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Chapter 24

Christmas break had gone by too fast. For Buffy and Spike, most of that had been spent watching Dawn, since her Christmas break coincided with theirs. But now it was mid-January, and school had been back in session for a couple of weeks.

Buffy was impressed. And that was an understatement. Not only had Cordelia managed to keep Buffy’s pregnancy a secret, but she’d even learned how to quiet her voice at lunch whenever said pregnancy was discussed.

Most kids had an inkling by now that Buffy was pregnant. Her face was just the tiniest bit fuller, and her shirts were starting to tighten up a little in her mid section. Cordelia had promised to take her friend out for a day of shopping for the hippest maternity stuff possible, but Buffy wasn’t so sure they had a maternity line for pregnant teens. Cordelia, however, was pretty certain they did. So, Buffy decided to trust in her fashion-forward friend.

Morning sickness had started to taper off, though it wasn’t completely absent from Buffy’s life quite yet. She’d made it almost the entire day without feeling miserable, but right before last period, she felt her lunch from earlier trying to make its way back up. She frowned, took a few deep breaths, and within a few minutes, the nausea was gone, but she was still leaning against the sink in the bathroom, ready to turn and jump into the nearest stall if the occasion arose.

When she finally felt completely confident that she wouldn’t be throwing up all over Mr. Neeson’s shoes in history class, she started out of the bathroom, only to be bumped into by none other than Drusilla Lewis, who had her hand over her mouth and was dodging around the petite blonde to make her way to her own stall.

“What it!” Buffy warned, only to be answered by the gagging and retching sounds coming from the half-open stall. Realization suddenly hit her. She’d seen Dru ducking into the bathroom quite a lot these days. At first she’d thought maybe the girl was developing an eating disorder, but this was definitely not a self-induced purge. And as much as she didn’t want to talk to the girl, she empathized with the nausea. “Dru? You ok?”

“Leave me alone.” Was she crying?

“Dru…”

“I said get out of here!” The toilet flushed, and Dru came out of the stall, cheeks darkened by her running mascara. Buffy sighed and ran some paper towels under the faucet, handing them to Dru. “For your makeup. It also helps to wipe down the back of your neck and your forehead until it passes.”

“Until what passes?” Dru asked nonchalantly, grabbing the paper towels and wiping her face.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” She expected something vile to come forth from Drusilla’s lips, but instead, the girl broke down into a mess of tears. Buffy’s eyes widened. Dru had never been known as a mentally stable individually, but this was almost too much.

“It doesn’t matter. My life’s over.”

“That’s not true.”

“Oh, it’s not? It’s bad enough that I’m pregnant, but my baby doesn’t have a father.” She looked Buffy up and down. “Look at you. The golden girl. Always gets anything she sets her little sights on.” She glared at Buffy, stepping closer to her. “You wanted Spike? You got him. Now you’ve got his baby.” Buffy’s eyes widened and she smoothed down her shirt. “Don’t try to hide it. Half the school already knows, Buffy. They know what kind of girl you are.” Buffy backed away, wanting to run. But she couldn’t stop herself from saying the next words that flew out of her mouth.

“And what does that make you, Dru? At least I didn’t cheat on Spike with the first asshole that would pay attention to me. Now look at you. Don’t even pretend to act like you know me. Why don’t you look at yourself in the mirror? Figure out what kind of girl you are.” Buffy shook her head. “Don’t you dare judge me.” With that, she turned and walked out of the bathroom, any empathy she may have had for Dru flying right out the window.

***

“Something wrong, luv?” Buffy and Spike were sitting on the couch doing homework together and waiting for Dawn’s bus to drop her off.

“Huh?” She looked up from her history book.

“You didn’t say much on the way home. And now you’re looking at your history book like you actually give a damn about what happened in…” He peered over at the page, “500 BC. We’re not even studying that, are we?”

“No,” she grumbled, closing her book. “Sorry. I ran into Dru in the bathroom before last period.”

“Did she say anything to you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. She knows I’m pregnant.”

“What? How…”

“She told me when I told her I knew she was.” Spike glanced at her, dropping his book into his lap.

“She’s what?”

“She’s pregnant. She’s hiding it,” Buffy murmured. She glanced at Spike. “Before you ask me what I think, I know it’s not yours. You told me you two weren’t together for a while before you broke up. That’s true, right?”

“Of course it’s true. Wouldn’t lie to you, luv.” He placed his hand over hers.

“Angel’s the father,” Buffy concluded.

“Probably. Dru wasn’t exactly faithful to me, luv.”

“Yeah, but I think she was too afraid of Angel to try and cheat on him,” she pointed out. “It’s got to be his.” Shaking her head, she leaned back against the couch. “Because of Angel, my mother’s dead. And because she’s dead, Angel’s kid is gonna grow up the first few years of its life not knowing its father.”

“Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty about that?” Spike wondered, eyebrows raised.

“Of course not,” Buffy muttered. “If it were up to me, I’d make sure Angel stayed behind bars, but I can’t…I can’t make that happen. It’s just…it’s not fair that he’s ruining yet another life…one that hasn’t even been born yet.”

The sound of squealing brakes caught their attention. Spike turned on the couch to look out the front window.

“Little sis is home,” he said with a little nod toward the street. Buffy sighed softly and got up, heading to the door with Spike. When Buffy opened the door, Dawn, who was heading up the side walk, caught a glimpse of her sister and Spike and waved excitedly.

“Hi Buffy! Hi Spike!” she grinned, picking up the pace. But, just as she was about to reach the steps, she tripped and fell on the sidewalk. Without thinking, Buffy rushed to her little sister’s side and scooped her up.

“Oh…here. Let me see.” Dawn was crying, and Buffy lifted Dawn’s skirt just above her knee to see that it was scraped and bleeding a little. “Come on, Dawnie. We’ll make you good as new.”

Spike was in awe, watching Buffy go into mommy-mode. She rushed Dawn into the kitchen, sat her up on the counter and fished through the cabinets, looking for the first aid kit. Sure enough, it was in the junk drawer.

“Hey, Little Bit,” Spike said softly, squeezing the little girl’s shoulder. “Big sis is gonna make you all better, alright?” Dawn sniffled and nodded, wiping at her own tears.

“It hurts,” she whimpered.

“It’s ok, Dawnie,” Buffy urged. “This might sting a little bit.” She poured some peroxide onto a cloth and dabbed it over Dawn’s cut. Dawn didn’t even flinch. “Ok. Now I’ll put some medicine on it, and you’ll be good as new, ok?”

“Promise?”

“I promise. You might have a little scar, but…”

“Like Spike has on his eyebrow?”

“Maybe. But it’ll be on your knee instead.”

“Cool,” Dawn grinned, still sniffling. Buffy and Spike gave each other an amused look before Buffy put medicine on the little scratch and placed a bandage over it.

“There you go. All better. Does it hurt?”

“Nope,” Dawn said, shaking her head. “Can I go play now?”

“Go on,” Buffy laughed. “Dad’ll be home in a couple hours.”

“’Kay.” She bounded up the back stairs and up to her bedroom. Buffy shook her head and washed her hands in the sink.

“Look at you,” Spike chuckled.

“What?” Buffy wondered, turning and toweling off her hands.

“The way you ran to her, scooped her up like that? You’re gonna be an amazing mother.” Buffy sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“It scared me when she fell. I just…I reacted.”

“’Cause you love her.”

“No…I…” Buffy frowned. “Shut up. She’s just a little kid. I mean, she grows on you after a while. I can’t help it.”

“I know you didn’t want a sister,” Spike said quietly, gently rubbing circles on her back as he pulled her close. “But I think you took to it really well.”

“It still doesn’t excuse what my dad did. I’m not sure I can ever really get over the fact that he cheated on my mother.” She frowned. “But Dawn doesn’t understand that stuff right now. It’s not her fault. I’ve spent a lot of time with her, and…” Suddenly, her face fell, and Spike watched her swallow the lump in her throat.

“Buffy?”

“What?” she choked out.

“I don’t think your mum would mind a bit to see you bonding with your little sis.”

“I miss her, Spike, but I feel like maybe…maybe she wouldn’t want…”

“She’d want you to be happy, luv. You light up when Dawn’s around. You have somebody to take care of, and I think that’s what you need right now. I think it’s helping.”

“Helping what? Helping me get over the fact that my mother is dead?”

“Well, not completely get over it. That’ll never happen, pet. But I think having Dawn around makes it easier for you.”

“Yeah. It does.” She smiled a little. “Come on. We should get back to studying.” She took his hand in hers and led him out of the kitchen and back into the living room.

***

At school the next day, Buffy stood at her locker talking quietly to Willow. Thankfully, it was almost lunchtime, because Buffy was absolutely starving.

“Are you coming to The Bronze tonight?” Willow wondered.

“I can’t,” Buffy muttered. “Dad’s got a conference call. It’s at home, but I have to keep Dawn out of his hair.”

“Oh. Ok, well, maybe next Friday then?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Buffy said with a little smile. She hated having to miss time with her friends, especially since in about six months, she wouldn’t have much time for anything anymore, but she had already told her dad she’d help with Dawn.

She moved to take a notebook out of her locker, but when she pulled it out, a folder fell out with it, and when it fell to the floor, Buffy’s sonogram picture came sliding out. Eyes widening in terror, Buffy reached down to pick it up, only to find a foot quickly moving over it and sliding it out of her grasp.

“Hey!” She looked up to see Harmony Kendall smirking down at her. “Harmony…”

“What’s this?” she asked innocently, bending down to pick it up, as Buffy stood, straightening herself out. When Harmony stood again, studying the picture, her eyes widened, and she looked up at Buffy.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Harmony, please…”

“Well, I guess the rumors are true,” she laughed.

“Harmony, please!” Buffy repeated, grabbing for the picture. Harmony yanked her hand away.

“Oh, this is too good! Who’s is it? It’s Spike’s, right? Guess we know what you’ve been doing in your spare time, huh?”

“Stop it, Harmony,” Willow warned.

“Or what, you pathetic nerd?” Harmony waved the picture around. “Look, everybody! Buffy Summers is having a baby! Guess the rumors about her being a little slut are true!” Buffy’s eyes widened as the level of her mortification grew by the second. Harmony flung the little piece of paper back at Buffy, who stuffed it in her locker. People were eyeing her and whispering.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Buffy murmured, clenching her fists and blinking back tears.

“Oh, I think I did. That’s what you get for fucking my best friend’s guy.”

“He’s not Dru’s guy. Not anymore,” Willow pointed out. “She’s the one that cheated on him with Angel anyway.”

“Wil, please,” Buffy urged. “Just don’t.”

“I was just trying to…”

“I know. Just…just don’t.” Buffy slammed her locker door and rushed off to her next class, avoiding the knowing gazes from her fellow classmates.


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