Disclaimer: I don’t make any money off the characters. I just borrow them from Joss Whedon et. al.
 
Another chapter to (hopefully) make my reviewers happy. Or at least keep them reading.
 
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Chapter 21
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Dawn and Buffy were enjoying their Friday night movie and ice cream session as usual. Buffy was eating coffee ice cream with pineapple sauce, which Dawn thought was the grossest thing she had ever heard of. Buffy normally would have agreed, but apparently Emma had other thoughts, and the strange combination tasted so good to her that she shrugged and gave in to the hormones. As she sighed with contentment when the bowl was finished, Dawn decided to strike.
 
“Buffy? Can I go to the Bronze with my friends on Saturday?” Dawn asked, trying not to beg.
 
“Are you serious? With all the vampires, demons and whatnot around here? Not to mention you’re a freshman, and I remember all the things that seemed like a good idea when I was a freshman that got me in huge trouble later?”
 
Dawn gave up and resorted to begging. “Please? A bunch of my friends are going to be there and there is a really great band playing! Besides, we all have those amulets now so the spies can’t sneak up on us and puhleeease?”
 
“Hey ladies,” Spike said as he came home from poker and patrol. “My enhanced hearing detected groveling from the sister-in-law.”
 
“Spike, tell Buffy I’m old enough to go to the Bronze with my friends on Saturday,” Dawn said.
 
“Um, yeah. The vampire’s going to contradict the lady with the stakes and the hormones. Not going to happen, Nibblet.”
 
“You guys are totally unreasonable!” Dawn yelled.
 
Spike caught Buffy’s eye. Fancy a trip to the Bronze, love? Buffy sighed, but said, “The only way I will let you go is if I go too, and you do not leave the Bronze without me.”
 
“Really?” Dawn said, instantly brightening.
 
“Yes. I’ll see if the gang wants to go and hang out. That way we’ll stay out of your way, but we’ll still be there to keep an eye on you.”
 
“You guys are the best!” Dawn cried happily. She hugged them both and raced off to call her friend Janice.
 
From totally unreasonable to the best in thirty seconds. Not bad, I guess, Spike mused with a smirk. He sat down next to Buffy on the couch and kissed her tenderly. He rubbed a hand gently over her belly, smiling as he felt the baby kick.
 
“Kid’s got a good round kick,” Spike said.
 
“I’m pretty sure that was a side kick,” Buffy joked. “But if she doesn’t stop using my bladder as a punching bag she’s going straight to her room the second she gets here.”
 
“Now, now. She’s young. We have to give her a break.”
 
“You’re going to spoil her rotten, aren’t you,” Buffy said with a mock frown.
 
“Absolutely,” Spike said. “Gonna have me wrapped around her little finger from the moment I see her.”
 
“I suppose we’ll have to live with that,” she replied happily. She loved these times, when they could just revel in the reality of this new child, their child. “We’re going to have to think about setting up a nursery sometime,” she remarked.
 
“I suppose your mum’s old room will have to serve,” Spike said, still stroking Buffy’s ever expanding middle. “Have you heard anything from Giles?” he asked, changing the subject.
 
“He is still searching. It’s been a few weeks now. I’m starting to get a bit worried. I mean, I’m seven and a half months. What’s going to happen in another month and a half?” Buffy turned to him with worried eyes.
 
“Other than a lot of wet nappies to change? Not sure,” Spike said. He hesitated, not wanting to piss her off, but then he added, “Do you think you should start putting the wards up when I’m out?”
 
“What?” she said.
 
“I’m just worried about you. The bigger you get, the harder it’s going to be to defend yourself and protect Dawn. If something comes after you while I’m on patrol…” He left the thought unfinished, but Buffy could feel the apprehension in her mate.
 
“You’d blame yourself, wouldn’t you?” Buffy said.
 
“Yeah,” said Spike, pulling her close and resting his head on hers. “Might not be rational, but I would.”
 
“William,” she said, sitting up and catching his eyes. “The only thing about this that is your fault is our daughter, and I don’t think you need to feel guilty about that. The rest of this is just life as the Slayer. Someone’s been after me since I was 15. I’m used to it by now.”
 
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it though,” Spike mumbled.
 
Buffy searched his feelings, and found as always love, devotion, and protectiveness, but no feeling that she was inadequate or helpless. He desperately wanted her, and their daughter, to live. “Spike,” Buffy said at last. “If it will make you less anxious, I’ll put the wards up when you’re gone. I know you’re just worried about us.”
 
“Keep me anyhow?” Spike asked sheepishly. He knew how much she hated being overprotected.
 
“Yeah, I’ll keep you. Besides, you’re an antique. I could probably get good money for you on eBay,” Buffy joked.
 
“Watch it, Slayer, or I’ll eat you myself,” he growled playfully. He got up, watched amusedly as Buffy wrestled her bulky self out of the couch, and followed her up to bed.
 
************************************
 
“Spike! Buffy! Over here,” called Tara, waving from across the crowded room. Buffy, Spike, and Dawn had gotten to the Bronze after picking up Dawn’s friend Janice. Spike quickly scanned the crowd, but detected no vampires or other demons, so Buffy turned the teens loose with strict instructions not to leave the building. Now they made their way through the throng to join the Scoobies at a table that was far enough away from the speakers to talk without shouting.
 
“Hey, guys,” Buffy said, hoisting herself awkwardly onto a tall stool. “Gotta say, the extra passenger makes everything a challenge these days.”
 
“But yet, you look as slim and athletic as ever!” joked Xander. “Ms. Summers, how do you do it?”
 
“Sorry, but if I told you my secret, I’d have to kill you,” Buffy said, deadpan. Then they all laughed, reveling in how good it felt to be a group again.
 
“’M about to die of thirst over here,” said Spike. “What can I get everyone?” He listened to their orders, and came back in a few minutes with an assortment of beers and sodas. They sat and chatted, Spike with one arm around Buff’s shoulder’s and a beer in the other hand as he slouched comfortably in his chair. Willow and Tara were once more holding hands under the table, and Xander and Anya were shoulder to shoulder, leaning in to hear the conversation better. Not so bad, this, Spike remarked privately.
 
Almost like we’re real people, huh? She smiled at him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
 
“Okay, I can see how that would drive Dawn crazy,” laughed Tara. “You’re going to make us all nuts wondering what side conversations are going on in your heads.”
 
“All part of my evil plot, Glinda,” Spike teased with a smirk.
 
“I knew it. He’s corrupting Buffy,” Xander said, completely joking for once.
 
A slow song began playing as Dawn and Janice bounced past. “Can I have some money for refreshments?”
 
Spike pulled out his wallet while Buffy admonished, “You do know exactly how dead you will be if I see you even trying to sneak alcohol, right?”
 
“I am aware of the degree of deadness that will result,” Dawn said. She grabbed the money from Spike, and cried “Thanks!” over her shoulder as they bounded away to join their friends.
 
“Care to dance, love?” Spike asked.
 
“Thought you’d never ask. Be back in a while guys!” Buffy managed to extract herself from her seat with a reasonable approximation of her usual grace and took Spike’s hand as he led her to the dance floor. They swayed together gently, letting the sound and their own emotions intertwine as they closed their eyes and drank in the sensation. You know, you’re the only guy I’ve ever been with who will volunteer to dance.
 
Wankers, all of them, he thought back. He inhaled the scent of her hair and sighed in contentment. Remember how I said that marrying you would make me the happiest man on earth? Understatement of the century. And I’ve been around a century, so I can say that with authority. Buffy snuggled as close to his chest as her invisible tummy would allow and reveled in his touch.
 
**************************************

In the alley behind the Bronze, the two Kratash spies were having a conversation with a man with a scarred face and shaggy light brown hair. “Do you understand what you are to do?”
 
“Yeah. You want me to go in there and find the Slayer and curse her,” he said in a gravelly voice.
 
“She is not to come to any harm. The only objective is to disable the protective charms she wears. If she or any of her associates are harmed, you will not be paid.”
 
“If you’re so concerned then why don’t you curse her yourself?” he said, looking out at them with hooded eyes.
 
“She can sense our presence. It is of utmost importance that we are not detected. Can you do the job with our constraints, or not?”
 
“I can do it,” said the man. “Not going to turn down a hundred grand for one little spell.”
 
“Then see to it. You’ll get the rest when we know it worked,” said the brown haired woman, handing him an envelope. “Don’t disappoint us, Mr. Rack.”
 
“I’ll be right back,” Rack said. He turned and strolled into the Bronze. Standing in a corner he surveyed the scene, his eyes scanning the crowd until they came to rest on the blond couple in the center of the dance floor. He sensed the power contained in the deceptively small frame of the Slayer, and noted with some amusement that her dance partner was a vampire.  Sleeping with the enemy? Rack mused. He maneuvered around the dance floor until he was about ten feet away. He half closed his eyes and murmured under his breath. Then he held out his hand in front of him and spoke the last words as a wave of invisible power rippled out toward Buffy.
 
Spike stiffened suddenly, smelling the telltale trace that magic left in the air. Buffy sensed it too and looked around, scanning the crowd for anything unusual. What was that? she asked.
 
Spike also looked around, but then realized that he could hear the child’s heartbeat again. He looked down, and realized that Buffy looked very, very pregnant. Your amulet. It stopped working.
 
What? Buffy looked down as well and her mouth dropped in shock. How? The two of them turned back to back, looking for anyone suspicious, but Rack had already melted into the crowd and made his way to the exit. Seeing nothing amiss, they made their way back to the table, where they found Willow sitting with wide eyes.
 
“What happened? I felt some sort of magic, but I don’t know who it was!” Willow said. Then she gasped as she realized that Buffy’s condition was visible. “Can I see the amulet?” Buffy pulled the chain over her head and handed it to Willow. Willow examined it and muttered a small incantation, but nothing happened. “It’s not working. The spell has been nullified.”
 
Spike stood up, instantly in predator mode. “Stay here, let me have a look around,” he ordered.
 
“Um, Slayer here. I’m coming with you,” Buffy said, hauling herself once more from the chair. “Can you guys keep an eye out for Dawn?” The others nodded and watched with concern as Buffy and Spike moved off through the crowd.
 
Please pet, don’t do anything stupid, okay? Spike looked at her anxiously.
 
I won’t. Just want to see for myself, okay? They moved around the room, Spike vamping out in dark corners to enhance his senses, but they saw nothing. Moving out into the back alley they stopped and looked around. “They were here,” Spike said. “I can smell them. But they’re gone now. Smells like magic too. Maybe they have a witch or something working for them.” He kicked a nearby garbage can angrily.
 
“We better get back in to Dawn,” Buffy said. Her thoughts were a morass of fear, anger, and confusion, and Spike put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. They made their way back through the throng to the table. Several people did a noticeable double take as she wound her way through, pregnant women being a relatively rare sight at the Bronze. “Did you catch them?” Anya asked as they got back.
 
“They’re gone,” Spike said. “Think they had a witch or something on their side.”
 
“Are you okay, Buffy?” Tara asked with concern.
 
“I feel fine. But the amulets seem totally dead,” Buffy said. “We’re going to need to figure this out. Spike? Can you find Dawn and Janice? I think we need to get out of here.” Spike ground his teeth in frustration and went to collect the teens.
 
****************************
 
The next day at the Magic Box the group assembled to try to make sense of what had happened. All the others’ amulets seemed be working - Spike’s presence made everyone else’s amulets warm. But when Buffy put Dawn’s amulet on her wrist, nothing happened. “It’s like you were cursed or something,” Willow said. “That magic must have been pretty powerful and focused. It’s like they didn’t want to hurt you, just prevent you from using the amulets.”
 
“But why?” Buffy asked. “I mean, ok, some big bad wants me, or the baby, or both. Why not just grab me or something and hold onto me until the baby comes? Why all this cloak and dagger stuff?”
 
“Let’s think about this,” Xander spoke up. “In your dreams, you felt like you were racing a clock or something. So let’s assume they need you, or the baby, or whatever at a particular time.”
 
“Go on,” said Spike, starting to understand where Xander was coming from.
 
“So maybe whoever hired the Kratash can’t get here yet, or can’t grab you ahead of time for whatever reason because it would mess up their ritual or whatever. But they need to know as much about you as possible, right? I mean, that seems to be what they were paid to do.”
 
“So they want to be able to stalk me and get information on me without me knowing, so they had to defeat the amulets.” Buffy finished. “Well that makes logical sense, but now what do I do?”
 
“Well, I suppose as long as one of us is always with you, we can act like your demon detectors,” said Tara.
 
“Maybe we can increase the wards on the house,” Dawn put in. “That way we know they won’t be able to spy on us there.”
 
“We should probably move the Scoobie meetings to the house as well,” Spike added. “This place is too hard to secure. Too public.”
 
“Hold the phone here, guys,” Buffy said. “I feel like I’m on probation or something. Do I really need to have a chaperone all the time?”
 
Spike took her hand, “You know me, Slayer. You know that I know that you can still kick my ass eight ways to Sunday, even when you’re pregnant. Just don’t want those bastards to find out anything more about you.”
 
“Should we leave Sunnydale until the baby is born?” Dawn asked, clearly concerned.
 
Buffy shook her head. “I am not being chased out of my house by a bunch of demons. Besides, this is familiar turf. I go somewhere else, I’m not going to know what’s safe or who to trust. And no,” she said, looking pointedly at Xander, “I am NOT calling Angel for help, so don’t even ask.”
 
Xander held up his hands in surrender. “Not going there, trust me.”
 
They all looked at each other for a moment. Finally Buffy said, “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do. Willow, can you and Tara see what you can do to strengthen the wards on our house? I’ll call Giles and get updates.” She took a deep breath and said, “And I’ll make sure that I keep in mental contact with Spike whenever I go out alone. Will that make everyone happy?”
 
“Well, it will make me happy,” Spike said. The others agreed.
 
Anya changed the subject. “Buffy, are you guys doing anything next Saturday night?”
 
Buffy and Spike looked at each other. “No, not that we know of.”
 
“Good. We’d like to invite the three of you to dinner.” Anya seemed to sharing a look with Dawn, but Buffy couldn’t be sure.
 
“Okaay…” Buffy said. “But why do I get the feeling that something is up?”
 
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Anya said. On that cryptic note, the meeting broke up.
 
*************************
 
“Buffy Summers?” called the nurse. Buffy looked up from a parenting magazine in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. She was amused at the things other parents worried about. Yeah, I’m gonna have time to worry that Emma is only pooping twice a day when I’ve got vampires to fight.
 
I’ll fight the vampires, you can worry about the other thing, came Spike’s voice in her mind. Their connection had become strong enough that Spike could communicate with her from their living room sofa while she went to the obstetrician. Buffy hauled herself from the chair and followed the nurse in for her checkup. She changed into the ‘gown of infinite embarrassment’ as she had dubbed it and waited for the doctor.
 
“Good afternoon, Ms Summers,” said the pleasant middle aged woman. “How are you feeling?”
 
“Like the Goodyear blimp,” Buffy quipped.
 
“Well, you’ve got about five or six weeks to go, so you’re almost there. Any unusual symptoms or anything?”
 
Buffy shook her head. “Everything seems the same. Baby’s been kicking me constantly, and I think my feet are going to explode if they swell any further, but otherwise, nothing’s changed.”
 
“Well, let’s have a look and a listen,” she said. Buffy mentally relayed the conversation to Spike, who asked, Do they know when she’ll be here?
 
You’re worse than a kid near Christmas, Buffy responded with a faint smile. You have another five or six weeks to wait, she added. She nearly laughed out loud at the mental groan of impatience that came over their link.
 
“What’s so funny?” asked the doctor.
 
“Just thinking about my husband. He seems to think that asking me on a daily basis if the due date is certain is going to make the baby come faster. He’s a bit impatient to be a father.”
 
The doctor smiled, “That’s a lovely thing. A lot of men are terrified of the prospect.”
 
“Wimps,” Buffy joked, and the doctor smiled. Heard that! No maligning my gender, came the response.
 
“Well, the baby is developing just fine, moving into position, everything seems normal. Have you gotten a chance to take a childbirth class yet?” the doctor asked.
 
“Um, no. I sorta forgot to sign up,” Buffy admitted sheepishly.
 
“Well, there’s one going on at the hospital two nights from now. Do you want me to sign you up?”
 
“Sure,” said Buffy. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to know about the whole thing. Childbirth worried her more than ten nests of vampires. Up for a childbirth class on Wednesday? Buffy asked Spike.
 
Isn’t that your job? Spike’s apprehension was evident.
 
Hey, you had a hand in this. No wimping out now, vampire, she shot back.
 
Alright. But I reserve the right to flee if I deem it necessary.
 
As long as you hold the door for me, because I’ll be right behind you. Buffy smiled again, finished her conversation with the doctor, and got dressed to go home.
 
*******************************
 
Once again the four Kratash agents faced each other around the table in the abandoned warehouse. This time, however, they had been joined by their controller, who was coming to oversee the critical part of the job. “What is the current status?” he asked.
 
“We have succeeded in nullifying the protective amulets worn by the Slayer,” said the Latino agent.
 
“We have also managed to place a listening device in the magic shop they use for their meeting place,” added the brown-haired woman. “But we have heard just today that they plan to increase the wards on the Slayer’s house and use that for their gatherings from now on.”
 
The controller considered for a moment. “How is her pregnancy progressing?”
 
“From what we gather based on her discussions with her associates her child is due to be born in approximately six weeks of their time, but we are not completely certain,” said the agent called Joe.
 
“Her associates have also developed the means to detect us,” put in Phoebe. “Our plan to follow the sister and one of the Slayer’ friends has been abandoned to avoid detection.”
 
“Prudent,” said the controller. He digested the information for a moment. Then he said, “So we know she is due in the next month or month and a half. We know she can no longer hide her pregnancy. Does she still perform her slaying duties?”
 
The Latino agent shook his head. “For the last month or so the vampire has gone out alone. He patrols the town, kills both his own kind and any demons he comes across, then returns.”
 
“Unusual for a vampire,” mused the controller. “So the Slayer and her sister are alone at home in the evenings.”
 
“Yes, although they have recently begun putting up the wards whenever the vampire leaves,” Phoebe remarked.
 
“What do we know about the other associates?” the controller asked.
 
The brown-haired woman looked at her notes. “Anya Jenkins, owns the Magic Box. Seems to know a fair amount about demons and magic, but doesn’t seem to possess any particular magical abilities. Xander Harris is in a relationship with Ms. Jenkins, doesn’t seem to have any particular abilities. Tends to argue with the vampire a lot. Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg both appear to be witches. Most of the major spells seem to be done by Rosenberg, although the other witch does seem to be able to read auras. She was the one who detected our agent in the store. Rupert Giles is a co-owner of the magic store. He is currently out of the country, apparently doing research to determine the identity of those who hired us.”
 
The controller made some notes of his own. “Tell me about the Slayer’s household.”
 
Phoebe spoke up. “It is just the Slayer, her sister, Dawn Summers, and the vampire.”
 
“The vampire apparently had quite a reputation previously as the Slayer of Slayers,” Joe added. “He was known as William the Bloody, but goes by Spike currently. It is unclear why he has decided to forgo his previous lifestyle and take up with the Slayer. But they are married, and also mated in the vampire fashion. They seem to share thoughts, and he is clearly the father of the child.”
 
After a few more minutes of scribbling, the controller addressed them all. “The client must get access to the child and/or its mother around the seventh full moon of the earth year. That gives us five weeks. We either need to find a way to defeat those wards or find a way to get the Slayer out of her house and capture her. She must not be harmed until the child is in the hands of our clients. If she is harmed and the child dies, the client will be most displeased. The house must be watched constantly to see if there is an opening. All her comings and goings must be tracked. Let’s get busy.” The Kratash bent over their papers and did just that.
 
TBC