“Xander, concentrate!” Buffy hollered. I came out of my thoughts and viciously attacked the punching bag that she was throwing at me. I could feel the demon struggling to control me, and I beat it down. A few minutes later, I flopped down onto the practice pad.

“No more, Buff,” I wheezed. She crouched down over me, sympathetically sweeping the hair off my forehead.

“All right, Xander, I think you destroyed the bag anyway,” she conceded. I smiled up at her. Things between Buffy and me, and between Buffy and Willow, had improved a great deal. We were almost back to the way we were. Willow and I still couldn’t participate in the vampire slaying, although I’m sure our vampiric strength would have been an incredible asset to her, but we were friends again. Giles had become our mentor and resumed being the father that neither one of us had ever really had. It was a strange existence, but Willow and I were determined to get as much of our old lives back as we could.

“Xander?” Willow called from the stacks.

“Yeah, baby?” I called back. I made my way up the stairs to find her making her way to a couch.

“I don’t know much about labor, but I think I’m in the first stages,” she explained.

My heart started beating triple time. “Giles!” I hollered frantically. He came running up the stairs. “Willow thinks she’s in labor,” I whispered. Giles immediately took control, which was a good thing, ‘cause I couldn’t even remember my own last name.

“Harris,” Buffy reminded me as she popped her head around the corner. At my astonished look, she said, “You were thinking out loud, I think. You just said you couldn’t even remember your own last name.”

“Damn, I’m more out of it than I thought,” I chuckled. I turned to help Willow but saw that Giles had already gotten her downstairs and was herding her out the doors.

“Buffy, make sure Xander gets to Angel’s okay,” Giles commanded as he directed Willow out of the library. “I’m going to get Willow there now.”

“Will do, Giles,” Buffy assured him, and the two of them were gone. She turned to me. “Xand, are you going to be okay?” she asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Buff. It’s just not everyday that a vampire becomes a father,” I joked. I felt weak. “Buffy, I feel so strange. Almost like I can’t hold myself up. Is something wrong with me?”

“Just nerves,” she reassured me, smiling. “I think this must be what every expectant father feels like when his child is being born. Now, let’s get you to Angel’s.”

“Lead on, fair lady,” I managed to quip. I still felt weak. It was a good thing I had Buffy’s support. I’m not sure I would have made it on my own.

When we arrived at Angel’s place, Willow and the midwife were already doing their thing. I wanted to stay outside where I could pace and be frantic and anxious, but I also wanted to watch my baby being born. It had been a weird pregnancy, since Willow couldn’t go to a doctor. Seeing as how she was technically dead, most of her vital signs wouldn’t appear, and that would confuse the hell out of any doctor. We had been forced to rely on one of Angel’s friends, a midwife who knew all about demons and such. We didn’t know anything except the baby was truly alive, with a beating heart. She had told us that we wouldn’t know until after its birth if would be a vampire or not, or what gender it would be.

“Buffy, is she going to be okay?” I asked in a whisper as I fearfully took in Willow’s struggle.

“Xander, I think she will be,” Buffy whispered back. “I mean, she’s already dead. And you guys can handle a lot more pain than the average human. I think she’ll be fine.”

“This is just so new to me,” I confessed. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t kill anything or beat anything up to make myself feel like I’m in control. All I can do is watch Will suffer.”

“Xander, it’s almost over,” the midwife spoke up. Willow was breathing heavily, but she didn’t seem to be in too much pain, so I took comfort from that. “The baby is almost ready to be born. I just need Willow to give me one good, hard push, and the baby will crown,” she instructed. Willow nodded and took a deep breath, then pushed with all her might. I nearly fainted as I saw my baby’s head emerge from Willow’s body.

“Xander,” Willow cried weakly. I rushed to her side and stroked her hair. The midwife asked her to push once more, and she did so. She clenched my hand as she bore down as hard as she could, and then she shuddered and relaxed. The squalling sound of my baby crying rent the air, and Willow nearly collapsed. “Xander, it’s our baby,” she murmured happily.

“I know, Will, I know,” I said in wonder. The midwife snipped the baby’s umbilical cord, cleaned it up, and wrapped it in a blanket before handing it to me.

“I think you should see for yourself what gender it is,” she told me with a smile. I untucked the blanket from around my baby’s perfect body and looked down.

“Will, we have a baby boy,” I announced proudly. I felt as if my face would split. I couldn’t imagine being happier. Willow and I had a son. He was a miracle.

“Let me see him,” she urged. I handed him to her and she looked into his perfect little face. “Brendon,” she cooed happily. We had decided to name the baby Brendon Barratt if it was a boy, in honor of our paternal grandfathers. Neither Willow’s nor my father had taken active roles in our lives when we were actually alive, so we elected to use our favorite grandfathers’ names. “He’s so perfect, Xander,” she spoke up in awe.

“I know, Will. We created this perfect little boy,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.

“Let the boy feed,” the midwife instructed, breaking the moment of family unity. Willow and I looked uncertainly at each other and she complied by lifting Brendon to her breast. “If the baby bites and drinks your blood, it is a vampire. If he drinks your milk, he is human,” the woman informed us.

Willow and I held our breaths as the baby explored Willow’s breast. When he was satisfied, he turned his attention to feeding, and Willow began to cry.

“Willow, what?” I asked anxiously. “Is he feeding, or is he. . . feeding?”

“He’s drinking the milk,” she shouted happily. “Our baby is human! He’s not cursed with our vampire heritage!”

Buffy and Giles breathed sighs of relief, but I could only thank God that my son had been spared the curse I was forced to live with.

“Xander Harris, you are now a father,” Buffy cried delightedly. I nodded in wonder. I couldn’t believe that we had created such a beautiful little soul.

“We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?” Willow asked from her perch on the spare bed.

“Yeah, Will, we are,” I promised. I took my place at her side and stroked Brendon’s downy black hair. “We have to be. For our son.”

“Our son,” she repeated.

“To Brendon Barratt Harris!” Giles, Buffy, Angel, and the midwife cheered. I hugged Willow and my son to me. I had my true love, and our son. For a vampire, life couldn’t get any better.