"My Way - Chapter Thirty-Two"

Author: Sydnie
Email: sydniep@hotmail.com

Buffy woke as the car pulled to a stop. She looked at Angel. "Where are we?"

"Your Dad's. I talked to your mom and she said that she was bringing Meghan over here so I thought that we'd kill two birds with one stone."

She looked up at the house. Her father had only recently moved back to the house that she'd grown up in. He had been renting it out, but when Buffy had Meghan, he had decided that his bachelor apartment was too small for his granddaughter to visit.

"It's been so long since I've been here." She said as she got out of the car. When she reached the front door, she wasn't sure if she should just walk in or ring the doorbell. She chose to ring the bell."

The door was answered by a round, older woman that squealed when she saw Buffy.

"Buffy! Oh dear Lord, just look at ya! It's so good to be seein' ya!" She said in an Irish accent.

Buffy smiled. "Hi Rosie. It's good to see you too." She greeted the woman with a hug. "Rosie, this is my husband, Angel Cleary."

Angel stuck his hand out to shake hers, but she pulled him into a hug.

"Ah, a good Irish boy. You're takin' good care of m' girl, aren' cha now?"

Angel smiled. "With my life."

She nodded. "That's what I want to be hearin'." She led them through the house. "Your sweet babe is upstairs in your room sleepin' and your mum and da are in the breakfast room havin' tea."

"Thanks Rosie." Buffy kissed her on the cheek and looked at Angel. "Go say hi to Mom and Dad. I'm going up to Megg."

Before anyone said anything else, Buffy bound up the stairs.

While Rosie showed Angel to his in-laws, Buffy was up in her old bedroom. It was like Meghan sensed her mother's presence she immediately sat up and reached for her.

"Hi, my baby. Did you miss Mommy and Daddy?" She picked her up and held her tightly. "We made all of those bad people go away. Just like we promised." She kissed her head.

Buffy sat at the foot of the bed. Her mind wandered back to the confrontation with Faith.

"You know, I didn't mean to kill her. I mean, I know I threatened to and I wanted to, but I didn't mean to." Tears filled her eyes.

"Buffy?"

Buffy looked to see her mother standing at the door. She brushed the tears from her eyes.

"Hi Mommy."

Joyce entered the room and sat beside her. "I take it things went ... well?"

Buffy nuzzled Meghan and nodded.

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Not as many that could have been. ... A few people did die." She said as she rocked.

"Anyone I know?" Her mother inquired.

Buffy nodded. "Principal Snyder for one." A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "He was standing there yelling something about discipline and order and how it was his campus and then the big ole mayor/snake/demon/thingy gobbled him up."

Joyce put her hand to her face. "Oh dear." Then she began to laugh.

Angel was in the breakfast room with Hank. His father-in-law was telling him about some property investments that would be right up Angel's alley.

As he was flipping through a folder, Buffy entered the room carrying Megg. His attention immediately went to them.

"My two favorite girls." He smiled.

Buffy handed Meghan to him and hugged her father. "Hi Daddy."

Hank kissed the top of her head. "Hello, my princess. I'm truly sorry I missed your graduation."

"Believe me when I say that it is totally okay. I didn't want to be there myself."

Rosie handed her a glass. "Here ya are dear."

Buffy took a sip of her chocolate milk with a touch of cinnamon. "Mmm ... I haven't had this in years. Thank you, Rosie."

"You're very welcome. Now, is there anythin' in particular that you'd be likin' fer lunch?"

Angel spoke up. "Actually, we have plans for lunch ... and dinner."

"We do?" Buffy looked at Angel and he nodded his head. "I guess we do. ... But if it's not too much of a bother..."

"I'll have a plate of cookies waitin' fer ya when ya get home."

The Slayer smiled. "You are the absolute best."

Buffy looked at Angel as if he were crazy. "Our big plans are ... at the mall?"

He leaned over to the passenger side and gave his wife a kiss. "Well, I thought that you'd like to shop for our trip."

"What trip?" She was confused.

He kissed her again. "Our honeymoon. Remember?"

"Oh that." She began bouncing in her seat. "So, where are we going?"

He chuckled at her excitement. "Wherever you want to go."

Buffy looked into the backseat Meghan. "You have the best daddy in the whole wide world."

They got the baby out of the car and placed her in her stroller. Then the little family went into the mall.

The first place they headed was the travel agency. Buffy was completely giddy.

The travel agent was a beautiful blond named Pamela. "So, where would you like to go?" She asked.

Angel looked to Buffy. "It's up to you."

Buffy thought about it. "Well, um, I guess someplace beautiful and romantic ... but we're taking Megg, so it also has to be accommodating for her. Oh and then we're gonna have to find someone to go with us to watch her.

Pamela was taking notes of what Buffy was saying. "Okay, well, lets start with how much you are willing to spend."

"Money's not an issue. I want my wife to have a peaceful vacation no matter what the cost." Angel informed her.

Pamela smiled. She liked a man who loved to please his woman at any cost ... and he was gorgeous. Too bad this one was taken. "How long will you be gone?"

"Two weeks, maybe a month."

"Well, okay, let's see. Would you like to go on a cruise?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not really. I don't like the idea of being stuck in the middle of the ocean. I guess I shouldn't have forced Angel to watch Titanic with me so many times."

Pamela laughed. "I can relate to that. The last cruise I went on, that was the main feature in the theater. ... Okay, so a cruise is out." She was typing on her computer really quickly when her eyes got huge. "Ooh. I think I found something, but you'd have to leave next week. Would that be a problem?"

Buffy's smile grew bigger, if possible. "What is it?"

A half hour later, they were shaking Pamela's hand. There trip was booked.

"I'm starved. Let's go eat some greasy mall food and then get a big pretzel." Buffy suggested.

"Whatever you want, Baby. Today is completely for you."

Buffy kissed him. "This is better than my birthday, Christmas and Mother's Day!"

Angel laughed. He loved seeing his beloved acting like her old self,

"Oh My God! Buffy Summers?"

Buffy turned around to see the girl who used to follow her around like a puppy at Hemery. The girl Tyler dumped her for, Jennifer."

"Hey Jenn, how have you been?" She asked as the girl grasped her into a hug.

"Pretty great. All graduated and ready to start college." She looked at the baby in the stroller and the gorgeous man standing with Buffy. What about you?"

"The same, except I'm married and have a baby. This is my husband, Angel and our daughter, Meghan."

Angel shook the shocked girls hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Y...you too."

Angel kissed Buffy on the cheek. "You talk to your friend. I'm gonna take Megg and check out that golf store over there."

"Okay, Sweetie"

Angel took Meghan with him and Buffy and Jennifer went to sit on a bench.

"Where did you meet him? He's gorgeous!"

Buffy's smile grew. "He was my history tutor when I moved to Sunnydale. It was pretty much love at first sight."

"I can definitely understand that. ... So, what happened to that Pike guy?"

The Slayer shook her head. "We didn't make it past that summer. We didn't have as much in common as we thought. But, that was a good thing because I wouldn't have met Angel and had Meghan."

"I can't get over that. Buffy Summers is a mom. It must be so hard."

"Not at all. I've changed a lot in the last few years. My world doesn't revolve around me anymore."

"Whoa. That's really cool. So, what does your husband do?"

"I guess you can call him an entrepreneur."

"Oh, so he's like unemployed?"

Buffy laughed. "No. He owns a few businesses here and in Sunnydale.

"So basically you married a rich hottie."

"Yeah. But I didn't know he was rich until I was really pregnant. So it was like an added bonus."

Jennifer was looking her up and down and shook her head.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"I just can't picture you pregnant. I mean, you're smaller than you were when you went to Hemery."

Buffy grabbed her wallet and pulled out a picture of she and Angel. "Thanks. ... This was taken a week before Meggie was born. I was huge!"

"Oh Buffy, you look adorable. ... God, I can't believe it's been so long since we've seen each other."

They were interrupted. "Come on Jennie. The movie starts in ten minutes." Tyler said rudely.

"Tyler, look who's here." Jennifer said nervously.

Tyler looked at Buffy, recognizing his ex-girlfriend immediately.

Angel was looking at the latest technology in golf clubs when he turned to see some ... boy hugging his wife.

He looked down at his daughter. She was in a deep philosophical discussion with her hand. "I think it's time for us to go see Mommy again. Don't you, Megg?"

Meghan made a giggly gurgly sound.

"I thought you'd agree."

He walked up behind his wife pushing the stroller when he overheard the boy asking Buffy out and seeing Jennifer look hurt. Angel decided to knock the boy down a few pegs.

"Honey, someone missed her mommy." He turned to Tyler and stuck out his hand. "Hi, Liam Cleary. Buffy's husband."

Buffy covered her mouth so as not to laugh. She loved it when Angel acted all jealous.

Tyler was dumbfounded. "Um ... Tyler ... Buffy and I went out when she went to Hem...Hemery."

Buffy picked the baby up out of the stroller and faced her towards Tyler. She spoke in a baby voice. "And dis wittle sweetie is my wittle gurl, Meghan. Yes she is. Are you Mommy's wittle baby Gurl? ... Yes you are. ... Yes you are."

"Whoa." Was Tyler's reaction.

Buffy had gotten Jenn's number and given her hers before she and Angel went to eat lunch.

After that, they were in major shopping mode while Meghan slept in her stroller.

"What do you think of this one?" She was wearing a red string bikini.

Angel swallowed hard. "Well, I think that if you don't stop trying on those scraps of material, I'm not going to be able to walk straight."

Buffy laughed. "Just tell me which one you liked best." She looked at him pointedly.

"Which one did you like?" He questioned.

She sighed. "All of them."

"Then get them all. You'll need more than one anyway." He reminded her.

"Well, when you put it that way..." She gave him a quick kiss and headed back into the dressing room.

Once she was back in her own clothes, she rejoined her husband. "Now we need to find you swim wear."

"Ugh!"

"Come on, it's not that bad. Besides, it's my turn to drool."

They returned to the house after eight that evening. Meghan was totally exhausted so they put her in the crib that was set up in Buffy's childhood room.

"Thanks for today, Angel. It was the best!"

He put his arms around her waist. "You deserved some mindless fun."

She smiled up at him. "I can't believe that we are going to be on a private island for three weeks. Now all we have to do is decide who we're gonna take to watch Megg."

"What about Willow?"

Buffy shook her head. "She wouldn't want to be away from Oz for that long."

Angel scratched his eyebrow. "Your mom?"

"Nope. I'd feel kind of weird knowing that she's watching her so we can have sex."

"Giles?"

"See 'mom' answer."

Buffy suddenly smelled something sweet. She was completely entranced.

Angel watched as his wife abandoned their conversation and followed the source of that incredible smell.

Rosie pulled the hot pan out of the oven and replaced it with an unbaked one.

She was placing cookies that were on the cooling rack onto a plate and the hot ones on the cooling rack when Buffy entered the kitchen followed by Angel.

"Rosie, that smell is heaven!" She took the cookie that the woman offered her and took a bite.

Angel had seen that look on Buffy's face hundreds of times. Of course, usually, she was in the middle of an orgasm.

"That must be some cookie. May I have one?"

"Of course you can, lad."

She handed Angel a cookie and when he bit into it, memories flooded his mind ... of his mother.

"I've had these before ... as a boy."

"Now I'll have te be doubtin' ya there boy-o. This here is a family recipe. Past down, generation to generation. And bein' that, I'm the only member of my family to live in America, ya've never tasted these."

Buffy looked at Angel. Then something clicked. "Rosie, will you tell me the story about how the recipe was almost lost?"

"Nah. That's a nasty tale. It'll give ya nightmares."

"Please?" Buffy begged.

"I would really like to here the story, Rosie. ... Please?"

Rosie smiled and pinched Angel on the cheek. "Oh, if ya weren't so handsome..."

She grabbed the plate of cookies and the container of milk as Buffy got the plates and glasses.

They all sat around the table.

"Now mind you, this is a story that has been passed down, one hand to the next."

Buffy and Angel nodded.

"In the mid-seventeen hundreds, m' grandmother, gone fifteen times, was livin' with her sister and her husband while her mother was givin' birth. While she was there tragedy struck. Her cousin, Liam, was murdered one night while he was comin' home from the local tavern. His family was devastated. His dear mother did what she always did in a time of crisis and grief. She began baking. My grandmother, Gillian was her name, and Liam's sister Kathy sat in the hot kitchen, watchin' her sister create her wonderful confections. She watched every movement, every ingredient. After the funeral, Gillian went home with her parents. In a few days time, word came that the Cleary family and several other families had been massacred. Now, the servant girl, who got away, said that it was Liam, but it wasn't Liam who killed them. The lore is that Liam was turned into a vampire. That after he was dead and buried, he rose from the grave and killed his family. As the story goes, to this day, he walks the earth."

Buffy looked at Angel. He was savoring the taste his mother created when he was a child.

"And the cookies?"

"Oh, yeah. Gillian wrote it down and past it and the story down."

Angel looked saddened. "What became of Anna?"

Buffy's eyes widened. She didn't remember the name Anna being mentioned.

"Who?" Rosie asked.

"The servant girl. What became of her?"

Rosie looked at Angel strangely. "She went to the crazy house. She died shortly after. ... How did you know her name was Anna?"

Angel stood and excused himself.

"Did I say somethin' to offend him?" Rosie asked Buffy.

Buffy shook her head. "No, you didn't. ... Rosie, the part in the story about Liam being a vampire, do you believe that?"

"Oh my darlin' girl. I come from a land of leprechauns and fairytales. There's a little truth in all of them. This one, I'm certain."

"Why?"

She got a far off look in her eyes. "When I was a girl in my twenties, I was attacked by one. Out of nowhere, a girl jumped out, fought it and drove a wooden stake through it's heart, turnin' it t' dust. When I asked who she was, she said she was the slayer and disappeared."

Buffy looked into the eyes of the woman who had practically raised her and knew that she could trust her. "There's something I want to tell you."

Rosie placed her hand on Buffy's cheek. "Ya know you can tell me anythin', lass."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Angel's real name ...is Liam Cleary."

"What are ya sayin' child?"

Buffy clasped Rosie's hands in her own. "It's my turn to tell YOU a story.

Angel stood over his sleeping daughter, watching her. He brushed her dark hair with his finger. "I don't see how I deserve you and your mother?" Tears filled his eyes. "My mother would have adored you. And your Aunt Kathy, sweet Kathy, she would have spoiled you rotten."

His thoughts went to Anna. "Oh Anna, I am so sorry. You had such a kind heart, and even though you didn't die at my hand, you died because of me."

"Baby, please don't go to that dark place again. Angel, what happened then has nothing to do with the man you are today." Buffy said from the doorway.

He sighed. "I know ... I do. It's just ... Anna didn't deserve to die in a place like that."

Buffy motioned for him to go out into the hallway. He looked into the crib at their daughter and joined his wife in the hall.

She pushed him against the wall and assaulted his mouth.

"Buffy..."

She continued to kiss him.

When she pulled away, she put her hands on his cheeks. "There's a woman downstairs that wants to get to know a part of her family she thought was lost."

Angel closed his eyes and leaned his head on the wall. "You told her?"

Her hands slid down his chest and she rested them on his waist. "I didn't just blurt it out. I asked her if she believed the story was true and she said yes. ... I trust her, Angel."

"Where are your parents?"

"They went out with some old friends of theirs. They won't be home for hours."

Angel took a huge breath and grabbed his beloved's hand. "It would be nice ... to have a link with my family."

Buffy kissed him on the cheek and led him down the stairs back into the breakfast room.

After two hours of questions and answers, Rosie hugged Angel and kissed his forehead. They had talked about what it was like for Angel as a child, the way his father never him treated like he was good enough, he even told her about Gillian and her too curious nature.

"Well, I certainly can see why my Buffy loves ya. But I want ya t' know somethin', the past is the past. There's too much happenin' in the present and the future to be bothered with the past."

"You're an incredible woman Rosie. It's nice to have a family again." He looked at Buffy who was giving him a 'hello' look. "I mean other than my gorgeous wife and our perfect daughter."

"Good save, Honey." Buffy patted his arm.

"We're blood. Whenever ya need me, ya come to me."

Angel looked at Buffy and she smiled and nodded.

"What are you doing for the next month?"

The End

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