"Pregnant."
"Yes, Angel, pregnant. You know, baby grows for nine months inside my womb, then it comes out, we raise it..."
"Pregnant."
Buffy sighed and plopped down on the couch beside him. She had revealed the news half and hour ago and he was still in shock. Lynn had been ecstatic at the thought of having a little brother or sister. She had kissed both her mother and her father in congratulations and quickly gone upstairs to call her friends and tell them the news.
And Angel was still sitting in shock.
"Pregnant, which means we're having another baby," Angel spoke a whole sentence for the first time in the past half hour. "Wow."
"You okay?" Buffy asked with amusment.
"Yeah, I'm okay now," he replied. "Hey, I'm having another baby!"
Buffy laughed as he stood and twirled her around in circles. He quickly set her down and looked worriedly at her. "That won't do anything to the baby, right?"
Buffy resisted an urge to roll her eyes. "No, Angel, it's perfectly safe."
"Good."
And with that, he picked her up again and hugged her tight. He let her go and kissed her mouth softly. "Thank you," he murmured.
"Why?"
"For giving me a second chance to be with you and have another child," he answered. "I swear, I will be with you throughout all of this and I'll help out with whatever you need. And I think Lynn and I can patrol for you, too."
Buffy smiled. "That'd be great, Angel."
He laughed again and leaned down to claim her lips with his.
******
"So, your mom's having another kid?" Daniel asked the next day at school as he, Lynn, and Jade walked down the school halls to class.
"Yup," Lynn answered. "Kinda weird, but it's cool."
"Is she gonna keep giving class here?" Jade asked her friend.
Lynn frowned slightly. "I don't think we thought of that. I guess she will until she gets too big to do anything." She shrugged.
Looking up, she spotted Matt heading her way. She tightened her lips and turned to look at her friends. "You know what, guys? I think I'll bail, I'll see you later."
With that, she turned and walked the opposite way, leaving a confused Matt, and two even more confused Jade and Daniel.
******
Giles frowned as he stared at the book in front of him. No, he thought with a sigh. Bugger. I hate prophesies.
He looked at the page opened in front of him for several more moments before slamming the book close. As he took off his glasses and began to polish them, the door opened and in came Lynn with Jade and Daniel walking to either side.
"Hey, Giles," they all said as they sat down all around the table.
"Good morning," Giles said. "I trust everything is fine?"
"Yup!" Lynn said with a grin. "In fact, everything's great. Did Mom tell you? She's..."
"Hey, Giles!" Buffy said as she came in through the library door, much like she used to when she was in high school. "What's the up?"
Giles smiled at his Slayer. "Good morning to you, too, Buffy."
Buffy frowned as she sat next to her daughter. "That looks like a forced smile," she said. "I've known you for seventeen years. I know when something's up. What is it?"
"It's nothing, Buffy, really..."
"Giles," Buffy said warningly.
With a final, defeated sigh, Giles turned and grabbed the book he had been eyeing. "This is Latin," he stated as he handed her the book with a marked page. "Roughly translated, and I mean very roughly, it talks about a future Slayer who will, uh, be of blood of a vampire and a Slayer. I only know of one vampire and Slayer couple who have united to have children. I imagine it could be Lynn, but..."
"'For the blood of a dark angel and the blood of a fighter of light shall bring forth a dark light that will save the world from the greatest evil it will ever know,'" Buffy read quietly.
"Prophesies are very tricky things, Mom," Lynn spoke into the quietness that soon followed. "It can mean a lot of things. And, besides, what's her name? Angela? Andrea?"
"Aleah," Buffy corrected.
"Right," Lynn said. "She's the Slayer right now, besides you."
"Slayers die, Lynn," Jade put in.
"No," Lynn replied. "That would mean Mom could die, and she can't. I don't accept that."
Buffy turned to look at her daughter. "Sweetie..."
"No!" Lynn cried as she stood. "No, okay? No!"
She turned to leave, but Daniel quickly stood and grabbed her hand. "You can't run away from every problem you have," he said softly.
Lynn looked at him with teary eyes and then burried her head in his shoulder as she cried. The room was silent as Lynn sobbed into her friend's shoulder. Finally, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "I'm fine."
"We're, uh, we might be jumping to conclutions. This doesn't necesarily mean Buffy, or Aleah, will die," Giles said. "It could mean anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be talking about Lynn, or about Buffy and Angel for that matter..."
"I'm pregnant."
"It could mean that... pardon?" Giles' eyes turned to Buffy. "Pregnant?"
Buffy nodded. "It's that, isn't it? Whatever child I'm having now is gonna be the next Slayer after me..."
Giles sighed as he took a sit next to Daniel. "Possibly. But I advise you not to jump to conclusions so soon. Like Lynn very wisely said, prophesies are tricky things. They could mean anything. I didn't want to dump anything on you this soon, but, well..."
The bell interrupted Giles.
"Hey, it's okay," Buffy said. "I have to go to class now, anyway."
As they all stood to leave, Giles spoke up. "Are you still going to give class? Even in your, ah, condition?"
Buffy smiled. "Yeah, for now."
"How did Angel take it?"
Both Buffy and Lynn laughed. "I'd say he was shocked, but that'd be the understatement of the year," Buffy answered. "I'll see you later, all."