RP LOG with gr8muppetyodin | Unexpected revelations
[Follows THIS, THIS and THIS]
Now that Rory was in safe hands at Blaise's secure manor, Riley actually had a chance to breathe. The nutter raving about vampires at the base of the Eiffel Tower had been shipped off to the local hospital for a psych assessment and luckily with Halloween so close, no one really batted much of an eyelid and Riley's team hadn't had to do anything but stand around on guard in case there was a dramatic turn of events. They hadn't been needed, and Riley was back to be present when Rory was discharged and taken to Blaise's home. The Scot hadn't been in much condition for intense interrogation. He answered the vital questions Riley had thrown at him, but it would just have to wait before they got more information from him. Rest is what he needed, and hopefully he would be able to get that over the next few days to regain his strength.
But now Riley was sitting at his desk in his office, relaxed back in his leather chair as he looked at the views out his window. He had a break, and had decided to call Nina at home to see how she was. He had a day off and he had left her a packet of Hershey Hugs and Hershey Kisses with a note apologising for being scarce. They were in lieu of the real deal, and apparently that had been a very good lover move, because when he called, he was thanked by somehow managing to be coaxed into having phone sex with Nina... sitting at his desk, at work. It was a first for him, and although it felt a little strange, it had that naughty thrill to it. He had his phone pressed his ear and his hand down his pants as he worked himself slowly, listening to her talk dirty to him down the phone. He was biting on his lips and just starting to get into it when his office door suddenly burst open revealing a red-faced Buffy. Riley shrieked and dropped the phone, managing to scrape the backs of his knuckles on his zip when he yanked his hand from his pants so quickly in shock. "BUFFY!" he cried in a mix of fright and embarrassment.
"RILEY!" Buffy yelled in return as she stood there wide-eyed and tried not to think too hard about what he was doing. Or rather his penis and the fact that his sperm might have impregnated her. She pointed behind her at the door behind her before she pointed at Riley. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I should have called, but your phone is engaged because you're, um... wow. I didn't really think of you as the phone sex type, but then here you are with your hands down your pants all hot and bothered, and I'm pregnant."
Riley had sat foreward and was quickly shoving himself back into his pants and zipping up again. Sure, it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, but that was beside the point! He was mortified and he was sure he had locked that door. Buffy had seen it, but she hadn't actually seen him touching himself before. That much he knew. She had always been the one doing the touching, and never asked to watch him. They certainly hadn't had phone sex. "Well, you didn't think of me as the love type either and--" He stopped, clamping his mouth shut when she finished. "You what?"
Buffy waved her hands at her body before she just waved them around helplessly as she struggled to find the words to repeat herself as the tears started. She'd been holding it in since the conversation with Blaise, and the bomb that was dropped after he'd shifted into wolf form. "I'm pregnant! There's a baby in me that I had no idea about, but Blaise was all with the fur and the increased senses and apparently that makes it easier for him to tell that I'm pregnant. I can't believe he can even smell it on me, but he can!"
Riley threw his hands up in frustration. "He can't smell anything on you! How many times do I have to tell you that!" was the first thing he thought to return with. "How the hell can you be pregnant! You're Buffy! You can't be pregnant! This is just... just... I don't even have words. It's not like he knocked you up. That much I do know. How could you not know? And what was he doing with fur? Do I even want to know? I don't want to know, do I? To think, I was hoping to go home today without a headache."
"I'm not here to give you a headache, but I've got a baby and you and Rory are the two men with sperm that's capable of impregnating me! And okay, so he didn't smell it. He just did that sense thing and knew. He was a wolf! Blaise is a shifter, it wasn't anything kinky. He's this amazing, beautiful white wolf with those silver eyes and he just knew. I didn't know because why the hell would I think I was pregnant?! I haven't even thought about my period because I've been so focused on all the other craziness going on. I didn't even think about the fact I wasn't haven't it. That I'm late!"
Riley pointed at himself. "Wait. You think it's mine?! It's not mine. We used condoms! I know, I supplied them! I can't have kids. I don't have time for kids! I don't even have time for myself!" Okay, that sounded rather stupid considering what she just caught him doing, and he did have the decency to look fleetingly sheepish at the realisation. "I know he's a shapeshifter, a lot of powerful Kindred are, but that's beside the point! I didn't not knock you up, and I certainly don't need Blaise thinking I did! God help the guy who did! And just for the record, him being a walking pregnancy test is freaky and please don't ever talk to me about your period again. We aren't in that realm together anymore!"
"Stop yelling at me!" Buffy exclaimed as the tears started thick and fast and she dropped down into the chair across from Riley's desk. "All I know is that it either has to be you, or Rory. The father's name definitely starts with an R and ends with a Y. You two are the only guys I've slept with and even if I'd slept with Blaise vampire babies are totally impossible. I mean, maybe if they got born in some freaky dead cabbage patch... But no, no vampire babies. Or Kindred babies. Or Kindred wolf babies! Because ew, and he's not Zeus."
"You're yelling at me!" Riley immediately protested. "Oh hell, how could you be so... it's not mine! We were protected. We have been protected every single freaking time we did it. You were drunk when you did it with him, so I'm going with the obvious here! He has no sperm! Even if there was a dead cabbage patch, there isn't going to be Kindred babies in there! Bloody hell, as if he wasn't already trying to shove you away from him enough."
Buffy held her hands up to show she was going to stop yelling, and took a deep breath. "I don't know how this happened. I mean, okay... drunken sex. If it's Rory. Which it must be, because we do use protection. We always use protection, but what if there was a hole? Are you really so sure it was totally foolproof? Not that I want it to be yours. I mean, no offence, but I know you don't need it. You don't need it when you're having phone sex with someone and starting the relationship you deserve. I'm just... this is confusing. Babies were never part of the Buffy plan. Babies can't even be part of the Kindred plan. I'm trying to win over Blaise, and now he just thinks I'm some pregnant slut. This is it, isn't it? It's over."
"If there was a hole, he still got to you first," Riley said stubbornly, with a masked fear that what she was telling him could be right. There was no way a baby would fit into his life. Not now, maybe not even in the future. Once upon a time he thought he might like kids, but his work became his life, and he was fine with that. "No, I really, really, don't need it, Buffy. I actually feel happy right now for the first time in what feels like ever. She is giving me what you never could and this is fucked up! There is no way that kid is mine. No offence. I don't know what it is, but, at the risk of sounding like a friggen broken record, Blaise is an animal. It's going to be animal instincts that try and win over. You don't see lions or wolves just stepping up as the baby daddy of another animal's kid, do you? It could be why he hasn't slept with you, though. You'll be dripping in another dude's... essence."
Buffy shook her head emphatically as she wiped at her cheeks. "No, no. I'm not dripping. There is no dripping! It was just once... twice, and there was no dripping. It was just sex, and he's my friend, and oh my god, he even said we'd make beautiful babies! Maybe he knew? What if his temporary Ventrue-ness means he knows, too? How do I even begin to tell him? I can't tell him until I know for sure. I just need to know, but I don't speak enough French to go to a doctor. I don't even have French health insurance. What am I supposed to do? How do I even talk to Blaise about this? I don't want him to be the Baby Daddy. I don't even know if I can be a Baby Mommy."
"You're knocked up with another guy's kid. The essence is there, and is going to be there for months. However many months. Seven? I don't know." Riley picked up his phone from the floor and listened, but Nina had hung up. He suddenly felt sick wondering how much she had heard. "Blaise knows doctors, and nurses. Hell, I think he even owns a hospital or something. He can have what he needs at the snap of his fingers, so you might need his help. I think if Rory knew this, you wouldn't be hearing the end of it. What are you going to do? Get it taken care of?" he asked her quietly, putting his phone onto his desk with a frown.
Buffy looked at Riley as he set the phone down, her stomach twisting as she thought about the fact that she'd just ruined Riley's intimate moment with the mysterious woman that made him happy. She gave a slow shake of her head after a moment. "No," she replied hoarsely. "I don't think I could. Not if Rory wants a family still. Not if this gives him that... I just don't know what that means for me. Maybe I just... Maybe I'm just the incubator? Crap. I don't know, Riley! I just don't know. I just need to be sure before I try and talk to Rory. Even if we have Blaise's word for it, I still just can't believe it."
Riley shrugged and tried to stifle a sigh, but failed. "He's probably more accurate than a test, and now that you mention it, you're looking a little..." he gestured, floundering for the right word, "... less skinny. He wouldn't have just been there smelling pregnant on you. He probably more sensed a second presence in you. You have to admit, he's been keeping his distance from you and it might have just seemed like he was frustrated with what you were saying, but this makes more sense. It might have felt like he was honing in on someone else's territory, probably mistaken as Angel's. Totally not Angel, obviously."
"But then he would have been feeling that from the beginning, and I can't be that pregnant. There is no way! But then if I'm looking... less skinny," Buffy said as she shot Riley a glare, "then I can't possibly be just a couple of months pregnant. Even I know that! I wouldn't just magically start showing. It does explain why my boobs hurt though, and why I nearly drowned in ice cream." She suddenly noticed there was a BLT sitting on Riley's desk and pointed at it. "Are you gonna eat that? Is there mustard?"
"You were the one who was just ranting it was me or Rory! How many other guys could be on the menu here?" Riley couldn't help but ask. "If you're eating like that, how do you really know how long? It might not just be all baby. Just saying. I thought he was more open to you in Scotland? Then when you came here, you banged both me and Rory, so it technically hasn't been from the beginning. You got here when he started to get sick. He's been off for weeks." He noticed the sandwich sitting there, not exactly sure where it came from, so he shrugged. "I dunno."
"There haven't been any other guys. I said that! But I'm just saying, this is all just... strange." Buffy pointed at him. "And hey! I haven't been eating like that all the time. Just recently. Ice cream was like the greatest thing on Earth after another awkward run-in with Blaise. I don't know how long. That's why I have to ask Blaise for help... Oh god, this is terrible. I just can't believe it. He was more open to me in Scotland. Things were really good in Scotland. So... it has to be the France thing. Right? Or the just before he left Scotland thing because of the necklace. What if part of him being off is still sensing that I had this thing growing inside me?" She leaned forward to snatch up the BLT and took a bite out of it. There was no mustard, but still good.
"You weren't pregnant in Scotland, were you?" Riley asked uncertainly and then found himself looking her over. Now it was out, she looked pregnant, and that felt really weird for Riley. Maybe there was a slight chance he was the father, but it didn't feel right. It really didn't feel right. "It could be that. Sure, he's been ill and off, but his powerful senses are still there. This whole thing with you hasn't sat right. Maybe because every time he gets close to you, he feels it. The only thing is, I've never come across anything like this before. I have no idea if he will just cut this off. What if he can't handle knowing you're pregnant? It's an... intense scenario to bring a kid in. And what if it's Rory's? Would you just be happy for him to be the main baby daddy and you work... or what? I just... this... it can't be mine, Buffy. I really need this to not be mine. You and me... we don't... we weren't meant to be. A baby shouldn't be brought into that."
Buffy raised her eyebrows. "And a baby should be brought into my friendship with Rory? I mean, it could go either way. What if he's not happy finding out I'm pregnant with a kid that could be his? I don't want it to be yours either, Riley. But I don't know how to make sure of that without first just finding out how pregnant I am. Or we just get tests. There are tests, right? I don't know if I was pregnant in Scotland! I don't know anything other than that all of a sudden all the weirdness suddenly makes sense. I've been crazy pregnant vibe lady for a little while now, so no wonder I can't have a straight conversation with Blaise. I just need to talk to them both. I can't make any decisions until I know how they feel about this."
Riley pressed his lips together and scrunched his nose up. "Rory is an excellent father. No one needs to have witnessed that to know that. He is where he is today because of his family and to be honest, Buffy, you don't need me to tell you that you couldn't get a better baby daddy than him. You don't need to be fucking him to let him be the father. But you and me, we have history. It wouldn't work. We'd probably end up resenting each other. I think we're pretty lucky to still be friends. How could he not be happy. Have you seen his face when he talks about his baby daughter? It's pure and total devastation. What I do know is that you need to speak to Blaise. Maybe not straight away, because this might not really go down well. But you do need to talk to him. Blaise's response will come almost completely down to physical reaction rather than emotional. Rory will be the opposite. You've got some juggling to do here."
Buffy took another bite from the sandwich before she just pulled the bacon out from it and ate that on its own before she set the sandwich down. "I know... I know! I do. I mean, you and me could never make it work. We can make the friendship work because I'm stubborn, and right now it's hard to avoid each other. That, and you're the sanest person I know. You're also one of the wisest. You can keep me straight when I start to go loopy. Not many people can do that. I can't work out how to talk to Rory without seeing the doctor first, and that means talking to Blaise before anything else. And that doesn't seem right until I know for sure who the baby daddy is. I mean, I think it's probably eighty percent probable right now that it's Rory. But is that what I tell Blaise?"
"Considering you've slapped an eighty percent chance on it, maybe Rory deserves to be spoken to first. How did Blaise react? You never said. You just said he figured it out. I know Rory's not in the best way, but he does listen. I'll give him that. He didn't listen when he was a Brujah mental case, but he seems okay now." Riley shrugged a little. "And you're all about Fate, right? Maybe this is Fate stepping in and telling you that, yep, now is very much the right time to be quitting the Slaying. Rory's a reasonable guy, Buffy. Blaise isn't so much volatile as operating on a different system to the rest of us. This is something that is going to be completely new to him, in his whole centuries on the earth. Babies... kids... he keeps them out of his life."
"Which is all the more reason for him to keep me out of his life, right? He was just... quiet. His eyes were doing the silver thing and then he just walked out. We were in the room with Rory while he was unconscious. That's what makes it even weirder. I mean, there was a chance Rory could have heard what was spoken about, but I don't think he did. He really was out for the count. Blaise didn't really react. It was just like it was a statement of fact, and then he walked out. I don't really know what that's supposed to mean. I don't know if he's angry. I don't know if his head is doing the same maths and he's thinking that it's one of two guys, or if he just thinks it's one guy. Well, quitting really is an option now considering I'm knocked up. I don't think I'm crazy enough to try and slay in this condition. Oh god... I have to tell Giles. And Xander... And Willow, and Faith."
Riley nodded. "His head will be doing the math, Buffy. Anyone's would. Not to mention the fact this will probably hit a lot home for him. It's not like he's ever had the option for children of his own. It was why he was so protective of Emmeline. It is going to be starkly obvious for him all of a sudden that is one area he is completely inadequate in. You would never be able to have kids with Blaise, Buffy, so you would have been sacrificing that if you stayed with him anyway. This could rub salt in certain wounds, but you'll just have to take it in your stride. Don't forget he did claim you. He did want you as part of his life, on some level. On some level, you were important to him. Sure, the whole, he just did it to free you from Angel, but why would he bother if you were under Angel's influence? There was more to it, without a doubt."
Buffy pressed her lips together. "How's he supposed to remember that now? How am I supposed to be what he needs me to be when I'm rubbing salt in the wounds?" Buffy ran her fingers through her hair as she looked past Riley at the wall behind him. Her eyes went focused for a moment as she pictured Blaise, and Rory, and then tried to picture her with a baby in the same image. She had no idea how to be a mom. She could barely look after her little sister after their own mom died. She also didn't know how a kid was supposed to work out if she managed to stay a part of Blaise's world. But there was no doubting the fact that Rory really would be a great baby daddy. "I asked him once about being with a single mom. If he'd ever loved a woman that had a kid. He said there was no way he could love her, that he wouldn't want a kid involved."
"Because he has never been faced with it," Riley reasoned and rested his elbows on his desk. "It would have been like me asking you all those years ago in Sunnydale how you would have felt falling in love with a vampire Prince. You would have laughed in my face, then set Giles on the case to research vampire Princes so you could take them out as soon as you could get your stake close enough. Not that a stake would do much more than pinch Blaise, but still. You shove a stake into him, and he'll just heal. You've got to remember, Buffy, he loved Emmeline. He's not completely foreign to the concept. I hear he also had alot to do with another kid, too. Some son of a guy who worked for him."
"I'm not going to shove a stake in him! Jeez, Riley. Just let that idea go, okay? I'm really not about to stake Blaise. I like him all not wounded. He was up and around and talking and it was nice. I hate when he's bed ridden, or sick. It's not like I can help him out, is it? I can't do anything but just aggravate him more." Buffy rubbed her hands over her face before she looked down at her belly which definitely wasn't as flat as it used to be now she knew. "Yeah, that kid's now Emmeline's main Kindred squeeze. Apparently Blaise is surprised they haven't taken each other for mates. What happens with that anyway, is there some mating ritual?"
Riley shook his head. "It's kind of like Embracing all over again, only obviously they can't die twice. They drain each other simultaneously and then sort of go underground together while they recover. I've never seen it, only heard of it. It's not something generally on offer to an audience, I would assume. Considering it's a mateship. Between two people, like a marriage. I only know Blaise Sired him, and I've seen him in passing. And I didn't say you wanted to stake him. It was an example, which you totally ignored to jump down my throat. Would you quit that? Seriously. It's getting old."
Buffy pointed at her stomach. "Crazy pregnant lady. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Either way, we're not in that alternate reality, so stop trying to use that as an example because that's getting old, too. I don't just run out and try and stake everything that bites. I don't! Wow, that's a pretty intense mateship... No wonder the bond's so strong. I'm guessing it's not something people take on lightly. They'd want to be sure that they'd work as mates. Well, that would make him Ventrue which I think Emmeline mentioned. And the fact it was his father that asked Blaise to Embrace him after a motorcycle accident."
"I'm talking in the only freaking language you understand! But you know what? I'm stopping, because this is pissing me off. I'm sick of being your scapegoat," Riley complained and turned in his chair to look out the window, frowning. "They get to the point of mateship, they know. They're Kindred, not human. They know in different ways to humans, who fuck up relationships left and right. Kindred are much more loyal to each other. Yeah, guy was brain dead or something. Blaise brought him back when there was no hope."
Buffy sighed as she watched Riley turned in his chair and rest her head in her hand as she tried not to feel guilty for feeling like a bitch every time he did try and supposedly talk in a language she understood. She wasn't making him a scapegoat, but she was struggling to understand how she was supposed to be able to move on and not act like the Slayer she'd been in Sunnydale if Riley of all people just kept dragging her back there. "Well, it's a true forever thing, isn't it? They're with each other for as long as their Kindred lives last. I still think it's pretty amazing that being Embraced can fix something like that. I mean, I know he still kinda died anyway, but he's hardly a Kindred vegetable, is he?"
Riley gave a slight shrug, remaining silent for the moment. He was hardly going to point out Kindred wasn't human, therefore vegetable didn't come into it. That would mean pointing out about vampires, and the fact she should understand that, and he really was sick of hearing about slaying and whether she did or didn't want to do it anymore. She did in the past, and when Riley was with her, it's all she was encompassed with. No matter what they did, it always came back to the slaying. "It's a part of them I envy."
"Would you do it?" she asked him quietly. "If you were that sick, that hurt... Would you consider being Embraced?"
"If I was that sick or hurt, the choice would be out of my hands," Riley pointed out. "I work every day with Kindred. Some of them are my closest friends. I understand them better than I understand humans some days. At least they are straight about what they are. Us mortals, not so much. I would have to be some sort of emotionless bastard to not have contemplated what it would be liked to be Embraced on some level. I see Blaise and Juliette and just think it must be really nice to be that close to someone, no strings."
Buffy nodded slowly even though Riley still wasn't facing her. "Agreed. But then... I mean, if I have this kid... How would they feel if I got Embraced? Would I even want to be Embraced? How do you explain to a child that Mommy can't go play out in the sun with them because she's undead?"
Riley glanced down at his phone and then brushed his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. I guess that could be why Blaise had Emmeline taken care of until she was old enough to understand. Her adoptive parents were descendents of the designer Yves Saint Laurent. Seriously, all the twists and turns just fascinate me. It shows you how blinkered us humans can really be. We don't see what we don't really want to. It still is a cursed life, though. I guess one of the silver linings they get is taking a mate."
"They deserve some kinda happy, right? But Emmeline seems genuinely happy with the life she has. I don't think she sees it as a curse. She was practically made for it. I still can't believe Blaise is a real French prince. They're both royalty... It's just unbelievable." Buffy had caught the look from Riley to the phone and stood up as she brushed some crumbs off her top. "You should call her. I'm really sorry for busting in on you, Riley. You're not mine to bust in on anymore, are you? Last time, I promise. From now on it's all about considerate, phoning-ahead-Buffy. I think I just need to try and talk to Rory... Then Blaise."
"Yeah, I guess it's why respecting them came so easily to me. Who am I to argue with someone who is five hundred years old and true royalty? His father was King. It's surreal. I walked around with the stupidest look on my face for weeks when I first started learning. He never judged me for stupid questions. I've still got all the notes I made, even if I can't read what I wrote in half of them. I never really managed to understand Kindred until I knew more about him. Like any hierarchy, I guess. You need a starting point, so why not the top?" Riley looked from the phone back to Buffy. "I'd rather talk to her in person about what she heard. If she heard it, how much she heard."
"So go see her. Everything's under control here, isn't it? Rory's at Blaise's, I'm... crazy, but also not your responsibility. Plus you have Graham as your second in command for a reason." Buffy gave him an encouraging smile. "I can imagine you with that stupid look on your face. Which is a bit of a backwards compliment, but still a compliment. Promise. You just never stop being genuinely awed by something, and I've always loved that about you. But go to her. Okay? Promise me. I'll take the blame for anything she heard. She can hate me, throw a drink in my face... do whatever. Just go see her."
Riley shook his head. "I have work to do. It will have to wait. Rory might be at Blaise's, but Blaise is not at Blaise's. He is in the city. There is still so much lingering mess from Rory's attack, so I can't relax completely just yet, or I wouldn't be here with my hand down my pants," he said wryly. "Things are just going to have to wait. Especially if Blaise is going to go off in another frenzy because of that. Hopefully he just brings an orgy to him, rather than trying to find one himself."
Buffy tried not to frown at the idea of Blaise involved in an orgy. She knew Blaise was never going to promise faithfulness, and she understood that when it came to feeding. But if there was any kind of sex without feeding then she really was going to get annoyed. She just had to get past the fact that right now she didn't deserve to be jealous. There wasn't a 'them' for her to be protective of. Blaise was a free agent. "Well, I'll let you get back to work then. And if you choose to have your hand down your pants while working, then I won't breathe a word. Promise. Let's just hope that Blaise also has enough of his senses to know when someone's got a blood disease this time."
"Sure," Riley replied and put his cell phone into the top drawer of his desk. This all really wasn't something he wanted to talk to Nina about over the phone. "Well, if he isn't, it's our job to make sure he's okay. It could be a long night," he realised with a small frown. Either way, Blaise wouldn't take this lying down. He would have to react some way. However this time, considering there was a chance Riley was responsible, he seriously doubted he would have the Prince's confidence.
Word Count | 5,449
Now that Rory was in safe hands at Blaise's secure manor, Riley actually had a chance to breathe. The nutter raving about vampires at the base of the Eiffel Tower had been shipped off to the local hospital for a psych assessment and luckily with Halloween so close, no one really batted much of an eyelid and Riley's team hadn't had to do anything but stand around on guard in case there was a dramatic turn of events. They hadn't been needed, and Riley was back to be present when Rory was discharged and taken to Blaise's home. The Scot hadn't been in much condition for intense interrogation. He answered the vital questions Riley had thrown at him, but it would just have to wait before they got more information from him. Rest is what he needed, and hopefully he would be able to get that over the next few days to regain his strength.
But now Riley was sitting at his desk in his office, relaxed back in his leather chair as he looked at the views out his window. He had a break, and had decided to call Nina at home to see how she was. He had a day off and he had left her a packet of Hershey Hugs and Hershey Kisses with a note apologising for being scarce. They were in lieu of the real deal, and apparently that had been a very good lover move, because when he called, he was thanked by somehow managing to be coaxed into having phone sex with Nina... sitting at his desk, at work. It was a first for him, and although it felt a little strange, it had that naughty thrill to it. He had his phone pressed his ear and his hand down his pants as he worked himself slowly, listening to her talk dirty to him down the phone. He was biting on his lips and just starting to get into it when his office door suddenly burst open revealing a red-faced Buffy. Riley shrieked and dropped the phone, managing to scrape the backs of his knuckles on his zip when he yanked his hand from his pants so quickly in shock. "BUFFY!" he cried in a mix of fright and embarrassment.
"RILEY!" Buffy yelled in return as she stood there wide-eyed and tried not to think too hard about what he was doing. Or rather his penis and the fact that his sperm might have impregnated her. She pointed behind her at the door behind her before she pointed at Riley. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I should have called, but your phone is engaged because you're, um... wow. I didn't really think of you as the phone sex type, but then here you are with your hands down your pants all hot and bothered, and I'm pregnant."
Riley had sat foreward and was quickly shoving himself back into his pants and zipping up again. Sure, it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, but that was beside the point! He was mortified and he was sure he had locked that door. Buffy had seen it, but she hadn't actually seen him touching himself before. That much he knew. She had always been the one doing the touching, and never asked to watch him. They certainly hadn't had phone sex. "Well, you didn't think of me as the love type either and--" He stopped, clamping his mouth shut when she finished. "You what?"
Buffy waved her hands at her body before she just waved them around helplessly as she struggled to find the words to repeat herself as the tears started. She'd been holding it in since the conversation with Blaise, and the bomb that was dropped after he'd shifted into wolf form. "I'm pregnant! There's a baby in me that I had no idea about, but Blaise was all with the fur and the increased senses and apparently that makes it easier for him to tell that I'm pregnant. I can't believe he can even smell it on me, but he can!"
Riley threw his hands up in frustration. "He can't smell anything on you! How many times do I have to tell you that!" was the first thing he thought to return with. "How the hell can you be pregnant! You're Buffy! You can't be pregnant! This is just... just... I don't even have words. It's not like he knocked you up. That much I do know. How could you not know? And what was he doing with fur? Do I even want to know? I don't want to know, do I? To think, I was hoping to go home today without a headache."
"I'm not here to give you a headache, but I've got a baby and you and Rory are the two men with sperm that's capable of impregnating me! And okay, so he didn't smell it. He just did that sense thing and knew. He was a wolf! Blaise is a shifter, it wasn't anything kinky. He's this amazing, beautiful white wolf with those silver eyes and he just knew. I didn't know because why the hell would I think I was pregnant?! I haven't even thought about my period because I've been so focused on all the other craziness going on. I didn't even think about the fact I wasn't haven't it. That I'm late!"
Riley pointed at himself. "Wait. You think it's mine?! It's not mine. We used condoms! I know, I supplied them! I can't have kids. I don't have time for kids! I don't even have time for myself!" Okay, that sounded rather stupid considering what she just caught him doing, and he did have the decency to look fleetingly sheepish at the realisation. "I know he's a shapeshifter, a lot of powerful Kindred are, but that's beside the point! I didn't not knock you up, and I certainly don't need Blaise thinking I did! God help the guy who did! And just for the record, him being a walking pregnancy test is freaky and please don't ever talk to me about your period again. We aren't in that realm together anymore!"
"Stop yelling at me!" Buffy exclaimed as the tears started thick and fast and she dropped down into the chair across from Riley's desk. "All I know is that it either has to be you, or Rory. The father's name definitely starts with an R and ends with a Y. You two are the only guys I've slept with and even if I'd slept with Blaise vampire babies are totally impossible. I mean, maybe if they got born in some freaky dead cabbage patch... But no, no vampire babies. Or Kindred babies. Or Kindred wolf babies! Because ew, and he's not Zeus."
"You're yelling at me!" Riley immediately protested. "Oh hell, how could you be so... it's not mine! We were protected. We have been protected every single freaking time we did it. You were drunk when you did it with him, so I'm going with the obvious here! He has no sperm! Even if there was a dead cabbage patch, there isn't going to be Kindred babies in there! Bloody hell, as if he wasn't already trying to shove you away from him enough."
Buffy held her hands up to show she was going to stop yelling, and took a deep breath. "I don't know how this happened. I mean, okay... drunken sex. If it's Rory. Which it must be, because we do use protection. We always use protection, but what if there was a hole? Are you really so sure it was totally foolproof? Not that I want it to be yours. I mean, no offence, but I know you don't need it. You don't need it when you're having phone sex with someone and starting the relationship you deserve. I'm just... this is confusing. Babies were never part of the Buffy plan. Babies can't even be part of the Kindred plan. I'm trying to win over Blaise, and now he just thinks I'm some pregnant slut. This is it, isn't it? It's over."
"If there was a hole, he still got to you first," Riley said stubbornly, with a masked fear that what she was telling him could be right. There was no way a baby would fit into his life. Not now, maybe not even in the future. Once upon a time he thought he might like kids, but his work became his life, and he was fine with that. "No, I really, really, don't need it, Buffy. I actually feel happy right now for the first time in what feels like ever. She is giving me what you never could and this is fucked up! There is no way that kid is mine. No offence. I don't know what it is, but, at the risk of sounding like a friggen broken record, Blaise is an animal. It's going to be animal instincts that try and win over. You don't see lions or wolves just stepping up as the baby daddy of another animal's kid, do you? It could be why he hasn't slept with you, though. You'll be dripping in another dude's... essence."
Buffy shook her head emphatically as she wiped at her cheeks. "No, no. I'm not dripping. There is no dripping! It was just once... twice, and there was no dripping. It was just sex, and he's my friend, and oh my god, he even said we'd make beautiful babies! Maybe he knew? What if his temporary Ventrue-ness means he knows, too? How do I even begin to tell him? I can't tell him until I know for sure. I just need to know, but I don't speak enough French to go to a doctor. I don't even have French health insurance. What am I supposed to do? How do I even talk to Blaise about this? I don't want him to be the Baby Daddy. I don't even know if I can be a Baby Mommy."
"You're knocked up with another guy's kid. The essence is there, and is going to be there for months. However many months. Seven? I don't know." Riley picked up his phone from the floor and listened, but Nina had hung up. He suddenly felt sick wondering how much she had heard. "Blaise knows doctors, and nurses. Hell, I think he even owns a hospital or something. He can have what he needs at the snap of his fingers, so you might need his help. I think if Rory knew this, you wouldn't be hearing the end of it. What are you going to do? Get it taken care of?" he asked her quietly, putting his phone onto his desk with a frown.
Buffy looked at Riley as he set the phone down, her stomach twisting as she thought about the fact that she'd just ruined Riley's intimate moment with the mysterious woman that made him happy. She gave a slow shake of her head after a moment. "No," she replied hoarsely. "I don't think I could. Not if Rory wants a family still. Not if this gives him that... I just don't know what that means for me. Maybe I just... Maybe I'm just the incubator? Crap. I don't know, Riley! I just don't know. I just need to be sure before I try and talk to Rory. Even if we have Blaise's word for it, I still just can't believe it."
Riley shrugged and tried to stifle a sigh, but failed. "He's probably more accurate than a test, and now that you mention it, you're looking a little..." he gestured, floundering for the right word, "... less skinny. He wouldn't have just been there smelling pregnant on you. He probably more sensed a second presence in you. You have to admit, he's been keeping his distance from you and it might have just seemed like he was frustrated with what you were saying, but this makes more sense. It might have felt like he was honing in on someone else's territory, probably mistaken as Angel's. Totally not Angel, obviously."
"But then he would have been feeling that from the beginning, and I can't be that pregnant. There is no way! But then if I'm looking... less skinny," Buffy said as she shot Riley a glare, "then I can't possibly be just a couple of months pregnant. Even I know that! I wouldn't just magically start showing. It does explain why my boobs hurt though, and why I nearly drowned in ice cream." She suddenly noticed there was a BLT sitting on Riley's desk and pointed at it. "Are you gonna eat that? Is there mustard?"
"You were the one who was just ranting it was me or Rory! How many other guys could be on the menu here?" Riley couldn't help but ask. "If you're eating like that, how do you really know how long? It might not just be all baby. Just saying. I thought he was more open to you in Scotland? Then when you came here, you banged both me and Rory, so it technically hasn't been from the beginning. You got here when he started to get sick. He's been off for weeks." He noticed the sandwich sitting there, not exactly sure where it came from, so he shrugged. "I dunno."
"There haven't been any other guys. I said that! But I'm just saying, this is all just... strange." Buffy pointed at him. "And hey! I haven't been eating like that all the time. Just recently. Ice cream was like the greatest thing on Earth after another awkward run-in with Blaise. I don't know how long. That's why I have to ask Blaise for help... Oh god, this is terrible. I just can't believe it. He was more open to me in Scotland. Things were really good in Scotland. So... it has to be the France thing. Right? Or the just before he left Scotland thing because of the necklace. What if part of him being off is still sensing that I had this thing growing inside me?" She leaned forward to snatch up the BLT and took a bite out of it. There was no mustard, but still good.
"You weren't pregnant in Scotland, were you?" Riley asked uncertainly and then found himself looking her over. Now it was out, she looked pregnant, and that felt really weird for Riley. Maybe there was a slight chance he was the father, but it didn't feel right. It really didn't feel right. "It could be that. Sure, he's been ill and off, but his powerful senses are still there. This whole thing with you hasn't sat right. Maybe because every time he gets close to you, he feels it. The only thing is, I've never come across anything like this before. I have no idea if he will just cut this off. What if he can't handle knowing you're pregnant? It's an... intense scenario to bring a kid in. And what if it's Rory's? Would you just be happy for him to be the main baby daddy and you work... or what? I just... this... it can't be mine, Buffy. I really need this to not be mine. You and me... we don't... we weren't meant to be. A baby shouldn't be brought into that."
Buffy raised her eyebrows. "And a baby should be brought into my friendship with Rory? I mean, it could go either way. What if he's not happy finding out I'm pregnant with a kid that could be his? I don't want it to be yours either, Riley. But I don't know how to make sure of that without first just finding out how pregnant I am. Or we just get tests. There are tests, right? I don't know if I was pregnant in Scotland! I don't know anything other than that all of a sudden all the weirdness suddenly makes sense. I've been crazy pregnant vibe lady for a little while now, so no wonder I can't have a straight conversation with Blaise. I just need to talk to them both. I can't make any decisions until I know how they feel about this."
Riley pressed his lips together and scrunched his nose up. "Rory is an excellent father. No one needs to have witnessed that to know that. He is where he is today because of his family and to be honest, Buffy, you don't need me to tell you that you couldn't get a better baby daddy than him. You don't need to be fucking him to let him be the father. But you and me, we have history. It wouldn't work. We'd probably end up resenting each other. I think we're pretty lucky to still be friends. How could he not be happy. Have you seen his face when he talks about his baby daughter? It's pure and total devastation. What I do know is that you need to speak to Blaise. Maybe not straight away, because this might not really go down well. But you do need to talk to him. Blaise's response will come almost completely down to physical reaction rather than emotional. Rory will be the opposite. You've got some juggling to do here."
Buffy took another bite from the sandwich before she just pulled the bacon out from it and ate that on its own before she set the sandwich down. "I know... I know! I do. I mean, you and me could never make it work. We can make the friendship work because I'm stubborn, and right now it's hard to avoid each other. That, and you're the sanest person I know. You're also one of the wisest. You can keep me straight when I start to go loopy. Not many people can do that. I can't work out how to talk to Rory without seeing the doctor first, and that means talking to Blaise before anything else. And that doesn't seem right until I know for sure who the baby daddy is. I mean, I think it's probably eighty percent probable right now that it's Rory. But is that what I tell Blaise?"
"Considering you've slapped an eighty percent chance on it, maybe Rory deserves to be spoken to first. How did Blaise react? You never said. You just said he figured it out. I know Rory's not in the best way, but he does listen. I'll give him that. He didn't listen when he was a Brujah mental case, but he seems okay now." Riley shrugged a little. "And you're all about Fate, right? Maybe this is Fate stepping in and telling you that, yep, now is very much the right time to be quitting the Slaying. Rory's a reasonable guy, Buffy. Blaise isn't so much volatile as operating on a different system to the rest of us. This is something that is going to be completely new to him, in his whole centuries on the earth. Babies... kids... he keeps them out of his life."
"Which is all the more reason for him to keep me out of his life, right? He was just... quiet. His eyes were doing the silver thing and then he just walked out. We were in the room with Rory while he was unconscious. That's what makes it even weirder. I mean, there was a chance Rory could have heard what was spoken about, but I don't think he did. He really was out for the count. Blaise didn't really react. It was just like it was a statement of fact, and then he walked out. I don't really know what that's supposed to mean. I don't know if he's angry. I don't know if his head is doing the same maths and he's thinking that it's one of two guys, or if he just thinks it's one guy. Well, quitting really is an option now considering I'm knocked up. I don't think I'm crazy enough to try and slay in this condition. Oh god... I have to tell Giles. And Xander... And Willow, and Faith."
Riley nodded. "His head will be doing the math, Buffy. Anyone's would. Not to mention the fact this will probably hit a lot home for him. It's not like he's ever had the option for children of his own. It was why he was so protective of Emmeline. It is going to be starkly obvious for him all of a sudden that is one area he is completely inadequate in. You would never be able to have kids with Blaise, Buffy, so you would have been sacrificing that if you stayed with him anyway. This could rub salt in certain wounds, but you'll just have to take it in your stride. Don't forget he did claim you. He did want you as part of his life, on some level. On some level, you were important to him. Sure, the whole, he just did it to free you from Angel, but why would he bother if you were under Angel's influence? There was more to it, without a doubt."
Buffy pressed her lips together. "How's he supposed to remember that now? How am I supposed to be what he needs me to be when I'm rubbing salt in the wounds?" Buffy ran her fingers through her hair as she looked past Riley at the wall behind him. Her eyes went focused for a moment as she pictured Blaise, and Rory, and then tried to picture her with a baby in the same image. She had no idea how to be a mom. She could barely look after her little sister after their own mom died. She also didn't know how a kid was supposed to work out if she managed to stay a part of Blaise's world. But there was no doubting the fact that Rory really would be a great baby daddy. "I asked him once about being with a single mom. If he'd ever loved a woman that had a kid. He said there was no way he could love her, that he wouldn't want a kid involved."
"Because he has never been faced with it," Riley reasoned and rested his elbows on his desk. "It would have been like me asking you all those years ago in Sunnydale how you would have felt falling in love with a vampire Prince. You would have laughed in my face, then set Giles on the case to research vampire Princes so you could take them out as soon as you could get your stake close enough. Not that a stake would do much more than pinch Blaise, but still. You shove a stake into him, and he'll just heal. You've got to remember, Buffy, he loved Emmeline. He's not completely foreign to the concept. I hear he also had alot to do with another kid, too. Some son of a guy who worked for him."
"I'm not going to shove a stake in him! Jeez, Riley. Just let that idea go, okay? I'm really not about to stake Blaise. I like him all not wounded. He was up and around and talking and it was nice. I hate when he's bed ridden, or sick. It's not like I can help him out, is it? I can't do anything but just aggravate him more." Buffy rubbed her hands over her face before she looked down at her belly which definitely wasn't as flat as it used to be now she knew. "Yeah, that kid's now Emmeline's main Kindred squeeze. Apparently Blaise is surprised they haven't taken each other for mates. What happens with that anyway, is there some mating ritual?"
Riley shook his head. "It's kind of like Embracing all over again, only obviously they can't die twice. They drain each other simultaneously and then sort of go underground together while they recover. I've never seen it, only heard of it. It's not something generally on offer to an audience, I would assume. Considering it's a mateship. Between two people, like a marriage. I only know Blaise Sired him, and I've seen him in passing. And I didn't say you wanted to stake him. It was an example, which you totally ignored to jump down my throat. Would you quit that? Seriously. It's getting old."
Buffy pointed at her stomach. "Crazy pregnant lady. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Either way, we're not in that alternate reality, so stop trying to use that as an example because that's getting old, too. I don't just run out and try and stake everything that bites. I don't! Wow, that's a pretty intense mateship... No wonder the bond's so strong. I'm guessing it's not something people take on lightly. They'd want to be sure that they'd work as mates. Well, that would make him Ventrue which I think Emmeline mentioned. And the fact it was his father that asked Blaise to Embrace him after a motorcycle accident."
"I'm talking in the only freaking language you understand! But you know what? I'm stopping, because this is pissing me off. I'm sick of being your scapegoat," Riley complained and turned in his chair to look out the window, frowning. "They get to the point of mateship, they know. They're Kindred, not human. They know in different ways to humans, who fuck up relationships left and right. Kindred are much more loyal to each other. Yeah, guy was brain dead or something. Blaise brought him back when there was no hope."
Buffy sighed as she watched Riley turned in his chair and rest her head in her hand as she tried not to feel guilty for feeling like a bitch every time he did try and supposedly talk in a language she understood. She wasn't making him a scapegoat, but she was struggling to understand how she was supposed to be able to move on and not act like the Slayer she'd been in Sunnydale if Riley of all people just kept dragging her back there. "Well, it's a true forever thing, isn't it? They're with each other for as long as their Kindred lives last. I still think it's pretty amazing that being Embraced can fix something like that. I mean, I know he still kinda died anyway, but he's hardly a Kindred vegetable, is he?"
Riley gave a slight shrug, remaining silent for the moment. He was hardly going to point out Kindred wasn't human, therefore vegetable didn't come into it. That would mean pointing out about vampires, and the fact she should understand that, and he really was sick of hearing about slaying and whether she did or didn't want to do it anymore. She did in the past, and when Riley was with her, it's all she was encompassed with. No matter what they did, it always came back to the slaying. "It's a part of them I envy."
"Would you do it?" she asked him quietly. "If you were that sick, that hurt... Would you consider being Embraced?"
"If I was that sick or hurt, the choice would be out of my hands," Riley pointed out. "I work every day with Kindred. Some of them are my closest friends. I understand them better than I understand humans some days. At least they are straight about what they are. Us mortals, not so much. I would have to be some sort of emotionless bastard to not have contemplated what it would be liked to be Embraced on some level. I see Blaise and Juliette and just think it must be really nice to be that close to someone, no strings."
Buffy nodded slowly even though Riley still wasn't facing her. "Agreed. But then... I mean, if I have this kid... How would they feel if I got Embraced? Would I even want to be Embraced? How do you explain to a child that Mommy can't go play out in the sun with them because she's undead?"
Riley glanced down at his phone and then brushed his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. I guess that could be why Blaise had Emmeline taken care of until she was old enough to understand. Her adoptive parents were descendents of the designer Yves Saint Laurent. Seriously, all the twists and turns just fascinate me. It shows you how blinkered us humans can really be. We don't see what we don't really want to. It still is a cursed life, though. I guess one of the silver linings they get is taking a mate."
"They deserve some kinda happy, right? But Emmeline seems genuinely happy with the life she has. I don't think she sees it as a curse. She was practically made for it. I still can't believe Blaise is a real French prince. They're both royalty... It's just unbelievable." Buffy had caught the look from Riley to the phone and stood up as she brushed some crumbs off her top. "You should call her. I'm really sorry for busting in on you, Riley. You're not mine to bust in on anymore, are you? Last time, I promise. From now on it's all about considerate, phoning-ahead-Buffy. I think I just need to try and talk to Rory... Then Blaise."
"Yeah, I guess it's why respecting them came so easily to me. Who am I to argue with someone who is five hundred years old and true royalty? His father was King. It's surreal. I walked around with the stupidest look on my face for weeks when I first started learning. He never judged me for stupid questions. I've still got all the notes I made, even if I can't read what I wrote in half of them. I never really managed to understand Kindred until I knew more about him. Like any hierarchy, I guess. You need a starting point, so why not the top?" Riley looked from the phone back to Buffy. "I'd rather talk to her in person about what she heard. If she heard it, how much she heard."
"So go see her. Everything's under control here, isn't it? Rory's at Blaise's, I'm... crazy, but also not your responsibility. Plus you have Graham as your second in command for a reason." Buffy gave him an encouraging smile. "I can imagine you with that stupid look on your face. Which is a bit of a backwards compliment, but still a compliment. Promise. You just never stop being genuinely awed by something, and I've always loved that about you. But go to her. Okay? Promise me. I'll take the blame for anything she heard. She can hate me, throw a drink in my face... do whatever. Just go see her."
Riley shook his head. "I have work to do. It will have to wait. Rory might be at Blaise's, but Blaise is not at Blaise's. He is in the city. There is still so much lingering mess from Rory's attack, so I can't relax completely just yet, or I wouldn't be here with my hand down my pants," he said wryly. "Things are just going to have to wait. Especially if Blaise is going to go off in another frenzy because of that. Hopefully he just brings an orgy to him, rather than trying to find one himself."
Buffy tried not to frown at the idea of Blaise involved in an orgy. She knew Blaise was never going to promise faithfulness, and she understood that when it came to feeding. But if there was any kind of sex without feeding then she really was going to get annoyed. She just had to get past the fact that right now she didn't deserve to be jealous. There wasn't a 'them' for her to be protective of. Blaise was a free agent. "Well, I'll let you get back to work then. And if you choose to have your hand down your pants while working, then I won't breathe a word. Promise. Let's just hope that Blaise also has enough of his senses to know when someone's got a blood disease this time."
"Sure," Riley replied and put his cell phone into the top drawer of his desk. This all really wasn't something he wanted to talk to Nina about over the phone. "Well, if he isn't, it's our job to make sure he's okay. It could be a long night," he realised with a small frown. Either way, Blaise wouldn't take this lying down. He would have to react some way. However this time, considering there was a chance Riley was responsible, he seriously doubted he would have the Prince's confidence.
Word Count | 5,449