

"I'm, yes! Spike, I'm pregnant!"

Taking a breath he said, "You're a daft bloody woman." Then he smiled – a wide satisfied smile – and she beamed back at him.

"Spike?" she said in a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Take me to bed."

Spike woke up to Buffy making the most unholy racket.

"What the bleeding hell are you doing, woman?"

Briefly she popped her head out of the closet she was rummaging through to look at him and mutter, "Freaking out," before beginning her search again – and knocking over more boxes in the process.

Spike got up and put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her back against his chest where she rested for a moment, letting out a deep sigh.

"Buffy?" was all he said, and she sighed again before turning around into his arms fully.

"Felt a bit panic-y," she admitted. "Woke up realizing we're gonna have a little tiny human to take care of in practically no time at all and we have nothing ready."

Spike grinned a little then kissed the top of her head. "We've got about seven months, luv. Plenty of time to prepare."

Buffy's eyes went wide. "SEVEN months?! I thought we had nine! Does it take less time because we're special? Or because something's wrong? Oh, God!"

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Spike started rubbing his hands down her bare arms "Nothing's wrong. You're having a normal nine months pregnancy, you just so happen to be about two months through it already."

"Oh," she said. "Huh?"

He shook his head and guided her over to sit on their bed. "No-one ever explain this to you?"

She just looked at him, still wide eyed.

"Most women don't find out about their pregnancy until part way through it. We only made the discovery because I heard the heart beating, which doesn't start until about a month and a half in."

"How do you know this?" Buffy asked, and suddenly he averted her gaze. "Spike?"

"Well," he began, looking bashful, "For one thing, I'm old enough to have picked up a few tit-bits of information over the years, even if it never affected me before. And, secondly…" he tapered off, lifting one of his hands away from her to reach into the drawer in his nightstand to pull out a copy of 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' and placing it in her lap.

"Did a little shoplifting while we were out. Bitch deserved it."

Completely ignoring her husband's brief return to petty crime Buffy's eyes softened and filled with awe-like wonder. "You're really excited for this baby, aren't you?"

"To borrow a phrase, luv, I'd have to say 'Duh'!"

Buffy giggled and reached up to let her fingers trace the curve of his smile. "You're gonna be a great father," she whispered. And suddenly there was a look of awe in his eyes too.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"I know so," she confirmed.

He kissed her, then, and told her how much he loved her.

"I love you, too," she replied, "I know I don't tell you enough."

Spike smiled and took her hands in his saying, "You show me, which will always mean the world. Now, are you going to stop flapping and interrupting my beauty sleep?"

Buffy stuck out her tongue at him playfully, "Sorry Mr Grumpy pants."

He raised an eyebrow, laughing, "Mr Grumpy Pants? You're puns and comebacks have really gone downhill, luv. And you should know better than to tease me with that tongue of yours."

Buffy blushed and gave him a chaste kiss. "Thank you for keeping me sane through all this."

"My pleasure," he said. "Insanity doesn't turn me on as much as it used to."

Buffy moved to slap him but he held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. That wasn't funny."

"Yeah," she agreed, "Well it better be true regardless."

He grinned, "You'll be the only one that'll ever turn me on, no matter if you ever go mad or not."

"Good!" said Buffy, "Because I don't know if I can keep it together throughout all this. I mean, look at me, I've known like a day and I'm already freaked."

"The whole thing is kind of-"

"Terrifying," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Isn't it weird," she mused, "That I can literally fight hell when it breaks lose, get stabbed and die and all sorts – learn how to deal with all that and then when it comes to losing mom, finding you again, or having a family, I become this little fainting damsel in distress. I don't like it." Buffy pouted, and Spike couldn't help but find it adorable.

"S'not weird, luv. As we've covered, babies and prospect of having them are downright scary. Demons? Not so much. Not for us, anyways."

She nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right. And I get what you meant now. Like, really get it. When we finally got close, in those last days before the hellmouth was gone for good; I understand the terror of getting what you want most."

To be continued...