The sound of her name being bellowed from her daughter's bedroom made her move faster than she thought possible. She found herself looking at a very panicked Angel.
"What's wrong?"
Angel kept waving and pointing at Buffy. "Her ... She ... NOW!"
Joyce looked at Buffy. "Translation?"
Buffy gave her mother a nervous smile. "My water broke."
Her mother took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm a little scared."
"Sweetheart, that's perfectly normal." She looked at Angel who was as pale as he used to be. "Okay Angel, calm down. Everything is going to be fine. Buffy, do you have your bag packed?"
Buffy looked down and shook her head. "No ... I mean, I was going to pack one, but then I kept putting it off."
"That's okay." Joyce grabbed her hand. "We'll get everything you need later. Let's get you cleaned up and changed and to the hospital."
Buffy nodded and stood up. "Angel could you go tell Daddy what's going on? Please?"
"I'm right here Princess." Buffy looked to see her father standing in the doorway.
An hour later, Buffy was lying in a bed on the maternity floor of the hospital, hooked up to a fetal heart monitor, blood pressure machine and she had an I.V. in her hand.
On the way to the hospital, she had had a couple of minor contractions. It wasn't until she was being admitted that the real pain hit.
Buffy looked up at Angel who was sitting beside her bed, holding her hand. He was a nervous wreck.
"Angel, are you going to be okay?"
He looked at her with pure adoration. "I don't think I've EVER been as nervous as I am right now."
"Me either. Meghan's gonna be here soon." She took a huge breath as a contraction hit. "You know all of those children you want to have?"
He nodded his head. "Um hmm."
"Can you have 'em? This hurts too much."
Angel laughed and brushed her hair from her eyes. "If it were possible, you know I would."
Two hours later, Joyce walked into the room. "Okay, here's your bag. I got everything that you and Meghan will need. And I called everyone you asked me to and your father is making arrangements for a place to stay because he's not staying with me."
"At least I found a way to get him to be here for when the baby's ... OW! Okay, that was a lot quicker than the last time." Buffy was trying to breath like she was taught in her child birth class, but all she had succeeded in doing was making herself dizzy.
Joyce pressed the call button. When the nurse answered, Joyce informed her that Buffy's contractions were less than a minute apart.
Suddenly, there were nurses everywhere in the room. When they checked her she was dilated to nine centimeter.
The doctor entered the room. "We ready to have a baby in here?"
"If I say no can I go home?" Buffy said, half joking.
The doctor laughed. "Let me just check you first." When he checked her, he shook his head. "Looks like you're staying. We're ready to go."
The nurses got the room set up to deliver.
"What?" Buffy looked at the doctor and then Angel.
"The baby's crowning. It's ready to get here." The doctor told her.
Angel saw that Buffy was on the brink of an all out panic. He spoke softly in her ear. "Hey, after all of the demons and monsters you've faced, this will be a breeze." He kissed her lips and could tell she was relaxing.
She nodded. "I can do this."
Joyce kissed her daughter in the forehead. "I'm going to meet everyone in the waiting room. I'll see you in a little while."
"Mom, you don't have to leave."
"This is yours and Angel's moment." She left the room.
When Joyce entered the waiting room, she was met by Hank, Giles and the Scooby Gang.
Giles was the first to speak. "How's Buffy doing?"
"She's delivering now." She looked at Hank who was on the phone. He was talking to his assistant. "Hank, get off the fucking phone!"
The room fell to a dead silence. Hank quickly finished talking to his assistant and hung up the phone.
Even with all of her slayer strength, having Meghan was draining.
Angel was doing his best to encourage her. "You're doing great, Baby." He kissed her on top of her sweaty head.
"Okay, you ready to push again?" The doctor asked.
Buffy nodded and began leaning forward. Angel stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, helping her to push and counting to ten like to doctor had told him to do.
"We've got a head! Okay Buffy, I want you to give me one more push and you can hold your baby."
She pushed with everything she had left. Two seconds later, a very loud cry filled the room.
Cordelia sat with her legs crossed as she looked at her fingernails. "Is it supposed to take this long?" Everyone looked at her. "What?"
Joyce was pacing. Hank stood and put his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down Joyce."
"Calm down? OUR baby is having a baby right now. If you ask me, you're too calm!"
Hank swallowed and sat back down. "Seems there's nothing that I can do that's right."
Giles walked over to Joyce and touched her arm gently. "Perhaps I could get you some coffee?"
"Thank you Rupert. That would be lovely." She smiled at her daughter's watcher.
Hank glared at the Englishman as he left the room. "So, is he my replacement?"
Joyce rolled her eyes. "Go to Hell Hank!"
Xander leaned over to Willow. "Boy, you can feel the love in this room."
After Angel cut the cord, the doctor placed the tiny baby on Buffy's chest.
"Hey you." Buffy said as Meghan yawned.
Angel smiled. "I think someone's had a long day." He touched the baby's tiny wrinkled hand and kissed Buffy's forehead. "Thank you, Buffy."
"I was just about to tell you the same thing."
The nurse interrupted them and explained that they needed to clean Meghan up and run all the routine tests. She gently lifted the newborn off of Buffy's chest.
"We'll be back soon." The nurse said as she wheeled the plastic bassinet from the room.
"Bye baby." Buffy said as she ran her hand through her hair. "Oh God, I must look horrible."
Angel pressed his lips on hers. "You've never looked more beautiful. ... I love you, so much."
She caressed his face. "Oh, how I love you." They kissed again. "Could you go get my mom?"
"Sure." He kissed her once more and walked towards the door. "What about your dad?"
Buffy nodded, reluctantly.
Angel walked into the waiting room and was immediately bombarded with questions.
"Okay, okay, wait a minute. Buffy and Meghan are just fine. Joyce, she asked to see you." He looked at Hank.
"I guess you can go too." Joyce was already on her way out of the room. Hank followed.
Giles went over and shook Angel's hand. "Congratulations."
"Thank you Giles. ... I am so proud of Buffy. By the time Meghan was born, she was drained."
"What does she look like?" Willow asked.
Angel smiled and laughed softly. "Ever seen a Shar-Pei puppy?"
They all nodded.
"Kind of like that ... but beautiful."
"You just compared your daughter to a dog. Rude much?" Cordelia huffed.
"I don't mean it like that Cordelia. She's just really tiny and her skin is really soft and really wrinkly. But her face ... she looks just like Buffy." He was beaming.
Xander patted him on the back. "Well, at least we can be thankful for that."
"Xander!" Everyone said at once.
Joyce and Hank entered their daughter's room.
"How are you feeling, Honey?" Joyce inquired as she took Buffy's hand.
"Exhausted, but happier than I've ever been."
There was a knock on the door and then it opened. A nurse walked in with an empty bassinet. Behind her, Angel entered carrying Meghan.
"Look who I ran into out in the hall." Angel was completely enamored with his daughter.
Buffy reached her arms out to her husband. "I wanna hold my baby."
Angel gently handed his love their child.
"Oh, Buffy, she looks just like you." Joyce informed her.
Buffy's entire being glowed. "You really think so?"
"Definitely." Her father agreed.
"I'm really glad you're here Daddy ... Um, there's something I need to tell you."
Hank sat down at the foot of Buffy's bed.
"I love you very much ... but I'm asking Giles to give me away." She saw the sadness on his face. "I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings, but in the very short time I've been a parent, I know that there is *nothing* that can keep me away from my daughter when she needs me."
Tears were in Hank's eyes. "I do love you."
"I know that. I'm not saying that I want you out of my life. Now, more than ever, I need you in it, but I've made my decision and I hope you can accept it."
Meghan began to cry. Buffy panicked and looked to her mother. "What do I do?"
Joyce smiled. "Sweetheart, she's probably hungry. Do you want some help?"
"Please."
Hank stood outside of the hospital on his cell phone. "You can reach me at the Sunnydale Inn, room 412 or my cell if you need me. ... I'm not sure, Janine. I'd like to spend as much time as I can with my daughter and my granddaughter before I have to leave. ... I guess no later than Friday night. What time does my flight leave on Saturday? ... In that case charter a flight to LA from Sunnydale for Saturday morning. ... Yes I realize that's cutting it close, but I have a lot to make up for. Buffy needs me."
The End