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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for the delay, I had to wait for my computer to get back from the shop. (thank goodness for back up disks) Thanks to Tanit for the beta, any remaining errors are my own and no one elses.
Chapter 19



She wanted to go home.

In point of fact, she could think of nothing quite so tempting as sneaking off to the quiet familiarity of her house and avoiding even the thought of the completely botched conversation with Will. Unfortunately, she'd long since learned that there was no way to avoid certain unpleasant aspects of adulthood, and going back inside to resume the conversation with the father of her child was one of those things that simply couldn't be avoided any longer. Because she'd avoided sufficiently since knowing of said child's existence, that it was absolutely imperative that the two of them come to some sort of understanding. Soon.

After all, tomorrow he would be leaving the hospital and she'd promised him he could move into her house. He was moving into her house with her. Will. In her house. With her.

The last time he was in her house with her had been quite pleasant, if intense.

What was she thinking?

They didn't have a relationship. Well, okay, they had a relationship. And she loved him. At least, she thought she did. When she wasn't thinking about how she couldn't possibly know him well enough to love him yet.

It was well past dark when she forced her feet to turn back back toward the main door of the hospital. When she reached his room, it was to find Dr. Giles sipping tea, sitting beside the bed with a book in his lap. He looked up at her and smiled a bit.

"William was convinced you had run off to Tibet and he would never see you again."

"He seems to have taken it well." Her words were punctuated by a soft huffing sound that was almost a snore coming from the figure of the man in question. There was drool pooling on the pillow under his open mouth, and every so often his nose twitched. It irked her just how cute she found it, and just how much it still thrilled her to watch his rise and fall evenly. She didn't realize she'd been staring until Dr. Giles cleared his throat.

"Not quite. His current state is far more the result of his most recent dose of pain medication than an indication of tranquility."

She sighed. "Still angry, huh?"

"More terrified, I should think." He paused, and she had a feeling he was about to make her night worse. "It isn't any of my business."

"No. It's really not." She cut him off, and took the opportunity to turn her back on him and rummage in her purse for some change. "Since he's asleep, I'll just step out to the vending machine and get a soda."

"I brought you a Sprite." He pointed at the nightstand, where sure enough a can was waiting to rob her of her excuse to leave again. "I've noticed that's what you drink."

Only because caffeine is bad, she thought. Oh well. "Oh. Thank you."

"Don't be too hard on him."

"Yeah. Right. About that none of your business thing..."

"Yes, of course. Were you intending to stay this evening?"

She hadn't been. She'd intended to go home for a hot bath and a soft bed. But now that she was back inside she didn't want to go. Not if he was really afraid she wasn't coming back.

"Yeah. I'm staying. I kind of wanted to talk to him some more."

"I'll just be going then. You have the number at the hotel if you need me?"

"Yeah." It was strange, the way this man had just slipped right into the equation. He made no mention of returning to England, although surely he would have to do so soon. He said nothing about any future plans at all, just waiting quietly for Will to get to know him.

When he was gone, it struck her how very much like his father Will could be. The persistent way he'd forced himself into her life without it feeling forced at all. Oh, sure, he'd made what he wanted infinitely clear to her, but he'd also been willing to just be there with no promises. He was more outlandish, more brash and loud at times, but still, the way Dr. Giles seemed to be almost courting his son was very similar in intent to the way Will had courted her.

That observation led to her cataloging other features the men shared, some obvious and others only hinted at so far. And it was only natural, then, to move on to what that may possibly mean about her child. She had no idea how long she'd spent staring at Will wondering if her child would have curly hair and blue eyes when it infiltrated her thoughts that the eyes she'd been contemplating were open.

"Hey."

Will licked his lips, and she was reaching for his water bottle when he reached out and took her hand instead.

"I buggered that up proper, didn't I?" he asked softly.

She sighed. "Yeah. Kind of. I don't take well to orders. And less well to people calling my baby that word." Bastard. A word that made it sound like she was some sort of fallen woman, a female of loose morals, or some other vaguely Victorian phrase that meant she was immoral and her child somehow less worthy because of it's parent's lack of legal paperwork.

"Was kind of my point." He blew out a breath, and let go of her to run his hand through his hair. "Less fun for the kid, you know. And I was going to ask anyway. Later. When I thought you'd think it had been long enough. Had planned on doing it right, you know? Don't know why I just said it like that."

"See, I don't get that. There's no way you intended to ask me to marry you before you found out I was pregnant. And that isn't reason enough to marry anyone."

"Not saying it is." He looked away from her, and it felt like something had sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. "But yeah, I was already thinkin' it. Since you said you love me."

Oh. Oh, well, that was just crazy. He didn't even remember all of the time they'd spent together, and they hadn't spent that much. It was beyond insane. It was ridiculous. It was...sweet. "Oh. Okay then."

He was looking at her again, eyebrows climbing his forehead. "Okay you believe me, or okay you'll marry me?"

"You haven't ever actually asked me to marry you." she heard herself saying.

"For the love of..." Will glared at her, and a strange giddy feeling washed through her. "I'm asking."

"Asking what?"

"Are you trying to torture me?"

She smiled. "Yes. I feel it's only fair considering the circumstances that I make sure you suffer an amount of torture equal to or greater than what you put me through with the almost dying thing." Her smile faded as she continued, though, trying to say this exactly right to avoid any misunderstandings later. "But I wouldn't answer if you asked right now, anyway. Your pupils are like, totally huge, and your words are all slurred and loopy. How about this, you ask me when you're completely lucid and I'll think about it until then, okay?"

"No. Not okay." He was starting to fade again, his overly rapid blinking and the way he was rubbing his cheek against his pillow a dead giveaway. "You have to promise. Gotta marry me." He lost the battle to keep his eyes open.

"Yeah, I think I gotta do that." She whispered the words so that she wouldn't wake him. He was insufferably sweet sometimes. Dammit.

"Heard that. Hold you to it." Well, double dammit.

"That's not fair. You weren't even supposed to hear that." She was still whispering.

And this time, he seemed to really be asleep.







By the time morning came, she was stiff and sore and wondering why she'd never managed to rouse herself from her chair and go home. She'd stopped spending the night when he'd left the ICU, and she really needed to do a few things to get the house ready for her guest. Fiance. Maybe future fiance? She wasn't clear on if their last exchange constituted a commitment on either of their parts. It had all seemed very real at the time, but when she replayed the conversation in her head it bordered on the hypothetical and the sometime later.

That thought lasted until Will woke up and told the nurse he didn't want his pain meds.

"Will, the doctor said you didn't want to stop those yet. That's one of the reasons you have to have someone to stay with you, remember?" Will was currently glaring the nurse and refusing to take the little paper cup out of her hand. His arms were folded across his chest and he was pouting. For her part, the nurse was just standing there looking disapproving at him.

"And I want them. Just want them later."

"You can't go home on the IV, and we need to be sure you don't have any kind of adverse reaction to the medication change before you go home this afternoon. The longer you delay the greater the chance we'll have to watch you until tomorrow." The nurse smirked at him, sure of her victory.

"Yeah, well, my girl says she won't accept my proposal 'til I ask her all sober-like." Beth glared. He was making a scene, and enjoying every second of it. "So we'll wait 'til what's in me now is all completely worn off. Then I'll try to get the bloody question out between screams of agony, she'll say yes, and you can give me a bloody big shot and keep me as long as you need, right? 'Cause this one here thinks my judgment is all impaired."

And somehow with that little speech he'd managed to manage to make the nurse glare at her.

"Ma'am, he really needs to take the medication for at least another week. It's a lower dosage than he's been getting, but it's still significant. If he doesn't, he's going to be hurting pretty badly."

"Yeah. But if I do, gonna be hurtin' worse, yeah? She don't believe I want to marry her."

"Will, don't be an ass!" She avoided the nurse's glare to the best of her ability, and caught Will fighting to keep the smile off his face. "This isn't funny!"

"Not gonna do it."

"Well, I'm not falling for your blackmail."

"Here I am, tryin' to do what you want, and it's blackmail, now?" He turned back to the nurse. "You see what I mean? All I'm wanting is an answer. Do you think that's too much to ask?"

Beth was about three seconds from shoving the pills down his throat herself when Rupert's laugh filled the doorway.

"William, take your medicine."

"Oi! And you think I'll do what you say now, just because we had a bonding father son type moment, yeah?"

"No, I think you'll do what I say because you actually want to. There's no way you would want to look back on this and realize you proposed in a hospital gown with greasy hair, two days worth of beard, fuzzy teeth and no ring. Your grandchildren will hear about every year at your anniversary party. And it will get worse with every telling."

Will grabbed the pill cup, glaring.

"Fine. Buffy, after I brush my teeth and buy you a ring and I ask you to marry me, will you say yes then?"

The nurse was giggling, and staring at her. Rupert at least had the grace to look away, but she was almost certain it was to hide his expression more than it was to give the semblance of a private moment. She was almost certain he was biting the inside of his cheek. And she should have known Will hadn't forgotten the Buffy thing.

"Fine. Yes. Now take the damned pill."

Will winked at the nurse, and did so. The young woman left, still giggling, and Beth glared. "We are going to be the laughingstock of this entire hospital." She glared at him.

"Naaah. It'll be all 'wasn't that sweet' and 'they were so precious' by lunch, and I'll have my witness if you try to back out."


Chapter End Notes:
Fluffy chapter.



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