Disclaimer: I own nothing except what I make Joss’ characters do.
Spoilers: none that I can think of, maybe “IWRY”(?) Oh, and a little bit of “The Prom”
Rating: PG?(If you can watch the show, you can read this)
Summery: Buffy and Angel tell everyone about Angel being human.
Timeline: Takes place right after my last story, “Back To Home.”
Author’s Notes: I’m again changing my mind about what I want this series to be. I am going to write my own season 4. I will be borrowing some things from the season 4 of Buffy and season 1 of Angel, but mostly, it will be AU.
Author’s Notes 2: spike’s not in this. Just pretend he’s . . . somewhere, okay? It’s not that I don’t like the ‘Spike’s pathetic’ thing, it’s just that he doesn’t fit in the story.
Author’s Notes 3: I would like to dedicate this fic to Ice Princess, Pokey, Lauriana, cordychase, asdf, Rebecca, and an Anonymous person from fanfiction.net for their words of encouragement. Thanks guys!
Feedback: Yes, please. But no flames. Thanks :)

*****

Buffy and Angel finally got out of bed. They slowly showered and dressed, which took a lot longer than it should have, for they constantly stopped to kiss or touch each other. When they were ready, they walked hand in hand down to Angel’s car. The ride over was silent, a silence which Angel broke by asking, “do you want a drawer?”

“What?” Buffy asked.

“At my place, do you want a drawer?”

Buffy couldn’t help but remember the last time her having a drawer had been an issue. So, with a smile, she placed her hand on his thigh and said, “that’d be really nice.”

Angel smiled back at Buffy, and the rest of the ride was ridden in silence.

*****

Meanwhile, in Giles’ apartment, there was anything but silence.

“Mr. Giles, as much as I like being involved in Buffy’s life, why am I here?” Joyce Summers asked.

“Please, call me Rupert. And I haven’t a clue as to why any of you are gathered in my living room,” he answered back.

“Well, its Buffy’s meeting. She called it,” said Xander.

“If it’s Buffy’s meeting, where is she? I mean, it’s not very polite to call a meeting, making Xander and I take time away from sex, and then not show up herself,” Anya added, bluntly.

“Ahn, honey, remember what we said about certain private topics, and how if we talked about them with other people how they would be less private?” Xander said to his girlfriend.

“Hey, I’m just stating the truth,” Anya defended.

“Well, as riveting as this conversation is, I believe Anya did make a point. Where is Buffy?” Giles wondered.

“She probably just got held up,” Willow offered.

“That might be possible. Was she still at the dorm when you left?” Giles asked.

“No, but . . . she should be here soon.”

“Willow, do you know where she is?” Joyce asked.

“No,” Willow answered, quickly. ‘That wasn’t a lie. I don’t know where Buffy is, per say,’ Willow thought. But Xander, knowing Willow as long as he had, knew when she was lying.

“You know something, Will. What is it?” Xander asked.

“Me? Know something? No, of course not. What would I know?”

“Maybe, where Buffy is? Or at least, what she’s doing?”

‘Or who she’s doing,’ Willow thought. She said, “look, all I know is that Buffy will be here soon and when she gets here she’ll explain everything.”

“But you know what she’s going to explain,” Xander stated.

“All right, all right, I know,”

“So, tell us,”

“I can’t. It’s Buffy’s place to tell you all, not mine.”

“Is it something bad? Is there something wrong with Buffy?” Joyce asked, starting to panic.

“No, no, in fact, it’s good news. But that’s all you guys are getting out of me.”

Giles went to make some tea as the others started to talk amongst themselves.

*****

Buffy stood outside of Giles’ apartment. She stood there staring at the door. “You know, one of us has to knock,” Angel pointed out.

“I know,” Buffy responded.

“Do you want me to?”he offered.

“No.”

“Are you planing to?”

“Maybe.”

They stood there in silence.

“Buffy, standing here isn’t going to make this any easier.”

“I know.”

“Hey,” Angel said, turning Buffy so she would look at him. “Whatever happens,” he said, “I’m gonna be there. So, if it gets too much to handle, and you have to leave, just take my hand and were gone, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“So, you gonna knock now?”

Buffy turned around and knocked. A few seconds passed before the door opened. Giles stood there staring at Angel like he’d seen a ghost. “Don’t worry, Giles,” said Buffy. “ I’ll explain everything,” taking a glance at Angel, she amended, “We’ll explain everything. Can we come in?”

Giles was speechless, so he just stepped back and let them into the apartment.

“Hey guys,” Buffy said upon seeing them all sitting there.

“Buffy, what’s going on?” Joyce asked, taking a glance at Angel.

“Yeah, what’s Deadboy doing here?” Xander wanted to know.

“Don’t call him that. And that’s what this meeting is about,” Buffy said. She glanced at Angel who nodded for her to continue. “Maybe we should all sit down,” Buffy suggested. When everyone had found a seat, Buffy then proceeded to tell them the whole story of what happened in LA. When she had finished her tale, silence reined.

It was Xander who first found his voice and said, “so what, now that he’s human you’re just back together. Never mind all the stuff that he did and all the times he hurt you, not to mention everybody else, trying to get to you.”

“That wasn’t him, Xander, and you know it,” Buffy said, starting to get angry.

“Yeah, it was the demon that comes out every time you give him a happy.”

“Angelus is gone for good. Angel’s human now. Can’t you just be happy for us?”

“No, because I remember how much he hurt you when he wasn’t Angelus. Do you remember senior year. It was always, ‘oh, I love Angel so much, but I can’t be with him.’ You guys broke up and got back together so often I lost count. And now that he’s human, you just forgive him. Is everything fine and dandy just because you two can go at it like bunny rabbits?”

“Hey, ix-nay on the unny-bays,”Anya said.

“Oh, don’t even talk to me about that. It’s not as if you and Anya don’t go at it 24/7. You have no right to judge me, or Angel. I have been miserable since he left. In the past week, I have been happier than I have ever been. Ever. He makes me happy. I just wish you could be happy for us. But if you’re not, then shut the Hell up! Because I deserve to be happy! We deserve to be happy! After ever thing that we have been through, we deserve it a Hell of a lot more than you do, Xander! And what about the rest of you, huh?! Do you all feel this way?! Would you all rather me be miserable than with Angel?! Would you?!” By the time Buffy was finished with her speech, she was sobbing. Angel quickly gathered her in his arms and whispered sweet words of nothing to try to soothe away the awful hurt that she was feeling. Everyone in the room saw this and felt miserable.

“Buffy,” Willow said coming to stand next to the tearing blonde. “I’m happy for you. For both of you,” she added, looking at Angel.

“Thanks Will,” Buffy said, moving from Angel to hug Willow. Her tears were finally starting to subside.

“Buffy, Angel, I, too, am happy for you. I’ve always known that you’ve loved each other. My only reservation was the fact that Angelus could return. But now that we know he can’t, you deserve nothing more than to be happy for the rest of your lives. Both of you,” Giles said. A look passed between him and Angel that said, ‘don’t hurt her’ and an understanding was formed without saying a word.

“Thank you, Giles,” Buffy said before she hugged him. Buffy then turned to her mother. “Mom, are you gonna say anything?”

“I honestly don’t know what to say, Buffy. In a lot of ways, I agree with Xander. He has hurt you so much. But then, I see the way that you look at him. Not as I young girl with a crush, or even a strong case of puppy love. I see a young woman, fighting tooth and nail, to be with a man who she loves deeply. And that scares me,” Joyce admitted.

“Why does it scare you, Mom? Why does it scare you for me to be happy?”

“It doesn’t scare me to see you happy. It scares me to see you that much in love. If I were honest with you, with myself, that’s what’s always bothered me about Angel. Before, I could justify it by saying that it was because he was a vampire and all the excuses that came with what he was. But now, he’s human. And you still look at him the same way. The same way that I see him looking at you. And that scares me because I think that if you have him to trust, to love, what do you need me for?”

“Mom, you’re my mom. I love you. And that’s what I need you for, to be my mom. You’re the one that I’m gonna come to when I get married. You’re the one who is going to help me plan my dream wedding. And when I have my first child, you’re the one that I’m going to come to for advise. You’re the one who I’m going to ask, ‘is this normal?’ to. You’re the one who I going to ask, ‘what do I do?’ when that child starts to grow and I don’t have a clue. You’re my mom. My loving Angel isn’t going to make my stop needing you. If anything, being with him is going to make me need you more. I mean, without him, how am I going to get to the whole ‘married and having a kid’ thing?”

“Buffy, I always knew that you were going to grow up someday. And I only hoped that you would marry someone who would love you for the rest of your life. But I never thought that you would love like I can see you love Angel. I wasn’t prepared for this. When you love someone, when you marry them, you know you love them, but a part of you, you always keep for yourself. At least that’s usually how it works. And a lot of people live long, happy lives like that. But you, you have that kind of love that we all dream about. That kind of all consuming love that makes you give your whole self. And that kind of love, I guess can be so fulfilling, but it also makes you need other people less. You start depending on just that one person instead of lots of people. I guess I’m just afraid that you will stop depending on me, stop needing me, even if you say you won’t.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Mom. All I can say, is that I love you. I love Angel and Dad and Giles and Willow and Xander. Even if I am pissed at Xander right now, I still love him. And I’m always going to love all of you. That’s never going to change. No matter what, that’s not going to change.”

“I love you too, Buffy. And I guess I’m just going to have to get used to this.” Buffy and Joyce embraced. Then, in an act that was completely out of character, Joyce hugged Angel. When her voice was within his hearing range, she whispered, “if you ever hurt her, you’ll regret it.” Joyce stepped back from Angel and smiled. Angel just gave a small nod of acceptance and promise that he wouldn’t hurt Buffy, if he could help it. For Joyce, that was enough.

“Look, Buffy, about before, I’m a complete idiot, okay? Angel and I will never be bestest buds, but if he’s willing, I’m willing to at least call a cease fire, at least until he hurts you again. If he hurts you again,” Xander amended. “So, what do you say? Truce?” Xander offered Angel his hand.

“Truce,” Angel said, excepting the peace offering.

“Well, Buffy, now that all that yelling and angst is out of the way, I have to say, you do have great taste in men. He’s definitely doable.” Anya said, eyeing Angel.

The room fell silent until Xander said, “that’s Anya for you. She thinks it, therefore she says it. You just sort of get used to it after awhile.”

“Don’t worry. I worked with Cordelia for months,” Angel said.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you do that and not go crazy?” Buffy asked her boyfriend.

“Lots of patience. But really, she’s not that bad,” Angel said.

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same Cordelia?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah, she’s changed a lot. It’ll be good for her to work with Doyle though.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re going to keep Angel Investigations opened and run it themselves. At least they’re going to give it a try.”

“You never told me that.”

“I guess it slipped my mind, what with everything that’s been going on.”

“Yeah, we were kind of busy yesterday, and last night, and this morning, too.” Buffy said, smiling. It was then that she noticed everyone staring at her. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” Buffy asked. When everyone nodded, Buffy muttered, “where are those bottomless pits when you need them?”

Angel just put his arm around Buffy and smiled at her embarrassment. Sure, things hadn’t gone perfect at this meeting, but it had turned out okay. They had the, if sometimes reluctant, support of their friends, who really more like family. And they had each other. Life was perfect. Oh, but how much more complicated could it get? After all, Christmas was just around the corner.

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