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Chapter 15: No worries Buffy laid in bed waiting, the hot bath had done wonders to her aching body but very little to sooth her nerves. It wasn't like Angel hadn't been out fighting demons before but now that she was pregnant, she was worried about him more often and bursting into tears thinking about him fighting without her. She was getting really annoyed with her unbalanced hormones. She heard voices from downstairs, another perk of being pregnant, she was always alert, keeping herself aware of her surroundings. With difficulty she sat up and shifted off the bed, making her way downstairs. At the stairway she noticed that Angel was back. She smiled in relief at the sight but then the smile disappeared as she noticed the blood in his chest. She hurried down the stairs and quickly made her way to him. “Angel”, she breathed out and drew his attention to herself. She sat down next to him on the round settee and inspected the wound, to her small relief she noted the bleeding had nearly stopped. “You got shot?” she questioned and he looked somewhat embarrassed. “It appears that the demon managed to get a hold of the pistol”, Wesley answered as he across the hall walked to them and handed her the emergency kit. “The demon shot you with you own gun?” Buffy questioned incredulously but Angel refused to even meet her eyes, he was too embarrassed. He had been in too much of a hurry to get back home that he had been careless while facing the demon, given his age and experience he thought he wouldn't make such beginners mistakes, but guess he was wrong. “Just one more point that gun equals bad”, she stated and gently removed his jacket, noticing the exit wound on his back and a hole in the jacket. She dipped a cotton ball in alcohol and started cleaning the wound. He hissed at the pain as it burnt. “Sorry”, she whispered and placed a soft kiss to his shoulder. “It's okay”, he assured her, finally meeting her eyes. “How exactly did you get shot with your own gun?” Buffy asked like a mother to a child that had gotten himself in trouble. “I lost the gun”, he answered. “I sort of figured that one”, she stated dryly. He sighed and decided to give her the full answer. “There was more than one demon. I was about to shoot the first one when the other struck me from behind and I lost the gun.” There was a sort pause and he looked at her waiting for her reaction, finally he broke the silence. “I thought you'd be angry with me”, he stated still looking at her with expectant eyes. “I guess you woke up the mother instinct in me”, she answered shrugging and taped the gauze over the wound. “Let's get you to bed”, she said and pulled him to his feet as she stood up. Angel followed her to their bedroom and she pushed him sitting down to the bed. “I promised you that backrub”, he stated with a husky voice and circled her waits with his arms, pulling her to stand between his legs. “And you were supposed to be careful. We'll do that when you're healed”, she shot back and gently pushed him laying down on his back to the bed. She opened his pants and pulled them down before covering him with the sheet. She was about to step back when he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the bed, firmly wrapping his arms around her so she couldn't escape. She laughed and playfully slapped his chest, carefully avoiding the wound on his shoulder. She gave him a loving kiss and rolled to her own side of the bed, snuggling against him, which was getting more and more difficult with her growing belly. “Go to sleep”, she whispered and closed her eyes.
Cordelia walked to the lobby with her old Adidas sports bag on her shoulder. She had packed her sports top, sweatpants and her most comfortable running shoes to the bag so she didn't have to go home to change when she and Buffy were going to start their combat lessons. She headed to the counter but as she was putting down her bag, Angel appeared before her. She let out a startled shriek and jumped back. She tried to steady her breathing, holding her hand on over her heart and glaring at the vampire. “I thought we agreed on that one. No sneaking up on people!” At least he had decency to look sheepish. “Sorry. Buffy's waiting for you downstairs.” “Oukay. I really should watch what I wish for, training first thing in the morning”, Cordelia muttered to herself as she headed to the stairs with her bag. She found a empty room and changed her clothes, still muttering to herself as she made her way to the ballroom they were going to use for training. She found Buffy balancing with a bunch of weapons in her arms and she rushed to help her, pregnant lady and all that. “Are we going to be using these?” she asked while taking some of the load, to her surprise they were a lot heavier than they looked and it was a task to get them to the weapons chest. Buffy chuckled at her question and shook her head vigorously. “Nope. Right now we're concentrating on the basic stuff, defense, footing and breaking free from a hold, stuff like that”, she answered and Cordelia groaned at the thought. “So we just wax on, wax off”, she stated and Buffy laughed shaking her head. “Nope, I show you the moves, you repeat, rehearse and I give you pointers how you're doing. You don't have to go anywhere near Angel's car”, she promised. “That's comforting”, Cordelia muttered. She had already known it wasn't going to be easy and there was no way she would ever pull back, but it didn't mean she had to be enthusiastic about it. “Umm... I guess we should start with the dummy thing, practice some hits and kicks first. You should do some light stretching first”, Buffy said not sure where to start, it wasn't like she had ever trained anybody, she was the trainee. Cordelia did as she was told, stretching her arms and legs form side to side and making sure she was warmed up. She still remembered the time she didn't warm up for a cheerleading practice and pulled a muscle, not something she wanted to go through again. As she was finished, Buffy showed her how to hit the practice dummy, she made few moves in slow motion and stepped back. Even though she was feeling silly, Cordelia went to the dummy and tried to mimic the moves Buffy had showed her. “Bend your knees a little more, you need to be able to move quickly”, Buffy instructed and Cordelia did so, leaving out the comment why would she need to move quickly, it wasn't like the dummy was going to hit back. Buffy gave Cordelia some pointers and as they had managed to repeat the hits with close enough accuracy, she showed Cordelia some kicks and told her to combine the kicks with the hits she had learned. Muttering to herself, Cordelia started pounding her fists against the dummy, kicking it where its crotch would be and after a while of beating the lifeless object, she was actually feeling like she was getting the hang of it. But she stopped suddenly as she noticed Angel standing by the door. She was sweaty and dressed in sweatpants, not a sight she wanted anyone out of the male gender seeing, no matter how much of a brother, she never had and never wanted, the said male was to her. “Looks good”, Angel commented, noticing that Cordelia had stopped immediately after seeing him. “What are you doing here? I thought we agreed this to be girls only session till I get to show off my star pupil”, Buffy questioned with a smile, quickly making her way to where Angel was standing. “I just...” Angel started to answer but was interrupted by Cordelia. “...wanted to check up on the pregnant lady”, she finished for him and walked to the chair where her water bottle was set. Angel sent a halfhearted scowl at her way and turned his attention back to Buffy. “I just wanted to know how you were doing”, he stated and placed his hand on the bump. She smiled brightly, placing her hand over his. “We're doing just fine. As Cordy's been pounding the dummy thingy, junior here has been kicking my ribs”, she answered. She glanced at Cordelia and turned back to Angel. “I think you should go now, I think Cordy is a little embarrassed of being seen in sweats.” Angel looked at Cordelia, just noticing what she was wearing, he turned his questioning gaze back to Buffy. “Why should I care what she's wearing?” he asked clearly not understanding what was the big deal about it. “It's a girl thing”, Buffy stated like it explained everything. “Fine, I'll go. And you, take it easy and don't stay on your feet too long”, he said and placed a soft kiss to her lips before grudgingly leaving the room. Buffy went back where Cordelia was standing and they continued training for another half an hour.
Cordelia screamed in pain and fell down to the floor at the power of the vision. Gunn and Wesley hurried to her side but as usual, no one was there in time to catch her before she fell. Quickly she wiped the tears away and got up to her feet, ignoring questions of her wellbeing, she made her way up the stairs. As she stormed through the door, she wasn't prepared on seeing the lovers in a passionate embrace. With a painful shriek she covered her eyes and started staggering back to the door, only managing to close it by walking backwards into it. “Oh no! Oh no”, Buffy kept repeating to herself, bright red from embarrassment. She grabbed a discarded shirt from the floor and quickly pulled it on, still hiding under the covers. Finally Cordelia managed to find the door by just using her hands as she didn't dare to open her eyes, she had seen all too much already. It would have been comical if everyone in the situation hadn't been so mortified by it. Firmly closing the door behind her, she leaned against it with a sigh and opened her eyes, once again sighing in relief as there were no naked people in front of her. “I actually had something important to say. A vision, with Technicolor, surround sound and even the smell”, she yelled through the door, still leaning against it as though keeping anyone from coming through it. “What did you see?” Angel asked through the door, he had gotten up from the bed and started to put his clothes on, not happy of the interruption. “Bunch of ugly demons in a warehouse, the ones Wesley was looking for yesterday. They had little children captive. And they are so scared”, Cordelia explained, her voice hitching as she thought of the terrified feeling she got from the vision. “Tell Wesley and Gunn to get ready and take pistols with silver bullets from the cabinet”, Angel told her and turned to Buffy who was changing back to her own clothes, still hiding under the sheet. Angel felt a twist at his gut because of the scared look on her face, he also knew what brought it. “Little children”, she whispered to herself with a tiny voice and shifted off the bed fully clothed. “We're going to save them”, he promised her and pulled her into his arms, placing a soft kiss to the top of her hair. “And promise me you won't get shot this time”, she said and craned her neck to look at him. “I try not to”, he told her and she gave him a halfhearted glare. “That's not comforting. You better not to or you're gonna be sleeping on Wesley's couch for a few weeks”, she threatened even though they both knew it was an empty threat. “I'll come back in one piece”, he promised and pulled away from her, heading downstairs with her following.
The men had been gone for nearly two hours and Buffy was getting nervous. She could sit down for a few moments before she got anxious again and started pacing the floor. She was constantly looking at the clock and bursting into tears as she thought about what might have been going on at the warehouse. “I hate these damn hormones”, she muttered to herself and wiped the remaining tears away. Again she looked at the clock and with a growl headed to the weapons cabinet in the hopes of getting her mind off of Angel. “Don't touch the pointy stuff and stop the fidgeting, will you, you're driving me crazy”, Cordelia snapped and Buffy stopped on her tracks, turning to look at the brunette. “Sorry. I'm just angsty. This whole housewife thing isn't really working for me, worrying about if the hubby comes home bleeding. He was just injured and by those things he's after now”, she explained bordering between worried and panicking. 'Damn hormones' she thought to herself once again. “Didn't seem to stop you two few hours ago”, Cordelia muttered but Buffy heard it, blushing furiously. “Umm... Vampires heal fast and... you really should've knocked”, she said turning her gaze away from the brunette and wringing her fingers nervously. “I just got a head splitting vision and I forgot how dangerous it is just to walk in”, Cordelia cried out, she knew that Buffy was embarrassed by it but so was she, it was like walking in on your parents. “Let's change the subject, okay?” Buffy suggested. “That's more than fine by me. And stop the worrying, he'll be fine. He's been a vampire for what, 240 years, it's not like he can't handle couple of ugly demons.” “I know that. But lately I've been having these damn mood swings, one minute I'm fine, the next I'm bawling like a baby on a matter I wouldn't have worried about few months ago”, Buffy explained with a frown. “It's the joys of impending motherhood”, Cordelia said with a fake sigh and sympathetic look. “It's not funny. I'd rather give birth right now to get rid of these mood swings, I haven't cried this lot in years”, Buffy sighed with a pout. They both sighed in relief as the men walked through the lobby door. “Man, that was a good fight”, Gunn said with a wide smile, shaking his head in remembrance. “I quite agree with that”, Wesley joined in. Buffy made her way to Angel, who was bathed in pink blood. The sight was tucking the sides of her lips in the need to laugh but she managed not to. “Any bullet holes?” she questioned and looked at his scrutinizingly, not seeing any human blood among the pink. “Not one”, he promised with a smile. “Okay, there better not be cause I'm gonna do a inspection”, she whispered with a mischievous look in her eyes. She got up to her toes to kiss him but he pulled back. “I'm covered in demon blood”, he protested. “And I don't care”, she stated and pulled him into a kiss. “Ygh”, Cordelia grimaced and hid herself in the office, maybe now that the heroics were done, she could go home. Buffy pulled back and grimaced. “You need a shower”, she stated and started to lead him upstairs. “So how did it go?” she asked him as they made their way to the bedroom. “Killed the demons and got the kids back home. I think one of the mom's tried to hit on Gunn.” “Well that's understandable, he's a good looking guy”, Buffy stated as she walked into the bathroom and turned the water running. Angel followed her and leaned casually against the doorframe. “Should I be jealous?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “I don't think you need to worry”, she answered with a matching grin and pulled him into the bathroom before starting to help him out of his dirty clothes.
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