•••

“I thought they made prenatal vitamins,” Cordelia said hopefully as she stared at the kitchen table. “You know, one big horse pill.”

Oz and Wesley glanced at the table full of bottles. “Two things,” Oz murmured. “Those take a prescription,”

“Which we could get you, but it isn’t worth the effort,” Wesley interjected.

“Not worth the effort?” Cordelia muttered. “Why not? Because you want to watch me choke on…fifteen different kinds of supplements?”

“You’re not human,” Oz continued. “Human prenatal vitamins will make you sick.”

“Oh,” Cordelia whispered. “So nobody makes wolfy vites for with-babies?”

“Nope,” Oz replied. “It’s only twenty-eight tablets a day.”

“We have them organized. Here,” Wesley said, holding up an impressively large tackle box. “You simply follow the chart; box one before breakfast, box two after breakfast, box three with your midmorning snack, box four before lunch, box five after lunch, box six before supper, box seven after supper and box eight just before bed, with a glass of milk.”

“Uh huh,” Cordelia murmured. “You guys aren’t gonna do a tongue check, are you?”

“Are you going to skip your vitamins?” Wesley asked archly.

“No,” She swore. “Gunn’s gonna watch me take them.” Her lover wasn’t about to let anything hurt his babies, even Cordelia. The seer reached for her new, high-fashion accessory and carried it upstairs to her bedroom. The fact that it only contained a week’s worth of vitamins scared her. Yeah, she knew she’d be gaining weight, but she wanted that to be from the babies, not from the tons of vitamins she choked down.

“Those the pills?” Xander asked as she headed up the stairs. “I really don’t envy you, you know.”

“I can tell,” Cordelia muttered. “Have you seen Gunn?”

“Wil and Angel took him to pick up computer parts,” Xander replied. “Then they’re gonna stop by the grocery store and bug Fred.”

“And get some papaya?” Cordelia asked. Xander pulled out a cell phone.

“They are now,” He said as he dialed. If Cordelia wanted papaya, Cordelia got papaya.

•••

“I can’t be sorry.”

Wil glanced over at Gunn, who was in the front passenger seat. “We don’t expect you to be, Charles. We’re not.”

“You thought we’d be angry,” Angel said. He leaned forward, sticking his head between the two men. “We’re happy for you. Children are the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“But now?” Gunn murmured. “It couldn’t be much worse, not without a lot of fire and brimstone.”

Wil shrugged. “So the timing is less than fortuitous. We’ll adjust.”

“I don’t understand why you two are taking this so well,” Gunn stated. “We were careless and now Cordelia’s pregnant, and you two lost Connor…”

“We did,” Angel confirmed. “But that doesn’t mean that we begrudge you your child. As for the timing, I agree with Wil. It does stink, but that is no reason to get upset.”

“And think, Gunn,” Wil said. “You don’t have to fret about four a.m. feedings.”

Gunn smiled. “You got that right. I never really thought about the advantages of vampire nannies.”

“We’re not going to be nannies,” Angel growled. “I am not a nanny.”

“He looks horrible in white frocks,” Wil concurred.

“Nah,” Gunn said, laughing. “You’re more like sucker uncles. I know you’re gonna spoil the kid rotten and teach it to coo and giggle at you guys in gameface.”

Angel grinned. “What? You don’t want your kid to laugh at vampires?”

“It would certainly confuse any he or she ran into,” Wil murmured. “Think; some unwitting fledge thinks it’s found dinner, only their prey starts laughing. Right before staking the vamp, of course,” He added.

“Hah hah,” Gunn muttered. “So why are we really out here? I mean, Oz is usually the one scrounging computer parts, and you two could have told me you weren’t mad back at the house.”

“Do you remember what Oz told you about werewolf pregnancies?” Angel inquired.

Gunn frowned. “Yeah. Uh… not all that different from human pregnancies, although she won’t show quite as much. Mood swings might be a bit more pronounced, but we’ve already seen that. Towards the end she’ll get a bit territorial.”

“What about timing?” Angel pressed.

“He said it would be longer than a human pregnancy,” Gunn replied. “Why?”

“Thirteen months,” Wil murmured.

“Yeah, that’s what he said,” Gunn nodded. “Something wrong with that?”

“We’re supposed to move within the year,” Angel replied. “We were planning to leave in about eleven months.”

Gunn let his head drop back onto the seat. “So you’re saying we have to move Cordelia, when she’s out to here?” He asked, holding his hand away from his belly.

“Either that or risk staying,” Will said. The longer they stayed in one place, the greater risk they ran of being discovered. They’d been in Knoxville for almost two years, so it was time they started planning their next move.

“She’s not gonna like that,” Gunn warned. “A lot.”

“We know,” Angel murmured. “It won’t be pretty.”

The computer part shopping went well; the motherboard Oz wanted had come in. The three men headed for the grocery store, to pick on Fred and get a few things they didn’t have at home.

“Fred!” Wil called out as they slid through the automatic doors. “Busy night?”

“Nope,” Fred replied from behind her cash register. “So far it’s been quiet.”

Wil nodded and ran to catch up with the others. “Why is it that Angel and I end up doing the grocery shopping so often?” He asked Gunn. “We don’t eat this stuff very often.”

Gunn shrugged. “Xander would feed us nothing but junk food, Oz wouldn’t get past the steak and granola, Wesley has the oddest tastes I’ve ever seen, Cordelia does not buy groceries, and Fred works here. We don’t want to torture her with buying food too.”

By the time they got to the register, the cart was full of things the three men thought Cordelia ought to be eating. They watched in surprise as Fred added several papayas. “Xander called. She wants them,” The woman explained. “As soon as possible; she’s growling.”

“Right,” Wil said, waving Angel forward. The dark vampire paid for their food and the three men quickly returned to the car. They did not want to be on the receiving end of one of Cordelia’s mood swings. She got…violent.

•••

“Papaya,” Cordelia moaned, digging into the fruit.

“At least she isn’t eating it with anything weird this time,” Xander commented. The seer werewolf was feasting on fresh papaya, doused in honey and topped with cinnamon granola. It wasn’t Xander’s favorite way of eating the fruit…or anyone else in the house’s, but it wasn’t outright nauseating. Lately Cordelia had been doing some damned strange things to food, like eating cold cereal with chicken broth instead of milk. It was enough that Xander had changed his eating habits. Now the Raphe took his meals outside, in his bedroom, or anywhere else that Cordelia wasn’t inhabiting. She nearly put him off chocolate when she used it to flavor sauerkraut.

“It’ll pass,” Oz assured his lover.

“Uh huh,” Xander grunted. “Well, we’d better install that motherboard. We’re holding up the research.” He and Oz left for the computer room, where Oz began to install the motherboard while Xander worked on rewiring Gunn’s stereo. “What do you think it’ll be?” He asked Oz once both men were buried up their elbows in electronics.

“What?” Oz murmured.

“The baby. What’s it gonna be?” Xander repeated.

“Werewolf,” Oz stated. “Babies of werewolves are always werewolves.”

“Smartass, I meant will it be a boy or a girl?” Xander replied.

Oz shrugged. “Dunno, girl?”

“You’re no fun,” Xander mumbled. Then something occurred to him. “So this is gonna be a werewolf baby. Will it wolf on full moons?”

Oz nodded. “Yup, from the very first one. Remember how I got turned?”

“But that kid was in human baby form,” Xander recalled.

“He wolfed too,” Oz stated. “But cubs are fun,” He continued. “Easy to keep up with.”

“Easy? As in, stays in the crib, easy, or looks like a puppy so we can put it on a leash, easy?” Xander asked.

Oz growled. “Looks like a puppy, keep the leash away, easy.” Nobody was going to leash a wolf, even a cub, in his pack.

“Chill, Oz, I was just kiddin’,” Xander muttered. “Nobody’s gonna do anything to hurt her cub/baby/thingy. By the way, what is the right word for it?”

“Depends. A lot of werewolves call them kids or children, just to keep from having to answer questions. But the technical term is cub,” Oz replied. “Haven’t asked Cordelia which she prefers.”

“Could you hand me the needle-nosed pliers?” Xander asked. “I’ll be she goes cub. Nobody around to ask uncomfortable questions.”

•••

The next ‘family’ dinner was a cautious affair. Two weeks had passed since Cordelia’s breakdown in the kitchen and this was the first time they’d all tried to actually sit down together for a formal meal. In honor of the occasion, candles were lit, wine was uncorked…and juice for Cordelia, and someone had even ironed the tablecloth.

“Who cooked?” Xander asked as he pulled out Oz’s chair. “It smells great.”

“Cordelia and I,” Fred murmured. “Don’t make one crack, Xander, or I’ll chase you down myself.”

Xander gulped. “Like I said, smells great.”

“Stop bitching,” Cordelia said as she walked into the room. “I’m over that weird food stage. No more nasty onion jell-o.”

“Good to hear,” Xander choked out. He remembered the onion jell-o a bit too well. He glanced over at Wes, who also had a bit of a green tint to his face. “Where are Angel and Wil?”

“Right here,” Angel said as he stepped up to the foot of the table. Wil moved around to the other side, taking his place at the head. “Xander, don’t make crude remarks about Cordelia.”

“I wasn’t!” Xander denied. “Really, I wasn’t. The food looks wonderful.”

“And it didn’t before?” Cordelia asked calmly.

Xander bit his lip and refused to say a word. He was not going to get beaten up tonight. He wasn’t. Absolutely not.

Cordelia grinned. “We’re just giving you a hard time, Xan.”

“I know,” He murmured. “Can we eat now?”

Food was passed around the table, compliments were given, and the entire group was generally quite cheerful. It was hard to be gloomy with the quantities of wine and food they were consuming, in honor of a peaceful house, a successful month trying to defeat Wolfram & Hart, and a generally good atmosphere.

“So what are you going to name the cub?” Xander asked Cordelia. He’d been wanting to ask for a week now, but never could get up the courage.

Cordelia grinned. “Sebastian.”

“Uh uh,” Gunn denied. “Julian.”

“Or maybe Artemisia, if it’s a girl,” Cordelia murmured.

“No way,” Gunn replied. “Thalia.”

“What about Philip?” Xander suggested. “Or Felix.”

“Felix?” Wesley echoed. “The child will be a werewolf, Xander. They’re not going to name it something related to felines.”

“Ophelia?” Fred murmured. “Or maybe Cassandra?”

“She was damned,” Wil said. “No one believed her. I’d go with Beatrice, or Benedick.”

“You would, Shakespeare,” Angel muttered. “Ian’s a nice name. So is Colin, Siobhan, Maeve…”

“Irish, are we?” Xander shot back. “Gregory, Geoffrey, Michael, William, Timothy, Theodore, Matthew, Lucas…”

“Amos, Job, Jacob, Malachi, Abel, Cain, Ham, Noah, Abraham,” Oz continued.

“Getting a bit Old Testament, are we?” Wil commented.

“Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes, Romans…” Fred whispered.

“Like I want a kid named Pentateuch, Apocrypha, or Talmud,” Gunn growled.

“What’s wrong with the Talmud?” Wesley inquired.

“Nothing at all,” Gunn said. “But would you want to walk around with the name of a religious text? I mean, just imagine. ‘Hi there, Bible Talmud Chase-Gunn. How’s it hanging?’”

The table cracked up. “No worse than ‘Deuteronomy Malachi,” Wesley shot back.

“I really do like Ian,” Angel said to himself.

“What if it’s a girl?” Xander asked. “What about Mare, Monica, Allison, Maria…”

“Alan Francis,” Cordelia murmured.

“Francis?” Xander replied.

“It’s a beautiful name,” Angel said quietly.

“So’s Connor,” Cordelia replied. “But that’s all a long way off,” She said, brightening. “And we’re celebrating here! Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we have to go back to work.”

“Hear, hear!” Xander said. “The Queen has spoken; let us imbibe and consume!”

•••

Angel opened the screen door for Fred as they stumbled into the house. Work had been tiring for both of them; the grocery store had been understaffed and Vince had decided to throw a 25th anniversary bash at the video store. As a result, both investigators were about to collapse. “My word,” Wesley murmured, reaching for Fred. “Falling down after work is certainly becoming a habit around here.” Fred smiled weakly and let Wesley carry her upstairs.

Wil heard the two come in and walked downstairs, only to find Angel slumped against the front door. “Vince really worked you over tonight, hmm?” He asked as he pulled Angel away from the door and towards the stairs.

“Customer appreciation and anniversary sale,” Angel muttered. “I was in charge of demonstrations.” Wil stopped dead in his tracks.

“Demonstrations?” He murmured. “What kind of demonstrations?”

“Not that kind,” Angel replied. “Turning on and off vibrators, putting dildos into harnesses, adjusting said harnesses, explaining how to use liquid latex, painting said liquid latex onto arms and legs to demonstrate, explaining how to use cock rings and buttplugs, drawing diagrams of how to use anal beads…”

“You should’ve been a teacher,” Wil said lightly, resuming their trek to the bedroom. “I’m sure Vince was suitably grateful.”

Angel grinned briefly. He wanted to just fall over on the bed and pass out, but Wil was preventing him from doing that by trying to remove the dark vampire’s clothes. Angel pushed his hands away, doing the chore himself. First, though, he had to empty his pockets. The first thing he fished out was a set of cock rings, strung on a loop of silk rope. “Oh, Vince was very appreciative.” He tossed the rings to Wil.

“Very nice. Steel, silver, ribbed… He has good taste,” Wil murmured. He looked up just in time to catch three plugs that came flying at his face.

“The green one vibrates,” Angel warned. “And the red one is for Gunn.”

“Gunn?” Wil murmured, his attention focused on the green plug. Vibrating…he could think of so many evil things to do with that one…

“Told Vince about the kid. He figured it was high time Gunn broadened his horizons,” Angel replied. He carefully handed over the next items he found in his coat pockets. They were in glass jars and he really didn’t want to break them.

“Ohhh…” Wil moaned, seeing what Angel had given him. Vince had an in with a local supplier of massage oils and ointments, which sold very well at the store. Of course, Angel didn’t tell Vince that the reason they sold well was that while they were pleasant enough for humans, they were particularly…stimulating for most demons. They were the primary reason why nonhumans visited Vince’s store. Angel had thanked him profusely for the six jars he’d given the vampire, knowing that Wil would drool over them.

“Oh, and this too,” Angel said, handing over the last item. “Vince said we had to take it, since we bought the other one.” Wil glanced down, eyes widening when he saw a milky white jade dildo that was an exact match for the one he’d made Angel buy from the shop.

“Vince’s gratitude knows no bounds,” Wil murmured. “Are you sure that all you did was talk and draw pictures?”

Angel grinned. “I helped push the product,” He admitted. “According to Vince, nothing sells sex toys better than a hot guy willing to discuss anal sex.”

Wil choked on his laughter. “He’s got a point, you know.” He could well imagine Angel, blushing slightly despite himself, wielding a dildo as he crooked the fingers of his free hand, explaining how to find a man’s prostate. Yeah, he’d have bought something from the shop too, if he’d been there. “Too bad you didn’t call. I’d have gone.”

“That would’ve been bad,” Angel warned. “The place was…”

“I can tell,” Wil assured him. “If you weren’t nearly unconscious, I’d jump you.” The blonde sighed. “As it is, I’ll have to wait until morning.”

Angel nodded and finished undressing. He was still revved up from the evening’s work, but he was also tired enough that he couldn’t manage anything. Yeah, they’d have to wait, at least for a few hours.

“Besides, while you’re sleeping, I’m gonna go give Gunn his new toy!” Wil said, waggling the small red plug. “Or maybe I should give it to Delia.”

Angel grinned and climbed into bed. “Give it to Gunn, but do it later. Come sleep with me now.” Wil set the toy down and joined Angel in bed, wrapping himself around his exhausted lover. He could wait to see Gunn’s face. Besides, he wanted Xander there too. Gunn had given Xander a lot of grief about the ball gag, so the Raphe was due a bit of payback.