Chapter 21
Three days later, Buffy sat on the table in her doctor’s office; slightly uncomfortable in the little paper gown the nurse had given her. The doctor had already been in for her examination, and had confirmed what Buffy already knew to be true. She was about four months pregnant and everything seemed to be free of complications as far as the pregnancy was concerned.
Buffy wished that she could say the same for her life.
After telling Spike all about her epic dream and laying all her fears out for him, she had decided that it was time to face the music and tell her friends about the baby. She’d gone to the magic box, and was not really too shocked when she went straight to the shelf where the book was that explained her mystical pregnancy. The prophecy wasn’t quite as cheesy as the one from her dream, in fact, it was more like one of those “if…then” statements from high school calculus or science. “If the slayer and the vampire meet certain circumstances, then this will be the result”; but it was still just as complex and she still needed Giles to decode it for her.
She had of course told Dawn the news first, which was no problem at all. Dawn thought it was nothing short of the coolest thing that could’ve happened, and she was even happier to hear that Buffy and Spike would not be breaking up after all. The Summers women then set out to call Giles, making sure to call him during normal waking hours in England, since their news was likely to set him off enough without the whole middle of the night factor to deal with.
Buffy had asked Giles to decipher the text for her, which he gladly did, before realizing its implications. He was shocked at first, and almost started lecturing her on the reasons why having a baby with Spike was a bad thing, before Buffy interrupted him and told him that she was actually very happy with the situation. For the first time since her friends had brought her back from her grave, she felt totally and completely happy. Her only concern was that there was something she was missing, and that some horrible evil would be coming after her child. Giles promised to do more research, and in fact found that there were no such strings attached (that he knew of). After calming her fears and realizing that she was happy and healthy, Giles couldn’t really argue with her or focus on the negatives. He had promised to come visit soon and of course be there when the baby was born.
Telling Dawn and Giles had been so easy, that Buffy was lulled into a false sense of security when she told the others. She’d called everyone together for a meeting at the Magic Box, and tensions were high to begin with between the ex’s in the bunch. Anya stayed perched behind the cash register, glaring at Xander who sat at the table across the room. Willow and Tara didn’t glare at each other, but they didn’t exactly make with the friendly conversation either. Dawn watched them all, and tried everything she could think of to break the ice before Buffy and Spike got there.
When the two blondes finally entered the shop, tension was so thick it could practically be cut with a knife. Xander immediately bristled, wondering aloud why Spike had to be there. Once Buffy told them what her news was, all hell broke loose. Xander had threatened to stake Spike on the spot, Anya had broken down and started crying about the unfairness of Buffy having a baby before her, and everyone had found out that Tara knew about Buffy and Spike’s “relationship” before anyone else. Buffy had tried her best imitation of a resolve face when she told them all they could either support her or not be a part of her pregnancy, but the night had finally ended with all of the Scoobies leaving in an angry huff, and Buffy sobbing on Spike’s shoulder.
Buffy was startled out of her memories when the door to her examining room clicked open. She turned, expecting to see the doctor, but smiled when she saw a familiar blonde head peek into the room.
“Spike! What are you doing here? How did you get here? How did you know I was here?”
“Hey, Love,” he smiled, closing the door behind him and coming to kiss her gently. “You know, I can get anywhere I want to during the day as long as it’s on my “tunnel route”. And you told me you had to come to the Doctor’s office today…last night, remember?”
Her face flamed and she grinned as she did just that… remembering the things they’d done the night before after giving in to Dawn’s requests to spend the night with a friend. Her being pregnant certainly hadn’t slowed them down in the ‘making up for lost time’ department. “The nurse said it was ok that I come in with you, but if you want me to go…” He playfully turned away, as if he would walk out of the little room.
She reached out and grabbed his hand, stilling his movement. “No. I want you to stay. Dr. Birch is coming back and she’s going to do an ultrasound today.”
“That’s where you can see the baby on that little monitor?”
“Yes, that’s the one. And if the baby is in a good position, we might can tell if it’s a boy or a girl.”
Dr. Birch entered the room, and was thrilled to see that Buffy wasn’t alone. She did the ultrasound, and confirmed their suspicions that the baby was a girl. While Buffy dressed, Dr. Birch spoke with Spike in the hallway.
“It’s going to be very important, William, for you to be supportive of her in the upcoming months. She needs to be as stress-free as possible, and I’m giving her some prenatal care information today. She’ll need to take her vitamins and be sure to follow all the instructions I give her.”
“That won’t be a problem, Doc.” He assured her. “I’d die before I let anything happen to my girls.”
+ + + + +
As the weeks passed, all of the Scoobies began to warm up to the idea of Buffy having a baby. All of them, that is, except for Xander. He refused to even talk to Buffy about it, and refused to see that any good could come from a relationship with Spike that didn’t include a dusty ending. He had made his feelings crystal clear- he was disappointed with Buffy for even having a relationship with Spike in the first place, and he was even more unnerved by the fact that she now thought she was in love with the so-called evil, soulless monster and wanted to bear its spawn.
He had even taken to stalking Spike’s crypt and trying to pick fights with the vampire, which Spike gracefully declined, making Xander even more angry. When he couldn’t get either Buffy or Spike to respond to his antics, he started in on Tara, thinking that she would be an easy convert. But that only lead to Willow finding out, which explained why she showed up on his doorstep one evening seething with anger.
“Xander, what the hell is wrong with you?” she asked when he opened the door.
“Well, hello to you too, oh best friend of mine.” He said with a snort. “Why don’t you come on in?” he mused when Willow pushed past him and stalked into his living room.
“Xander, why is it that everyone but you is supportive of Buffy? Why can’t you stop for one second and see that she is happy, and that she needs the support of her friends?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Will. Maybe it’s the monster that’s responsible for her being in this predicament to begin with.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “Do you even stop to think about the crap that comes tumbling out of your mouth before you say it?” Her tone was so motherly that Xander had no response, other than to look wide-eyed at her like a child who’s in deep trouble. “Think back if you will, and tell me this. Who put his own feelings aside and took care of Dawn last summer when we were all too caught up in our own grief to worry about it?”
Xander’s eye roll was not enough for her. “Answer me!”
“Spike did.”
“Yes, Spike did. And how many times did he try to hurt her, or ask us for anything, any single thing in return?”
“None,” Xander barely whispered, not wanting to admit defeat.
“Right again. He did it out of respect for the woman that he loved and had lost. And now, when we have the chance to pay him back just a little by being supportive, you act like a four year old. You have got to get over this disillusion that you are Buffy’s ultimate protector. She’s safe with Spike, and she’s happy.”
“But…”he started, only to be cut off by his best friend.
With her resolve face firmly in tact, she presented him with his options. “No buts, Xander. Now it seems to me that you have two choices here. You can either suck it up and go apologize to Buffy for the way you’ve been acting and truly be her friend, or you can keep acting like a childish…child and risk loosing her friendship forever.”
Xander stared at her, slack-jawed, trying to process where this outburst had come from. Before he could really register any sort of response, she was out of her seat and breezing out the front door.
“I’ll leave you to think it over. I trust you’ll choose wisely,” Willow said over her shoulder, just before the door closed behind her.
Chapter 22
Willow sat in Buffy’s old room, stenciling little white moons and stars above the new chair rail on the freshly painted twilight-colored walls. She smiled as she looked around at the white baby furniture, noting the delicate design of the pieces Buffy had chosen. She had fallen into an easy habit with the painting, and started reflecting over everything that had happened over the last few weeks.
When she’d returned home after her talk with Xander, she’d been met at the door by an ecstatic Dawn proclaiming that Buffy and Spike were engaged. After getting over the initial shock, she ventured into the kitchen where the couple in question affirmed what Dawn had told her. He had proposed, and she had accepted, neither wanting their daughter to be without either parent if she didn’t have to, and wanting them to be a legal family when the baby was born.
The next few weeks had been a flurry of planning: for a wedding and a honeymoon and a nursery. The gang had barely been able to keep Buffy calm during all of the excitement, and by the time the wedding was a few days away, she was freaking out because the nursery was barely started. Willow chuckled when she remembered Spike making an off-handed comment about hormonal pregnant women, and the look on his face when Buffy actually made him sleep on the sofa that night.
Now the two were married, and off on their long weekend honeymoon in San Francisco. Buffy wasn’t comfortable traveling very far, but she and Spike both knew that this would basically be their last chance to get away together before the baby came. San Francisco had seemed a natural choice, since it wasn’t too far away and didn’t hold any of the obvious baggage that Los Angeles did.
Willow, Tara, Anya and Dawn had been working almost non-stop on the nursery since the couple had left, hoping to have it finished by the time they got back. Willow had decided it was time to move out, and find a place of her own. Things still weren’t great between Willow and Tara, but they had managed to start working toward a friendship again, both wondering if they would ever get back to the relationship they’d once had. Buffy and Spike would be taking over Joyce’s old room, and Buffy’s room was being transformed into the cutest nursery Willow thought she’d ever seen.
Just as she finished painting the last little moon on the wall, a knock at the front door jarred her from her thoughts. Anya and Dawn were due back from the baby store at any moment, insisting that they go and pick up the linens for the crib and other supplies for Buffy’s surprise baby shower, and Willow figured they were back and needing assistance bringing in all the stuff they’d bought. She jogged down the stairs, and flung the door open, expecting to see two women loaded down with packages. Instead, she saw no one, and was a little bit suspicious until she looked around the porch and noticed that the caller had left something behind. Sitting off to the side of the porch was the most beautiful little white bassinet that she’d ever seen, complete with little detailing that almost matched what Buffy had picked out for the baby’s room.
Willow brought it inside, and instantly recognized the handwriting scrawled across the envelope, addressed simply to “Baby Sinclair”. Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at the bassinet, and thought of the time it must have taken Xander to make it, and she wondered how he had managed to copy the detail on the furniture that Buffy had already chosen. She was still sitting there, contemplating the thought that Xander might actually be coming around when Anya and Dawn did get home. Each girl had their own thoughts about his gesture, and both wanted to open the letter and see what he had to say. Willow finally convinced them that it would be wrong, that Buffy should be the one to open the letter and read it.
+ + + + +
The Summers/Sinclair home looked like baby central on the day Buffy and Spike were scheduled to arrive home from their honeymoon. The nursery was completed, and the baby shower was all set. The living room was decked out in pastel colors (which all of the girls thought Spike would hate, but would have to deal with), and little baby shower decorations were placed everywhere. Streamers flowed over the doorway, almost creating a curtain, and a banner with little shapes of safety pins, diapers, and baby bottles was tacked up over the entrance to the kitchen. Giles had sent money to buy a stroller, and the girls had picked out the most extravagant one they could find. It was the Cadillac of baby strollers, one with so many features that “grew” with the baby, they were certain she’d be able to use it until she was at least two. Willow, Tara, Dawn and Anya had each picked out an outfit for the baby, along with some essentials like tiny towels and baby lotion and baby bath, except for Anya, who had brought over a gift certificate for a case of diapers along with the little layette she’d picked out for the baby. “One can never have too many diapers when there is a new baby around” she’d reminded them.
“Hurry, hurry!” Dawn screeched, as Willow put the finishing touches on the cake for the shower. “I see their car… they’ll be in here any minute now!” Each took their place in the living room to surprise the newlyweds when they came in.
Buffy noticed that a light flicked off and then on and then off again in the living room just as she started walking up the front sidewalk. “That’s odd… why are the lights flickering like that? Spike, you don’t suppose anything’s wrong do you?”
“No, Love, I’m sure Bit is just trying to find the perfect light to watch a movie in…you know how she gets when it’s cinema time.” He had all ideas that the girls were planning something, he just didn’t know what, and if it was indeed a surprise for Buffy there was no way he was going to be the one to spoil it by speculating on the light show inside the house.
They ascended the front steps, and before she knew it, Spike had carefully swept Buffy off of her feet and into his arms. “What are you doing?” She said around her laughter, leaning in to kiss Spike before they went inside and were bombarded with honeymoon questions from their friends.
“I’m preparing to carry my bride over the threshold, of course,” came his simple reply, smiling when she relaxed into his arms.
“Hmm… I never pegged you to be one for tradition, Spike.”
“Well, Love, we’ve already broken so many, I thought it might be nice to actually stick by one for a change.”
He reached down and opened the front door, and nearly dropped Buffy when the four young women jumped out of nowhere, in the semi-darkness, and yelled “SURPRISE!” He surged into his game face before even realizing it, his only thought being to protect his girls. The fit of laughter he heard caused him to shake it off, and roll his eyes at the hysterical girls in front of him.
“What’s so funny?” he demanded. “Don’t you people know by now that you don’t jump out of the bleeding darkness and yell at the Slayer and a Vampire?”
Dawn continued to laugh, trying desperately to catch her breath after her fit of laughter. “Oh, come on Spike, you had to know something was up… I mean we kept flicking the lights on and off, just so YOU wouldn’t be freaked out when we yelled surprise.”
Buffy looked around at all of the decorations as Spike put her down, amazed at the lengths her friends had gone to to try and make this a special homecoming for her. “You guys did all this for us?”
“Of course we did. Happy Baby Shower Buffy” Dawn gushed, pulling her sister into a tight hug.
“T-there’s presents in the living room, a-and cake in the kitchen” Tara told her, leading the way so that Buffy could see the rest of the shower set-up.
Willow’s smile grew brighter when she saw the awed look that blossomed over Buffy’s face as she looked at everything in the room. “Buffy, the nursery is all finished, too. You won’t believe how beautiful it looks,” she said, glancing at the others for the confidence to go on. The other girls nodded, signaling she should tell Buffy and Spike about the bassinet. “Um, another gift arrived the other day, along with a letter… we didn’t read it, we thought we should let you and Spike open it up and read it.”
Buffy’s brow creased with worry, thinking the worst; that Giles had been wrong and that something or someone was going to come for her baby. “Is it something bad?” she asked, turning to Spike and hoping for the best.
“Oh, no!” Willow rushed to recover, “It’s nothing bad. It’s just a gift, um, from, um… Xander. It’s upstairs, in the nursery, if you want to go see it now.” Each of the girls hoped that she’d go ahead and read the letter, because each one was dying to know what he’d said in the letter.
Spike immediately sprang to the defensive. “If that whelp does anything to upset you…” he started, until Buffy shushed him into silence.
“Spike… let’s just go see what it is. Give him a chance, you never know… he might be coming around,” Buffy urged.
Spike grumbled, but followed her up the stairs to the baby’s new room. Both of them teared up when they opened the door and saw the transformation from Buffy’s bedroom to the nursery for their daughter. Tears fell down her cheeks when Willow showed Buffy the bassinet from Xander. “I’ll just leave you two alone. We’ll all be waiting downstairs for you.”
Buffy picked up the letter, running her fingers over the surface of the envelope before opening it. Spike sat down in the new rocking chair, and pulled her into his lap to read what Xander had written to their unborn baby.
Dear Baby,
You don’t know who I am yet, but I’m your mom’s good friend Xander. I’ve known your dad for a long time, too, but to say that we are friends would be a real stretch. I would have liked for this letter to be a little more personal, but you have no idea how protective of your name that your Mom and Dad are being. So, for now you’ll just have to be “baby”, and hopefully someday soon after you’re born I’ll get to meet you properly.
I made this bassinet for you to sleep in. I hope that you’ll like it. I was driving through town one day and saw your Mom leaving the baby furniture store, so I waited a little while and then went in and asked the lady at the counter what she had picked out, and she showed me. I told her I was an old friend and wanted to get a gift for you that would match everything else. So I went home right away and sketched out the pattern so that I could try to make it match all the pretty furniture your Mom had picked out for you.
You’re probably wondering why I didn’t just call your mom up and ask her what she picked out if I’m such a good friend of hers. Well, Baby, the truth is that lately, I’ve been a real jerk to her, just because I didn’t exactly get along with your dad. And I know that was wrong, because, the truth is, your dad’s a good person. Even though I like to deny it every chance I get, he loves your Mom a lot, anyone with eyes can see that, and he’s been there for our little group of friends on more than one occasion. See, there was this summer when your mom had to go away, and we were all really sad to be here without her, but he was probably the most sad of all. I was just too blind to see it at the time. But he stayed here, and helped us all out, and took good care of your Auntie Dawn, until your mom could come back to us. And he never asked for anything in return. But then, when your mom did come back, I was not so nice to him, and made your mom feel really bad about being with him.
But now I see that I was wrong, that they are happy together. And having you has made them even happier. You see, Baby, grown up problems can sometimes get so out of control that we just don’t know how to fix them, but hopefully someday I’ll be able to fix the problems between us and let your mom and dad see that I really do want to be their friend again. And hopefully when that happens I’ll get to meet you, and teach you all the funny jokes I know, and show you some tricks to make your dad crazy. But if for some reason that doesn’t happen, then I want you to always remember that I’m glad that you’re going to be a member of this family, and that I love you and your mom very much.
~Xander
Buffy looked up at Spike with tears streaming down her face, and noticed with a little shock the tears glistening in his eyes as well. “Do you really think he means it, Spike? Do you think he might be willing to try to accept us and be happy for us?”
Spike put his arms around her and held her close, brushing the tears from her cheeks and tucking her hair behind her ears. “It sounds like it, Pet. But you’ll never know if you don’t ask him yourself.”
Buffy looked a little confused, remembering the party that awaited them downstairs. “Go, call him, Love. Invite him to your shower and talk to him. He was actually grown up enough to write the letter, now you be grown up enough to call the whelp and give him a chance to explain things in person.”
Buffy smiled and kissed Spike briefly, before going to do just that. Later that evening, when Xander came over, Willow smiled, thinking to herself, “it’s about time…”
+ + + + +
Later that summer, on a hot August day, five very nervous friends paced the waiting room at the Sunnydale Hospital. Three women had already gone in, and proud papa’s had brought the news back that their babies had been born. Two of them had boys; one had a girl. Yet the rag-tag group who huddled in the front corner of the room had no news. Every now and then Dawn would come out, and tell them that Buffy was ok, and that her labor was progressing, but still no baby.
“I just don’t understand what’s taking so long.” Anya whined. “These other women came in after Buffy, and they got out first. Doesn’t her baby know that we had to close the shop to come here and wait for her to be born?”
Giles rolled his eyes. “Anya, I’m sure that Buffy’s baby doesn’t really care that you closed the shop today, but one day I’ll bet that she will be eternally grateful that you gave up your profits for today to await her arrival.”
Willow chuckled at her reaction, and smiled when Xander tried to talk to her and explain why these things take time. She was glad that he had finally came around and decided that Buffy was too good of a friend to loose, and that Spike could be a good friend to all of them as well. He also seemed to be slowly patching things up with Anya, which made Willow glad. She and Tara still hadn’t been able to make much progress toward being a couple again, but they were still friends, and it made Willow happy to know that at least some good could come from all the pain they’d all experienced over the last year.
Finally, Dawn burst through the double doors leading to Labor and Delivery, sporting the biggest grin any of them had ever seen. She gushed out the news so fast that they all wondered how she managed the speech without taking a single breath. “She’s here! She’s finally here! And she’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen in my whole life! Spike got squeamish at the sight of all the blood, and I totally laughed at him, because, hello? He’s supposed to be Mr. Blood-and-Guts! But then, we heard this tiny little cry, and there she was!”
They all cheered and hugged, and prepared to go welcome the newest member to their group that was more like an extended family than a group of friends thrown together by less than normal circumstances. When the doctor allowed them, the group ventured into Buffy’s room to meet her daughter.
Buffy sat in the middle of the bed, holding the baby wrapped snugly in a pretty pink blanket, and Spike sat beside her, stroking her hair and smiling like someone had just given him the world. Buffy and Spike had already decided on her name long before coming to the hospital to bring her into the world, having no doubts as to what their daughter’s name was, but hadn’t shared the name with anyone else until that moment.
The group made their way quietly into her room, bringing with them flowers and balloons and smiles of congratulations.
“Oh, Buffy, she’s beautiful, just like Dawn said,” Willow cooed, reaching out to touch her tiny fingers.
Giles and Xander merely stood and watched, allowing their manly pride to prevent them from gushing over the baby, but instantly knowing the second they laid eyes on her that she would one day wrap them around her little finger. “Have you named her yet?” Giles spoke up, bringing some attention back to Buffy and Spike.
Buffy shifted her daughter in her arms so that the group could see her a little better. “We have, actually. Scooby gang, I would like for you to meet Margaret Anne Sinclair.” She leaned down and kissed the baby’s forehead, before whispering, “Maggie, this is your family.”
Epilogue
Children overtook the living room of the house on Revello Drive, all there to celebrate Maggie’s fifth birthday. Gifts of all shapes and sizes were placed on the coffee table and on the floor around it, wrapped of course in all shades of purple-her favorite color. Spike silently mused that they would have to build another room onto the house to accommodate all of Maggie’s new possessions. The joyous sound of children’s laughter filled the air all afternoon as they all played games, and ate cake and opened presents.
At the end of the party, Maggie declared that this was her best birthday ever, and all of the adults laughed, remembering that she’d made that same declaration after each birthday party since she could speak. Giles had been absent from the party, having commitments in England that kept him from attending this year, but he had sent spectacular gifts from some of the most exclusive children’s shops in London. Willow was there, as usual spending the last of her summer vacation in Sunnydale before heading back to teach her classes at the small private college in New Orleans where she had finally settled down and started a life of her own. Tara had stopped by, not wanting to miss the little princess’s big day, nor the interaction between Maggie and Alex, Xander and Anya’s little boy who was only a year younger than Maggie.
Later that evening while Spike put Maggie to bed, Buffy disappeared to the little library they’d created in their home office. She sat in her overstuffed chair, taking a moment to reflect on her life and the changes that she never would have imagined before having Maggie. Spike had of course demanded that she quit the DoubleMeat Palace after learning that she was pregnant. He’d started writing, and actually managed to get several of his books published. He had such a wide range of genres to write in, from historical perspectives to fiction best sellers, and he was an instant hit with his readers, allowing the royalties from his work to more than amply support them. After Maggie was born Buffy had gone back to school, and finished her degree in English. She now worked from home, with Spike, doing most of his editing for his new books.
She walked to the bookcase, seeking out a very specific volume. As she ran her hand along the titles, searching out the one she needed, the well-placed reading lights glinted off the blood-red ruby of her engagement ring, and highlighted the diamonds in her wedding band. She had actually wanted just a simple, gold band when Spike proposed to her, but he insisted that she have nothing but the prettiest, flashiest band the jeweler had to offer. Finding the book she was looking for, she plucked it from the shelf and settled back into her chair to read the passage she needed to confirm her suspicions. Once she found it, she simply smiled and placed the book back in its place, before going up the stairs to kiss her daughter goodnight.
Buffy settled under the covers of her bed, and lingered just a moment when Spike kissed her before snuggling into his embrace to fall asleep. It was in quiet moments like these that she was most thankful that the Powers had seen fit to send her the dream of Maggie, and had given her the chance to avoid all that time away from Spike, without him knowing about his daughter. Her eyes drifted closed as Spike wrapped her up in his embrace, and she decided to wait until morning to tell him her news; that their prophecy apparently wasn’t a one-shot deal. There was another little miracle on the way, and somewhere, deep in her heart, she just knew that the new baby she was carrying was going to be boy. She would name him William, after his father.