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Author's Chapter Notes:
Long time, no update. I have had writers block on this one and I hope this chapter helps me finish it, finally and soon.

Oh, thank you for all of the reviews on this one. I've been a very bad authoress and haven't been responding to the wonderful reviews for any of my stories. Mea Culpa, please; I've been transferred to swing shift at my job and it's kicking my a**!

Thanks.
REDEMPTION


Chapter 29: ‘Meetings’


Summary: Buffy desperately tries to help Darla deliver her and Angel’s child. Spike finally meets Hank, Buffy’s father. Will things turn out happy for all of our anti-heros?


A/N: Long time, no update. I’ve had a real writer’s block with this one and I decided to split up the last few chapters. I hope you will read this chapter and keep with the story; I promise a real bang up ending!


“Angel!” Buffy nearly screamed again. “Look at me,” she commanded harshly.

In desperation, Buffy had to snap her slim fingers in front of the large man’s face to try and break him from his daze. She was near the end of sanity herself actually; Buffy was, especially since Darla appeared to be in labor. Much too soon, of course, for the babe to be healthy; or so Buffy feared.

“How far along is she?” Buffy asked Angel again, much more impatiently then earlier.

“I,” Angel stammered with a total lack of assuredness, causing Buffy to become even more abrupt with the big man.

“Anya,” Buffy snapped as she turned her attention to the other woman in the tiny room. “You’re as close to Darla as anyone; how far?”

Anya stood, somewhat shell shocked as it were and just stared at Buffy, then Angel, with those big brown eyes of hers. Xander’s wife looked beyond scared; she looked terrified.

“Anya, how far along is Darla?” Buffy rasped as she gazed at the little blond woman who was now prone on a makeshift bed.

“About seven months or a little more,” Anya stuttered; her voice barely above a whisper.

“Okay,” Buffy sighed heavily, “let’s just pray it’s a girl child,” she muttered.

“Why?” Angel grunted in question to his cousin’s wife.

“Females of the all species seem to do better,” Buffy mumbled quietly. “When they come early; it’s the females that fare better. It’s the lungs,” she whispered, her focus on Darla. “Maybe it's so the woman can scream at her mate the loudest during arguments,” Buffy chuckled mirthlessly.

“Angel,” Buffy began cautiously, her back still turned to Crawford. “Go fetch Spike and send him in here,” she ordered evenly.

“But,” Angel began as he took a step towards his wife’s bed.

“Go,” Buffy spat impatiently. “Send my husband to me; I need to talk with him.”

Angel stumbled off to find his cousin and Buffy turned her attention back to Anya.

“I cannot save both of them,” Buffy stated simply, trying to keep the terror from her voice.

Anya stared at the little blond woman, her brown eyes filled with horror.

“You’ve got to,” Anya hissed desperately as she took her place next to Darla’s bed. “Buffy, you’ve got to save Darla, if not the baby and…..”

“I know,” Buffy whispered sadly. “But I cannot, I know ‘that’ too,” she finished in a defeated tone.


“The baby,” Buffy choked out, “he’s coming out wrong,” she continued with a shake of her blond head. “I’ve seen this, on the farm, with horses and such. Even if the baby survives; the mother usually bleeds to…..” Buffy halted her explanation and peered carefully at Anya.

It was at that moment that Buffy heard her husband’s welcome voice: “Buffy, princess, it’s your dad. He’s with the posse and some Marshal Merrick. He wants to come in and speak with you, sweetling. I…..”

Buffy gazed at Darla, then Angel and then her husband, William Giles. She made a quick, guestimation in her own mind. Somehow, the young bride knew exactly what had to happen.

“There ‘might’ be a way to save them both,” Buffy murmured under her breath. She no longer looked at anyone else in the room; her gaze rested solely on Darla, who turned and twisted on the bed in agony.

“Angel! God dammit! Save us!” Darla screamed in pain as she continued to turn and twist on the sad little cot.

“I, I can’t,” Angel rasped more to himself then his wife. The dark-haired man turned his pleading gaze to Buffy and Spike.

“Can’t you help her?” Angel whimpered as he took Darla’s hand in his once again.

“I’m not sure,” Buffy stammered, melting into William’s strong arms. “Maybe the baby, or Darla but…..”

“Buffy! My baby! It’s coming, right now!” Darla yelped in severe pain.

Buffy ran back to Darla’s side; dragging Spike with her. She clasped the suffering woman by the shoulders and cried… “You’re going to need to get on your knees Darla. Can you do that? If Angel holds you up? Can you move to your knees? It’ll help the baby come out easier honey and…” Buffy tried to explain when both Darla and Angel gasped in horror at her suggestion.

“It will, I know that much,” Buffy offered meekly. “I can’t promise you anything Darla,” she whispered into the shaking older woman’s ear. “Only that it might make it a little easier birth if you do it.”

Angel grasped his wife around her shoulders as tenderly as he could and lifted her to her knees. Spike looked at Buffy, nervously, relieved when his wife nodded for him to leave.

“Let my dad come in,” Buffy called to her husband’s back as he left the room. “Daddy will be able to talk some sense into that posse if anyone can, but I’ll need to see him first,” she muttered more to herself then anyone else.

“Bear down, Darla,” Buffy grunted the command to the hunched, hurting woman. Buffy had her hands underneath Darla, positioned just below the female apex where her thighs met.

‘She’s nearly as petite as me,’ Buffy thought nervously eyeing the suffering woman. ‘Oh God, help us, please,’ she pleaded silently as she anxiously watched the baby’s head peep out from Darla’s vagina. The hair on the child appeared to be as dark as his fathers.

‘Let it be a girl child, please,’ Buffy prayed silently. ‘The little thing will have a better chance and…..’


Spike somberly watched the man who was his father-in-law, Hank Summers, as he slowly entered the old building. He recognized Buffy’s father from the church social that seemed so long ago now.

Hank’s dark eyes fell upon Spike, apparently immediately recognizing his new son-in-law from some sort of description. The older man hurried towards Spike, a concerned look in his eyes and frown on his mouth.

“Where’s Buffy? Where’s my little girl?” Hank asked in a tight voice.

“She’s in the other room,” Spike whispered in reply, his blue eyes focused on the closed door across the room.

Spike’s old insecurities reared their ugly head, right at that precise moment.

‘What if my Buffy decides to go home, back to Redemption with her father? What if…..” his anxious thoughts caused him to frown momentarily.

“I’m William Giles, Buffy’s husband,” Spike stated evenly as he reached out to shake his father-in-law’s large hand.

Spike was mildly surprised when Hank reached out and took his hand in his own and shook it heartily.

“Buffy?” Hank mumbled, nervously eyeing the other rough looking men that surrounded him and this William Giles.

“She’s with my cousin, Angel Crawford,” Spike began cautiously. “Angel’s wife is having a baby and…..”

The loud, irritated cry of a newborn child interrupted Spike’s explanation.


A/N: Okay, I really, really tried to make this chapter the second to the last one of this story. I just couldn’t; not yet. There will have to be consequences for everyones’ previous actions and it’s going to take a few more chapters to finish this up!

I did feel the need to continue this story and connect the ‘dots’ as it were. Angel will make a very, very big sacrifice in the next chapter and we will find out what happens to all of the gang. Hank will play a very important part in the outcome of our couples’ story.

Thank you for reading and please review, spufette.





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