Rating: Pg-13/R
Disclaimer: Not mine
Spoilers: "Broken Hearts" and "Rebuilding"
Author's notes: Ok I thought I wasn't going to write another story in this series, but I got an idea and had to run with it. So please don't yell at me for giving these characters more angst, but I'll try to have a happy ending.
Dedication: To all those who asked for another sequel.

Part 1:

Buffy sat helplessly as she watched her daughter's face contort in pain. She pushed Emma's damp dark hair out of her face, she felt Emma grab hold of her hand as she tried desperately to keep her breathing even through the waves of pain.

"Mom, it hurts." Emma breathed.

"I know, Emma." Buffy replied, stroking her face gently.

"Where's Dante?" Emma asked quickly, fear pushing past the pain.

Buffy swallowed hard. "He'll be here soon."

"He promised me..." Emma took a deep breath as another wave of pain crashed over her body. "...that he'd be here."

"I know, he'll be here." Buffy hoped she sounded convincing, but it had been hours since any of them had seen her son-in-law. Six hours in fact, six hours since Dante had said he was going to run an errand. Five hours since Emma had called Buffy because her water had broke and Dante wasn't home.

Buffy took a deep breath and tried to remain calm, she had had an foreboding feeling all day and this wasn't helping any. Angel and Spike were out looking for Dante, but they would have to stop soon because of the rising sun. She turned slightly when she heard the door open. A man in blue hospital scrubs walked in, a slight frown marring what could be called a handsome face. He picked up the print out from the monitor, reading it quickly.

"Emma, the baby's heart rate has dropped dramatically and yours has increased. I think it would be safe to say we need to do a C-section."

"NO!" Emma shouted, fear present in her voice.

"Emma it will be alright." Buffy told her daughter. "I'll be right here when you come out and so will Dante."

Emma visibly relaxed and the doctor told them that he would start the preparations.

*************

Buffy definitely didn't like the look on Willow's face as she walked out into the waiting room. She noticed that Cass and AJ held similar expressions on their faces. That foreboding feeling rose in the pit of her stomach.

"What's wrong?"

"Spike called." Willow said, her eyes filling with tears. "They found Dante. We need to get to Giles'."

Buffy nodded slowly, before turning to the two sitting in the plastic chairs. "You'll stay here?"

"Yeah." AJ replied.

Buffy and Willow turned quickly and left.

*********

The feeling only got worse when Buffy entered Giles' house and saw the dark looks that graced Angel, Spike and Giles' faces. Willow didn't speak the entire ride from the hospital to Giles', so Buffy dreaded hearing what happened.

"What happened." She demanded. No one answered her. "Angel." She watched as her husband shifted uneasily on from one foot to the other.

"Dante was attacked." Giles started to explain. "Angel found him, he was still alive, but..."

"Dying." Buffy finished the sentence for him. "You turned him, didn't you?"

Angel shifted again. "I couldn't let him die on Emma and the baby."

"His soul?"

"He still has it. Giles thinks it's because he was already half vampire." Willow explained softly.

"I want to see him." Buffy replied in a whisper.

"He's up stairs." Giles replied.

************

When Buffy got to the upstairs bedroom she found Dante sitting on the bed with his back to her. He was staring out into empty space, as if her could see through the heavy curtains that covered the windows.

"How is she?" He asked without turning around.

"She's doing...they had to do a C-section. The baby's heart rate was too low for her to deliver naturally." Buffy stared at his back. "You should be there..."

"I can't. Not like this."

"Dante, she needs you." Buffy protested.

"NO! She needs who I was yesterday, she needs the old Dante." He growled.

"Dante..."

"Get out, just get out."

Buffy sighed before turning to leave. "Please think about Emma first Dante, before you do anything stupid." She said and closed the door behind her.

Dante lowered his head into his hands and wept.

Part 2:

Dante walked the halls of Sunnydale General, following the signs that led to the Maternity Ward. He had thought long and hard while pacing in Giles bedroom. Buffy was right, he needed to see Emma, at least once and he was out the window as soon as dusk had hit. Putting on his best smile he walked up to the Nurses Station.

"Can you tell me what room Emma Rosenburg is in..."

"I'm sorry I can't let you see her. I gave her something to make her sleep about an hour ago. She needs her rest." The heavy set nurse behind the counter replied.

"I'm her husband." Dante told the nurse.

She gave him an angry glare, but told him the room number anyway. When Dante saw the look he knew exactly what the nurse had been thinking. **If you are her husband, why weren't you here when she gave birth to your baby**

The thought ran screaming though Dante's head as he walked toward the room. Emma was asleep, this was going to be easier on them both. Right now Dante couldn't bare to face her wide awake. Dante slowly turned the handle on the door and quietly entered the room. Emma lay asleep on her side, facing him. She had managed to kick the blankets off her body and were bunched around her feet.

He smiled down at her as he pushed her hair out of her face. She looked so beautiful with the light of the moon streaming down on her from the near by window. Dante gently moved his hand down over her side and across her now flat stomach. He had gotten so used to seeing it large and swollen the past few months, that her new condition almost didn't seem real. Dante removed his hand when he saw her wince in pain in her sleep.

Carefully not to wake her he slowly pushed the hem of her night gown up until it was resting just above her belly button. From her navel down almost to where her dark curls start was an incision. Dante traced around it with an almost non-existent touch, hoping that the scar would fade away just like the ones on her wrists had started to do. Pressing his lips to it in a feather like kiss, he pulled her night shirt back down.

Dante started when he heard a small noise come from the other side of the bed. Moving as quietly as he could he rounded the bed. There in a plastic crib, lay a small, squirming bundle. Deftly he picked the bundle up and cradled it against his chest. The squirming stopped and the baby seemed to fall back to sleep. Dante looked at the sign on the end of the plastic crib. All it had on it was Emma's name and that the baby was a boy. No sign of what she had named him.

Still in a bit of a daze Dante made his way over to the old rocking chair in the corner of the room. The only real fight he could remember them having was over what they were going to name the baby. They had been through a baby name book twice, constantly arguing over the various names that they like. In the end they had just given up and said they would deal with it later. That's when a nurse walked in with a bottle in her hand. She smiled at Dante and seemed a lot friendlier than the nurse behind the desk.

"He's probably hungry." She said in a quite whisper, handing him the bottle.

Dante pressed the nipple of the bottle against his son's mouth, like he was shown to do at the classes they had taken, until the baby greedily took it into his mouth.

"Can you tell me his name?" Dante asked quietly, still amazed by the bundle in his arms.

"Liem Angelus." The nurse smiled. "She said they were old family names."

Dante chuckled. "Yeah."

"Just bring the bottle out when you're done." The nurse told him before walking out of the room.

Dante looked down at the baby, then over to Emma's sleeping form. "Well, Liem, this is a fine mess that I've gotten us into is it?"

Dante sighed, holding and rocking his son into the early hours of the morning until the sun forced him to leave his family.

*********************

Willow slowly walked toward Emma's door. She was dreading going into the room. She and Buffy had agreed to tell Emma about Dante together. She hated to see how Emma was going to react. Spike and Angel said they would be there later. Willow slowly opened the door, Emma looked expectantly toward it but frowned when she realized who it was.

Buffy paced in front of the window with the baby cradled to her chest. His faint cries still clung to the air as Buffy placed him back into the plastic crib.

"I want to know where Dante is." Emma demanded. "And I know you two know where he is."

"Emma, Dante was...attacked the other night that's why he wasn't here with you." Buffy started slowly.

"Then where is he now?" Emma asked, dread building up in the pit of her stomach.

"He was dying." Willow replied. "Your dad turned him."

Tears started to fall from Emma's deep brown eyes. Buffy sat down on the edge of the bed.

"It was the only way Angel could save him." Buffy pleaded.

Emma didn't reply, instead she turned over onto her side and started to sob into her pillow.

Part 3:

Spike slowly walked into Emma's hospital room to find her staring out the open window at the night sky. Her legs were pulled up under her with her head resting on the wall next to the window. Liem was in his plastic crib next to her, sleeping soundly.

"Emma?"

She turned to look at him with hallow, empty eyes. It was a look that he had hoped he wasn't going to see. Willow had said that Emma hadn't taken the news about Dante very well. She might have taken it better if his son had visited his wife. Spike stopped in front of the crib and looked down at the sleeping infant. He looked so peaceful, so ignorant of what was going on around him.

"He's beautiful Luv." He had told her that before, but he thought she needed to hear it again.

"Then why doesn't he want to see us?" Emma asked in a child-like voice.

Spike didn't know how to answer that question. He knew that Dante loved this woman more than anything on the face of the planet. He also knew that Dante was going through something that he didn't understand. He was angry, upset and scared. Spike sighed, he hated this.

"Does he not love me any more?"

Spike knelt down in front of Emma and placed a hand under her chin so that she was looking at him. "Don't ever think that, Luv."

She started to sob and Spike pulled her into a hug. "It'll be alright."

***********

"Dante?" Angel called into the dark room.

"Go away! I don't want to talk to you." Dante yelled from the shadows.

"We need to talk." Angel sighed.

Dante stepped out of the shadows, a scowl firmly planted on his face. He noticed the half empty bottle of rum, gripped tightly in Dante's hand.

"I know what you're going through..."

"You have no idea what I'm going through! SO don't even say it." Dante spat. "You don't even know what it's like. I can feel the demon, I can hear him. He's pointing out all the humans walking around, asking me why I haven't fed yet." He stepped closer to Angel.

"I can smell them, their blood is calling to me. Every night getting stronger. So strong that it's slowly driving me insane. One of these nights it's going to be to much for me and I'll fed on the first human I can get my hands on, and with that life so goes with it my soul." He took another step closer to Angel, rage clearly etched across his handsome face.

"If I stay here the first one to die at my hands is going to be Emma. Who better to satisfy the bloodlust of my demon than the blood of my wife...or better yet how about the blood of my son. I can see it now, her drained body laying across our bed with our son's body on her chest." Dante back away from Angel and turned his back on him.

"And do you know who I have to thank for that lovely image, that haunts my dreams and my every waking moment?" He suddenly spun around to face Angel again.

"YOU! Angel, you once again have ruined your daughter's life. You weren't here when she tried to take her life because she thought her parents didn't love her. You didn't see all the blood that spilled out of her wrists and stained the floor...I still have nightmares about it." Dante sighed.

"You need to leave, or I might take you with me come sunrise." Dante disappeared back into the shadows leaving a speechless Angel to his thoughts.

*******

"Emma?"

Emma turned to see Angel standing in the doorway gripping a large teddy bear in his hands. He sat it in the chair that was closest to the door.

"Mom told me what you did."

Angel held an un-needed breath waiting for Emma to start yelling, but she never did.

"I understand. Thank you." Emma sniffled. "I just don't understand Dante."

Angel sat down on the bed. "He doesn't understand himself right now either. He is scared to death that he's going to hurt you or Liem in some way."

Emma scooted over and laid her head on her father's shoulder. "I know he wouldn't hurt me."

"You don't know that."

She looked up at him, brown eyes meeting brown. "You didn't hurt mom."

Part 4:

The garden seemed deathly quiet as Emma walked out into the moonlit patio. She took a deep breath of of the cool night air. The strong scent of jasmine and alcohol assaulted her senses. She saw Dante sitting on one of the wooden benches his feet were propped up on the stone birdbath. His eyes were closed as if he was asleep. That was refuted when he spoke to her.

"What are you doing here?"

"This is my home too, remember." Dante opened his eyes to glare at her. Emma crossed her arms over her chest, returning his glare. "I'm not leaving Dante. Not until you come inside."

"No." He turned his back on her.

Emma huffed and stormed over to him. She grabbed him by the arms and hulled him to his feet, causing him to stumble backwards. She knew that she shouldn't be this physical two days after giving birth, but anger was clouding her actions.

"I am not going to let you do this damn it. You promised that you were going to be there when OUR son was born, but I understood and forgave you because of what happened. But I refuse to let you give up on us completely. I grew up without parents, Dante. I know what it's like and I refuse to put my son through that. And despite what you may think my father didn't ruin my life. He gave me back the most important person in my life."

Dante couldn't look at her. He just kept his eyes on the cobble stone floor.

"Dante, I know you are scared, but we can get through this. We've gotten through worse." She slowly walked over to him. She cupped his face and brought his lips down to meet hers.

He pulled back suddenly, turning his face away from her gaze. When she pulled it back to face her again, Emma was staring into a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Her fingers lightly traced over the rough bumps and ridges of his demonic face. Pulling him closer she kissed him again, letting her tongue trace around his lips before she plunged it into the depths of his mouth. She cut her bottom lip on his fangs, causing her blood to well up in both of their mouths. Emma refused to let him pull away when he started to taste the coppery liquid. She need to show him that she wasn't afraid. The kiss continued until Emma needed air and Dante's face had reverted back to normal.

"I love you Dante...all of you. I always have and I always will."

"I love you too Em."

She smiled up at him. "Now come on, let's go see your son."

***********

Dante watched Emma sleep from the shadows of the bed room door. Eight weeks, two months, he had stayed with her. He was still terrified that he was going to do something to her or to Liem, which is why he slept in a separate bed room on the far end of the mansion, but Emma seemed to trust him completely and was understanding, letting him have his space.

"Dante?" She asked sleepily.

He stepped out of the shadows into the thin stream of moonlight.

"What are you doing?"

"Just watching you sleep."

Emma smiled and propped herself up on an elbow. She motioned for Dante to sit down on the bed.

"Can't sleep?" She asked him as he sat down.

"It's weird. I want to sleep like I used to, but I can't. It's really thrown me Em."

"I know." She replied, reaching up to caress his cheek.

Dante leaned into her touch, her fingers feeling like fire kissing his flesh. Slowly he reached down and kissed her. Letting his tongue invade the warm cavern of her mouth. Her arms locked around his neck as they continued to kiss. It had been so long since they had done this that Dante couldn't get enough. Before either of them knew it they were unclothed with Dante buried deep inside of Emma. They had become whole again, even if it was for one night.

Part 5:

Dante woke slowly from his sleep. A warm body pressed was flush against his with a dark head pillowed on his chest. Gone were his fears of hurting her, his demon had accepcted her as Dante's mate. But with the old fears gone new ones replaced them. He was still going to lose her, though it was many years down the road when her dark hair would be silver, it still scared him to be without her. He shivered and pulled her closer to him.

"What are you thinking about?" Emma asked, turning her head so she could look at him.

"Nothing." Dante replied quietly.

Emma sighed, placing her head back on his chest. "I miss your heartbeat."

"I know." Dante ran a hand over her hair, letting the soft tresses slip through his fingers.

"What are we going to do now?" She asked, tracing patterns over his chest.

"Not much we can do, but live and love." Dante smiled when he heard the loud cry coming from the basinet. "And raise our son."

Emma slipped out of bed, picking Liem up out of the crib. She walked slowly back to the bed, laying back against Dante. Dante watched his family quietly as Emma slowly nursed the baby. He took a deep sigh of relief, pushing his fears out of his mind for the moment and enjoying the quiet time.

Go to the next story When the Bough Breaks

Send feedback to Amazon

Back to the Fanfiction Archive