Chapter Nine

After collecting weapons at the Magic Box, Giles drove everyone but Dawn and Anya – who got to stay behind as babysat and babysitter – to the mountains. Spike figured that the Initiative caves were the most likely to be the ones where the evil were hanging out.

Suddenly, Spike flinched as though something had hurt him.

"What is it?" Willow asked.

"I don't know," Spike said, in an odd tone. "It felt like something was hurting me, from the inside. Odd, really."

"Maybe it's the baby," Tara suggested.

The group stared at her as they continued their way through the woods. Giles had parked the car a couple of minutes ago, and they were continuing on foot, with flashlights turned on and weapons ready.

"Maybe Buffy is starting to give birth," Tara continued at the confused stares. "Spike probably has a s-strong connection to the baby, and to B-Buffy too for that matter. I-it wouldn't be too odd to say that he would feel her pain in labor."

"If she's in labor we better hurry," Giles said. Spike just kept going, speeding up even more, but quiet. In his mind though, he screamed out for his love that he was coming.

"Why is she not giving birth?" the Dark Lord yelled. "She is just screaming like that again and again, yet I see no baby!"

The Twins bowed their heads. "We do not know," they replied.

On the bench, Buffy continued to twitch back and forth. Sweat drops were running down her forehead, her face was a pale white. It felt like something was ripping her in half. One power that kept pushing something inside her one way, and another power trying to push the other way. She did not know which side to fight with, and either way, she could not do anything about it. She had no strength left inside, and whatever happened was up to the two powers.

She screamed again, as one power got the upper hand.

They entered the caves minutes later, and began the journey downwards. Neither knew exactly where they were going, though Willow had gotten a map out and located Buffy through a locator spell. The spell had only shown that Buffy was indeed in the Initiative caves – but not how to get there.

Spike, who had been in the caves the most, had decided they should just go there. He had insisted they would find a way to get to Buffy once they were there.

The caves felt chilly, and Willow and Tara were both glad they had brought sweaters.

Suddenly, Spike twitched again, and from somewhere in the dark, a scream could be heard. Everyone in the little group knew who that scream belonged to – the Slayer. They all began running down the damp holes, towards the scream.

"Illuminum," Willow muttered and a small ball of light appeared. She threw her flashlight to the side to be able to hold her balance on the slippery ground. The others did the same; the ball of light gave more light than all the flashlights together.

Another scream was heard, and this one was closer.

Spike increased his speed to one the rest could not follow. He had only one thought in his mind: Save Buffy and the baby.

"This is not right!" the Dark Lord yelled. "She is supposed to give birth now, not lay there and scream."

As another one of Buffy's screams echoed through the cave, a figure came running into the room.

"Stop that!" Spike screamed. "Stop hurting her!"

"I am not hurting her," the Dark Lord replied. "See, I am not touching her."

Buffy's screaming got to Spike again, but this time it gave him strength. Strength to fight what was hurting her. He launched at the Dark Lord at the same time as the rest of the group came flying into the cave. Giles and Xander both stood shocked for a moment at seeing Buffy, writhing back and forth in pain, lying on something that looked like a sarcophagus and clad in a black gown. It did not take a genius to see that she was in labor, and it did not take a genius to see that something was wrong either.

Willow and Tara stood still for a moment, taking in the scene. Seconds later, they joined hands and ran towards the twins on the other side of the caves.

Spike threw blow after blow at the black clad figure, his whole body filled with rage at this creature that was causing Buffy so much pain. Nothing he did, no blow or kick he delivered did anything though; the ancient being did not seem like he had an actual body.

Giles and Xander both ran towards Buffy, lying in the middle of the room. Giles got out a pocketknife from his pants, and began working on the ropes holding the girl down. Xander began talking to the Slayer, trying to connect with her. She did not seem to have even noticed they were there.

"Buffy? Buff?" Xander stroke her forehead and shook her shoulders slightly, but all the Slayer did was scream in pain once more. Her pale face was scaring Xander.

The Wiccas on the other side of the room were following the twins. The identical demons were throwing spells at the witches, but Tara and Willow protected themselves easily, and were throwing and equal lot back at them.

"Who are you?" Spike screamed at the creature he was fighting, another one of Buffy's screams giving him inhuman strength.

"You do not know me?" the Dark Lord asked, dissolving and appearing again, behind Spike. He kicked the former vampire in the back, landing him against a wall.

"I am the Dark Lord, and you do better to remember that," he said, lifting Spike up by the neck.

The creature made Spike look into the hood, made him see the fog an midst it really was, in the attempt to scare him. No human, including the Slayer, had so far escaped from seeing that with their minds still intact.

As Spike watched the fog swirl around where the Dark Lord's head should have been, memories that were not his came at him. The memories were Buffy's; how scared she had been when she saw the midst, and how fog still clouded her mind as the Dark Lord tried to bring her into labor.

"No!" Spike yelled at him, breaking free of the contact with the fog and the dark cloak. "You are bloody well not going to get her."

Then he began throwing blows and kicks at the creature again, with strength he did not know where it came from.

"W-what should we do? I think t-they are stronger," Tara said, holding her hands up to help the protective barrier put between the witches and the twins.

"I don't know… Knives don't hurt them, and they play with snakes. We've tried everything," Willow replied, holding her hands up in the same fashion as Tara.

"Ma-maybe not everything," Tara said. "We've tried dark magic – maybe we should go the other way around. Maybe we s-should do really 'light' magic, like the ball of sunshine spell a-and that kind."

"You know what, I think you're right," Willow almost smiled. "I can do a ball of sunshine."

She began chanting under her breath, and Tara soon fell into the rhythm.

Meanwhile, Giles was just getting through the second of the four ropes holding his hurting Slayer down. Xander had still not gotten anywhere closer to her; she still moved around and screamed, tossing back and forth as much as the remaining ropes would allow.

Spike, fighting with the Dark Lord, seemed to finally have gotten the upper hand. The creature seemed to be tiring, though he was still holding his own.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The last few words of the ball of sunshine spell were said, and up to the ceiling of the cave flew just that – a ball of sunshine. After a moment of silence, screams filled the room.

The Dark Lord was falling backwards and a sort of black light was shining from his insides. The ball of sunshine was pulling everything evil out of the people and demons in the room, and neither the twins nor the Dark Lord stood a chance against it. The twins were reacting in the same way as their Master to the light.

Just seconds later, it was all over. The twins had disappeared, turning into nothing and the only thing remaining of the Dark Lord was a black cloak, lying on the floor.

Spike did not spend any time wondering what had just happened. The second the cloak fell empty to the floor, he ran over to the bench on which Buffy was lying.

Buffy had suddenly quieted down. She was no longer twisting and turning back and forth, though by now Giles had freed her and no ropes were holding her. No, now she was lying as still as death on the sarcophagus.

"Buffy?" Spike cradled her in his arms. "Buffy, can you hear me?"

A quiet moan escaped from the Slayer's throat, and she moved in his arms. Spike had never in his life – or unlife for that matter – been more relieved. He placed a kiss on her forehead, but as he did that, she moved again. Her head bent backwards and a pained cry came out.

"Guys, I seriously think she's in real labor," Willow said. "We need to get her to a hospital fast."

No one needed to be told twice. In no time, Spike had picked Buffy up in his arms and was carrying her back through the caves. The ball of sunshine followed them, in a slightly smaller version now. Tara and Willow held onto each other, both tired from a night holding so much magic.

How Spike found his way out of the caves, nobody understood. But he did, and soon, they were out in the moonlit woods again. The air was calm, but offered no comfort to the distressed former vampire with his pregnant fiancé in his arms. The others struggled to keep up with him, and when they reached the car, Spike almost threw them inside. He placed himself in the back with Buffy lying down, her head in his lap. Willow and Tara jumped into the far back of the car, Giles drove and Xander took the other front seat.

"Can't this thing go any faster, Watcher?" Spike asked as Buffy moved once more in pain.

Giles did not reply, but the three other Scoobies could feel the car fly just a little quicker down the road.

"I bloody need someone here," Spike yelled into the emergency room. "She's in labor, she needs help."

Nurses were already running towards him, and he got to put Buffy on a stretcher. Then they ushered him to the reception desk, where he got a ton of paper to fill out.

"I don't want to write sodden papers," Spike exclaimed, "I want to be with my friggin' fiancé, who just happens to be in labor. Watcher!"

Giles came over, and Spike handed him the papers. "Here, you know this stuff better than I do. I'm going to find Buffy." Spike was already on his way when he seemed to remember something. "Whel- Xander, will you go to the house and pick up Dawn? I'm guessing she wants to be here."

For once, Xander did not argue with the bleached one. Instead, he got the keys to the Summers' van and walked off. Willow and Tara sat down on the couches in the waiting room; both were exhausted.

First there had been something light. With that, the pain had stopped. Then she had heard voices – one in particular. Spike. He had been calling to her, and she had tried, so hard, to answer. But she was so tired, and her body would not do what she told it to anymore.

Then the hurt began again, though it was different this time. It was not two powers pulling one way each now; it was just a pain that seemed to split her down the middle nonetheless.

For some reason, her mind told her that it was 'good' pain though.

That something good would come out of it. She could not understand how anything good would come out of such pain, but she was ready to endure it if the results were good.

Spike, something inside told her suddenly. Spike is not with me anymore. Where is he? She could not feel him.

"Spike…" she mumbled. Quietly at first, but as she became more aware that he was not with her, the screams became louder.

Spike had no clue of where he was going, but at the same time it felt like he did. He knew the second he turned the right way that it was the right way, just like he knew the second he turned a wrong corner, that it was wrong. His gut and heart told him how to get to Buffy.

Then he heard her scream his name in reality, not only in his heart and mind. He sped up his steps, going on pure adrenaline by this time.

He stormed into the room where his Buffy was lying, and nothing any of the nurses told him could stop him.

"Really, you can't be here," a young female nurse told him.

That was the first time since he became human that Spike really wanted to get into game face; just to show the nurse that nothing stood between him and Buffy now.

A doctor walked over to him. "We are doing a c-section on her; she's too weak to go through labor," she told him.

Spike nodded, and returned his attention to Buffy, whose eyes fluttered open just then. "Spike?" she asked in a small voice that did not sound like hers.

"Yes it's me love, I'm here… Sh… We are going to have a baby soon. They are going to do a c-section on you though, because you don't have enough power to go through labor."

"No…" Buffy whispered. "I want… real… No c-section…"

"Buffy, it's for your own good."

"No," she said, her voice sounding only slightly stronger.

Spike called the doctor over, and she walked there. "We are ready to perform the c-section," she told the two.

"No…" Buffy mumbled again. "Real…"

Spike made a try at a smile for the doctor. "It seems the lady doesn't wish for a c-section. She wants the real thing. Is that possible, doctor?"

"Well, it is possible, though I'm not in any way recommending it. She's very weak already, and going through real childbirth won't be what she needs right now."

"I don't care…" the Slayer mumbled, then turned again as the pain from another contraction shot through her.

"All right, if that is what she really wants. I am going to give her pain medication though. I believe it won't be more than ten minutes until she is ready to give birth, by the way things are looking. She's moving through the steps very quickly."

"Well, what can I say? She's always been impatient," Spike said, and this time, he managed a smile.

"Come on, one more," the doctor and Spike cheered at the Slayer. Buffy screamed through the pain and pushed with more strength than she thought possible. She could not really feel the baby going through – everything around her was just pain, pain and pain. Though above, she could see Spike's smiling face, and that made her want to continue.

Then it felt like something just slipped out of her, and she heard the doctor:

"Congratulations! You have a baby girl!"

"She's so beautiful, pet… Just like you… You are both so beautiful," Spike said as he cut the cord between mother and child. The baby's screams echoed through the room, and to Spike, it was one of the most beautiful sounds ever.

The baby was put in a pink blanked after having been weighed and dried. Then a nurse put her on Buffy's chest so the baby could feed for the first time. Spike watched, so proud he could not put words to it.

"She's so beautiful…"

Seconds later, Buffy lost consciousness.

Spike walked into the waiting area and the whole group who had been waiting anxiously, stood up. Dawn walked over to Spike.

"Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" she asked, her eyes pleading.

He looked sad. "The baby is good, she's so beautiful…" he mumbled, almost to himself.

"Oh my god, she had a girl?!" Dawn threw herself on Spike. "That is so cool… Can we go see her now? Please?" She stopped in her tracks as she noticed Spike did not look happy. "Spike, what's wrong with Buffy?"

He lifted his eyes, meeting Dawn's. Tears were forming in hers. "She… She's unconscious," Spike said, almost as though he was trying to convince himself of the fact. "They call it a coma," he continued quietly. "She just… disappeared… from me."

"Oh god…" Dawn mumbled, tears now falling down her cheeks. "She-she's gonna be okay, right?" She led the broken man to the couch, and made him sit down. Then she sat down next to him.

"They don't know, Nib. She lost a lot of blood, and she was in so much pain… They don't know."

The rest of the gang were just standing there, neither had said a word since Spike came back. Willow was crying quietly with Tara holding her. Dawn looked over at Xander, and for the first time, he looked old to her. Tired. Giles was looking down on the floor; Dawn doubted he was crying. He had not when Buffy died a year earlier, though he now seemed not too far from it.

"I want to see her," Dawn said to Spike. "Can I see her?"

"I-I think so, Bit. Talk to the doctor."

"Come with me please," she begged. "She needs you in there. She'll come back if we want her to."

She turned to the rest of the group. "I don't mean to sound rude now," she told them, "But maybe you should go home. Sleep some. We'll call if something… changes here." The others, to her surprise, nodded, and one by one they left.

"Spike, let's go," Dawn said, making him get up. He looked at her, his eyes red, and followed.

It was warm.

Not the kind of heat that Sunnydale was hit with every summer, no, it was a nice warmth that just surrounded her. The gentle breeze she felt was like the feel of feathers on her skin, and she smiled to herself.

Buffy enjoyed the feel of the sun on her face, and how the grass tickled her feet. Far off, she could see the outline of mountains, white snowy mountains. She wondered for a second if she should walk there and play with the snow. It seemed like a nice idea, yet she sat down instead, right by the little river gently purling off between the hills.

She could feel a presence behind her, but did not turn around. She could tell it was not there to hurt her.

A small child sat down next to her. It was a girl, looking slightly younger than Dawn. She was wearing jeans and a white, light button-down shirt and her dark hair flew freely behind her.

"Why am I here?" Buffy asked. It seemed like something she should do.

"We need to tell you some things, Buffy," the girl told her. She looked up and caught Buffy's eyes. The girls eyes were clear blue, and looked inhuman. But for some reason, Buffy did not care.

"Where is she?" Buffy asked, a slight worry tugging on her mind as though it was something she should remember. She did not know who the 'she' she was referring to, but it felt important.

"No need to worry, Buffy. She is fine." The girl fell silent again, and the two women watched the dark blue water for a while. It could have been just seconds; it could have been years. Buffy could not tell.

"We took you here so that you could know why she was given to you, Buffy," the girl said. "To take her into the future, you need to know."

"My baby," Buffy breathed, finally remembering.

"Yes, your baby. But you know as well as we do that she is more than that, don't you?" Buffy nodded at the girl, and the girl continued.

"She was made out of evil turned good – the vampire turned human – and from the good influenced by darkness. That means you, Buffy, and Spike. The Slayer and her Vampire."

"What is she?" Buffy asked. She was no longer looking at the girl; she only followed the water's calming motions.

"That we can't tell you. We are only telling you why the things that have already happened did happen."

"So tell me."

Buffy's voice was not bored, neither was it interested. It just told the girl to go on, and she did.

"The night your baby was created, we had sent a special sort of demon to your world. Uriels are Angels of Love, and they are immortal. They in their turn sent Gearys, Change demons. Spike killed them, but he let their blood mix with his. Shortly thereafter, you found him.

"This is where the Uriels really went into work. They cast their spell on you to make love that night, because the time was for Her to be created. Also, to make the Vampire a Human again, your blood needed to mix with his."

"My blood during the act, the Gearys' blood from the fight and the Uriels' spell made me pregnant and Spike a human?" Buffy asked, this time a slight bit surprise in her voice. Then she said to herself, "And he told me it only took two to tango."

A thought hit her. "Is everything we've felt these last few months just a result of the Uriels' spell then?"

"No, no, definitely not. It only lasted that night, to make you have sex. The rest is completely real. We are sorry that we could not wait for you to figure out your love by yourself, Buffy, but the timing was crucial. We had to do it."

Buffy nodded slowly. "No wonder we couldn't find anything about this in the books, if you decided that the time was suddenly up. No one could have foretold that."

The girl sat silent for a second and then shook her head slowly. "There are many prophecies about your child. She is special. She is the Child of Light, and she will influence the world greatly."

"Why did the Dark Lord want her?" Buffy asked quietly. Even in this place of calm and quiet could she feel the fright of seeing the fog that had been the Dark Lord.

"The Child of Light would have been turned in his hands. He would have made her restore him, he would have made her his. Your are lucky your Wicca friends both have cool heads, Buffy."

Silence followed, as Buffy remembered Willow and Tara's great rescue spell. She smiled slightly at the thought.

"Why did it feel like two powers were ripping me apart though? He tried to induce labor, didn't he?" Buffy asked.

"Indeed he did. The powers you felt were fighting, where the powers of good versus evil. He cast an evil spell of dark magic, and such magic could not create life. It could not make you go into labor, yet it tried and tried. The Dark Lord would have eventually succeeded though, because you would have gone into real labor. Until then, good would have been stronger. Then he would have won."

"So Will and Tara saved my baby."

"Yes, they did."

Silence followed, as Buffy thought back on the events of the day.

"Who are you?" she asked finally. The question had not hit her until right that very second.

"Don't you know me? I guess you don't, and it is not too odd. We met a year ago, when you died, although it was only briefly. We were sending you back, because you were not supposed to die back then. You had not fulfilled your destiny."

"You are not answering me," Buffy said, still only watching the river.

The girl was silent, and watched the water flow with Buffy for a moment. Finally, she let out what sounded like a sigh, and said,

"I am the Powers That Be. I think you know that, Slayer."

Buffy's head shot up at the last word. Slayer. It reminded her of Spike; when they were enemies, he would never call her by name even if he knew it very well – to him it was always 'Slayer'.

"When can I go back?" Buffy asked, suddenly feeling like a part of her was missing. She turned around to face the girl, but she was gone. She turned back to the river, but suddenly, that had disappeared too.

A moment later, she was surrounded only by a white haze.

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