“So it was like electroshock for your….”

“Right.”

“…and that’s how she got…”

“Right.”

“…but, then you guys had to…”

“Gods, bloke! Do I have to spell it out for you?”

Xander shrugged at Spike.

"Sorry Captain Peroxide….I just haven’t read up on my one-in-a-million pregnancy rituals in a while.”

Buffy entered the hallway and sat on the pile of rubble next to Spike.

“Can we go now? I’m really tired guys…and my tummy is getting all rumbly.”

Willow moved to Buffy’s side.

“Are you okay? You don’t look well…”

“I…I’m okay…I just need to sit down for a while, get my wind back, you know?”

As Buffy took a deep breath and rested her head between her small, dirty hands, she jerked and bent forward in pain. She cried out and Spike grabbed her back, holding her steady. But even his strength couldn’t stop the inevitable. A burst of liquid fell from Buffy and covered the floor beneath her. She moaned in distress, and Willow kneeled in front of her.

“Ohhh no. Spike, help me lay her down over here.”

Spike took his duster from Buffy’s grip and laid it down on a rubble-free area of the hallway, before gently helping Buffy to the floor.

“You comfortable, pet?”

She grimaced.

“Yeah…I’m great. No cushy hospital bed or epidural for me. The floor is great. So comfy!”

Spike smiled and caressed the side of her face. He stood up and turned to Willow.

“What can I do for her?”

“Well…I’ve never delivered a baby before…let alone a half-vampire baby, so…I…I don’t really know exactly…um…just make her as comfortable as possible I guess….Babies have a tendency to kind of deliver themselves.”

Buffy laughed sarcastically, and Spike knelt down beside her.

“It’s coming now, yeah?”

She nodded.

“Yeah. I guess half vamps don’t need the full nine months….”

“Buffy?”

“What?”

“I know now’s not the best timing….”

“When did we ever do anything with good timing?”

He smiled.

“Buffy, love…I just wanted to ask you to promise me something.”

“Sure…but can you hurry up, please? I’m trying to push your baby out of me.”

“We have to be alone sometime by the end of the week…”

“Spike, I’m not getting started on baby round two just yet…”

“No…not for that, not that I wouldn’t love to, mind you, it’s just….”

Buffy moaned loudly.

“Oh god! Please, Spike, hurry up so I can concentrate okay?”

“It’s just something Anya said before she sent me back…kind of a stipulation….”

“Fine, we’ll do whatever it is…I trust you.”

“Pet, it’s not that simple…it’s something we have to do that’s kind of…well…”

Angel, who had been brooding in the corner, silently, had finally had enough.

“God! Just spit it out already! I can’t take it anymore! This is ridiculous!”

Spike scowled at him before turning back to Buffy.

“Buffy, she said that before the week was out, I’d have to claim you, or I’d be sent back to heaven, or wherever the hell I was.”

Angel’s face turned even paler than it normally was, and both Willow and Buffy looked at him, quizzically.

“What does that mean?”

“It means…Buffy, pet, it means that we’ll be mated for life…or unlife. It’ll give us this special connection thing…it’s like marriage, only it’s normally for vampires…when I was with Dru….”

Buffy frowned.

"Who is exactly the person I want to hear about while I'm pushing your child out of me."

“Buffy…when I was with her, I tried, but she wouldn’t let me…she didn’t want the stigma that went with it…it gives special powers to the vampires involved...it's some weird power that vampires and other demons can sense....”

“But I’m not a vampire.”

“Yeah, I know, and usually only vamps do it, but Anya said it'll work about the same way, especially since you’re the Slayer and all. It’ll make us more powerful.”

“How’s that possible?”

“Well…we’ll have double the power that we have now…I’ll gain all of the Slayer strengths and you’ll gain all of my vamp strengths…and we’ll be able to sense each other, and talk telekinetically or some shit.”

Angel pushed his way into the group, yet again.

“And the weaknesses? Don’t forget those Spike…you’ll never be able to be alone again Buffy. He’ll always be there…thinking with you, knowing what you’re thinking, intruding on every thought you have…and you’ll turn evil…you will. You think he has trouble controlling his evil side? Just wait till he has your power…you’ll both turn evil…you’ll lose yourself. That’s why there aren’t any vampires who mate anymore. No one wants that kind of intrusion.”

“Shut it Poofter! Leave her alone, it’s her decision, not yours!”

While Angel and Spike were eyeing each other up and growling, Willow was tending to Buffy, who was straining in labor.

“Oh god, Buffy, I think I can see the head…okay, push again? You know this really isn't fair, Buffy. Most women have hours or days of labor...geez, must be nice.”

Buffy cringed in pain and stress and glared at Willow.

"Oh yeah, I feel soo lucky Willow!"

Spike broke his stare with Angel to kneel back down beside Buffy.

“It’s coming now?”

Buffy nodded and cried out as she pushed. A loud wail came from Willow’s hands, as she cupped the small, red child. After cutting the child free from the umbilical cord, Willow took off her sweater and wiped the child clean with it. Spike stared in awe at his child, and looked at Willow.

“It’s a girl,” she said, handing the tiny baby to him.

Buffy moaned again.

“Willow, if she’s out, why does it still hurt so much?”

Willow’s eyes widened as she noticed another head emerging.

“Oh god, Buffy…its…its….”

“What???”

“It’s twins!”

--

Another hour and a half later, Buffy was being carried to Angel’s car in a shirtless Spike’s arms. Willow cradled the tiny newborn girl, wrapped in her father’s t-shirt, just as an equally shirtless Xander held a t-shirted newborn boy in his arms. Angel drove slowly back to Buffy’s hotel with the heater on.

Surprisingly, the newborns only fussed when out of their parent’s arms. An exhausted Buffy stared lovingly at her son and daughter, each being held in their father’s strong arms. She began to drift off into the first few minutes of sleep she had had in days. For the first time in six months, there were no nightmares.