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Willow could hear the gentle tickling of the rain through
the window of her classroom,. Thick clouds were making the sky leaden; the
only light in the room was coming from the lightning that seemed to tear
the sky up.
Willow sighed, trying to focus her attention on what her teacher was
mercilessly droning about. She rested her head against her open palm,
trying her best to keep her eyes open.
She stifled a yawn, and lightly shook her head, Buffy who was sitting next
to her, arched an eyebrow at her.
Willow was almost tempted to roll her eyes at her hyper friend. Buffy
Summers was probably the first pregnant woman she had met, who literally
burst with energy.
She couldn’t help the little smile that crept on her lips at the idea of
her best friend being pregnant.
<You’re getting way too sappy, Will…>
She thought, the ringing of the bell though, broke her thoughts.
“Thanks God for little miracles” She mumbled under her breath, grateful
for the end of the lessons. She just wanted to rest. She felt so tired.
“Did I hear, what I think I’ve heard? Who are you? Where’s my best
friend?” Buffy teased her.
Willow snorted and turned toward her best friend, she had already
collected her books and bag. A large smile was plastered on her face.
“Who are you? Since when you’re a morning person?” Willow teased her back,
slowly getting up and collecting her books.
Buffy had never been a morning person; Willow had always thought it had
been partly due to her nightly extra-curricular activities. The redhead
though, had had the chance to find out for the last months that it hadn’t
been that the reason.
Buffy was spending almost all her nights slaying; yet, she was always in
an awful good mood in the mornings. Willow suspected it had to do more to
do with the fact she was happier than she had ever been.
They headed toward the hallway and Willow couldn’t help noticing how her
friend’s smile softened as she said, “Do you want the official version or
the real one?”
“The real one…although I’m almost afraid to know….” Willow mumbled.
Buffy stopped walking and said, “Since I have a reason to looking forward
to opening my eyes…”
Willow couldn’t help cocking her eyebrows at her, in a gesture, which she
was sure it reminded Buffy of a certain bleached blonde vampire Willow was
in love with.
The Slayer shrugged and said, “C’mon…you can say it…I’m mushy, sappy, I've
got it bad…”
Willow laughed before saying, “I’m just happy for you, Buff…” She tilted
her head on a side and looked at her for some seconds before adding, “Oh,
and yes, all of the above is true, pregnancy is making you very sappy”
They resumed walking and Willow noticed for the first time, the way her
friend was looking at her, a frown was marring her brow. She sighed and
said, “What?”
“Are you feeling alright, Will? You’re quite pale…and you look dead tired…”
Buffy stopped then mumbled, “There’s a pun somewhere in this statement but…”
“I *am* dead tired…” Willow sighed, interrupting her friend. It looked
like the more she slept, the more she tried to rest, the more tired she
felt.
They were walking down the hallway, Buffy looked around before returning
to look at her best friend and said, “Well…Eric told that some of the
effects of the spells could last for a while…”
“A while? Buffy I've been feeling like crap for weeks!” Willow almost
snapped, she shook her head and marveled, “I mean,” She sighed then in a
low voice added, “I don’t know what I mean…”
“You’re just tired, and hey! We’ve had quite a lot to do lately, between
study, hellmouthy stuff and with the uber ho in town,” Buffy smiled and
added in a teasing voice, “besides, I kinda think you’ve been busy in a
major smooch fest with Spike”
Willow blushed at Buffy’s words, her fingers unconsciously went to the
gold ring she always wore on her left ring finger. She hadn’t put if off,
since Eric had given it to her. Spike hadn’t commented on the ring, he
hadn’t said a word about it, but Willow at times felt he didn’t like the
fact that she had kept it.
“Hmm…well, yes…we…” She started. She then opened her mouth, tempted to
talk to her friend about her nightmares, about how her nights had been
filled with them. When she wasn’t dreaming of Spike turning into dust, she
relived his death by Drusilla’s hands…and hers, when she was too slow and
Angelus caught her.
Buffy interrupted her, though, saying, «Say no more…I’m gonna be a mother
soon…I don’t wanna hear juicy details about you and the bleached wonder…as
much as…” She stopped talking and looked around for some instants then
suddenly murmured, «he’s here!»
“Uh?” Willow asked blankly. “Spike’s here? Where?”
She turned her head; following Buffy’s gaze and was surprised when she
didn’t see anyone, “Buff? I can’t see him…”
Buffy was still looking around, wide-eyed. She took some steps and said,
“I can feel him…”
“What?” Willow asked.
Buffy though wasn’t listening to her. She had put a hand over her still
flat belly in a protective gesture and was clutching her books against her
chest with her left arm, almost as if she wanted to shield herself with
them.
Willow blinked when Buffy tilted her head up, closed her eyes and flared
her nostrils. She shook her head…what the hell was going on?
“Buff? It’s daylight, remember? Vampires usually tend to avoid it…it isn’t
very healthy for them…” She said looking around.
Some of the people in the hallway were looking at them puzzled. She
ignored them and tentatively touched her friend’s left shoulder, she gave
a little squeeze to it adding, “And besides, Spike was going to spend the
morning training with Eric…”
Buffy shook her head no, she opened her eyes and tilted her head on a
side, without looking at her and hissed, “He’s here, Will…I can feel him…I
can sense his demon, I can smell its stench…”
“Uh?” Willow kept looking around; she rolled her eyes and said, “Nice way
to talk about my boyfriend, Buff…”
Hoping to distract her, she squeezed her shoulder harder. Buffy blinked
and looked around, then turned toward Willow and smiled at her saying,
“Where were we? Oh, yes! No juicy details about your nightly activities as
much as I’m curious about it”
Buffy looked at her, taking in the fact that Willow was still squeezing
her shoulder and said, “What’s the matter?”
“Uh? Matter? What…I…no matters here, we’re matters free…honest!” Willow
said pulling her hand back.
She smiled at her friend, who seemed totally oblivious of what had just
happened.
<What the hell is going on? >
She clutched her books against her chest and looked at Buffy; she looked
calm, peaceful…and very happy. There weren’t signs of the predator look
her eyes had held, just a few minutes before.
She had totally zoned out. Willow let out a sigh and asked, “Are you
alright?”
“Never been better…I’m morning-sickness free…can you believe it?” Buffy
happily said.
“I guess it’s one of the benefits of being a Slayer” Willow commented,
managing a smile.
“Yep…and I feel *so* strong…poor Rupert, he’s almost afraid to train with
me…” Willow noticed how Buffy lowered her voice when she added, “He lets
our two resident Eletti being pummeled by me, though…”
“Don’t I know” She mumbled. Spike hadn’t commented on it, he hadn’t made a
big deal out of it, but a couple of times, she had really hurt him. She
shook her head, and grinned at her best friend saying, “Well I can’t speak
for Eric…but I think Spike is starting to think about switching sides…”
Buffy looked at her, and for a moment, she was sure she had seen a look of
pure fear…pure hatred in her eyes. She sighed and said, “Buff? I’m
kidding!”
Buffy rolled her eyes and smiled at her, but didn’t talk for a second,
they had almost exited the building when she said, “Ok, I’ve been enjoying
the training a little too much lately, but Will…think of the bright side…”
“Which would be?” Willow asked. She had heard about mood swings in
pregnant woman…but that was the first time, she was experiencing it…first
hand.
Buffy wiggled her eyebrows at her and said, “You can kiss all of Spike’s
bruises better…” She circled her shoulders with an arm, saying, “Hey, what
about we stop at the cafeteria before going home? I’m dying for cheese
cake!”
“Say no more…as your best friend it’s my duty to indulge in your
cravings…” Willow said smiling. She made a mental note to herself, to talk
to Giles about what had just happened, that afternoon during Buffy’s
training.
“Ya know what, Will? I love being pregnant…” Buffy commented smiling.
The two friends, headed toward the cafeteria, none of them saw Eric and
Spike coming out from behind a pillar.
“You were right; she has been able to sense me…” Spike commented.
Eric nodded looking at him, he took a step forward saying, “We can’t leave
her alone”
“Do you think it has already started?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know…” Eric admitted. He shrugged and said, “She is very
different from all the Slayers I've ever seen. She is not alone…”
“Will it be enough?” Spike asked.
“It has to, William…” Eric said in a low voice. He narrowed his eyes, and
repeated: “It has to…”
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