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Chapter 4
 
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The usual disclaimer: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon have all the rights to everything. I just have fun with his characters
 
Thank you reviewers! You inspire me to write faster!
 
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Chapter 4
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A tall, dark skinned, distorted form moved down a stone corridor, followed closely by a smaller, shrunken form. The corridor was lit with torches, and was constructed of some reddish black stone that made the walls look as if they were painted in blood. At the end of the hall the tall creature pushed open a heavy metal door which groaned on its hinges, then stood to the side to allow the smaller figure to pass. The smaller figure hobbled along, leaning on a twisted staff. A close look at its face showed black skin, tightly stretched over a vaguely humanoid frame, but with a startling feature. The creature’s eyes were stitched shut, old scars healed over red cording. Despite this, the figure seemed to have no trouble navigating into the large space that had been revealed.
 
The room was filled with similar demons, arranged in concentric rows around the circular space. At the end opposite the door was an altar with a dais behind it which held a massive throne, made of some dark gray metal. The throne was occupied by a female creature with long stringy hair falling back from a ridged forehead. As the elder shrunken creature came in she sat up and spoke in a ringing voice saying, “What do you have to report, Seer?”
 
“The veil between the worlds grows thin,” croaked the Seer. “Since I was chosen I have watched for the signs. A time will come soon when we can cross to the other realm. A sacrifice done in that realm will increase our power in all realms. We will be able to thwart the powers of light.”
 
“But what of the other prophecy? The One who can destroy us?”
 
“Ah, but there is the beauty of it, Ruler. For the One will come in the form of a child. A child born of power, at the intersection of light and darkness. If this child is sacrificed to our cause, its power will add to the powers of darkness. The birth of the child and the thinning of the veil will coincide. It can be done.”
 
“Are you certain of this, Seer?” the Ruler asked sternly. “You are ancient of days, and it can be that your mind is not what it was.”
 
“My mind is the same as the day I took my vows and gave my vision to the service of all the Dwak Dlam. I have foreseen this child, born of a demon and a champion of the Powers. I have calculated the moment when the sacrifice must be performed, on the precise day and time when the veil between our worlds is the thinnest. There is no error.”
 
The Ruler sat back, thinking for a moment. Then she stood and thundered, “Let all the Dwak Dlam hear me. We will prepare for the sacrifice. Our Seer has foretold our ascendance into ultimate power. Let everyone among you hear what must be done, and obey.” A great shout came up from the assembly, echoing in the giant stone room. The Ruler sat back down, well pleased. Our time will soon be at hand.
 
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Black figures chased them down the hall. Buffy clutched the small bundle which squirmed in her arms. If they could reach the doorway, they would be able to get out, but the figures were gaining on them and they were out of time….
 
Buffy sat up, gasping. Her movement woke Spike, who blearily sat up as well, trying to focus. Another nightmare, pet? Spike asked.
 
Yeah. Those black demon things again. Chasing us and trying to get the baby. It was horrible… She shuddered and Spike gathered her close, rocking her gently. The nightmares didn’t happen every night, but they seemed to be more frequent and more troubling every time. Two weeks had passed since they had learned of their impending status as parents. They had done a good job of maintaining their usual routine, but had supplemented it with more late night visits to the Magic Box, researching possible causes. They had even started researching demons like the ones in their dreams, but had struck out there as well.
 
Buffy gradually got back under control and disentangled herself from Spike. Thanks, honey.
 
No problem, love, he replied. He squinted at the clock. It’s six in the morning. Are you going to go back to sleep?
 
I think I’ll get up. Can’t sleep after that anyhow. How about you?
 
Could use a bit more kip. Do you mind?
 
Course not. She got up and moved around to the other side of the bed. Bending down, she planted a kiss on the parted lips of her vampire. Sweet dreams, lover. Spike took her hand and kissed it before settling back into the pillows for a few more hours of sleep.
 
Buffy showered and got dressed before heading downstairs. She had toast for what felt like the eighty-fifth day in a row – anything else in the morning seemed to upset her stomach these days. She had also quietly switched to decaf coffee. This baby might or might not be fully human, but given the way Spike reacted to too much caffeine, she thought cutting down would probably be a good thing. She finished her breakfast and cleared her place, but then was at a loss for what to do. After a few minutes thought, she scribbled a note to Spike and Dawn, and headed out the door to the Magic Box.
 
She had never been much of a lover of research, but she felt driven by a greater need. It would be a few months before they could see anything much with an ultrasound, and she felt like she would go crazy waiting until then. What was growing inside her? What would it do to her? Who was messing with them? These questions pounced on her the moment she got up every morning and at every dull moment throughout the day. If she didn’t get some answers soon, she was going to go nuts.
 
The Magic Box was closed, but Buffy let herself in with her key. She started out by spending a half hour in the training room, practicing with the weapons and targets that she had no room for at home. Then she sighed, and started looking through various demonology texts again. She skipped over any demons that weren’t black, or weren’t sufficiently humanoid, but that still left too many possibilities. She continued flipping through book after book, getting absolutely nowhere, and completely losing track of time. Her fruitless search continued until it was interrupted by the bell above the door.
 
Buffy looked up as Anya walked in, followed closely by Xander. Buffy slammed the book nervously and stood up. “Um, hi,” she said awkwardly. “I was just doing some research. I’ll get out of your way.”
 
“You don’t have to leave if you’re still working,” said Anya as Xander froze next to her.
 
“No, I was just finishing up, it’s okay…”
 
“Buffy, how are you?” Xander interrupted.
 
“Um, fine, but I really need to go,” she stammered. She found herself unprepared to deal with Xander. His presence brought back to mind those first few painful weeks after she returned: the panic, the worry about Dawn, the terror of nearly losing Spike to Xander’s overzealous stake. She found herself struggling to keep calm as she walked toward the door.
 
“Buffy, wait,” said Xander, moving to block her exit. “I haven’t seen you since…”
 
“Since you tried to kill my boyfriend?” Buffy snapped. “Amazingly, I had some issues with that.”
 
“Look, I made a mistake,” he said, trying to find some way to keep her there. “How was I supposed to know he hadn’t turned you?”
 
“Like I said then, you could have asked first, instead of assuming,” Buffy replied. “Willow assumed I was in hell, you assumed I was a vampire, Angel assumed that I would want to rush into his arms the moment I got back. The whole lot of you could, I dunno, go crazy and talk to me before you go jumping to conclusions. Wild idea, but it could actually work, you know.”
 
Xander was taken aback, and had no answer at first. He swallowed and said, “Buffy, we were all so messed up when you… died. We wanted you back so bad, we didn’t think clearly. But now you’re back and we still miss you. Are we ever going to get a chance to make it up to you?”
 
Buffy stood with her arms folded, looking at the ground. Finally she said, “Xander, I don’t want to shut you guys out forever. But I don’t want to fight you either. And as long as I’ve got to worry about you insulting or staking the man I love, I’m better off on my own.” She stalked off toward the door.
 
“Buffy, wait,” Xander said, grabbing her arm as she passed. “I’m sorry, about the whole thing. It’s just… with the history, and what happened with Angel, you’ve got to understand that we’re having a lot of trouble with this.”
 
“Spike isn’t Angel, Xander,” Buffy said quietly, staring him down. “Until you really, completely understand that, we have nothing to say to each other.” With that she pulled her arm out of his and left.
 
Xander stared after her, watching the door close. Anya had moved over to the table and was looking at the books Buffy had been reading. “Looks like she must be trying to identify something,” she remarked as she started closing up the books and putting them away.
 
“Ahn? Am I really that far off the mark here? I mean, it is normal to be worried about your friend dating a vampire, isn’t it?” he asked.
 
Anya took a deep breath. “Xander, sit down,” she said. They both sat at the table and she took his hands. “Do you know what I did for a thousand years?”
 
“I know you were a demon, Anya. But you’re human now. I don’t hold all that against you.”
 
“Xander, do you really understand what I did? I made people suffer. Sometimes I made people die. I left pain and chaos in my wake in the name of vengeance. How is it that you can look past that?” she said, fixing him with a searching look.
 
“I didn’t know you when you did all that. You haven’t done anything like that since you’ve been human. Why should I be mad at you for stuff you did before my grandparents were born?” To Xander the concept was completely obvious, and he wondered where she was going with this.
 
“Since before Buffy died, Spike has been helping her and us. Ok, he killed a lot of people in his time. He sorta has to in order to live. I never had to kill anyone. I did it because I wanted to. I changed because I was forced to. He changed because he loves Buffy.”
 
Xander scoffed. “He changed because he had a chip shoved in his brain. If it ever stopped working he’d be on us in a second!”
 
“His chip hasn’t worked on Buffy since she came back. And yet the Slayer of Slayers hasn’t hurt her. Instead he paid off her mortgage and supports her and her sister.”
 
“He tried to turn us against each other, threatened to kill me and Willow, and I’m supposed to forget all that?”
 
“But he changed, Xander. He had no reason to stay this summer. No reason at all. He stayed out of love for Buffy and Dawn. And he would have sent her back to heaven, regardless of the cost to himself, if we hadn’t gotten in the way.”
 
Xander was exasperated. “But I still don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do here!” he cried.
 
“Nothing,” said Anya firmly. “You’re going to do nothing. You are going to accept that Spike and Buffy are a couple. You are going to treat him with respect, or at least keep your mouth shut when they’re around. And you’re going to do it because if you don’t Buffy will never let you back into her life. You screwed up her chance for eternal rest and peace. You owe her this much.”
 
Xander looked down at Anya’s hands, clasped in his. He suddenly wondered what it would be like if, say, Giles had decided an ex-vengeance demon could not be reformed, and should be done away with. Or if Willow spent all her time getting in digs about his girlfriend’s past. “I’m never going to like that guy,” Xander said at last.
 
Anya squeezed his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say you had to like him. Just leave them be,” she said. Then she added, “Besides, it is a real turn off to have my boyfriend spend all his time worrying about another woman. Doesn’t do much for our sex life.”
 
“And the real reason for this heart to heart comes out,” Xander said. “Alright, Ahn. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
 
“Good. Because I think it would hurt me more than you if I had to withhold sex to get you to see reason.” Xander blanched at the thought, but resolved to at least give it the old college try.
 
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Buffy walked home feeling nauseous, and not just because of the hormones. Are they ever going to let up? Am I going to spend the rest of my life wondering if this is the day one of them decides to stake him? She was so tired of their interference in her life. A part of her just wanted to wash her hands of them entirely.
 
But there was this…thing growing inside her, and the mystery of how that came to be weighed on her mind. At some point, they were going to need some help to sort all this out. What was going to happen when they couldn’t hide it anymore? How was she going to keep Dawn safe once every demon in Sunnydale got word that the Slayer was pregnant? If social services found out she was an unwed mother, would they take Dawn away again? Gah! I’m so sick of questions! My brain can’t generate anything else lately!
 
Well, I don’t know. Seems to generate some interesting positions in the bedroom. Spike was in the kitchen, enjoying his breakfast, when her thoughts came barreling into his mind as she came down the street.
 
Ha, ha. Out of my head, vampire, she shot back as she turned up the driveway.
 
Make me, he retorted, and he conjured up some extremely pornographic scenes from a few nights back that had her blushing and moist between the legs by the time she got in the door. She took in the sight of him, lounging at the kitchen island in his bathrobe, and sighed happily.
 
“Good morning, Mr. Sleepyhead,” she said, moving into his arms for a kiss. “Nice of you to join the land of the living.”
 
“Well, the unliving in my case,” he said, providing the kiss she sought. “Dawn got off to school alright. What were you up to?”
 
“Did some weapons training and then tried hitting the books some more to identify those demons. No luck.” She frowned a bit and added, “Xander came in before I left.”
 
Spike raised an eyebrow. “How did that go?”
 
“Still pretty tense there. I let him know that he needs to get over the whole ‘Grr, kill the vampire’ thing if he wants to patch things up.”
 
“Thanks for that little requirement, love,” he said, nibbling her neck slightly. “I do think you’re going to want to patch things up with them at some point though. I’m starting to think we’re going to need some help with our little mystery guest here.” He rubbed Buffy’s still flat stomach for emphasis.
 
“Yeah, I know,” she sighed. “I’m just not sure how to break it to them. I’ve got to worry about their reaction, social services freaking out, Giles would probably clean his glasses completely out of existence – it’s all just so hard to face.”
 
“Hey, none of that now,” he said, cupping her chin and capturing her gaze. “I’m not gonna let them harass you, you know that. And I’ve been investigating on the whole social services front, and I think I might have some ideas on how to deal with that.”
 
“Really? How?”
 
“Let me get a little more information, then I can explain it all at once, okay?”
 
Buffy looked at him intently. He seemed to be guarding some of his thoughts from her. What are you hiding? Are you trying to do something illegal or something?
 
No, love, I promise. I just don’t want to tell you something that isn’t going to work, ok? In truth, Spike did have a secret he was keeping from her, and it took all his effort to keep it locked away in the back of his mind. But he hoped that when the secret was out she would forgive him.
 
Buffy searched his gaze one more time, then relented. “Ok, I guess I’ll have to trust you. But don’t keep me waiting too long. This whole thing is really stressing me out.”
 
Spike stood up and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry love. I promise I’ll get it sorted out soon.” He rinsed out his mug and put it in the sink for later. Turning back to Buffy he said, “Clem’s out of town tonight so there’s no poker game. I called Tara and asked if she would take Dawn for the night. She said she’d love to spend some time with her, and I know Dawn’s been asking for a while as well. Maybe we could go out, just you and me, and not have to worry about hurrying home.”
 
Buffy brightened at the idea. “A date? People are going to think you’re my boyfriend or something,” she teased. But Spike could feel the pleasure coming over the link, and it thrilled him to no end.
 
Buffy spent the rest of the morning reading a book on pregnancy that she had gotten out of the library and kept carefully hidden from Dawn. Spike spent his time doing more research in an effort to figure out what sort of demons they kept dreaming about. Spike found after a while that his gaze kept drifting to read over Buffy’s shoulder. He realized that he actually knew fuck-all about pregnancy and all that. Such things were simply not discussed among the menfolk when he was alive, and they concerned him not at all after he was turned. Pregnant women were occasionally dinner, but otherwise didn’t register on his radar. He found himself fascinated by the whole biology of the thing, amazed that women put up with it. After a while, a voice in his head said, Do you want to trade books already? Buffy looked up at him with an amused smile.
 
Sorry, suppose it’s rude to read over your shoulder. But then, creature of evil, you know.
 
Yeah, I know, you big softie, she teased. The more I read about this stuff the less I fear demons. This stuff scares me more than Glory I think.
 
Spike wrapped an arm around her and drew her close. You’ll be fine, love. You’re strong and fit. Kid will probably come flying out at sixty miles an hour.
 
You’d better be there to catch it then.
 
Spike grew slightly more pale than normal. I don’t bloody have to watch all this, do I? I mean, the father gets to pace and smoke cigarettes in the waiting room, right?
 
Buffy laughed. Oh no you don’t. I need a labor coach. I need someone to swear at and to let me squeeze their hand and all that. Not getting out of this one, William Pratt. Buffy laughed again at the utterly horrified expression on his face. So you can make up a quarter of the Scourge of Europe, but you wimp out when it comes to childbirth?
 
Spike swallowed. Just give me some time to read up on this. And perhaps plan a business trip for July. He ducked as Buffy swatted him with a throw pillow and then got up.
 
I have faith in you. You’ll survive. She took the book and went upstairs to stash it where prying teenage eyes couldn’t see it. Spike found himself pondering the whole situation further. It wasn’t so much the childbirth aspect. If he could watch Dru making out with a chaos demon, he could stomach damn near anything. What really bothered him was that his girl was going to be in pain, there would be nothing he could do to stop it, and it was sort of his fault that she was in pain in the first place. He was going to be a basket case worrying about whether she would be okay. Did women die in childbirth anymore? Used to be common in his day, but he honestly hadn’t really kept up on that. Guess I’ll have to do my own research on this subject, he thought to himself. And lay in an enormous supply of whiskey.
 
I heard that, came the voice in his head from upstairs. He smirked, shook his head, and went back to the demonology text.
 
TBC
 
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