Spans: March 12th, 2004 - March 15th, 2004
History:
The twins were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.
All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.
**~**
March 12th, 2004:
“Buffy, the babies are growing so fast, luv. You should see ‘em. They look jus’ like you, ya know. I don’ know where that blonde comes from . . . maybe my Mum’s family. I wonder if it’ll stay . . . ya’ know Annie was blonde when she was born, too . . .”
Spike let out a long breath as he sat next to Buffy, holding and stroking her hand softly. He had been so sure that she’d wake up when this all started. Now, he started every day with a small prayer and a flicker of hope that today would be the day that his wife would wake up – and every day for the last month he’d been disappointed.
“They want me to take ‘em home . . . but I can’t be there and here, too and I’ll not leave you, luv – I’ll never leave you.”
“Annie misses you . . . she’s gonna need you, ya know . . . to keep the cooties under control at the house. Demon bird’s havin’ a boy . . . so our little guy will have some help against you girls, but that’ll double the cootie factor 'round there . . .”
Spike sighed and reached up to stroke Buffy’s hair. The nurses had done their best to keep it washed, but it was hard to do – it most certainly wouldn’t have met with Buffy’s approval at the moment. They’d suggested to Spike that cutting it short would make it easier to keep, but he rejected that idea immediately. Buffy wouldn’t like her hair cut short . . .
“They keep buggin’ me for the names of the babies, Buffy. I don’t know their names . . . I need you to tell me. I need you to wake up and tell me, luv.”
Spike leaned forward in his chair, laid his head down on Buffy’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I love you, Buffy . . . please wake up,” he whispered to her as tears threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes and he took her hand back in his, holding it tenderly as he rubbed his thumb up and down on her soft skin on the side of her wrist.
Spike began softly singing the old lullaby . . . the one he’d sung the very first night to her . . . the one The First used against them . . . the one his Mum had sung to him . . .
{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link, (just in case you could’ve forgotten what it sounds like):
YOUTUBE : Early One Morning (this has many versions . . sorry if the verses don’t line up exactly with Spike’s version)
}}
“Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below:
‘Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?
"’Gay is the garland, fresh are the roses
I've culled from the garden to bind on thy brow
Oh, don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?’
"Thus sung the maiden, her sorrows bewailing;
Thus sung the poor maid in the valley below:
‘Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?’”
Buffy’s hand moved in his . . . it was so faint, he wasn’t sure if he’d actually felt it or just imagined it.
“Buffy?” Spike questioned, as he raised up to look at her face. “Buffy? Can you hear me?”
Buffy gave his hand a small squeeze and her heart rate increased dramatically. “Buffy? I’m here, luv. Can you open your eyes?”
One of the nurses came in to the room behind Spike and asked what was going on . . . Buffy’s heart rate had increased significantly.
“She’s wakin’ up!” Spike told the nurse. “She squeezed my hand . . .”
The nurse looked at him sadly. “William . . . that’s just muscle contractions . . . it happens . . . it doesn’t mean anything,” the nurse told him as she double checked Buffy’s pulse on the wrist that Spike wasn’t holding.
“NO! No . . . she’s waking up . . .” Spike insisted. “C’mon, luv . . .”
“Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below:
‘Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?’”
Buffy’s eyelids fluttered momentarily and then closed again . . . Spike kept singing softly to her, willing her with all his heart and soul to wake up.
"’Gay is the garland, fresh are the roses
I've culled from the garden to bind on thy brow
Oh, don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?’”
Spike could feel her hand move in his, then grip around his fingers, as he sang. He held tightly to her small hand, as if trying to pull her back from whatever chasm she was in . . . pull her back to him.
"Thus sung the maiden, her sorrows bewailing;
Thus sung the poor maid in the valley below:
‘Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?’”
Buffy’s eyelids fluttered again and then opened halfway and finally stayed open and she began coughing and gagging on the ventilator tube in her throat.
“Get it out!” Spike yelled at the nurse who was still checking Buffy’s vitals.
“I can’t . . . not without a doctor . . .” the nurse started as Buffy continued to cough and gag against it.
“You will bloody well get that fucking thing out of her throat NOW!” Spike screamed at the nurse as he fought to keep the demon under control.
Suddenly, Buffy’s room seemed to be filled with people . . . nurses and doctors who had been alerted by the monitors that had all suddenly started spewing alarms when she started coughing.
Spike backed up slightly, but refused to let go of Buffy’s hand, as one of the nurses pulled the ventilator tube out of Buffy’s throat. Buffy took in and let out several deep breaths of air, as if she’d just surfaced from a great depth, before finally settling into a steady breathing pattern.
“Spike . . .” Buffy called. It wasn’t even a whisper but more of a moan out of her dry, raw throat.
Spike pushed back through the nurses that surrounded her to get back to Buffy’s side. “I’m here, luv,” he whispered against her ear. “I’m here.”
“Ba . . .by . . .” Buffy moaned.
“Babies are fine, luv. Two babies . . . you had two beautiful babies.”
Buffy tried to open her eyes, but the light was blinding and she squinted against it as she tried to focus.
“Turn that bloody light off!” Spike yelled at one of the nurses as he held one hand up to shield Buffy’s eyes. When nothing happened, Spike yelled, “NOW!” and someone turned the overhead light off.
“Buffy? Can you open your eyes, pet?” Spike whispered to her as all the nurses and the doctor watched the patient that would never wake up do just that.
Buffy opened her eyes slowly, still holding tightly to Spike’s hand. Blinking several times, she finally focused her eyes on him as he hovered over her. Spike smiled softly at her as tears threatened his eyes.
“Spike . . .” Buffy moaned out again.
“I’m here, Buffy. I love you . . . I love you so much,” Spike told her as he dropped soft kisses all over her face. “God, Buffy . . . thank you . . . thank you for coming back to me.”
March 15th, 2004:
After waking up three days ago, Buffy was recovering quickly and was getting tired of being in the hospital. This morning they told her one more day and she and the babies could go home - she was so ready for that!
They had moved her out of ICU to a private room and set up cribs for the babies in the room with her. Spike, of course, never left her side. He told her what had happened, how she had hemorrhaged and about the second baby and how it had been hidden.
This afternoon, all their friends had gathered in Buffy’s room . . . despite the “no more than two visitors at a time” rule. Spike was in the chair next to her bed holding their son, Buffy had their daughter in her arms, and Annie sat next to Buffy on the bed. All their friends continued to coo and gush over the babies with their blue eyes and flaxen hair and speculate about the chances they would stay towheaded or if their hair would darken up like Annie's did.
“What are their names? Or are you just going to call them ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ forever?” Anya asked. “We’re naming our son Joshua . . . so you can’t have that name.”
“I didn’ know you were Catholic . . .” Spike commented to Anya.
“I’m not . . . why would you say that?”
“’Joshua’ means ‘God rescues’ . . . it’s from the Old Testament . . .” Spike informed her.
Everyone looked at Spike like he’d just grown another head. “What?! I ain’t allowed to know anythin’?”
“I thought Catholic’s were Angel’s hobby,” Buffy remarked.
“Well, can’t help but some of it rub off after so many years,” Spike told her with a shrug.
“Oh, well – that’s not where the name came from, anyway. It’s from the greatest rock album of all time . . .” Anya told the Spike.
Spike looked at her with a furrowed brow and then realization as he nodded his approval. “U2 . . . Bono . . . The Joshua Tree. Yeah, brilliant.”
“You’re naming your son after an album?” Willow asked Anya, sounding more than a little dubious.
“Not an album, the greatest album of all time,” Anya informed her.
“‘Thriller’ was the greatest album of all time,” Willow pointed out.
“PFFFFFTTTT,” Spike snorted. “Oh please spare me! It was the biggest selling album . . . NOT the greatest by a long ways!”
Suddenly everyone started talking at once, presenting their arguments about what album they thought was actually the greatest album of all time. Buffy leaned back against the pillow as she watched and listened to all her friends talk and argue animatedly – each trying to convince the others that the album (or albums!) they thought was the greatest actually was.
“Hotel California . . . Back in Black . . . Tapestry . . . Rumours . . . Rubber Soul . . . Appetite for Destruction . . . Feels So Right . . . Bridge over Troubled Water . . . Nevermind . . . The Wall . . . London Calling . . .”
Buffy smiled as she watched them . . . she had the greatest friends and family in the world. She looked down at her baby girl, now asleep in her arms, as tears stung her eyes. “Get ready, little one . . . this is your family . . . dysfunctional as it may be,” she whispered to her.
“You’re the big sister now, Annie. It’ll be up to you to help her and your brother deal with these crazy people,” Buffy told her daughter.
Annie smiled proudly. “I’ll be the best big sister ever!” she assured Buffy.
When a nurse stuck her head in the door and “shhhhshed” them, everyone stopped talking.
“So, you never answered the demon bird’s question, luv. What are their names?” Spike asked, looking at Buffy.
Buffy smiled. “Let me introduce William Rupert Weckerly and Danielle Dawn Weckerly,” Buffy announced as if presenting them at a gala ball.
Everyone “Awwwwed” when she told them the babies’ names. Spike smiled at her as he felt tears sting the back of his eyes and Giles was too choked up to actually speak for a few minutes.
“Where did you get the girl’s name?” Anya prodded. “Is it an album, too?"
Buffy smiled. “No . . .”
“It’s my middle name . . .” Willow said, interrupting her. “God, Buffy – that’s so sweet,” Willow told her as she hugged Buffy’s neck – careful not to wake her namesake who was still sleeping in Buffy’s arms.
“Dawn’s your middle name?” Anya asked.
“NO . . . Danielle’s my middle name,” Willow told Anya, rolling her eyes.
“Who’s Dawn?” Anya asked, looking between Buffy and Spike.
Spike and Buffy looked at each other with sad smiles. Spike nodded his approval of her choice of names for their daughter.
“Someone we used to know,” Buffy told Anya.
