Chapter One

“I love you.”  Buffy whispered, snuggling up next to him.

Giles didn’t open his eyes, but smiled softly.  “I love you too.”

She lifted her head slightly to look at him.  “Thought you were asleep.”

“I was.”  He replied, opening his eyes and gently stroking her back.  “Then you came home…thinking loudly.  How was patrol?”

“Busy, but incredible.”  She smiled at his raised eyebrow.  “This protection spell you came up with is amazing.  I didn’t even break a nail.  See?”

She lifted her hand and his eyes darted to her nails before returning to her face.  “Is that what your thoughts were about?  Because, while I’m grateful that your nails survived patrol, I get the distinct impression that your thoughts actually had nothing to do with your nails, but more about something else.”

“Sorry.”  She chuckled, almost nervously.

Hearing a tone in her voice, he shifted and rolled onto his side facing her.  “What is it, love?”

“It was only twice…”

He smiled warmly, eyes sparkling in the dim light of the room.  “And it only takes once.  We should probably be grateful it didn’t happen the first time.”

“What the hell are we going to do?”

His smile faded as he looked into her eyes.  “Should we discuss other options?”

Buffy furrowed her brow.  “Other options?  God, no…I just…well, I wasn’t expecting this now.”

“Nor was I.”  Giles admitted carefully.  “But, I’m not exactly unhappy about this turn.”

“No?” 

“No.”  He sighed softly, lifting his hand to brush his fingers through her hair.  “Buffy, we’ve discussed this before…having a family…”

“Yeah, like…a few years down the road!  We’ve just declared our relationship to the Council and – ”

He leaned into her, interrupting her impending panic attack with a kiss.  At least he tried – she continued talking, though her words were now mere mumbles captured by his mouth.  He deepened the kiss, groaning when she pulled away from him.

“Giles!  I’m trying to talk!”

“I know, love.  But, your words were heading down a path that we don’t need to travel.”  He replied, gently stroking her bottom lip with his thumb.

“Huh?”

“We’re having a baby.  Yes, it’s sooner than we had expected – and I’m probably more to blame than you.  Yes, we’ve just declared our relationship – but, why does that even matter?”

“Why are you more to blame?  And…why even is there blame?  I mean…what does that mean?”

“Perhaps ‘blame’ was the incorrect word to use.  All I mean is that…I could have easily paused long enough to pull a condom out of the drawer.  It’s not as if I had run out.  I just…wanted to feel you.  I knew the risks, but…”  He cleared his throat and offered her a nervous smile.  “I was being incredibly ‘like a guy’.”

“I like you as a guy, Giles.  And, it’s not like I couldn’t have said ‘hey, wait…’.  But, I didn’t.  Feeling you inside of me was…”  She took a deep breath as a sudden wave of arousal washed over her.  “Well, you know.”

“Mm-hm.”  He murmured, allowing himself to relish that wave for a moment.  Then he exhaled softly and lifted his hand, brushing his fingers through her hair.  “Tell me what’s on your mind, love.”

She was quiet for a long moment and then shrugged a shoulder.  “I don’t know, it’s just…well, I never thought I’d have a baby before…”

When she trailed off, he understood.  He looked into her eyes, sliding his hand to her hip.

“Do you want to get married?”

“Of course I do.  But, not because I’m pregnant.”

“I’m not asking because you’re pregnant.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.  “You’re asking?”

He looked slightly confused.  “Didn’t I?”

She stared at him for a moment and then laughed.  He smiled brightly and kissed her again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, you’re getting married?”  Willow asked, staring at her best friend.

Buffy nodded, sipping her coffee. 

“You’re pregnant…and you’re getting married…”

“Yep.” 

Willow’s eyes darted to the mug in Buffy’s hand.  “Should you be drinking that?”

Buffy smiled.  “One coffee a day isn’t going to hurt me or the baby.  I drink tea…or water…the rest of the day.”

Willow furrowed her brow.  “Tea still has caffeine in it.”

“Herbal tea.”  Buffy clarified, then narrowed her eyes in thought.  “I wonder if the protection spell includes caffeine…”

“Protection spell?”

“Oh, yeah.  Giles found a spell to keep me and the baby safe while I’m on patrol.  Because…still the Slayer, still need to deal with those that need to be slain.”

“You’re getting married.”

Buffy smiled warmly.  “Yeah, we are.  But, not because I’m pregnant…”

“No, I know.”  Willow smiled in return.  “He’s in love with you.  I think I’m more surprised that you said yes.”

Buffy’s smile faded.  “Huh?  Why would I not?  I’m in love with him too.”

“Oh, no…yeah, I know.  That’s not what I meant.”  Willow spoke quickly, as if to reassure Buffy.  “It’s just that you’ve never really talked about weddings and stuff – I mean, not since I did the ‘let my will be done’ spell.”

“Yeah, that kind of turned me off weddings for a while, I gotta admit.”

“Did you say yes because of the baby?”  Willow asked carefully, widening her eyes when Buffy stared at her.  “I just mean – ”

“No.  I mean, maybe the baby sped things up a little.  But, that’s not why I said yes.”

“How is the baby?”  Willow asked, sipping her milkshake.

“Apparently having a growth spurt.”  Buffy laughed.  “We have a scan next week, can’t wait to see the little guy.”

“Guy?”  Willow asked, slowly lowering her milkshake.

Buffy rolled her eyes.  “Or girl.  It’s just a figure of speech, Will.  It’s way too early to know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“I always thought you’d have a girl.”  Willow mused, shrugging a shoulder.  “You know, Slayers and such.”

“The most recent Slayer to have a baby was back in the 70s and she had a boy.”  Buffy replied with a smile.  “Giles did some research when we found out I was pregnant.”

Willow chuckled brightly.  “Of course he did.”

“I think he’s happy about it.”  Buffy said softly, almost questioningly.

Willow reached over and placed her hand over Buffy’s.  “He’s ecstatic about it, Buffy.”

After a moment of quietness, Willow grinned.

“So, when’s the wedding?”

Buffy laughed, shaking her head in amusement. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, how have you been feeling?”  Rita, the sonographer, asked as she squirted a glob of gel on Buffy’s abdomen.

Giles watched curiously as she spread the gel over the small bump with the probe in her hand.

“I’ve been okay, actually.  A little nausea now and then, but nothing to write home about.  I’ve actually been really hungry, which I wasn’t expecting.  Is that normal?”

Rita laughed gently.  “All pregnancies are different.  Consider yourself lucky.”

Buffy glanced at Giles, squeezing his hand to get his attention.  She smiled when his eyes automatically shifted to hers.

“You okay?”

He returned her smile, gently squeezing her hand back as he moved closer to her.  “Yes, just watching.”

Rita grinned, then gestured at the screen with her thumb.  “Ready to see your baby?”

Giles nodded silently.  Buffy whispered ‘yes’ and tightened her fingers around Giles’.  Rita quietened as she got to work, moving the probe…taking pictures…typing in codes that Buffy was sure Giles would research at some point. 

“Well, this is interesting.”

“Interesting good or interesting bad?”  Buffy asked nervously.

“I guess it would depend on your view.”  Rita smiled.  “Good heartbeats…amazing, actually.  Very strong.”

“Heart…beats?”  Buffy asked in surprise.  “How many heartbeats?”

“Two.”

“What does that mean?”  Buffy asked without thought.

“Either twins or a Time Lord.”  Giles replied quietly, staring at the screen.  “In this case, I’m leaning towards twins.”

Rita snorted a laugh.  “I don’t hear Time Lord jokes often.”

Giles smiled, still staring at the screen.  Buffy stared at Rita in disbelief.

“Twins?  Are you serious?”

“Oh, very.”  She turned the screen further around towards Buffy and leaned over.  She took her time in pointing out the hands, feet, heads, hearts of the two babies.  “They’re very healthy…and measuring around thirteen weeks.”

“That would be right.”  Giles responded, lifting Buffy’s hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her knuckles. 

“Any chance you can tell the sex?”  Buffy asked nervously.

“I can give an educated guess, but can’t be certain yet.  I can tell you that you’ll either have two boys or two girls.”

“Huh?”

“They’re definitely identical.”  She pointed out a blob on the screen.  “One placenta.”

Giles’ eyes glistened.  A tear escaped the corner of Buffy’s eye.

Rita continued speaking, tracing a distinct line on the screen.  “One placenta, but two amniotic sacs.  This is a good thing.  Risks are higher for twins sharing a sac.”

“Holy shit…”  Buffy whispered.  “Twins.  Like…two babies.  At one time.”  She looked up at Giles, eyes wide.  “What the hell are we going to do?”

Rita laughed softly.  Giles grinned and leaned down, brushing his lips over her forehead. 

* * *

“So, you’re not freaking out at all over this.  What’s up with that?”

Giles looked over at her as he stopped for a red light.  “You were expecting me to?”

“Well, yeah.  I mean, if only to make me feel better about the fact that I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“Do you want me to freak out, love?”  He asked, eyes sparkling.

She rolled her eyes and gestured towards the traffic light.  “It’s green.  And…no, not if you’re not actually freaked out.”

“It’s surprising, without a doubt.  But, as long as you and the babies are healthy – I’m okay with this unexpected development.”

“We should find out if they’re boys or girls, shouldn’t we?  I mean…I was okay with the whole wait until he or she is born when there was only one.  But, with two…”

“If you would like to find out the gender, I’m agreeable to that.”

“Well, yeah.  There’s just not the clothes and nursery colors and stuff.  There are names.  I’d much rather come up with two names instead of four.  You’re not going to want to give them weird names, are you?”

“Such as?”  He asked with a chuckle as he turned the car onto their street.

“I don’t know.  Archibald, Harriet, Bertram, Agatha, Engelbert…”  She looked at him sharply when he laughed loudly. 

“Engelbert?  Buffy, that isn’t even his real name.”

“I’m still not naming one of our babies Engelbert.”

“Nor am I.”  He said, still laughing as he pulled into their driveway. 

“I wanted to name a boy Rupert.”

His laughter ebbed as he looked at her.  “What?”

“I wanted to name him after you.  But, with two…”  She shrugged a shoulder and sighed.  “I guess one could be Rupert and the other Edmund, but…” 

She paused as she saw the expression on his face.  “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“I…well, I’d never thought about it, honestly.  You lot have teased me so much about my name over the years, I just assumed that you wouldn’t want to name a child after me.”  He leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her lips.  “But, really…a child named Rupert would just get teased mercilessly.”

“Were you?  Teased over your name?”

“Mercilessly.”  He chuckled softly as he unclipped his seat belt.  “Why do you think I never had an issue with being called ‘Giles’?”

“Didn’t give you much choice in that, to be honest.”  She replied, laughing as she climbed out of the car. 

They walked up the pathway together and he smiled adoringly at her as he unlocked the front door. 

“The fact that you gave serious thought of using my name for our child makes me unbelievably happy.  That’s enough for me.”

“Okay, so…no Rupert or Edmund – which wouldn’t be an issue anyway if we’re having girls.  What do you think?”

“I think we should find out the gender to help alleviate some of the anxiety surrounding this.”  He turned the knob and pushed open the door.  “And I think…we still have at least twenty-five weeks to decide on names.  So, let’s try to not allow it to become an overwhelming task right now.”

Buffy heaved a deep sigh after a moment.  “It’s annoying that you’re right so fucking often.”

He smiled unapologetically, ushering her inside.  “I’ll endeavour to be wrong more often, love.”

“Ugh…fuck you.”  She mumbled playfully, then smiled at him over her shoulder as he closed the door behind them.  “Can we just go to bed?”

He glanced at the clock.  “It’s 2:45…”

“Didn’t say I was tired.”

He exhaled a slow breath as he watched her make her way to the hallway which lead to their bedroom.  “Fair enough.”

Her laugh resonated in the house…and he smiled happily as he followed her.

* * *

Buffy rolled over in order to snuggle up to Giles.  She opened her eyes when she realised that she was alone in the bed.  Yawning, she sat up and glanced at the clock.  Seeing that it was 10:30, she looked at the window…unsure if she had slept through the night or had overslept for patrol.  Either way, she wondered why Giles hadn’t woken her. 

“No sun coming through…”  She mumbled to herself, reaching over and grabbing Giles’ shirt that had been thrown and gotten caught on the footboard.

She ran her fingers through her sleep-tousled hair before slipping her arms into the very long sleeves.  She fastened three of the buttons and walked out of the bedroom, rolling the sleeves up.  She yawned again as she stepped into the living room, then she smiled when she saw her missing fiancé sitting on the sofa…looking at the ultrasound pictures of their children. 

“You let me sleep through patrol…”

He looked up quickly, obviously startled.  “Ah…yes, well…it’s a quiet night.”

She grinned as she sat down next to him.  “You’re fucking adorable.”

“I’m sorry?”  He asked, slightly confused.

“You…all gooey looking at our Briticans.”  She replied, leaning against his shoulder.

He snorted a soft laugh.  “Briticans…”

She sighed as he nuzzled his cheek against her hair.  “What do you think they are?  Can you see anything?”

“Heads, noses, lips, hands, feet…definitely human.”

She looked up at him and shook her head in amusement.  “You expected them to be non-human?”

“I wasn’t expecting them to look like…babies.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, to be very honest.”  He cleared his throat softly.  “As for what I think they are…I’m sure I’ve no idea – but, I’m…”

She furrowed her brow as his voice trembled.  “Giles?”

“Sorry.  I’m…fairly emotional, it seems.”

“They’re amazing, aren’t they?”  She asked, lifting her hand to brush her fingers through his hair.  “Kinda like you.”

He nodded silently, placing his hand on her abdomen.  “I’m somewhat at a loss for words.”

“You?”  She teased gently.

A small smile played on his lips.  “Kiss me, Buffy.”

“That’s the real reason you didn’t wake me, huh?”  She said, leaning up to place a warm kiss on his lips.  “Because…you know where a kiss is going to lead…”

He ran his finger along the buttons holding his shirt closed around her body.  “I didn’t wake you because you needed the sleep.  I want you to kiss me because I love you.  If a kiss leads to more, it’s because you are unbelievably sexy wearing my shirt…and nothing else.”

She grinned, then flicked her tongue against his Adam’s apple as he pulled a button free.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Xander and Willow stared at Buffy, mouths open in shock.  Anya rolled her eyes and smacked Xander’s shoulder with the back of her hand. 

“You won’t even let me have one and she gets two?  How is that fair?”

Xander slowly turned his head towards Anya.  “Um…not my doing, An.  And it’s not that I won’t let you have one, it’s that we’re not ready for children yet.”

Anya narrowed her eyes at him.  “We’re not ready or you’re not ready?”

“Both.”  Xander said bluntly and turned his eyes back to Buffy.  “Seriously though?  Twins?”

Buffy nodded, smiling as she placed her hand on her obvious bump.  “Yep, identical, even.”

“I hope they look like you.”  Anya said, scoffing when the other three stared at her.  “I mean, if they’re girls.  He’s a very handsome man – but, if they’re tiny humans like you and they have his big hands and slightly receding hairline and…”

Xander put his hand on Anya’s arm.  “For the love of all that’s holy, please stop.”

Buffy chuckled softly, then looked at Willow – who had yet to speak.  “You okay, Will?”

Willow laughed gently, nodding less enthusiastically than she normally did.  “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting to hear that news.  You’re full of news these days – it’s been a very busy year for you in your non-Slaying life.”

Buffy looked to the door when the bell rang as it opened.  Her smile warmed as Giles walked in, shrugging his jacket off. 

“Yeah, it really has been the best year ever so far.”

Anya turned and looked at Giles.  “Where have you been?  I know you weren’t with Buffy because she’s been here.  You don’t have a side-piece already because of the twins, do you?  It happens, you know – guys get their girls pregnant, then they run off and fuck around with someone else because their girl is getting bigger and then they blame it on the girl saying sex with a pregnant woman feels weird or some bullshit and – ”

She stopped suddenly – but not because Giles raised his hand in a request for her to stop, but because Xander clamped his hand over her mouth. 

Giles cleared his throat and shook his head, lowering his hand.  “Um…I’m not sure what I’ve walked into here exactly, but no.  I’m not seeing anyone else on the side.  I simply had an errand to run.”

Willow shook her head and glanced at Anya.  “I’m not really sure where that came from either because…that’s not what we were talking about at all.”

Anya pulled Xander’s hand away from her mouth.  “Do you know how many men I’ve eviscerated over the centuries for exactly that? Hundreds, possibly thousands.  Men are fucking stupid at times.  And if you fuck around on her and use that as an excuse, I’ll eviscerate you too!”

“Well, that’s not at all terrifying…and unnecessary.”  Giles mumbled, hanging his jacket up and smiling at Buffy.  “How are you?”

“Great.”  She replied, tilting her head slightly.  “What kind of errand?”

“Do you feel up to a spot of training?”  Giles asked in return, obviously avoiding the question.

She arched an eyebrow at him.  “I’m pregnant, not sick.”

Anya snorted a laugh.  Giles shot her a quick glance. 

“You’ve something to say?”

When she opened her mouth to answer, he quickly continued.

“As a reminder, your answer could very well be directly related to your employment status.”

Willow did her best to bite back her grin.  Xander exhaled slowly. 

“Twins, huh?”  Anya said lamely.

“Mm…”  He offered her a gentle smile then turned back to Buffy, gesturing towards the training room.  “After you, love.”

She gave him a wink, then made her way to the back room – catching Xander’s eye as she walked by him.  “Still a bit of work there, huh?”

Xander chuckled and shrugged a shoulder.  “She’s a work in progress.  She means well though.”

Anya narrowed her eyes.  “She’s standing right fucking here.”

“And I love you.”  Xander said, slipping his arm around her. 

Buffy laughed and pushed open the door to the training room.  Giles followed her in, not taking his eyes off of her as he closed the door behind him.  He slipped his left hand into the pocket of his trousers as he walked over to her.  She turned towards him and smiled.

“So…training?”

His eyes darted to her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes.  “I’m not terribly traditional, never have been.”

“Yeah, I know.”  She said, lifting her hand to his chest. 

“But, Christ, I love you.  And there are things I want to do…properly.”  He swallowed and pulled his hand out of his pocket.  “Things you deserve for me to do properly.”

“Like what?  It’s a little too late for – ”  Her eyes widened as he carefully lowered himself to one knee in front of her.  “Oh…holy shit…”

“I realise that I didn’t actually ask you…properly.”

Her eyes glistened as she laughed.  “Or at all.”

His eyes sparkled, nodding in agreement.  “Or at all.”

“Giles…you don’t have to do this.  Tradition isn’t what I’m after, you know that.”

“I know.”  He opened his hand and smiled as she looked at the diamond ring resting on his palm.  “Will you marry me, Buffy?”

“Idiot…”  She murmured, leaning down to kiss him.  She stopped millimetres from his lips and smiled.  “Of course, I will.”

Her whispered response felt warm against his lips and he sighed, closing his eyes as she kissed him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three weeks later found them back for another ultrasound – there had been nothing wrong, but the doctor had said that he wanted scans fortnightly from sixteen weeks.  When Buffy questioned him, he had said that it was merely precautionary because twin pregnancies can have their own risks. 

And that was the first time that Buffy felt true anxiety in relation to her pregnancy.  Sure, there had been the normal ‘oh shit, I’m pregnant’ moments – but, the thought that something could possibly happen simply because she was having twins was a sobering moment.  Giles did his best to help relieve her anxiety, but he could only do so much – and he knew that she’d not truly be at ease until they saw their babies again.

Now, here they were…a repeat performance of the moment they found out that there were two little Gileses instead of one.  He glanced down at their hands as the sonographer squirted the gel on her abdomen. 

“Love?”

“Huh?”

He grimaced as he blew out a breath.  “A little tight, darling.”

“Huh?”  She asked looking at him and then down at their hands.  “Oh!  Oh, god…I’m sorry.  Are you okay?”

He carefully flexed his fingers and then curled them back around her hand.  “I really feel that everything is going to be alright, Buffy.”

“But, what if it’s not?”  She whispered, biting her bottom lip.  “I’ve read a lot of stuff about what can go wrong in pregnancies…especially twin pregnancies.  And there’s a lot of – ”

He cut her off with a gentle kiss, not really caring that the sonographer was sitting just on the other side of the table.  He saw that she was getting ready to slide straight into a tailspin of doubt and what ifs…and that was definitely not what she needed to do.

“Not fair.”  She whispered with a pout when he slowly pulled away from her lips. 

“Let’s just see how they’re doing today, yeah?”  He said, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

 Buffy nodded in agreement and then looked at the sonographer.  “Okay…let’s do this.”

Rita grinned and placed the probe on her abdomen.  Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as Baby A’s face appeared nearly instantly. 

“Heartrate is perfect, movement is perfect…blood flow is perfect.”  Rita said, then shifted the probe.  She smiled as Giles gasped softly.

“What?  What’s wrong?”  Buffy asked, panic in her tone as she stared at Giles.  “What did you see?  What’s wrong with our babies?”

“I…well, nothing.  At least, I don’t think anything is wrong.”

“But, you went all ‘ahhhh’ in that gaspy way that you do when something is wrong!”

Giles furrowed his brow.  Rita did her best to stifle her laughter.

“Or…when something surprises me.”  Giles said, trying to soothe Buffy. 

“Huh?  What?”

Giles glanced at Rita, his question showing clearly in his eyes.  She gave him a nod in response – he had seen what he thought he had seen.

He cleared his throat and squeezed Buffy’s hand.  “We’re having two boys.”

Buffy stared at him, wide-eyed and confused.  “How could you possibly know that?”

“Because…well, there was…”  He shook his head and blew out a breath.  “I saw the baby’s penis, Buffy.”

“Where?”  When Giles merely stared at her, she rolled her eyes.  “I mean on the screen, Giles.  I was looking at the screen too and I didn’t see it.  And, trust me, I know what they look like.”

Rita lost her battle of stifling her laughter.  Giles’ laughter joined Rita’s within a few seconds.  It took Buffy a moment before her panic dissipated – and then she giggled softly. 

“Can you show me?”  She asked Rita hopefully.

“Absolutely.”  Rita replied, smiling as Baby B turned towards the probe just at the right moment.  “There we go…hello, little guy.”

“Oh…”  Buffy breathed.  “Yeah, definitely your son.”

Rita snorted a laugh.

Giles grinned, even as he blushed deeply.