Chapter Two

"Did you tell Spike?" Willow asked as soon as Buffy walked through the door.

"Hi Wills. I had a good day, thanks for asking."

Willow jumped up from the couch. "Sorry, I've just been wondering all day
how it went. What happened?"

Buffy chewed her bottom lip.

Willow's shoulders sagged. "You didn't tell him, did you?" she asked
disappointedly.

Buffy plopped down on the couch. "I didn't tell him. In all fairness, he'd had
a bad morning."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, when I got there Anya had just broken up with him."

"Oh God. Was there a scene? Wreckage?"

"Yep. And a poor bear lot its leg."

"Not that!"

"Yep that."

"Was Spike upset?"

Buffy gave her a pointed look. "What do you think?"

"You still could have told him," Willow grumbled, plopping down next to
him.

"I don't know Wills. Spike's always seen me as the responsible and sensible
one. I don't know how to tell him I had a one night stand, got pregnant and
have no clue how where the father is. I mean…the guy literally took off
Willow. That's what one night stands do. They leave. Never to be heard
from again. Getting pregnant by the one night stand is the thing they leave
out in Cosmo, as well as Cool to. Maybe I could do an expose on it. "

"You don't know anything about him? At all? I mean, Buffy that's so unlike
you."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "you see my dilemma with telling Spike. He'll do that
thing he does."

"What thing he does?"

"You know that thing when he gets all protective and acts all big brotherly
and threatens to hurt anyone whose hurt me. I get enough of that from my
own brother, I don't need it from Spike too."

Willow hit her with the pillow in her lap. "Who are you kidding? You love
it."

Buffy smiled. "Does make me feel all protected when Angel can't be here to
do it." Bending over and smashing her face in the couch she wailed
something that Willow couldn't make out.

"What?"

Buffy sat up. "How the hell am I going to tell my parents? This is a
nightmare!" And she buried her face back in the cushions.

Willow stood up and gingerly grabbed the envelope being used as a coaster
on the coffee table. "Uh Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

Willow dangled the envelope in front of Buffy's face. "You might have to tell
them sooner than you think."

Buffy turned her head and focused on the lacey, frilly envelope and
groaned. "I could not go."

"You have to go Buffy."

"I never liked my stupid cousin," she sat up. "It's not like I have to tell
them there anyway. Why ruin Harmony's stupid wedding and take the
limelight away from her?" "Or, you could use the wedding to your
advantage. Your parents won't make a scene on the big wedding weekend."

Buffy chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Good point. All the hustle and bustle. . .
it would be a perfect time to tell them and the heat would somewhat be
deflected off me. By the time they'd have a chance to roast me, I'd be
gone."

"You told me yourself since your Aunt died and your Uncle pretty much
left, your parents have taken Harmony in. Your dad is giving her away
right?"

"Yep and my mom helped her plan the wedding."

"Buffy, the wedding is the perfect time to tell them! They'll be so busy with
the arrangements; they'll barely have any time to react."

Buffy grinned at her friend. "You're brilliant!"

"I know. But feel free to spread the word," Willow said jovially. Then stern
face came back. "You still have to tell Spike."

Buffy sighed. "I know. You know what's scary?"

"What?"

"Telling Spike might actually be worse than telling my family."



Buffy handed him his waffle cone and grasped her own in her hand as they
started their walk through the park. "So, how's the clean up going?"

"Merry Maids is coming by tomorrow."

Buffy giggled.

"Thanks by the way for getting the Sex Pistols CD for me."

"Xander owed me a favor. He special ordered it for me."

"Just the same."

They walked in silence for a while as Buffy played out in her mind how to
tell him. It was ridiculous really that she should be so nervous about telling
him. She couldn't help it though. Spike was her best guy friend, her
confidante and he protected her with a fierceness she'd never seen him
bestow upon any of his girlfriends. Probably because he actually respected
her. She remembered a time when some guy had dared get rough with her
when she declined an offer to dance and Spike had been right there, nearly
breaking the guys arm. He cross examined anyone that came sniffing
around her and she'd since learned to wait a few dates until introducing
them to Spike so as to warn them. None seemed to pass the test, but it was
just as well in the long run as Buffy found out anyway. None of them had
ever been the long haul guy. They inevitably got scared off by her
independence and put off by her often work-a-holic tendencies.

"So you gonna stare at me all day or are you going to share what's on your
mind?" Spike said abruptly, sucking the ice cream from the bottom of the
cone.

"I'm not - - You're just - - Oh shut up," she huffed and sat down on a park
bench, facing a small pond with a few ducks swimming around in it.

He sat down next to her. "So what is it pet? You worried my wild ways will
send me into an early grave? Or are you again afraid my inability to
commit is due to the fact that I might be gay and am hiding out far back in
the closet."

"I say one thing . . ." She waved him off.

"Reckon that's why you're editor-in-chief. You have a wild imagination," he
grinned.

"Yeah. You know, I had this great idea the other day for a story. You want
to hear it?"

"Course I do."

"Okay. Well, I was thinking of doing a story on one night stands."

Spike definitely looked intrigued. "Continue."

"Well, see I was talking to this girl the other day who'd had one—"

"What girl?"

"Uh, uh, Beatrice."

"Beatrice? What kind of parent names their child that?"

Buffy giggled.

"Where'd you meet her?"

Buffy thought fast. "In line at the coffee shop."

"Seriously Buffy. You have to stop talking to strangers. They latch onto
you with their sob stories—"

"You're one to talk. Can I finish?"

"Please do."

"Okay, well, she had a one night stand and the guy, he just disappeared
after."

"That's the whole point of them. If you stick around, it's called a
relationship."

"Pig," she scolded and poked him.

"Go on," he urged.

"Well, she ended up pregnant and doesn't know what to do."

"Does she have some sort of support system? She has absolutely NO WAY
to track this guy down?"

"Nope. She tried. He gave a fake last name."

"Oh. Does she even know where he works?"

"Nope."

"Sounds like she was really irresponsible about it."

"You have no idea," Buffy muttered, throwing her cone away in the barrel
next to her. "She was drunk."

"Ahhh…So, she got herself knocked up on a one night stand in which she
was drunk."

Buffy made a face. "Do you have to make it sound so callous? It's a baby
and she should be commended for wanting to keep it no matter what. I
know plenty of women out there that wouldn't do that." She was on a roll
now, red faced and lecturing. "You know, it's a scary thing to have to
contend with. Frightening really. You're pregnant due to a mistake, doing
something you normally never do. In fact it's your first time EVER doing
something like that and what happens? It blows up in your face. And you
have a career to think about, and you're going to be a single mom and you
don't know who the dad is . . . " Buffy was welling up in tears. She started
fanning her face with her hands, feeling unbearably hot all of a sudden. "I
can't do this anymore!" She jumped up and faced Spike who was staring at
her wide-eyed and uncertain.

"Pet?"

"It's me! I'm the one that did it. I'm pregnant!"

She watched then as a huge glob of vanilla ice cream oozed out of the
bottom of the cone he'd chewed off and plopped on his lap.



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