Chapter Six

"This is interesting," Giles muttered more to himself than to anyone in the shop. It was good that he was not expecting anyone to listen, because no one was. Instead, the Scoobies were all around Buffy and Dawn, with the exception of Anya who was helping a customer.

"So, all of a sudden, this burning thing flew in through the window, and it was all like crash, boom, bang and there was glass everywhere," was Dawn's condensed version of what had happened the night before.

Buffy sat by the table, her head rested in her hands. Since Dawn enjoyed being the center of attention, the Slayer thought she had let her sister be just that for once.

Spike sat next to Buffy, holding the hand that was not burned.

"Tired?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. "I guess it's the pregnancy… Although it's worse than usual."

"Well, you're getting further along, pet." Buffy nodded at him, then closed her eyes and leaned on him. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth.

"So, Buffy, what do you think this is?" Xander asked, turning his attention from the younger to the older of the Summers sisters.

Buffy opened her eyes and looked at him. "I don't know," she said. She closed her eyes once more.

"Are you tired?" Willow asked, as though the answer was not obvious.

Buffy nodded a small nod, her eyes still closed.

"You know, pet, maybe we should go home and get you to bed if you're that tired," Spike suggested.

Buffy nodded, "Yeah."

"Nibblet, are you coming?" Spike said, helping his fiancé up.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna get my stuff from the back." The brunette disappeared.

Suddenly, Buffy's grip on Spike tightened and she wobbled as she tried to walk.

"Buffy what is it? What's wrong?" Spike asked, immediately concerned. He held an arm around her to steady her, and she leaned on him.

"Spike…" Buffy moaned, "I… I don't feel so good…"

"Buffy, love, what's wrong?"

"I feel sick… I'm so tired…" she whispered.

Her grip on his hand hardened more, and he felt more of her weight on him. Instead of trying to steady her more, he resolutely picked her up in his arms. She had one arm around his neck and her head buried in his shoulder.

"Buffy, stay awake, okay?" Spike begged her, feeling the panic rise.

"But I'm so tired…"

Meanwhile, the gang was just standing around, watching. Then, suddenly, as though something woke them up, they were all around Buffy and Spike. Giles pushed them away from the Slayer, and motioned to Spike to take her into the training room. Dawn returned and when she saw her sister, she was close to tears once more. Giles made her sit down by the table while he went with Spike and Buffy to the training room. When Spike had put her on the floor, with her head on his lap, Giles asked,

"Do you have any idea of what this is?"

Spike shook his head. "No, Watcher, I don't! I don't have a bleedin' clue… Don't you think I would have told you if I did?"

"But, has she done anything special… Anything that could have brought this on?"

"I'm bloody telling you, I don't know!" Spike screamed, so loudly Buffy winced on the floor.

"Oh, love, I'm sorry," Spike said in a tone that was totally unlike his. He stroke her cheek gently.

"Could it have to do with the scroll?" Giles asked to himself. "It might be something…"

"Well then get bloody on it!" Spike said, then asked in a small voice, "What if it's the baby? What if it's hurting?"

"Spike, I'm fairly sure this has nothing to do with the baby. This seems much more like something brought on by magic."

With that, Giles disappeared out of the room, shooting a worried glance at the girl on the floor before returning to the shop. He walked right over to Willow and Tara.

"Can you do a spell to see if she's under some spell?" he asked the two Wiccas. "You know, like she did to see if her mom…"

"We know, Giles, we're already on it. We're using a faster spell than that one though, since we're used to magic."

"Well, she's in the training room with Spike, so when you're ready, just go in there."

The girls nodded and began collecting some ingredients for the spell. Anya gave them what they needed after Xander had convinced her that it was for life or death, and the two Wiccas set everything up around Buffy and Spike. He refused to leave her side, and since it did not matter to the spell, Tara and Willow let him stay.

They began to chant. Willow, who would be the one who saw if anything was affecting Buffy, held a candle in her hands, and soon, her eyes turned black. Her head shot upwards, and then she looked around the room in a confused manner. Moments later, her vision seemed to clear and she remembered what she was supposed to be looking at.

She grasped as she saw Buffy. As soon as she realized what was wrong, she ended the spell and ran out of the room to tell Giles.

"It's her hand," she said. "The injured hand, there is something dark, some magic…"

"Buffy said she'd burned her hand when she tried to grab the scroll when it was still warm…" Giles said, trying to understand. "Of course! The scroll was obviously burning by some sort of magic means, and when she touched it, even if the fire had seemed to go out, it infected her in some way."

"So the cure is…?" Willow asked. She was leaning on Tara, the spell having weakened her.

"I, um, don't know yet. But we will find it," Giles said, trying to sound certain.

"Of course we will," Willow said, trying just as hard to sound equally certain.

Xander walked over to them. "So, what are we looking for?"

Spike carefully got up, putting Buffy's head down on the mattresses gently. She did not even stir, making him worry even harder. He walked over to the little storage room on the side and took out the blanket and pillow he knew were in there. Then he walked back and positioned him in the same way as he was before, on the floor with her head in his lap. But now, her body was covered by one blanket.

Her breathing was slow, he knew she was sleeping. Although, he wondered how long it would be before she slipped of into unconsciousness.

"You need to wake up, love," he whispered to her, stroking her hair as he always did.

Tara had come in earlier and explained to him what was causing Buffy's sudden sleepiness. She had also told him they were working on the cure. He had taken in the information and nodded, then she had left.

He looked down at her bulging stomach. The one that was growing bigger and bigger for every day that went by. He had already wondered to himself several times how big a stomach could get.

She had told him her worries, her fears. She had a lot of those. She was more scared of becoming a mother than she had ever been, facing any evil.

"I will be responsible for someone's life!" she had exclaimed.

He had told her it would be all right. That all to-be parents worried, but that most turned out fine in the end. And he had told her that he would be with her and their child every single step of the way.

He was scared too. Mostly, he was scared that she would suddenly realize that the last few months had all been a huge mistake and that she would tell him to leave. He knew he would never be able to do that. He needed her like he needed oxygen these days.

"I love you so much, Buffy. Please wake up…"

"Giles! Giles! I think I've got it!" Willow exclaimed happily. She ran around the table with the thick book in her hand. "Look."

Giles read what it said on the page, and nodded. "Might just be. But… If we burn the script, we might burn something important."

"More important than Buffy?" Willow asked accusingly.

"No, no, I don't mean that," Giles defended himself. "But, it might be something useful. Maybe we should write it down somewhere before burning it."

"Giles, this thing says it takes twenty-four hours for someone infected by a black spell to get killed by it. That means that if Buffy touched it at like eight thirty last night, we have about half an hour till she will be…"

"Don't say it!" Willow screamed and held her hands over her ears.

Tara, who was holding the talked-about scroll in her hand said in her usual, quiet voice, "I have written down what it says now."

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her.

"W-well," Tara stammered, "It wasn't that m-much text, and so I wrote it down while you…"

"Oh, thank you Tara," Giles said before taking the scroll out of her hand. "Now, anyone got matches?"

"Spike probably has a lighter," Xander suggested, but then added, "Never mind," as he remembered that Buffy had made him stop smoking when he became human.

"I have matches here," Anya said and gave a box to Giles. Giles and Willow disappeared into the training room.

Spike looked up when he heard the witch and the Watcher storm in. "We've got the cure," Willow explained happily. She ripped the scroll in four separate parts. "Can you move, this can't be done with you in the middle."

Spike obliged and got up gently as to not hurt Buffy in any way. Willow put the pieces of the scroll around the sleeping Slayer, and then walked around and lit each part on fire. The paper was soon consumed by it and when the spell was broken, Buffy stirred.

Spike was by her side again in a second.

She moved and opened her eyes and noted the blankets covering her. "W-where am I?" she asked quietly.

"You're in the training room, pet. You took a little nap."

"I don't remember…" Buffy mumbled. "I was tired and then…"

"It's okay, love. Everything is fine."

He kissed her forehead. She then tried to get up, but her body was still weak and could not. Spike let her continue to rest, once more with her head on his lap, until she was strong enough to go home.

"What was this whole ordeal good for?" the two voices asked, in unison as always.

Kaicynn and Kayarin stood in front of the throne. Both held their hands on their hips, and being mirror images of each other, one might think he was seeing double.

"To see how well they work together," the dark voice of the creature on the throne.

"But what if she had died? It would all have failed…" The sentences were hardly more than a whisper, yet it echoed greatly in the caves, making their voices even more terrifying than they were to begin with.

"She would not have died," the voice assured them. "I put the spell on the Slayer – I could have taken it away if the Wiccas had not figured it out. Now, instead, we know how they work. And now that the Slayer has been under our spell once, it will be easy to get her there again."

The females looked unhappy, their eyes gleaming at him in the darkness.

"Soon, Twins, the real plan will be set in action."

"And the baby?" the two asked, in perfect chorus as always.

"The baby will be ours, I promise." In the flicker of the lit candles, a smirk could be seen on the dark figure's face.

The Scoobies were all sitting in the Magic Box. Tara and Willow next to each other, Anya and Xander, Dawn leaning on Spike and Buffy holding his hand. They were all looking at the piece of paper that held the scribbled down writing of the now-gone scroll.

"Is it just me or does that look like gibberish?" Xander wondered with a sigh.

"It's not gibberish you daft git, it's in Swedish, as I've said a hundred bloody times already."

"So why don't you just translate it for us?" Xander asked.

"Cause I don't know Swedish well enough you bleedin' idiot."

"Hey! I'm not –"

"Enough!" Giles interrupted. He looked mad. "We won't get any closer by fighting. We need to figure this out though."

"How bout a Swedish translator?" Dawn sighed. "Seems the easiest way to go."

"Actually, I think I could do it," Anya said suddenly. "I spent a century or two in that cold country, and I think I remember some…"

"Why didn't you say that before?" Giles asked, exasperated. He took his glasses of and began polishing them, trying to calm himself.

Anya grabbed the piece of paper. "Okay, this was a really long time ago," Anya said, concentrating. "But here we go…"

Ont ändrat och gott tillsammans
Ett nytt liv gjort från död
Ett litet liv
Förändrar ansiktet av gammal ondska
Om född i mörkret
Död och förstörelse i hennes väg
Om hon i fel tid
Kommer in i denna värld

"I think it says this:

Evil turned and good together
A new life made from former death
A small life
Changes the face of old evil
If born in the dark
Death and destruction in her way
If at the wrong time
She enters the world"

Everyone stared at Anya, and then looked over at Buffy.

"I think that we can cross the whole 'a normal kid' thing off the list," Dawn finally said.

"But what does it mean?" Buffy asked. "That my baby's gonna fight?"

"If someone chooses the wrong path to lead her down, yes, I believe so," Giles said.

"I guess whomever threw that thing through your window is after the baby," Willow said. "But why would they give the scroll to you and let you know about their plans?"

"Maybe it's a friend?" Anya said positively. "Some person wants to make you aware that something can happen with your kid."

Again, everyone stared at Anya.

Giles cleared his throat and said, "Well, as much as we could hope for that, I don't think that is the case."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "We live on a Hellmouth, filled with Hellmouth-y demons, and those Hellmouth-y demons aren't always that bright… They like me to know about their plans." She sighed, and Spike squeezed her hand.

"Don't worry," he said, opening his mouth for the first time since Anya had finished translating the text. "I won't let anything hurt our baby."

"I know you won't. And I won't either. If they want the Slayer's baby, they are going to have to go through the Slayer herself and her British boyfriend…"

"And the Slayer's little sister!" Dawn quipped in happily.

"Oh no you don't," Buffy told her little sister. "You are going to stay as far away as possible from this!"

"But –"

"No buts. Otherwise the Slayer's little sister will be grounded till she's forty," Buffy threatened.

Dawn pouted at her big sister. "Fine," she said. "If I'm not needed here, which I'm obviously not, may I then leave? Richie wanted me to meet him at the coffee house."

Buffy looked at her little sister, who'd stood up, hands on her hips. She looked so grown up suddenly. Sure, she was not acting all that grown up, but neither did Buffy all the time. Besides, Buffy understood why Dawn was mad. Dawn felt constantly excluded from the Scooby Gang, because she was too young. Never mind that she was sixteen now, the same age Buffy was when the Scooby Gang had first been created.

"You go. Just call home and have Spike pick you up when you want to get home."

Dawn nodded and disappeared.

Buffy turned her attention back to the piece of paper. "Is there anything else we can do here, or can Spike and I go patrol?"

Giles shot her a look; he still did not feel comfortable having the hugely pregnant Slayer patrolling. Buffy caught the look and sighed. "Fine," she muttered. "He will patrol, after he escorts me home – is that okay with you, Giles?"

"It is for your best, Buffy, you and the baby."

"I know," she said. Under her breath, she added, "Still sucks though."

Dawn, Spike and Buffy all helped decorate the Summers' home for Christmas. Spike and Dawn went out and got a huge Christmas tree, and he put small lamps all over the roof of the house. Dawn had thought it was hilarious to watch him try and get the electricity to work, at the same time as keeping his balance.

Now the sun had gone down, and the three were cuddled on the couch. It was two days until Christmas, and the trio had felt it was a good time to have a calm night together. Spike had patrolled earlier, but there was not much going on, so he had come home early.

The TV was on, and the Simpsons was showing.

"This is crap."

"Dawn! Language!" Buffy scolded.

"Well it is. I don't care what my friends say, I just don't like it. Can't we watch the movies instead?"

She got up and walked over to the bag on the floor by the tv. Buffy and Spike had gone to Blockbuster earlier on and rented some movies. She picked the first one up.

"'Pearl Harbor'? Why in the world did you rent that? Next… 'The Mexican'? I saw that in the movie theaters. Maybe it's better on a tape where you can fast forward every time it gets boring, cause that's a movie that they could've been rougher on when it was on the cutting board… Still, nah. Ooh, here's something! 'Bridget Jones's diary'! That's what we're watching!"

She popped the tape into the VCR and pushed play before walking back to the sofa. That's when she noticed that her two guardians were both fast asleep on the couch. She smiled to herself. Spike laid behind Buffy, his body spooned against her. One hand rested on her stomach. They looked so cute together. Quietly, she got the camera from the kitchen and took a picture. Another one for her collection of cute pictures to save for the future.

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