Chapter 11

 

 

Angelus was in a furious rage.

 

He’d known the Slayer was in Chicago, had known the minute he’d entered the city with the whelp he called his best friend and Angelus’ own sire Druscilla. He’d known as soon as he’d learned of the prophecies that the Slayer would be coming but he’d hoped to have Buffy firmly ensconced at his side once more by the time he’d arrived.

 

Unfortunately Buffy had proven to be more stubborn than he’d anticipated. Taunting him with her continued denials of who and what she was, taunting him with her body and with the humans that she was running around with. He’d watched her dancing with the black man that she kept close by her side, and fumed at her stubbornness.

 

He knew that she hadn’t taken the black man to her bed, he could smell him on her but he knew they were not lovers.

 

Although he could smell his newest childe on the man. Darla’s scent covered the human from head to toe and that also infuriated him.

 

To know that not only was Buffy denying him her presence at his side, but that she was helping Darla to evade him as well.

 

They were both his. Buffy was his childe, his mate, his love. The fact that she’d once chosen the Slayer over him angered him as he’d never thought possible. Buffy was his… not the lap dog of the Slayer. And he would be dust before he’d see the Slayer steal another of his females from him.

 

And then there was Darla. He’d given her everything.

 

Given her back her immortal life, her soulless existence and she’d fled from him as if he was nothing.

 

They would both have to be punished of course.

 

But he’d waited on the punishment, waited on dragging his missing females back as he waited for all the little pieces to fall into place.

 

He had allowed Buffy and Darla to think they were free from him, he’d had his guards watching them, ‘protecting’ them in his own way from those who would wish to do them harm before he could convince them to return home. But with this latest piece of information… the Slayer had been spotted going into Buffy’s little apartment but never leaving.

 

And now he was tired of waiting.

 

It was time for Buffy to take her rightful place by his side and Darla to assume her own position as childe within their clan.

 

But first…

 

“So you’re telling me he didn’t leave?! The Slayer stayed there and you did nothing?!” he snarled, hand around the minions throat he shoved him up against a wall.

 

“I…” the vampire wheezed. “I thought it best to tell you first.”

 

“You? You thought it best to leave my mate, my childe in an apartment, alone, with the Vampire Slayer? Your job is not to think but to follow my orders and what did I tell you to do? If the Slayer showed up at Buffy’s what were your instructions?”

 

“To kill him.”

 

“And is he dead?” Angelus asked with arched brow and a sneer crossing his handsome features. “Do you have the Slayer’s blood on your hands? Did you… idiot that you are take your first Slayer in battle?” he sniffed as if trying to scent traces of elusive Slayer blood. “Did you?”

 

“No… there was a barrier… we couldn’t get to them… to him…”

 

“A barrier? But no humans live within the apartment,” he shook his head slightly releasing the minion suddenly letting him fall to the ground as he turned away. “Never mind, gather the troops,” he ordered. “It’s time to bring our ladies home.”

 

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Darla’s eyes snapped open and a gasp escaped her lips as sharp pains ricocheted through her abdomen. Eyes wide she lay perfectly still as her features morphed between her human and vampire face.

 

Silently willing the pain to subside she managed a glare to the male sleeping next to her.

 

For a supposedly light sleeper Gunn continued slightly snoring beside her. Totally oblivious to the sounds of her very obvious pain.

 

Clenching her hands into fists she rode the crushing waves out then let out a barely audible, not needed sigh of relief. Then glared at the still sleeping male beside her.

 

Trust him to miss the beginning of something crucially important.

 

“Charles,” she murmured, one hand caressing the taut skin of her extended abdomen the other pushing at the man beside her.

 

She frowned as he snorted, one of his hands reaching out to pat her arm, not waking though.

 

“Gunn,” she muttered angrily, more force that time, louder as well, Buffy had probably heard her with that one.

 

But still that man at her side didn’t wake. Started snoring louder but didn’t wake.

 

“Oh for…” she started rolling to her other side to climb out of the bed. Stopping when Gunn’s cell phone rang, a soft tweeting ring and Gunn shot to his feet like a rocket. “You’ve got be kidding,” she stared at him.

 

“What?” he mumbled grabbing at the still ringing cell, glancing over at the frowning vampire he hit the receive button and held it to his ear. “Why are you up? You should be resting.”

 

“You heard the tweety bird phone ring but you couldn’t hear me growling at you,” Darla shook her head a baffled look on her face.

 

Perching on the edge of the bed she listened to the conversation that Gunn was holding with one of his ‘boys’ as she rubbed her belly, growing increasingly more scared as the gist of the conversation hit her.

 

Angelus had been spotted.

 

Closing her eyes, her shoulders hunched as sadness hit her. They had been so close… so very close to being free.

 

“How much time do we have?” she whispered as she felt the air around her shift as he kneeled before her. His fingers brushed away tears that escaped her closed eyes, then the hand cupped her cheek.

 

“’bout ten minutes or so… the boys say he has about thirty vamps with him.”

 

“Should have known it was too good to last,” she smiled wistfully down at him. “You should go tell Buffy.”

 

“Are you okay?” he studied her quietly, his brown eyes gazing up at her with devotion that she’d never thought to see in a human man’s eyes for her.

 

He cared about her, he would die to protect her… and not just because it was what he believed was his job, but because it was her.

 

“I’ll be okay,” she murmured forcing a smile to her pale face. As he pushed himself easily to his feet turning towards the door. “Charles…?”

 

“Yeah?” he turned back to her expectantly, brows arched as he paused in his action of opening the door.

 

“You might want to tell Buffy that I think I just went into labor.”

 

Gunn gaped at her, eyes widening even further in shock and the smile that crossed Darla’s face was unforced that time and went a long way to relieving the sadness that was permeating her entire being.

 

Angelus was coming.

 

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Buffy woke to find a warm male body wrapped tightly around her. Spooning her from behind, arms wrapped around her tightly as if he feared she would vanish while he slept, their heads sharing the same pillow.

 

Shifting slightly she twisted her head to look over at the Slayer asleep beside her. Sharing her pillow, sharing her bed.

 

Turning in the confines of his arms so she was facing him she traced a finger down his cheek, smiling slightly when his nose wrinkled at the touch.

 

She’d half thought that when she woke that he’d be gone… that was his usual MO after all. He’d come to her to forget, they’d shag like minx’s for a couple hours than he’d punch her in the face and stalk out calling her awful, horrible names the entire time.

 

He hadn’t done that this time though… this time he’d said the words she’d longed to hear from him since she’d fallen in love with him, he’d allowed her to bite him, to claim him as hers… but best of all he’d stayed. He hadn’t snuck out when she’d fallen asleep, he’d wound his body around hers, spooning her and gone to sleep.

 

She couldn’t remember ever having done that before. Falling asleep in the arms of the man she loved had been a fleeting dream that she’d been unable to touch and she hoped that this instance of it wouldn’t be a one time only thing.

 

Pressing a soft open mouth kiss to his chin she smirked as he leaned into it. Sometimes it seemed he craved her touch just as much as she craved his.

 

The sound of the door opening had her scurrying for covers and her sheepish eyes met an amused Gunn’s.

 

“No sex huh? I’d have to be shaggin’ Dru in order for him to be jealous? Hope you didn’t bet money on those babe.”

 

“Go ‘way Gunn,” she ordered in a whisper letting her head flop back down on the pillow that she and the Slayer were sharing.

 

“No can do… we got problems of the massive kind,” he shook his head. “Need you to get up and get ready.”

 

“’e’s ‘ere?” Buffy’s eyes widened as Gunn moved slowly into the room, grabbing her robe from the floor he tossed it to her averting his eyes as she tugged it on. Cinching it at the waist as she quickly moved from the bed. “’How long?” she asked quietly as she rummaged through her drawers, pulling out jeans, a t-shirt, shirt to go over, socks…

 

“Boys say that he’s still a couple blocks away, got a good sized group with him. We can’t fight him here.”

 

“Wouldn’t want to anyway, there are innocents in the buildin’… is anyone…?”

 

“Got one of the boys going door to door reiterating the ‘don’t invite anyone in’ rhetoric. People probably think he’s nuts but…”

 

“I’d rather ‘ave everyone alive then Angelus havin’ himself an all you can eat buffet at our expense,” Buffy snorted as she shimmied into her jeans on, turning her back she tossed the robe to the side pulling her t-shirt on over her head, then slipping a dark blue cotton shirt. Turning back to Gunn she grabbed her boots from where she had slipped them off earlier and motioned to the door.

 

“What about…?” he waved a hand to where William had rolled onto his stomach, still blissfully asleep… and unaware of the pending danger.

 

“Let ‘im sleep for now.”

“There is something else,” Gunn winced when Buffy glared at him.

 

“One emergency at a time Gunn.”

 

“Yeah well… they kind of go hand in hand at this point I think,” Gunn muttered avoiding Buffy’s eyes as she stared at him in disbelief.

 

“You can’t be serious,” she grumbled.

 

“Yep… she’s in labor…”

 

“Great… wonderful… any other surprises you want to send my way,” she scowled at the ceiling.

 

Leading Gunn from the room a steady growl that she couldn’t quite contain emanating from her chest she closed the door softly behind her, casting a glance at William’s still form.

 

As soon as the door closed William’s eyes snapped open and he sat up in the bed.

 

Angelus coming… someone in labor… and they were just going to let him sleep through it? He was the Slayer, fighting vampires was his birthright, his job.

 

Somehow he could see a long talk about sharing problems with each other within his and Buffy’s future. Because really, Buffy should know by now that he thrived on apocalypses and doom.

 

He did his best work then.

 

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William shrugged into his shirt as he slowly crept down the hallway, it had taken him mere seconds to get redressed, the door to Buffy’s room had been a problem. He hadn’t noticed that the door had squeaked when she’d closed it just minutes earlier, but when he’d went to open it to follow after them there it had been.

 

Loud and obnoxious he had froze, waiting for the inevitable moment that Buffy would pop her head out of wherever she had vanished to and spot him

 

But no one had come and he’d left the door open.

 

If he had been letting her stay in Chicago he would have offered Xander’s carpentry skills and had him fix it. But she wasn’t staying in Chicago so it was a moot point. Let the next tenants worry about it.

 

He was now following the sound of voices, he recognized Buffy’s, the male he had determined was Gunn’s and another females that was familiar but he couldn’t place.

 

“We can’t stay here,” Gunn was grumbling as he paced back and forth in front of the bed. “Even with the wards in place it won’t take long for your boy to knock ‘em down and pick us off one by one.” Stopping he stared down at the female that Buffy was blocking William’s view. “Shouldn’t you be breathing or something?”

 

“Gunn,” Buffy glared at him. “If you can’t be helpful maybe you should go see where Riley and Faith are.”

 

“What? I’m being helpful… I read that somewhere…” Gunn stated defensively. “Pregnant ladies in labor are supposed to breathe.”

 

“Well most of those pregnant ladies weren’t vampires either,” the female on the bed snapped sarcastically.

 

It was the sound of the sarcasm that triggered the recognition. He knew where he’d heard that voice before… although the last time had been many, many years ago, and under entirely different circumstances.

 

“Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?” Darla asked with a hint of a smirk.

 

“Bad hair on top of that outfit?”

 

“To love someone who used to love you,” Darla looked past him at Dru.

 

William glanced over at where Dru was standing silently beside him. “You guys were involved?” his tone belying the disbelief that he felt. Dru and this thing had been involved?

 

“For several generations.”

 

“Well you’ve been around since Columbus; you’re bound to pile up a few ex’s. You’re older than her right? Just between the two of us you are looking a little worn around the eyes,” William said sarcastically. Months of dealing with Cordy had built up a whole venue of insults to utilize against the opposite sex. Going for the looks was a guaranteed mark every time.

 

“I made her,” Darla smiled. “And there was a time when we shared everything, wasn’t there Druscilla? You had a chance to come home, to rule with me in the Master’s court for a thousand years, but you threw that away because of him. You love someone who hates us. You’re sick. And you’ll always be sick. And you’ll always remember what it was like to watch him die,” with a smile she cast a glance at William. “You don’t think I came alone, do you?”

 

“I know I didn’t,” William stated as he kicked the crossbow up into his hands, aiming directly for Darla’s heart.

 

“Hmm scary,” Darla grinned as she reached behind her back two pistols in hers hands. “Scarier!” she said as she pointed one at Dru and fired, Dru starring back into a post. “Oh don’t worry,” she said when she saw William glance over at the wounded vampire. “Bullets can’t kill vampires. Can hurt them like hell, but…” she giggled.

 

Eyes wide he moved directly into the door way. “Darla,” he breathed as he stared at the unmoving female.

 

“Slayer,” Buffy started toward him, her hand barely touching his arm before he shook it off.

 

“Is this what you had to take care of? The reason you can’t come back to Sunnydale is her?!” he asked angrily.

 

“It isn’t what it looks like,” Buffy said quietly.

 

“Well what’s it supposed to look like then?... Because to me it looks like you’re harboring the vampire that was brought back for the sole purpose of driving Dru mad!”

 

“Slayer, pet,” she murmured soothingly.

 

“Don’t… what the hell is she doing here?”

 

“She’s trying to have a baby man… if you two are going to throw down could you do it someplace that’s not here,” Gunn snapped.

 

“I’m protectin’ ‘er,” Buffy said softly. “’er and the baby… Whistler…”

 

“Whistler?! What the hell does Whistler have to do with this?!”

 

“’e… after I left Sunnydale, Whistler ‘e gave me a new purpose… Darla, she needed protectin’…”

 

“Buffy we don’t really have time for you to go through the whole story,” Gunn glared at the Slayer. “All you need to know is this, Darla has a soul…”

 

“A soul.”

 

“Yeah… the baby’s soul,” Darla took Gunn’s extended hand and let him pull her to her feet. “It kind of bled into me…”

 

“So you’re not evil anymore.”

 

“No.” “Yes.” Darla and Gunn both spoke at the same time glaring at each other as they did so.

 

“I can be evil with the soul,” she muttered.

 

“Not and be with me at the same time,” Gunn muttered right back.

 

“We are so talking about this later,” William stated as he followed the three from Darla’s room.

 

“That ways no good,” Faith said breathlessly as she and Riley burst through the door to the living room. Riley slamming it shut behind him as he staggered a few more steps and fell to his knees.

 

“What are you…?” Buffy started, the sound of screams, of footsteps from outside the door stopped her and her eyes widened as the door blew off its hinges.

 

A furious Angelus in gameface standing in its opening staring at Buffy and Darla.

 

“Oh my god,” Darla uttered her hands crossing protectively over her child even as Gunn placed his body in front of hers.

 

“Buffy, Darla,” Angelus grinned evilly. “Daddy’s home.”

 

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