Chapter 32
Buffy thrust her head back against the pillow when Dr. Bennett finished examining her.
“How much longer?” she groaned.
“You’re almost there, Buffy. Not much longer now.” It was well past noon, and Buffy was seriously wondering if the contractions could get much worse. When the next one hit her, she realized, yes they could.
“You’ve got to get this kid out of me. I think I’m going to die, Dr. Bennett. I really think…” Dr. Bennett placed a hand over Buffy’s and shook her head.
“You’re doing just fine, Buffy. You’re quite the trooper.” Buffy groaned. People had been saying that to her all day long.
“Ok, if you’re not here to deliver my baby, get out.”
“Buffy,” Hank started, coming around the curtain the doctor had drawn during the examination.
“It’s ok,” Dr. Bennett assured him. “Buffy’s one of the more pleasant laboring women I’ve talked to this morning. I’ll be back in an hour to check on you.”
“An hour?!” And then the doctor was gone. Buffy grabbed Spike’s sleeve. “Did she say an hour?!” Spike sat up a little. He’d been on Buffy’s side of the curtain during the examination, and he’d thought it best to keep quiet. He knew Buffy’s pain was horrible, but he also figured the pain was only going to get worse when it came time for delivery.
“It’s alright, kitten,” he soothed.
“This baby’s never going to get here,” she cried. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m so hungry. I can’t have anything but ice chips. I just…I want it out!” Another contraction hit her, and she clutched the pillow.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered, stroking her hair and softly kissing the top of her head. “Is there anything I can get you?”
“I just…I want my mom,” she cried. “I wish she was here.” Spike felt his heart jump into his throat. Hank sighed softly and came around the other side of the bed.
“I wish I could bring her here for you,” Hank whispered. “I know she’d love to be here for this. I wish she was.”
“It’s not fair,” she whimpered. “She should be here. She should…oh God!” She squeezed her eyes shut, and Spike looked up at Hank, wondering if this was normal. Hank, as if he knew what Spike was thinking, just gave him a little nod.
“I’ll go check on Dawn. See if Willow and Cordelia are keeping her entertained.” Hank headed out, and Spike continued to soothe his girlfriend, rubbing her back as she held strong during her contraction. When it was all over, she sighed and blinked away her tears.
“I need you to tell me…tell me what you always tell me.”
“What?”
“Tell me it’s gonna be ok.” Spike smiled a little and bent forward to kiss her lips.
“Of course it’s gonna be ok, luv. In a few hours, this is all gonna be over, and we’ll have a new mess of worries.” He winked at her. “But those’ll be more along the lines of, ‘which way does the nappy go again?’” Buffy couldn’t help but grin at that, and she nodded.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
***
“No. Dad. I just…I wanted to tell you that Buffy’s in labor,” Spike explained. “No. I’m not bloody asking you for money. I’m just telling you that your first grandchild is about to be born, and…no. No, Dad! You know what? I don’t even know why I bothered to call. I don’t know what the hell happened to turn you into such a bastard, but I’m through.” Buffy’s frown deepened as she only heard the one side of the conversation. “Go ahead. Stop sending the checks. I don’t need you anymore. I just thought you should know. Congratulations, you’re almost a grandfather.” With that, he shut his cell phone and threw it down on the table.
“I’m sorry,” Buffy said quietly, slowly relaxing after a painful contraction. They were coming even more frequently now.
“It’s not your fault, luv,” Spike assured her. “Don’t know why I called him.”
“Because he’s your father.”
“He used to be my father. A good one, too. Guess he thinks that because his last marriage broke up, he doesn’t have to be a family man anymore. Good for him. I don’t bloody care.”
“Yes you do,” Buffy pointed out. “You wouldn’t be this upset if you didn’t care.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore,” he said softly. “Don’t need his money. We’ll be alright.” He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back when another contraction hit. It was then that Dr. Bennett came walking in to check on Buffy. She waited until Buffy’s contraction was over before examining her. Spike took Buffy’s hand and stroked over her knuckles, whispering words of encouragement into her ear.
“Please give me some good news,” Buffy pleaded. “Please…”
“Definitely good news,” Dr. Bennett beamed. “How do you feel about getting this baby out now?” Buffy’s eyes widened.
“It’s time?”
“Time to start pushing,” Dr. Bennett said with a nod. “You’re fully dilated and one hundred percent effaced.
“You did so good, sweetheart,” Spike murmured, kissing Buffy’s brow. “The hard part’s almost over.” Buffy swallowed hard and nodded.
“I’m scared, Spike.”
“I’ll be here, luv.”
“Ok. Just…don’t leave me,” she breathed. But the moment she started to squeeze his hand, her eyes widened. “Wait! You have to tell them. Tell them the baby’s coming.”
“You want me to…”
“Hurry!”
“Right,” Spike nodded, hurrying out of the room to tell Buffy’s friends and family that the baby was about to be born. When he arrived back in the room in about three minutes, the doctor pulled the curtain around the bed and paged for the nurse. “They’re all waiting just outside, luv.”
“Ok,” she breathed. “Ok. We can do this, right?”
“Right. We can do this. You can do this. I know you can.” Spike stood at her side and held onto her hand.
“Alright,” Dr. Bennett said with a nod, “let’s get this show on the road.”
***
“Daddy, why is Buffy yelling like that?” Dawn asked, looking up at her father with fear in her eyes.
“She’s just trying to get the baby out,” he explained.
“Oh. Well…how does it come out?” she wondered, crinkling her nose. Hank sighed but picked his daughter up, giving her a hug.
“Come on. Let’s go wait out of earshot, ok?” He nodded to the rest of the group, who followed Hank back out into the waiting room.
“God, that sounded so bad,” Xander muttered under his breath.
“I’m so glad that’s not me in there,” Cordelia said, holding up a hand. “Why would somebody put themselves through that? No wonder my mother yells at me so much. I mean, if she went through half of what Buffy’s going through back there…”
“Well, I’m sure Buffy knew it was coming,” Willow added. “I mean, she’s not stupid. She was pregnant, watching all those baby story shows on TV and reading the books, so she knew it was gonna hurt.”
“When Buffy was born,” Hank pointed out, “Joyce said there is no way to even describe the pain. But it doesn’t matter once the baby’s born, because that baby becomes the most important thing.”
“Yeah, well I hope that’s one good baby, because Buffy sounded like she was dying in there,” Cordelia frowned.
“Daddy? Is Buffy gonna die?!” Dawn’s eyes were round and full of worry. Xander nudged his girlfriend, and Hank rubbed Dawn’s back.
“No, honey. Xander was just using a figure of speech. Right, Xander?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Right.” Xander knelt down in front of Dawn. “It’s just an expression, Dawnie. I tend to over-exaggerate sometimes, and…”
“What’s that mean?”
“Xander?” Cordelia asked. “Just give up.” Xander sighed and nodded.
“Don’t worry, Dawn. Buffy’s just fine.”
“What’s taking so long?” Cordelia wondered.
“These things take time,” Hank pointed out. “Buffy was a stubborn baby. Joyce pushed for hours and hours.”
“Poor Buffy,” Willow murmured. “She’s gotta be exhausted. I mean, she hasn’t been sleeping very well, and well, yesterday was graduation.” She shook her head. “She’s lucky she’s got Spike, or else she’d never get any sleep once the baby’s home.”
The doors opened, and everybody turned around. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Spike or Dr. Bennett. It was a nurse, and she was hurrying off to another patient’s room. Everybody heaved a collective sigh and settled in for a very long afternoon.
***
“I can’t do this anymore,” Buffy cried, collapsing back onto the pillows. “I can’t. I just…I’m too tired, Spike. I can’t do it.” She was crying now. She’d been pushing for two hours, and while she’d made a lot of progress, she was so tired she wasn’t sure she had the strength left in her.
“The head’s right here, Buffy,” Dr. Bennett assured her. “Give me your hand. Do you wanna feel the baby’s head?” Buffy looked worriedly at the doctor before slowly extending out her hand. The doctor took it and guided it down, and Buffy’s eyes widened at the feel of her baby’s scalp on her fingertips.
“Oh my God. It’s right there,” she whimpered. Spike took a look and felt a lump form in his throat for the fiftieth time that day. Buffy was incredible. Everything her body was going through…well, he’d never seen anything like it before.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Spike urged. “You can do this. Just a few more pushes, right doc?” He looked desperately at the doctor, who gave him a little nod.
“Just a few more, Buffy, and the head’ll be out. Can you do that for me, please?”
“I don’t…”
“Hey, look at me,” Spike urged, squeezing her hand. Buffy turned her head so she could look up into his eyes. “You can do this. I know you can. We’ve made it this far, and we haven’t let anything stand in our way, right?”
“Right,” she sniffled, groaning as the next contraction slammed into her.
“This baby’s coming, and you need to push it out, luv. You need to stay strong, and when it’s out? When it’s out, you can rest all you want, ok?”
“Ok,” she breathed, lower lip trembling. “Ok.” She took a deep breath, and Spike placed an arm behind her back, helping her sit up just a little. She began to push, and Dr. Bennett’s nurse pushed the cart over. There were a lot of scary, confusing looking things, but Spike chose not to look at it. Instead, he focused everything on supporting Buffy so she could find the strength within herself to push the baby out.
One of Buffy’s hands squeezed Spike’s, and the other grabbed onto the side of the bed. She planted her feet hard against the stirrups, and she pushed with everything she had in her. The pain was beyond explanation, but she closed her eyes, picturing that baby in her mind and willing her body not to quit on her.
Spike couldn’t really believe this was all happening. Not even nine months ago, he hadn’t imagined that he’d ever be able to tell Buffy how he truly felt about her. Now, here they were, and Buffy was bringing their first child into the world. Everything he’d ever wanted in his life was happening. Maybe it was a little sooner than he’d expected, but he wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything.
“Good! Good,” Dr. Bennett broke through Spike’s thoughts, quickly grabbing for something on the cart. “The head’s out. I need you to give me a couple more pushes, and then the baby’ll be out, ok, Buffy?”
“Oh God,” Buffy cried. “Ok. Ok.” She took a deep breath, looked up at Spike and then pushed, arching her head back as she felt the baby passing out of her and into the arms of Dr. Bennett. When she opened her eyes, she looked up to try to read the reaction on Spike’s face. He was staring down at their squirming child, and his eyes were wide and filled with tears.
Within moments, a wail pierced the air, and Dr. Bennett held the baby up so Buffy and Spike could get a look.
“Oh my God!” Buffy exclaimed. “It’s a boy!”
“You were right, baby,” he murmured, kissing her softly. “Look at him.”
“He’s so tiny,” Buffy cried, as the doctor handed him to her. He squirmed and cried, and despite the fact he was covered in stuff that Buffy probably would have cringed over a year ago, he was absolutely perfect in every single way.
“You did it,” Spike murmured. “God, you were incredible.” Buffy let out a little sob as the nurse toweled the baby off and then tucked a little blanket around him to keep him warm while his mother held him.
“I can’t believe he’s here. I can’t believe we have a son!” Buffy swallowed hard and watched as the nurse slipped a little blue and white hat on the baby’s head. “Look at you. Oh God, you’re so amazing.” She looked up at Spike and then back at the baby. “He looks like his daddy.”
Spike beamed with pride, and Buffy slowly handed the baby off to his father.
At eighteen years of age, Spike Pratt was holding his first born child, seeing a perfect mixture of himself and Buffy in the wrinkled, bald little person, and he had never felt more accomplished in his entire life.
“Hey,” he said softly, stroking the baby’s fingers. “You’re here. You’re actually a…a person.” Dr. Bennett smiled knowingly at the nurse, but Spike looked at her. “Am…am I holding him right?” She nodded.
“As far as first time fathers go, I think you’re already doing a pretty good job.”
Spike smiled down at his son and shook his head. “Can’t believe I helped make you.” He couldn’t help but let a couple tears slide out.
“Let’s take him over and weigh him, ok?” The nurse reached for the baby, and Spike reluctantly handed him over. He sat down next to Buffy’s bed as the doctor worked at the foot of the bed, cleaning up the new mom and doing other things that Spike really didn’t want to think about. All he wanted to do was let Buffy know how much she meant to him.
“I’m proud of you,” he whispered. “You did it.”
“I can’t believe it,” she sighed softly, brushing away a tear. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do, Spike.” She looked over toward the scales, where her son was currently weighing in at 5lbs. 8 oz. before looking back at Spike. “But I don’t remember ever being this happy.” Spike shook his head.
“Me either, luv.”
The nurse carried the now swaddled baby back over and placed him in Buffy’s arms.
“Hi,” she said softly, stroking his pink cheek. “You’re so little. God, I thought you’d be fifteen pounds.” Spike chuckled and pulled his arm around Buffy.
“We don’t have a name for him yet.”
“I know,” Buffy said quietly. “I don’t think he’d appreciate being called Joyce.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
“And I know you like ‘William,’ but I don’t want my kid to hate his name and have to come up with his own nickname someday.”
“But,” Buffy pouted, “I think it’s a beautiful name. William Pratt Jr.”
“I don’t want him to be a junior,” Spike pointed out. “He should have his own name.”
“Okay,” Buffy smiled, cradling her baby. “Can we give him William for a middle name?”
“I think that’d be ok,” Spike agreed with a little nod.
“Good. ‘Cause I think I have the perfect name for him.”
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Chapter End Notes:
What do YOU think she's going to name the baby? Or do you have any suggestions. I already have a name picked out, but I'm totally willing to change my mind if I hear something I like better. ;) Please let me know what you thought of the chapter! Thanks so much!