Buffy woke the next day just as tired as she had been the night before. Dragging herself up, she looked at the clock she’d brought from her mom’s, ten a.m. It was early for her. Her internal clock had gotten all off yesterday, she usually slept during the day, but after the argument with Spike last night, she'd cried herself asleep earlier than normal.

Well, she had to make that doctors appointment anyway, find a way to tell Giles and the Scoobies about the baby and get to the research party. Yippee, she thought. She sighed and rose wearily from the bed. Opening the door to head down the hall to the bathroom, she nearly stumbled over Spike who was still asleep, curled in a ball on the floor outside her door.

She just stared at him laying there, he looked like some monster had beat the shit out of him and left him for dead. Monster, thy name is Buffy, she thought sardonically. God, she missed Spike so much.

She absolutely had to figure out some way to turn off the fucking water works currently disguised as her eyes. She couldn’t think of Spike without crying, she couldn’t look at him without crying and, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t even hate him, but she couldn’t trust him anymore, either. She had to stop being so damn gullible; she’d trusted her instincts twice now and twice she’d been wrong. She had no idea how she could ever trust another man, or vampire, as the case may be, again. Duh! Maybe that’s your problem: Vampire = Evil. She rolled her eyes, if only it were that simple.

Sighing heavily, she bent down and picked him up in her arms. She didn’t remember him being so light. He said he hadn’t fed, but surely he had been getting blood from the butcher, hadn’t he?

He only stirred slightly as she laid him on the bed and started pulling off his duster and his boots. When she was done, she looked at him closely. His jeans and T-shirt, normally pulled tight across his chiseled body, hung loosely now, his eyes, although swollen and red, from crying, she assumed, since they looked just like hers, were sunken and his cheek bones were like knife edges over his hollow cheeks. Obviously, he hadn’t been eating at all. She noticed something barely sticking out of his jeans pocket. She reached down and tugged it out – her pregnancy test, with the word “Pregnant” still clearly visible.

She covered him with a blanket, grabbed her clothes and headed down the hall for a shower, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Going downstairs she double checked the blood in the fridge, it was still good, at least, she thought it was, it was a little hard to tell since – yeeew, blood! She had kept the blood delivery schedule from the butcher shop so that she would be sure to have a fresh supply on hand for Spike when he came home.

Angel had arranged for the expenses of the mansion to be paid for her, along with some spending money. She had never questioned Angel before about where he got his money, but when it became clear that she wanted to stay at the mansion and had no money to pay any of the bills, he stepped up and made arrangements. Apparently, there were demon banks, as opposed to normal banks, she wasn’t sure she knew what the distinction was, but these so-called demon banks helped vampires get their “rightful” family inheritance . . . usually after the vampire killed their own families. Although Darla didn’t have any money when she was turned, Angel’s family did, as did Dru’s and Spike’s, and Angel, being the eldest remaining of the Aurelian clan, now had control of that money. Buffy felt weird taking the money which was obviously ‘blood money’ (duh! Vampires!) but reasoned that it was helping the greater good now so, it couldn’t be all bad.

Buffy took a mug of blood, added some of Spike’s preferred accompaniment of Berber Weed to it and stuck it in the microwave for thirty seconds. Placing it on a tray, she headed back upstairs. He was going to eat something if she had to hold him down and force it down his stubborn throat.

“Spike.” Buffy shook his shoulder. “Spike, wake up.” She waited. No response. She shook him harder. “Spike!”

Spike moaned and rolled away from her, pulling the blanket tight around himself and over his head. At least he’s not dead, she thought – or more dead – what would a dead vampire look like, anyway? she thought shaking her head – oh yeah, dust.

“Spike, please wake up and eat something, then you can go back to sleep.”

“Don’ wan’ nuthin’,” came the sleepy reply from under the blanket.

“Spike, quit being a baby and eat something. I can’t handle two babies!” Buffy pleaded with him. “I need your help,” she added quietly to herself. “I need you.”

“Don’ need me, Slayer . . . I’ll only break your heart.” He was still covered up but obviously more awake now. Why did he have to wake up to hear what she didn’t want him to hear!?

“Too late, I already got the T-shirt. Now get up. The pity party's over. You have to help me with YOUR baby.” She pulled the blanket away and tossed it on the floor.

“Bloody Hell!”

Buffy smiled and rolled her eyes. Oh yeah, this was gonna be FUN . . . like a history test you forgot to study for fun. “Sit up and drink this and you can go back to sleep for a while.”

“Not hungry.”

“That’s crap and you know it Spike, now, I’m gonna ask you once more nicely and if you don’t drink this, I’m gonna tie you down and pour it down your throat, and don’t think that I can’t.”

She held the mug out to him, trying not to smell it herself and start her stomach flopping around.

“Promises, promises,” he said way too seductively as he turned over, sat up and took the mug from her.

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes, but the thought of tying him up and forcing him to do anything was like putting a spark to kindling in her gut. He may have been getting his rocks off lately, but she hadn’t. She thought about him with Harmony and effectively poured ice water on the small fire that was starting to burn in her.

“I’m going to call a Scooby meeting for later this afternoon. I need you to be there with me. I have to tell them about the baby and see if they can find any more information about this prophecy.” She spoke to him like he was just a business partner and she needed him to attend a staff meeting. “I also have to make an appointment to see a doctor and get everything checked. If I can find a clinic that’s open late, can you take me?”

“What about your Mum, does she know?”

“Yes, I told her yesterday.” After you rubbed my face in your new girlfriend, she thought.

“She know I’m the father?”

“Yes.”

He just nodded, finished the mug of blood, handed it back to her and lay back down on the bed, turning away from her. Apparently, she thought, this conversation is over. She picked up the blanket from the floor and threw it over him again before leaving the room. Oh yeah, WAY too much fun.

**~** 

For fear of Spike’s un-life, Buffy had him sitting on a bookcase behind her, so she could keep herself between the Scoobies and him, as everyone gathered for the meeting she called. Willow and Oz sat on one side of the table, Xander and Cordelia on the other. Giles was on the other end opposite her. They all eyed Spike suspiciously but he couldn’t make eye contact with any of them, looking instead at a very interesting stain on the floor.

She’d thought about this all day and still was unsure how to start this conversation. Everyone, except Spike, looked at her expectantly; she took a deep breath, stood up and started.

“Ok, I had a Slayer dream the other night and it seems that Spike and I are pawns in some type of Prophecy. According to the dream, there is a Key that opens portals to hell dimensions and there is a Beast that is after it and wants to use it to open said portals, yada, yada, end of the world, yada, yada.” She waved her hands around on the "yada, yada's" for effect.

So far, so good, she took another deep breath and continued.

“According to the prophecy, only the two warrior lovers can protect the Key from the beast. Apparently, that’s me and Spike.”

“Why not Angel? Are you sure it’s Spike? Was the dream more specific than ‘Two Warrior Lovers’?” Giles asked.

“Yes, the dream was very specific, it's William or Spike, whichever.” She waved her hands around to demonstrate William and Spike were the same. Even though he was two feet behind her, she could feel Spike stiffen at the mention of Angel and wished Giles hadn’t asked that. Why do I feel bad for him after what he did? she sighed to herself.

“And where is this Key you are to protect?” Giles addressed her again.

And that was the rub, wasn’t it? Buffy pulled the pregnancy test stick out of her pocket and slid it down the table to Giles, waiting for him to register what it was. “Good Lord.” Giles looked back up to her, his eyes darting between Buffy and Spike.

Everyone else was trying to see what it was, what it said and started asking questions. Buffy held up her hand to stop them. “I’m pregnant, by Spike," she summed up. "The baby is the vessel that hides the Key, we have to protect the baby from the Beast.”

The room exploded, or at least it felt like that to Buffy. She instinctively backed up away from the group that was throwing questions and accusations at her and backed right into Spike, who had stood up just as she got to him. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her as her friends kept firing questions at them.

Finally, Giles rescued her by quieting the others.

“How?” he asked when everyone else was quiet.

“The usual way.” Buffy tossed her now pat answer at him before she continued. “Apparently, the monks did some kind of mojo on Spike and he was UN-undead for a while at just the right, um, time.”

“What do you mean, UN-undead?” Xander threw a dagger stare at Spike.

“I mean he was alive, ALL of him was alive.”

“So the baby is . . ." Giles questioned.

“Mine and Spike’s. It’s a real human baby, apparently, as long as we keep it safe from the Beast, it will just be a baby and, I guess a kid . . . and a teenager . . .”

The rest of Buffy’s life passed in front of her eyes. How was she supposed to raise a kid, what about the rest of her life? Short as it is predicted to be, she really hadn’t planned on it being spent as a mom. Tears started to well in her eyes again and she closed them to hold the flood back, but it didn’t help, they spilled out the corners.

Spike turned her around to face him and drew her into his arms. She didn’t fight him, she was so tired of fighting, so tired of crying – she clung to him, burying her face against his chest.

“And Spike, do you intend to help with this endeavor?” Giles addressed the father of her baby.

“I’ll protect 'em both with m’ life.” Spike met his eyes now, looking over the top of Buffy’s head as he held her against him.

“Didn’t see you with all the protecting the last few weeks,” Xander pointed out.

“I made a mistake. I won’t make it again. Long as she’ll have me, I’ll be here for her and the sprog.” He answered Xander, but kept his eyes locked on Giles. He knew it was the Watcher he needed to convince, not the Boy.

After a long pause, Giles spoke. “Indeed. Well then, I guess we have some research to do to try and find out more about this prophecy and the Beast so we know what we must do to defeat it.” Giles continued. “Did your dream tell you when the Beast will appear, Buffy, or what form it will take?”

Buffy took a deep breath and turned around to face the group, shaking her head no. Spike kept his hands on her, she leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her middle.

“What do you need me to do, Watcher?” Spike addressed Giles.

“Well, I think it would be wise for you to take over patrols for Buffy for starters.” Giles looked at the pair.

“Excuse me! Pregnant here, not invalid! I can still patrol. Been patrolling for the last month in the same condition!” Buffy couldn’t believe this!

“Buffy, it would only take one hard kick to your stomach to hurt the baby. How many times a week do you get kicked or hit in the stomach?” Giles reasoned with her.

“So Willow can do a protection spell on the baby, right Will?” she countered, looking hopefully at her friend and then back to Giles. “I’m not gonna sit around here like a slug for nine months! Giles, you know I can’t do that.”

Giles removed his glasses for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight to clean them. “Fine, Willow will put a protection spell on the baby.” Buffy brightened, but Giles wasn't done. “But Spike will accompany you on patrols and, as you get further along, Spike will take over the patrols all together. Please don’t argue with me on this Buffy.”

Spike gave her a small squeeze and Buffy nodded in agreement.

“In addition, you will need to make some arrangements for completing high school, seeing as you’ve not only been expelled but are now also pregnant . . . I should think that perhaps a home schooling type of arrangement would be best for you,” Giles continued. “Perhaps your Mother, Willow and I can assist you with your studies . . .”

Spike cut him off. “I can do it.”

Everyone looked at Spike like he had two heads. “What, you don’t think a century old vamp knows anything about history and literature and the English language? May need Red to help with some of the new math, though,” he admitted.

“Fine then.” Giles agreed. “I suggest we get to researching now and see what we can find about this prophecy that may help us.”

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