Ash kissed Lynne's forehead and left, reluctant and still terrified for her, in spite of everything.  Until she opened her eyes, until he heard her voice and saw her smile the fear would be with him.

Damon took him back to Cliffhouse and Buffy's command post.  Dec and Cayden were on the phones and Buffy was just hanging up.  He shoved everything into the black pit inside of him including his rage and the crawling feral need to destroy whoever had done this to her and took a seat.  "They say she's going to make it," he said.  "Now what can you tell me?"

"We've got four prisoners in the cellars from the attack and, I'm delighted to tell you, the sniper. We figured we'd wait to talk to them until you were here," Buffy said. "I'm so glad, Ash," she added, "about Lynne."

He nodded.  "Thanks.  Anything else?"

"I've got detailed reports from the others who were hit. Kiril and Jareth returned home. I'm not sure where Penny is. Matt left also."

"Okay.  I assume Phoenix and Griff are leaving as well?"

She nodded.

"Anything from the boat, Buff?" Damon asked?

"I've got some evidence which I'm looking at. It'll take a bit, boss. I figure talking to the guys we've got plus what I got on the boat, well, we should be able to figure out something about who was behind it."  Buffy looked at Ash, and offered, "You don't have to be involved unless.. Well.."

"Then let's talk to them," he said and without waiting for an answer headed for the cellars.

Damon met Buffy's eyes and shook his head.  Then he followed Ash down to the rooms that they used as cells.

"Man I wouldn't wanna be them," Buffy whispered to Damon. "Are you gonna be ready to help me drag him off them?"

"Yeah.  But I don't think we'll have to," he said.  "He doesn't really care about these guys, except maybe for the sniper.  They're just the hired help."

"Yeah, well, he's got a lot of rage in there. But I hope you're right."

They'd reached the cells and Buffy used her powers to unlock the door, quick enough that Ash didn't even have to pause.

The men were lined up, and two looked a bit defiant, the other two watched Ash warily.

Ash leaned back against a wall, his arms folded across his chest and looked at each man in turn, smiling at them one at a time, the tips of his fangs just showing.  "We can make this real simple and real painless or, as you've guessed, we can make this real simple by making it real painful.  It's up to you.  Who sent you?"

Three of the men shared a look. One offered, "We were hired anonymously. We're mercenaries. We've got no oar in this war. It ain't personal."

"How were you contacted?"

"Through an agency," was the reply. "We advertise in Mercs Anonymous Magazine."

"You're joking?" Damon said, unable to contain the question.

"Well is sure explains a lot," Ash said.  "And the agency is?"

"S.O.H.O.  Special Ops for Hire.  The O is just to make the name cool," the merc replied. "Look, we really can't tell you much."

"And how do I contact them?" Ash asked, ignoring the rest.

He gave Ash an 800 number. "We've got international numbers as well. Just in case somebody wants to start a war.  Uhm, elsewhere."

Damon rolled his eyes.

"What about the sniper?" Ash asked after a moment, red flecks showing in his eyes.

"No idea. We didn't know he was there. I'd guess he's not with an agency."

"Jesus, how do you guys survive," Damon asked, "being both ignorant and dirt stupid at the same time?  I'll bet you work for a discount too."

"Well, it's here or Iraq or Afghanistan. Better food and the climate's better, not to mention less lead in the air."

Ash pushed himself off the wall with a snarl.  He walked over the man, his steps slow and deliberate and letting his claws appears he laid a nail against his neck, and drew it like a knife across it, drawing blood.  "Such an easy decision," he ruminated, staring at the beading blood.  "As easy as the decision to drain you dry would be."

"True," the guy admitted. "But then I'm long past my 'use by' date. And I figure you'll kill me if I don't tell you, and if I do tell you they'll kill my family, such as it is."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense," Damon said.  "You don't know who these guys are, they hired you through an agency but they know your family?  Or is that just another example of dirt stupid in action?"

The merc cocked an eye at Damon. "Just because I don't know them, doesn't mean they don't know me. I might be stupid, but I'm employed. I'm not good at much else, so this is what I do. It beats flipping burgers."

"Killing people for a living beats flipping burgers, huh?" Ash said.  "It's a personal philosophy I guess."  He sliced the man's face open with a nail.  "God, I love the sight of blood.  You must too in your line of work?"

The man went dead white. "No. Especially not my own."

"Then maybe you should try flipping burgers.  "Cause I promise you that otherwise you're going to be seeing a lot of your own."

"We done with them?" Damon asked.

Ash nodded.  "For now."

The other three sagged against their chains while the spokesman dripped blood onto the stone floor.

"We'll send you a band-aide," Damon said as they left.

-------------------------

The sniper was chained more tightly than the mercs had been. He looked up defiantly as the three came in.

"Hello," Buffy said brightly. "I promised you an interview with Ash and look, here he is! He's the only reason I haven't ripped you to shreds so you should thank him."

The sniper's head turned to regard Ash. His eyes were empty.

Ash moved close to him, and threaded his claws into his hair, digging the nails into his scalp just enough to be painful.  "Who paid you?"

The sniper spit on Ash's face.

Ash flexed his fingers, drawing them down his scalp towards the back of the man's neck, taking flesh and hair with him, letting the blood drip down.  "Next I'll expose the bone.  After that I'll open the skull.  Not much, but enough to help you get an infection inside of it, an infection of the brain.  Do you have any idea how long that takes to kill?  And how painful it is?"

The man laughed a cold and heartless laugh. But he'd gone paler.

Ash tilted his head up with a finger under his chin, spiking it in place on the nail of his forefinger nail, forcing him to meet his eyes.  Then he laid the nail tip of his other forefinger on the man's eyelid.  "Another thing I sometimes do," he said, applying the slightest of pressure as he scratched the eyelid, "is infect the eyeball as well.  Or," he went on, moving the nail to the man's ear and pushing it inside the ear canal, drawing blood, "the ear.  And sometimes I do all three at once.  But the thing that I really like is doing all that and then twisting the testicle inside the scrotum and leaving it like that."  He reached for the man's groin. tearing his pants away.  "It will feel something like this," he said.  And demonstrated, smiling as the man screamed. "Only when I do it and then let go, the pain goes on."

The man passed out from the pain and it took awhile for him to find consciousness. When he did Ash was still there.

"What do you want?" the sniper asked.

"Who paid you?"

"I didn't ask," the sniper replied, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"How did they find you?" Ash asked.

"References."

"Meaning they were referred?  By who?"

"At a guess...the mob in Albany."

Ash twisted the nail he restuck in the man's chin.  "Don't make me work for this.  How do I find the people who hired you?"

"I don't know their number by heart, man."

"Where do you keep it safe?"

"In a safe deposit box in the city."  He met Ash's eyes. "It wasn't personal."

"The hell it wasn't," Ash snarled, reaching for the man's throat.

Damon moved then, until he was facing Ash, his shoulder between him and the sniper.  "It's too soon to kill him," he said softly.

Ash closed his eyes for a second.  Then he said.  "Take him and get it."

The sniper slumped to the floor when he was released.  Buffy grabbed him by the collar and she, the prisoner and Damon winked out, leaving Ash where he was.

Ash leaned back against a wall and slid down it to the floor, his eyes closed and his knees against his chest.

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

The darkness engulfed her. She could hear its breathing, smell its breath, the thing that was chasing her down endless corridors of locked and bolted doors. She threw herself against one but could not make it budge. She turned and ran again, her own breathing ragged, her terror a physical thing, heavy and black and smelling like death.

She ran around a corner and slid to a halt. there were no doors here. The room was like a room in an arcade house of horrors, mirrors on every vertical surface, candles hanging in the air far above her, but the darkness so deep above them that she could not see the ceiling. The floor was stone and rang with each step she took.

There was nowhere to hide. She turned to face the thing that chased her. She took a deep breath and stood tall, and defiant.

She could hear its claws as it approached, each step discernible, as there was only the sound of its footsteps and breathing and the sound of her heart pounding, and her breath as she fought to control it.

A shadow grew as it approached the 90 degree turn that would let it enter the room with her.

She tried to hold her breath as the shadow grew to enormous proportions, blotting out what light there was as if the shadow were a black and oil fog rather than just a shadow.

She locked her eyes on the entrance to the room and would look the beast in the eye when it appeared.

And then it was there, and then she screamed. The beast was Ash...  She sank away into darkness and despair.

------------

Lynnette shouted and Tabitha came running. "Help her. She needs to wake up!  She's frightened. She needs to understand what is happening to her!"

Tabitha put a hand on Lynne's forehead, sending her awareness inward.  She found the synapse she wanted and flipped it like a switch, sending Lynne into a deeper state of unconsciousness that no dreams could reach.  Then she opened her self to all that was Lynne and the embryo that was a part of her, listening, weighing and made a series of minute adjustments, balancing the symbiosis between the two lives.  She'd done it several times in the last day and a half.  When Lynne woke she'd need to learn to do it herself.  The truce between her body and the baby's was an uneasy one.  That it existed at was nothing short of inexplicable.

Lynne, unconscious, close to death, in the the throes of the turning, had nonetheless instinctively, intuitively known and done what needed doing to save the child.  Doni had merely seen and taken over the bulk of the heavy lifting, as it were, following where Lynne's body and healer's gift had led, adding her own extensive knowledge and expertise to Lynne's instinctive response to the threat to herself and her child.  She and Doni had walled off a portion of her body in a sense, creating a womb that was still human while also able to cooperate with her vampyric self.  But it was a union of enemies and as soon as Lynne was strong enough they'd birth him using the accelerated growth techniques Doni had developed a decade ago.

Tabitha ran a soothing hand over the embryo's inchoate developing mind and then over Lynne's and resurfaced.  "I've stopped the dreams.  As soon as they can get Ash here I'll wake her up.  Unless," she went on, weighing Lynnette, "you'd prefer we or you try to explain it to her?"

"I don't understand all the implications to her state, do you? I'm not sure that Ash does either, but since it is his child he should be here. And, he'd be furious were he not, since Marc promised him this."

Tabitha's assessment of Lynnette continued.  "I understand a number of them.  But there are some no one does because they are unique and any thoughts I have are merely conjectures and speculation.  I've told Marc we need Ash back here.  Is there anything I can do for you in the meantime?"

Lynnette sighed. "No. I should be thanking you for saving her, and here I am... Forgive me. It is my anxiety for her. I'm unhappy with what has happened to her. At least a part of it. But as it cannot be undone, I hope merely that she remains... sane."

"There is nothing to forgive.  You are unhappy she is a vampire?  Or that she is Awakened?"  Tabitha asked.  "Or is it that she in no longer human and will no longer age?"

Lynnette looked angry for a moment. "I mourn her loss of life. That she will have limited choices and no more children. I understand that Ash did what he thought was necessary to save her life. I hope she does."

"Every being, sentient or otherwise, lives a life circumscribed by limited choices.  Only a child believes otherwise.  You are most assuredly not a child, no matter the image you choose to project."  Tabitha said it gently and then gestured Lynnette towards a chair, taking one next to her.  "I have never understood the insistence that vampires are not alive.  But then I have seen more worlds and more forms of life than most.  Whether you believe it or not, she has lost nothing that gives her life.  And what is no longer, the places they occupied aren't empty.  They've have been given over to other things that she may come to value even more."

Tabitha tilted her head studying her expression.  "Of course you are skeptical.  Instead of weeping over the children she might have had, and equally might not have had, rejoice for the one she does have, which is one more than many women are ever graced with."

"I am fearful of that child," Lynnette confessed. "Tales told regarding such children..."

"That dhamphirs are vampire hunters?  Yes I know.  But the tales also say vampires are evil.  They are only tales, folklore, bits of memories and never complete.  And this child may also be Awakened."

Lynnette looked over at Tabitha sharply.  "Cannot you tell? Does that put the child at risk of madness too?"

"His brain isn't fully formed yet," Tabitha said.  "Also don't forget that the Awakened vampires we've known of were already Awakened when they were turned.  Lynne was turned first.  And she is a healer as well."

Lynnette nodded. She looked up as Marc whooshed in, thinking it wise to be on hand when Ash arrived. "How is she?" Marc asked Tabitha. He'd checked on Lynne quite often so Tabitha had grown used to the question.

"Ready to wake up.  She knows she's changed and doesn't understand it, so it's terrifying her.  Are you going to go get him?"

"Yes, he said give him a minute or two. We'll be right back." Marc said, then winked out.

He was back in less than a minute with Ash.

He had eyes for no one and nothing else, taking her hand in his, smoothing her hair back from her face, devouring her with his eyes.  He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it as he caressed her cheek and from where ever she was she recognized him and her lips curved into a smile, her expression softening into a deeper relaxation.  He drank her in for a moment before he spoke.  "How is she?" he asked, his eyes never leaving her.

"In need of you," Tabitha said and reset a synapse.  "She's going to wake up in a bit and she's probably going to be terrified.  She knows, even unconscious, that she's changed and she doesn't understand.  She's also starving I would imagine and that will frighten her even more.  So it might be good..."

Ash didn't wait for Tabitha to finish.  He placed his wrist against Lynne's lips and held it there as she instinctively fed, her fangs sinking deep into his vein.  He kept it there, his eyes closed and his other hand stroking her hair in blind rhythm to her suckling.  When she finished he wiped his thumb across her lips, smiling faintly as her tongue instinctively peeked out to touch it, taking the traces of blood he'd collected off of it.  A few moments later she began moving upwards towards consciousness, restless and agitated by whatever she was seeing in her mind.

Then her eyes flew open, large blue seas of panic, her body already struggling to move and flee.  Ash put his hand on her chest and whispered her name. Her eyes found his and she drank the sight of him in and the panic receded a bit.

"You're going to be alright," he said, taking her hand in his again.

"I was afraid... I was.." her voice was hoarse and not quite what it had been. "That you were..Dead."  Then panic began to set in again as she realized something was very wrong with her.  "Ash?  What?"

"You were going to die," he said.  "So I..."  he stopped and took a swift breath, meeting her eyes directly, everything he felt showing in his and then plunged on, "I made you a vampire to save you.  At the same time you Awoke."

"I'm .. like you.." she said, although it was more a question than a statement. "A vampire. I.."  she ran out of words and her eyes fluttered back and forth as if willing that he could suddenly make it all seem rational and sensible.

"Yes," he said gently.  "And also like Buffy and Cayden.  "

"But how.. I don't understand. They're .. Awakened?  How?"

"You were shot, by a sniper aiming at me.  It's how it happens, or so I understand it."  He ached at the clouds of confusion in her eyes.  "Sweetheart, I swear to you it will be alright.  No matter what it takes, it will be alright."

She reached for his hands and clung to them tightly. Tears formed, red ones. "And you?  Are you all right?"

He nodded.  "I'm fine.  I'm so sorry, sweetheart.  I'd give anything..."

"No, don't. Please don't," she begged. "It's just.. I see differently. Feel differently. It's .. a bit frightening."

"It takes getting used to.  All your senses are better.  Plus being Awakened, the psi abilities."  He glanced at Marc and Tabitha for a moment.  "There's one more thing," he said carefully, "if you're up to it."

"Psi..." she wondered. "What?" she asked, fear showing back up in her eyes again.

"You were a few days pregnant when you were shot," he said.  "And because you're Awakened, an Awakened healer like Doni and Tabitha, you didn't lose the baby."

"I'm .. oh god. No... I .. It isn't possible...I mean.. I've only.. you.. I can't... You can't..."

He moved from the chair to sit next to her on the bed, putting his arms around her.  "Oh my love," he said.  "I know, but it seems like that doesn't matter."

"It's yours if it's real, I swear," she said, staring at him willing him to believe her.

"Hush, darling, hush.  There's no need.  I know."  He kissed her hair.  "And even if it wasn't or I didn't know, it wouldn't matter because it's part of you."  He shifted so he could see her face, wiping a tear away with his thumb.  Her eyes told him she thought this was a dream, another nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.  "I know it all seems fantastic," he said.  "Impossible even, but it's true."

She glanced around then, noticing the others for the first time. Her eyes locked on Lynnette, who stood there crying. "It's true, baby," Lynnette said. "Believe him."

Lynne's eyes traveled the room. Marc grinned and waved at her. "I gave him a cigar already."

Her eyes went back to Ash.

He stroked her face for a moment.  Then, his heart breaking for her, he bit his lip, drawing blood,  and put a drop on his finger, showing it to her.

She grasped his hand and pulled the blood to her lips, her eyes going wide as she licked it up. "Oh." It was a very small sound. "This is real? I'm not.. dreaming it?"

"Yes," he whispered.  "It's real, it's not a dream."

Tabitha, in the shadows on the other side of the bed, moved closer.  She reached for Lynne's free hand.  Then she guided it to Lynne's abdomen, pressing it there, smiling encouragingly when she gasped.  "He's real too," she said letting go of Lynne's hand.  "You worked real hard to keep him safe."

"I can sense him. I .. This is the psi thing?" she asked Tabitha, "that lets me feel, sense, know him?"

Tabitha nodded.  "And heal him," she said, as she reached lightly for Lynne's awareness and took it inward with her, both of them gaining a faint glow. as she showed her how to do consciously what she already did instinctively.

Once the tiny grouping of cells was stable again and Lynne and Tabitha emerged Lynne met Ash's eyes again. "He is yours."

"He's ours," Ash said, squeezing her hand.

She looked back at Tabitha. "It is.. it seems natural.  What we just did."

"It is.  The hard part will be to learn not to.  To control it," Tabitha replied.

"Can you teach me?" Lynne asked her. "Will you? Please?"

"Of course," Tabitha said, giving her a radiant smile.  "As much as you want to learn."

"You'll have other things to learn too," Marc added. "Like how to travel, and other things. We'll help you with those things too."

"Thank you," Lynne said faintly, as it was all beginning to sink in.

"First though," Ash said, "You need to rest, get your strength back."

Tabitha's lips twitched.  "We can help with that, too."

"Is everyone else all right?" Lynne asked, suddenly remembering the battle. "Buffy, and Dec and Damon and Cayden? Matt?" she asked near to panic. "Penny?"

"Everyone's fine, sweetheart.  Everyone," Ash said.  They're all wanting to see you and missing you."

"Will I need to stay here for long?" Lynne asked, looking at Tabitha.

Tabitha glanced at Marc for a second, then nodded.  "A couple of weeks probably.  Honey you did in an incredible thing fixing it so you didn't lose that baby.  But it's not something your body can handle for very long.  Your body wants to be one thing or the other, not a mix of vampire and not vampire.  The adjustments we just made, those won't hold for long and we can't keep doing them without hurting you too.  So we need to get you strong as soon as we can so we can do what needs to be done to keep him alive."

"Oh," Lynne said. She looked at Ash.

"We'll bring Ash to visit you as often as we can," Marc promised. "And if I can't do it Buffy or Cayden can."

"Whenever you need me I promise I'll be here, no matter what.  And every second  I don't absolutely have to be somewhere else finding the people who did this.  Your gran isn't going anywhere either," Ash said.  "And before you know it you'll be home again where I can spoil you until you make me stop."

Lynne, still looking a bit gobsmacked, turned back at Tabitha. "What do I have to do to make sure the baby is safe? You'll have to teach me, so I can do it."

"What you have to do is get strong.  What we're going to do, in a week or so, is bring your man-child to term."

"You're going to what?" Ash said.

"Basically, in a week or so he'll be old enough, the cell differentiation far enough advanced, for Doni to accelerate his development.   She will take over the job of telling his cells what to do and when.  She'll help him do nine months of gestation in a matter of a few days," Tabitha said.

"Has this ever been done before?" Ash demanded.

"Once," Tabitha said.

"Only once?"  When she nodded he looked from her to Marc.  "But it's safe right?"

"As safe as we can make it," Tabitha said.  "It requires a huge amount of energy, from Doni and from Lynne and the baby.  Stephen and Marc will handle most of that, and I'll make sure all three of them stay safe."

"All three?"

"It's more dangerous for Doni than for Lynne or the baby.  Once she starts she won't be able to stop until the baby's old enough to be born, and hopefully she'll be able to go further, to take him to full term.  And, when she's merged with him as she will be, the imperative to finish will kick in -- the baby's survival instinct coupled with Lynne's to keep him alive come into play too -- and will just grow stronger the longer it goes on.  She'll reach a point where she'll burn herself up and not know she was doing it if that's what it takes.

"As always the limiting factor will be the energy demands.  We don't want to draw from Lynne or the baby, but it's inevitable to a degree just because of the nature of what we're doing.  So we manage all those factors by having Stephen and Marc channel energy to her, if you will, but it's very likely she'll reach a point where she can't handle that kind anymore because it's not her own, so she'll use hers, whatever she has. And whatever she can find from Lynne and the child.  My job will be manage that, and help her use the energy they give her so she won't need to do that, while keeping all three of them alive.  And, if it comes to it, to stop it if it needs to be stopped."

"Jesus!" Ash said.

"It's too dangerous," Lynne said, frowning "Let the child be. I'll ... I'll keep him safe. Why put Doni at risk? It isn't her task to do!"

"Isn't her task to do?"  Tabitha smiled.  "Child, this is what we do here everyday.  If you could keep him safe, we wouldn't be doing this, but you can't.  Look inside yourself, at how hard you and he are working to keep things the way they are right now.  Neither of you can keep it up."

"That may be true. But it isn't right to risk Doni for this. Ash, tell them!"

"I promise you," Tabitha said, before Ash could speak, "that Doni will not die.  My son would kill me and anyone else he had to, before he allowed her, his bond mate, to die.  And I will ensure it won't reach that point."  She paused for a moment, looking at Marc again.  "What you need to understand is this.  The only one who might die is your son.  If we do this, I can't promise he'll live.  If we don't do this I can promise you he will die.  And maybe you as well, trying to keep that from happening.  The choice is yours.  But don't make it based on the risks to us.  All four of us know what we're offering to do.  We are, all of us, very, very good at what we do.  We've worked together before on things like this.  We've discussed it and we feel like it's the right thing to do."

"Lynne," Marc added gently, "that you and your son are alive at all is a miracle. It would be a shame to waste one, don't you think? Please let us do this for you and for him."

Lynne looked at him wide-eyed then looked at Ash. Then, after a moment she laid a hand on her abdomen. "All right, but you must promise to sacrifice me first if there is a need. Save our son, next but do not risk Doni.  It isn't logical, I know," she whispered. "I still don't like it, but I'm trusting you Tabitha and you Marc to keep your promises to me."

Marc, who didn't have a problem at all with lying, replied, readily, "Not a problem."

"It'll be fine, honey," Tabitha said, avoiding the overt lie.  "Trust us.  All you need to worry about is getting strong."

Henry accepted the delivery with his usual aplomb and swept majestically into the dining room where breakfast was in session, his arms once again filled with flowers.  So far, in the last two days, there'd been a mixed bouquet of spring flowers, then hot house orchids and lilies whose perfume had filled the house, four dozen red and pink roses surrounding a single white one, then a huge bunch of Texas wildflowers, bluebells and indian paintbrush, that had been stunning and now these -- a huge mass of tulips of every hue he could imagine.

He paused at the entrance to the dining room and when every eye was on him he announced dramatically, "For you ma'am.  They just arrived."

Declan raised an eyebrow, while Damon stopped eating, his fork suspended halfway to his mouth.  "Wow," he said.  "Whoever he is, he's got it bad.  I'm proud of you Buff."

"Man, Buffy.  Have a heart and put him outta his misery.  Either give him some or shoot him," Cayden said, looking up from the paper.  "Those are the only humane choices."

Buffy looked at the flowers, at Henry and then at Declan. "Watch it," she retorted. "I might be tempted to put you out misery. She slammed her napkin down on the table and stood. Then, remembering her manners and the fact that it was hardly Henry's fault, added, "Thank you, Henry. Put them in the trash, please."

She grabbed her coffee mug and marched out angrily to her lair.

"Why's she yelling at me?" Declan said.  "I didn't say a word."

"Maybe she thinks it's you sending them," Cayden said.

"Hah!" he said and picked up the sports page.

Across the street from the townhouse a man leaned back against a lamp post and smiled as the delivery van pulled away.  Unless he'd read her totally wrong by now she was fuming.  She was probably hotter than hell when she was mad, he thought.  And since he'd made it his new mission in life to find out just hot she was in every conceivable situation, he suspected he was going to love every minute he spent on finding out if he was right.

He shoved his hands in his pocket and moved on down the street, towards the park, whistling under his breath, picturing her possible reactions to his next move.  She'd probably slug him, he thought, for presumption.  It wasn't, he was guessing, that she hated being a woman, rather she hated being thought a mere woman.  There was no way he'd ever make that mistake if only because as far as he was concerned there was nothing mere about her.

After the first time he'd seen her, he'd made a phone call, spend thousands of dollars and got a report a half inch think on one Elizabeth Ann Summers, aka Buffy, in return.  Head of security for one Ashley Jacobs, a somewhat shadowy figure with an enormous amount of money and an equally enormous amount of power in a number of quarters, some very surprising.  She'd been with Jacobs for a long time, had not been in relationship that his people had been able to identify in at least as long and by all accounts was a formidable woman.  Ferociously intelligent, breathtakingly beautiful and absolutely deadly.  She sounded like she'd been made just for him.

Meanwhile Buffy was pulling up her databases and examining every unattached male she'd run into in the last two weeks. She ran the data cross referencing times and places, and then when she was fairly certain she had a reasonable list of possible suspects she began elimination procedures to narrow the field. She'd hate to murder the wrong guy.

She eliminated Kiril Raven first. He just wasn't the type to play games. He'd walk up and demand her presence in bed and then enjoy the fisticuffs afterwards. Eliot Holmes-Jackson was a more realistic possiblity. Still, she didn't see him doing it anonymously either, and he'd probably deliver the flowers magically not through a florist.

Several chiefs of security came to mind, as did several members of Ash's lieutenants' organizations. She ruled out most of them and ended up with five possibles. She then set about investigating each of them.

Across town a man looked at the three others in the room with him.  The room was a fleabag hotel room on Times Square where the bedsheets had more stains than the walls, and the walls were repulsive.  He didn't mind.  It was anonymous and no one asked questions.  "She's got an appointment at her gun club.  She practices there every week.  This week it's today at one o'clock.  The entrance to the range is on the alley side, down a set of steps into the basement.  After she shoots, she usually works out in their gym.  We'll be there when she leaves."

Buffy definitely needed her stress relief so she handed off security to her second Tony, got dressed for the range and got her gym gear together and clocked out. She zapped herself to the range, and pretended that the bastard who'd sent all the flowers was the target. Needless to say she scored perfect hits.  Feeling a little better she picked up her things, cracked wise a bit with the staff, promised to see them again soon and walked out into the alleyway which gave her a quick passage to the nearby gym.

Chase Callahan looked at his watch and shoved the rest of his gear into the gym bag.  He was due at work in two hours and he had an errand to run on the way.  He zipped the bag closed, slung it over his shoulder and left, taking the rear exit to get to his bus stop.  He cut across the parking lot and into the alley, wondering if he ought to try something other than waiting tables at a fine dining place.  He really thought he was much more the casual dining kind of guy, but there was no comparison in terms of money.  He could clear a grand a week where he was.  Casual dining meant a lot more hours, including lunches, and double and split shifts, and he'd only do five or six hundred in a good week.  The times did not lend themselves to good weeks.

He was still weighing the pros and cons when he looked up.  At the other end of the alley four guys were hanging out.  Only he was pretty sure, looking at them, that they were just pretending to hang out.  There were two doors opening out into the middle of the alley.  One was the rear entrance to a gym he wished he could afford on his present income.  The other was the entrance to a gun club that admitted only the serious and professional.  It's average patron loaded his own and didn't need a gun to kill.

Chase switched his bag to his other hand and slowed his pace.  Then he stumbled a step and swore, setting the bag down in front of him while he bent over to retie his shoe.  He watched the foursome through his lashes as he did.  They weren't paying any attention to him at all.  They were all taking rotating looks at the door to the gun club.  And a gun club didn't strike him as a rational target for a daylight robbery.  Then he checked himself.  This was New York City.  Rational had nothing to do with anything.

Buffy, with her duffel full of gym equipment on her shoulder, exited the door. Since it was the back door to the range it locked the second it swung shut. She took one look at the four, spent a second evaluating the other guy and decided he was definitely a tourist, and was already diving for cover when the first shots from the four rang out. "Get outta here!" she screamed at the civilian and pulled out her own weapon, and just because she was already in a really bad mood, she zapped herself up a sword.

Chase grinned.  God surely loved him.  He was down the alley in five strides.  He took out the first guy he saw with a duffel bag to his back that drove him into the gym's brick work.  Then he landed a fist in the next guy's right kidney.

Buffy's chin dropped. The stupid sod was in her line of fire. Didn't people have an ounce of sense these days?  She charged over to where the civilian was battling the four and offed a head with the first strike of her sword. "Get out of here, you idiot!" she hissed at the civilian.  And then turned her attention to the two perps left, one still feeling woozy from a duffel to the back of the head.

He laughed and landed a kick in the guy with the emerging kidney problems groin, then a put an upper cut in his nose that broke it.  Just to make sure he sent the guy to the ground with a throw that dislocated his shoulder.  He wasn't getting up soon.   Pleased with himself he turned to the fourth guy and frowned.  The fool had pulled a gun and was pointing it at her back.

He fisted all the change in his pocket and flung it in the guy's face, stopping the shot.  Then he grabbed his gun arm and smashed it into the brickwork, breaking it on the edge of the stairwell.  He grinned and picked up the gun, pointing it at the two on the ground.  He figured she could handle the other one.

She did, taking off his head too and turning to the two on the ground. "Who the hell are you," she asked eying the civilian as she caught her breath. "I've got a few issues to work out and you are seriously in my way. Now get lost. Go... report to the cops or something," she added wiping impatiently at arterial spray from one of the offed heads that was messing up her vision and already heading toward sticky.

Chase laughed.  "The last time we met I recommended the oysters," he said.

She goggled and was still goggling as she zapped out with the two perps.

Ash kissed Lynne good bye reluctantly and let Marc take him back to the townhouse.  It got harder every time he had to leave her.  That she was even still speaking to him was, so far as he was concerned, nothing short of miraculous.  That she appeared to still love him and want him around was incomprehensible.  And in a few days...He sighed and reached for the messages on his desk.

He was crumbling the last one into the trash can when Buffy knocked and walked in.  He took in her appearance and raised an eyebrow.  "Nose bleeds sure are difficult to control."

She didn't waste time on niceties. "I've got two guys who jumped me in the dungeon. Wanna watch?"

"And even help if you need it," he said still taking in her appearance.  "Which I doubt, the way you look.  Where are the boys?"

"Dunno. You want 'em? I hate to share."

"No," he said, sweeping her before him.  "I'm willing to just watch.  I'm told you're in need of an outlet anyway.  Just next time, Buff, there's no reason to trash the flowers."

"Yeah, I should have sent them to Lynne. I was slightly irritated at the time," she explained as she led the way down to the dungeons, well, the basement with the cells.

The two guys were hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"I'll be patient, I promise," Buffy said. "But not for long."

Ash laughed.  The two in the bat snooze position didn't.

It didn't take very long. Neither Ash nor Buffy was in a mood to play games. The names of their employers, Ware and a woman named Bianca, surfaced quickly.   Buffy, who was, truth be told, feeling pretty awful and guilty about Lynne being hurt, backed off when Ash insisted, he thinking that if they'd lied there might be further use gotten from them.

"Raid the place?" Buffy asked as they climbed the stairs to the living quarters. "Man I need a shower."

"Yeah, me too," Ash said.  "Let's do that and then discuss our next move.  I'll have Henry call in the boys."

They reconvened in Ash's office, Buffy's hair still wet from her shower. She poured herself a drink and got everyone else one too.

"So we think our friend Kevin and our unfriend, that bitch Bianca, were behind the attacks?" Damon said.  "Both on us and on Eliot and the others?"

"Yes, and I'm wondering if there isn't a connection elsewhere. I'll have to check it out. But by all means, let's remove Kevin and Bianca permanently,"  Buffy agreed. "Pretty please, Boss."

"Oh there's no need to beg," Ash said, his eyes flaring red.  "They're dead.   Do we know where they are?"

Buffy consulted her comms, Tony in particular. "Got 'em. They're in the Bronx. Suits them, I think." She recited an address from a run down area where abandoned buildings could easily be utilized for nefarious activities.

"Let's break out the Bat Mobile, boys," Dec said, standing up, a sword appearing in his hand.  Damon and Caydon conjured their own.   "It's so much more dramatic this way," Dec explained when Ash raised his eyebrow.  "Scare 'em right up front."

Buffy shook her head and opted for an Uzi and a bandoleer holding not only replacement cartridges but also additional weapons.

Charles was waiting with the car in idle when they got downstairs.

Buffy ignored the badinage and sat silently wondering about the waiter. Was he working for Bianca or Kevin Ware? He had seemed to actually help. But it might have been a ploy to get her to trust him.

Thirty minutes later they pulled up in front of a seemingly abandoned building and the five of them got out, making no effort to hide their weapons.  Ash lifted his hand and his own sword appeared in it,  hundreds of years old, the blade flicking with the blue that said it had been blooded and that many times, and the edges glinting in the light, a sign of it's razor sharp edges.  As it hit his palm he reverted totally, the rage he'd contained for days wrapped around him like a shield and moving ahead of him, an advance guard, clearing a path for him.

Behind him Damon and Cayden exchanged glances, a feral light settling in their eyes.  Declan was a pace behind and to the right of Ash, fully reverted himself.  Buffy was next to him on Ash's other side, Uzi out, locked and loaded.

Ash turned around looking at them and smiled.  "We need to ask a few questions before we kill them.  But only a few.  So keep one or the other alive."

There were enough minions who appeared to slake at least the ragged edge of their bloodlust. All of them had felt anger and pain when Lynne had fallen and these were the ones who'd arranged it.

Buffy, ice cold and totally focused, kept her eyes on the upper balconies and floors and let the boys concentrate on swordplay and other not very savory appetites.  Ash needed this, had to get it out, and who else should be the recipient of that rage?  Her Uzi chattered occasionally but she stood back and admired the carnage.

But when one of her spies let her know Bianca was attempting an escape, she shouted, "Boss! I need you," and zapped him and herself to entrance to a hidden passage down which Bianca had fled.

Ash glanced at her and then took off after Bianca, Buffy at his heels.  He closed the distance without breaking a sweat or would have if vampires sweated.  When he was about ten yards behind her Buffy zapped her self an equal distance in front of her cutting off her escape.  Ash slowed to an easy stroll, swinging his sword.

"I'd be real cooperative if I where you, Bianca," Buffy suggested. "He's feeling really froggy these days."

Bianca hissed at Ash. "The poor dear. Did he lose his sweet little human?"

Ash grinned.  "Tsk, tsk, darling.  Feeling snubbed?  Over a human?"  He strolled closer.  "You should, you know.  She tastes better than you smell."

Bianca smiled a terrible smile. "I watched her fall.'

"And I watched her rise," Ash said.  "She's going to give me a son."

Bianca's smile faded. "You are lying," she finally said. "Impossible."

"No," he said simply.  "And now I'm going to watch you fall," he said and attacked, taking her head off in a single stroke.

"Nice boss," Buffy offered. "A bit too clean for the likes of her, but, well..."

"She's just a tool, no matter what she thought," he said.  "Where's Ware?"

"The boys report they've got him cornered. Shall we go see?"  When he nodded she touched his arm and zapped them to an upper floor.

The boys had him cornered in a side room, his arrogance intact, though he seemed a bit uneasy.  Ash leaned against the doorway, scrutinizing him.  "Hard to believe anyone ever thought you had what it takes," he said finally.

Ware flushed, then tried to pull the remnants of his dignity back together.  "It's never going to work .  Even if you kill me, it's not over."

"Ah, so we should spare you and torture you then. Works for me, Boss," Buffy said brightly.

"She's feeling a bit more like herself than usual," Ash said to Ware.  "She's had a busy day.  Got jumped in an alley.  Plus she keeps getting these flowers from a secret admirer."

Ware went white, licking his lips.

"Yeah, about those flowers. They weren't from you were they, sweetie?" Buffy asked Ware.

"Me?" he stammered, "I'd never...I mean of course not."

"I think he's unimpressed with your charms, there Buff," Damon said.  "Unappreciative, as it were.  Clearly he doesn't know you like we do."

"Yeah," Cayden said.  "It's almost insulting."

"Hush, children," Ash said.  "I think Mr. Ware has something he'd really like to tell us."

Ware goggled at him.

"About why taking your head won't end it."

If Ware had been pale before, he was positively ashen now.  "You think everyone agrees with you?" he sneered.  "Or is just going to follow along?"

"No, not really," Ash said.  "But I do think they'll have the good sense to leave civilians, especially those I'm--how shall I put it?--fond of alone."

Ware cackled, a maniacal guttural noise.  "You'll never win, there's too many for you to fight them all."

"I don't have to fight them all," Ash said.  "I just have to fight the ones who are as stupid as you are."  He sighed.  "So who really set all this up, Kevin.  No offense, but now that I think about it, I have a really hard time picturing you in the starring role.  You just aren't that bright."

Ware went red again, snarling and suddenly lunged at Ash with his sword.

Buffy with a flick of her wrist knocked the sword away.  Ware turned and pulled a tiny pistol out of a pocket but before he could bring it up enough to aim it at Ash she offed his head. "Dammit," she muttered.  "Sorry, Ash. I did want him alive. I'm obviously PMS'ing."

Ash laughed.  "Not a problem Buff.  You probably needed it."

"Sounds like taking out Bianca was something you needed too," Buffy said with a grin, wiping blood off her face. "Why don't you guys go home and clean up. My guys and me will clean up here.  I'll look around for any evidence but I seriously doubt we'll find much."

Ash agreed.  "See you at dinner, Elizabeth.  And thank you."

"My pleasure."  Buffy watched them wink out and got to work. While she worked, searching for what clues they could find, and getting rid of the bodies (true friends zap them out for you), she pondered the waiter.

She needed to find out what she could about him. It could have been he who targeted Lynne in the first place. She sighed. She needed a clone.

Ash took Lynne's hand in his, smiling at her as her eyes fluttered open.  "Hullo, sweetheart," he said, pushing the images of what was coming out of his head.  Tabitha had reassured him daily that there was no way Lynne was going to die.  It didn't help.  She'd explained over and over again and even introduced him to Tommy who'd explained about the explosion that almost severed his torso from his legs and how Doni had regrown them.  She'd had Marc and Stephen demonstrate how they were going to channel energy and had asked Doni to demonstrate what she was going to do, growing a mass on Ash's arm and then removing it.  None of it had helped.

And, since he couldn't just tell them that the baby didn't matter, that the only thing that did matter was Lynne, so let's forget this and terminate the pregnancy he was stuck, sitting there next to her, consuming her with his eyes, hiding his fear and smiling like what was going to happen in an hour or so was nothing at all.

He bent and kissed her, memorizing the taste of her mouth.  "Sleep well?"

She smiled at him but her eyes avoided him. Apparently the answer was no. "You look well," she said. "And I'm feeling much better. The blood drip seems to be doing the task. Although I confess to craving chocolate ice cream. Does the craving ever go away?" she asked him, now meeting his eyes.

"Depends.  Most do, eventually.  I still crave coffee on occasion, and beef," he said.

She nodded. "Well, I suppose I won't have to worry about dieting at least. That's a plus."

"No," he said.  "You'll need to feed fairly often for a while, but it will slow down over time.  I suppose this isn't exactly the best time to ask, but how are you doing with all this?  Or do you even know yet?"

She watched his face for a long moment. "I'll be fine, Ash. It's just a lot to process. Especially the whole motherhood thing.  I mean, it isn't something I've had a chance to seriously consider. And I'm worrying a bit about how you feel. And feeling guilty for obviously not being careful enough about birth control."

"No guilt.  There's no reason."  He lifted her hand to his lips.  "I'm fine, or I will be when I can take you home instead of leaving you here alone."

She smiled. "Alone?  Hardly. Someone is always here. They've been so kind and caring."

"I'm self-centered about you," he said.  "Alone without me.  And me home alone without you.  It's inevitable when you're in love I suppose."

She nodded. "Yes. But I don't feel right interfering with your work, Ash. I'm in the way, and take your attention off important things, and that could get you killed."

"NO!" He said it fiercely, only just avoiding a shout.  "No!  There is nothing more important to me than you and there never will be."

She closed her eyes for a moment. She nodded, then opened her eyes again, meeting his gaze. "And nothing is more important to me than you staying safe."

"Lynne?" he whispered, gathering her hands in his.  "Sweetheart?  I didn't mean to...I'm sorry if...Nothing's going to happen to me.  Buffy wouldn't allow it.  And you know what she's like."

She managed a smile. "She's your fiercest defender. You don't pay her enough."

He laughed.  "I know.  And I just gave her a raise."  He looked at her, wanting to take her in his arms and run away with her, somewhere where she'd be safe forever and he knew there wasn't such a place.  "She worries about you too."

"I'm sorry I'm so troublesome," Lynne replied, her bottom lip quivering a bit. "I don't mean to be. I'm just.. I've no idea what my life is going to be like or how I'll manage, and.. " her voice died away.

He tilted her face up towards his.  "You're not.  Don't think you're alone, either or that you have to figure it all out by yourself, or that you need to know now.  I'm not going anywhere.  And we're all of us here for you, for whatever you need because we care about you."

"Ash, I'm going to have a baby dependent on me in a few hours. Of course I've got to figure it out!" She took a deep breath, entirely unnecessary. "Sorry. A mild panic attack there."

"Perfectly understandable.  But it won't be just you, unless you're trying to tell me something?"

"Well," she said carefully, "it isn't like you had a choice in this. So, I don't think.. I mean, I don't want you to think.. That you have to, you know?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it again, gaping at her.  "I love you.  He's as much down to me as he is to you.  And where did you get the notion I want or even need a choice?  Just because Henry's been buying baby stuff, not me, doesn't mean..."  He stopped, glaring at her.  "I love you, damn it.  There aren't any conditions or limits on it.  There aren't a list of things that start with 'except for.'  And if that's not enough he's mine as much as yours and I'm as unreconstructed about my children as I am about you."

"Well," she replied. "Okay. For now."

He narrowed his eyes at her, not liking her answer at all.  "Are you being independent and modern or guilty and noble?  Because either way you aren't pushing me away.  You're stuck with me and so's he."

"I'm mostly being confused and terrified at the moment, and I don't want to make any assumptions that might .. well, that might make things worse," she finished, looking down at her flat tummy.

He was on the bed beside her in a flash, pulling her close.  "I know and I'm an ass, making it worse.  I just want to be sure you know that I don't feel trapped or cornered, you aren't imposing or causing me problems.  I'm not mad you're pregnant, nor do I blame you.  And you can assume anything you want, because there's nothing you need or want that I don't want to make sure you have.  Nothing's changed about how I feel about you except that maybe it's stronger, if that's possible, and more inextricably a part of me."

She met his eyes for a long time, and nodded finally. "It's that I don't even know what I am, so I wasn't sure you.."

"You're still you," he said.  "That hasn't changed.  All that's changed is the package, not the contents.  Though there is one thing I should maybe warn you about," he said, looking suddenly struck.

"What?" she asked, looking profoundly worried.

"The sex will definitely be a lot better," he said in tones of doom.  "There's no escaping it."

"What sex? There'll be two o'clock feedings."

"Trust me," Ash said, "There's going to be sex."  He smiled at her. "Would you like me to see about finding a nanny?  To help out?"

"Well, it's that or we rely on Gran."

"I'll speak to Henry," Ash said.  "Though I suspect it won't stop Lynnette."

"Are you ready?" Tabitha asked from the doorway, exuding calm and normalcy.

Lynne closed her eyes again for a moment, then nodded.

Doni slipped around Tabitha and took a seat on the opposite of the bed.  "This isn't surgery.  It's painless.  But I'm still going to knock you out and keep you that way because I'm going to be controlling your body and his.  It's just easier that way, for all of us."  She smiled at Lynne, patting her shoulder.  "It's all going to be fine.  I promise."

Lynne studied Doni's face for a moment then looked over at Ash. "See you soon. I love you."

"I love you too," he said, kissing her.  "I'll be here when you open your eyes, holding a squalling bundle of joy, assuming they trust me with him."

"Pshaw," Tabitha said scornfully.

Lynne watched Ash until Doni took her under.

When she was under Doni pinned Ash with a look.  "You can stay there if you want, so long as you understand that no matter what happens you don't interfere.  Otherwise, they won't ask, they won't speak, they'll just toss you out.  Got it?"

Ash just nodded.

"Good," Doni said as Stephen came in, settling in a chair by the window.  She smiled at him and went on with her last minute list.  "Tabitha, the hardest part for you is going to be to keep her from helping.  If we need him too, Liam can separate her from her body but I don't want to do that.  So don't wait to shut her down."  She turned back to Ash.  "Do you have a name yet?"

"Anders," he said.  "Why?"

"So I know what to call him," she said.  She looked around.  "Where's Marc?"

"Right here, honey," Marc said, settling a kiss on Doni's forehead. He walked over to sit by Stephen. "Sort a fun, ain't it?"

"Yeah," she said, her smile wry.  "We ready?"

When they all nodded she smiled again and then was gone mentally, merging with Lynne and the baby in a split consciousness, so that she knew each of them more intimately than could be imagined and as distinctly as could be.  Tabitha waited until she had them in hand and then followed her, lightly linked to her and to Lynne and the baby separately holding each like a separate rein.

What Ash saw was the glow increasing, filling the room like the midday sun, engulfing all three women.   He rubbed his thumb on the hand he held, thinking suddenly of all the strange and inexplicable things he'd seen in his life, and realizing what was happening here was the most inexplicable of all.

When Doni was satisfied with the connections she gave Tabitha a mental high sign and went deeper into both of them, diffusing herself into every cell in the child's body and into every place that connected him to his mother.  Then she began, ever so slowly at first, coaxing the cellular mitochondria to listen to her, to trust her, coaxing Lynne's body into helping like it knew how to help, feeding him, nourishing him and taking away the things he didn't need or couldn't use.

She crooned a lullaby to them all, every cell, that was soft and low, filled with praise and awe as they let her take them over, controlling them, feeding energy into them with a touch more delicate than a butterfly's.  Then she whispered to them what she wanted, what she needed and they came to life, glittering with the energy she brought to them, quivering with purpose.

Under her hand, her guidance they triggered the cells into new growth, reproducing and developing at dizzying speeds that increased logarithmically.  Under her hand Anders began to grow, to develop.  Once triggered it took on a life of it's own, needing little guidance from her, other than a tweak or two here and there as she checked and made sure, perfecting every cell and every change.  As it went from beginning to happen to happening she became a part of it, no longer separated but one with it, joined so completely there was no separation, no way to say where she began and they ended.  She knew their cells as her own and nurtured them as if it were she she was feeding.

With every step forward her demand, her need for energy grew, and she went looking for it, pulling it into her like a starving child, heedless of the consequences, fighting the restraints she sensed, the hand that kept control of the flow.

Marc acted the focal point for the energy, with Stephen as a brake, if necessary. The room brightened as to almost being brilliant enough to harm retinas. It pulsed with the power Marc fed into Doni, Tabitha overseeing the connections and monitoring, watching for the first warning signs of trouble.  Ash gripped Lynne's hand but she was totally unresponsive, every bit of her focused inward on the growing thing within her.

After the first twelve hours, they eased back on the energies to give Marc and Stephen and Tabitha a breather. All three looked drained, but hopeful.  So far it had gone well.

It kept going well until the middle of the second day.  Anders had reached, developmentally, the end of his second trimester, when Doni felt Lynne's vampyric body begin to revolt trying to destroy the womb and its contents, trying to reject it.  She flowed around the interface between the two, pouring herself into while at the same time begging her mitochondria to work faster, pleading with them, promising them whatever they needed.  She only needed a little more, a few more weeks of development, she crooned.  They were so close, they'd come so far, she told them in the song she sang to them.  And when they responded she heaped praise on them, and wrenched control of the energy higher, as high as she could take it, heedless of where the power came from as long as it came.

Tabitha knew the same time Doni did.  She sensed the spotting of blood that was starting as Lynne's body hovered on the brink of early labor.  She knew it in the sudden distress of the baby and the slight spasms that began rippling across Lynne's belly.  She also knew when Lynne instinctively began trying to heal herself.  Tabitha devoted part of her awareness to calming the baby, soothing him and the other part to trying to detach Lynne.  When Lynne began to fight her she weighted the risks in a flash, and sent the child into a deeper state of unconsciousness.  Then she began fighting Lynne for control of her deepest self.

Ash knew as the spasms started and grew, escalating into convulsions that rocked the bed as the light of the healing glow became almost blinding.  He moved from the chair to the bed, wrapping himself around her, trying to hold her still, to keep her from hurting herself, oblivious to the blows he was taking.

Lynne fought, trying to heal, trying to repair the damage her awakened body sensed from the vampiric transformation. She'd reported feeling confused about what she was, well, her body even at cell level was struggling with the same confusion. Perhaps her mind, too, fought two alternative mindsets, two entirely different ways of being, perhaps that was why awakened vampires went mad. The fear was very real for Ash. To have her come through this and end up mad... He clung tightly, as Marc opened up all the stops, trusting Stephen to find a way to protect Doni.

It went on for hours as Doni did what she had to do and Tabitha refought every battle a dozen times to keep Lynne from interfering, more than once on the brink of calling for Liam to come and take her into the place between life and death where her body and mind were totally separated.  More profound than an out of body experience, in a sense Lynne really would be dead, and she and Doni would be the only thing protecting her toehold on life.

Just before dawn of the third day, Doni drew the cells to her one last time, stroking them, caressing them with praise and explaining the last thing she needed from them, the last and most complicated part.  The part she'd never tried before and hadn't told anyone about though she suspected, from the looks she'd given her a few times, that Tabitha had guessed.  The fact that Tabitha hadn't said a word suggested she knew there was no way around it.

The only remaining part of Lynne that wasn't wholly vampyric was her uterus.  It's connections to the rest of her body were a transition from one thing to the next and it was along those connections and the encasing around her uterus that were causing the problem  Her body wanted the alien presences gone.  Her deepest self and the part of her that was still human refused to give it up while she was still pregnant.  Doni needed to deliver Anders while at the same time drawing all that was still human about Lynne after him in a controlled retreat, all without letting it go too fast or devolve into chaos as her vampyric body took control.

So she coaxed the mitochondria into one more herculean task and then went looking for the cells that controlled Lynne's vampyric body, talking, explaining, learning how they worked, bargaining like it was the Casbah for every concession she needed and winning them.  The energy cost was horrendous and she could sense how close to the edge she was.  She didn't care.  Gathering everything she had left and everything she could find she wrapped Anders, now developmentally at about thirty-five weeks, in a cocoon of safety, checked his lungs one more time, along with his mind and then, handing him off to Tabitha who in the instant she took him over let Lynne's mind loose.  As Lynne surged into herself and all the places where the rupture was going to take place, Doni tweaked a cell and the chain reaction began.

Thea, who'd been waiting, shoved Ash aside without a word as Lynne's belly began to split open down it's mid-line in an eerie parody of a Cesarean section.  When the opening was wide enough, she lifted Anders out, cut the cord and laid him between his mother's breasts.  The split, the instant the cord had been cut, began to close.  As soon as that happened, Doni turned control of Lynne's body back to her vampyric cells, while retaining a light touch on the rate of the final transformation, checking every piece, following along.

When she was sure she checked on last time and then began disengaging from the cells and their mitochondria.

Lynn, finally freed of anyone holding her back, glowed a brilliant golden as she raced to heal the damage to her body, her healing talents accepting the reality of the vampyric cells and converting the last bits of her into awakened vampire.

Ash, one hand on Anders, and the other stroking Lynne's cheek, waited, afraid to think too deeply as the glow began to fade.

Anders wailed, a demanding and loud plea for something, he wasn't quite certain yet what. Lynne began to stir.

Doni collapsed in her chair.  Tabitha, not much better, laid a hand on her forehead, checking and let out a long breath of relief.  She smiled at her son, suddenly looming over them both.  "Put her to bed.  Put both of you to bed," she said.

Stephen didn't wait for more.

"Marc?" Tabitha said.

Marc looked pale and drawn, as if he'd used up his own mass to convert into energy as well. "I'm good. Listen to that little bugger,"  he added with a limp grin.  "I'm gonna just rest here a minute or two and bask in the glow."

Lynne's eyes opened.  They focused on Ash first.

"It's fine, everyone's fine," he whispered, his face close to hers.  He lifted her hand and placed it on the back of their child.  "He's beautiful," he told her.  "Just like you."

She seemed reassured and then looked down at the strange noisy thing lying on her chest her arm wrapped around him protectively already, before she'd even thought to do it.  "It's .. he's ours?"

"He's ours, and I'd guess he's hungry," Ash said, a grin splitting his face.

Thea, grinning hugely, handed her a bottle, well, a plastic thing that was used for baby feeding anyway. "Just touch it to his lips. He'll figure it out," she instructed.

Lynne, still wondering what nightmare she was in now, did as she was instructed. Anders took hardly a moment to figure it out and was noisily suckling his hands reaching upward toward his mother.

Ash watched for a moment, something like awe on his face, touching a tentative finger to one of Anders hands.  Then he raised his eyes to Lynne.  "Is it appropriate to thank you for this, even though it comes no where close to what I mean?"

She smiled. "Are you truly happy about this?"

"Yes," he said.  "Happier than I can tell you.  Are you?"

"Rather more in awe about it and stunned than happy. I'm overwhelmed still. And you're sure this little fellow came out of me?"

"Watched it happen," Ash said.  "It was all rather amazing."

"I can imagine," she replied, her hand stroking the bit of soft hair on Anders' head.

Marc got up and walked over. "Can I check him?"

Lynne nodded. "As it seems you helped birth him, of course."

Marc reached down to touch Anders' toe.  He opened his palm and his sigil flared. Anders' DNA was spinning there. Marc shook his head. "You two are going to have a handful, I'm afraid. The little bugger is Awakened too."

Henry had the room ready, and Ash was recruiting for a nanny. There was no way, Buffy thought, that Lynne wasn't moving in to stay. But when she'd tried to talk to Ash he'd avoided her direct question. Buffy frowned and kicked the nearest bit of furniture, earning herself a serious frown from Henry.

She looked around one more time, nodded at Henry who was supposed to be rounding up the boys, and zapped off to the Refuge.  She hadn't seen Lynne since the birth, and hadn't seen the baby at all. So when she zapped in it took her a moment to orient on the fact that Ash, Ash!, was holding a newborn.

"Hello Elizabeth, meet Anders," Ash said.

Buffy walked over and peered down at the tiny and rather wrinkly and red thing. "Hi. How ya doin' there buddy?"

He blew a few bubbles by way of greeting.  "I think he likes you, Buff.  Want to hold him?" Ash asked.

"Uhm, no thanks, I might drop him."  Then Buffy turned to Lynne. "So, you ready to go home?"

"Uhm, I need to stop and get some things though. Diapers, stuff like that. Formula..."  Lynne frowned. She was never going to remember all this stuff.

"Henry's taken care of all that, sweetheart," Ash said.

"Henry?" Lynne asked, trying to make sense of that.

"Oh yeah. He had a ball picking out baby stuff. If you hate it we can take it all back, but I couldn't make him stop," Buffy explained.

"He can't wait to meet the baby.  The nanny will probably have to fight him for rights," Ash said.

"Oh. I see," Lynne said, biting her lip, as she took the baby from Ash.

"Well, we didn't want you to have to worry about anything," Buffy added. "Are you a Yankees fan? I sure hope so, cuz the kid has a ton of Yankee stuff. For that you can thank Cayden."

Lynne tried to stop a laugh from escaping, glancing over at Ash. "So he's already got uncles to spoil him has he?"

"Yeah.  Damon bought him the Rangers stuff and the hockey stick.  Dec has dibs on taking him to the zoo for the first time," Ash said.  "He's going to be spoiled rotten."

"So I see..." she said thoughtfully. They bid everyone good bye and promised to bring Anders back for regular visits and then finally Buffy zapped them home to the townhouse, arriving in the front hallway.

Lynne looked around as if she were trying to remember it.

Ash just looked at her.  "Do you want to see the room we put together for him?" he asked finally.  "For while you figure out what you want to do?"

She looked over at him, shifting the sleeping baby a bit in her arms. "It's different. I mean, it all looks differently. Colors, textures, it isn't as I remember it. Henry," she said, catching him looking through the doorway. "Thank you, thank you so much."

He actually beamed at her.  "It was my pleasure, ma'am."  Then he let his eyes drop to the baby, a different sort of smile on his face.  "If there is anything you need, anything at all that we forgot, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Would you like to hold him?" she asked. "Anders, this is your Uncle Henry."

He took him like he knew what he was doing, smiling down at him, stroking a finger over his cheek.  "He's going to look like you I think," he said finally, look at Lynne.

"No, thank God he has Ash's nose," she replied smiling. "Would you show me the room you've put together for him?"

"it's this way ma'am," he said, making no move to relinquish the baby.  He led the way up the stairs and down the hall.  Across from Ash's room he stopped and opened a door onto a large, sunny room.  "We thought here would be best but we can change it if you prefer," he told her letting her enter.  "There's a bathroom and another bedroom through that door there for the nanny.  And of course you'll be just across the hall."

Ash looked in over Lynne's shoulder, seeing it for the first time and almost dropped his jaw.  It had been freshly pained in a robin's egg blue and a Winnie the Pooh border added.  The furniture was a honey pine and the carpet looked new as well, in a darker honey color.  There was a huge cushioned rocker over by the window, and a pair of arm chairs in front of the fireplace.  There was a bassinet, which a mobile hung, in shades of blue and honey as were the curtains over.  The changing table matched the bassinet.  Henry had been busy.

Lynne ran her eyes across everything. She walked over to open the closet and there were more baby clothes than any six babies might need. She then walked over to sit in the rocking chair.  "Henry, it's perfect. I ... I can't thank you enough."

"Oh I'm so glad, ma'am.  I did hope, but of course if there's anything...well it would be no trouble change it," he said, blushing a fiery red.

Lynne smiled at him. "I wouldn't change a thing," she replied. "Really."  Then she looked over at Ash. "Is it okay with you?"

"It's wonderful,' he said, keeping his face perfectly straight.  "You've done a wonderful job Henry.  Thank you."

Ash and Lynne left Henry clucking over Anders.  She walked into Ash's bedroom and looked around. It was a very masculine room, as it should be. She looked around the room, and then back at Ash. "How much closet space do I get?'

He put his arms around her, his face in her hair, feeling something inside of him ease for the first time in weeks.  "All of it if you want."

"I'll have to do something with the apartment. And the Gallery," she added with a groan.

He went still for a minute, then he looked at her.  "Are you saying you'll stay?"

"Henry will never let me out the door with Anders," she replied, meeting his eyes and grinning. "I suppose I have to stay. You have to keep him safe.'

He shook his head.  "I have to know, Lynne.  Is it what you want because of what's between us?"

She put her hands along each side of his face. "Don't you know I love you and want to make you happy?"

"After everything I've done to you, all of it, you can still say that to me?" he said.  He plunged his hands into her hair, his hands gentle on her face.  "I don't deserve you, you know that don't you.   But I love you more than anything in this world."

"Ash, darling, you did what you did out of love. That's what matters.  And now you're stuck with a baby and a baby vampire who doesn't even really understand how to feed herself. Are you sure you want us?"

"Want you?  I'll never be able to let you go, either of you," he said, crushing her against him.  "Don't ever doubt that I want you, sweetheart."

"Say that after I take over the bathroom," she said with a laugh.

He drew back, grinning at her.  "I was thinking about remodeling anyway, if you ever did move in, so we could have some privacy.  An apartment of sorts."

"Hmmm. That sounds nice. I like privacy."  She paused and looked up at him. "And you promised me sex."

"Whenever you want," he said, grinning at her.  "As much as you want."

"Now. Lots," she replied. "I'm extremely, uhm... ready."

"My pleasure," he said, lifting her up and carrying her to the bed.  "Then I'll teach you how to feed yourself," he promised.

She was already unbuttoning his shirt as he carried her to the bed. "Is this normal for vampires? Heightened sex drive? Or is it my hormones are still messed up?"

"Normal," he said.  "And I wasn't kidding about it being distinctly better.  Both for vamps, and if you're willing to share, for Awakened."

"Oh.  That's why the Refuge is such a hotbed of lust and madness, is it?"

He laughed.  "I doubt it, but you never know.  I think it's because Awakened women are hot as hell.  And Awakened vampire women are in a class by themselves."

"Well, let's see if we can set the bedsheets afire, shall we," she laughed as he laid her down on the bed. "Let's see... Can I just zap the clothes off without hurting myself?"

"Absolutely.  Marc assured me you were completely educated and safe to leave the classroom alone."

She concentrated and it worked. She lay there totally nude. She looked down at her tummy, feeling it, as if looking for some sort of proof of Anders. Then she looked up and grasped Ash's hands and pulled him down onto her.

He went willingly, not needing a second invitation.   It was hours later before he allowed her enough breath to speak with.  By then she lay atop him, both of them wrapped in a blanket of content and still his hands moved lightly over her skin, relearning her.

"You were holding out on me. You didn't tell me about this," she said, using a finger to trace his lips.

He grinned.  "If only I'd known you were so willing," he said, "I never would have.  I promise I never will again."

"Well, gone are the days of the shy retiring Lynne. I hope you won't miss her too badly."

He shook his head.  "I'll miss her but well, I've got you now."

"I'll miss her too," she replied softly. "The baby... Is he normal? I kept asking and I kept wondering if they were telling me the truth. After they worked so hard to bring him into the world.. I.. What with me.. I almost killed him, my body, I mean. I didn't know. I couldn't understand it all."

"He perfect in every way, darling.  Honest.  And besides, if you don't believe me, you can check him out yourself now."

"Oh," she said in a very small voice. "Doni said I should go to the Refuge and they'd show me how to heal. It's rather frightening, to think I could do even a little of what they can do. It seems so.. fantastical."

"It's an amazing gift," he said.  "I've always been in awe of it.  And of their willingness to share it with whoever needs it."

She nodded. "They came to the Cliffhouse?"

"No, but if I needed them they would.  I was thinking of inviting Stephen and Doni, Tabitha and Eli, and Marc and Dinah later in the summer, when things settle down."

"Yes, please do. I owe them so much."

"Then we'll do it.  Are you going to let then teach you to heal?" he asked.

"I'd like to. Would you mind?"

"No,  Why would I if it's what you want to do?  And, while I"m thinking of it, there's no reason to give up the gallery if you don't want to either."

She examined his eyes. "I know how worried you always are. Will you be all right with it now? Are you sure?"

He smiled into her eyes, his hand cupping her cheek.  "Yes.  You're not as vulnerable as you were.  Buffy will still not let you out alone, but she's like that and because we love her we deal with it.  I'd like it if you'd learn to defend yourself and handle a sword, but that's up to you."

"Yes, I think I should. Considering some of your enemies, not to mention some of your friends. Kiril comes to mind."

He laughed.  "Just tell him Buffy's been asking about him.  That's who he really wants."

She laughed.  "I can't imagine why.  Now, I'm going to go check on Anders and then come back and hope that you will make love with me again. Can you be spared for that long from your duties?"

"Being the boss has it's advantages," he said.  "I'm yours for as long as you want me.   Plus I promised to take you out to eat, as I recall."

"Ah, yes, there is that too. Perhaps a B+ tonight."

"I prefer O+ myself," he said.

"Perhaps it's an acquired taste." she replied.

"Most likely," he said.  He hesitated for a minute.  "You know, there are alternatives to hunting," he said finally.

"Yes, Marc said there were. I'm a bit nervous about the idea of hunting, Ash, but I think I should learn to at least. Try it."

"Good.  Now go check on our son and then hurry back," he said, kissing her.

"Don't move," she said with a grin, grabbing his shirt to put over herself and hurrying out.