DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and all other characters (except those I make up) are the absolute property of Joss Whedon (AKA The EVIL One), Fox, Mutant Enemy and Warner Bros (If I owned them, the events of Buffy season 4 or most of season 3 wouldn't have occurred).
SUMMARY: Buffy and Angel go to Sunnydale to tell the gang they are back together.
RATING: PGish
SPOILERS: General Buffy and Angel ones
TIMELINE: About Six Years after BTVS season 4 and ATS season 1.

PART 1

ANGEL'S APARTMENT

"Angel, it's time for me to go back to Sunnydale" Buffy said unexpectedly one morning.

"What?" he yelled in panic, he couldn't believe after all they'd been through she was leaving him.

"Well, I have to go back and collect my stuff, unless you don't really want me here?" Buffy teased when she saw the look on Angel's face, he looked devastated.

"Oh, ok" Angel said relaxing.

She then said "We also have to tell the gang we're back together".

"I think that they'd have guessed by now. I mean for how long did you think Willow would be able to keep her mouth shut?" Angel teased.

Buffy ignored his comment and told him "And don't forget my mother".

"Like I could" Angel muttered, his good mood on the verge of being destroyed.

"Hey" she said hearing what he mumbled "I thought you liked my mother?"

"Buffy, I do like her. It's her who despises me" Angel said matter-of-factly.

"She doesn't hate you" Buffy said, until Angel glared at her and she relented "Ok, she does, but she'll get used to you eventually".

"Oh joy" Angel replied, sarcastically.

"You are going to have to tell her with me" Buffy told him.

"Do I have to?" Angel replied whining, looking at her like she had just told him he was going to be executed.

"Yes, you do" she said firmly.

Angel sat there in silence as he studied Buffy's face, she was wearing her you'll do it or I'll stake you myself looks, and he suddenly knew this was one battle he would not win.

That night they drove to Sunnydale. Since it was extremely late when they finally arrived, Buffy decided to wait until the next day to let everyone know she was back. With that decided, she and Angel climbed into bed and forgot their troubles for awhile.

BUFFY'S SUNNYDALE APARTMENT - NEXT DAY

Buffy sat by the telephone debating who to call first, finally deciding on emotional support, she grabbed the phone and pressed one of the speed dial buttons.

~Ring, Ring~

"Hello, Rosenberg residence" a sleepy voice answered.

"Hi Wills"

"Buffy? Is that you?" Willow said, shaking the remnants of sleep from her brain.

"Yeah"

"How come you stayed at your dad's so long?" Willow tried to ask innocently.

"I was having a good time, hanging with my dad, looking up old friends" Buffy told her, looking over to where Angel was sleeping.

Since Buffy was obviously not going to tell her a thing anytime soon Willow opted for direct questioning. "So did you see him?"

"If by him, you mean Angel, I did" Buffy said, carefully choosing her words, wanting to make Willow squirm just a little longer.

"Was it horrible?" Willow asked, she was starting to wonder if Angel had told Buffy or not.

"Nope"

"So what happened then?" Willow asked impatiently.

"I went there, talked to Cordy, gave Angel his letter and then talked to Cordy some more" Buffy replied leaving Willow stumped, as well as deliberately leaving Oz out of the conversation.

"That's it?" Willow shouted.

"Well yeah.....except for the fact I didn't see my dad because I hardly got the chance to leave Angel's apartment" Buffy said.

"YES" Willow screamed "I'm so happy for the two of you, Buffy".

"Thanks, Wills"

"No problem. Why don't you two come over here and see Tara and me tonight?"

"How did you know I brought him?"

"Because there is no way you'd want to face your mom alone"

"Right, so we'll be there after we talk to my mom"

" Ok. Bye Buffy. See you later" Willow said.

"See you tonight, Wills".

Buffy had just hung up the phone and was staring out the window thinking, when a sleepy voice from the bed asked "So we're going to see Willow later, huh?"

"And Tara" Buffy supplied.

"Wait a sec, who's Tara?" Angel asked confused.

"She's Willow's girlfriend" Buffy told him.

"Willow has a girlfriend?"

"Yep, since after Oz left" Buffy told him, as she went over to the bed and kissed him goodmorning, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Don't want to sleep. In case I wake up and find this is a dream" Angel mumbled.

"I'm not going anywhere" Buffy said.

"Good. Come back to bed" Angel begged.

"Just a minute, there's some things I have to do".

"What?" Angel asked, wondering what could possibly be more important than being with him.

"Call Xander and Giles".

"Alright do it, but hurry. I'm awful lonely here in this big bed all by myself" Angel taunted.

Just the thought of that had Buffy saying "I'll hurry" as she pressed the speed dial, once again.

~Ring, Ring~

"Yes" came a curt female voice.

"Hi Anya. It's Buffy, can I talk to Xander?"

"No, he's busy" Anya said.

"Can you take a message then?" Buffy asked trying not to lose patience with her.

"Alright" Anya said begrudgingly.

"Tell Xander that I'm moving to LA to live with Angel and that Angel is extremely happy."

"Fine" Anya said as she hung up.

Buffy was about to dial Giles when she saw Angel's expression. "What?" she asked.

"I can't believe you left him that message. He'll have a heart attack" Angel said, secretly pleased at the thought.

"So, he should have come to the phone" she said, dialing Giles.

~Ring,Ring~

"Hello"

"Hey Giles".

"Buffy, you're back. How was your trip?" Giles asked

"Terrible".

"Why?" Giles gently asked her.

"Because Angel ran off with Cordy" Buffy told him.

"What happened?" Giles demanded.

"He read your letter, came into the outer office, grabbed Cordy and ran off" Buffy said, trying not to laugh as she pictured Giles' face.

"How could he do this, after all you've given up for him. And with Cordelia, does he have no taste" Giles ranted. After receiving silence from Buffy (who was actually trying not to laugh) he asked "Why are you taking this so well? Are you kidding with me?"

"Yep, and if it makes you feel any better, Angel is staring at me like I have grown a second head"

"So I gather Willow and I were correct about the curse then" Giles answered.

"Of course and Angel has been extremely happy and will be again soon" Buffy told her old watcher just make him uncomfortable.

"Please, spare me the details" Giles complained uncomfortably.

"Hey, you did ask" Buffy chided him.

"I should have known better, shouldn't I?"

"Totally" Buffy answered.

"Well why don't you and Angel come over......"

Giles was cut off by Buffy saying "I get it, you need to see for yourself"

"Well..." Giles began, only to be cut off by Buffy once more.

"I understand. We'll see you at Willow's later then, ok?"

"Certainly. Good-bye Buffy"

"Bye Giles"

As soon as Buffy had hung up the phone, she ran to the bed and jumped in with Angel. They were so involved with each other that they never even heard the phone ring.

~Ring, Ring~

"Hi, you've reached Buffy. Leave a message and I'll get back to you.....eventually"

~BEEP~

"Buffy, it's me Xander. What do you mean Angel's happy? You'd better not mean soul-losing happy. Remember Junior year? You'd better call me back soon or I'm coming over with a stake, a cross and some holy water. Deadboy if you're listening to this BEWARE, Xander Harris is after you".

Part 2

JOYCE'S HOUSE

Buffy and Angel stood on Joyce's front porch and rang the doorbell. A voice from inside yelled "Just a minute". When she opened the door, Joyce was happy to find Buffy there, "Hi, sweetie. What are you doing here?" Just then she saw who was standing behind Buffy, and before Buffy could answer her mother's first question, Joyce demanded "What's he doing here?"

"Mom, calm down. Angel's with me" Buffy said rationally.

Totally in denial, Joyce said "No, he's not".

"Yes, he is" Buffy said, this time more forcefully.

Joyce in her anger turned towards Angel and without thinking, said "I thought we'd agreed that you'd leave and not come back into Buffy's life. You know do what is best for her".

"YOU DID WHAT?" Buffy's yell pierced the night.

This effectively silenced Joyce. Meanwhile Angel just stood behind Buffy feeling extremely uncomfortable, he didn't want to be the cause of any trouble or to come between Buffy and Joyce. Just then Buffy grabbed his hand and told her mother forcefully "He and I are a package deal, you can either deal with it or forget you have a daughter".

Then Buffy dragged Angel back to his car. Once they were on the road, heading to Willow's when Angel gave in to his overwhelming guilt and need to apologise.

"I'm sorry" he said.

"Don't be" Buffy told him.

"Why?" he asked, puzzled as to why she seemed to shrug off the argument so easily.

"She and I have been fighting since college".

"And again I ask, why?"

"I wasn't exactly the party girl in college" Buffy answered him.

"And Joyce thought that you should've been?" Angel prodded, trying to get her to tell him more.

"Yeah. She just didn't seem to understand that everything was different...harder. I had to study all the time just to keep up with the work, so between that and slaying....."

"You couldn't be Ms. Party" Angel finished for her.

"Exactly".

Just as Buffy said that they pulled into Willow's driveway. Both of them were surprised to see Xander's car there, when they pulled in Xander pounced. He ran over to the car and said "Just please assure me that you're not EVIL".

"I'm not evil. I haven't been evil in a long time" he whined.

"Angel, sweetie. Stop whining, Xander realises you're not evil" Buffy told him.

"Yeah, Deadboy. I was kidding" Xander said, suprising Angel by slapping him on the back, as they walked towards the house.

WILLOW'S HOUSE

Once they were inside, Buffy introduced Angel to Tara. To which Tara replied "So he's the reason you turned Riley down in college"

Angel asked "Who's Riley?" but was ignored because of Giles' arrival.

"Hey Giles" the Scoobies chorused.

"Hello everyone. Angel how are you feeling?" Giles asked immediately in research mode.

"Never better, Giles" Angel answered honestly.

This started a round of questions asked by Giles. After Giles had questioned Angel, they all sat around Willow's living room and told stories of the events of the last few years, especially embarrassing ones about Buffy and Angel told them about his work in LA. About four hours later everyone decided to go, including Buffy and Angel, giving Willow a hug and a promise to call her later Buffy climbed into the car and they headed back to her apartment.

BUFFY'S APARTMENT

When they arrived back at Buffy's, Angel asked her "Who's Riley?"

"No one important. Why?"

"Tara mentioned you'd turned him down" Angel said.

"He was the TA in my intro psych class, Freshman year. He liked me , we went out a couple of times, I decide not to see him anymore."

"Why?" he asked, trying to find out exactly how close his Buffy and some slimy TA had been.

"The truth is, he was a major geek. He was from Iowa and he used to rehearse our conversations in his head before talking to me" Buffy said.

Angel could hardly believe it, there was someone out there who was that geeky. "He didn't?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, he did".

"You were right. He sounds like a major geek"

Angel reached over and grabbed Buffy, pulling her towards the bedroom to celebrate, Riley's geekiness. Because if Riley hadn't been a Freak-of-Nature then Buffy and Angel might not have been there together right now.

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