Title: Humanitis
Author: Saber ShadowKitten

(notes in part one)

After putting the Penicillin in the fridge, Buffy joined the couple on the couch in front of the television. Oz leaned forward and picked a plastic bag off the floor and handed it to her. "What's this?"

"We figured we were staying overnight," Willow explained. "So we picked up some clothes and stuff for you and me while we were out. Oz had a change of clothes in the van."

"Spike told me once the couch in the upstairs sitting room folds out," Oz said. "And there's a trundle bed in the small bedroom."

"You guys don't have to stay," Buffy told them.

"We know," Willow replied. "But we want to. Plus, we get to play in this cool house."

Buffy looked around the large room, taking in the large entertainment center, shelves upon shelves of books, movies and CDs lining the surrounding walls. Two overstuffed couches, end tables, a coffee table and a rocking chair sat in front of the entertainment center. Plants, freestanding lamps and artwork decorated the great room. The several windows in the room were boarded over from the inside and a baby grand piano was sitting in front of black spray painted French doors. In one corner, she saw a toy chest with a wooden rocking horse near it. "I don't want to know how he got this house," she commented, thinking about the children's room she saw upstairs.

"He bought it for a hundred bucks," Oz said. Buffy looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "He met a guy in a bar whose wife and kid died in a car accident. The guy wanted to escape, but couldn't because of all the bills and the house, so Spike bought it from him and agreed to pay off all of his debts. I guess the two of them passed out here and when Spike got up the next night, the dude was gone only taking his clothes and photos."

"You're kidding," Buffy said. Oz shook his head no. "How in the world does he pay for it then, the bills and the mortgage and electricity and whatever else?"

"He's a hacker," Willow answered with a grin and an excited bounce. "He's way better than me, too."

"What did he do? Rob a bank online?"

"No," Oz replied. "What he did was ingenious, actually. He picked several overly large companies that make electronic business transactions daily, then routed one cent from random deposits to his own accounts set up all over the world."

"One cent? That's not very much," Buffy said.

"Multiply that one cent by the number of deposits made per day, then by the number of companies," Willow explained. "He's making close to $100,000 a day! I can't wait to go downstairs and check out his computer."

Buffy's mouth dropped open. "Wow." A loud knock sounded on the door, making her jump. Oz rose to his feet and ambled to it.

"Pizza's here," Willow told her, standing as well to go to the kitchen to get napkins and drinks.

Oz returned with the pizza and set it on the coffee table, then joined Willow on the second couch. "Dig in," he instructed, opening the box.

After a few minutes of eating, Buffy looked thoughtfully at her friends. "You guys seem to know an awful lot about Spike."

"We're friends," Oz repeated the statement he made earlier.

"But why?"

"He called to ask a question and we got to talking," Oz answered Buffy. "He's cool."

"And Oz tells me stuff," Willow added, smiling at her boyfriend.

"I thought you told me stuff, too, Will," Buffy said.

"I promised Oz I wouldn't," Willow told her. "Spike's kind of a private person."

"Actually, the cat has already escaped the bag," Oz said.

"What?" Buffy asked, confused.

"You know that he loves you," Oz replied. "And his refrigerator seems to, as well."

Willow tittered and Buffy rolled her eyes. "Why would it be a big secret if you already knew because Willow knew that I knew that he loved me and boy that was a mouthful," Buffy said to Oz.

"Angel," Willow answered for the werewolf.

"Oh," Buffy said softly, eyes on the pizza in her hand.

"What are you going to do, Buffy?" Willow asked her best friend.

"I'm going to help Spike get better, then get to know him better," Buffy replied, taking a bite.

"How much better?" Willow said mischievously.

Buffy choked on her pizza. "Willow!"

Willow and Oz had disappeared into the basement to play with Spike's computer and the Slayer prowled around the house a few hours later. Buffy had gone to check up on the sick former vampire to find him sleeping peacefully, then cleaned up the remnants of dinner. Now she was standing in the smaller bedroom that had been set up for a child.

Her eyes lit on the toys in the room, the teddy bear wallpaper, the little table and chairs. The man who owned the house must have had a little girl because of the princess costume she'd found in the closet, the rest of the clothes being boxed up and on the floor in the large walk-in.

Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, her heart sad from the loss the man must have felt. Then, she lifted up her tank top and looked down at her belly. Growing in her womb was a child who would one day have a room like this. She put her hand over her lower abdomen, thinking about the tiny life inside of her. Her baby. Spike's baby.

Smiling softly, she stood and walked to the master bedroom. Spike lay on his stomach, the covers having been kicked down to his waist, the T-shirt he was wearing bunched under him. Buffy went over to the bed and sat, gently smoothing his sleep-tussled hair back from his forehead. She studied his peaceful features and thought back to the times she'd interacted with him the year before.

From the moment she had seen him in the school, she had known she'd met her match. He was as strong as her, if not more so, witty, sarcastic and full of life. She giggled quietly as she remembered how he told her he messed up her doilies. Then she recalled the look of panic and fear in his eyes when she held a stake to Drusilla's heart. The love he had for the vampiress had been true and real, making her doubt that vampires did not have souls.

Then came the day he asked for her help. To save the world and his princess. Granted, his motives were not sterling, but the fact he had come to his mortal enemy spake of his conviction to stopping Angel and his love of Drusilla. Buffy remembered feeling the tension walking back to her house with him, as if something was under her skin, itching to get out. At the time, she thought it was because what she really wanted to do was kill him. Now, she was not so sure.

Buffy had to admit that she did think of Spike every once in awhile after she had run away, then returned to Sunnydale. She wondered if he and Drusilla were the happy couple once more, if he did indeed leave the country as promised, if he knew of the sacrifice she made to save this world and his love.

Then he appeared drunk and heartbroken back in Sunnydale. He was pathetic and annoying and utterly infuriating. However, he spoke the truth about her and Angel, that they would love each other until they died, but could never be just friends. And he was right, she would always love Angel, she could just no longer be in love with him. Just like Spike would always love Drusilla, even though he now loved her.

Her mind lit upon something Oz told her earlier and she frowned. "August? But that would be before he came back hurting over Drusilla," she said to herself. Then she thought about what Willow had said about the Chaos Demon and the vampiress, and pieced together that perhaps Drusilla had turned to someone else because Spike had done so, whether he knew it or not.

Spike muttered something unintelligible in his sleep, shaking her from her memories. Buffy lightly traced his scar with her finger. "I guess you're dreams weren't that far off," she whispered. He stirred slightly and she stood, quickly leaving the room. She sat down on the couch in the sitting room, curling her feet under her and looking at the boarded up window.

*What am I going to do?* Buffy thought, one hand rubbing her lower abdomen gently. *Who ever heard of a pregnant Slayer? And what do I tell Spike? Or Angel? I don't think ‘hi honey, I got knocked up by the vampire turned human you loathe. Yes, I know you have to have sex to get pregnant.' I can see that going over well.*

She sighed, laying her head down on her arm. *Maybe I just won't say anything until I absolutely have to. My luck, I'll lose the child anyway from my slaying duties.* With that depressing thought, the Slayer drifted off to sleep.