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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the second chapter, hope you like it. Reviews are appreciated!
I don't own any of the characters!
Thanks to Nichole for her help with this story (and all of my other stories!)
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Three months later


Buffy opened one eye as the sun woke her from sleep. She closed it again and let herself just lie for a moment, not thinking of anything. Finally, she slipped her feet onto the floor and sat up. She was immediately overcome by the nausea she had become so familiar with and laid back down. Maybe she could force it away? But no. She pulled her robe around her and rushed for the bathroom.

After the nausea had succumbed, Buffy leaned her head against the bathroom wall. This had been going on for almost two months now, and she was really tired of it. The nausea, the sudden cases of dizziness, the missed periods... If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought... Buffy laughed out loud from her line of thoughts. You couldn’t get pregnant from dreaming about sleeping with someone. Especially if that someone was a vampire who was very much dead. Dead in the gone way. She sighed as she pushed herself off the floor and washed her face off before looking at herself in the mirror. She looked tired, she knew. Dawn had been badgering her to go to a doctor, but she didn’t want to. As long as she didn’t know, as long as no-one told her what was wrong, she could still hope, even on some extremely low level, that maybe, just maybe, the Powers had given her something back... a small part of him that could help her to keep going... But the moment she found out that that was not, nor would it ever, going to happen, that small sliver of hope would be gone. And she needed that hope.

She reached for her toothbrush and the toothpaste. She started brushing her teeth, and jumped as a hard knock was heard.

“Buffy? You OK in there?” She heard Dawn through the door.

“Yeah, Dawnie, I’m fine.” Buffy responded.

“We need to go in a couple of minutes. You know how Giles hates it if we’re late.” She could hear Dawn walking into the kitchen.

“I’ll be right out.” Damn. She had forgotten about the meeting. About two weeks ago, Giles had left Rome, no explanation. Last night he came back. At two in the morning, they were woken by the doorbell. He had wanted to get them all together and have a meeting right then, but Willow had managed to convince him that everyone would be better off if they waited till morning. Buffy finished the toothbrushing and left the bathroom. Dawn was waiting outside, a worried look on her face.

“Sure you’re OK? You look tired.” She handed Buffy a paper cup of coffee.

“I’m fine. Still got that flu or whatever it is.” Buffy took a sip of the hot beverage, welcoming the soothing effect it had on her body.

“I still say you need to see a doctor. Did you eatbreakfast?” Dawn led the way out of the apartment.

“You know I can’t eat in the mornings, but I will see a doctor, OK. Happy now?” She smiled at her sister while waving a cab.

“Very.” Dawn got in the cab after Buffy, and told the driver the address of Giles’s apartment.

*****

Buffy and Dawn were the last to arrive. Giles was sitting at the head of the table in his study/conference room, a book and a folder on the table in front of him. On one side of the table, Willow and Xander were sitting, on the other, Andrew. Buffy joined Willow and Xander while Dawn sat down next to Andrew. Giles put on his glasses and looked around the table.

“Now that we’re all here, I’ll get started. As you all noticed, I left Rome rather suddenly two weeks ago. This...” He picked up the book. “...is the reason.”

“What is it?” Willow reached for the book, but Giles pulled it out of her reach.

“I trust you all remember Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. This is his diary, starting about fifteen months ago and ending in May of this year. For the past two weeks, I have been investigating certain... statements he made.” He looked around the room again, his eyes lingering a bit longer on Buffy than the others. “I am going to read a few parts that I think you might find interesting.” He took off his glasses and cleaned them before opening the book to a selected page.

“ ‘June 11th, 2003. I thought I had seen everything. There is not much that surprises me these days. But this, I dare say, is one of them. As we arrived at the office this morning, the mail was waiting, as usual. In the mail was a plain envelope, addressed to Angel. No return address, no name, nothing. As Angel opened the envelope, a medallion fell out. I recognized it as the one that Angel had given to Buffy a couple of weeks ago. As it fell on the desk, smoke whirled out and took the form of a person. After a few moments of surprise, I recognized the person as the vampire I have gotten to know as William the Bloody, or Spike.’ ”

Giles looked up at the last word. Buffy started to say something, but a look from him stopped her.

“ ‘I still don’t know what happened, the only possibility I have been able to come up with is that somehow the medallion captured his spirit or soul or something, and sent him here, in incorporeal form. Yes, Spike is a ghost, or something very similar to it. To say that Angel, and myself for that matter, were surprised would be an understatement. We believed him to have died in the Hellmouth.’
’November 30th, 2003. We finally were rid of the rouge Slayer. A boy, Andrew showed up a couple of days ago. His reaction when he saw Spike was... entertaining.’ ” Giles, along with Buffy, Willow, Xander and Dawn, looked at Andrew. Buffy was the first to speek.

“He’s alive? And... you knew, and you didn’t tell me?” Andrew quivered under their gazes.

“He asked me not to tell you. I’m sorry.” He kept avoiding eye contact.

“Since when do you keep secrets?” Dawn hit him over the head. “You couldn’t even keep your mouth shut about my boyfriend, and you’ve been holding on this how long?”

“I’m really sorry.” Andrew looked at Buffy for forgiveness but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t feel that it was my place to tell you. I know he would want to tell you himself.”

“Then why didn’t he?” Buffy’s voice was little more than a whisper. Willow reached out and pulled her into a hug. Giles cleared his throat which made everyone look up.

“There’s more, I’m afraid.” He turned to a new page in the book. “ ‘May 14th, 2004. Tomorrow is the big day. The day we have been waiting for for months. The day we attack Wolfram and Hart. Everything is prepared, and everyone is ready... or as ready as you ever get for something like this. Angel was very clear about the fact that he does not expect any of us to survive the battle, and told everyone to take the day off and do whatever we want. Tomorrow we fight.’ ” Giles once again cleaned his glasses. “That is the last entry.”

“That’s it?” Xander asked in disbelief.

“But... what happened? Did they win?” Willow took the book from Giles and tried to find something he’d missed, but there was nothing there.

“I’m afraid that is it. As you understand, this is what I have been investigating over the past two weeks. I have been to Los Angeles, and talked to everyone I thought might be able to help. One of my sources told me that there had been something ruled off as a ‘gang fight’ in the middle of May, but didn’t know anything more. I searched hospitals and morgues. I was able to find Wesley’s body as well as the bodies of two people that I, from Wesley’s descriptions, believe are Charles Gunn and Winifred Burkle, or Illyria, who have been inhabiting the body of Miss Burkle for the past few weeks. There are no traces of Angel... or Spike.” He looked at Buffy. “I fear that neither of them made it.”

“No! No, that’s not... I don’t believe it.” Buffy got up and rushed out of the room, Willow following close behind.

Buffy stopped in the middle of Giles’s living room. Willow stopped a few feet away from her, not wanting to crowd her.

“Buffy? Are you OK?” She could tell that Buffy was breathing too fast, and she was looking around as if she didn’t know where she was. All of a sudden, she fell to the floor. Willow hurried to her side, shaking her but not getting any response.

“Giles! Xander!” She called into the other room.

Giles and Xander rushed into the room, Dawn and Andrew close behind them. As she saw what was going on, Dawn stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway.

“Dear Lord.” Giles fell to his knees next to Buffy, checking for pulse and breathing. “What happened?”

“I... I don’t know. She just... fell down, I think she fainted or something. Is she OK?” Willow looked at Giles, fear evident in her eyes.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Andrew, make yourself useful and call an ambulance. Xander, get a blanket, you’ll find some in my bedroom.” As the other two men left the room, Giles picked Buffy up and put her down on the couch. Dawn was still standing in the doorway. “Dawn, has there been something going on lately?” Dawn finally snapped out of her trance.

“I don’t know. She’s been sick, I think... nausea, and dizziness and stuff. And she hasn’t been eating a lot, said she didn’t have an appetite. She said it was just the flu! She’ll be fine, right?” Dawn was getting hysterical.

“I think so. She seems dehydrated, which would be consistent with not eating...” Xander came back with a blanket and Giles put it over Buffy, trying to keep her warm, before turning to Dawn. “How long has this been going on?”

“About two months, I think. I tried to get her to go to a doctor, but she didn’t want to. I’m sorry!” Dawn started crying, and Xander hurried to comfort her.

“Hey, hey. This is not your fault, OK? Buffy is a grown woman, and you couldn’t force her to a doctor, right? Don’t blame yourself.” Xander put an arm around Dawn’s shoulders.

Andrew came back into the room, the cordless phone in his hand.

“They said the ambulance will be here in a couple of minutes.” At the same moment, they heard sirens, and only a couple of seconds later there was a knocking on the front door. Giles let them in and they put Buffy on the stretcher before rolling it into the ambulance. Willow went in the ambulance while the others took Giles’ car to the hospital.

*****

Willow and Dawn were sitting in a couch in the waiting room at the hospital. Andrew sat on a chair opposite them, Xander was pacing the room and Giles had left a minute earlier to get something to drink. It had been almost an hour since Buffy was brought in, and they hadn’t heard anything yet.

Giles came back with a couple of sodas and sat down next to Dawn.

“Any word yet?” He asked, handing Dawn one of the cans. Everyone shook their heads, but stopped as a doctor entered the room.

“Are you the family or Miss Summers?” The doctor looked at his papers. Giles stood up.

“We’re her friends, and this is her sister.” Giles indicated Dawn. “ What happened?”

“Miss Summers was seriously dehydrated when she was brought in, that was the reason for her loosing consciousness. Has she been eating like she should?” He directed the question to Giles, who answered.

“I asked Dawn the same question before the ambulance arrived, and she said that Buffy hasn’t been eating enough, she blamed her lack of appetite on having the flu.”

“That explains it then. Miss Summers has been given fluids and is on IV now, and she should recover fine.” The doctor gave the group an encouraging smile.

“When can we take her home?” Xander asked.

“Normally, I would say as soon as she regains consciousness, but considering her condition, I would like to keep her over night for monitoring.”

“What... condition would that be?” Willow gave the doctor a confused look.

“Well, her pregnancy, of course.” The room was quiet for a minute or two before Willow spoke.

“Buffy’s... pregnant?”

“You didn’t know this?” The doctor asked.

“No... why wouldn’t she tell us?” Willow looked at Xander.

“She would tell us, you know that too. Maybe she didn’t know herself?” Xander thought out loud.

“Well, that is possible, although not very probable. She is about three months along, and I would think she has suspected something.” The doctor said.

“She said it was the flu.” Dawn looked bewildered. “She’s been getting dizzy, and she’s been sick in the morning and stuff... why didn’t I notice?” Giles put an arm around her shoulders.

“Can we see her?” He asked the doctor.

“She’s still unconscious, but you can see her. She’s in room 206, right down this hallway and on your right.” The doctor indicated the way.





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