The corridor outside the cell was a scene of chaos. Several demons lay prone, probably dead, on the floor and the remaining creatures were busy fighting. As Buffy watched, Wesley, Anya and Xander cornered one and began chopping at it with axes and swords, trying to get through the demon's tough hide. Turning her head slightly she saw Spike fighting, his black duster flying behind him as he spun and kicked and his yellow eyes gleaming with feral delight. It took her a moment to realise that he seemed to be on their side rather than the demons' and she filed that away as something to ponder later. A flash of blue light caught her eye and she turned to see Willow next to some stone step that lead into the ceiling, throwing vials of glowing blue liquid at any demons that came near her. The vials burst with the blue light that Buffy had seen and created small puffs of blue smoke that the demons seemed to dislike intensely.
Giles shifted her weight slightly and Buffy put her head on his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his neck to make it easier for him. He had barely taken a few steps from the cell-door when the first demon noticed them and began to move towards them.
"Put me down," Buffy shouted over the din. "You can't fight and carry me."
He paid her no attention and held his ground. The demon came closer but never made it to them - it was pulled back by an enraged Spike who began pummelling it viscously. Cordelia emerged from a corner holding a large bag as Xander, Anya and Wesley managed to dispatch their demon. Within moments the Watcher and Slayer were surrounded by their friends, forming a human barricade. Giles tossed his useless sword to Spike, who grinned and beheaded his demon with one stroke.
"How are we going to get out?" Buffy asked.
"Leave that to us," Giles said, holding her closely.
Buffy soon saw what he meant. Spike, Wesley, Xander, Anya and Cordelia all produced more of the vials Willow had been throwing and the air around them filled with blue smoke that smelled faintly of lavender. They began moving towards the stairs, throwing vials as they went from the seemingly endless supply in Cordelia's bag. The few remaining demons could not get within the cloud of smoke and the ones that tried quickly collapsed, coughing and spluttering, their exposed hides blistering as though burnt. It seemed to be hours before they reached the step although it was probably only a few minutes. Willow herded them all up the steps and Buffy was surprised to find herself in the basement of the house.
Before she closed the door, Willow threw the bag of vials down the stairs and it exploded in a large flash of blue light. She and Amy closed and locked the trapdoor and Buffy just had time to register that there were chalk markings on the wood before the two witches began chanting. Slowly a white light began to pulse through the symbols on the trapdoor and around the witches, increasing in frequency until the two girls were hidden in a globe of white. There was one final pulse, so bright it blinded everyone, and then the light went out.
In the comparative darkness afterward Buffy had to blink several times before she could make out anything apart from the after-image of the spell.
"Did it work?" Cordelia whispered.
"If it didn't I've got a headache for nothing," Amy responded painfully.
Buffy heard a tapping sound, of metal on stone and then Willow said, "It worked. Nothing's coming through that door unless they can cut through three foot of stone."
"Good," Giles said, his voice rumbling pleasantly in his chest where he was still holding Buffy close to him. "Well done. Xander, Wesley, can you make up beds on the couches? I don't think Amy and Willow are up to walking upstairs."
"Thanks," the two girls said wearily.
Giles nodded and concentrated on lowering Buffy carefully to the remaining couch. He knelt beside her and gently brushed her blonde hair out of her face as he examined her. Xander flicked on the main lights, providing more illumination than the reading lamps, and the Watcher winced as he saw the dark bruise marring one cheek.
"How do you feel?" he asked quietly.
"My head hurts like hell but otherwise I'm of the good," Buffy responded tiredly.
Giles shook his head. "I don't want to take any chances. You're going to the hospital."
Buffy smiled wanly. "That sounds good."
The faint fluttering in her lower abdomen came again and her smile widened as she took one of Giles' hands and placed it over her womb.
"Rupert, I can feel our baby move. There's really a person inside me."
Giles could not feel the baby but he looked down into her radiant face and the joy there made him smile. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered. "I was so afraid . . ."
She put a finger over his mouth. "Shush. You couldn't lose me if you tried."
For a long moment they looked into each other's eyes, reassuring themselves that they really were together again, and then Giles bent his head and kissed her.
"Excuse me," Spike drawled, "but aren't we forgetting something?"
Giles turned and glared at the vampire. "I don't think so. Pray, enlighten us."
"Well, those demons are down but not out. As soon as they've got reinforcements they'll be after you and the brat again. Shouldn't we be making plans to head for the hills?"
Buffy looked at the blonde vampire and sighed. "Is he really on our side?"
"Sadly, yes," her husband told her.
"Why?"
"I'll explain it all when you've been to the hospital."
***
It took them a long time, and a lot of fast-talking, to stop the hospital staff calling the police. Between the humans, not counting Amy and Willow who were asleep back in the basement, they numbered one broken wrist (Anya), one sprained ankle (Wesley), a large gash requiring four stitches (Xander), a CAT scan to rule out internal damage on a huge bruise on Cordy's stomach and numerous smaller cuts and bruises. Giles hovered anxiously while a doctor examined Buffy, until his petite wife told him to go with the nurse and get checked out. The doctor was the same kind man who had examined her when she fell down the stairs and he looked concerned when he finally finished.
"I want you to have an ultra-sound today to make sure everything is alright," Avery told her.
"Is my baby ok?"
He smiled gently and tried to reassure her. "That baby is either lucky or incredibly tough. Nothing seems wrong but we need to take a look just to be certain."
Buffy nodded.
"Is there anything you're not telling me, Mrs Giles?" he asked quietly. "You don't need to be afraid - we're not going to hurt you. But if someone is hurting you-"
"You want to know if Rupert is beating me, don't you," Buffy said. "Rupert would never hurt me. He's done everything he ever could not to hurt me. I know it must seem weird, with the huge age gap, but we really love each other and he would never do anything to hurt me or our baby."
The doctor looked at the honesty in her eyes and sighed internally. "Very well, if you're sure . . . I'll arrange for your ultra-sound."
Giles arrived at the examining room as he finished and Avery was forced to admit that the couple seemed to care a lot about each other. Something in the whole situation was distinctly off, but there was no doubting the love between the two.
***
For the first time since she found out about the pregnancy, Buffy was nervous. Logically she knew that it was unlikely that the baby would be a Slayer, but she still had the slightly hysterical vision of the ultrasound showing her baby with a little stake in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other. Giles squeezed her hand and she looked up at him.
"It's going to be all right," he whispered, watching the technician setting up the equipment.
Buffy smiled slightly and pulled his hand up to her cheek. "I'm just being neurotic I guess."
"What parent isn't?"
The technician satisfied himself that the machinery was set up properly and left the room. The hospital bed that Buffy lay on was hard and uncomfortable and she felt vulnerable and exposed in the gown she had to wear. All the complicated equipment was intimidating and she wondered why hospitals always had to smell of disinfectant and stale coffee.
Giles used his free hand to carefully brush Buffy's blonde hair off her face and then stroked it gently, trying to relax her. The panic in her eyes was painful, not helped by the knowledge that he had the same fears. How would they cope if the baby had problems, or even worse, had died? If the baby was a Slayer it would not show up on the scan, but after Spike's warning about the Commedores he had to wonder if there was something unusual about the child.
A nurse bustled into the room. She was short, plump and had a reassuring smile with twinkling blue eyes.
"You must be Mr and Mrs Giles," she said as she checked her notes. "I'm Sally and I'll be looking after you today."
Giles could feel some of the tension fall away from his petite wife. "Hi, I'm Buffy."
Sally smiled at her. "You look terrified, dear. Now don't worry - this won't hurt a bit and I'm sure all we'll find is a healthy baby. You're in your fourth month?"
Buffy nodded.
"Good." Sally nodded and deftly tweaked the blanket down so that Buffy's slightly rounded belly was exposed. "I'm going to put some gel on now. It helps our machine see the baby. I've tried to warm it up, but I'm afraid it's probably a bit cold."
The blonde Slayer gasped quietly when the cold gel squirted on her stomach, but then she was too busy watching the nurse to notice it. Sally flicked on the monitor and picked up a probe, which she ran over Buffy's belly, spreading out the gel and finding the best angle to see from. The screen showed fuzzy grey images that neither parent could make any sense of but after a minute the nurse stopped the movement and pointed on the screen.
"Can you see the heart?" she asked, smiling.
The spot she had pointed to was pulsing regularly and Buffy's eyes lit up as she realised that it was the heart of her baby. She looked up at Giles and was surprised to see tears at the corner of his eyes.
"That's our baby," she whispered.
"Yes, love" was all he could choke out.
The nurse moved the probe around a little and pointed out barely discernible legs and arms. The expectant parents watched and marvelled as she did so, holding each other's hands.
After a few minutes Buffy asked, "The baby is . . . normal, isn't it? I mean, it's a bit hard to tell from the pictures."
Sally looked at her and wondered what had happened to produce the fear she saw shining from the young woman's eyes. "Your baby is a picture of health, so far as I can see. Obviously I'll ask a doctor to check over the video tape, but I can't see anything wrong with it."
Buffy closed her eyes for a moment in relief and then smiled at her. "Thank you."
"It's nothing. I can take some photos if you want? You have some very concerned friends out there."
"They're waiting for us?"
Sally nodded and Buffy looked up to Giles, her unspoken plea in her eyes.
"Would it be possible for them to come in?" he asked the nurse.
She cocked her head in thought, her expression uncertain. "I don't know . . ."
"Please?" Buffy pleaded. "Just for one minute?"
"Well . . . all right. But the hospital will have my head if they find out."
Putting the probe down, Sally hurried to the door and looked out. Cordy, Anya, Xander and Wesley filed in quietly and watched as the nurse again showed pointed out the baby's heart and limbs.
"Wow," was all Cordelia could say.
Even Xander had no quip ready and Wesley had a suspicious brightness in his eyes.
"That's what this is all about?" Anya asked eventually. "But it's so small . . . and helpless. And fuzzy. Will it be fuzzy when it comes out?"
"Hon, that's just the picture," Xander explained.
"Oh."
Sally handed Giles and Buffy the photos she had taken from the monitor and cleaned the gel off her stomach.
"If there's anything wrong we'll contact you, Mrs Giles, but you seem to have a very healthy baby." She smiled at them. "You're very lucky."
She shooed everyone else out of the room, closing the door behind her to give the couple some privacy.
"It's beautiful," Buffy whispered, looking at the photographs. "And she's ours."
"Thank you, love," Giles said quietly.
"Pardon?"
"I never thought I'd see this day. Thank you."
Buffy reached up and pulled him down for a kiss. "Thank you. I never thought I could be this happy," she said and kissed him again.
***
Two hours later Buffy was not certain how she felt.
"You're saying that these demons want to sacrifice my baby to open the Hellmouth?" she asked incredulously. "My baby? What's special about my baby?"
"So far as we know, nothing," Wesley said. "But we've never had a Slayer's baby to study so there's no telling."
"So my baby could be-"
"Buffy, we really don't know," Giles cut her off.
"Excuse me, mate, but as the only person to have met a Slayer's brat don't you think you should be asking me?" Spike asked, smirking.
"You've met a Slayer's child?" Xander asked. "Excuse me while I duck for low-flying pigs."
"Is it so hard to believe that I could be telling the bloody truth?" Spike asked with an injured expression.
"Yes?" Willow said.
"Red, I'm hurt, just hurt, that you could think so badly of me."
"Well, you have lied to us before. A lot."
"But this time it's different," the blonde vampire whined.
"That's what Peter said," Buffy pointed out.
"Peter?" Anya asked. "There's no Peter here."
"I'll explain later," Xander said, sighing.
"Could you all let Spike speak?" Buffy asked impatiently. "It could be important. And that's so not something I ever though I'd say."
"Thank you, Slayer," Spike said with a smirk. "As I said, I've met a Slayer's brat. There was nothing special about her, unless you count her parents being dead as special. If you ask me the Commedores blokes are making it all up out of thin air, but I don't really want to be around if they actually do manage to open the Hellmouth. That kind of power in those hands . . . makes my skin crawl."
"You are such a comfort," Xander said sarcastically.
"So, we don't even know if this ritual thingy will work?" Cordelia said. "I risked my life and shoes to rescue you from a cult whose whole religion could be a lie? It figures."
"Rupert?" Buffy turned to Giles.
"There's no way to tell unless they perform the ritual," he said wearily.
"So why did they just let you go?" Amy asked, still having that nagging feeling that there was something she should be remembering. "We saw what they did to the special ops unit, but we were able to get you out so easily."
"That was easy?" Cordelia asked.
Wesley smiled grimly. "If they hadn't wanted to let Buffy go we would never have been able to get out. They were holding back and they don't care how many of their followers they lose so long as the Slayer isn't harmed."
"I do not want to meet them when they're at full strength," Xander commented.
"Why would they just let Buffy go?" Willow asked.
"That's easy," Buffy said with a sigh. "They don't know how to look after pregnant humans. The whole time I was in there they never once checked on me or gave me food. If they want the baby to survive until birth they need me to survive and they can't do it."
"So they released you so you act as a breeding . . . thing? Nice," Cordy said.
"Do you think they saved you from the Watchers because of that?" Willow asked.
"Very astute," Wesley complimented her. "The Council planned to terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible so they had to rescue her. Once they had Buffy they didn't know what to do with her so they allowed us to rescue her. She should be perfectly safe until the birth."
"Unless something else happens first," Xander said fatalistically.
*finis*