What It Means To Be Alive, Part 2
By Hephaestus
Page 5 of 5
Disclaimer: Joss owns all. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Chapter 55
Dawn was sleeping, her head against the car door. They had decided to leave Saturday night instead of waiting for Sunday. Buffy had called Dawn's cell phone three times, and Dawn had refused to answer for fear of not being able to lie to her sister. Knowing that Buffy would not like the fact that she had no idea where her sister was, they had decided to leave at nightfall. They had actually left much later than that.
The clock on the dashboard read almost three in the morning. They had left about twenty minutes ago, after gambling the afternoon away and dancing throughout most of the night. He hoped to be in L.A. before sunrise so Dawn could go see her sister after getting a few hours of sleep. Hopefully, no one had noticed that they had both disappeared Friday night.
Sighing, he put his elbow on the door and leaned his head against his hand. He was married, his new wife was a few hundred years younger than him and was the slayer's little sister. A slayer he had slept with for months. Sighing again, he glanced at Dawn. She looked angelic when she slept. Her lips parted ever so slightly and her chest rose and fell slowly. Looking at her made him forget all the objections a rational part of his mind was screaming. Smiling to himself, he wondered how Angel's weekend had gone. The last he had heard on Friday afternoon, Angel feared for his life.
Knowing that calling the man this late would lead to impending doom via a pregnant slayer; Will kept his curiosity at bay. Hearing Dawn shift in her seat, he looked to his right and smiled.
"Did you have a nice nap?"
"How long was I out for?" Rubbing her eyes, she rearranged her dress around her knees, pulling one leg under her.
"About half an hour."
"Going out with you is taking its toll on me. You party like a rock star."
Frowning, he looked at her curiously. "I only went to that nightclub because I thought you wanted to go."
"I thought you wanted to go."
A few seconds of silence permeated the car before both occupants started laughing. Dawn was the first to get control of herself again. "That's funny. You party hard, though, Will."
"I know it. I used to do that every Friday and Saturday. Sometimes on Thursdays, depending on how Angel felt. We were drinking buddies, party buddies, for a long time."
"Until he got chained down."
"Until he found happiness. He never wanted to live like that. A person can only go that hard for so long until something happens. You know? I couldn't do this like I used to, you'd have to carry me out of the clubs."
Laughing, she said, "I highly doubt that. I don't doubt that I can't do this all the time. What do couples do? We can't get drunk every weekend; that would be bad and indicate the need for rehab. Going out to restaurants is fun, but that's going to get old. What do we do together?"
"We could go sailing. We could go camping. In a cabin, I don't do that tent crap. We could sit home and watch movies; I could attempt to cook for you. There are a lot of things to do together."
"I like the sailing idea. Let's do that."
"Now?"
Slapping him lightly on the arm, she gave him an annoyed look and settled herself back into her seat. "Don't be dense, maybe next weekend. I've never been sailing."
"Angel and I have a yacht. It's a small yacht. More like a boat with expensive floors and cabins, actually. Anyway, we use to get a lot of booze and load it up and go out to sea for a couple days. Made Wesley all kinds of nervous; he thought we were going to get drunk and fall overboard and drown. We didn't. It was fun to watch him squirm, though."
"You're mean."
"I never claimed to be nice."
Smiling sweetly in his direction, she reached for her purse and pulled out the gummy bears she had stashed there before they had left the hotel. Offering one to him, she shrugged at his look of horror. "They're good."
"No thanks." Making an appalled face in her direction, he waited for her to hit him to change his expression.
He wondered at the odd glee he felt when he tormented Dawn. It was strange, to feel joy when she smacked his arm or looked at him with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. Making funny faces at her seemed to be just the beginning of things he could do to illicit a reaction from her. Fighting the urge to rub his hands together and cackle, he wondered what else he could do to annoy her at that moment.
Reaching across the car with lighting like speed, he grabbed a gummy bear and started reforming it in between his fingers. Sticking the sticky glob against her arm, he fought not to giggle at her shriek of surprise.
"Ewe... Will, that's gross!" Pulling the sticky mess away from her arm, she glared in his direction.
Looking at the gummy bears, she smiled evilly before quickly shoving one into his ear.
"Hey! I'm driving here!" Picking the sugary glob out of his ear, he scowled at her before throwing the offending candy in her direction. "You're going to get us killed."
Giggling, she settled back in her seat and crossed her arms. This relationship was going to turn into something fun, she thought. She could feel it.
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Chapter 56
Moving quietly from the bed, she held her stomach as she walked to the bathroom. Breathing deeply, she tried to decide if she wanted to tell Angel about the false contraction she was having again. These, though, seemed to be coming much harder than the Braxton-Hicks she had experienced a few days ago. Regulating her breathing, she closed her eyes and tried to get her body to clam down.
Wincing, she doubled forward as her baby landed a very solid blow to her internal organs. Gasping for breath, another contraction radiated from her back to her abdomen. Taking deep breaths, she tried to walk to the door but was doubled over again as another angry kick landed on her bladder.
Sinking to her knees, she called for Angel. Half of her hoped he would come immediately and lift her into his arms and make everything okay. The other half of her hoped he wouldn't wake up and this was all a bad dream.
Looking up, she saw his stricken face as he opened the bathroom door. "Buffy? What's wrong?" The concern verging on panic was evident on his features.
"I don't know." Grabbing at her stomach, she realized with absolute certainty that there was something wrong with her baby.
Leaning closer to her, he scooped her up in his arms and was off down the hallway and stairs before she could say anything else. Placing her in the backseat of the SUV, he took a deep breath before running at his top speed back into the house in grab his shoes, a shirt, keys and cell phone. He was behind the wheel and pulling out of the driveway in seconds, speeding to the nearest hospital.
He slipped a shirt and shoes on at the first red light and blew threw the others. Tuning his senses to high alert, he listened for any and all oncoming traffic as he sped threw over a dozen red lights. It was nearing four in the morning, and his tired brain had immediately converted panic into adrenaline.
He didn't bother going to the Wolfram and Hart medical facility, where Buffy had been treated and where the birth was scheduled to take place in three weeks. Driving faster than most ambulances dared, he got them to the nearest hospital in half the time it would have taken at normal speeds. Thanking whatever powers that would listen for the lack of police intervention during his high speed experience, he tried to remain as calm as possible for Buffy's sake.
Buffy tried to keep her pain quiet. She knew Angel was on the verge of panic and that he was driving like a mad man. Wincing, she ground her teeth as her baby started doing summersaults within her. Whatever was happening, her baby was not happy about it. The pain of the contractions was minimal compared to the beating her organs were taking.
Whispering to her baby, she tried to explain that they were moving as fast as they could. She told her baby everything would be alright, that she understood and was going to fix whatever was wrong. The same bond that existed between her and Angel had grown between her and her baby, and Buffy could feel that her baby was in distress.
Angel listened with half an ear as Buffy talked to her stomach. His senses for focused on getting her someplace that could help her. Breathing hard, he pulled into the emergency area and was out of car, gathering Buffy into his arms, before the car had come to a complete stop.
Two nurses rushed to him as soon they were in the doorway. Putting her in a wheelchair, he followed closely behind as someone in pink scrubs tried to ask him questions. Knowing he wasn't answering very well, he instead tried to concentrate on Buffy. Keeping his questions for the nurse to a minimum, he waited until Buffy was on a bed and being hooked up to an alarming amount of wires to voice concerns to the medical staff.
Sensors were strapped to her belly as a nurse started reading something they told Angel had to do with the baby's heart rate. Holding her hand, he whispered comforting words into Buffy's ear and stroked her hair with his free hand.
A nurse got his attention, "The baby's having decelerations."
"What does that mean?"
"The baby's in distress, we need to get her upstairs to the OB/GYN floor now."
Stepping away, he walked in a blur of senses as they got her into the elevator and rode to the third floor. Taking deep breaths, he walked as calmly as possible behind the gurney holding his lover and unborn child. Buffy was obviously in pain. Lifting her in his arms, he set her on the bed in the room they had been led into.
Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him close so that only he could hear what she was saying. "They won't understand, Angel. The baby needs to come out now. How do I..." she paused as she tried to breath through a contraction. "How do I tell them that the baby's kicking me to death?"
Taking her hand reassuringly, he turned to the nurse. "What are you going to do?"
"We paged the doctor; he knows it's an emergency. I need you to answer some questions for me until he gets here."
He gave her a litany of information, including the due date, the name of Buffy's regular doctor, and the last time she had seen him. In the middle of an explanation, the nurse turned to the beeping monitor that was connected to a sensor on Buffy's belly. Leaving Angel, she immediately went to the monitor to read the information printing out.
The nurse asked her, "Are you having a contraction?"
At Buffy's nod yes, the nurse went to the room door and yelled for another nurse. Watching these proceedings, Angel's heart rate started to increase. Holding Buffy's hand tightly, he watched a doctor walk briskly into the room and look at the readout. It was about twenty seconds later that Buffy was wheeled towards the surgery.
Feeling as if he was about to faint, Angel wrote down a number for a nurse to call and then followed another person in scrubs into an area meant for expectant fathers. Agreeing that he wanted to be in the room while the cesarean was preformed, Angel was quickly helped into a gown, mask, gloves and hat and told not to touch anything. Going to Buffy, he held her head in his hands as he tried not to look over the blue sheet separating her chest from the rest of her body as it was quickly becoming covered with come kind of orange antibacterial agent.
"You'll be okay, Buffy. We'll be okay."
"It's all too fast, Angel."
"Don't worry, the baby will be fine."
Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the cold solution being rubbed over her stomach and the IV fluid going into her arm. Biting back a scream, she let tears run freely down the sides of her face. Listening to Angels' words of comfort, she tried to ignore the fact that the anesthesia hadn't fully set it yet.
Gasping, she felt the surgeon start to cut into her stomach. Using every technique she had ever learned to manage pain, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Tuning out the sounds of Angel above her, the doctors talking around her and the steel clanging against sterile trays, she focusing only on her baby.
It wasn't until she heard the doctor exclaim that the baby was out that she opened her eyes. The blue sheet in front of her prevented her from seeing her baby, which almost sent her into a panic. Looking to Angel, she saw the alarm written clearly on his features. Fighting to keep from screaming, she tried to listen for sounds that her baby was alright.
There was no crying. Realizing with a sickening sense of dread that her baby wasn't crying, she started screaming to Angel to tell her what was going on. The last thing she heard before her sobbing filled the room was something about a cord being wrapped around his neck.
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Chapter 57
Wesley reached for the phone on the night table as Fred turned and gave the device a deadly look. Leaning on his elbow, he looked at the clock and raised an eyebrow; it was nearly four thirty in the morning. Lifting the receiver, his face dropped as he listened to the nurse on the other end of the line. Hanging up the phone, he leapt out of bed and grabbed at his pants. Fred sat bolt upright, a horrified look on her face.
He said, by way of explanation, "Buffy's had the baby. Or is having the baby. The nurse didn't give me much information, but something went wrong. Buffy was taken to surgery to have an emergency C-section."
Jumping out of bed, Fred grabbed the closest pair of jeans that were lying on top of the hamper and pulled on a t-shirt. Picking up the phone, she started dialing the number she knew by heart as Wesley prepared Allison to leave. By the sounds of it, the baby was not happy at being woken hours before she was due to get up.
Gunn answered on the third ring. Explaining the situation to him, she gave him the name of the hospital and told him to call Will. Throwing the receiver into its cradle, she grabbed a light jacket and took hold of Allison as Wesley found his keys and the small family hurried out the door. After situating Allison in her car seat, Fred rubbed her tired eyes and shut the passenger side door just as Wesley started to pull from the curb.
"What did the nurse say?"
"That Buffy and Angel came in a little while ago and the baby was in distress. Angel gave her our number to call; he followed Buffy into surgery."
"That's it? She didn't say anything else? What kind of distress?"
"I don't know Fred. I don't think she's allowed to give that kind of information over the phone."
Rubbing her face again, Fred tried to smooth her rumpled hair. Taking deep breaths, she fished her cell phone from her purse and dialed Dawn's number. Waiting impatiently for the young woman to pick up, Fred tried to relax and tell herself that Buffy and the baby would be fine. Dawn answered on the second ring.
"Dawn? Where are you?"
"I'm on the highway."
Not bothering to hide her exasperation, Fred said, "The highway? What highway? What are you doing?"
"I was on a trip over the weekend. What's wrong?"
Sighing, Fred tried to relay the message as calmly as possible. "Buffy's in the hospital. There's something going on with the baby, she's having an emergency C-section."
The absolute silence on the other end of phone forced Fred to ask Dawn if she was still there.
"Yeah, I'm here. I can't be there for another hour and a half, maybe two. I'll get there as fast as I can. Tell Buffy I'm on my way."
Hanging up the phone, Dawn looked to her partner just as his cell phone started to ring. Will listened to Gunn for about two seconds before giving a curt reply and hanging up. Pressing the accelerator to the floor, Will gripped the steering wheel so tightly Dawn thought it might break.
"Will she be okay?" Knowing that Will didn't have the answer to that question, and knowing that he would try to reassure her, she asked it anyway.
"I really don't know. I hope so. Buffy's strong. She's been shot, stabbed, and beaten to death. I think she can do this."
"Can the baby do it?"
Pausing, Will pressed the accelerator even closer to the floor. "A kid that was made by those two? I'll be surprised if he isn't lifting cars over his head to throw at demons by age three."
Swallowing the fear in her throat and wishing they had left earlier, she tried to ignore the disconnection between what Will was saying and what his face and hands were doing. Knowing that he was just as nervous as she was, she grabbed the door handle a little tighter and prayed they wouldn't get pulled over.
Closing her eyes, she snapped them open and fished for her cell phone when she realized that everyone had probably forgotten to call Xander or Willow or Giles. Xander didn't answer, which was odd. Leaving him an urgent message to call her back, she disconnected before dialing Willow's number.
A perky Willow answered her phone. "Hey Dawnie."
"Willow... Buffy's having the baby."
Willow took a deep breath on the other end of the line. She could tell from Dawn's tone of voice that the situation wasn't going well. "It's not good is it?"
"She's having emergency surgery. I don't know anything else and I'm about two hours away. What do I do?" The pleading quality of her voice was almost overwhelmed by the desperation.
"Calm down, Dawn. Don't get in an accident. There's nothing you can do if she's in surgery. Let me call Giles. I'll be on the next plane out, okay? I'll try to be there tomorrow. Please keep me posted? Call if something goes wrong?"
"It's going wrong. Buffy's in trouble, Willow."
Trying to stay calm, Willow fingered the edge of her sleeve, and tried to sound calmer than she felt. "I'll call Giles and get people to cover here and I'll teleport in, okay? I'll probably get there before you. I'll call you when I'm there."
"Do you need to know where she is?"
"I could find her anywhere in the universe, Dawn. I'll be there soon."
Hanging up, Willow put her head in her hands and tried to tap in to Buffy. The static was too high, there was something terribly wrong. Picking up the phone, she waited an impossibly long time as the long distance was connected to Giles' personal line.
He answered just before the answering machine picked up. "Yes? Yes? Giles here."
"Giles, its Willow. Dawn just called me. Buffy's in the hospital, something went wrong with the baby."
The alarm was evident in his voice when he spoke. "Is she alright? What happened?"
"I don't know. She's having emergency surgery. Whatever happened, it's not good. I can't connect with her."
"I'm calling my travel agent. I'll be on a plane in a few hours."
"I'm going to get Cerise to cover things on my end and I'm leaving. I'm not taking a plane."
"I'll get there as soon as I can."
Willow sat for a moment before standing and collecting her senses. Writing a note for Cerise, she explained the situation and asked her to cover all administrative emergencies until she returned. Closing her eyes, Willow concentrated with all her might, bending reality around her. The air was sucked from her lungs for a moment before she opened her eyes again.
She allowed herself a moment to adjust to the darkness before looking around the parking lot and getting her bearings. Swallowing hard, she entered the hospital and used her senses to try and judge where Buffy was. Following her instincts, she took the elevator to the third floor and walked down a hallway until she saw Fred and Wesley sitting in a waiting area.
Breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn't the only one there, Willow sat down next to Fred, giving the other woman a supportive hug as she did so. Leaning over to squeeze Wesley's arm, Willow gave a supportive smile. After greeting each other, they looked up to see Gunn coming down the hallway. He didn't sit. Pacing anxiously, he looked to them, asking if anyone knew anything.
"We haven't heard anything, but we've only been here a few minutes."
Gunn nodded. "Where's Dawn? And Will?"
Fred answered, "We called them. They're on their way."
Willow looked up, "Did anyone call Faith? Or Xander?"
Shaking their heads, Wesley reached into his pocket and found his cell phone. A grumpy Faith answered with a few choice expletives. Giving her the address, he gave her a brief explanation and hung up. Leaving a message for Xander to call him, Wesley shoved the phone back into his pocket. The group waited with baited breath until a man in scrubs approached them.
Explaining he was a nurse, and still had no word on the baby or the mother, he led them to a different waiting area. This area was more cornered off from the hall, it was more private. Fred recognized that the privacy was due to the fact that grieving families were lead here. Babies or mothers with poor prognoses usually could expect their families to be in waiting areas like this. Wesley had been in such areas, waiting for Fred, many times before.
Trying to believe that this was not a bad sign, Fred sat gingerly, holding her sleeping daughter. Suddenly regretting bring Allison, she wondered how Buffy would react to seeing the infant if she had lost her baby. Hoping with all her might that Buffy and the baby were both healthy, she rocked her own daughter against her breast and remembered the pain of loosing her unborn children. She would wish that pain on no one.
They seemed to sit for hours, when in reality they had been there only half an hour or so. Finally, a bedraggled Angel, wearing track pants, running shoes and a t-shirt appeared from the hallway. Everyone immediately stood to great him with multiple questions and exclamations.
Sitting heavily, his shoulders slumped and arms lung limply at his sides. "They resuscitated the baby. The cord was around his neck. Buffy lost a lot of blood, but she'll be okay. They're moving her to recovery now. Brady's in the NICU."
"Brady? It's a boy?" Fred let the relief play freely across her features.
Putting his head in his hands, Angel leaned forward. The doctors had told him there was no guarantee. They had given Buffy and Brady good prognoses, but they had emphasized that there was no guarantee. Angel started praying for one.
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Chapter 58
Taking a deep breath, Buffy opened her eyes to a soft white room. The curtains were drawn against the rising sun and the only sounds in the room were of a beeping IV pump and Angel's steady breathing. Brushing the hair from her face, Buffy watched her lover breathing steadily, his chest rising and falling. Sitting up, she winced at the pain in her stomach.
He shifted at the sound of movement. Opening his eyes, he moved to her side with incredible speed, taking her hands in his. "Hey."
"Hey." Bracing her stomach, she lay back down gingerly. "Is he okay?"
Nodding, Angel squeezed her hands tighter. "He's okay. He's in the NICU now; the nurses said they've never seen a baby recover so quickly."
Smiling, she almost laughed. "He kept trying to tell me something was wrong. I knew it, Angel. I knew he was in trouble. He kicked me really hard."
"The doctors said you have internal bruising. They couldn't explain it."
"I can. He's going to be a soccer star or a kicker for a football team or something. He's got some legs on him."
Smiling, Angel almost cried with relief that she was awake and smiling. Her hair was out of control and her skin was pale, but she had never looked more beautiful than in that moment, he thought. Brushing her hair down with his hand, he leaned forward and kissed her lightly.
"They said we can go see him soon. They want to make sure you're okay first."
Releasing a slow breath, she smiled at him. "They have no idea who they're dealing with. I'll be doing high kicks by tomorrow."
"I doubt that. You need to take it easy for a little while. Just a little while, though. You're already healing fast. They thought they'd have to give you another unit of blood, but you only needed one. You and Brady are amazing all the staff."
A short laugh escaped her lips. Closing her eyes, she wished she could hold her baby. "He is okay, right?"
Nodding again, Angel vowed to reassure her as often as she needed it. "He didn't need a ventilator or anything. They said he's really close to full term; he won't need to stay here long. They just want to make sure there isn't any swelling around his neck or anything. I think we can all go home tomorrow or the day after."
"It better be tomorrow. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." Opening her eyes, she brushed her hand across his cheek. "How was that as an end to our day?"
Smirking, he turned his face to kiss the inside of her hand. "I could do with a little less excitement."
They sat in silence for a few moments until Angel spoke again. "Everyone's here. They're out in the hall. The nurses don't want many people to see you at the same time, but they said if your vital signs are good in a little while you can have as many visitors as you want. Should I send someone in?"
"I want to see my baby, Angel. Can't I have my baby?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat, he shook his head sadly. "He has to stay in the intensive care unit for a little longer. He's really strong, Buffy. His vital signs are great, he's beautiful. You'll see him soon."
Sighing heavily, she nodded and closed her eyes in exhaustion. Angel watched her sleep for a few moments before he rose and went out into the hallway. Again, everyone stood as he approached. Giving them a half smile, he looked at his oldest son, who had arrived shortly after Angel had come out of the surgery unit.
"How is she?"
"She's okay. Sore, tired, impatient to go home, but okay."
Sitting tiredly, he felt his muscles start to relax from fatigue.
"I brought clothes for you guys. I didn't think it was an emergency, I just thought she went into labor. I heard you leave last night and figured you wouldn't take anything." Handing his father a small suitcase, Angel accepted it with tired gratitude.
Sitting next to her friend, Willow put her arm around Angel and squeezed his shoulders. "Congratulations, Angel."
A small, tired, smile graced his lips. "Thanks Willow." Breathing out slowly, he shook his head. "That was nerve racking."
Gunn let out a brief, surprised laughter. "Nerve racking? Man, I would be a puddle on the floor. I'm amazed you're still conscious."
Faith nodded, "Yeah, man. You're holding up really well under all this stress."
Taking a deep breath, he excused himself and went to the nurses' station. After receiving a temporary swipe card, he let himself into the neo-natal intensive care unit. He could feel where his baby was without having to ask anyone. Sitting in a chair that was next to the enclosed plastic crib, he smiled down at his sleeping son. Brady was beautiful. A shock of dark hair covered his head, but Angel thought he would have his mothers' eyes and nose.
Putting his hand on the crib, he looked through it. Brady was monitored by few wires. There were wires monitoring his heart and a clip on his toes monitoring oxygen, but little else seemed to be on his baby. Thankful that Brady needed minimum intervention; he wished with all his being that he could hold his son in that moment. He felt the presence of a nurse behind him before she spoke.
"I think he can go to his mother today. When day shift comes on, they'll talk to the doctor. I'd guess, if everything keeps going this way, that he'll be with you and your wife by ten or eleven in the morning."
Thanking the nurse, Angel continued to stare at the being he had helped create. His heart swelled, he thought his chest would burst with pride and happiness. Taking a deep breath, he rose and returned to Buffy. She would not be happy about waiting do long to hold her son.
It was near noon when Brady was carried into a room of waiting people. Sitting up excitedly, Buffy smiled from ear to ear as the baby was placed in her arms. Cooing to her new son, she felt tears of joy running down her face. Angel gently brushed them away as he smiled down at his new son. Brady did not mind being the center of attention; he didn't cry at all.
Willow and Dawn were sitting on the bed, their sounds of cooing and awing made everyone in the room smile. Sitting on the non-occupied side of the bed, Angel put his arm around Buffy's shoulders and pulled her close. Kissing the side of her head, he took his sons' tiny hand in his own and felt the short and fast pulse within the tiny appendage.
Breathing easier than she had in days, Buffy held her baby close and kissed his forehead multiple times. "You are so beautiful, little guy." Nuzzling her cheek against his, she listened to pleasant yawns escaping her baby's mouth. She held her breath when his tiny eyes opened for a moment. He looked at her for a short time before closing his eyes again and falling asleep. Laughing, Buffy rocked him close and looked adoringly at Angel. He returned the expression.
"He's so perfect, Buffy." Dawn brushed her forefinger along Brady's cheek.
Coming closer, Fred leaned over the loving family and smiled at baby Brady. "You already have a play date, mister!" Gently shaking his little hand, Fred hugged Buffy and congratulated her.
Sitting back in his chair, Will watched Dawn with Brady and tried to deny his own longing. Clearing his throat, he looked at Angel and smiled. "You couldn't do this easy, could you? No, you had to make it a production."
Giving his friend a wry smile, Angel responded, "It turned out perfectly. It doesn't matter how it happened, it happened, and it worked out."
Sighing, Gunn leaned forward, a grin dominating his features. "That is one good looking kid. Good job Buffy."
Angel frowned. "What is this? Pick on Angel day?"
Laughing, Buffy kissed Angel's cheek. "Can we go home yet?"
"Tomorrow. They have to do... stuff. Something about your uterus I just didn't want to hear."
Nudging him playfully with her elbow, Buffy looked at Connor and beckoned the young man over. "Want to hold your little brother?"
Balking at first, Connor soon smiled and nodded. Taking the wrapped infant in his arms, he carefully supported Brady's head as he walked around the bed. "This is so cool." Rocking the neonate back and forth, he played with the baby's hair for a few seconds. "He has a lot of hair."
Standing, Dawn stood next to the baby and gently took him from Connor's grasp. Laughing softly down at the infant, she realized she had never held a baby before. Kissing his forehead, she looked at Faith and started walking towards the woman.
"No! No! I can't hold babies. And they might be contagious."
Laughing at her obvious nerves, Dawn set Brady into the woman's reluctant grasp. Swallowing hard, Faith looked at the sleeping infant and started to relax a little. It wasn't difficult, she told herself. When he hiccupped, she jumped three feet high. Laughing nervously, she quickly put the infant back in his mother's arms.
"Good job, B." Patting her former rivals' shoulders, she was glad that she was no longer the infant, doing so made her nervous.
The group slowly filed out of the room as Buffy indicated that it was time to feed Brady. Kissing her sister on the forehead, Dawn whispered her congratulations before leaving the room. Left alone, Buffy looked to Angel with a nervous expression.
"What if he doesn't eat? They said to feed him now."
Smiling, he moved closer to her. "He'll eat. Just... do what you do."
Staring dumbly at him, she waited for further instruction. Clearing his throat, he looked at her with a slightly concerned expression. "Didn't those baby books talk about breast feeding? I thought you read about that stuff."
"Well, I did. I thought I wanted to do that. Do I want to do that? I don't even know how."
"Umm... I might not be the best person to ask. Do you want me to go get a nurse?"
Thinking for a moment, she shook her head. "No, I can do it." Determined to fulfill her first motherly role, she started positioning herself. Pulling her hospital gown down, she took a deep breath as she tried to position Brady properly. After a few failed attempts, he latched on and started to suckle.
Kissing her head, Angel watched what he considered a miracle. It was beautiful, what her body was capable of and the instincts Brady seemed to have. Angel was in awe at the sight before him.
"That's a weird sensation." She laughed nervously but soon relaxed as she felt her body take over. It was an odd and comforting sensation all at once. Her muscles relaxed and her brain quieted as Brady fed.
Laughing, Angel put his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes for a few seconds. This was what happiness felt like, he thought. This was sheer relief and utter joy. Smiling into her shoulder, he let the excitement of what the next few days would bring fully occur to him. He couldn't wait to be a dad again.
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Epilogue
They sat a respectful distance away from each other on the patio of Angel and Buffy's home. If anyone would have questioned their arriving together, Dawn was sure one of them would have created a convincing lie. As it was, though, everyone was too preoccupied with Buffy and Brady to focus on anyone else. Dawn had vowed to herself and made Will agree, that they were not going to tell anyone of their elopement. This was Buffy's day and Dawn was not going to overshadow it in any way.
Faith eyed Gunn every once and a while they sat waiting, he returned the secretive looks. The heat wave had finally ended and the weather was pleasantly warm instead of oppressive. The entire family, including those who were currently living overseas, had come back to their old stomping grounds to great the new family member as he came home from the hospital. The only people missing were Cordelia and Xander.
Xander had called Wesley in the afternoon with the explanation his phone was off during his flight to Chicago. After being reassured that everyone was happy and healthy, Xander had decided to continue with his self-appointed mission. He had promised to return to Las Angeles with baby gifts.
Buffy hadn't had a baby shower. It seemed to Dawn that everyone had simply forgotten the pregnant slayer during difficult times. After the death of Connor's family, everyone had been consumed with finding and apprehending the culprits. Since that crisis was over, or nearly so Dawn thought, she had felt compelled to organize a baby shower for the day Buffy and Brady came home.
Connor had given everyone access to the house; Angel had stayed in the hospital with Buffy all day and night since taking her there. The patio tables had been repositioned and Will had rented a long table from someone or somewhere. Presents were positioned and food had been ordered, the only thing missing were the parents and baby.
Connor sat, trying to look relaxed. In fact, though, he was excited to have Brady come home. He had started to consider the baby his brother almost immediately after he had moved in with Angel and Buffy; he was elated at the prospect of finally being able to hold and play with his new sibling. Shifting in his seat, he surveyed the grounds.
Fred had called a catering company and within twenty four hours the food had been delivered. It was prettily assorted over the table, a bucket of ice and sodas were sitting on the ground beside the buffet. Willow had created, with the help of paint and Dawn, a welcome home banner that hung across the living room. Wesley and Gunn had worked all morning to create a space by the pool that was shady and relaxing. There was no need for the new mother and child to have to sit in the sun, they thought. A temporary awning had been added to the house, but Wesley rather thought Angel would keep it.
An exhausted looking Giles had arrived after a twelve hour flight at six in the evening on Sunday. He had joked that he left at 3:10 in the afternoon and arrived at 6:15 in the evening even though the flight felt a little longer than three hours. Buffy had been feeding Brady and Giles had been jet lagged, so he had opted to surprise her during the Monday afternoon shower.
Rearranging the gifts for the tenth time, Fred twisted and pivoted the gifts to her satisfaction, making sure the brightly colored packaging was catching a little light. There had been a mad rush to baby stores in the morning; Wesley had driven Fred, Dawn, Willow and Giles to a very trendy baby boutique down town. Giles had acted like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Knowing that the normally frugal Giles hadn't used his credit card for years, Willow had been astonished at the amount of items he had insisted on buying for the baby.
Will and Gunn had opted for a manlier, by their estimations, destination. Faith had followed them, citing hives as the reason she couldn't go to the baby boutique; she was convinced her throat would close up if she so much as looked at options for bassinet liners. The trio had gone to a department store that not only had gifts for babies, but had gifts for the parents. Faith had opted for a bag of gag gifts and hoped Angel wouldn't have a heart attack when he opened them.
When the front door opened, everyone stood; the excitement was palpable. Trying not to scream too loud, for the baby's sake, the assembled group welcomed the new parents back home. A surprised Buffy looked at the assemblage with a dropped jaw. Her surprise quickly transformed into joy as she approached everyone with her infant in her arms. Handing Brady to Angel, Buffy hugged everyone, Giles for an especially long time, as she steered towards a seat and given a plate of food.
"You guys didn't have to do this!"
"The hell we didn't." Smiling ear to ear, Will stood next to Angel as the proud father rocked his son.
"Presents!" Smiling ear to ear, Fred started handing the bright boxes to Buffy, obviously excited for her to open them.
The small party continued into the evening. Dawn helped change her first dirty diaper and Buffy opened gifts consisting of blankets, toys, rattles, mobiles, and gift baskets. Faith's gifts were of a more sexual nature and caused Buffy to laugh and Angel to blush. Angel had already bought a circular crib and a changing table for the nursery, but he hadn't had a chance to buy much else; the supplies for Brady were welcomed.
Buffy left for a little while, Willow in tow, to feed Brady. The red haired witch nearly cried at the sight of the natural beauty of mother and baby together. When they returned, Dawn was being thrown into the pool and Fred had started to gather dirty dishes and discarded wrapping paper from the tables and ground.
By the end of the evening, after everyone had left, Angel had found a few moments to hang the mobile and put his favorite of the baby blankets in the crib. Not bothering to turn on the baby monitor, he instead put the bassinet Giles had given them next to Buffy's side of the bed. He thought she would like that best for the first few nights, at least.
Lying with the love of his life in his arms, he gently fingered the area around her rapidly healing stomach wound. She had been ordered to lift nothing over ten pounds for a week and to avoid exercise for four weeks. He doubted she was going to follow any of those instructions; he knew she would heal much faster than the doctors imagined. Sighing contentedly, he looked over Buffy's shoulder to watch his sleeping son.
Life was beautiful, he said aloud. Buffy had to agree. Kissing her Angel, she smiled and whispered a reminder about their coming wedding in his ear. Smiling back, he assured her he hadn't forgotten and planted kisses down her neck. Asleep in each other's arms, they both dreamed of the future.
The End
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