Unable to site still, Spike paced, walking from one end of the waiting room to the other, stepping over outstretched legs, purses and two baby carriers. Everyone else in the waiting room ignored him. He'd been pacing for over two hours and it had quickly lost its charm.
Even Angel no longer taunted him, too engrossed in watching Buffy discreetly breast-feed her son.
Finally, as Spike nearly tripped over Mr. Rosenburg's briefcase for the twentieth time, Mrs. Rosenburg had had enough. "William, please stop that pacing. You're giving me a headache."
Spike stopped and stared at his mother-in-law as if she'd grown a second head. "I need a fag," he muttered, then resumed his pacing.
"You could always go in there," Angel said with a grin.
"Yeah, why aren't you in there?" Xander asked, scowling slightly, his foot carefully rocking one of the baby carriers--this one carrying a tiny baby girl.
"You KNOW why he isn't in there, Xander," Buffy said, giving him a warning look. Refastening her blouse, she cooed at her six month old son and bounced him gently to burp him.
"My Spike is old fashioned," Drusilla added dreamily from her seat next to Angel. Sitting on the other side, Buffy managed to shoot the vampiress a nasty look which she ignored. "It's coming."
Spike stopped and ran over to her. "What's coming?"
Drusilla just smiled up at him, humming a lilting tune. Spike growled in frustration, then spun around as two people hurried into the room.
"Are we too late," Jenny asked. "We were in Monterey and drove faster than I thought Rupert's piece of shit could go."
Giles leaned against the door jamb, panting, obviously having run from the parking lot. "Did we miss it?"
Buffy smiled up at her watcher. "No, you're in time."
Jenny sat down next to the slayer, smiling at the dozing baby. "Willow told us to go. Told us it wasn't going to happen this weekend."
"Yeah, well, these things aren't precise."
Giles sat down next to Ira Rosenburg and chatted amicably with him, avoiding Sheila Rosenburg's penetrating looks. She had never understood why her daughter liked this stuffy Englishman.
Suddenly Spike stiffened and turned even paler, if that was at all possible. Eyes wide in terror, he bolted for the door.
"What?" Angel barked, jumping to his feet and cutting off his childe.
"She's in pain," Spike hissed. "Crying for me."
"You can't go in there," Angel replied, his voice tight and soft.
"Try and stop me."
Handing her son to Jenny, Buffy sighed and rose to block the doorway. "She doesn't want you there, Spike."
"I can behave," he snapped.
"It doesn't matter," Drusilla sang from behind him. "It's all over."
Spike spun around and grabbed Drusilla, yanking her out of her seat, yelling, "What do you mean it's over?" Her only response was a happy smile.
"Mr. Blodsworth?"
At the new voice, Spike dropped Drusilla and spun the other direction. A nurse in scrubs stood in the door smiling. "Your wife's asking for you. Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl."
Cheers erupted from the gathered crowd of friends and family. Cordelia slipped into the room, tired but radiant after coaching Willow for nearly eight hours of labor. She scowled as her daughter began to cry from the noise, but her scowl turned to a soft smile as Xander picked up the baby, comforting her expertly.
Spike couldn't move. After over two hours of pacing, he no longer knew how to make his legs work. He gaped up at his sire, who gave him a wide smirk. "Now you're a daddy. Who would have ever thought it." Angel punched him in the shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet.
Glaring at her lover, Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Spike.
"A girl," Spike whispered.
Rising to her feet, Drusilla took his arm and led him out of the waiting room. The delivery room was just across the hall, but it seemed miles away to the shaking vampire. With a gentle smile, Drusilla pushed him into the room and closed the door behind him.
A couple nurses were bustling around the room, but Spike's eyes were riveted on the pale figure laying on the bed, her eyes closed, her hair sweat-dampened and matted to her head. He could see the circles under her eyes, could hear her still pounding heart, smell her blood.
Needing to touch her, to know that she was all right, he stumbled to the bed and sank down into a chair.
Willow's eyes fluttered open and a radiant smile formed on her face. "Have you seen her?" she asked, her voice hoarse from yelling.
He shook his head, his mind empty of anything rational to say. Reaching for her hand, he gripped it tightly.
She knew just what to say to reassure him. "Spike...I'm okay and I love you."
He opened his mouth, then blurted the first thing that he could think of. "You're so beautiful."
"I look like death, sweetheart." She grinned tiredly at him, her fingers caressing his palm.
One of the nurses came over to the bed carrying a tiny pink bundle. "Here you are, baby Blodsworth." She lay the bundle in the crook of Willow's arm.
Spike's attention slid away from his wife's face and onto the bundle. "It's all wrinkly and red."
"She's only fifteen minutes old. Give her time. Here, hold her." Willow chuckled at the look of panic on her husband's face as he shook his head wildly. She cradled the baby closer. "Unlike other members of the family, she doesn't bite."
"You're really okay, Willow?"
At his deep concern, she quieted her chuckling, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. "I love you, too, and I'm fine. Just very, very tired."
The baby's eyes blinked open and Spike found himself staring into deep blue depths. "She looks like you." Carefully, he brushed the tip of one finger over the baby's cheek. "Cor...she's so soft."
"Spike, you've held Buffy's baby..."
"He didn't come from you." Tears filled Spike's eyes and he leaned down to kiss Willow tenderly. "I wish I could have fathered her," he whispered.
"Biology only, my love." She caressed his cheek with the same care he had given their baby, and smiled up at him. "She'll be calling you daddy in no time."
A big grin crossed Spike's face. "Daddy...I like that."
End