Disclaimer - Not mine.
Rating - show-ish.
Pairing - pure B/A and B/A only (well, and Connor;)).
Spoilers - Nothing really, maybe slight ones from the stories previous to this one "Dream of a Nightmare" and "Forever My Love", but I can't think of nothing at the moment.
Synopsis - A third part to what clearly became a series, though unlike the other 2, DoaN and FML, this one is only 1 part. It takes off several weeks after the ending of "Forever, My Love". Completely plotless. I don't know why I wrote it, really, I just felt it wouldn't be complete without me giving some clue as for what happened...after. Plus, I thought that after the 2 mostly angst-ridden fics a little pure fluff was in order:).
Feedback - oh yes. Please:).

The moon slid behind a cloud and suddenly all there was left were the stars, numerous shimmering beacons of gold shone brightly in the black velvet sky. He looked at them, his eyes roaming among them, lingering over each one even though he knew in reality it couldn't be done. There were too many. He remembered these stars from before, from long ago, perhaps too long, only that for some inexplicable reason this time that memory didn't burden his heart as it used to do. On the contrary, he reminisced it with a smile.

"Must you really go?" she had asked him, in that innocent voice, full of childlike disillusionment.

He had wrapped one arm around her small shoulders and pulled her closer to his side. "See that," he turned her attention to the heaven, as he pointed at the stars with his other hand.

He remembered her nodding though she still hadn't understood what he'd wanted.

"When I leave tomorrow… Even if you never see me again, just look up there. Know that I look up there, too…wherever I am. I always think of you."

Her eyes had followed his hand and she gazed at the sky for several moments before simply asking, "Are you sure these are the same stars, Liam?"

"I promise," he had assured her, as he looked on at the subject of their conversation.

He was sure now, was sure these were the same stars. The same ones from that night he had sat with his little sister and looked at the sky, that night before he had left his father's house to meet his destiny, vowing never to return. These very same stars were shining down on him now, too, still bright, unchangeable…forever. But in reality, in almost three hundred years…so many things had changed.

Angel tore his gaze from the sky and looked down at the small child safely cradled in his arms. He smiled down at him and gently kissed his forehead. The former vampire's eyes again glistened with a barely discernable smile as he looked back up at the starry sky. Many things had changed.

"You know, I could be wrong, but…I still think it's way past bedtime for at least one of you," a voice behind him said softly. He turned his head around, careful not to disturb his son's sleep, just in time to see the Slayer walk up to him with two steaming mugs of coffee in her hands.

"I was reading to him," Angel began explaining, glancing at the children book lying next to him on the wooden settee. He lowered his voice a bit when Connor stirred and a small sound escaped his slightly parted lips. "He just…dozed off after a while…"

"Believable beyond belief," Buffy grinned impishly, as she lowered the cups on the small table standing nearby. "Now what do you say I'll play mommy and you'll play daddy and we go and tuck him in?" Descrying his hesitation, she gently touched his shoulder, as though reading into his mind. "No one's going anywhere over night, Angel," she smiled, a bit childishly. "Cross my heart."

Finally, after a moment, the former vampire nodded slightly and stood up. Following the Slayer, he carried their sleeping son into the house.

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Buffy opened the bedroom's door for him and stepped back, holding only a crack open, for just enough light from the corridor to steal into the dark room to allow Angel to lay Connor in bed.

Her eyes never left her boyfriend, and a small sigh left her lips when after he'd laid his son down and finished tucking him in, he just sat down on the edge of the bed, with his back to her, clearly unable to take his eyes off the sleeping boy.

She swallowed as a glint of a somewhat sad smile surfaced in her green orbs and she couldn't help the momentary feeling of icy fingers clench around her heart to the memory of what used to be her life only a short while ago. These fleeting flashbacks to an, other than that, long forgotten past, could always be initiated by sights such as this.

Inhaling another sigh, Buffy quietly walked up to him, sat down behind him on Connor's bed and inclined her cheek on his shoulder, snaking her arms around his waist.

Angel smiled gratefully to himself and reached for one of her hands, pulling it up to his lips and brushing them over the upside of her small palm.

"It'll be okay," she said softly, unsure even herself whom of the two of them was she referring to, whose bruises was she attempting to heal. "Everything's gonna be okay now."

"I know," he acknowledged.

"Daddy?" a small voice came from beside them and both former vampire and Slayer looked at their son, who that moment woke up and blinking drowsily, searched for his parents in the darkness.

"Shh… I'm here. It's late. Go to sleep now, okay?" he smiled, as he fixed the blanket up to the boy's shoulders. Inwardly, all he found himself able to think of was that his heart would probably always skip a beat to the sound of the word 'dad'.

"Wead me a stowy?" Connor pleaded, though his voice alone indicated on that even if his father did agree, he wouldn't stay awake to hear the second paragraph. "Pwease?"

"Tomorrow," Angel promised him with a smile as he leaned down to kiss him goodnight. "We have tomorrow. Good night." After a beat, he added quietly, "I love you, Connor."

"I wow you too, daddy," Connor mumbled into his pillow, turning on his side in attempt to make more comfortable.

Angel stood up and Buffy occupied his former place, moving closer to her son, to also kiss him good night. "Sweet dreams, honey," she whispered in his ear, lightly combing her hand through his short brown hair.

"…ight, mommy," he murmured back, so quietly and completely out of sleep even Angel, who only stood a couple of feet away, barely picked it up.

The Slayer tucked him in one last time and stood up, whirling around to face her boyfriend, who took her hand and led her out of the room.

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Angel quietly shut the door behind them as they stepped out of the house into the night-clad terrace. He took Buffy by the hand and led her to the bench, where he sat down, simultaneously pulling her to his side and fastening his arms around her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder.

There seemed to be no cloud in the sky anymore and the moon and the stars all shone brightly above them. Nothing was heard in the stillness of the night but the mellow wind rustling in the treetops, everything about them appeared submerged in a deep sleep.

Buffy pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her fists and shivered slightly, snuggling deeper in her lover's embrace.

"Cold?" Angel chuckled slightly when she nodded in return and pulled her closer, rubbing his hand over her arm to warm her a bit. He leaned over to his left, reached for one of the mugs she'd brought earlier and handed it to her.

The Slayer took a few sips and leaned back into her boyfriend, emitting a soft yawn as the liquid warmed its way down her throat. "What were you thinking?"

"Thinking?" he didn't grasp straight away what she was referring to.

"Yeah. When I walked in on you sitting here with Connor. You had brood-face on again," she pointed.

His lips curved in a slight smile at the mention of the term she had all but overused during all the years they'd known each other. "I don't know… Nothing, I guess. I just… I was thinking how much everything has changed."

"Oh yeah," she breathed. She herself had done her share of thinking about the exact subject though something told her Angel dug much deeper into it than she ever could. "We're not talking just the past years, are we?"

"No," he laughed. "See, it's one of the perks of being around for centuries, you pile up a lot of past to brood about."

"Well…" she nestled a little closer and looked up at him, "is it…good? So far?"

"Very good." He bent down to capture her pouty lips in a kiss.

"Then it's good," the Slayer approved with a content smile. After a beat of silence, she sighed, as her arms possessively found their way around his middle. "Angel…" she mused, her voice small, with a barely perceptible timbre of fear in it. "There's nobody left to screw with us anymore, right?"

For a while, he didn't answer, taken by surprise by the bluntness of his lover's unexpected question, which only caused Buffy's apprehension to rise. Eventually, she just said, "I don't want you to really answer that. Sometimes no promises is better than broken promises, you know. Just that…for the last few weeks everything's been so right, so…perfect. It's even scary to use that word," she mused and he squeezed her shoulders supportively. "Whenever everything's right, I just can't help but being afraid that-"

The former vampire sealed her flow of babble with a soft kiss and only pulled back when every trace of anxiety melted from within her. "We have tomorrow, love," he then answered her question the best he could. "I promise you tomorrow."

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, or at least for now, Buffy allowed a small smile to replace her formerly staid mien as she rested her head back next to her lover's beating heart. Her hand crept up to her face and lay over the rhythmic throbbing in his chest. "I never want to leave here," she found herself saying, before her mind could even process what exactly these words stood for.

"You like it here?" Angel briefly glanced down at her face and reposed his hand over hers on his chest, lacing their fingers together.

"It's…cold. And different and…well, nice from what I've seen so far, anyway, even though we hardly left the house," a devilish grin briefly flashed in the corners of Buffy's mouth. "But it's nice. And it's cold," she emphasized, inducing a chuckled from her boyfriend.

"Well, it's not California, I can tell you that."

"I think I covered that part with the 'cold'," she stressed again, but then her teasing expression broke into a smile. "But I still don't want to come back. Maybe once I will, but…I can't. Everything is just so right here, like nothing can hurt us while we're here, nothing can reach us. I'm not saying permanent, but maybe a change of place is exactly what we need. A fresh start. And maybe even...a home," she grinned. "I even like the sound of that."

"Me, too," he kissed the top of her head.

"And…the guys know where we are, they know we're together, so they aren't worried about us or anything. And when we decide we're ready to come back, we will. Just…"

"Not now," Angel completed her trace of thought.

"Not now," Buffy echoed.

"Sometimes I think… Everything that happened to us, everything we've been through, everything they put us through…maybe in the grand scheme of things, it all led us to this, to this moment." He paused, and after a beat, shrugged. "Or maybe it simply makes a lot more sense than thinking it all was for nothing."

"Or maybe even the Powers decided we've done enough good in this world and that even we finally deserve a rest," she quipped. "Whatever it is, we'll certainly have enough stories to tell our son when he grows up. Trust me, we'll be the coolest parents ever."

The former vampire chuckled quietly at that. "I think when our son grows up, he'll assemble a bunch of stories of his own to show off with. You should know… I think they call it destiny."

"You know what I think?" the Slayer gazed up at him. "I think destiny as a whole sucks. But you know what else I learned? When you believe in it," she reached her hand up to his face and let her palm tenderly stroke over his cheek as they locked eyes together. "You know…*really* believe, that after it irrevocably messes up your life and takes away everything you ever knew, everything is still gonna be alright, and that there is such thing as forever… Then, it can be the most wonderful thing in the world," she whispered, her eyes already half closed as her lover's arms around her urged her up for a kiss.

"Do you believe?" he broke the kiss especially to ask that.

Buffy merely beamed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm way past that," she replied hoarsely before sealing his lips again.

Ultimately, the Slayer pulled back first and crawled onto his lap, nestling in his arms like she were a small child and half her size but somehow, she fitted in there perfectly. "I love you, Angel," she whispered, and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his long fingers abstractly combing down her blond locks.

"I love you, too," he said and placed another kiss on her crown. Neither one of them spoke for what was only minutes but seemed to be so much longer, until he brought up the one question she that moment realized she had been waiting lifetimes to hear. "Marry me?"

"Yes."

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