Cantica I: The Biggest What If

In the library, it was tense to say the least. Giles and Joyce were pacing frantically, waiting, not knowing. Willow and Oz were talking quietly, about the incident. The effects of the fight are everywhere. Buffy’s left arm was bandaged and her face still bore the tracks of the asphalt where she was dumped. Xander and Cordy, trying to find comfort in each others arms, were worse. Xander’s leg was broken and he looks like he fought a sumo wrestler. Cordy had a few cracked ribs which Xander was trying not to crush.

Suddenly, the doors swished and a girl walked in. Her moves, her figure and the way she held herself radiated power, age and yet a childishness that seems right but odd.

“Hello happy people!”

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at this strange girl. Buffy, ever the careful slayer, grabbed her crossbow and stuffed a bolt in it. Trying to sound like she knew what was going on, she spoke with a power she didn’t have. “Who are you?” Her tone was fringed with suspicion and the girl picked up on it.

“Hey Slayer, I’m the one who just saved your ass!”

Cordelia sat up and recognition dawned on her face. “You’re the one who knocked me out!”

Xander, standing in Cordy’s confident shadow, yelled as well. “Yeah, you and Angel were getting all smoochie!”

“What!” The girl sighed and plonked down on a chair, not bothering to answer Buffy’s question.

“Ok, I’ll explain. It’s quite simple really, I’m a keeper.”

“Well that’s debateable.” Xander’s little comment was rewarded with a kick from Cordy.

“Come on Giles, you’re a watcher, you’ve never heard of us?” The girl was beyond surprised and it showed.

“Y, yes but I thought you were legends, fictional.”

“What’s a keeper?” asked Oz, speaking for the first time in a while.

“Well, we’re a group of watchers who keep the secrets of the potential slayers. We’re the only ones who know who’s going to be picked so we protect them, keep them from harm and stuff so they can grow up to be slayers.”

Willow stood up then, remembering the legend at last. “Yeah, I’ve heard about you guys, you were formed about 4,000 years ago after the potentials were all found and killed. It was a secret society made up of watchers, potentials and someone called the wolf.”

The girl was sitting, looking quietly amused. “Well Willow, you told that nicely. So, Wolf, that’s who I am now.”

Joyce looked on with wide eyes as she processed the implications of this revelation. “You’re 4,000 years old?”

“No, 5,000 actually but I only joined the keepers 2,000 years ago,” she sighed “a slayer showed a great deal of kindness to me. She, um, she gave her life for my boyfriend.”

“Wow, that was brave.”

“It was Cordelia, it was.”

Giles’ mind finally stepped into watcher mode and he looked confused. “Wait, how are you 5,000 years old?”

“Oh, I’m a vampire, thought you knew. Name’s Sita by the way.” Everyone took a step back and Sita laughed. “Wow, what a conversation killer. Don’t worry, I’m different from the ones you know and hate.”

“How so?” Giles’ fear had given away to curiosity and this young, no, apparently young woman was intriguing him.

“Well, garlic, crosses, holy water or any of that crap doesn’t worry me, sunlight, while not my favourite thing is far from deadly and a newborn can survive it. I never had my soul lost or been overrun by a demon so I’m not bad,,, well, it’s a matter of opinion but anyway. I can’t fly in any traditional sense but I’ll tell you about that some other time. I can enter anywhere uninvited, I can control animals and humans, I need fresh blood from as near human as possible and I’m about four times as strong as the strongest slayer or master.”

As Sita paused for breath, Willow spoke. “It’s a good thing there’re aren’t more of you.”

“I suppose so but it gets lonely, there’s only one other.”

Joyce, who looked ready to bolt, spoke a bit shakily but got it out, “so, you’re on our team?”

“Right, I do favours whenever I can, I’m on call anytime, willing, ready and able to help repay my debt.”

“The slayer giving her life?” Cordelia asked, just as fascinated as Giles.

“Yes, I went on a bloody rampage for a century, killing any vampires I could. I stopped when I realised that a act of love couldn’t be repaid in hate.” Sita looked into space as she remembered, then she snapped back. “Well, I suppose you want to know how I got you out.”

“No, we want to go on with our lives not knowing.”

“Shut it sarcasm boy! Anyway, if I may, I was called over three days ago at two am. After a briefing in London, I arrived here yesterday morning. I slept all day and went to look for Giles, I got lucky and found a vampire so I followed him. I sat and watched the warehouse an at about ten, they drag Buffy, Cordelia and Xander in and Angelus makes a move to feed on Buffy. He changes his mind so in I come and put the moves on him. You three go back to your cell and Angelus gets ready for a night of passion which ends as soon as he gets in the bedroom.

“Oh, little footnote here, one of the potentials always has a link to the slayers, like a phycic thing so we knew about the Angel thing. It helps to keep an eye on the slayage.”

Everyone looked very shocked and Buffy seemed like she was going to die. “Oh don’t worry, that night didn’t count as slayage but we still know it happened.

“So, there I am with an unconscious Angel and three options. I could kill Angel, sneak around, blow up the warehouse and grab the slayer or I could leave Angel, sneak around and do the same thing or I could get Angel’s help, strut around in public and get everyone out. Now, there were problems. For one, if I killed Angel, Buffy’d kill me, I wanted to get everyone out and I couldn’t leave Angel out cold because he’d probably wake up and royally screw up my plans, so by default, and with alteration, plan three, mind control.

“There was a big fight, Angel and me versus fifty vampires which resulted in us getting all of you out and leaving a nearly awake Cordy with a cell phone and a cross. Angel and I went back in to get rid of any vamps that were left and there’s a huge fire and an explosion which sends us crashing into a wall at 200 mph at dawn. You guys know the rest.”

“Yeah,” Cordelia said, “I rang the hospital and we were taken in. But if you were on our team, why did you knock me out?”

“To shut you up! We needed some quiet.”

Xander grinned “so many things I wanna say.”

“Shut up! I have a huge bump!”

“Poor widdle girl, want me to kiss it better?”

Cordelia considers this for a moment until a look from Giles get them back on track. “What of you and Angelus?”

“Well, I was knocked out.”

“How could you control Angelus if you were unconscious?”

“I couldn’t Joyce, I couldn’t.”

Buffy who had pretty much just been listening spoke. “So Angelus is still out on the streets?”

“No, you’ll be happy to know he’s gone for good.”

Buffy was anything but happy. Her life, her reason and her hope was gone. At least with Angelus, there had been hope of finding a cure. She sank to the ground, sobbing broken heartedly and Joyce tried to comfort her.

“Hey! I never said he was dead, um undead! Oh shit!” Sita was getting more than a bit annoyed with herself.

“What?” Buffy asks from the floor, looking confused.

Suddenly, the doors swung open and Angel walked in. Everyone stepped away from him and Buffy looked terrified. He looked down and saw her.

“Buffy!” Surprisingly, he knelt down beside her and hugged her fiercely.

Buffy was beyond confused. “What? Sita, what’s going on?”

Angel looked into her eyes, and she saw the tears shining there. “God, when I woke up and you weren’t there I was so worried! Thank God you’re ok!”

“Angel? Is it really you?”

Smiling, he kissed her gently, “of course it is, who else would it be?”

Buffy pulled herself out of Angel’s arms and, with a murderous gleam in her eye, she picked up her crossbow and marched over to Sita. Needless to say, Sita was worried. “Explain or be dust!”

“Hey, calm down! Besides, I don’t dust, I bleed and it’ll make a mess!”

To hurry her up, Buffy fired a bolt to Sita’s left. Jumping, Sita spoke. “Okay, okay, Jesus, touchy. Well, I couldn’t use mind control on Angel, he’s too strong, and crazy but I needed his help. I turned him into a vampire like me, a yakshini vampire.”

“So his soul’s back forever?”

“Well, you can’t lose your soul ever but yeah, he’s back. Oh, he doesn’t remember past your birthday though.”

“Why?”

“Well, I needed someone to fight, not someone to fun away and go brood for a few weeks. I basically said Buffy and mortal danger together and he jumped to help.”

Buffy’s eyes, full of hope turn to Angel. “Angel, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“It was, well, we were, Buffy come over here for a moment,” Buffy and Angel walked away from the main group and Angel put his hand on Buffy’s face as he spoke. “I remember running through the rain back to my apartment and you were getting changed, and you had a cut and I looked at it,” his voice was letting the worry through and he was getting hysterical “and I told you I loved you and we made love. don’t you remember?”

Buffy put her hand on his and her head on his chest. “Oh, Angel,” she hugged him close and after a few moments, walked over to Sita. “Will he ever remember?”

“If I let him. I blocked them out but, he needs to know. Look, it’s hard, but he’s got a right to know. It would be better if he never knew, you could put it all behind you but it just wouldn’t be right.”

Speaking in the softest voice she ahead ever heard him use, Giles said “she’s right Buffy, personal differences aside, he need to know.”

“Buffy,” the red head put her hand on her best friends shoulder “He needs to know, so you two can heal.”

She was near tears but when she looked at Angel, she knew what had to be done. Laying a hand on Angel’s face, she gave her answer. “Do it Sita.”

“Buffy, what’s going on? What are you talking about?”

Sighing, Sita took Angel’s face in her hands and looked in his dark eyes and in a soft voice told him not to worry, then, in a louder voice, she said one word. “Remember” Angel collapsed in pain as his mind opened and the memories came back. “What have I done! Oh, no, God no! Please, no.”

Calling his name, Buffy rushed to his side and pulled him up. He looked at her with wild eyes and kissed her. “Buffy, I love you, I always will.” Softly, he kissed her again and then, with supernatural speed, bolted.

“Oh no you don’t you little bastard!” With that, Sita jumped after him and after struggling, she shoved him on his stomach and grabbed his hands. Straddling his back, she slammed his face into the floor.

Oz, smelling the fear and anger looked on numbly. “What’s going on? Sita, what the hell are you doing!”

“This little git was planning on jumping on the first stake he found!” Everyone looked shocked and nervous, and rightly so when Sita grabbed Angel and hoisted him two feet into the air. “Taking the easy way out huh? I break a promise that means everything to me and you’re going kamikaze! I don’t think so!” Sita shook Angel for emphasis and his voice breaking with tears, he spoke again.

“What! Look at what I’ve done! How can I live with them! How will they forgive me, no wait, they shouldn’t!” He started crying and Buffy took that moment to edge forward.

“Sit down slayer! This is between him and me!”

“No, you put him down!”

Using the same tone of voice she did when she told Angel to remember, she barked at Buffy. “Sit the fuck down!”

Buffy, looking scared, sat.

“Put me down Sita! I can’t live with this! These memories! I can’t!”

“Angel,” Willow was talking in a low voice, “it wasn’t you, it was the demon.”

“Yeah, I know what it’s like, the whole possession thing, I mean, the wolf is way worse when he gets out.”

“Yeah, remember that time you saved me from the body bits in the dumpster?”

“Or when you brought me to Buffy so I could save her!”

“Or the Angel who vamped out at the college when he heard Buffy was in trouble, that’s you, not the demon.”

Giles, sighing said, “Jenny was killed by Angelus, not you. You’re the one who looked after Buffy all the times when I couldn’t.”

“But still, I can’t live with this.”

Sita finally lowered Angel a bit and softening her voice, spoke. “Listen, remember when Angelus bit Buffy last night?” Angel nodded and whimpered at the memory. “Why didn’t he feed?”

“What?”

“Think about it Angel.”

Angel thought and then the realisation dawned on his face. “Oh my God, Buffy?”

“Sita, what’s going on?” demanded an angry slayer.

“See why you can’t leave Angel?”

Angel nodded numbly and went over to Buffy and held her like there was no tomorrow. “Buffy?” She looked blankly at him and he gathered her in his arms kissing her and crying. “God, Buffy, how?”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Um, Angel, she doesn’t know.”

“Know what, Sita, what’s going on?”

“What! Why not? How do you”

Sita pointed to her nose and ears and asked Buffy to follow her into the hall. The rest of them stood there in confusion and for Angel, a state of numb shock. They all heard a shout, a very, insanely angry Buffy Summers “I’M WHAT?”

Joyce cowered and asked herself what was going on.

The doors opened and Buffy shuffled in followed by a very pissed off Sita who was trying to stop her nose from bleeding. Mumbling, she went over to Giles and grabbed his hankie. “Bloody stupid, assholed question”

“What happened?” asked one slightly bemused watcher.

“Put it like this, ask a silly question, get a fist in the face.”

Limping over to Buffy, Xander asked, “care to run the conversation by us?”

“No, I, I, can’t be!”

“Be what?” asked Cordelia “Sita! Watch where you drip that blood!”

Sita mumbled something under her breath that had allot to do with screwdrivers.

“Buffy, what’s going on?” Willow was getting worried by her friend’s vacant expression.

“Buffy!” asked her mother, very annoyed, “what’s going on?”

Everybody started asking Buffy, Angel and Sita questions. Buffy couldn’t even hear them, Angel was ignoring them and Sita was still nursing her nose.

“Angel?”

“Yeah Buffy I’m here.”

“How?”

“I have no idea.”

Sita sniffed and tested her sinuses before she spoke. “Ok, explanation time, Cordy, Xander do you remember what Angelus said when he bit Buffy?”

“Yeah, said Xander, “he bit, he tasted, he let go, he kissed her, he smiled evilly and told her he’d let her live a while longer,,,,,”

“And then we were dragged back to our cells as you came in.”

“Any thoughts on why Buffy didn’t become a happy meal?” She was greeted by blank and worried stares so sighing, she continued. “Well, Ok, I noticed something when I was dragging Buffy out, a smell that’s only found in a few people, a very specific smell, plus the erratic pulse thing.”

Joyce nearly had a heart attack.

Giles pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked meanly at Sita. “What in God’s name are you talking about?”

Sita sighed and went on. “Oz, you’re a werewolf, you smell anything weird about Buffy?”

“Yeah, it’s really faint but it’s there. I have no idea what it is though.”

Willow, for once, was getting mad. “Quit beating around the bush Sita!”

“Ok, what Angelus tasted and what I smelled, it’s something he wanted,,,”

Cordelia’s brain worked faster than usual to work out the puzzle, “Oh my God! Buffy’s got a terminal illness and Angel wanted her to die slowly!” Cordy, in an unusual display of sympathy, rushed forward and hugged Buffy.

Confused, Sita continued. “Nooooo,,,,, not to my knowledge. Buffy had something vamps usually can’t have.”

“I’m lost.”

“So am I Xander and I know what she’s talking about. Get on with it!”

“Ok Miss-we-won’t-break-it-to-them-gently-and-so-decrease-emotional- trauma, Angel knocked Buffy up!”

“There were so many better ways to say that!”

“I know Buffy but look at their faces!” Part Two

Everyone looked pale when Sita said those words. The Scooby gang weren’t processing, it was too much, Giles looked pale and Joyce was as scary looking as any vampire.

“What do you mean? You’re pregnant!”

“I, I am Mom.”

“Oh sweet Jesus! How could you be so irresponsible! Didn’t you use protection?”

“Well, not in that sense,,,”

“Oh God, I’m going to kill you both!”

“Well, in our defence Mom, we didn’t think vamps could be parents.”

“What about STD’s?”

"No vampire, neither the kind he was or my kind can contract or carry diseases.” Joyce directed a glare at Sita which made her extremely scared.

“This is so!” Joyce, in her rage could only manage a grunt.

Giles finally snapped out of it to add his two cents. “This is unheard of!”

Sita, having seen and heard it all at least twice before is quietly amused by all the action. “This is like number one on the list of embarrassing things that can happen to a teenager.”

“Sita,” Willow asked “have vampires ever had children before?”

“Well, kinda, it’s complicated but I think you’re asking can vampires conceive children. Well, the answer is yes, but only under exceptional circumstances. It has to do with the gametes.”

“Vamps being dead and all.”

“No, it’s more varying strengths, you see, sperm can’t survive for any amount of time in the vampiric uterus because of the whole super immune system. A few vampire sperm will basically bash the ova to pieces, it’s not pretty. Vamps can’t have kids with others vamps ‘cause it’s like world war three if they do.”

Xander, who had turned a nice shade of green, spoke up “Eeeewwwww! Too much to know!”

“B, but how?” stammered Giles.

“Well, vamps and hybrids can have children and I guess, biologically, Buffy’s a hybrid.” She paused to think. “It actually makes sense, the faster healing, mortality, no blood lust, stronger, faster, can sense vamps,,, It makes sense.”

“What’s a hybrid?” Cordelia asked.

“I’m not sure, there’s only ever been one.” She gets the same look in her eyes as she did earlier on. “He was called Arturo Evola and I knew him well. He was a medieval alchemist from Italy, the greatest ever. He experimented with aural cleansing and discovered that changes to the aura effected the physical body and vice versa. It implies that vampire blood could make a hybrid and human blood could make a vampire human again.” She paused and sighed heavily. “He was looking for the blood of Christ, a fool’s errand and he used my blood to turn himself into a hybrid. He never reached the full status but he lived to be over six hundred years old. He, he fathered a child.”

Joyce’s face softened a bit when she spoke. “Were you the mother?”

“Yeah, yeah, I was.” She lowered her head to hide the tears but went on anyway. “I killed her, I killed my own daughter.” She cried openly then, nothing held back the tears. “She was conceived when I was a vampire but unknowingly, I changed back over. I wasn’t able to get her the blood she needed. The alchemy changed me, it made me blind and I led an old enemy of mine to her.”

“What happened?”

“She was trying to protect a baby, a, I, thought she wanted to kill him so I joined up with a bloody Sentian, I thought he was human, and he shot her six times. He stabbed me with a poisoned knife and she fed me her blood to save me. She died in my arms from blood loss.” Sita then sank to the flor and kept crying. Buffy, feeling a kind of kinship, goes over to her.

“It must have been hard.”

“It was, your’s, your child will be pretty normal though, probably not like Kalika.”

“Why?”

Sita laughed a short bitter laugh. “Because when I was in my fourth month, I was giving birth to a properly formed baby. The only thing that kept me going was Seymour, and now that he’s gone, I’ve not got anybody.”

“Hey! Untrue!” shouted Xander.

“Yeah,” Cordelia piped up, “you got us!”

“We’ll be like surrogate Seymour’s.”

“You’d be willing to be a nerdy writer who had AIDS and died twice?”

“Um, well,,,”

“Joke Willow, I made with the funny. Ah, look at me, I’m a mess. Listen, tell you guys what, any strong, well placed kick to the stomach could cause baby there to miscarry, oh don’t look so shocked, it’s common sense. Well, how about I take over slaying for a while?”

“Slayer maternity leave, that’s a new one.”

Joyce seemed overjoyed at this idea, “oh would you?”

“Sure, I only need a few hours sleep a week plus, all those little snack bars with fangs!”

Angel looked a bit scared at this remark. “So, you feed from vampires?”

“What am I supposed to drink from? People? Yakshini vamps? Because our kind, then humans, then the other vamps, that’s the taste in order of decreasing niceness.”

“Um, slayer standing here!”

“Oh, sorry, well every vamp in towns going to be after you and the baby,,,”

Finally, Giles could add something to the conversation, “You mean the ritual of Diana.?”

“Yeah, nasty piece of work.”

“What’s that or would it be better for me not to know?”

“Um, involves a C-section on a conscience woman, vamping of the baby, mother’s blood it’s first drink, father’s blood the second.”

Buffy and Angel were visibly shaken and they gripped each other’s hands.

“Hey, it only works on an unborn child, so, you’ll be fine, I’ll keep an eye on you. Sorry to scare you. Besides, if it’s a girl, it’ll be a slayer.”

“What! My baby would be a slayer?”

“I thought that was the first thing told to slayers. If you get pregnant while you’re a slayer, the child will be a slayer, if it’s a girl.”

“What about my genes? Will they effect it?”

“I doubt it. They’ll probably just pass on your strength, brown hair, brown eyes and all those other inherited characteristics.”

Willow look confused. “Strength isn’t an inherited characteristic.”

“In vamps it is.”

Joyce’s earlier less than homicidal feelings had fled and she was as pissed as ever. “You know, I still can’t believe this! Even if you weren’t a slayer and even if he wasn’t a vampire, I’d still be beyond mad! You’re a teenager, you’re still a child yourself! How can you honestly take on that responsibility! You broke you egg!”

“Did no one tell her about that?”

“Another time Xander.”

“You’re still in high school, you aren’t qualified for any work and I seriously don’t think that you’ll go into school and let it be known you’re pregnant! You’re too young!”

Buffy had born the full front of this ranting match with as much dignity as she could. She spoke in a dangerous and low voice, “yeah, well, slayers don’t usually live that long anyway. What’s the oldest Sita? What’s my life expectancy?”

“Um, I don’t know, 86?”

“The truth Sita!”

In resignation, Sita lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, “27, Niamh, the slayer who saved my boyfriend was the oldest.”

“See Mom, not much of a life expectancy.” With that, Buffy ran out of the library crying, Angel hot on her heels. Sita stopped Cordy and Willow when they tried to follow. “Let them be, they need time to sort it out.”

Joyce was still staring angrily at the door and Sita turned to confront her.

“What the hell was that in aid of Joyce? Why did you do that? Don’t you think she’s got enough to deal with without you hurting her?”

“Don’t tell me how to raise my own child!”

“Hey, I’ve beaten you in the child bearing thing! I’ve given birth to two children and I’ve raised dozens from infants as my own! I know a bit about teenagers, I’ve been one for 5,000 years!

“I don’t know if this is going to be a normal pregnancy, it may be, it may not be. I hope for all our sakes it is normal. This is scary enough for her and she needs her mother, God knows I wish I’d had mine with me.

“I agreed to become a vampire! I said yes to the question because if I hadn’t my daughter would have died. I never got to see her first step or hear her first words or see her grow up, I would give my life for a minute with her, with them! They were taken from me, my Lalita and my Kalika but you’re driving her away! She’s lived as much as you have and more hell than anyone should have to!

“God, I, if you don’t think they’ll be able to look after their child or that they aren’t ready you’re joking yourself. Take it from someone with experience, they love each other and they will love that child!”

All eyes in the room were on Sita and Joyce. Joyce, with tears in her eyes looked ready to cry, she did.

Sita sighed heavily, “listen Joyce, I’m sorry, it’s just that it’s kinda close for me. Help her, if you don’t, you’ll regret it till you die. I did.”

“I’m, oh God, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, not to me anyway, to Buffy, and Angel.”

“I was blind, I was never there when she needed me.”

“It’s hard to see when someone keeps snuffing your candle. Besides, you were there when she wanted you to be. That’s just as important.”

“Thank you Sita.”

Sita smiles and cocks her head for a moment. “Hey, Willow, go get Buffy and Angel, they’re in the girls’ bathroom.”

Xander looked disgusted, “Eeewwww!”

“Sure I’ll go.”

Buffy stormed into the bathroom, openly crying. She grabbed a handful of tissues and tried to dry her eyes with little success. Then, Angel ran in and saw her. His heart broke at the site of his one love in such pain.

“Oh, Buffy, come here.” Gently, he gathered her in his arms and they both sank to the floor, both crying.

“Buffy, I’m so sorry, God, I’m sorry.”

Buffy sniffed and looked at her dark saviour. “For what?”

“For ruining your life, for killing Jenny, Teresa, Willow’s fish and for hurting you.”

“Angel, it wasn’t you, the only you’ve ever done to me was make me feel good or sick, but it was lovesick and hence good.”

“You sure it wasn’t morning sickness?”

Buffy laughed and gently punched Angel in the shoulder. Gently, he kissed her. “Are you sure you’re ok with this?”

“What, with us? The baby?”

“Yeah.”

“I have the man I love, a break from slaying for a long time, no school and aside from the feet swelling thing, I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m still sorry though.” Angel sighed, long and sad. “I only had control once you know.”

“Really? When?”

“In the school, when you shot me. After Grace left, I had a few seconds and I never wanted to let you go, I wanted to tell you I loved you. I only told you twice, that was my greatest regret.” Angel kissed Buffy’s hair then and told her again, just to be safe. “I love you Buffy.”

“I love you too Angel.” Then they kissed passionately, happy as a pair of vamps in a blood bank.

“Remember that night in the graveyard, I was meant to be hunting the Gorches?”

“Yeah, that’s when I said I couldn’t have children.”

“I meant what I said, whenever I look into the future, all I see is you, all I want is you.”

Smiling, Angel kissed her briefly before replying. “I know the feeling.”

They kept kissing until Angel put his hand to Buffy’s face and she felt the Claddagh ring there. “You kept the ring.”

“Of course I did, it was all I had of you.”

Smiling, Buffy showed Angel her finger. Her ring was on her left hand, ring finger.

“Now you’ve got all of me.” More kissing ensues and when they stopped, Angel laughed.

“What?”

“I needed to go up for air. I haven’t needed air in over two hundred years!”

They embraced tightly and Angel whispered into Buffy’s ear. “Thank you, thank you for being here for me.”

“I love you, I love you and I forgive all those things that Angelus did in your body, even though you didn’t do it.”

“Thank you. Thanks for loving me, thanks for forgiving me and thanks for making me feel human. Most of all, thank you for this.” So gently, he laid his hands on Buffy’s stomach, near the navel. Buffy pulled him close and he put his ear to her stomach and smiled. “Buffy?”

“Mmnnn?”

“I can hear it’s heart beating!”

“What? Oh my God! What’s it like?”

“Beautiful, like you.” Once again, they curled up and they closed their eyes.

After a few moments, Willow knocked on the door. “Buffy? Angel? Are you guys ok?” She saw them sitting on the floor. “Oh,” she smiled from ear to ear. “I bet you guys are.”

“Hey Will, how’s the biggest fight in world history going?”

“Oh, Sita yelled some sense into your Mom.”

“How’d she take it?”

“Well, she saw her faults and by the way, never mention or ask Sita about her children, not a good subject.”

“I can imagine. Come on Angel.” Buffy and Angel got up and Buffy slung an arm around each of them.

“Did I congratulate you guys yet?”

“I don’t think anyone did.”

“Well, then let me be the first to say it, congrats.”

“Thanks Will.” The three friends made their way into the library again and as soon as Buffy walked in, she was grabbed in a bear hug by Joyce.

“Honey, I’m so sorry, I over-reacted. I am happy for you two. Sita yelled some sense into me.”

“Yeah, and