Chapter 13

Anya sat back in her chair.  "Both have merit."

"Did you have any ideas?  I don't want to work at Doublemeat Palace."  Buffy scrunched up her nose. 

"I completely agree.  Now, I told Xander that you should work at a gym.  My friend, Jim James, refurbished Rocky's Gym for Guys into a really nice spa."   Anya got to her feet, and she got her purse.  She pulled out a brochure that she handed to Buffy.  "I asked.   He's looking for someone to teach some self-defense classes."

Buffy took the brochure.  "Oh, well, that sounds okay."

"That doesn't mean we need to abandon the other ideas if that's what you want to do," Anya replied.   "We have plenty of unemployed people around here, you know."

"It's just now we have three vampires to feed.  That's going to get expensive quick," Buffy said.   She let out a sigh.  "I'm really kinda broke right now, Anya.  I have two dollars to my name.  I don't even know what we're having for dinner."

"Potluck," Anya announced.  "Everyone loves a good potluck.  Although, make sure Willow doesn't use her magic to make the food."

"She's gone.  When Spike and I made it back to the house last night all her stuff was gone," Buffy said with a shrug.   "After you close the store, bring Xander to my house.  With food, I guess.  A potluck, woohoo."

Anya snorted.  "Don't sound so enthusiastic, Buffy.  It could be worse."

"Don't jinx us, damn it."

"Wasn't trying to," Anya said with a laugh.

Buffy rose to her feet.  "I'm going to go back to the house to talk to Spike about the job ideas."  She waved the brochure in the air.  "Even this job.  Then, I'll swing by Angel's mansion and let Darla and ... well, I guess I should get used to calling him Dad ... know about the meeting.  Thanks for the help, Anya."

"No problem, Buffy.  I'll see you later."  After Buffy left the store, Anya went to the counter where she took out the petty cash box.  After she counted it, she called the local grocery delivery service to order groceries to be bought and sent to Buffy's house at 4pm when Dawn and Tara would both be done with school.  There would be a lot of food to put away.

After that Anya called Xander and Giles to tell them about the meeting and the potluck dinner.  Giles let her know he was going to talk to Wesley before then, and he'd tell him about the meeting.

Then, Anya considered the rest of the group's acquaintances, but the only person that came to mind was Spike's friend Clem.  On a whim, she called around till she found him to invite also.

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After Warren turned the invisibility ray on himself, he hightailed it across town to the Slayer's house on Revello drive.   There appeared to be nobody home.  He had no idea where Buffy was, but he was determined to find her.

Off Warren strolled to the Magic Box where he knew Buffy hung out with her friends.  He was able to slip inside with a customer, but the Slayer wasn't there either.   Now, he was out of ideas where to look for the stupid woman.

Warren decided to go to the mall for a little fun.  What he had no idea about was how the orange traffic cone that he'd done his experiments on was at home, invisibly turning into mush.

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Buffy slipped inside her house.  It was quiet.   Spike was still resting upstairs, and it wasn't quite noon.  So, Dawn and Tara were both still at school.  Buffy knew she had about three hours before Hurricane Dawn would be home. 

Buffy was hungry, but she knew there wasn't anything to eat in the kitchen.  She'd just have to wait till the potluck later.   As soon as her feet touched the bottom step, there was a frantic pounding on the front door.

"Ugh, who now?" Buffy grumbled while she went to the door.  She flung it open, prepared to tell whoever was on the other side to go away or risk a visit with grouchy Buffy.

"I think Darla's in labor," Lawson said from beneath Spike's smoking blanket.  Spike's precious Desoto idled at the curb across the sunlit yard.

"Is she with you or back at the mansion?" Buffy asked while she peered past Lawson's shoulder.

Lawson nodded while he dropped the blanket.  The porch was shaded, and he didn't need the protection from the direct sun.  "It wasn't easy, but I got her in Spike's car."

"Come in, Lawson," Buffy said to her father.  "I'll park the Jeep on the street.  Then, I'll park the Desoto under the car port where it's shady." 

"I'll do that."  Spike clomped down the stairs, tucking in his t-shirt.  "Lawson," he greeted the other vampire on his way out the door.

Buffy pulled the jeep keys off their hook, and she tossed them to Spike.  She turned to Lawson with a wide-eyed, terrified look on her face.  "How do vampires have babies?  Besides the bitey kind?"

"You've got me," Lawson replied.  "I don't have any of the bitey kind, and your mom was human.  So, where should we put Darla?"

"Living room, I guess."  Buffy led Lawson into the living room.  "Well, at least I don't have to invite you to the Scooby meeting."

"Scooby meeting?" Lawson asked with raised eyebrows.  "What exactly is a Scooby meeting?"

"Yeah, that's what we call ourselves.  My friends and me, I mean.  We really need to talk about money."  Buffy grimaced.  She hated money talks.  She always had.  They made her think of Hank Summers and how he used to complain about how much they spent shopping.  "We don't have any, and we really need some."

Lawson didn't like the sound of that at all.  He didn't know what ideas Buffy had, or even what her skills were beyond being the Slayer, but he knew he needed to help.  Luckily, he had a while to come up with some ideas of his own.

"Buffy, you need to invite Darla in," Spike announced from the front door.  "Don't worry, between Lawson and myself, we'll keep her in line."

"Oops, forgot."  Buffy rushed to the foyer.  "Come in, Darla."

Darla winced in pain as a small contraction squeezed her middle.  "Guess dusting, rebirth, and revamping killed my invite."

"Forgot about that," Buffy said.  "Be glad you didn't kill my mom back then, or not even Junior there would have saved you from a redusting."

"Once this child is born, we can't keep calling it Junior," Lawson replied.  "Even if you decide to call it Angel, Junior."

Spike carefully put Darla down on the couch.  He stepped back, and he stood next to Buffy.

"Uh, no," Darla said.  "We are not naming this thing after him."

"It's not a thing."  Buffy rolled her eyes.  "Well, I used up my girl name with Dawn, but I've always liked Connor as a boy's name."

Darla shrugged.  "Good enough for me.  What's a good girl name?"

"I've always like the name Freya," Lawson replied.  "Not sure why.  It's always just said something to me."

"Connor or Freya."  Darla heaved herself around until she could get as comfortable as possible.  Which wasn't all that comfortable at all.  "This is the pits.  I hate being pregnant."

Buffy looked at Spike with wide eyes.  "We need a doctor, but I think it's going to be difficult to explain the whole no pulse thing."

"Let me call Clem.  I'm not too much into the demon midwife part of Sunnyhell."  Spike went to find the phone.

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Amy stretched and yawned.  She'd slept like the proverbial log.  It felt good not to have sawdust stuck to her fur ... er hair.   She reached over to shake Willow awake.  "Come on sleepy head.  We need to get ready for a night at the Bronze."

"Just a few more minutes, Mom," Willow muttered.

Amy rolled her eyes.  In the hurried packing of Willow's clothes the night before, Amy noticed that Willow owned no fun, party clothes.

"Wake up, silly."  Amy shook Willow's shoulder.  "If we're going to go out and find some fun, we need fun clothes."

Willow blinked at Amy.  "Fun clothes?  My clothes are fun."

"Not really, sweetie."

Later, after showers and breakfast, the two women went to the mall.  While Willow tried on clothes, Amy ensured that the clerk gave them everything they wanted no matter what the cost.  Willow never realized that Amy worked her magic on the clerk.

Willow didn't even notice when Amy used her mojo on Willow herself.  Therefore, she made no protest when Amy decided their night of fun included a meeting with a secretive magic user named Rack.