[Reviews - 288]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2805 times

- Text Size +




Chapter 33

“He’s so cute, Buffy!” Willow exclaimed, holding Baby Boy Pratt in her arms. He was just about an hour old, and he was as cute as could be. He’d had his first bath and had that adorable baby smell of powder.

Everybody had crowded around the bed, and Buffy and Spike were holding hands, even more in love than ever, it seemed.

“Let me hold my grandson,” Hank said eagerly, reaching out for the little bundle. Willow handed him over, and he cradled the little boy in his arms and knelt down so Dawn could get a good look at him. “Look at you. You look just like your daddy. Yes you do.”

Buffy’s heart melted at the sight of her father with her son. She bit her trembling lower lip, and Spike kissed the side of her head.

“So what are we calling this little slugger?” Hank wondered.

“This is Elijah William Pratt,” Spike announced proudly.

“Elijah?” Xander asked thoughtfully. “I like it. What made you think of that?” Hank looked up in surprise and cocked his head at Buffy.

“Your mom told you?”

“Yeah,” Buffy said, sniffling and wiping at her eyes.

“Told what?” Cordelia wondered, leaning her head on Xander’s shoulder.

“Mom and Dad wanted to name me Elijah if I was a boy,” she pointed out. “But I was a girl.”

“Clearly,” Spike chuckled.

“Elijah,” Dawn said softly. “I like his name. But he’s so small.”

“You were that small once, sweet pea,” Hank pointed out. “Well, not that small. You were a pretty big baby. Elijah was a little early, so he’s a little small.”

“Is he ok though?” Cordelia wondered.

“Yeah,” Buffy announced. “His weight was ok, so we don’t have to spend extra time in the hospital. Thank God. I wanna go home as soon as possible.”

“Oh, just wait until you’ve been home 24 hours with a newborn,” Hank smiled, “you’ll be missing the nurses that come in to help in the middle of the night.”

“Great,” Buffy smirked. “Thanks.”

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Dawn insisted.

“Alright, alright. I’m gonna take Dawn to eat. Why don’t the rest of you come and let Buffy and Spike have some time? I’ll pay.” He handed Elijah off to Spike.

“Gee, Mr. Summers. That’s awful nice of you,” Xander grinned, “especially since we’re all unemployed, penniless high school grads who have no idea what we’re going to do with our futures.”

“Way to bring the happy down, Xander,” Oz said, patting him on the back, as they filed out of the room. Buffy couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face as she watched Spike with their son.

“Look at him,” Buffy smiled. “And he’s got blue eyes.”

“Most babies have blue eyes when they’re born. Never know, they might turn green.”

“Aw, a green-eyed Spike,” she mused. “He’s gonna have all the girl babies in the nursery swooning, you know.” Spike chuckled at that and rocked his son slowly in his arms. The baby blinked a few times before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

“That’s my boy,” he cooed, stroking his son’s cheek.

“Let me hold him,” Buffy urged, reaching out. Spike placed their son in her arms and watched in amazement as her smile brightened and her eyes lit up. She had barely been a mother for an hour, and to Spike, she was the best one he’d ever seen. She held such love for that little boy in her heart, and he knew that there was no way in Hell he wanted to miss a moment of their new life together.

***

Later that afternoon, Buffy was sleeping, and little Elijah was in the nursery. Spike was resting in the chair next to Buffy’s bed. As exhausted as he was, he couldn’t sleep thinking about everything that was going to happen when they went home.

He had his album to promote, Buffy had school to get ready for, and at the same time, they had a baby to take care of. The tough stuff was going to hit them hard, and they both knew it, but right now, as he looked at her sleeping, he couldn’t help but feel completely and utterly at peace with the fact that for the rest of his life, Elijah Pratt was going to call him Dad, and Buffy would be the one he woke up with each morning and went to sleep with each night.

Spike looked up when Hank walked into the room. He glanced over at Buffy and then back over at their guest. Hank had an envelope in his hands, and Spike furrowed his brows and followed him out of the room.

“Spike,” Hank said quietly, “this came for you in the mail today.” Spike looked down at the envelope as it passed from Hank’s hands to his.

“What is it?” He looked at the return address. It was from the bursar’s office at UCS.

“I took Dawn home to get a change of clothes, and this was waiting. You should probably open it. Looks important.”

Spike slowly ripped open the top of the envelope and looked back up at Hank, who just nodded toward the envelope. Clearing his throat, Spike unfolded the paper and began to read.

“Dear Mr. Pratt,

Thank you for your early payment for your first semester’s tuition at UC Sunnydale. Please meet with your advisor to schedule your semester as soon as possible.” He looked up at Hank. “What is this? Did you…”

“You didn’t have any grants did you?” Hank asked, eyes wide.

“No, I didn’t,” Spike replied cautiously. “Did you…”

“Seems like somebody’s really concerned about your education.”

“I already decided not to…”

“Maybe somebody saw that Oz was planning to go to take classes as well as be in the band. Maybe they thought that you have enough potential to balance your music and your education.”

“Mr. Summers…”

“It’s Hank, Spike,” Hank said quietly. “You’re the father of my grandson.” He looked down at that piece of paper. “Whoever paid your first semester’s tuition must really think a lot of you.”

“But the baby…and Buffy. If I do this…”

“If you do this, you’ll be able to prove to yourself that you’re capable of much more than you think you are. My daughter sees that, but she wants you to be happy. Maybe whoever did this for you thinks that you’re torn between two worlds. Maybe think you can have both. Maybe having both means learning how to be a good father and a good man in the process. You’ve been through so much, Spike, and I think that’s only made you stronger. That’s why you and Buffy are so right for each other. You’ve both had terrible things happen to you, but you have each other, and you see it through together.”

“I…”

“A baby is a big responsibility, but it’s something that you two have to take care of now. But it doesn’t mean that your futures are over. You have family, Spike. You have me, and you have your friends. Whatever you and Buffy need, we’re going to help you out. Not everybody in this world leaves you out in the cold.” He placed his hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Think about it, Spike. Think about what this could mean for you and for your family.”

“Daddy?” Dawn came skipping down the hallway with Willow and Cordelia right behind her. Hank turned quickly before Spike could say a word, and he walked off to tend to his youngest daughter.

Spike stared down at the bursar’s office statement in his hand and looked back over at Buffy’s hospital room. Without another thought, he folded the paper and put it in his jeans’ pocket. This could wait until later.

***

“Welcome home,” Buffy murmured, carrying baby Elijah into the house. “This is where mommy, daddy, grandpa and aunt Dawn live.” The baby was fast asleep, but Buffy spoke to him anyway. She had him cradled in her arms, and Spike had her things from the hospital in both hands. He placed them down in the hallway and helped Buffy into the living room and over to the couch.

“You ok, pet?”

“I’m fine,” Buffy giggled. “Just glad to be home.” On the way home from the hospital, they’d made a quick stop by the store to purchase a bassinet, so the baby would have a place to sleep for the night. They’d bought three packages of diapers, a few cans of formula, and a set of five baby bottles. Those things, along with a few blankets and outfits brought in since the baby was born, were all they had so far, and it was going to have to tide them over for a few days until the baby shower, which had been moved up again.

Hank and Xander came walking in with the box containing the bassinet parts. Xander had asked if the display model could be purchased, but Spike had slapped him over the head and told him that he was an idiot. Xander had let it slide and chalked it up to sleep deprivation.

“Alright, I think we can take it from here, Xander,” Hank said with a nod. “Thanks for your help.”

“See you at the baby shower, right?” Buffy asked. Xander made a face. “C’mon. Oz and Jesse will be there too. It doesn’t always have to be an all girl thing, you know.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll be there,” Xander assured her. “Congrats again, you guys. Still think you should have named him Xander. Or Alex. Heck, even Al would have…”

“Later, Harris,” Spike chuckled, shooing Xander out the door. Once the door was closed, Hank, Dawn, Buffy, and Spike all stared at each other.

“Well, your dad and I will get the bassinet put together. You need anything, luv?”

“We’re doing ok for now, I think,” Buffy said softly. Spike nodded and headed off to construct the first out-of-hospital bed his son would ever sleep in.

Dawn came over to the couch and sat down next to Buffy.

“He’s so little,” she cooed.

“He was a little early, but he’s completely healthy,” Buffy assured her. She glanced down at her little sister. “You wanna hold him?”

“I thought I was too little?”

“Well, I think you’ve grown a little bit since the other day. C’mon. Scooch back.” Dawn’s eyes lit up, and she did as her sister had asked, pressing her back firmly against the couch cushions. Buffy grinned and watched Dawn hold her arms out, and she gently placed the baby in her lap. “Hold his head.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah. Just like that. Look at you,” Buffy grinned. She reached into her purse and pulled out the camera, which had taken so many pictures in the last couple of days that she was sure the battery would crap out at any moment. She snapped a quick shot of her sister and Elijah.

“He doesn’t have much hair,” Dawn pointed out.

“Nope, but I’m sure he’ll have a ton of it very soon.” What little hair Elijah Pratt did have was very soft and very light brown. Maybe their little one would be blonde after all.

“I think he looks like Spike, except he’s littler.”

“Yeah,” Buffy grinned. “He does look a lot like Spike.”

“You can have another one, and she can be a girl, and she can look like you!” Dawn explained.

“Um, I’m not sure it works that way,” Buffy laughed, “but I think we’ll stick with just the one for now and see how it turns out.”

“Ok,” Dawn shrugged. She leaned forward and kissed Elijah’s forehead. “When you get older, you can’t have my toys, but maybe I’ll share them with you. Don’t worry, I won’t share the really girly ones.”

Buffy held her hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. Shaking her head, she felt the tears well up in her eyes again. She was pretty emotional with the craziness that came with her out-of-whack hormones.

“My arm’s tired,” Dawn said after a few minutes.

“Ok, I’ll take him back.” Dawn nodded, and a moment later, she made a face.

“What’s that smell?” she asked, crinkling her nose. Buffy laughed a little and cradled the baby in her arms.

“Dawn, have you ever helped change a baby’s diaper before?”

“No,” she said quietly.

“Wanna learn?” Dawn’s eyes widened, and she nodded.

“Ok! But can you do the gross part?” She handed Buffy the packet of baby wipes, and she grinned when her sister laughed.

“Sure, I’ll do the gross part. You just hold his hands and talk to him, ok?”

“Ok!”

Buffy smiled, taking in the scene of her son being tickled and kissed by her little sister, while her boyfriend worked upstairs with her father putting the baby’s bed together. She realized then that maybe life wasn’t so perfect, but right now, in this minute, she’d never been happier.


Chapter End Notes:
Feedback would be fantastic! Thanks!



You must login (register) to review.