"You’re sure about this?" he asked, his voice cracking.  He quickly coughed to clear his throat.

Buffy nodded, trying not to grin.  He was so adorable when he was squeamish.

He took a deep, wholly unnecessary breath and reached for the instrument.  He stopped abruptly and turned to face his wife again.  "You’re *sure*?"

Sighing in frustration, she let her head loll forward onto the mattress.

"I’m sorry," he said quickly.

"I thought you had a lot of experience torturing people," she said in exasperation.

He gaped at her and Buffy was instantly contrite.  It was a cheap shot and she knew it, but she honestly couldn’t believe he was turning this little thing into such a production.

"Do you want me to do it?" she asked.

"No," he said a bit too loudly.  "I’ll do it, I just ... it’s only that ... I don’t want to hurt you."

"Honestly, Angel," she asked, "I’m a Slayer, do you think that little thing is going to hurt me?"

Angel looked at the syringe again.  It wasn’t *little*.  It was definitely on the large side and it was filled with a mixture of very potent chemicals that he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted in Buffy’s system.

"I can’t believe we’re doing this," he muttered.

"I thought you wanted another baby," she said, looking at him expectantly from her position on the bed.

"I do," he replied, "it’s just that I don’t trust the Initiative at all and this little cocktail here is of their design."

"Yeah, well," Buffy pointed out, "we don’t exactly have the budget necessary to design custom fertility drugs."

Angel growled.  Only days after their final, definitive showdown with Maggie Walsh and the Initiative in the cave formations surrounding Sunnydale, Willow managed to hack the government’s encryption system and download a very significant portion of their top secret files.  It had taken months to go through all of the information, and one of the last bits of data to be discovered were Walsh’s files on the Slayer.

It seemed that the Initiative’s leader had been even more interested in Buffy’s reproductive capabilities than anyone had dared imagine.  She had done extensive lab work on Buffy’s blood and come up with a series of designer drugs she apparently intended to use on the Slayer.  Among other things, the drugs would send Buffy into a mating cycle, theoretically receptive to the advances of any male.  That was the part that really got to Angel.  He couldn’t stand the idea of his wife mindlessly mating with anonymous men.

Given that Buffy had been almost nine months pregnant with Aidan when they’d made the discovery, no one thought much of it.  However, after the little boy was born and his parents began to contemplate having more children, it provided what very well could have been their only option.  Enlisting the favors of every chemist and biologist any of their friends knew, they finally managed to synthesize the drug, sans the aphrodisiac component that Buffy and Angel didn’t feel they would need.

Angel decided he’d been much more comfortable with the idea when it was all theoretical.  Now, faced with the prospect of having to jab his wife in the rump with the wicked looking syringe, he thought that maybe one child was enough.

"Angel, just do it so we can get on with things."

Get on with things.  Angel scowled at his wife, not entirely comfortable the idea of being thought of as a means to an end.  Not that he minded his role in conceiving a child, but Buffy was eyeing him like he was a stud animal and he found it a bit disconcerting.

"Ang-" Buffy gasped.  "Ouch!"

Angel smiled as he sank the needle in the delicious curve of his wife’s butt and pushed the plunger down.

"There.  Satisfied?" he asked.

Rubbing her sore behind, Buffy rolled over and looked at him saucily.  "Not yet, but I expect you to take care of that."

He cocked an eyebrow at her.  "How long is this stuff supposed to take?" he asked, looking at the bedside clock.

"A couple of minutes," Buffy said, grabbing his forearm and pulling him down onto the mattress with her.

"Buffy," Angel said in a near whine, giving his wife a pitiful look.

"What?" she asked, losing patience as she looked over her shoulder.  "It’s not like we haven’t done it this way before."

"That was different," he said, trying his hardest to ignore her provocative posture.

"Different how?" Buffy demanded, thoroughly irritated that Angel was capable of being such a prude.

"We weren’t trying to make a baby," he said, sounding almost scandalized.

She gave him a withering look.  "Should I point out that the first one was probably conceived on your kitchen table?"

He sighed heavily.  "At the time, neither of us knew that."

"Angel," she said, "we’re trying to create a child, we’re not in church.  A certain amount of sex is absolutely necessary.  I have that on the best authority."

"I know," he said meekly, "but I just think that it should be gentle and loving, not ... "

"We can be gentle like this."

"Buffy," he said, growling softly as she wriggled her backside at him.

She giggled and said, "I don’t see how it’s my fault that you have trouble controlling yourself when we do it like this."

"Fine," he bit out, grasping one of her hips roughly as he rose onto his knees behind her.

He wasn’t truly upset and any reservations he may have had melted as he took the dominant position behind his mate.  He could smell the difference the drugs were making in her system and he ached for her warmth.  She let out an animalistic whine, pressing her ass into his groin as her head bowed submissively, exposing the nape of her neck.  Angel licked his lips before accepting the invitation.

Buffy whimpered, her back arching as he bit into the back of her neck, clamping down, claiming her.  She could feel him positioning himself at the dripping entrance of her sex.  His fingers parted her nether lips easily and soon she could feel the already slick head of his cock probing her gently.  She worried her bottom lip in anticipation, beginning to regret the extent to which she’d antagonized him earlier.

The first thrust was brutal, causing her to gasp as he stretched her ruthlessly.  Her sheath fluttered around him, expanding to accept his flesh. Angel grunted and drew back, driving into her again as he drew deeply from the wound on her neck.  Quickly, they found a pace, Buffy arching to take him deeper as he continued to claim her aggressively.  She keened, her thighs quivering as her release washed over her, set off by the violent eroticism of the act.  Angel drove into her again and again, finally burying himself as deep as possible inside her liquid warmth as he spilled his seed.  He fought the tempting urge to truly feed from her as he orgasmed, instead worrying the bite marks with his tongue, searching for residual traces of her powerful blood.

Long minutes later, Buffy lay nestled against Angel’s chest, nearly purring in sleepy satisfaction.  A goofy smile was plastered on her face.  He leaned over and buried his face in the crook of her neck, sucking lightly on his brand.

"Sleepy?" he asked.  She could feel his smile against her heated skin.

"Why?"

"I thought we could do it my way now."

She was grinning broadly as she pulled his head up, her lips finding his easily.  In a fluid movement, he rolled them, pinning her beneath his newly aroused body as she cradled him between her thighs.

Breaking off the kiss, he pulled his head back and looked at her.  "Better," he said with satisfaction.

Buffy sighed dramatically in mock exasperation.

Angel took the opportunity to piston his hips, thrusting into her recently sated body.  Her face was wiped free of everything but pleasure.  He smiled, his wonderful lopsided grin as Buffy gasped, her short fingernails biting into the thickly muscled flesh of his upper arms.

"I like watching your face," he whispered, dropping his head to suck on her neck.

"You like it any way you can get it," she pointed out.

He chuckled, rolling his hips and thrusting deeply within her once again.  "True," he admitted, "but face to face is my favorite.  It’s more intimate."

Buffy sighed, wrapping her legs around his waist as he began an easy rhythm.  He had a point.  Of course, coupling with her mate in any way was always pleasurable, but there was definitely something deeply satisfying about being able to watch his face scrunch up as he came inside of her.

Buffy tried to act normal, but it was difficult considering the fact that Angel was watching her like a hawk.  So far, no one else had noticed, or if they had, no one had said anything.  While the Scoobies knew about the Initiative’s drugs, they weren’t aware that Buffy and Angel had already used them, several weeks previous.

Picking up her son, who was dangerously close to getting his jelly smeared hands on some of Giles’ priceless texts, Buffy handed him wordlessly to his father.  She hoped that having a squirming, sticky toddler on his lap would distract Angel.  She should have known better.  Without letting her out of his sight for a moment, Angel managed to de-jelly his son and divert his attention with a toy that was supposed to be a talking cookie jar.

Several minutes later, as Buffy went into Giles’ tiny kitchen to make herself some tea, she wasn’t surprised to find Angel standing centimeters behind her, looming over her much smaller form.  She sighed, leaning back into him as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly.

"Fine," she said seriously.

He was a vampire, so whether he admitted it or not, he knew that she hadn’t gotten her period yet.  They’d already decided that if she hadn’t gotten her period by that afternoon, that they would take a home pregnancy test in the evening.  Angel was anxious, both because he wanted another child and because he loathed the idea of injecting his wife with anymore of the Initiative’s drugs.  While she appreciated his concern, Buffy was fretful too, and his nervousness was making her irritable.

"What do you mean by fine?" he whispered.  "Do you feel the way you felt when you were pregnant with Aidan?"

With a growl, she pulled free of his embrace and turned to glare at him.  He regarded her sheepishly, unaware of anything he could have done to set her off.

"Giles," Buffy called without looking at the Watcher, "would you please watch the baby for a second while Angel and I have a word?"

"Most certainly," he replied, smiling broadly as he picked up his much adored grandson.

Grabbing Angel’s hand, Buffy pulled him into Giles’ spare bedroom and closed the door.

"What?" he asked innocently.  "I didn’t do anything."

"You’re smothering me," Buffy hissed.  "Angel, I’m either pregnant or I’m not and no amount of twitching on your part is going to change that."

He frowned.  "I’m just concerned," he said quietly.

"I am too," she replied vehemently, "but we’ll know today one way or the other.  You’ll just have to wait.  And stop giving me the third degree."

"I’m not giving you the third degree," he replied, "I simply asked if you felt this way with Aidan."

She sighed, sitting down on the rarely used guest bed.  "I have no idea," she admitted after several moments.

"What do you mean?" he asked, sitting next to her as he reached for one of her hands.

"I was so in denial about the fact that I was even possibly pregnant that I have no idea how I was feeling when I was pregnant the first time.  I was three months along and starting to show by the time I finally admitted to myself that he was real."

"I didn’t know that," Angel said softly, somewhat disturbed by the revelation that his wife’s first pregnancy had been anything other than completely joyous.

Reading his concern, Buffy reassured him, "It wasn’t that I didn’t want him Angel, but I was so confused.  I was with Riley at the time and though I liked him, I didn’t necessarily want to have a child with him.  I was having all these strange dreams about you and I that didn’t make any sense.  It was a rough time and I coped by pretending it wasn’t actually happening."

"I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you through it," he said softly.

Buffy smiled wryly.  She was sorry too, but that was water under the bridge now.  "You’ll be here the second time," she said.  "And besides, you’re a wonderful father."

Angel smiled, leaning forward to kiss her on the end of the nose.

"Well?" he demanded as she exited the bathroom.

Buffy smiled at him brightly.  "We are," she said, holding up the little stick with the blue plus sign.

Laughing, Angel wrapped her carefully in his embrace and kissed her deeply.  "I love you, Buffy," he said.  "You’ve given me the world."

At that moment, the intimacy was broken by a very unhappy cry coming from Aidan’s room.  Buffy smiled at her husband.

"Nope," she said, "what I’ve just given you is night duty for the next nine months."

Smiling, Angel pressed a quick kiss to her lips before padding off down the hall to quiet his son.

The End

<< back