SUMMARY: It's Angel's birthday, and he's in for one Hell of a surprise
SPOILER: Let's see....Pangs, IWRY, slight ANGEL spoilers
DISTRIBUTION: Sandee - Butterfly and Crystal if they want it - Buffy and Angel Star Crossed Lovers - A Soul's Redemption - Anyone else, sure, just email me and lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =) Of course, it'll be at my site,
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-PG
DISCLAIMER: Butthead Joss owns the characters. He's the man. Damn the man. I mean that seriously.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've messed with things a bit. Cordy has the apartment in Angel's building that's directly above the offices.

Spring had to be Angel's least favorite time of year. He hated the season, always had, but more so now.

Couples were everywhere, hugging, kissing, touching.

"It's nauseating," Doyle commented.

Cordelia thought it was beautiful, but Angel agreed with the demon. All this romance was making him want to hurl.

The only thing worse than worrying about spring was worrying about his birthday. It was only twenty-four hours away.

Two hundred and forty-five. Lucky him.

"We could throw you a party," Cordy offered. "We could invite that pretty police woman."

"No," Angel said firmly. "No parties."

"If you prefer to spend your big day sitting home and sulkin'," Doyle said.

"I do."

"I suppose I could celebrate it without ya," Doyle said.

"Be my guest," Angel said and went downstairs.

"Wanna come?" Doyle asked Cordelia.

"His birthday is tomorrow."

"So?"

"Ugh!" she stormed up to her apartment and Doyle looked around the empty room, sighing. "What did I do?"

She didn't answer, so he looked around again and shrugged. "No harm in drinkin' by myself now, is there?"

"YES!" Angel and Cordelia yelled in unison from their respective apartments.

"We've gotta get better insulation in this place," he muttered before leaving for the bar.

*****

When Doyle entered the office for work the next day, he was greeted by a mass of balloons. Pushing them out of the way so he could breathe, he yelled, "Cordelia!!"

"Hey!" she yelled cheerfully. "Isn't this great? And count them. Two hundred and forty-five balloons. Took me three cabs to get them all down here from the party place across town."

3"And just who paid for all that?" Doyle asked.

"Angel did," she muttered. "But it's not like I didn't pay for them in spirit, because I'm underpaid anyways."

"You could've just gotten him a card you know." Doyle pushed some out of his way and sat down.

"I had to get these! You have to have balloons for a party."

"What party?" he arched an eyebrow.

Cordy pointed to the door. "That party."

Doyle made his way through the balloons and found Buffy standing there.

*****

"You really went all out," Buffy said as she looked at the balloons. She pushed them up to the ceiling where the belonged. "Got ripped off, too." she muttered.

"Isn't my office the greatest?" Cordy asked, smiling.

"I was talking about the balloons, Cordelia."

"Oh. Yeah, they're pretty great."

"Angel will hate it." Buffy said flatly.

"It's just the four of us," Cordy explained. "He's going to love me for calling you."

"I just don't want him to think I forgot," Buffy said. "I didn't. Never have, never will. I was just afraid to come and see him after everything that happened."

"Afraid?" Cordy asked. "Of Angel? Please?"

"Ha!" Doyle said. "She still keeps stakes and Holy Water in her desk."

Buffy leaned closer to Doyle, smirking. "You shoulda been around when she found out he was a vampire. Wore necklaces made out of garlic beads."

"Wish I coulda seen that," he commented.

"Oooh, you know what we need?" Cordy said, changing the subject. "Music! I'll go get my NSYNC CD."

"I'm sure Angel will love that," Buffy said sarcastically. When Cordy was on her way upstairs, Buffy turned to Doyle and lowered her voice. "Should I have come here? Has anything changed?"

"Not on our front. He loves you."

"I know he does, and I love him, but it's just too hard. We can't make a relationship work like this. Especially when I know what I know."

"Why not?" Doyle asked reasonably.

"You *know* why. Look at you and Cordelia."

"Cordy and me? Ha!"

"I know about the fashion show," Buffy smirked. "Cordy told me everything in an email."

"You're kidding me."

"Yeah, I am, Xander hacked into her online journal awhile ago."

"You're as bad as Cordelia," he shook his head. "No wonder you're friends."

"That's stretching it," she said. "But getting back to being here....am I making a mistake?"

"Does it feel like a mistake?"

"Hell, no."

"Then you're not. You gotta learn to follow your heart, Buffy." Doyle told her. "It's the only one that'll always be true to ya."

"Buffy."

She turned and saw Angel in the doorway of his office. He must have come up through the sewers again. "Hi, Angel," she smiled. "Happy birthday."

"What are you doing here? I thought we agreed not to see each other." he glared at Doyle. "And I thought we agreed on no parties."

He held his hands up innocently. "I didn't have a hand in this, I assure ya."

"Got it!" Cordy said, bouncing into the room. "What song should I play first?"

Doyle eyed the lovers who were glaring at each other. If looks could've killed....

"I think 'Tearin' Up My Heart' would be appropriate." he commented.

*****

Cordelia was *not* about to let her party die without a fight. She played music, brought the food up and even got Doyle to dance. After Angel reluctantly blew out the candles on his cake (three large numbers - a two, a four and a five), Cordy smiled at him.

"We didn't really have time to buy you gifts," she said. "But Doyle and I want--"

"I have a gift," Buffy pulled a small velvet bag out of her pocket and gave it to Angel. "Happy birthday."

He opened it and poured the contents into his hand. His eyes widened when he realized what it was. He touched the Claddagh ring carefully, not sure what to say or do. He shifted it between his hands and tried not to look at her, not wanting her to see him crying.

3"It's a Claddagh," she explained. "At my university, people exchange them as signs of love and friendship." she took it from him and slid it onto his wedding ring finger. "Wear it with the heart pointing towards you," she said, her eyes shining. "It means you belong to someone."

"Do I?" he asked.

"Forever and always." she promised. She leaned over slowly and kissed him.

"Our cue to leave," Doyle said. He pulled the gossip queen from her chair and practically had to drag her upstairs to her own apartment.

*****

"Wow," Angel said when their kiss finally broke.

She smiled. "I have missed that so much."

"I've missed everything," he said honestly. "Buffy, how did you get this?"

"Well, it turns out the Gem of Amara was actually a huge rock from the fifteen hundreds, not whatever Giles originally thought. It was broken down and turned into seven or eight different pieces of jewelry so all the head members of a vampire cult in England could wear the Gem. The piece Spike found was obviously one of many. He's actually the one who let me in on the secret of their being more than one ring. He found one not too long ago, but with the chip in his head, it doesn't do anything for him, so he sold it to me."

"For how much?" Angel asked.

"Enough to cover a new pair of leather pants. Faith ripped the last ones to shreds."

"Not a picture I wanted in my mind," Angel said.

"Try witnessing it," Buffy laughed nervously. "Angel, I checked it out with Giles. The Gem will keep you from any harm, including that of the curse."

"Buffy--"

"Shhh," she put her fingers to his mouth. "Don't spoil the moment. Just kiss me."

He couldn't have resisted her if his undead life depended on it. He scooped her into his arms as they kissed and he made his way through the office to the elevator and took it down to his apartment. He carried her to bed and made love to her all night long.

*****

When Buffy woke up, she found Angel at the window, watching the sun rise.

She joined him there, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "The first of many we're gonna wake up to together, Angel."

He looked at her. "I'm still not sure."

"You have to be sure," she said. "You have to marry me right away."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm pregnant with your child."

"What? How?"

"I can't explain it," she said honestly. "I just felt something magickal happen last night, and I just know, even if I went to the store and took the pregnancy test right now, it'd tell me that I'm pregnant."

Angel sighed. A wife and baby sure felt like Redemption to him. And screw it if they weren't, for once he was gonna be selfish.

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