"My Way - Chapter Thirty-Five"
Author: Sydnie
Email: sydniep@hotmail.com
Buffy and Willow walked across the UC Sunnydale campus. The red head was completely in her element, but the Slayer was nervous.
"Calm down, Buffy. We're just going to the bookstore."
"I know. I'm just a little overwhelmed." They walked into the bookstore. "At least we have two classes together."
Willow nodded. "Now we just have to find our books."
Buffy looked at her course schedule and looked at the shelves. "Well, here's psychology."
She stood on her tippy toes to grab the books and a few tumbled off the top shelve hitting a large blond man on the head.
"Ouch."
Buffy put her hand over her mouth. "I am SO sorry."
He looked up to see the beautiful blond girl before him. "No problem. What's a little concussion between strangers?"
"I really am sorry." Buffy told him.
"Don't worry. I'll live. I'm Riley Finn." He reached his hand out to her.
Buffy shook his hand. "Buffy Cleary." She pointed to her friend. "This is Willow Rosenberg."
Riley shook Willow's hand as well but was obviously more interested in Buffy.
"It's nice to meet you." Willow told him.
"So, Intro to Psych. Walsh or Jacobson?"
"Walsh." The girls answered.
He smiled. "Well, then I guess I'll see you there. I'm Professor Walsh's T.A.."
"I guess we'll see you then." Buffy said. "Come on Will, we need to get the rest of our books so I can get home. Riley, it was nice meeting and almost killing you."
"The pleasure was mine." He said as Buffy and Willow walked away.
"So are you going to tell Angel?" Willow asked her.
"Tell Angel what?"
Willow laughed. "Oh, how a really hot guy was hitting on you in the campus bookstore?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Angel sat in Giles' apartment.
"As far as I can tell from my research and the tests we ran on you, you were suffering from an iron deficiency."
Angel looked at the Englishman like he was insane. "I bit my wife and sucked her blood because I lacked iron?"
Giles nodded. "Basically, yes. Blood was your body's source of nourishment for nearly two and a half centuries. When you came back from Hell and your body began to physically change, you stopped drinking blood. Since the demon still somewhat exists, you need blood. Just in smaller doses."
Angel ran his hand through his hair. "I can live with that."
When he got home, Buffy was lying on the couch with Meghan asleep on top of her.
"That's a beautiful sight. My two favorite girls."
Buffy looked at her husband and smiled.
"How was your day?" He asked her.
"Well, I almost gave my Psych T.A. a concussion." She said as she smoothed her sleeping baby's hair.
Angel laughed. "Not bad for your first day. How did you manage to do that?"
"I was grabbing a book off of the top shelf and ended up knocking them down on his head."
He couldn't help but laugh harder.
Buffy carefully sat up without waking up her eight month old. "I'm going to take her upstairs and then I'm coming back down here and kicking your ass." She stuck her tongue out at him.
He kissed her forehead. "You wouldn't kick my ass. You like it too much."
She looked at Angel strangely. "You're in a very good mood."
"Yes, I am. Go put Megg down and I'll tell you why."
When she went back downstairs, she heard Angel doing something she'd NEVER heard him do before. He was whistling.
"It must have been some meeting with Giles?"
He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. "Best ever."
Buffy was breathless. "What'd he tell you?"
He kissed her again. "He said that if I drink small amounts of blood, I won't lose control and bite you again."
Buffy's face fell. "Oh."
"Why do you sound so disappointed?"
She shrugged. "I kind of liked you out of control. I'm not saying all of the time, but..."
"I'm never biting you again, Buffy!" He stepped away from her.
She put her hands on her hips. "Oh yes you will! You need blood and it's going to be mine!"
"No! I'll get it from the butcher."
"Liam Patrick Cleary, you know as well as I do, that human blood the best thing for you. Add to the fact that I'm the Slayer. There's power in my blood. ... Plus, it's the most amazing orgasm that I've ever had."
Angel was shocked. "I can believe you got off on something so..."
Buffy cut him off by kissing him with everything she had. "Sometimes, my love, we just do things out of lust. ... If I thought that you'd EVER hurt me, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now, when you need blood, you'll take mine. Is that understood?"
"Fine." Angel reluctantly answered.
The next day, Buffy was sitting in her psychology class listening to Maggie Walsh outline the class. The entire time, Riley Finn was sneaking glances at Buffy.
"So, if you need to get in touch with me, your best bet is to talk to Riley. He knows my schedule better than I do."
Buffy looked over at the T.A. and caught him staring at her. She quickly brought her attention back to Professor Walsh.
"So, class dismissed."
As the students were hurrying to leave the classroom, Buffy was halted by a hand on her arm.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Riley asked her.
"I'll just wait for you out in the hall." Willow told her best friend.
Buffy leaned against a desk. "Don't tell me, you've suffered some kind of irreversible brain damage and you're going to sue me. Am I right?"
Riley laughed and shook his head. "No, I was just wondering if you'd like to go get a cup of coffee with me?"
"Oh, uh, that's really nice, but um..."
"If now's not good, than maybe some other time?"
"No, Riley, it's not that. It's just that ... um, I'm married." She showed him her wedding ring.
"Whoa, that's a big ring. I can't believe I missed something so ... huge. ... So, I guess dating would be out of the question?" He joked.
Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I don't think my husband and daughter would appreciate that too much."
Riley's eyes grew wide. "You're a mother?"
Her smiled widened. "To the most beautiful eight month old in the world." Buffy showed him the picture of her, Angel and Meghan on their island paradise she had made into a key chain.
"She's as beautiful as her mother. I guess the big guy is your husband?"
"That's Angel." She beamed.
"Well, he's a very lucky man."
"Thank you. I tell him that every day."
Riley was bummed. He had found a beautiful girl that was funny and smart and she was taken. VERY taken.
He headed down to the computer room of the Initiative.
"Hey Henderson, are you busy right now?"
"No sir, not at the moment. What can I do for you?"
"I want you too look someone up for me." Riley told him.
"Sure, who?"
"Cleary, first name, Angel."
The End