Chapter 15
“Buffy, please talk to me. You’ve been quiet the whole way home.”
She continued to ignore him.
Spike had enough and grabbed her shoulders, turning her around to look at him. He was stunned to see tears in her eyes. “Love, what is it?”
Buffy pulled away from him. “I’m a horrible person. How could I be with you when my sister is dead? She’s the one that should be here. This is her life and I don’t have any part in it. I shouldn’t be so happy knowing that she’s not here. Elizabeth is gone and she’s never coming back. How could you even want to be with someone that’s not her? She was your first real love and I can never replace that. How could you stand being around me knowing that I look like her? God, you should hate me. You should hate me for being here when she’s not.” She was openly crying now and didn’t care to hide it.
Spike wrapped his arms around her and let her sob against his chest, kissing the top of her head. “You are not a horrible person. So far from it. I know this is hard for you, but we’re not doing anything wrong. I know your sister would have wanted us both to be happy, whether it be with each other or someone else. I thought she was my first love, but she wasn’t. It was you, Buffy. I fell in love with you at first sight when I saw you at the Bronze. Just because I thought it was her doesn’t change anything. I did love Elizabeth, but there was always something missing when I was with her. She must have felt the same thing to have gone to that ponce. I don’t regret any of the time I had with you. We’re going to have twins together and I couldn’t ask for anything more. It would kill me if you regretted that.”
Buffy shook her head and finally looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Spike. I don’t regret anything. They’re my children and I love them already. I could never regret such a miracle. I’m just feeling really emotional right now. I blame the hormones.”
Spike chuckled and pressed his lips to her forehead. “You have about six more months of that.”
She groaned. “Why can’t they come out now? Waiting for nine months is just torture. Why can’t the men have the babies?”
Spike raised his eyebrows. “That would be interesting, but women make pregnancy beautiful. We could never pull it off.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re just scared of the pain. You would probably have one cramp and then kill yourself.”
“That’s not true, I could handle it.”
Buffy wasn’t convinced and decided to change the subject. She ran her hands over his chest. “Make love to me, Spike. I need to feel you right now.”
He was happy to oblige and lifted her into his arms.
She let out a squeal as he carried her up the stairs. “I’ll soon be too heavy for you to do this.”
Spike shook his head. “You’ll never be too heavy for me to carry you.”
Buffy was satisfied by that answer.
They made it to their bedroom and he gently put her on the bed.
Spike pulled her blouse up and placed his hand over the tiny bulge in her belly. He lowered his head and planted kisses on her stomach. “Hey, little ones. This is your daddy. I can’t wait to see you,” he whispered.
Buffy smiled down at him. “I love you,” she said with so much emotion in her voice.
He glanced up at her, with a smile of his own. “I love you, too. You’re going to be a great mother, Buffy.”
“And you’re going to be a great father. Well, you already are, but you know what I mean.”
Spike nodded. “I know what you mean. This time I’m going to do things right. I wasn’t there for Emma much when she was first born. I practically missed the first seven months of her life. I won’t make that mistake again. These babies are going to know what it’s liked to be loved every second of their lives. They’ll start to get sick of me.”
She laughed. “I don’t think you have to worry about that until they’re teenagers.”
He agreed and then got back to the point. “Wasn’t I supposed to be making love to you?”
“You were, but I’m too tired now. All this baby talk can take a lot out of a person. The crying really doesn’t help, either.”
Spike pouted.
“That won’t work with me. I invented that. Can you just hold me instead?”
He had no problems with that and lay down beside her, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame.
She rested her head against his chest and shut her eyes.
Spike gazed down at her sleeping form, brushing the hair out of her face to get a better look at her. He moved his hand back to her abdomen and soon fell into a peaceful sleep, knowing that his family was safe and protected.
* * * * *
“Buffy, you don’t have to keep coming in. Giles said you should get some rest.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not helpless, Anya. I’m only four months pregnant. I can still come to work until I start to show more. I need to do something besides sitting around the house all day.”
Anya nodded and decided not to say anything else about it. She just looked around the store. “Where’s Faith? I just can’t keep up with that girl. She’s only been working here for about a month now and I’ve hardly seen her do anything. I don’t know why Giles doesn’t fire her. Do you think they’re sleeping together?”
Buffy shuddered at just the thought of that. “Okay, that is so beyond gross. She’s his step-daughter, Anya. He hired her to give her a chance and good God; I would hope they’re not sleeping together.”
A brunette then came out from the back of the store. “Who am I sleeping with?”
Buffy wasn’t about to say anything, but Anya couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“We were just wondering if you’ve been giving orgasms to Giles. I mean, it’s not like you’re really related. He is very ruggedly handsome.”
Faith held her hand up. “I beg you never to say that again. He’s like my dad and he’s really old, there is no way in Hell. He’s been taking care of me since my mom died. That’s wrong on so many levels, but I’m starting to think that you might be having orgasms with him.”
Anya shook her head. “Of course not, he’s my boss and that would be awkward. I only give orgasms to Xander.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “How nice for him.”
Buffy tried not to laugh, but it was a losing battle. She stopped when someone walked into the store.
Faith smiled at the man that entered. “Besides, I’m already taken.”
He walked over to the dark haired girl and planted a hard kiss on her mouth. “Hey, babe. You ready to go?”
Faith nodded. “Yeah, I can use an early break.”
He smiled and turned to the other two women. “I almost forgot to say hello to these lovely ladies.” He walked over to Anya and Buffy and placed a kiss on both of their cheeks, looking Buffy up and down. “Well, don’t you just glow?”
She blushed a little, even though she was used to how affectionate he could be by now.
Faith wasn’t amused. “Doyle, we talked about this. No hitting on my friends when I’m in the room.”
“I was only being polite. Let’s get going, lass. See you ladies later,” he said, taking Faith’s hand and pulling her out of the shop.
Anya sighed as she watched them go. “She’ll be getting a lot of orgasms tonight. I love a man with an accent.”
Buffy gave her a look.
“Well, not your man. He just doesn’t do it for me. It would be like sleeping with Giles.”
She cringed. “Thank you for those nightmares.”
Anya smiled and didn’t realize that she said anything wrong. “Glad I could help.”
“Oh, bloody hell,” was heard from the back of the store.
Buffy frowned when she realized that Giles might have listened to what was being said.
Anya pouted now. “I guess I’m probably not getting that raise.”
Buffy just shook her head and got back to work.