After Spike and Xander left with Oz, Buffy went over to the weapons chest to grab something for her patrol.
Giles joined Willow on the couch, then nodded at Angel to begin. "Perhaps you should explain what exactly was in the package that Spike and Xander transported to the mansion."
"The cardboard box held the ingredients for two spells," Angel said shortly.
"Boy, they sure don't bother with nice containers for spells anymore," Buffy put in from the side of the room. "You'd think they'd invest in a special urn, or an ornate lead case. But I guess nowadays, it's all, just throw it all into a box and drop it off at FedEx . . ."
Giles shot her a look. "So those contents were the materials for a love enchantment . . . as well as a separate spell meant to enable conception."
"Sounded more like a two-for one deal," Willow said.
Angel nodded. "Right -- the pregnancy spell wouldn't work without the love spell also taking hold."
"I still don't understand how you could let Xander and Spike be the ones to deliver that box. You knew what might happen if they opened it," Willow said.
"Let's all remember that in fact I *didn't* know they'd open the box when it clearly said 'Do *Not* Open'," Angel said crossly.
"Come on," Buffy said. She paused her rifling through the weapons chest and made a sweeping gesture with a crossbow. "I mean, we are talking about Spike and Xander here."
Angel sighed. "Even so, the spells shouldn't have affected them. I'm still trying to figure out how they did."
"Why would that be?" Giles asked. "Should the spell have only targeted other types of demons besides vampires, or not have had any impact upon a human?"
"No, no . . . the two participants would have had to follow a certain order of steps." Angel shook his head. "And there's no way Spike and Xander did that."
Giles leaned forward. "Why don't you go ahead and tell us the specific steps?"
Angel ticked the list off on his fingers. "They would have had to touch while approaching the box, open the box's seal simultaneously from opposite ends, pull apart the actual flaps of the box at the same time, touched soon afterwards, and continued touching for a set period of time. At that point, the spells would have kicked in."
Giles cleared his throat. "I think it's safe to assume that either those steps are not in fact required, or that somehow Xander and Spike did, though unknowingly, follow the scenario precisely as you describe it."
"Either way, pregnant Xander. So you've got a lot of explaining to do," Buffy said to Angel.
"Can't you and I talk about this later? At home?" Angel asked her beseechingly.
"Well, Giles and I have more questions for you," Willow said. "But yeah, maybe you and Buffy --"
"Fine, fine," Buffy said. "A-patrolling I will go." She stopped, pointing the crossbow at Angel. "But I want the full update later."
When the door closed behind her, Giles pursued the topic once again. "I'm still not certain how it is that two *men* -- one of them in any estimation of the word fertile necessarily, well, lacking -- the other entirely without the biological capacity to carry offspring -- would be able to procreate in this instance, spell or no."
"Because it doesn't matter that they're men. The two beings who perform the spell can be any sex," Angel began.
"Because the Glaz'broth clan members don't have gender distinctions," Willow interrupted. "Not just in the social arena, but biologically too -- I read that just the other day, but it didn't seem that important at the time . . . That's what this all was, right? Part of your negotiation between the two clans? If one representative from each of the clans had agreed to take part in the ceremony, and then the two of them had fallen in love and produced a child, uh, demon --"
" 'For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households' rancour to pure love'," Giles murmured. "Yes. A rather old-fashioned but time-honored way of forging alliances would have taken place."
"Only now the effects have been absorbed by Spike and Xander," Willow said excitedly. "They're compelled to be near one another, to love each other, even if they didn't like each other before. That must be why Xander's feeling nauseous and irritable when Spike's not around him. And why Spike is all possessive and cranky if anyone so much as looks at Xander."
"That would be an effect of the spell," Angel confirmed. "It's kind of . . . I don't know, insurance for the family-to-be, as well as for the truce brokered between the two opposing groups that the participants represent. Each one bands together to forge a bond. The one carrying the child feels better when the other is around; the one who isn't having the baby wants to stay there and protect his mate and his progeny."
Willow shuddered. "Progeny. That's just a creepy word right there."
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Based on what you've told us, Angel, what we have now on our hands is not so much a spell as a mystical *result* of a spell."
"If that's the case, that's why the pregnancy must be testing as natural even though the spell was anything but," Willow observed.
"And Xander and Spike are, however much they fight it, going to stay in love and have this baby together. This isn't just a typical love spell. It's got the force of an enchantment designed to pull together warring factions and ensure merged desires for love and family for the two affected by it," Giles said.
"So the love is . . . sort of natural too?" Willow asked.
"The source of it is not, but yes, the emotions are very real, and unlikely to diminish even with the most powerful magical interventions," Giles said. "So Spike and Xander . . ."
"Are going to live happily ever after?" Willow offered weakly.
Angel shrugged. "As long as they don't kill each other first."
* * *
"I'll just see myself out," Oz said amiably when Spike had hefted Xander onto the fold-out couch and growled at Oz menacingly.
"Thanks, Oz," Xander called out. "Sorry about the --" he waved his hand at Spike's ready-to-rumble pose.
"No problem," Oz said. "I'll catch up with Willow and tell her you're here and okay."
Silence followed the gentle closing of the door. Spike paced back and forth for a while, then circled the perimeter of the basement as though he was casing the joint for any vulnerable points of entry. Xander tried to ignore him and closed his eyes.
An hour later, Spike sat tensely on the side of the bed, pointedly not looking at Xander. The uncomfortable silence continued as Xander peevishly rearranged himself on the mattress, tossing and turning and grumbling under his breath.
"Should probably lay still," Spike advised. "Better for the b--. . . better for you."
"Feels too warm in here," Xander complained. "I know it's me, but I can't get comfortable."
"Right," Spike said. He stood up and began stripping off his coat, shirt, and t-shirt.
"Okay, that's not going to help with the temperature moderation," Xander said in a low voice. When Spike gave him a pointed look he hastily added, "And that is in no way an admission of finding you hot, okay?"
Spike's lips twisted in impatience. "Not trying to get you all hot and bothered, pet. Vampire, right? Cool skin? Should help with your situation."
Xander gaped at him for a few moments. "Do you mean . . . So you can make me all nice and cool, we're going to snuggle?"
Spike rolled his eyes. "Call it that if you like."
"Okay," Xander said grudgingly. "Snuggle away if it's in the interests of comfort and good health."
"Shove over," Spike said in a blunt voice, but his touch was gentle as he shifted Xander away from the center of the bed and fitted his body behind him.
"I guess this is kind of nice," Xander said in a dreamy voice as Spike massaged his chest lightly.
"Can put up with it then, you think?" Spike asked with only a twinge of sarcasm.
A long pause elapsed.
"Spike?"
"Yeah, pet?"
"Are you kind of freaked out?"
Spike trailed a finger across Xander's collarbone and thought. "Suppose not. Feel better when . . ."
"When you're near," Xander finished.
"Right."
There was another very long pause.
"Me too," Xander admitted quietly.
Spike gently pressed his lips against the back of Xander's neck. "Should get some rest."
* * *
"Maybe I shouldn't go," Willow said to Oz.
Oz tilted his head in consideration. "To the Wiccan Unification Summer Session? You'd learn a lot there."
"But what if Xander needs me here?" Willow asked.
"Maybe he'll need you to learn stuff there first, before you can help Xander," Oz said.
Giles stepped around the divider of the kitchen and nodded. "Oz may be right, Willow. As yet we've no idea how we'll handle the situation of this baby coming to term, and even very little sense of how things will proceed from hereon in with the pregnancy itself. If you can gain any knowledge from your program . . ."
"So maybe I should go *because* Xander is pregnant?" Willow asked guardedly.
"Why don't you contact the session leaders, and inquire about possible leave-taking during the term?" Giles suggested.
"I *could* come back, I guess," Willow said. "In time for the . . . uh, birth."
"Especially if we had a better idea of how long this process will take. We may find out that perhaps you needn't return home early at all," Giles said. "In any case, it seems a shame to refuse the opportunity when the situation isn't dire."
"Other than Xander being pregnant," Oz remarked.
"Yes, quite," Giles muttered.
Willow was quiet for a few moments. "Could be dire soon though. Seems like maybe Xander is having a sort-of speeded-up pregnancy."
"How do you figure?" Oz asked.
"Well, the . . . conception . . . happened just the other night, and so far he's got symptoms that I'm pretty sure only fit someone who's been pregnant for longer than that. Nausea, fainting, the emotional swings . . ."
"Is that so?" Giles asked with interest. "I always thought those things began right away."
Willow glanced around the shelves in Giles' apartment, and looked befuddled. "Um. I guess none of us are really experts in this area. Do you have any pregnancy guides here?"
"No, no, I'm afraid not," Giles said. Then he brightened. "I do have the *Malleus Maleficarum* -- there are some fascinating passages discussing Satanic pregnancy --"
"I think what we need in this case is more your joe pregnancy book," Willow said. "I mean, Spike's *evil*, but still."
"I could ask my Aunt Maureen," Oz volunteered. "She's the last person I know who had a baby."
"And this would be the mother of your infamous cousin Jordy, the young boy who gave you the original bite that led to your becoming a werewolf," Giles guessed.
"And my Uncle Ken's wife, yeah," Oz said mildly. "She had another kid two years ago. The pregnancy and baby info she has should be standard issue."
"Well, it's a start," Willow said. "Can you call her and ask her some questions, without telling her too much about the reason we're asking?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Oz said. "Nobody in my family is especially pushy."
"Great," Willow sighed. "I guess I'll go online and see if there are any websites that might tell us something."
"And I'll check my other books for information on the length of mystical pregnancies," Giles said.
For a while things were quiet except for the soft murmur of Oz talking to his aunt from the other room, and the occasional "Ah!" from Giles as he marked a particular passage.
"This isn't really that helpful," Willow said, looking pale.
Giles stood and went to peer over her shoulder. "It seems to have a compendium of sorts, complete with visual evidence -- but you've found nothing useful?"
"Well, I'm just reading about the start," Willow said. "Week one, week two . . . and all I know is that the baby isn't even the size of a grain of rice yet, and there's stuff about the uterine lining, which I'm pretty sure doesn't apply in this case, Xander not having a uterus and all. Then there's the visual evidence . . ."
"Are you all right, Willow?" Giles asked.
"I . . . a glass of water could be a good thing," Willow said, and laid her head gently on the desk.
"Yes, yes, of course," Giles exclaimed, and rushed to get one. "Oz! You may wish to come here."
"Willow go all funny?" Oz asked. He came back into the room with the phone. "You didn't watch a clip of a woman giving birth, did you?" he asked her as he laid his hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't mean to," Willow said shakily. "I'm sorry, Giles. I might not be the best one to look the stuff up that features graphics. The whole bearing of children thing just gives me the willies."
"Well, let's talk other info then. Aunt Maureen says that she didn't start with the morning sickness till a month into it," Oz said, guiding Willow away from the computer chair and over to the couch.
"That fits with the website -- they said week four," Willow said before she took a gulp of the water Giles had brought her. "I guess not everyone gets sick to their stomach, but lots of women do."
"That is as much to say that currently Xander is exhibiting the symptoms of a typical woman four weeks into her pregnancy, and yet he only, erm, conceived four nights ago."
"What?" Buffy asked incredulously as she strode into the room. She laid down her crossbow and sank into one of the chairs. "Poor Xander. The pregnancy thing is freaky enough without the fast-action part."
"Good, you're back," Giles said absently. "We'll need your help researching for the remainder of the night."
"Except it's almost daybreak," Buffy noted, gesturing at the hazy world outside the windows. "As in, the day before Willow has to leave for her training."
"All the more reason to try to work out as much as we can right now," Giles said, pointing towards the stack of books beside him.
"Okay. So four nights, four weeks . . . that's, what, five weeks for this whole thing?" Oz asked.
"If we're lucky," Willow said. "Though it could be more advanced already, so that's the generous estimate. Four weeks, or even three, might be more like it."
"Four weeks, three weeks," Buffy mumbled as she flipped through one of the texts. Suddenly she looked up and gasped. ""Oh my god -- *two* weeks! We have to get Xander out of there right now!"
Oz, Giles, and Willow all turned to her.
"Two weeks? What's so special about--"
"Get Xander out of where, Buffy?"
"That *house*!" Buffy exclaimed. "If he looks four or five months pregnant in two weeks, don't you think that's going to seem kind of obvious to his parents? Xander's lease at his new apartment doesn't begin for two more weeks."
"I see your point. Is there any reason that he can't shift his belongings to this new apartment and begin his residence there early?" Giles asked.
"Think it was a money thing," Oz said. "Something about the agency wanting to charge more than half the month's rent to open the place up early, and after paying the security deposit, Xander didn't have any extra cash."
Willow frowned. "I don't think that extra money is something any of us have right now. Maybe we can--"
The door opened and Angel slipped in. "Good, you're okay," he said to Buffy. "Sorry I didn't meet up with you for the sweep; when I didn't see you at home, figured you'd be here." He slipped out of his leather coat, nodded at the others, and said more generally, "I think I've finally worked out another package for the Glaz'broth demons."
"Which none of us are touching with a ten foot pole," Oz remarked.
"Right." Angel leaned against the couch and brushed lint off of his Italian wool trousers. "So I stopped by to see if I could be of any help here. If there was anything I could contribute."
"Well," Buffy said with a thoughtful look on her face. She perched on the couch next to Angel and laid her hand gently on the sleeve of his expensive silk shirt. "Now that you mention it . . ."
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