DISCLAIMER: Nothing belongs to me, well okay Jezebel (Bell) belongs to me, but that's it. Joss a.k.a. Evil Acid Man owns them.
TIMELINE: Sometime in the future.
SPOILERS: None, that I can think of.
SYNOPSIS: Buffy and Angel go to the zoo with their daughter.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, once again, Angel is human. And you expected something else?
FEEDBACK: Come on people, you want to tell me what you thought of this story, I know you do. I triple dog dare you too.
RATING: G-PG
SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I'm just gonna say it again, Fluff is Fun!

"Come on. Please?" Buffy begged.

"No!" was the reply.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Fine, I guess you can go with us to the zoo wearing only pants," Buffy told her daughter.

"K," the girl smiled. Buffy laughed to herself. Her daughter had a small vocabulary of simple things, but still got here point across.

"Angel!" Buffy shouted, "come here!"

She heard him open the bedroom door and then saw him walk into their daughter's bedroom. He smiled at the two women of his life. One was stunning in a simple halter and shorts while the other was wearing little cloth shorts and no shirt.

"Look, Bell, Daddy will cry if you don't put your shirt on," she poited to Angel. He stuck his bottom lip out and try to muster up some fake tears.

Bell just stared at him, then she started laughing. He picked her up and and asked her, "You'll put that shirt on for your Ma, won't you?"

She shook her head.

"Pwease?" he used his own baby voice.

"Uh uh," she wrinkled her forehead.

"Well, when we get to the zoo, the other kids will make fun of you because they all have shirts on and you don't," Buffy stood up next to Angel.

Jezebel just shook her head.

"Fine," Buffy said.

The three walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Angel grabbed a couple plastic bags filled with snacks and a couple juice boxes. Buffy asked him to grab the bag too, which was on couch. The bag was filled with toys and other things to keep Bell busy.

While Angel checked to make sure the stroller was in trunk, Buffy strapped the small girl into her car seat. She shut the door and hopped into the front seat of the five passenger car. Angel started up the car, and they left, ready to go to the zoo. The car ride was basically talking between Buffy and Angel and listening to Barney tapes.

"So, Bell, what animals do you want to see?" Angel asked his daughter, glancing in his mirror.

"Moo," she said.

"Cows?" Buffy asked, "sweetie, you saw cows just a little while ago. What else do you want to see?"

"Duck," she bobbed her head.

"Well, I think we could have taken her to the farm instead, what do you think?" she asked Angel with a laugh in her voice.

"How about penguins?" Angel asked.

"Uh huh," she nodded her head. She lifted her head up, "Dog?"

Angel slumped his shoulders. "Huh. That's nice, though Uncle Xander and Aunt Anya own a dog..." he trailed out.

Buffy laughed at him, "Oh, she'll like the alligators and birds, and lions?" she smiled at Bell.

Bell smiled back, "Lons."

"Li-ons," Angel sounded out.

"Lons," she repeated.

"Whatever."

When they arrived at the zoo, Angel tried to park in the shade as much as he could, but ended up getting a sliver of hood in the shade of the tree. He grabbed the stroller out of the trunk while Buffy finally got the shirt on Bell. Buffy and Angel fitted their daughter into her stroller and she told him that they were gonna have to put some sunscreen on her when they got inside the zoo.

Angel paid for the three of them and they walked in. Buffy chose the nearest bench to sit down at and put sunscreen on Bell. Angel was holding the bonnet that was to go her head. She had worn the thing only a couple times, though Buffy insisted that it did her good.

He sat down next to her. She looked over at him and smiled. She snatched the bonnet from his hands, and gave him a quick kiss. He laughed at the final look of Jezebel. She wore little sandles, cotton shorts, the tee-shirt that was such a hassle, the bonnet, and tiny kid sunglasses. Buffy followed his gaze, she laughed at the sight herself.

"You got sunscreen on?"

He shook his head, "Don't need it."

"Yes you do, let me put some on," she insisted, though they had had this conversation before. It was the last time Angel and Buffy had gone out in the sun. Angel had turned beat red, and Buffy had laughed for the two weeks it took to go away.

"No I don't," he smiled at her.

"Fine, when you become lobster red, don't blame me," she said as she stood up and started pushing the stroller.

"Okay," he said as he put an arm around her shoulder.

The first stop was the cat house. Buffy and Angel, well mostly Buffy cooed at the new tiger cubs. while she did this Angel gave his daughter a look that said 'your-mom-is-crazy' complete with the finger twirling motion. She just laughed.

"What?" Buffy said, turning around to Angel.

"Nothing," he said as he whistled and looked at the ceiling.

"Uh huh, right," she said suspiciously.

They walked through the exhibit up until the lion cage, where they stopped at Bell's request, "Lons!"

"Yes, li-ons," Angel re-sounded out.

She lifted up her head from the stroller because she couldn't see. Angel picked her up and put her atop his shoulders. She giggled with delight. Buffy looked up at her girl. Angel had always been tall, and with Bell on his shoulders she had the best view, seeing over everyone's heads.

They walked out of the cat house and walked the designated path to the large mammals. Because it was a beautiful day all the animals were outside. The first animal the family saw were the elephants.

Bell wrinkled her nose, "Down."

Angel put her down and placed her back into the stroller. Buffy had brought a camera and had already taken two pictures, she decided that a picture of Angel in front of the elephants would be a good one, so she got his attention for about three seconds before he turned away and moved on to the next animal.

When Bell tried to look up all she saw was the top of her stroller. The front had been pulled over to provide shade. She whimpered. Buffy put the front back and Bell looked surprised at the giraffes.

"Tall," she said.

"Yes, very tall," Buffy told her.

The next animal was the hippo. He just sat in the water and did nothing, though Bell seemed to like that. She insisted on staying for at least five minutes, just staring at the hippo. Angel finally picked up Bell, gave her to Buffy and took a picture with the camera he picked up from the bag.

"See? Now you have a picture with mommy, you, and the hippo," he told her.

Jezebel just stared at the hippo; Buffy started wheeling the stroller away and onto the rest on the animals. The enjoyed the rest of the animals, going in a circle until they reached the elephants again.

In front of the building that housed the birds, there was a beautiful fountain. Buffy and Angel sat on the edge of the fountain, Bell on Angel's lap, and Buffy's arm around Angel. She handed a penny to Bell and Bell threw it in. Angel took the camera out, telling Buffy that this had to be captured. Just as he was about to take a picture a zoo person walked by.

"If you want, I'll take a picture of the three of you," he offered.

Angel smiled, "That'd be great thanks," Angel handed the camera over.

He sat next to Buffy, putting his arm around her, with Bell inbetween them. It took a short while for the girl to look at the camera, but she did, eventually. Angel thanked the man again for taking the picture, and walked over to the bird house. They parked the stroller outside, the zoo didn't want a stroller in that spot. With Bell in each hand, the two parents walked through the bird house.

Bell loved the penguins, and tried to walk the way the did, after close study. She waddled for a couple seconds, then fell over. Buffy and Angel ran over to her to make sure she was alright. She was only laughing. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, as did Angel.

Bell got a chance to pet a parrot and said hello to it; she was very surprised when it said hello back. She looked at the bird with wide eyes, while she clung to Angel. He laughed at her reaction while looking over at Buffy. The shared a smile and went back to looking at the exotic birds that surrounded them.

One part of the exhibit was a rainforest type setting that you walked through. Bell loved that. Buffy didn't.

"This climate is making my hair flat," she wrinkled her nose.

"I think your hair looks beautiful," he told her.

"I'll repeat, sweet, terrible liar, but sweet."

"You look gorgeous," he insisted.

"If I always relied on your opinion about my appearance, I could look like... like... I can't even think of what I could look like. I don't want to," she said.

"Well, you know that you're always beautiful," he said as he wiped a piece of hair from her eyes, "and I know you're beautiful, so..."

"Yeah, ya sweet talker."

"That's me," he stated.

"Thought so," she smiled.

"Mom! Bird," Bell snapped Buffy out of her little trance and looked to where Bell was pointing. On a branch on one of the trees a little green bird sat.

"Yes, I see the bird. What color is that bird?" she asked.

"Blue?"

"Nooooo."

"Red?"

"Nooooo."

Silence.

Buffy grinned, "How about green?"

Bell shook her head.

"Yes, that bird green," Buffy said tickling the girl, she shrieked in delight.

"Okay, where to next?" Angel asked when he came up next to Buffy.

"Uhh, I don't know."

"Food?" came a voice below them.

"Why not? What time is it anyway?" Angel raised his eyebrows.

"About two or so," Buffy said before checking her watch. "Five after," she confirmed.

"Okay, well, how about lunch in front of that garden near the reptiles?" Angel asked his two companions.

"K."

"That'd be great."

Angel was holding Buffy's hand while he pushed the stroller to an area of the zoo that was there for people to have a small picnic. There was another young couple, a family with three kids, and an old couple sitting on the lawn with them.

Buffy unpacked the food, while Angel put a bib on Bell. She probably didn't need it, but Buffy had said that the last thing she wanted was to have a messy girl on her hands. Angel said nothing.

Together they ate, watching the people as they walked or rolled by. Every now and then Buffy would feed Angel some of her food that she had prepared, and Angel would feed her some of his. Bell happily ate her bite size food. Buffy took another couple pictures with the camera.

After lunch they threw away their garbage. Buffy took Bell to change her diaper, and then the three visited the reptile house. While Buffy hated the snakes and deadly creatures, Bell and Angel loved them.

"I just think that there is enough deadly stuff on this planet, why should we take joy in looking at another thing that could kill us?" Buffy spoke.

"Because they are interesting," Angel told her.

"Okay, if you say so."

"I do."

Bell followed the little snakes with her eyes from her place in the stroller as they slithered around their home. She followed the path they made with her finger against the glass. Laughing when they slithered really fast.

They spent only ten minutes there, Buffy dragging the other two members of the family out as fast as she could. Angel just humored her. When outside they considered what they had left. There was a petting zoo where Bell wanted to see the cows and then there was the small mammals house. Angel wanted to go to the small mammals house first, reasoning that it would be easier to finish off the zoo with a trip to the petting zoo.

So off to the small mammals house it was. They spent an hour and a half looking at the animals and holding some. Angel was starting to get bored just looking at something that looked like a rat with a longer tail, though Buffy gave it some name that made it sound 'cute'.

He groaned as his eyes hit the light when they got outside. Buffy handed him his pair of sunglasses from the bag, put Bell's on her, and put Buffy's own on herself.

The walked across the zoo to the petting zoo, parked the stroller outside the gate, and walked in. Buffy set Bell down on the floor and she took off, running towards the nearest goat. The couple sat down on a nearby bench, watching the kids play with the animals, sharing a short kiss every now and then. Every now and then a goat would wonder by Buffy and Angel and they'd pet it, then it'd wander around again.

When they were done, Buffy made Jezebel wash her hands. She and Bell went to wash their hands, while Angel went to wash his. When Buffy and Bell finally came out Angel put his daughter in her stroller and they visited the cows, horses, chickens, rosters, and ducks in the nearby barn.

"See the moo!" Bell had demanded when they were in the barn. Buffy and Angel exchanged a short laughed before being interrupted again with the demand. Bell learned the finer points of milking a cow. Though Buffy really didn't care for the farm life, she amused Bell.

The day ended with Buffy and Angel sitting on the shore of the little lake that was outside the barn. Bell was sitting in her stroller looking at all the animals that surrounded them. Mostly birds. The final pictures were used on the camera as Bell was starting to yawn.

"Long day," Angel told Buffy.

"Don't I know it," Buffy muttered.

"Home?" he asked her.

"Yes please," she sweetly smiled. "Bell, you ready?" Buffy asked the child in the stroller.

She shook her head and strained in her stroller to point to some ducks. When Angel started to push the stroller away to go home, she began to whimper.

Buffy leaned in close to Angel, "Let's just give her some Cheerios and get out of here."

Angel grabbed the food from underneath the stroller and handed it to Bell. She grabbed it and started munching happily, all thoughts of ducks forgotten.

They left the zoo and packed up the stroller and started driving home. Bell fell asleep on the way home in the car. Buffy looked at her, just staring.

"Look at her Angel," she said to the man next to her.

He glanced in his mirror.

"We made that, Angel. Look at how beautiful she is."

Angel smiled at that thought and went back to driving.

"I love you," he told her as she sang softly to the radio.

She looked at him, smiling with her eyes, "I love you too."

She leaned back into the seat, turning her head to look at him.

"And... Angel?"

"Yes?"

"I told you so," she shook her head.

"About what?" he asked her, not sure where she was going.

"Your sunburn," she said plainly. "You are redder than a lobster!"

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