"Where did they get the cells from?" Faith asked.

"You shed skin cells all the time." Willow said. "You brush your hair with a hairbrush, you get injured. They could even have deliberately brushed against you as you walked down the street and scraped your hand. There's any number of ways they could have gotten it."

"Okay, freaky deaky stuff. So the baby was made from me and they put it in Joyce because she wasn't protected. We need to get protection on her."

"Indeed, while it may be too late to prevent what has already happened, it could prevent something else from happening." Giles agreed.

"I'll talk to Anna." Willow promised. "In the meantime, it probably is a good idea if you go ahead and get a scan. If the spirit was concerned that the memory spell could cause issues for you, then there probably is a preexisting condition that would account for the concern. And pregnancy, especially at your age, is hard on the body. Better to be safe, then sorry."

"I'll schedule an appointment with my doctor tomorrow." Joyce agreed. "I should have done it already. It may have only been a month since we got the message from the spirit, but I should have done it right away. I can use the excuse of pregnancy fears to convince my doctor to do it. Rupert, you and I need to talk later. For now, we concentrate on getting Xander though this. I imagine he's going to have a difficult time dealing with the loss of his finger."

"It's a good thing he learned how to shoot with his left hand too." Cordelia said. "He'd hate to be benched."

The surgery took several hours to complete and the doctor finally returned to the waiting room to talk to them.

"He came through the surgery just fine." He assured them. "He'll be able to go home in a few days. He's in recovery right now. Once we move him to a private room, you'll be able to visit him. He's going to be in the recovery room for a while, so why don't you go home and get some rest. You can come back in the morning, he should be out of recovery by then."

The group reluctantly agreed and each headed for their homes.

Cordelia found it difficult to sleep. Xander had been sleeping beside her every night for a year and half at this point. It was their first night apart and she was hurting for and missing Xander. She prayed he'd be home soon.

He was. A few days later he was released from the hospital and Cordelia drove him home. She later found him sitting on the couch staring at his bandage wrapped hand.

"Xander? Are you alright?"

"I don't know. The doctor warned me about the phantom limb thing, but I swear it's almost like I can wiggle my finger. It's really confusing."

"I can imagine. While you were in the hospital, I was alone. I haven't slept alone since we moved in together. It's like a piece of me was missing. I got my piece back."

They smiled at each other and Cordelia leaned against his side and he wrapped his uninjured arn around her.

"I'll be alright. I've got you and that's all I need to be complete."

"Same here." Cordelia agreed.

Across town Giles and Joyce were having a conversation as well.

"We need to make sure Faith is apart this baby's life." Joyce told Giles. "It's apart of her too."

"I agree. But I'm more concerned with you right now."

"Me? Why me? The pregnancy is going fine."

"The pregnancy that was forced on you by those blasted monks. They had no right to do it. Desperate or not, it doesn't change the fact that they violated you."

"No, you're right it doesn't. And trust me, I'm angry about that. But the thing is Rupert, if they'd asked, I'd have said yes. I've always wanted another child and now, I'm going to have one. The note from the spirit said, this baby is innocent. It is, it never asked for this, but that doesn't change the fact that it exists. And I want it, I want this baby. So, am I angry that this was forced this on me? Yes. But I want the baby. I wanted the baby when I thought you were the father and I want it now that I know there's no father. It's as simple as that."

"I am angry too. For more then two months total I thought I helped make a child, now I find out, I didn't. They took that from me. Like everything else they've done in regards to this matter, they had no right. But you're also right that in the end I love this child whether I helped create it or not. So I am also grateful, because it does exist and I have a chance to be a father. Biological or not, that is my child too."

Joyce took his hand and placed it on her stomach. "Yes, it is." And they smiled at each other as well.