Monday afternoon after classes Buffy ran some errands before returning to the dorm. Specifically, she went to the drugstore to buy a home pregnancy test. She knew these things weren’t always accurate, but all she needed was a confirmation of what she and Angel already knew in their hearts.
Buffy took the test before she got back to the room. That it came out positive was no surprise. She was pregnant. She went back to her room with a bounce in her step.
The scent of roses greeted her when she opened the door to her room. Willow looked up as she entered.
“You got a present,” she said with a smile, pointing at the bouquet of roses on her desk.
Buffy grinned and pressed her nose into one of them to inhale its scent. Looking at the bouquet, she frowned slightly. “Where’s the card?”
“There wasn’t one,” Willow explained. “There are also only eleven roses.”
Buffy blushed and grinned. She knew who’d sent the flowers. She also knew where the twelfth rose was.
She must have said that last part out loud, because when she turned around Willow was blushing a brilliant scarlet. “I,” she sputtered, “had no idea…Riley…”
Buffy grinned, though not for the reason Willow thought. “Neither did I,” she replied. I doubt he has the imagination necessary.
“So, are you going to call him and thank him for the flowers?” Willow asked with a grin.
Buffy shook her head.
She couldn’t say that the flowers weren’t from Riley. “I’ll call
him later. Tonight, after I patrol.”
After patrolling, Buffy returned to an empty dorm room.
Buffy smiled into the quiet darkness. Every time she smelled roses
now she was going to think of Angel. With him on her mind, she reached
for the phone. Her fingers traced the phone number she knew by heart.
The phone picked up after one ring. “Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless,” Cordelia said in a bored tone.
“Hey Cordy. It’s…” Buffy began.
“Hold on,” Cordelia said then. Buffy heard her call out across the room. “Angel! Pick up the phone!” A pause, and voices in the background that Buffy couldn’t make out. “Who the hell do you think it is?” Cordelia replied.
A click of another phone picking up. “Hey,” Angel’s pleased voice brought a smile to Buffy’s face.
“Hey, Daddy,” Buffy greeted with a slight laugh.
Angel chuckled in response. “I like the sound of that,” he said.
“I thought you might,” Buffy replied. “I got the roses you sent.”
“I missed you. And I thought you’d like them.”
“I did. And I missed you, too,” Buffy agreed. “I almost ran to LA as fast as I could when I smelled those roses.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I have class, silly,” Buffy replied. “Besides, Willow was there. She would have looked at me really oddly if I’d torn from the room.”
“Yeah, I guess she might have,” Angel replied. “When are you going to tell everyone about us?”
“I’ll think of something,” Buffy was saying when a slip of paper on the bed caught her eye.
/Buffy,/ it said in Willow’s hand writing. /Giles has something important to discuss with you. Please come to his house as soon as you get back from patrolling./
“What’s going on?” Angel asked when Buffy was silent for a time.
“Listen, Angel, I have to go,” Buffy said reluctantly. “Giles wants to talk to me about something. Willow left a note.”
“Alright,” Angel said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Buffy replied and hung up the phone. She looked at it longingly, tempted to call him back. She sighed and looked back at the note in her hands. Whatever Giles had to talk about it was surely important. Probably the end of the world, again.
Buffy was pretty sure she knew what to expect when she reached Giles’ house. As usual, she opened the door without knocking. She was greeted by silence. Several pairs of serious eyes stared back at her. Even Anya and Spike were there.
“Okay, who died?” Buffy half joked.
Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them, then put them back on his nose. “Buffy. Please, sit down.”
Buffy looked back and forth between the lot of them. Giles looked stern, but that could mean anything. Spike looked oddly amused. Willow wouldn’t meet her eyes. Buffy couldn’t help but flash back to when they had all confronted her about hiding Angel after he returned from Hell. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather stand. What’s going on?”
Everyone was silent and turned to look at Willow. She seemed to shrink under their gaze. Still, she tried bravely to meet Buffy’s eyes. “I found this,” she said softly, and help up the empty pregnancy test box.
“Oh,” Buffy said and took a seat in the empty chair.
“Care to explain yourself?” Giles demanded sternly.
“So, I’m pregnant,” Buffy defended herself. “There’s no big deal here.”
Spike laughed. “I told you the Slayer was knocked up,” he said.
“No big deal!” Giles said angrily at the same time. “You are the Slayer! You do not have the luxury to be pregnant, let alone the time in which to raise a child!”
Buffy ignored his tirade for the moment and looked at Spike. “How did you know I was pregnant?”
Spike smirked. “Vampires can tell these things.”
Buffy fought a smile as she remembered Angel’s revelation on the subject. “Oh yeah,” she whispered, then turned to look at Giles angrily. “And you. I don’t have the luxury? Giles, are you implying that I’d be a bad mother? ‘Cause if you are, then just say that.”
“Not at all,” Giles sputtered. “I think you’d be a wonderful mother. But as the Slayer, you have a responsibility. You know you can not fight while carrying a child.”
“I can still fight now,” Buffy defended herself. “I’m less than a month along. When it comes to the point that I can’t fight, there’s always the Initiative. And it’ll leave more demons for Spike to beat up.”
“But Buffy,” Willow protested softly, “what about school?”
“I’ll take a semester off,” Buffy said. “I can take classes part time. I’ll work this out.” She looked over the group again. “Any further objections?” When there were none, she smiled coldly. “Good. Because this is my life, and the life of my baby, and by God I am going to do this.”
The room was silent for a moment. “Does Riley know?” Xander asked. It was the first thing he’d said since Buffy had arrived.
“No. And you’re not going to tell him.”
Xander nodded reluctantly. “Well. I think our work here is done.” He took Anya by the hand and together they left the house.
Willow and Spike followed their lead in short order. Buffy was about to go as well when she turned to look at Giles. “Are we okay?” she asked.
Giles’ actions surprised her. He gave her a quick hug, then clasped her shoulders. “Good luck,” he said sincerely. “Any child you have will be truly blessed to have you as a mother.”
Buffy grinned. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.” She left Giles alone then and stepped out into the darkness.
A presence on the porch surprised Buffy. “So I was wondering,” came the unmistakably accented voice, “whether maybe your little boyfriend Riley isn’t the father at all.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Buffy said as she hurried on her way.
Spike fell into step beside her. “Oh really? I saw the look on you face when I said how I knew you were pregnant. You already knew how but didn’t want to say. I’m thinking that’s how you knew you were pregnant in the first place. I think you’ve been shagging a vampire we all know and despise. Probably gone and cost him his pesky soul again, too.”
Buffy whirled and grabbed Spike by the throat. “That’s none of your business,” she hissed.
Spike laughed. “So he is the father!”
“You keep your nose out of my life and out of his,” Buffy said, squeezing slightly. “If you say another word about Angel to anyone I will pour holy water down your pants until you beg me to stake you.”
Spike nodded and Buffy released him. He rubbed his sore neck. “I can see why the old man’s so obsessed with you,” he said with a grin.
“Shut up, Spike.”
There’s something about
the silent type
Attracting me to you
All business baby, none
of the hype
That no talker can live
up to
On to Part Five
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