Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Buffy and Angel. I do own Julia, and anyone else that you don't recognize.
Spoilers: It's an AU fic, but there are a few little spoilers about the big events that happened in the real Buffyverse.
Summary: What would happen if Angel were some kind of cool Demon Hunter hottie, and he and Buffy met? Probably nothing exciting, but this is my attempt at writing it anyway.
Distribution: Ask me first, but I'll probably say yes if you want it.
Feedback: I'm really excited about this story so tell me what you think!!!!!!!
Rating: Oh, this one's kinda tame. I'd say PG—14. There is violence and there's sex, but nothing really detailed.
* indicates italics, which is usually thoughts.

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They will not know each other, but the world shall know them. They shall save the lives of all, unwittingly, by existing together. For they are the balance of good versus the world of evil. But if their differences create a separation that will last for long, the world will be doomed and there shall be no hope.

A child shall be born from these Chosen Ones. There shall be two paths it may follow. One of darkness that leads to the night, and one of light, that leads to the day. If the child is not lead to the day, Hell shall overcome the earth. And it shall be the End of the world.
*Prophecies of the Old Ones. 453 A.D.*

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May 1999

Sunnydale, California

Spike and Drusilla stood behind a tree, watching as their friend, the official Demon Hunter, beat the crap out of two vampires and one demon. The first vamp threw a punch at him, got knocked down, and a stake landed in his heart.

"Bummer," the vamp sighed as he disintegrated. The demon attacked the Demon Hunter from behind, and the remaining vamp went for his neck. The Demon Hunter flipped the demon off of him, then kicked the vamp. He grabbed the knife, which he'd dropped, and slammed it into the demon's chest. He yanked it out, and with the other hand, sent a stake through the vampire's heart.

Then Angel looked around for a moment, checking for more danger, then relaxed when he didn't see any. He looked at his two friends. "You guys okay?"

"Fine." Spike said immediately, smoothing the black leather duster he wore as he stepped back out into the open.

"I love the way they explode like that," Dru said, grinning as she dusted off her long crimson skirt. Then she frowned as she spotted the demon guts. "But that's gross."

Angel followed her gaze. "Yeah. But that one will disappear at sunrise too." He nudged the demon with the tip of his boot, then grimaced as he noticed some slime on his long black trench coat.

"Oh. Cool." Dru sighed as the three of them began walking towards the cemetery exit again. "Okay. Are you sure that this club is this way?"

Angel nodded. They were going to a club called the Bronze. The threesome had just moved to Sunnydale a few days ago from England, and this was the first time they'd gotten a break from moving boxes and things. Angel had talked with one of their neighbors, and the woman had told him about the Bronze, and how it was the only hangout for anyone in the area. Of course, then she'd wanted to know all about him, and that he was only twenty-three and why he'd moved to Sunnydale, and blah, blah, blah.

He'd gotten a feeling though, and ever since his Watcher, a woman named Darla, had told him about being the Hunter, he'd learned to trust his feelings. Often, even the weird ones, were accurate.

Spike and Dru had come with him, being his best friends and all. They were both as rich as he was, but they'd all gone in on a huge mansion on the outskirts of the town, simply because Spike and Dru didn't think Angel should be stuck by himself. Of course, Spike and Dru's parents were not pleased with the decisions. EspeciallyDru's, when they had learned that she was to live with two men. One of them, Spike, being her boyfriend.

Angel on the other hand, no longer had parents. His Watcher, he'd dubbed her `Darla the bitch', had died after she'd betrayed him and his ex-girlfriend, and he had fled before the Council could send him another. In his opinion, they were just a big pain in the ass. His birth mother had died when he was very young, and his father had died just after Angel's eighteenth birthday. As horrible as it was, Angel really hadn't cared when his father died. He'd been a bastard in life, and he'd left Angel a very rich man, and now Angel was free to do as he wished. His father had been a tyrant to the extreme, and tight with money. His mother, on the other hand… she'd been killed by vamps one night when he'd been patrolling. Those vamps were no more, needless to say.

But the other reason for coming to Sunnydale, the first but less important one, was that he and Spike had gotten a job offer that they couldn't refuse. They would be working at the local high school. As the threesome walked, they fell into a comfortable silence. They'd been friends since they were just babies, and best friends since before they knew what that meant. They were the only ones that knew about Angel's secret identity, and they'd been helpinghim over the past eight years, since Angel was sixteen and he'd learned about vampires and demons. They were also the ones who teased him about his irresistibility to women. Dru had always said that if she weren't taken by Spike, she'd be taken by Angel.

Angel barely even noticed when they got to the front of the club, until someone screamed happily inside. He exchanged looks with the other two, then they paid the man at the door their three bucks and went inside. Loud music, laughter, and conversation immediately surrounded them. "Shall we get a table then?" Spike questioned, gesturing to the only empty table in the place.

Angel glanced at the table and noted the purse and jacket on the chair behind the table, where Spike couldn't see. "Someone's sitting there."

Spike looked again and saw it. He shrugged. "My bad."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Picking up the slang already, Spike?"

The younger man grinned at him. "Well, let's get a drink then."

"You have to be twenty one, don't forget." Angel reminded them. Drusilla was only twenty. She didn't look it, but none of the three wanted any trouble this quick into their trip to the United States.

Dru sighed. "Bloody hell."

Angel smiled a little. "I'll wander around for a bit."

"Have fun," Dru said sweetly. "Find a girl and get laid, dear."

Angel gave her a look, which she ignored.

Then he went of to find a girl. Not that he'd ever admit it to Dru.

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Buffy Anne Summers, Willow Rosenberg, and Cordelia Chase all sat down at their table to wait for their boyfriends and friends, Oz and Xander Harris. Buffy was casually checking out the place for hotties and danger when she saw the man who'd just walked into the club. Immediately, she nudged Willow and Cordy. "Check out the hottie," she murmured, then realized how valley-girlish that was. Cordelia inspected the man in question, and had to smile. "Hello salty-goodness."

Willow had already seen that it wasn't Oz, so she wasn't interested. "I guess he's nice looking," she said, shrugging. The two other girls looked at her, then sighed. "He's not from around here," Cordelia said, ignoring Willow and inspecting him again. "He dresses way too cool for that, and the girl he's talking to is just too… I don't know, foreign looking."

Buffy nodded, but inwardly she frowned. There was something… something about him. She didn't know if it was good or bad, butit was definitely there. The man turned away from his friends, and looked around. Suddenly, he looked at her, and their eyes met. She felt a shiver go through her as his cool gaze inspected her, and she couldn't deny the strangeness of her attraction to him... And there was still that something else. Something very familiar, but she couldn't think of what it was. She looked away first, unable to hide the feeling that she got just looking at him. She wanted to jump him and have crazy wild sex. Again and again, until neither one of them could move. Of course, with him being a normal Joe, she'dprobably wear him out quickly. Oh god, she was thinking about screwing a guy she'd never even met, and…

"Buff?" Willow called.

Hurriedly, Buffy looked at her best friend. "Nothing! What?"

Willow looked amused. "You mind too much if we go dance?" Buffy realized with no small surprise that Oz and Xander had arrived.

"Oh, go ahead," Buffy said, rolling her eyes at herself. "Hi guys."

"Hey, Buffster." Xander said lightly. "See ya," he called a moment later as Cordy dragged him away.

Willow just gave Buffy a small smile and went with Oz onto the dance floor.

Buffy watched as her friends began dancing to Bif Naked's *Lucky*, and smiled at Xander's antics.

"This seat taken?" a man asked from behind her.

Buffy turned and was startled to see the man she'd just been having thoughts about looking at her. "Oh, well, now it is," she smiled at him as he sat down next to her.

"Angel O'Connor." *Demon Hunter extraordinaire.*

"Buffy Summers." *Vampire Slayer.*

"You're here with friends, right?" *Boyfriend?*

"Yeah." She caught the casual question beneath that. "Nobody special." She frowned. "Well, actually, they're all pretty special, but in a good way."

"Of course."

"You from around here?"

"No, I just got here from England, with two of my good riends," Angel told her. Damn, she was easy on the eyes… "You?"

"I moved here sophomore year of high school." Buffy told him. "So, I've got a good four years on this hellm-hellhole." Buffy silently cursed herself for slipping. Not that it would have mattered. Most people didn't exactly know about the Hellmouth.

"Anything else to do around here?" Angel questioned, ignoring her slip.

"Not a hell of a lot." Buffy answered honestly, smiling. Shefrowned slightly as she got a weird feeling that passed thought her quickly. "These your friends?" she questioned as Spike and Dru joined them.

Angel looked back. "Yeah. This is William," Spike glared at Angel. He hated being called by his real name! "And his girlfriend Dru. This is Buffy."

"Spike." The younger man corrected.

"Nice to meet you, Buffy," Dru said, smiling. "Don't let our little Angel sweet-talk you into-"

Angel covered her mouth quickly, glaring at her. He actually liked the blond-haired beauty that sat next to him. Of course, he did want to sleep with her, but for once it wasn't a priority.

Buffy had a very good idea what the other woman had been about to say, and she recognized the smooth manner in which Angel flirted with her. She was a little disappointed. Obviously one of those guys who had a girl a week. And he definitely had the looks for it. Not even close to what she needed or wanted in a guy. Distractedly, she began playing with the cross around her neck. She noted that he also wore one, of course a more masculine one.

"Hey Buffy," Willow said, as she and Oz returned to the table. Cordy and Xander were still dancing-mating.

"Oh, this is my best friend Willow, and her boyfriend Oz." Buffy gestured towards the couple. "This is…" Buffy hesitated. He was definitely a player, so it would be best to just get out ASAP. But he was so hot! "I'm sorry, I…"

"Angel O'Connor," Angel finished, getting the clue. It annoyed him, and pissed him off a bit, too. "And my friends Spike and Dru." He looked back at Buffy, his eyes no longer warm and interested. "Unfortunately, I've got to get going."

"Nice to meet you." Buffy said, smiling even though inside she was screaming for him to drag her away. *Whoa. Slow down girl.*

Angel nodded politely at her, and then he led Spike and Drusilla away from the table.

Buffy sighed a little.

"So, what was wrong with him?" Willow asked, knowing her friend too well. She and Oz sat on Buffy's right side.

"He was a player," Buffy answered glumly. "So I'm not even gonna go there." She sighed. "It's just as well. It's not like I can afford to have a real boyfriend. I'd have to worry about him finding out about the slaying stuff, and it would be bad."

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"If she found out about me being the Hunter, well…" Angel trailed off, sighing as they exited the Bronze. Neither Spike nor Dru had been impressed by the place. "It wouldn't be good."

"Sorry man," Spike said, holding Dru's hand as they walked.

"You probably only liked her because of your father's little thing against blonds," Dru said thoughtfully. She was studying the human psyche, and tried it out on everyone. Angel's father, in her opinion, was the cause of almost all of Angel's problems. She was probably right. "You tend to rebel against him, even now. Youeven had a thing for Darla `cause when your father saw her, he thought she was a blond ditz."1`

"Maybe I'd know that for sure if you'd keep your mouth shut." Angel said tersely.

Spike snorted lightly, ignoring Angel's comment. "Bloody ass that he was, he hated me `cause I bleached my hair."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Just forget about it."

"Yeah. We gotta patrol," Dru agreed.

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Buffy and the Scooby gang wandered around the huge (for Sunnydale) park, chatting as they looked for vampires and other unmentionables.

"Just a moment of weakness," Xander sang off key, smiling happily as he remembered the way the singer had danced. "I should examine my heeeaad," He finally noticed everyone looking at him. "What?"

No one bothered to explain about the irony of him examining any heads. He continued singing. Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back to Cordy, who was quizzing her about the major hottie from the Bronze. "Anyway, so then his friends got there, and the girl, who was dating the other guy, started to say something to me about not letting him sweet talk me into something. So, I put two and two together, and figured it out. He was way to good at the whole flirting feeling, and way too hot to be anything but a real player…"

Buffy sighed. "But he really didn't seem like that."

Cordelia nodded sympathetically. "It's okay. It's not really a good idea for you to get involved with guys anyway. You're the Slayer, so you'd die too fast."

Everyone looked at her. Buffy sighed. "Oh, joy, another pleasant thought."

Xander hurried to Cordelia's side and slipped his arm around her waist. "See, Cordy, honey, that's one of the things you aren't supposed to remind us of."

"It doesn't matter," Buffy said, looking at them for a moment. "Let's just move on."

Silently, the group followed Buffy down the path, towards the latest vamp hangout. Buffy tensed as they drew closer. "Do you guys hear that?" she questioned, frowning.

The others paused for a moment. "Sounds like a fight to me," Xander said, sighing.

Buffy nodded and took off towards the crypt she knew was down there.

The rest of the gang followed behind.

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Angel swore out loud as two more demons joined the two vampires fighting against him. Spike and Drusilla were already trying to fight the vampires, but they weren't having very much luck. The couple that had been attacked now lay unconscious on the grass, where the vamps had left them.

The two demons grabbed him and shoved him against the walls of the crypt, then pushed him through the doors and into the crypt. Angel sighed and kicked one of them back away from him. Then the two vamps entered the crypt and began to try to beat him up. Angel swore again. Where were Spike and Dru?

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Buffy spotted the couple immediately. She looked around quickly, and saw another couple on the ground a few feet away. They looked familiar…. Like the couple Angel had been with. What were their names? It didn't matter. She swore softly. It had taken longer than she'd thought it would to get there, and she knew that thevamps had probably killed the other couple. The couple she was nearer too stirred. The woman opened her eyes first.

Buffy knelt by her. "Who did this?" she asked carefully. "I'll go get them."

"Black coat," the woman murmured, just as the rest of the gang arrived. "Tall, handsome." She tried to move.

"Where's Johnny?"

"Take care of them," Buffy ordered the Scooby gang, ignoring the woman's question, and running towards the crypt where she suddenly heard noises coming from. She had a stake pulled out already. As she entered the crypt, she saw a tall man in the back of it, climbing down into a hole of some sorts. "Oh, no you don't," she murmured, seeing the black jacket. He dropped down into the hole, and after a moment's hesitation, Buffy followed, landing in a puddle of something she didn't even want to think about. He whirled around, startledby the noise, and she immediately attacked. He defended himself with ease, and fought back.

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Angel swore as the girl hit him in the ribs, and pain shot through him. Great. On the trail of one vamp, only to get attacked by another. He kicked the girl, and she flew against the wall. He could hear her muttering something about vamps, and it confused him. He was even further confused when he saw her jump up, and in the dim light that came from in the barely-lit crypt, he could see that she carried a stake.

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Spike jumped up, looking around frantically for Angel. He saw Dru lying next to him first and knelt by her side. "Dru!" he cried, checking for a pulse. She opened her eyes after a moment.

"Angel. Where is he?" She raised her hand to her head, fighting off a headache.

Spike pulled her to her feet, just as Xander and Cordelia joined them. "There was a tall man here, dark hair, leather jacket." Dru looked at Xander. "Where did he go?"

Xander frowned. "I didn't see…"

A loud cry came from the crypt. Spike and Dru jumped up and ran towards it, absently noting that the others followed them.

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Buffy grunted as the man shoved her against the wall, and kicked her hard. She cried out a little, and flew at him, knocking him down. He managed to roll so that she was beneath him, and regretted it instantly as she kicked him between the legs. He cried out in pain, and she managed to get free. "Okay, that's not fair," he said through clenched teeth. She stood for a moment, panting to catch her breath. Angel realized this with a start as he tried to recover from her kick. *Wait, vamps don't have breath...

"Whatever works." She grunted as she kicked him again. He barely managed to avoid the kick going in an unpleasant place again, and he rolled out of the way.

Behind them, several more people jumped down into the sewers, just in time for Angel to kick Buffy back away from him, and for her to land right in front of them.

"Buff!" Xander cried, pushing past the others and running towards her.

"Angel!" Dru exclaimed unhappily, seeing her good friend in the shadows. Buffy jumped up, preparing to fight again. As soon as she realized the new people posed no threat, she and Angel were fighting again.

Buffy blocked a punch from him, and tried to hit him in the ribs again, where she knew she'd really hurt him earlier. If shecould get a good shot at between his legs again, that would be good too, but for now…

Angel grunted and blocked yet another punch. She was a damn good fighter. But… He grabbed her wrist and yanked it above her head, twisting it at a painful angle. She cried out in pain and he heard the clatter of her stake falling to the floor. Yeah, she was good. But he was better.

"Buff!" Xander exclaimed. He looked around frantically for away to help his friend, but he couldn't find anything. Then, he got an idea. No one noticed when he slipped out of the sewers into the crypt above them.

Buffy struggled to get free, but the man held tight. He shoved her against the wall of the sewers. If she hadn't been so scared for her life, she might have been disgusted. Who knew what kinds of things were crawling on the wall.

Angel pushed her against the wall, conscious of her friends behind her. He'd already figured out she was human. The stake in her hand, the fact that she was breathing, and the fact that she was warm.

Surprising them all, he released her, stepping back. She wasn't quite ready for that, and stumbled before falling on her but in the middle of a puddle of more stuff she didn't even want to think about.

She was on her feet in an instant, her eyes watching him warily. It was dead silent except for their labored breathing.

"You're human." Angel said simply, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"Yeah." Buffy agreed, doing the same with her arms. "You?"

"As far as I know."

"What's goin' on here, mate?" Spike questioned, stepping around the Buffy's friends, to back up Angel. Dru followed cautiously.

"Damned if I know." Angel answered bluntly.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked suspiciously as her friends gathered around her.

"Mind reader, too." Spike muttered.

"After you, of course." Angel said, oozing politeness.

Buffy snorted. "Fat chance. This is my town buddy, you talk first."

Angel looked at her for a long moment. He didn't say anything, just looked at her with a smirk on his face.

Buffy nearly snarled at him. How dare he! He couldn't just come around and not tell her what he was and what he was doing there! It wasn't right. She was the Slayer. And he couldn't have just beaten her like that!

Then she saw someone moving in the shadows and had to hide her grin.

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She wasn't fast enough. Angel noticed the slight change of expression and was instantly wary. Unfortunately, he didn't hear anyone behind him, so when a pair of strong arms grabbed his own arms from behind, he was caught off guard. Buffy sprang at him, helping the girl Angel couldn't see.

Angel swore loudly and yanked his arms free. He managed to get a hold of the other girl's arm, but Buffy slammed into him before he could do anything with it. Angel barely managed to turn to avoid hitting his head on the hard cement wall behind him, but he still swore as Buffy and the other girl grabbed his arms and managed to pin him.

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Spike watched from the side, amazed. He'd only seen a few people take down Angel, and none as well as these two. He forced himself to relax. Angel could handle them. It was his job. And my job, Spike mused, is to provide the sarcastic comments. "Oh yeah, ladies. Helluva punishment. Mud wrestling." He finally caught a glimpseof the other girl. She had long brown hair, and dressed like a slut. "Loose your tops and it'd be perfect." Dru scowled at him.

"Bite me, Blondie," the brunette said, looking more amused than anything.

"Faith," Buffy sighed, shaking her head. She released Angel's arms. Not really because she wanted to, but still… she had to show him that she was confident that she was the boss and she could handle him again. Kinda like he'd done to her. Only he'd been by himself, she added bitterly.

Faith released Angel's arm as well. She smiled seductively at the Demon Hunter. "I'm Faith. Wanna screw?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. Angel raised an eyebrow, grimacing as he wiped the mud from his hands on his jacket. It was filthy anyway.

"Okay, now that we all know Faith's horny, can we move on and get this mess figured out?" Cordy frowned at the strange man who stood in between the two Slayers.

"Starting with, who the hell are you?"

"It doesn't work that way." Angel said, looking at both of the women who stood in front of him. They had their hands on their hips and both looked annoyed.

Buffy sighed. "Look, I don't really care who you are, I just wanna know why you're here and why you attacked me."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Me? Attack you? I think you need to check your facts, lover."

"Don't call me that." Buffy snapped.

Angel threw up his hands in a sarcastic gesture that infuriated Buffy even more. "Sorry." He said, smirking. "Lover."

Buffy bit back another snarl. Faith tried to hide a smirk.

A loud shout came from above them. "Buffy!" someone yelled.

"Xander," Buffy whispered, and ran towards the ladder. She was halfway up before anyone else had moved.

Angel, as much as he wanted to make sure they were all okay, stayed back, holding Dru and Spike back too. "As soon as you can, get out of here," he told them softly. "I'll be right behind you."

Spike nodded, understanding even what Angel didn't say. Angel would be along as soon as he could, but not before then. No matter what the danger was.

"Come on, Ducks." Spike murmured, motioning for her to go before him and after Angel on the way up.

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Xander groaned as he came to, and was immediately surprised to fell his head in someone's laps. A girl's lap. He opened his eyes a little, and saw a girl's long legs in tight leather pants. And another girl's legs next to hers. And a girl with a beautiful face looking down at him. "I'm in heaven…" he groaned,seeing the even more promising sight of a girl's bosom above his face. Cordelia, whose bosom he was seeing, rolled her eyes. "You okay?"

Xander struggled to sit up, looking up further and seeing the girl's faces instead of just their legs. He'd never realized how hot all his friends were… Well, that was a lie, but the realization had just been reinforced, several times over. "Oh, I'm fine. Very fine. You get the vamps?"

Buffy scowled as she glanced behind her. "Yeah. We got them."

"Where's that guy?" Xander questioned next. "What's his name again?"

Buffy scowled even more. "He got away." She looked away. "His name's Angel." If anyone noticed the odd note in her voice, they didn't mention it.

"We go see Giles?" Willow guessed.

Buffy nodded. "We go see Giles."

"Good." Xander said, nodding as he stood up. Buffy grabbed her slaying bag. "There was something funny about that guy." He frowned. "I didn't like him."

Buffy rolled her eyes again. "There's a surprise." She had. She had liked him very much.

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Rupert Giles sat in the center of the library, surrounded by a stack of books.

He was knee deep into translating a prophecy, one that confused him thus far. Something about the Slayer, he knew, and since he was the Watcher of two Slayers, it was doubly important that he understood it.

"The Slayer… shall…gain a… a…" The next word in the prophecy was blurred out, and Giles sighed in exasperation. Damn it!

So engrossed in his books was he that he barely noticed when footsteps approached the library, and he didn't even hear the door open, and Buffy, Faith, and the Scooby gang come in.

"Hey G-man." Xander said in a not-so-happy tone of voice.

Giles looked up, noticing them for the first time. "I told you never to call me that."

Buffy set her bag down on the table. "Something's rotten in the state of Sunnydale," she announced unhappily.

Again, Giles sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

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Dean Snyder was a fair man, in his mind anyway. He had never punished anyone without just reasoning, once more, in his mind anyway. No one else agreed, but he really didn't care.

Unfortunately, he had no say in hiring teachers. The board of directors was in charge of doing that. He just got notified of it after it happened. Frowning, he studied the two men who walked with him. Both of them were taller than him, not hard, and nicer looking, too.

Once more, that wasn't hard. The older one looked to be about twenty something, and his file said 23. He was dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved button down black shirt. The top two buttons were undone. The younger one was also 23, and dressed similarly, only he had a red button down shirt. They were both history teachers, who specialized in the abnormal, and the older one also taught an English and history class. The younger one also specialized in biology. Perfect, Snyder mused, for Sunnydale. But Snyder didn't like them.

They were too… attractive. And young. Too young. They'd both graduated from Oxford though, with honors, despite their young age.

But he'd seen the looks the secretaries had given the two men as they walked in. Disgusting. But Snyder had no choice about this, and he'd have to continue assisting them to their classes. The good news was, as soon as he got them to their classrooms, they'd be out of his hair.

And their classes were filled with the trouble students. Snyder had made sure of that.

"Here are your class lists." Snyder said brusquely, handing them each folders. "There is no excuse for tardiness from you or the students. There is no excuse for misbehavior. I trust you two will manage your classes, and any one who doesn't follow directions will be punished."

"Of course." The older one, Angel O'Connor said simply, exchanging a look with his associate, William Dalton.

Snyder stopped at the door to a dimly lit classroom. He looked at Angel. "This is your room." He looked at Spike. "You share a room with him for two hours, and another woman, Ms. Calendar, for your other three hours. Questions, comments, or concerns? Ask someone else. First hour starts in half an hour. The schedule is in your folders." With that, Snyder turned and walked away, leaving the two teachers behind.

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"Hail Hitler," Spike muttered as the dean walked away. Angel smiled a little and opened the door to the classroom. Not too bad, he decided. "We'll have to have Dru come in and decorate, or whatever she likes doing." Neither he nor Spike were big on that stuff, but it was Dru's favorite thing to do whenever she got the chance to.

Spike nodded in agreement. The room was bare except for a bunch of desks, for the students and one for the teacher. There was also a table and a closet. Other than that, it was pretty much empty.

Angel tried the closet door and it opened easily. He was a little relieved to find supplies in there, but none of the books he'd need.

There was a note on the desk. Spike saw it first and picked it up. "Says books are in the library."

"Where's the library?" Angel questioned aloud.

"I can take you there," a woman offered.

Angel and Spike both turned, surprised to see the woman standing in the doorway. She was rather short, but pretty. Her dark hair fell to her shoulders, and her dress was stylish but original. She smiled. "I'm Jenny Calendar. You must be Angel O'Connor and William Dalton."

"Call him Spike," Angel said, smiling as he moved to shake Jenny's hand. "And I'm Angel."

"Nice to meet you." Jenny smiled back at them. "You said you needed to find the library?"

"Yeah, we do." Angel smiled again. "Dean Snyder didn't exactly mention where it was."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "He's not exactly… well, that's not a surprise. No one likes him."

"That's not really a surprise either," Spike said dryly.

"No, it isn't." Jenny smiled again. "Come on, and I'll show you where the library is, and you can tell me about yourselves."

"Oh. What fun." If Jenny heard the distinct lack of enthusiasm in Angel's voice, she ignored it. And somehow, the two new teachers, one of whom was actually a Demon Hunter by trade, followed her to the library.

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Buffy, Giles, and the Scooby gang sat in the library, discussing the events of the previous night with Giles. Giles wasn't sure what it could be, and Buffy was wigging. She was so distracted, that she didn't even notice as the doors behind them opened.

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Angel stepped into the college's tiny library, and was immediately grateful that Jenny Calendar had gotten side tracked talking with a fellow teacher. It was the girl from the other night, and all of her friends. She sat with her back to the door, and everyone was distracted with what she was saying.

"I'm the Slayer, Giles," Buffy said, looking at her watcher worriedly. "And he took me down. It took me and Faith to get him down, and a demon or whatever that takes two Slayers is not cool."

She sighed. "And yeah, I was a little off my game last night, but not so much that it should have been that hard."

"No, it…" Giles finally noticed the two men who stood in the doorway. He glanced quickly at Buffy again, silently stopping her from continuing. Then he looked at the two gentlemen. "Can I help you?"

"You just did." Spike said, smirking a little.

Giles took off his glasses as the rest of the group turned around to see who it was. Buffy's eyes widened as she recognized the two. "How… what are you doing here?" she demanded, standing up again.

Jenny entered the library at that moment, apparently not noticing the tension. "Oh, Rupert. This is Angel O'Connor and William Dalton. The new teachers?"

If possible, Willow's eyes bulged even more. Cordelia got a smirk on her face, and the rest of the group just stared at the two men.

"Oh, um, I…" Giles put his glasses on and looked at the two men.

From the way Angel stood slightly in front of the other man, it was obvious that Angel was the one Buffy had been talking about. "If you don't mind my asking, what the devil are you?"

Spike grinned. "He's good, don't worry about that part."

Angel looked at Spike, silently sending him a look that meant not to say more. "I kinda like having the advantage here," Angel told them, looking at the group. He let his gaze rest on Buffy, longer than necessary.

Giles noticed it. He frowned. Jenny looked confused.

"What's going on?"

"He's the one from last night," Buffy said tightly.

Jenny looked startled. "Wait, what…?"

"Excellent questions," Giles said, standing. "Mr.O'Connor, if you would please, we must know what you're doing here. Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to assume you're an enemy of some kind. And then the two Slayers will have no choice in their actions." Though his tone of voice never changed, the threat was obvious. And ineffective. Angel looked at him, his gaze cold. "And I'll have no choice in my own actions if they do anything."

"Then we understand each other."

At that moment, the library doors opened, and Snyder came in, glaring at everyone. Even he sensed the tension, and he looked at Angel, a hint of hope in his voice. "I would guess Ms. Summers did something." He glared at the blond, who was caught between defending herself to Snyder, and staring at the hottie in the doorway… who Giles had just waged war on.

Angel looked away from Buffy and at the dean, forcing himself to revert back into his teaching self. "Not at all. Mr. Giles here was about to help me find the textbooks for my classes." He smiled thinly. "And he was about to introduce us to these students."

Snyder looked disappointed, but then he looked at Giles. "Well, get on it. And shouldn't you students be in class?"

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As luck would have it, Buffy had his friend for her science teacher. And Angel was her History and English teacher.

Neither student nor teacher had realized this until Buffy arrived late to her history class. She wanted to die right then and there. Angel looked up from the class list when she came in. He raised an eyebrow when he recognized her. He had to fight a grin when she stopped mid-step. "Ms. Summers. Nice of you to join us."

He motioned towards the empty desk in the back corner, right by his desk. "Xander will be able to update you after class, assuming he's not sleeping."

Xander looked up, blinking. He hadn't been sleeping. Just…dozing.

Angel waited until she'd taken her seat before continuing on with his basic intro to the class. Oh, this would be quite interesting.It got even better two hours later, when she entered the class again, this time before the bell rang to signify the start of the English class. She looked furious to be there.

Angel glanced at her, then looked at Spike again. It just so happened that this was one of Spike's prep hours. Which meant that Spike could watch Buffy and her friend, who they now knew was Willow Rosenberg, while Angel taught the class.

After Angel gave the usual my-name-is talk, he hesitated. He'd originally planned on having everyone write a traditional what-I-did- over-the-summer-paper, but he changed his mind. Smirking slightly, he looked at Buffy Summers. "For Friday, I want a one-page essay on whether or not you believe in… oh, lets see… vampires, demons, witches and magic and things like that. If you believe, tell me why. If you don't, tell me why. I'll let you have the rest of the period to discuss whatever you want with your friends, or you can start writing. I want to be able to judge your writing style. Questions, see me."

He went back to his desk, where Buffy and her friends were gathered in the corner, and Spike stood, smirking too. "Ms. Summers, is there a problem?" he asked as he sat.

Buffy looked at him, and once again had to fight off an onslaught of lust for the man. "Not at all, Mr. O'Connor, sir."

"Good. Why don't you get started on your essay? I'm sure it'll be an interesting read." For the benefit of the students, and not because he really wanted to, he smiled pleasantly at her. He wanted to shove her against the wall and kiss her senseless.

Buffy studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Oh, I'm starting to think it will be too."

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Friday night, Angel, Spike, and Drusilla sat in the graveyard, sitting on blankets, resting against headstones. Spread about them were several stacks of papers, most of them from Angel's English class. Drusilla was reading one stack, Spike another, and Angel was reading the stack with the papers from Buffy and her friends. Not really surprising, but they were the only ones who'd said they believed. And from the way the papers were written, it was clear that the experiences mentioned had really happened.

Buffy's was the most detailed, and to Angel, the most horribly real.

Her story told the tale of being a sixteen year old suddenly burdened with the responsibilities of saving the world from hell. It told of finding out that her school was built right over the mouth of hell, and directly under her favorite hangout was the weakest point. It told of dying at sixteen, and being revived by her best friend, who'd only found her because the other tunnel he could have gone through had a rat in it. It told of watching one of her friends suffer because one of their friends died. It told of seeing the girl who was supposed to replace her in life suddenly being there, then dying, and her being replaced by yet another. It told of having her mother kick her out because she thought she was in some kind of crazy cult. It told of seeing her mother held captive by an insane vampire on her eighteenth birthday, and being betrayed by her Watcher. It told of her twentieth birthday being held in a cave by yet another insane vampire, this one who'd tortured her for an hour before hand. Of course, it was edited so that she didn't actually say these things had happened to her, but it was obvious, to Angel at least, that they had.

It reminded Angel of his life, in almost five years instead of the eight that he'd had. Minus the torture. When he'd been tortured, something that had happened coincidentally on his twentieth, it hadn't been as bad as it could have been, because Spike and Dru had found him.

Before he could ponder Buffy's paper any further, a vamp began crawling out of it's grave. Sighing, Angel set the paper aside and grabbed a stake.

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After only a short and easy fight, Angel sat back down again, wiping the dust off of him. "Hey Dru, read this." He handed Buffy's paper to the woman who sat next to him. Dru sighed and took it, leaning against Spike as she read it. After a while, she handed it to Spike, frowning. Spike read it, and then looked up. "Sounds tough," he said somberly.

"Yeah," Angel agreed, frowning. "It does."

"It also sounds like your life." Dru said after another moment. "I mean, you were called… when you were sixteen, right? And then your mum died, and then your father. And then there was the whole mess with your ex, and Darla."

Angel grimaced. He tried not to think of Julia and the deception Darla had gotten both Julia and him to fall for.

Spike saw the grimace and forced a grin on his face. "Hey, you survived, and you're a better man for it."

Dru nodded. "And I'm sure she's better off for it too."

Angel sighed and began gathering up the things needed to patrol. "I'm gonna check out the other side of the cemetery. Stay here and be careful."

Dru held up her cross. "Always Angel."

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It was an accident, really. She hadn't meant for him to find her, and especially not this close to his friends. But somehow, she just hadn't moved fast enough.

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Angel entered the crypt once more, looking around quickly. He could have sworn he'd heard noises coming from this direction… Then he saw her. She sat in the back corner of the crypt, frowning at the book in her lap. She didn't look up as he entered. He leaned against the pillar next to her, peering at the book. "The human psyche, hmm?"

Buffy stayed perfectly still, despite the fact that she hadn't heard him come in. "Uh-huh. We're exploring the average person's psyche. We don't get to study people with your psyche at all." Angel raised an eyebrow at the insult. "And what is my psyche?" She looked up and their gazes met. They were both still for a long moment.

Then he raised his hand to push hair out of her face. Her eyes met his again, startled and confused. "What are you doing?" she asked breathlessly as his other hand gently touched the other side of her face. She drew an unsteady breath finally, as he traced her jawline with the tip of his fingers.

"Damned if I know," he murmured softly, honestly having no idea.

Except that he liked it.

Then she closed her eyes, and they were kissing, lost in a world that neither was ready to admit they wanted, and possibly never would.

But it didn't really matter.

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Almost a half hour later, Angel returned to the gravesites that his friend's were camped out on. "Where have you been?" Drusilla demanded when he returned. "God, I was worried!"

Angel looked at her, but didn't really notice her. "Vamps," he said blandly. *And a make out session with Buffy.* Who'd run off once she'd realized what they'd been doing.

Spike eyed him curiously. "A vamp that wears pink lipstick and gets it on your face?"

Angel shrugged. "She was trying to distract me."

"Did a good job, didn't she."

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Buffy ran down the paths in the cemetery, running towards the safety of her dorm room with Willow. She was at the door when she finally realized what she'd been doing just shortly before. She stopped cold. She'd been kissing him. Kissing her teacher! Although,that part really didn't bother her. He was only a few years older than her, and she'd met him before he was her teacher. But shedidn't know him. She knew his name, she knew two friends, and he was a foreigner. She knew he was incredibly strong, but that was it! For all she knew, he was a demon of some kind, and was just gonna kill her.

She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her. Just thinking of the man… "Get a hold of yourself, Buffy," she murmured, opening the door to her dorm room. There was no way it would go beyond what it already was. And it wasn't anything, she amended. It was just… She sighed. She didn't know what it was.

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Saturday took forever to pass. Angel spent the day training, grading papers, and trying to keep himself from thinking about the beautiful girl who was the Slayer.

And his student. Even if she was just three years younger than him. Angel couldn't decide if the fact that he'd graduated so early was a blessing or a curse. He'd be able to look at these students with eyes of someone their age, but a job of someone who really couldn't do that. Even Buffy Summers. Even if she had a nighttime job like him too. Even if every time he closed his eyes he saw her face, looking at him with that innocence of hers, that made him want to die.

*Damn it*, Angel, he thought. *Chill out.*

Sighing, Angel punched the bag hard, then again and again. Hedidn't even notice when his knuckles began bleeding, and the bag became spotted with blood.

And when he finally did, he just sighed, not really caring.

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That night, Buffy patrolled the outer cemeteries. It was an area she patrolled only when she needed time to think. It was a populated vamp area, and gave her something to beat up. After all, when she needed to think, it was normally because she was pissed. Tonight was the exception. She just wanted to think, and she knew it wasn't likely she'd run into Angel out here.

Angel…

A sore topic with her lately. Since they'd kissed the previous night, he'd been on her mind nonstop. Well, he'd been on her mind before that, but this… this was different. Before the kiss, she'd only thought about him once every other minute. Now, it was nonstop.

But there was a damn good reason for it. The man had lips that were made for kissing. A face that was worthy of his name. A body that was made for… whoa. Buffy shook her head a little. She wasn't even gonna think about his body. But it was very nice. That much she knew from their fight a week ago.

A week ago. Wow. It seemed like he'd been there for much longer.

But it hadn't.

And she still didn't know anything else about him, except for a few little things she'd picked up in class. And that pretty much consisted of him hating kids who slept in his class. He and Xander were not on good terms thus far.

She also knew that he was a very good teacher, and her grades, as much as she hated to admit it, already showed improvement over what they'd been when the previous teacher had been killed two weeks ago.

But she'd never tell him that.

"Slayer…"

Buffy sighed, turning to face the vamp who'd interrupted her thoughts. She winced a little and corrected herself. Vamps. Plural. A quick count told her there were five. Great. That meant it wouldn't be easy. "Yeah, yeah, that's me. Who's first?"

The vamp that stood towards the front smirked and pointed behind her. "They are."

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Angel didn't know why he'd gone this way to patrol. He'd never even been on this side of town, except when he'd been driving in. But, he needed to check it out anyway, find out what the vamp situation was.

Gazing at the cemetery that he walked through, he was almost convinced he should turn around. There'd been no action that night, and quite frankly, he was bored. In London, there had been demon action regularly, and in Galway, Ireland, where he had spent his summers, there was usually a gathering of vamps regularly, vamps that liked feasting upon the drunken human populous. Although, the nights there weren't, there was usually a girl who was willing to liven things up a bit…

He sighed a little, thinking of one of his past girlfriends, the one who'd taken his mind off of Darla and Julia.

But then his thoughts went back to Buffy. He muttered a curse once he realized this. It seemed so natural to think of her, that it took him a while to realize he was doing it. Damn it! He'd neverbeen like this before. Never wanted a woman so bad, never thought about a woman as much or as often or as fondly, for that matter. Usually, he just used the woman for sex, and she did the same with him. But this girl… this Slayer… she was different.

And in a way, it scared him.

Then he heard a short scream, and all thoughts of Buffy left him as he ran to help.

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Faith was patrolling in the bad end of town as well. She usually did this end unless Buffy asked her to switch. Tonight, Faith knew Buffy was on this end of town, but she planned on meeting up with the other Slayer so they could have a talk about the hottie guy who was B's teacher, and what they were going to do about him. And what Faith wanted to do to him if she got the chance. She smiled faintly, remembering the feel of his muscles. She'd got a good grope in when she and B had been fighting with him Sunday night.

Then she heard the scream coming from the cemetery she'd just walked past. Faith swore loudly and turned around, running towards it, all thoughts, or most anyway, of Angel out of her mind.

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Angel got there just in time to see Buffy shoved against the wall of a huge monument, and a vamp start going at her neck. Swearing once more, he grabbed a stake, running at the vamps. He staked one that stood watching the spectacle, and kicked another one into the one holding Buffy. The remaining vamps growled at him, and started to attack them. But with the motivation of Buffy's life being at risk, the vamps had no chance.

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Faith watched from the shadows as Angel kicked vamp ass, and had to smile. Looked like he had everything under control. She smirked as one of the vamps grabbed him by his shirt, and part of it tore away, revealing a very nice taunt stomach. Yeah, he was a honey. As he finished off the last one, Faith grinned. She knew he was a good guy, she had since the start. This was just further proof. As he looked around again, she smirked and slipped away. She couldn'twait to find out how B ended up.

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Angel glanced around, searching for any more danger, then hurried over to the injured girl on the ground. She was clutching her foot, and holding her neck, trying to stop the bleeding from where the vamp had bit her. "How bad are you hurt?" Angel questioned, kneeling by her.

She stiffened a little as he touched her foot. Not because it hurt, but because of the tingle that shot through her at his touch.

Thankfully, he misunderstood. "Sorry," he murmured, releasing the injured limb.

She met his gaze again, and couldn't look away. And she couldn't breath right.

Angel studied her expression for a long moment, and felt something go through him. And then he kissed her, and all rational thoughts went away. In the back of both their minds, they knew what they were doing, and they knew that they were making a choice. And after this, there was no backing out. Knowing this but not caring, Buffy kissed him back, pulling him closer to her, needing to feel him against her. Needing to touch him, to hold him. Needing to have him.Somehow, they ended up on the ground, and he was slipping her shirt off. She was frantically pulling at the buttons on his shirt, but she stopped when she felt him fumbling with the clasp of her bra. "Angel, wait," she said breathlessly.

He paused, looking at her, staring at her with such lust and need that she wanted to die. "I've… I haven't done this before…"

His thoughts cleared. "Buffy…" He didn't know what to say. But then she began kissing him again. He forced her to stop for a moment, though it was the last thing he wanted. But he had to be sure… he couldn't stand it if she regretted it later… "Are you sure?"

Staring into his warm brown eyes, Buffy nodded, her own eyes filling with a desperate look. "Please."

Slowly, gently, he kissed her again. And looked into her eyes. There was no doubt in them. And he kissed her yet again.

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Buffy woke up slowly, and was confused. This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her room. She wasn't wearing pajamas. Hell, she wasn't wearing anything.

She bolted upright in the bed, clutching the sheets around her. It was then that she noticed Angel sitting in the chair by the bed, watching her. She clutched the sheet around her, a little embarrassed, and still very shy. He smiled faintly. "Morning." Somehow last night, they'd made it to the mansion where he lived.Remembering that, she couldn't look at him without blushing. "Yeah." Her voice sounded a little funny, and Buffy decided that it was one of those things she really didn't care to think about. He must have understood she was still feeling shy, because he stood up. "What do you want for breakfast?"

She looked at him, surprised. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Uh, whatever you want then." She looked at him curiously,and he smiled, shrugging. "I learned to cook a long time ago." The perfect man, Buffy mused. She wondered if he cleaned, too. "That's good. I didn't."

"Your clothes are on the chair there." He looked somewhere between amused and embarrassed. "Your shirt's really badly ripped. Go ahead and take something from my closet."

"Oh." Unsure how she should feel about that, or how to respond, especially since she could remember exactly how it got that way, she looked away again.

"I'll be in the kitchen." He told her softly, smiling atthe look on her face. "Follow the noises." He hesitated a moment. "Spike and Dru are here, so…" he trailed off, uncertain what to say beyond that.

She blinked. "Wait, they're in this house?" Her eyes were wide and her cheeks went pink. "Last night too?"

Angel realized what she was thinking, and smiled again. "They're in a room at the other end of the mansion. Very far away."

Buffy looked away again, still a little embarrassed. "You kinda left that part out last night."

He sighed a little, moving to the side of the bed to sit for a moment. "Sorry." Unable to resist the temptation of her slightly swollen lips, Angel kissed her gently. After a moment's hesitation, his comment about Spike and Dru being around still fresh in her mind, she kissed him back. She was still careful to hold the sheet up around her.

"Breakfast." He said out loud when he'd finished, more to keep him from ravishing her than because he was actually hungry.

"Breakfast." She agreed, her eyes still partially closed. She opened them the rest of the way and looked at Angel. "What time is it?"

He pointed to a clock on the wall. Buffy's eyes widened. "Oh my god! I was supposed to check in with Giles last night…"

Angel caught what she meant immediately. He stood up, not really wanting to, but knowing it was the only way to keep from going any further. "I'll go check and see if Spike and Dru are awake," he told her.

She nodded a little, and waited until he'd left to get out of the bed and yank on her clothes. And one of his shirts.

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Willow was at the computer, typing away when Buffy hurried in, still somewhat disheveled. Angel had offered to drive her, but Buffy had declined. She didn't want to risk her friends seeing him. Not when she still didn't know what kind, if any, relationship she had with him. Not when she felt as weird about him as she did. Weird in a good way.

"I am so sorry Willow," Buffy said immediately.

"For what?" Willow asked, not looking up from her computer, but still frowning.

"For not calling…" Buffy looked at her uneasily.

"Faith called and told me you were staying over there." Willow grimaced. "She made it sound as if you were having an orgy with a boatload of hot guys."

"Faith called you."

"Yeah, she didn't tell you?" Willow frowned this time as she finally looked at her friend. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, were you really having an orgy? `Cause that's not your shirt!"

Buffy looked down in surprise. "What? No, I mean, no, I wasn't. We weren't. Ew. No, I ripped my shirt fighting last night."

"Oh. Good. `Cause I was starting to think…" Willow shook her head a little.

Buffy smiled a little nervously, and Willow went back to her computer. What exactly had Faith seen?

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Faith was expecting Buffy to drop by, so she didn't bother to get up from the couch when Buffy knocked. "Come on in, B."

Buffy opened the door, and shut it tight behind her. "Hi."

Faith grinned. "Well? How was it?"

"What?"

Faith's grin got even broader. "Is he good? He use his tongue? Kinks or vanilla?"

Buffy blushed. "Faith, that's not…" she trailed off. "Um, what… what…"

"What did I see?" Faith finished, raising an eyebrow as she shoved a pile of clothes off the couch so Buffy could sit down. The other girl did, but still looked uncomfortable. "Not a lot. I saw Angel beat the crap out of the vamps, then I pretty much stayed around long enough to make sure he wouldn't need help. He's a honey."Buffy smiled a little, very relieved. Thank God. Bad enough that Faith knew what they'd done last night, but if the other Slayer had actually seen some of it… God, that would be awful. Really awful. "Um. Are you, well, planning on telling everyone? Anyone?" Faith raised an eyebrow. "Not unless I'm `spossed to."

"No." Buffy looked away from Faith, at anything but the other girl. "I just don't think anyone needs to know until I get it sorted out myself."

Faith nodded. "That's fine, B. But I'm the first to know."

Buffy chuckled humorlessly. "At the rate I'm goin', you'll know before I do."

Faith laughed. "Oh, and B?"

"Yeah?"

Faith pointed to her neck. "You got a hickey."

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Two weeks passed with much of the same. Each night, Buffy and Angel would wander around the cemeteries, searching for each other, while pretending not to. And each night, they met in the same place, and they made love under the stars, or in one of the nearby crypts. No one but Faith knew about it, and the other Slayer had stayed silent, true to her word.

During class, Angel treated her no different than normal, and Buffy pretty much did the same.

It was only at night, when they were alone, that they allowed each other to show any emotion. But the L-word was never mentioned. Not much else was, either.

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Giles was starting to get worried about his oldest Slayer. She rarely checked in anymore, and was almost always exhausted. According to Willow, she often got home well past four or five in the morning. But on the plus side, she was killing more, and she seemed… happier. Giles sighed. He really shouldn't complain. Butstill. She was making him worry.

Giles glanced at the book on the library table in front of him. He'd been trying for almost three weeks to find out what Angel was. He'd had no luck. He was almost to the point of calling on the Council.

Not that he wanted to, but this was bloody well important. A man who could defeat the Slayer? A possible catastrophe, just waiting to happen.

Next to him, Jenny looked up from the computer, rolling her eyes as he stood up and began pacing as he read. He was a cute guy for a librarian, and she loved him to death, but he could be a little too intense sometimes.

"Rupert Giles."

Giles looked up and nearly dropped the book. He closed it and set it down. "Quentin. Collins. Smith. Weatherby." The four men stood in the doorway to the library, all looking dangerous. Which they were. Three of them were special agents sent out by the council in emergency situations. The other one, Quentin Travers, was used as Giles' main contact on the council.

Quentin and the others stepped further into the library. "I believe we have a problem, Rupert." He completely ignored Jenny.

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On the other side of town, in one of the cleaner and nicer crypts, Buffy and Angel were getting their clothes on. Buffy was still shy about it, so she dressed quickly, in silence. Even so, when she'd finished, Angel was already done. Silently, they walked out of the crypt, and down the paths that took them towards the high school, where Buffy would leave him. "I talked to Giles today," she sighed, looking down at her hands.

Angel looked at her curiously. She did that every day, didn't she? He stayed silent, knowing it must have been something somewhat important. Buffy sighed again, continuing. "I just realized, he has no idea that you're not one of the bad guys."

Angel frowned this time. "Right. No one really does." They hadn't even mentioned any of this since their second time together. In all honesty, he hadn't really thought about it. His friends weren't the ones he told everything to, and they didn't tell him.

"No, except Faith."

Angel nodded a little. "What do you want to tell them?"

Buffy looked away. "I was kinda hoping you could go with me, tomorrow night maybe? And help me explain what you are." She looked at him quickly. "Which, by the way, I still don't know."She frowned at that. She knew the details about how he liked his sex, but she still didn't know his middle name or what the hell he was.

He didn't comment.

She sighed once more. "In case you didn't catch that, it was a hint for you to spill."

Angel sighed. "Tomorrow night? In the library?"

A little disappointed, Buffy nodded. "Yeah. I'll have the gang meet there, and you can tell them everything."

Angel stopped walking and touched her arm. She stopped, and they faced each other, close together, but far apart. Like always. "Buffy," he said quietly.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then shrugged him off. She started walking towards the school again. "Buffy." He said again, catching up with her easily. She didn't look at him. "What? Am I doing something wrong? Should I not go tomorrow?"

"No, it's not that." She turned, looking at him again,suddenly frustrated by everything. "It's just… I don't know you. I've been having sex with you for two weeks, but my god, I don't know who the hell you are. I don't know anything about you, I don't even know what you are." She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "I don't know your middle name, but I know you wake up early in the morning, before dawn, and you can cook breakfast. I don't even know how old you are or when your birthday is, but I know you're living in a huge mansion with two friends, and…" she trailed off, turning away from him. "My god, I know which side of the bed you like sleeping on, but I don't even know what your house looks like in the daylight, and why you decided to become a teacher."

"Is that what you want to know?" he asked, a little sharper than he'd wanted to.

"Yes! I want to know the little details of your life, I want toknow about whatever you are, I want you to ask what I am, and I want to know you." She looked at him, and he saw the desperateness in her eyes. "And I'm sorry, but yeah, I want a relationship that's more than sex."

"Fine. You want to know more, I'll tell you more." Hegrabbed her not so gently by the arm and they went over to a bench. "I'm William Christopher O'Connor. I go by Angel. I was born on May 14th, 1977, and I'm twenty-three years old. I have no siblings. My mother died when I was a baby, and my father died when I was eighteen, of a vampire attack. I hated him, so I really didn't care, and quite frankly, still don't. When I was sixteen, I was approached by a woman, Darla, who told me I was the Demon Hunter. She died. I moved here with Spike and Drusilla, who I've known since I was a child. I was born in London, but I spent most of my time growing up in Galway Ireland." He looked at her, a hint of anger in his eyes. "You want to know more. Fine. I hate kids. I can't handle them, and they always annoy me. I hate crossbows. I shot myself in the foot with one when I was sixteen, and I ended up in the hospital. On my twentieth birthday, I was tortured for a while as well. My eighteenth birthday, I got the wonderful Cruciamentum test. Only my Watcher gave me the test, then turned evil. I ended up in a huge fight with her, and she's in some kind of Watcher prison, now. I teach because I want to, because I need something to do to keep me from going crazy thinking about what's really out there, and the role I play in all that."

"Angel, I didn't mean…" Buffy sighed, closing her eyes. "You know what? I don't know what I meant. I just know, I can't stand having a relationship like whatever it is that we have." She opened her eyes again. "What the hell are we doing?"

He just looked at her, hurt and anger in his eyes. She sighed, standing and turning away from him. "What the hell am I doing?" She added, not really meaning for him to hear.

He did though. He stood up, standing behind her, gently touching her shoulder. "What do you want from me?" He wasn't being sarcastic or angry. He truly didn't know what she wanted… but he did know what he wanted from her. More. And it scared him that he knew this, that he felt this way about a woman. He didn't want to keep hiding their relationship. He didn't want to bother trying to hide what he was.

"I don't know what I want." Buffy said miserably. She turned, facing him. "I just… I just want…" she sighed again, looking away. "More than sex, for starters."

Still unsure, he raised his hand, gently pushing the loose strands of hair back from her face. "Good." She looked up, startled. "I want more than sex too." He smiled faintly as she stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Oh." She looked away for a moment, then back at him.

"I… uh… um… okay. That means what exactly?"

"I'm not sure. But I'd guess that means that we start over." Angel said quietly. "I take you to dinner early tomorrow, then we go to the library and talk to your friends. We go dancing, or to the movies, or whatever."

"Do we tell?" Buffy really didn't know about this part.

"Do you want to?"

"I've wanted to since day one." Buffy said as she gazed up at him.

Angel nodded. "Me too."

"But…" Buffy looked away again, then back at him. "I don't know if it's a good idea."

To her surprise, Angel nodded. "I have to agree. Beyond the fact that half your friends don't like me, I am a teacher at the college, your teacher at that. And God only knows what would happen if someone saw us…"

She nodded a little. "So we wait? And who doesn't like you?"

"We wait. Xander doesn't, for starters."

She nodded. "Don't worry about Xander. He doesn't likeany other guys who might take some attention from him." Angel got another faint smirk on his face, then pulled her to him, and they kissed.

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The next night didn't go as planned, not quite. It started out bad when Angel came by Buffy's dorm to tell her that he couldn't make their dinner for the night, because of some stupid meeting he was supposed to attend for school. But he would be free a little bit earlier than they'd planned to meet everyone in the library. Buffy had told him she'd try to meet him before the library.

As it happened though, Buffy didn't get to meet him until five minutes before they were supposed to meet the gang.

Angel was waiting in his classroom for her, knee deep in a pile of papers he was grading. He didn't look up as she came in, but he did motion towards her with his hand. After scribbling something down on the paper, he looked up. "Hi."

"Hi. How was your meeting?"

Angel raised an eyebrow as he set the paper down. "Considering I spent the whole time thinking about you, I'd say it was pointless."

She smiled slightly as he stood up, capping the pen and gathering his papers and putting them in a folder. He went over to her and kissed her, a soft greeting that made her want to melt. Of course, all of his kisses did.

When they'd finished, they walked out of the class, and down the long halls that lead them to the library. Outside the door, they let go of each other's hands, and Buffy pushed open the doors, Angel following her in.

Everyone looked up from the table. Faith grinned. "Hey B. What's up?"

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Buffy laid in bed that night, staring at the ceiling in her bedroom, lost in thoughts about what Angel had said.

No one had been surprised to see them there, and Giles had been surprisingly nice to Angel, even inviting him to sit, and offering him coffee. Angel had refused, but appreciated the offer. Then he'd set about to tell about the Demon Hunter.

It was a tradition older than that of the Slayer, and traditionally, much more of a secret. They served the same Council, and it was the same type of setup. Angel was an interesting case. He was the only one, similar to Buffy, who had friends to assist him. He was the only one that had gone without a Watcher for so long. He hadn't had a Watcher for four years, since Darla had died. He was the only Hunter who'd lived to be over twenty-two. Officially, the Hunter was supposed to go after demons, but the vampires seemed to be more popular targets, due to their availability.

Angel had quit the Council. After Darla, the next Watcher had shown up, expecting to find him waiting frantically for guidance. Angel had already left for Galway again. Somehow, Angel had avoided the new woman for six months, until she finally caught up with him on his twentieth birthday. At the same time, she was killed, after knowing Angel for twenty minutes, and Angel was tortured for a while until Spike and Dru showed up and managed to rescue him.

There was one big difference between Buffy and Angel's situations, besides their sexes and official titles. While Buffy often fought alongside her friends, Angel rarely fought with Spike and Dru. Usually, they accompanied him on patrol, but it was only a rare time when they fought. They usually helped research things. Buffy sighed as she rolled over in bed. She really didn't know what to think about all this. So much had happened, and just over the last two days. It was… confusing. And hard to think about.

She sighed once more. She'd think about it in the morning.

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As it turned out, she couldn't think about it the next morning. Or during the school day. She was loaded down with homework that she'd neglected to do, in favor of seeing Angel. So she went to the library early Monday morning and started doing that. In all of her morning classes, she had to take notes, and she had no time to think about their relationship. Then she had to meet Willow for lunch, and since Buffy's relationship with Angel was supposed to be a secret, she couldn't exactly think about it then, either.

After lunch, she had her history class, with Angel. She didn't get to think at all, then. She did make arrangements with him to meet that night in their crypt, but nothing else got accomplished. Her next class she had a test, and after that, Xander showed up to visit. Then Buffy had fallen asleep, exhausted from her day. She was late meeting Angel.

It sucked.

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The week past by quickly, and without giving Buffy a lot of time to think. She ended up staying up even later than she usually did on Friday night to ponder the situation.

It was a clear night, the sky lit up only a little by the quarter moon. No one was out walking at this time of night, or more accurately, morning. It was the perfect time to think.

Earlier that night, Buffy had met Angel in their crypt, and he'd given her a dozen roses, confessing that it had felt rather odd to carry a bunch of roses and a picnic basket into a graveyard in the middle of the night, but she was worth it. She played with one of the roses now, twirling it between her fingers as she thought.

She loved him. Not just some silly schoolgirl crush, but true, and deep, and scary love. She'd realized that. It was freaking her out. Especially when she considered the cold and brutal facts. First of all, they were totally different people. Night and day.

He was a Hunter, which was good, seeing as she was the Slayer.

He was quiet and more reserved, and she liked having attention, good attention anyway.

He was a teacher. She was a student. And Buffy wasn't even sure if it was legal for them to date.

He was a very solitary person, and she definitely wasn't.

She was in love with him. And Angel… well, it depressed her when she just thought about it.

But she was most definitely in love with him. She'd never been surer of anything.

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Saturday, Buffy knew that Angel was at a meeting of some kind, in LA, all day. So she had to wait until Sunday to go see him again. They'd made plans to study, not definite plans, but ones she wanted to keep. Humming softly, Buffy entered the mansion, going towards Angel's office, where she knew he was most likely at. So intent on going there, she almost didn't see him in the front room.

She smiled a little, and started towards him. She stopped when she saw another woman, this one a tall blond, almost as tall as Angel. She was beautiful, Buffy realized, frowning.

"I missed you," the woman said, sighing. "So I had to come here."

Angel crossed his arms, tilting his head a little. He didn't even notice Buffy, who ducked back behind the door, hiding.

The woman crossed the room suddenly, taking his hand.

"Julia," he sighed, looking away from her, then back into her eyes. They were a plain blue, and nothing like the eyes he wanted to see.

"Oh god, Angel," Julia sighed, burying her head in his chest. "I tried to get over you, but I can't. I love you too much to just forget about what we had."

"Jules. You know that I do…" She held her hands up, one finger resting on his mouth. Angel started again, but then she kissed him, holding him close to her.

Behind them, Buffy felt ill. Not able to stand seeing more, she silently hurried away from him, away from the girl who'd just kissed him. Away from the one man who'd hurt her worse than any other.

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Angel pushed Julia back away from him, angry. "Julia, stop."

"Angel, we-"

Angel shut her up with one look. "Julia. Enough. I'm sorry. I love you, but not like that anymore." She stared at him, hurt etched on her face. "And I'm sorry, but you were right when webroke up. We just aren't meant to be."

"There's someone else," Julia breathed, horrified. "You actually fell in love with someone else." Angel didn't deny it.

Julia raised her hands to her mouth, covering it in shock. "Does she know? Does she know that she'll spend nights waiting for you to come home, and knowing that one night you won't? Does she?! Does she care?! Is she after your money?" Angel just looked at her.

Julia shook her head. "You… I can't believe you would do this. You're endangering another person's life, just because… is she a good lay?"

Julia was angry again, and her voice showed it. "Do you enjoy screwing her?"

"Enough." Angel said sharply. He could understand she was upset, but Julia… Julia was beyond that. She was going too far. "Julia, it's none of your business."

"Guess what, it is!" Julia whirled around, looking away from him, then at him again. "I'm your bloody Watcher, Angel. The new one. And by order of the council, you know you are not allowed to have a girlfriend. And if you think I'll keep quiet about it this time, then I'll-"

"You'll what?" Angel sneered. "Tell on me? You really think I give a damn about that?!" He swept past her, grabbing his duster from the chair near the door. "Get out Julia. Go tell the Council to screw themselves, and have fun doing it." He pulled the duster on as he walked.

Julia ran after him. "You can't just abandon the council, Angel. You can't!"

Angel stopped walking, and grabbed her by the wrist. "I can."

"Angel, what do you expect me to tell Quentin and the rest of the bloody council? They'll kill me!"

Angel turned around again, angrily. "They won't kill you, they have no reason to do it. You're human."

"Damn it Angel! They will. The only reason they picked me to be your Watcher was because they could blackmail me into doing it! They said they'd kill me, and my family! Including Jeremy!"

Angel looked at her. She scowled at him. "That's right, Angel. They'll kill my little six year old brother if I don't get you to listen to them."

Angel looked at her for a long moment, remembering the little boy who had looked up to him. And remembering the way the Council truly hated Julia, for convincing him he didn't need to follow the rules.

And from the look on her face, he knew she wasn't joking.

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The next day, Monday, Buffy wasn't in class. Julia sat in the back row of Angel's class, observing as Angel paced around the room,his normally casual attitude replaced by a gruff and angry one. Everyone noticed it. The class was unusually quiet, and no one tried to offend their teacher, who had nearly taken off someone's head already for something inconsequential. Even the other teacher, who everyone called Spike at his insistence, had looked unhappy. He'd left the classroom when the students began arriving, and he looked furious about something.

The only ones who had noticed there was something else weird going on were those that were friends with Buffy, and saw Julia sitting in her seat.

That pissed Angel off for reasons he didn't even want to think of. Number one, he didn't like Julia sitting in his class, much less his lover's chair. Number two, Buffy had never shown up the previous day. For that part, he was almost thankful. He didn't want her to meet Julia, at all. But now he knew she'd have to. The last reason was simply because he was pissed for every other reason you could imagine as well.

Furious, he scribbled the last of the notes on the board. "Any questions, see me tomorrow."

The room was still silent as he stormed back into his office to spend the last few minutes of the class.

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Everyone was at class. Buffy was alone, only because she'd convinced Willow she was sick. And she was. She'd never felt so miserable in her life. He'd been kissing the girl. His ex-girlfriend. Julia.

Buffy couldn't help but grimace when she even thought the name. It was an ugly, stupid name. Julia. Juliia O'Connor. That would be even worse. Buffy O'Connor on the other hand, sounded nice, and cool. Buffy blinked suddenly. Where had that thought come from?

Angel had kissed her. He had kissed another woman. How could he do that to her? Fighting back a bitter sob, Buffy pulled the pillow closer to her, hating herself for her weakness. It shouldn't matter. She'd known he didn't even love her, so she should have been used to the idea.

But she wasn't. And it hurt.

The phone rang then, and Buffy glanced at the clock next to it. She sighed and took a long breath before answering. It was Willow, wanting to make sure she was feeling okay. Buffy hesitated, then said she was feeling better. Of course, then Willow wanted her to go to lunch with the rest of the Scooby gang, and there was no way to back out…

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Julia walked towards the café in the center of the campus, and smiled a little when she saw a familiar face. She walked over to the table where the girl she'd sat next to in Angel's class, Willow, sat with a few friends. "Hi Willow," Julia said pleasantly.

"Oh," Willow said, surprised to see the woman. "Hi Julia." She glanced at the gang, who included Xander, Cordelia, Oz, and Giles. "This is Julia, one of Angel's friends. Julia, this is Giles, Cordelia, Xander, and Oz." She looked up, behind Julia. "Oh, and this is Buffy."

Buffy looked up as she heard her name. She immediately regretted it when she saw the woman who stood in front of her.

Julia turned and held her hand out to Buffy. Buffy took it after a long moment. She was deathly pale.

The gang noticed. "Hey Buff, you don't look so good," Xander said, standing up.

She shrugged a little. "I'm fine."

Julia frowned. "No, your friend is right, you look really sick,"

Buffy stiffened a little, not noticeably, but some. "I'm fine. Really."

Julia nodded a little, sensing the girl's uncomfortable state, and recognizing that it was because of her. She hid a frown, and looked at Willow. "Do you know where Angel went? He disappeared after class,"

Buffy tried not to show her feelings on the subject, but it was hard. Willow remained oblivious, and shook her head. "No, I haven't, not since class."

"He was in a rare mood there, wasn't he?" Julia murmured. "He hasn't had a temper like that for a long time."

"You know him?" Xander questioned, surprised. "I thought you were just some kind of evaluator or something."

Julia shook her head, smiling. "No, no, we go way back. We're close." She didn't know why she'd had the urge to add that last part, but she had.

"Oh, so you're his girlfriend," Xander guessed, nodding a little.

Buffy tried not to do anything that would give her heartbreak away when Julia shrugged a little. Oh god…

"Oh, there's Angel," Willow said, pointing behind Julia and Buffy.

Every one turned, and saw him walking towards him, his face blank. Distantly, Buffy wondered if he knew that she knew about him and Julia. "Hi Angel." Willow said cheerfully, hoping he was in a better mood than before.

He had been when he'd seen Buffy, until he'd realized that Julia was standing next to her. Then he'd gotten irrationally pissed at Julia. Not that she could help it. She couldn't know that he was sleeping with the girl she was standing next to.

"Hi." Xander said, smiling tightly.

Angel nodded a little, the only sign he'd heard the boy. "Julia. Can I talk to you for a moment." It wasn't a question. She nodded, and followed him away from the table, out of earshot of the others.

By the time he'd finished telling her where she could stay and they'd returned to the table, Buffy was gone.

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Something was seriously wrong with Angel, Drusilla decided as she walked through the house. He'd been too tense lately. She realized that it was hard to have an ex around, but there was something beyond that wrong with him.

Moving as silently as she always did, Dru made her way down towards Angel's office room, where he'd been since he'd gotten back from the campus. The door was partially opened, and taking a deep breath for courage, Dru pushed it open.

Angel sat with his back to the door, staring out the window at the setting sun. Dru moved quietly over behind him, and saw one of his sketchpads on his lap. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the picture on the top page. A picture of Buffy, drawn with such detail that it was obvious he knew her well. The smile on Buffy's face was the kind that you gave a lover… not a fellow vampire hunter. Next to Angel, on the table, was another sketchbook, the one no one ever got to see. His best sketches were in there. It was open on the table.

There was another picture of Buffy, this time as she slept, a slight smile on her face, and sheets twisted around her body.

He's in love with her, Drusilla realized, stunned.

Angel turned, and Dru realized with a start that she must have spoken out loud. He slammed the notebooks shut. "What do you want?" he demanded, sounding more tired than anything.

Dru couldn't work her mouth as she saw her long time friend's face.

He looked utterly miserable.

Angel saw Drusilla looking at him, and leaned back in his chair.

That secret was out now.

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Spike sighed when he saw the man he thought of as his brother sitting in the kitchen, eating something. Spike sighed when he saw the mess. Angel was an awesome cook, but was by no means good at cleaning up after himself. And Dru usually let him get away with it because he cooked so well. Which left Spike to do the clean up. Not to mention, it was probably bad when Angel was cooking at… Spike glanced at a clock. Ten o'clock at night, it wasn't a good thing.

Dru looked up as he entered the kitchen. He automatically went to her, and he kissed her quickly, then sat down, grabbing a plate from the stack, and piling it with the food, which happened to be breakfast foods. "What did I miss?"

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The next night, everyone had been called to the library, plans to meet at eight o'clock. During her English class, Angel handed her a note that asked her to get there a little early so they could talk.

She agreed. This would be the time to break up with him. Especially after Willow had informed her of the part of the conversation she'd missed with Julia.

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Angel was waiting outside of the school at seven o'clock. He was trying to think of how to tell her…

But he'd never told anyone he'd loved them before.

So it was kinda difficult to plan.

So he sat, leaning against a tree, trying to figure out what to say.

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Julia hurried towards the school, wanting to get there before the rest of them. She knew that Angel had no intention to let the rest of the group he'd told her about know that he now had a Watcher, but she was going to make him change his mind, and that meant letting it slip to as many people as she could first. She was in such a hurry, she almost didn't see Buffy, who stood at the edge of the lawn, staring at something near the school. Julia followed her gaze, and was surprised to see Angel sitting outside of the school, holding a book of some kind, but not reading it. She looked at Buffy again, and realized that she recognized the look in the younger girl's eyes. Love. Hurt. Pain.

Julia stopped cold. Suddenly, everything made sense. Buffy. She was the one that Angel had been messing around with. She was the one that was keeping Angel away from Julia, his true love.

Suddenly getting a cold shiver, Julia began walking, this time a little faster, a little bit more urgent. She had to get rid of Buffy. The best way to do that at the moment?

Jealousy.

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Buffy had just started to move towards Angel when she noticed Julia walking ahead of her, also towards Angel. Buffy stopped, unable to move forward.

Angel looked up and saw Julia, and Buffy saw him close his book. She didn't notice the disappointment on his face that appeared when he realized it wasn't her.

All Buffy saw was her lover rising to greet Julia, with what from her angle looked to be a quick kiss.

Buffy turned away, and hurried towards the school. She'd come back in a while.

When her lover wasn't busy with his lover.

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Angel smiled tightly at Julia as he quickly walked over to her, looking around for Buffy. "Why are you here?"

"I want to meet this Slayer of yours," Julia explained, observing the flash of something in his eyes at her words. "And the rest of the group."

Angel sighed. "You've already met one of them."

Julia was surprised. She'd thought all of the girls Angel had introduced her to had been a little… petite to be a Slayer, if she understood Angel's description of the job, anyway.

"Who?"

"Buffy Summers. The blond you met at lunch. She's the older one."

Everything clicked with Julia, and she had to fight back a grimace. Great. She was trying to steal Angel from a girl who could easily kick her ass. "What's she like?"

Angel shrugged, distantly uncomfortable discussing his current girlfriend with his ex. Especially when, in all honesty, he cared more about the current woman, who he'd known for three weeks, than he'd ever cared for Julia. "She's a normal girl, I guess," Angel said vaguely. "But she has extra strength."

"You think she's pretty?" Julia questioned, trying to keep her tone light.

Angel raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Why?"

"Just curious," Julia lied. She sat down on the edge of the bench. "Why are you here so early? You said the meeting was at eight."

Angel nodded a little, grateful for the change of topic. "I'm meeting someone."

"Girlfriend?"

"Julia, enough," Angel said, sighing as he looked at her. She'd never been this nice, even before they'd dated, when he'd talked about other women. Of course, he'd quickly learned not to do that, or she got all jealous. That got old fast. "What are you doing?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Julia looked away for a moment, debating what to say. She sighed finally, looking at him with tears in her eyes. "Angel. I still… I still love you. I never stopped. I don't want there to be another woman, I want to be the one."

Angel sighed, a long tired sigh. "Jules, I'm sorry. I don't feel that way. I stopped feeling that way a long time before we broke up." Or more accurately, she broke up with me. "I'm sorry."

Julia looked down at her lap. "Angel I love you." Idly, she wondered if it was wrong to lie about things like that. Especially when her entire goal was to screw up his relationship with Buffy, so that he'd be miserable and alone. Like she was. "You can't just… abandon me like this."

"Jules, you broke up with me, remember?" Angel looked at her patiently.

"And then you went off and bloody well screwed every woman in England." Julia looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Damn it Angel, at least pretend you cared for me. I'm sorry I can't just go off and sleep with a bunch of other men and get over you as well as you apparently got over me by sleeping with some other women."

"That's enough, Julia."

"No it isn't, Angel," Julia said sharply. "But we'll talk about it later. I just…" she stood up, starting to walk away. "I love you!"

The last part was said loudly. Julia wanted to make sure everyone heard her.

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Buffy heard her, then saw Angel staring after Julia. It nearly broke her heart. It would have, if that organ wasn't already broken.

She started walking towards him. He turned, and smiled faintly when he saw her. He walked towards her, meeting her halfway. She stayed back, away from him. He looked faintly confused when she stepped back away from him. "Buff, what's wrong?"

"I think we need to break up," she said bluntly.

He blinked once. Twice. He nodded slowly. "Any particular reason?" If she heard the odd note in his voice, she made no mention of it.

She shrugged. She'd already decided she wouldn't let on that she knew his little secret. "I just don't think this is working right. Between us, I mean."

Angel stared at her, trying to hide his hurt. He was good at hiding his feelings. His face was blank. "Yeah."

Buffy looked at him, and tried not to cry out and run at him. How could he take this so easily? It wasn't right!

"So."

"So." Angel studied her with dull eyes. *That's it.We're over. I love her, and we're over.* "Why?"

*Because of your girlfriend, who you were kissing and saying I love yous to!* "I told you." She said quietly. "It just isn't working right."

Angel nodded a little. They stared at each other in silence for a while. "Buffy-"

"Hey Buffy, Angel," Willow said cheerfully as she, Oz, Xander, Cordy, and Faith approached them.

Buffy looked at them, smiling tightly. "Hi." She looked at her friends, then looked at Angel. "Thanks."

He nodded.

"You coming inside?" Willow questioned.

"Give me a minute."

The rest of the group nodded and they started towards the library. Angel waited until they were out of sight, then sat down on the bench, wondering what the hell he'd done wrong to screw up everything with Buffy. And wondering why it had to hurt so badly.

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By the time everyone arrived, the library was more crowded than it had ever been, at least in Buffy's knowledge. She really didn't care. She was too busy trying to ignore the fact that Angel stood across from her, and Julia stood next to him, and Spike and Dru. She was a part of Angel's group. Buffy wasn't. She wasn't even seeing Angel now. She shouldn't have been jealous.

She was.

Giles stepped out of his office, looking around at all of the faces. He was very serious. Everyone quieted as he moved to the end of the table. "What's up, G-man?" Xander questioned.

Giles looked at him, his expression grim. "I'm afraid there's another prophecy coming up."

The doors to the library opened. The men from the Council stepped in. The reactions were varied. From most of the gang, it was just a varied confusion; no one knew who they were. From Giles and Jenny, it was unhappy acceptance. From Buffy and Faith, who still remembered the Cruciamentum test, it was anger. From Spike and Dru, it was an automatic move to step in front of Angel, so he wouldn't go after them for revenge because of their involvement in his twentieth birthday. Of course, Angel was more concerned with the fact that they'd threatened Julia into being his Watcher. And the fact that they were upsetting Buffy. Even if they were exes.

Quentin glanced around the room and noted with some interest that the two Slayers and the Hunter had spread out. Idly, he wondered if it was planned, or if it was just an instinct thing that they did to protect their little friends.

"Have you told them Rupert?" he questioned, crossing his arms as he looked at his scowling colleague. He noticed that Julia had moved a little closer to Angel.

"What do we get the visit from you for?" Faith questioned, her hands on her hips, her head tilted slightly.

Weatherby looked at her. "There's a prophecy."

"That's what Giles said." Buffy reminded him, annoyed. "And personally, if I'm gonna die again or something, I'd rather hear it from him."

Smith sat on the edge of the table, looking at the book in front of Giles. He grinned a little when Giles shut the book with a loud snap.

"It doesn't predict the death of anyone." Quentin assured her. "However, it does predict something else, something possibly far more disturbing."

"And what's that, Quentin?" Angel questioned, knowing it drove the man nuts when Angel called him by his first name.

Quentin looked at him. "Oddly enough, it involves you and one of the Slayers." Angel kept his face the same: blank and vaguely curious. Buffy had to fight with herself so she wouldn't do something that would bring attention to her. "Oh really?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, we don't know which one, but one of the," Quentin turned, looking at the two women in question. "There's a coming battle. Possibly a life or death battle for the world."

"That's it?" Xander questioned. He sighed when Quentin nodded. "I thought it was gonna be something new."

"I think what Quentin means to say is there's a coming apocalypse." Giles explained.

No one looked excited, except for Julia, who was experiencing her first one as a Watcher.

Buffy sighed. "Okay. So we load up on weapons, Giles and Will, you do spells,"

"I can help with the spells," Drusilla offered.

Buffy nodded. "Drusilla too. The rest of us do the book stuff until we figure out what's going on."

"Actually, Faith and Angel are going on a special mission." Collins informed them.

Angel smiled, looking at him. "Oh? How do you plan on convincing me to go?"

Quentin looked over at Julia. "How's that family of yours?"

Angel's jaw clenched.

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"What's goin' on with you and B?" Faith questioned as they walked along towards Willy's bar.

Angel tensed a little. "We broke up."

Faith stopped walking. "Why?" she demanded, staring at him.

Angel shrugged. "Hell if I know. She didn't exactly explain it to me, just said something about it not working." They started walking again. "I didn't exactly have a chance to find out more."

Faith shook her head a little. "Damn. I thought you two were cute together." She sighed. "I guess you'll be seeing that one chick now. Is she your Watcher?"

"Julia? Yeah, she's my Watcher, but only temporarily. The Council's holding her family under a death threat unless I cooperate. Why would you think I'd be seeing Julia? We broke up a long time ago." Angel looked at her funny.

Faith stopped walking again. "She said you were seeing each other again, at lunch. Well, she didn't say that, but it was implied. And B was standing right next to her."

Angel stopped walking too. "Julia said… Son of a bitch," he breathed, as the idea formed.

"She played you."

"She played me." Angel confirmed, swearing. "Damn it. She must have found out about Buffy and me somehow. So she tried…"

Faith swore as well. "Well. I guess that means we gotta get B to figure this out too. `Cause I know her pretty well, and I know what she said about you."

Angel looked at her, unable to hide his curiosity. Faith grinned. "Well, for starters, she's in love with you."

"Good place to start."

Faith smiled a little. "Yeah, I think so."

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It wasn't until Buffy overheard them talking that they realized it was a lie. And something else was up. Collins, Smith, Weatherby, and Travers sat in Giles' office, and the rest of the group sat around the tables or on the computers. Buffy had just gotten up to get a book from Giles' office when she heard the four men talking softly.

"We need to get the Slayers by themselves," Smith told the gang.

"Yeah. Then we can do the tests on them."

"And Angel? He was a factor we didn't count on. He wasn't supposed to get close to the Slayers." Quentin glanced at the other three men. "Just get in there, do his thing, and leave."

"He won't stay long," Collins said confidently. "His girlfriend's back. Julia will get him out of here. But I don't know how soon. Until then, we'll have to concentrate on getting them with him around."

"Agreed," Travers said, nodding. "Collins, you call the Council and tell them to release the demon at eight o'clock. Weatherby, you provide Rupert with the information."

"And that's the whole big danger, isn't it. You just made all of this up for some reason."

All four Council men turned in surprise when Buffy finally spoke up. She stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips, and her head tilted at an angry angle. "Oh, Giles," she called. "I think we have a problem."

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It had been almost two weeks since the false prophecy was uncovered, and the Watcher's Council had gone home. The tension between Buffy and Angel was thick. No one really understood it though. They all assumed that it was just an argument of some kind. Over that week, Buffy had made a big show of moving on, despite the fact that Angel and Julia were never really around each other. Angel had made it clear throughout the week that he and Julia weren't dating or anything. But the fact remained, in Buffy's mind anyway, that she'd seen Angel and Julia kissing.

Unfortunately for Buffy, Faith was purposely pushing her and Angel together as often as possible, and Giles and the rest of the gang was doing the same, innocently. It was one of those nights when they'd been forced to patrol together when it finally happened.

It had been a quiet night for a Saturday, and they had just finished patrolling near the cemeteries, and they were going towards the Bronze, when a hoard of vampires jumped them.

Buffy grunted as she was knocked to the ground, and rolled over immediately, her legs already kicking the vamps away. Angel had been thrown against a wall, and he was able to turn around and fight.

Taking out the vampires was not as bad as she'd thought it would be, and very quickly, there was only one left. Unfortunately, he was the biggest one, and Angel was on the other side of the alley, having just dusted the last of the rest of them.

The vamp glanced between the two of them. He knew he didn't have a chance in fighting against both of them. He waited until Angel was close behind Buffy then rammed into her, sending her flying back against him, and sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

Angel fell hard against the cement ground, but didn't mind nearly as much when she landed against him. She did. She panicked a little, and struggled to sit up. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her by her arm, causing her to look at him. Then he kissed her, ignoring her protests.

Buffy was in hell. She wanted to kiss him back so badly, but she couldn't do it… they were exes. But it felt so good to be in his arms… Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and pushed him away, jumping up and away from him. "Don't!"

He stayed still on the ground for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Then he stood up, standing tall enough to look down at her. "Why?"

She glared at him. "Don't kiss me. We're exes."

"And that's the part I don't understand," Angel said, sighing. "Buffy, Julia mea-"

"Stop." She snapped. "I don't care about Julia. I don't care about you. All I want is a nice, normal, steady, boyfriend. I don't want you."

Angel felt his anger growing at her words. "Buffy, Julia is just a fr-"

"Don't!" she exclaimed again, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "We're exes. As in, we don't kiss, we preferably avoid each other, and we don't kiss!"

"And what if I don't want that?" he snapped finally.

"Then just leave!" she said, furious and annoyed. "I don't want that. I don't want you around, I don't care."

"You want me to leave?" Angel questioned, furious. He kicked a trashcan over, and it clattered noisily to the ground. "Fine. I'll leave." For good. He threw the lid to a trashcan against the wall and stormed out of the alley, his duster flapping lightly. Buffy just watched, hugging herself and cursing herself.

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Monday morning, he wasn't in the class. There was a new teacher in there. In her other class, the same teacher was there. Spike wasn't. It wasn't until Buffy went to see Giles Monday night that she learned that Angel had truly left. He'd visited Giles early Sunday morning and informed him that he, Spike, and Dru were leaving town for good.

So was Julia.

That night, after she'd found all of this out from Giles, she went out to the mansion he'd lived in with Spike and Dru. A for-sale sign was in the center of the yard. She walked home very quickly, and sank to the ground next to her bed, crying her eyes out.

She'd never hated herself so much before.

She'd never blamed herself for something this bad before.

She missed him already.

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One month later, Buffy figured out what was else wrong with her, besides Angel having left her. The night she made the realization, she went to the library, where she knew Giles would be.

Giles had been in the middle of reading a very long and boring book, so he wasn't really disappointed that he was interrupted. He prepared to give Buffy an annoyed look, just because it was expected.

He stopped when he saw her face. "Buffy, what is it?" he asked, slowly going over to his Slayer as she sat down at one of the tables.

She wouldn't meet his gaze. "I'm pregnant, Giles."

The librarian was sure his heart stopped. He sat down next to her. "Uh. Um… Oh my. Are you, um, certain?" She was what? When did she have a boyfriend? Had he missed that much? No, he knew she hadn't had a boyfriend. Not since at least January…

Buffy laughed harshly as she rested her flushed face against the coolness of the table. "I'm positive. Um. The signs are all there, and I took a test. I… I saw the doctor this morning. She… she confirmed it."

Giles set a hand on her shoulder, silently comforting her, even as he tried to comfort himself. He'd never heard of a Slayer being pregnant. And he'd sure as hell never imagined Buffy getting pregnant… "Um, well." He opened his mouth then closed it again. Then opened it again. "Well. I think I need to know what happened." Buffy nodded a little. Then, to his surprise, tears began falling down her face.

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The next night, Buffy broke the news to her friends and her mother. She didn't mention the father's name, preferring that no one knew she was expecting Angel's child, especially when no one knew they'd even been in a relationship. The reactions varied in everyone, with one common undertone of shock from everyone. Her friends were all a little hurt that Buffy wouldn't tell them who the father was, but when they saw the misery on her face, they decided it was more important to deal with the baby part for the moment. The father could come later. Joyce was the most surprised, and for a while, Buffy figured that her mother would kick her out. But then Joyce pulled Buffy out of the room and the two women exchanged a long hug and a talk. Things weren't quite good between them, but it wasn't as bad as Buffy had expected.

Faith was the only one who looked upset about the news. Buffy knew the moment that she saw Faith's face that the other Slayer wasn't happy with her decision about Angel's involvement and knowledge. Buffy made up her mind to talk to her privately about it.

After they'd pretty much talked the topic dry, they all got together to got to the Bronze, for bonding time. They were halfway there when

Willow stopped walking, putting her hand on Buffy's arm, concern on her face. "Buffy, who's the father?"

Buffy looked away. "It doesn't matter," she said quietly, firmly. "He doesn't know about the baby, and he won't. He's not going to be involved in the baby's life, so it doesn't matter."

They were all quiet for a moment, contemplating this. "You want him to be a part of your life though, don't you?" It was Xander who asked, surprising them all by his observation.

Buffy looked at him, smiling sadly. "I do. Very much. But it doesn't matter. I don't want the father to know, and that's all there is to it."

No one believed her.

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Over the next month and a half, Buffy was always busy. Her mother took her to LA to tell her father, and she ended up staying there a week. When she returned to Sunnydale, the shopping for the baby supplies started, with Cordelia happily assisting. Joyce and Buffy had already decided to move Buffy back into the house, until Buffy could get her own place and handle the baby on her own. After much debate, Buffy agreed.

Giles and Jenny had spent the past days researching anything to do with pregnant Slayers and upcoming prophecies. Faith and the Slayerettes had already been called upon to fight off one apocalypse, and Buffy had been forced to stay home. She didn't like it in the least bit.

It was a Saturday night, and Buffy was three and a half months along. She hadn't started to show yet, and the gang was going to the Bronze. They wanted to do a little bonding of some kind. They had just walked past an alley on the way to the Bronze when Buffy let out a small gasp. Everyone turned just in time to see her collapse on the ground, completely limp. Faith immediately moved to look for the cause of the collapse, but she felt something sting her in the back of her neck. "Damn," she swore, and then sank to the ground, joining her fellow Slayer in a blissful state of unconsciousness. "Buffy! Faith!" Willow looked around frantically, kneeling by her friends. It was then that she saw the darts sticking out of her friends' necks.

The rest of the gang gathered around as well, with Xander and Oz looking around for someone, the one who'd attacked them. And four men, Travers, Collins, Weatherby, and Smith stepped out of the shadows. Weatherby held a gun, aimed at the group in general. Collins held one too.

"What did you do?" Willow demanded, wide-eyed.

"Back off." Smith said calmly. "We won't hurt them. We only want the blond." He frowned slightly. "She's the pregnant one, right?"

"You can't have her." Xander said firmly, stepping in front of the rest of the group.

Not hesitating, Weatherby aimed the weapon at Cordelia. Collins aimed at Willow. "I suggest you back off."

"Bloody hell," Travers murmured, rolling his eyes. "Smith and Collins, get her in the truck."

"Having a party, and you didn't invite me?" The four Council members looked up just in time to see a man dressed in all black jump down on top of them. Weatherby's gun went flying, and it landed somewhere around a huge pile of trash, while the man himself fell on the ground, under the man who'd jumped them. Quentin stumbled back, having received a foot in the face. Smith managed to avoid getting jumped on, but almost immediately got a punch in the face.

Willow's eyes bulged as she finally recognized Angel as the one who rescued them. Before she could even manage a `hello,' he was kicking the other gun out of Collin's hand. Then he kicked the man in the stomach, then Smith got another punch, this time in his stomach, followed by another to his face.

It wasn't long at all before the four men were in a pile against the wall. Angel didn't spare them a second glance. Instead he glanced at the rest of the group and Buffy and Faith, who were still unconscious on the ground. "I… um, hi Angel," Willow finally managed to say.

He nodded at her, but his attention was more on the blond who was sprawled out on the ground. One of the Council men groaned. Angel glanced over at them. "Why'd they attack you?" he questioned immediately.

Willow shrugged. "Beats me. I thought they'd gone back to England." Angel scowled and went over to the pile. He grabbed Travers by the arm and twisted him around so Angel was holding him up. "Why'd you attack?"

Travers just groaned.

"It doesn't matter. Can you help us get Buffy and Faith to the Giles's apartment or someplace?" Willow asked. "I don't know what they got hit with, but they both went down really fast. Too fast."

Angel scowled a little as he saw the darts Willow had in her hand. "Tranquilizers of some kind."

Xander and Oz were lifting up Faith, and between the two of them, they managed to get a good hold on her.

Which left Angel carrying Buffy.

Carefully, he lifted her up, and immediately caught a faint whiff of her vanilla perfume. He shifted her immediately, trying to remind himself that they were exes. Which meant he shouldn't be thinking about her in any way but a friendly sense.

This was already going to be a long night.

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At this time of night, Giles never got visitors. He was just about ready to make Jenny get off her laptop and go upstairs with him when someone knocked on the door. Scowling, he went to the door, opening it only after he looked out the peephole and saw Willow, and someone else behind her. He forced himself to relax, and opened the door.

His eyes widened immediately when he saw Angel standing towards the back. Holding Buffy, who appeared to be completely unconscious. And next to him, Faith was being supported by Oz and Xander, also unconscious. "What the bloody hell happened?"

"We got attacked by those guys on the council." Willow reported as the group entered the place. "They knocked Buffy and Faith out with something, then tried to take Buffy away."

Giles muttered a curse. "Set them down on the couch."

Silently, Angel set Buffy down on the couch, next to Faith. Then he stepped back, distancing himself from the group.

"When did you get back?" Giles questioned, as he went over to the couch.

"An hour ago. Something big is going down, possibly with the Council."

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet, but I've heard a lot of talk about the Hellmouth. Spike and Dru are checking it out."

Giles sighed a little as he waved his hand in front of Buffy's face, then Faith. "Uh, Willow, get me some of the smelling salts in the desk by Jenny."

Willow hurried to get them. Giles took them from her, waving it under Faith's nose first.

The Slayer immediately opened her eyes, and began looking around wildly. "What the hell!" Faith said, sitting up slowly. She immediately laid back down again, raising her hand to hold her head. "Oh… shit."

"Faith," Giles said, sitting next to her, a worried frown on his face. "Are you alright? Does anything hurt?"

She grunted, struggling to sit up. "Where's B?" she asked, looking around. Before she saw Buffy on the couch, her eyes fell on Angel, who stood towards the back. She started coughing hard, trying to cover up her laughter. She couldn't wait until Buffy woke up. Giles must have known what she was thinking because he glared at her, and she fought to stop laughing.

Angel got the idea that he had missed something. Something big.

Giles sighed and moved over to Buffy, waving the smelling salts under Buffy's nose. The older Slayer opened her eyes quickly, blinking in confusion. "Giles?" She tried to sit up. She didn't see Angel, as he was behind her, and silent. "Ow," she muttered, raising a hand to her head. "Ow."

"Are you alright?" Giles questioned.

"Anybody get the number on that truck?" she murmured, looking around slowly. Even that hurt. She finally noticed the expression on Faith's face. "What's so…"

She suddenly realized she could see Angel's reflection in the mirror Jenny had made Giles put up in the front room. Giles realized this at the same time as her, and saw her fumbling for words. "Apparently, Angel has heard of some danger regarding the Hellmouth." Buffy nodded a little, trying to hide her unease. She really didn't want to have Angel find out about the baby, and if he were there, it would be almost impossible to avoid it. On the other hand, her heart had sped up just seeing him.

The rest of the group didn't seem to notice the electricity flying between the two. "So, what was that stuff they got hit with, Giles?" Willow asked.

Giles sighed. "I wish I knew."

"It's not gonna do any damage to the baby, right?" Xander questioned, oblivious to Buffy's panicked look in his direction.

Giles winced. Angel looked up sharply. "Baby?" he asked, sounding a little odd.

Xander winced. He'd forgotten Angel didn't know. "Oh, um, sorry, Buffy." He'd also forgotten that Buffy didn't want anyone to know.

Angel looked at Buffy oddly this time, and saw the shock on her face, and the way she was looking at him with a mixture of panic and terror on her face. He tried to work his mouth, but found he couldn't.

Giles looked up away from Buffy, and saw his reaction. The rest of the group was looking at him with confusion on their faces. "Um, yes, well, moving on…"

"Stop." Angel said bluntly, his gaze hardening.

Buffy swore, and struggled to get up. The tranquilizer was still in her blood though, and caused a painful bout of nausea to rise in her, and she had to fight to keep herself from being ill. "Angel, please,"

"Um, everyone out, please." Giles said quickly, trying to move them to the door. No one listened, too caught up in the drama going on before them.

"Is it mine?" Angel asked coolly.

Willow choked on the water she'd been drinking. Xander nearly dropped his pop. Oz and Cordelia looked stunned. Faith was laughing again. Giles scowled at her. "All right, please, um, let's not even- "

"It is."

The pop that Xander had been struggling not to drop got dropped, spilling all over the kitchen floor.

Angel managed to nod a little, but he couldn't do much more. He sat down on the chair closest to him.

Faith couldn't help but to grin as she watched Angel. Giles grabbed Oz and Willow and not so gently shoved them towards the door. He did the same with Xander and Cordelia, then returned and he and Jenny Calendar helped get Faith out.

Neither Buffy nor Angel noticed.

"Were you planning on telling me?" he asked quietly, his voice still sounding odd.

She met his gaze. "No."

"Why not?" he asked after another moment.

"For starters, I had no idea where you were. Then there was the fact that we're exes. Then there was also that other little thing where I know you don't like kids."

"Giles had my address, Buffy. And you broke up with me, not the other way around. And that thing where I said I didn't like kids? That was more about the little brats that run around and scream at their bloody parents. It's just a little different when you're talking about your own child."

"How the hell was I supposed to know this?" she demanded. "All I know is that you were gone, and I'm pregnant."

Angel sat down on the edge of the couch, not looking at her. "Jesus, Buffy." He ran his fingers through his hair, absently rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at her, then looked away.

"I'm not asking you to help, or to care or anything. I can raise this baby on my own, so-"

"So what?" he demanded. "You're not going to. It's my child too." He closed his eyes. "My child."

"I don't care if it's your child, Angel. I can handle this baby by myself. I don't want you just to stick around for this baby's sake, go off and do what ever the hell you feel like, like you were before this, and then-"

"Damn it Buffy," Angel said furiously, standing up. "I can't do that. I love you too much to just forget about you and this child."

She fell silent, staring at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this Buffy, but you were wrong." He was almost sneering. "Julia and I broke up, for good, over a year ago. Before I met you. We never got back together, and I never wanted to. The only one I'm even faintly interested in is you, but you're too stubborn to even listen to me, or to give a damn!"

"I saw you kissing her!"

"Buffy, she kissed me. I pushed her back. I don't love her, she doesn't love me, we were over a long time ago." He sighed, turning away again, then looking at her. "Buffy. I love you." He looked startled for a moment, surprised by his own words and the truth to them. "I don't want to live without you, and I don't want to abandon our child." He straightened. "Even if you don't love me, I do plan on staying around here to convince you otherwise. And now to help with the baby." He sighed. "I realize that Julia was setting all of this up. I don't know why she did it, but I know she's gone."

"Where is she? And if you know what she was doing, why didn't you get rid of her?"

Angel sat down on the couch again. "She's in England. I didn't get rid of her because the Council was threatening her family if she didn't get me to do a few things."

"They were threatening her family…" Buffy closed her eyes, pulling her legs to her so that her chin rested on her knees. She shook her head back and forth, her eyes closed. "I'm such an idiot," she breathed, fighting back tears. She couldn't look at him. How could he stand to see her? She'd been so stupid. She hadn't even given him a chance to argue his side. "Oh god, oh god…"

She felt him shift a little closer to her, touching her shoulder. She jerked away, looking up at him through tear filled eyes. "Please," she begged, not sure what she was asking for.

Apparently, he was. Not giving her a chance to protest, he was by her side, drawing her in for a deep kiss. "I'm so sorry…" she said when they'd finished. She finally met his gaze. "I love you. I have since I saw you. And I'm so sorry I never let you explain. I was just… so afraid. I didn't want to believe it, but I was afraid not to."

In total honesty, Angel only heard part of her apology. He was too busy studying her eyes, and the emotions reflected in them. Finally, he looked away for a moment, considering his options. He was still hurt and angry that she hadn't trusted him. But then, he also realized he'd probably be the same way. They were both peculiar in that way. He finally looked at her. "I love you," he whispered, smiling faintly. "And as much as I wish you'd given me the chance to tell you what was really going on, it's more important to me that you're here with me." Where you belong, he added to himself.

She wanted to cry. Instead, she kissed him.

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It was a beautiful day the next morning. Buffy and Angel laid entwined on the huge bed in his mansion, the sheets twisted wildly about them. Truth be told, neither of them had seen the out doors since they'd ducked out Giles' back door, or actually, window, late the previous night. They'd gone straight to the mansion, not wanting to see the rest of the gang yet. Now they laid in the bed, not really moving. But both felt wonderful.

Angel finally rolled over, facing her. "You hungry?" They'd worked up an appetite.

"A little," she answered after a moment. "You cooking?" she asked hopefully.

He smirked faintly. "Yeah. What do you want?"

"Mmm." She paused, considering this. "Pancakes okay?" He nodded, starting to stand up, much to her delight, he had to cross the room to get a pair of sweatpants. She grinned a little when he caught her looking at him. "Pancakes with whipped cream and… pickles." The amused looked he'd gotten on his face when she'd mentioned the whipped cream changed to faint disgust when she mentioned pickles.

She grinned again. "I know, I've been craving weird things lately." She sighed, sitting up. It was his turn to smile slightly as she searched the room for clothes. When she didn't see them, and she distinctly recalled throwing her pants and shirt towards the bathroom, and her bra and underwear towards the door, she looked at Angel curiously. He tossed a robe on the bed. "Just put that on for now."

She rolled her eyes when she realized the robe was black silk. Not that she really minded. It smelled like him. Reminded her of him. "Where are my clothes?"

Angel looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, they aren't exactly wearable now. Remember?"

Her eyes widened a little as she remembered hearing a tearing noise last night as she'd been ripping off her clothes, and his. Of course, he'd been helping with her clothes too, she remembered. Buffy sighed and pulled the robe around her, cinching it closed. "Great. My mother bought that shirt for me."

Angel shrugged. "It looked good on you." Looked even better off.

She rolled her eyes.

"I'll buy you a new one. Now come on, I'm hungry."

She rolled her eyes once more, and followed him into the kitchen.

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Quite the sight greeted Drusilla when she entered the kitchen, followed closely by Spike.

Buffy sat with her back to them, on the counter. Angel stood in front of her, trailing kisses down the opening of the robe's neckline. Behind them, on the stove, something was cooking. Pancakes, if Dru was seeing right. She wasn't really looking though. She was more interested in the display going on with Buffy and Angel on the counter top.

Still not seeing them, Angel's hands slid to undo the belt tie. Buffy had her hands against his chest, her eyes closed in pleasure.

Spike coughed loudly. The other couple jerked apart, turning to see them. Buffy flushed and pulled the robe around her tightly, sliding down off the counter. Spike and Dru exchanged looks, and went further into the kitchen. "Coffee ready?" Dru questioned, pretending not to care that she'd just interrupted them. Angel just glared at her.

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They went out to lunch. It was safer that way. As much as Angel would have enjoyed spending the rest of the day in bed, they both knew that they needed to find the gang and explain, in a very edited version, what was going on with them.

They ended up at the Espresso Pump. The coffee shop served sandwiches, and nothing else was open. They sat in the corner of the restaurant, sitting very close next to each other, quietly discussing their plans for the day.

They'd pretty much decided to go to see Giles next when the gang showed up. At their table. Buffy and Angel, too busy kissing each other, remained oblivious until Xander cleared his throat. Twice. Then once more, they jolted apart, looking at the group around them. Willow looked concerned, Oz looked unexcited, Xander a little angry, and Cordelia looked bored. "Hi." Buffy said after a long moment.

They seemed to take that as an invitation to sit down, and soon Buffy and Angel were squished even closer next to each other, with Willow sitting next to them. "Hi, Buffy. Angel." Willow finally grinned. "I'm just gonna reassure myself. He's the dad, right?"

"Right." Angel answered, unconsciously holding Buffy's hand.

Xander sighed, shaking his head. Willow shot him a look. "We all talked about it last night. I mean, we know it's technically none of our business, but…" Willow sighed, looking at Buffy and Angel. "Well, we want to know why we couldn't know about everything between you two."

"Oh yeah," Cordelia said. "And if you're gonna stick around, but since you two look like you've been playing tonsil hockey for the past week straight, I'd say it's a safe bet, folks."

Buffy blushed a little. Angel didn't even look fazed. "I asked her not to tell people. At the time, I was her teacher. It would have been a little… odd."

Willow sighed a little. "I guess so. But still. None of us ever suspected."

"I did." Cordelia said absently. "But I figured that Angel would go after a hottie girl. And not Buffy."

"Thanks Cordelia." Buffy said without the least trace of sincerity.

Xander looked at Buffy again. "What are you gonna tell your mom?"

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"Hi, Angel," Joyce said, smiling as Buffy introduced them.

"Mrs. Summers," Angel said, nodding a little. "It's nice to meet you. Buffy's told me a lot about you."

"Don't believe a word of it," Joyce replied, laughing.

Angel smiled, shrugging a little. "I can see where she gets her looks from,"

Joyce nearly beamed, and Buffy rolled her eyes. "Do you like turkey?" Joyce continued, gesturing for them to go in the front room. She gently grabbed Buffy by her arm, pulling her aside. "I like him."

Buffy smiled faintly. Her mother could say that now. She didn't know about Angel's job, or the fact that he was Daddy.

She could most definitely wait for her mother to find out those two things.

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"So what do you do, Angel?" Joyce asked as she sat down at the table.

Buffy and Angel exchanged looks, and she grabbed his hand. "Um, that's the real funny part," Buffy said, setting down her fork. "Well, he's a Demon Hunter. Like me, only a guy."

Joyce set her own fork down, frowning then. She looked at Angel. "Really."

Angel nodded a little.

"And how old were you when you were… um, what is it?"

"Called?" Angel supplied. "I was sixteen."

Joyce closed her eyes for a moment. "Do you have a job?"

"Not at the moment." Angel answered.

"How do you provide for yourself?"

"I invest my inheritance in the American stock market, and a few European ventures."

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "This pays for your home?"

Angel nodded. "That and the art dealing I do on the side."

Joyce brightened. "You're interested in art?"

Angel nodded. "Back home in Galaway, I co-own an art gallery."

Joyce beamed.

Buffy relaxed.

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"She liked you," Buffy said incredulously.

Angel looked at her, vaguely amused. "She still doesn't know I'm the father though."

Buffy grimaced. "Yeah, well, I have a feeling she suspects."

Angel nodded. "I'd be surprised if she didn't."

"You don't know my mother very well."

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"She liked him? She didn't even like Giles, and he's like Mr. Likable British Smart Guy. But she liked him."

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz sat at a picnic table outside of Oz's dorm. They were listening to Buffy tell them about Angel meeting her mom, and Xander was commenting on it.

Buffy nodded. "She did. He started talking about art or something and mom was a gonner. I just sat there pretending I knew what she was talking about."

"What, you weren't fascinated by that?" Angel questioned sarcastically as he surprised her by suddenly being right behind her. She turned, smiling, and they kissed for a long moment. It didn't look like they were going to stop, so Xander cleared his throat. Twice. Then Willow gently tapped Buffy on the shoulder, while the rest of the group watched in amusement as Buffy and Angel ignored them for a long moment.

Buffy sighed as Angel pulled away. His biggest problem, in her mind anyway, was that he was too modest. Which was kinda weird, because it was the last way she'd have thought of him if she didn't know him quite so well. Not that she was complaining.

"Hi," she said finally. "And no, I wasn't fascinated in the least."

"Hi," he returned casually. He glanced at the rest of the group finally. "Hey."

"Hi Angel," Willow said cheerfully.

"Hi," Cordelia said, smiling flintily. Not that there was a point, she knew. It was just habit for her to flirt with the hotties.

"You guys going to the Bronze tonight?" Xander asked.

Buffy looked at Angel, who shrugged. She nodded. "Probably for a little bit. But Giles wants us patrolling."

"Ooh, hunting for the monsters," Xander said happily. "Want company?"

"No." Angel said immediately, looking faintly alarmed at the thought. Buffy couldn't hide her grin. Their first experiences with patrolling had been very fun, and they wanted to repeat them.

Willow saw her and raised an eyebrow, immediately reading her friends thoughts. "Have fun then," she said sweetly.

"We will." Buffy returned, just as sugar coated.

Xander rolled his eyes. "I think we should go anyway." He smirked at Angel. "Just to be helpful."

"How much do you like your body parts attached to your body?" Buffy questioned, smiling at him.

"I'm very good with knives," Angel agreed.

Xander rolled his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe Angel and Buffy.

"Moving on," Willow said, shaking her head. She had a feeling that Buffy and Angel wouldn't have a very fun night. Xander had that look in his eyes. The look that said "you're screwed now".

"Anyway, Friday night there's a party at Lowell house. Dingoes are playing," Willow added happily, glancing at her boyfriend, who was the guitarist for Dingoes Ate My Baby.

Buffy settled back against Angel on the picnic table. She had never been happier.

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He pushed her against the side of the crypt, kissing her hard. She moaned a little as she felt his hands pulling her closer. She moved her hands against his chest, running her hands over the hard muscles. His hands tugged at her blouse, but she swatted them away.

She preferred the privacy of the inside of the crypt, and they weren't quite there yet. But if they didn't get there fast, she really wouldn't give a damn where they were, and she'd just make him finish where ever they ended up.

"Buffy," someone called behind them.

Buffy and Angel stopped, their eyes opening. Annoyance and desperation was obvious on both faces.

"Oh god," she panted. "Inside, quick."

He managed to nod, and they hurried into the little crypt.

"Hey B," someone called. Faith.

"Buffy, where are you?" Xander.

Someone would die, Angel decided grimly as he stared down at his lover, whose eyes were still foggy from desire. And her clothing was rumpled from their playing. And her lips were swollen from their kissing.

"We can be quiet," Buffy said desperately.

He nodded, wanting to believe her. But they'd never been quiet before. And with as rough as they were going earlier, they wouldn't start now.

"Hey B, Angel," Faith called again.

They were getting closer. And Faith knew that this was their special place. "I'm gonna die," Buffy moaned, her hand still on his chest. She could feel his breath on her face.

He could feel her breath on his. He could also see the way her clothes were twisted around.

They started kissing again.

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Faith grinned as she got closer to the crypt. "Five bucks says they're in there."

The others exchanged looks. "What if they're… you know." Willow looked away, blushing a little.

Faith grinned. "I've always wanted to see Angel's ass, so I wouldn't complain."

The rest of them looked at her. Cordelia brightened a little. "Glad I'm not the only one," she said, ignoring the glare Xander sent her way.

"You're not." Buffy said dryly as she joined them. "I'm very partial to it myself."

Everyone eyed her in amusement. She was still very rumpled from Angel's ministrations. And thinking of him, Faith mused. "Where's Angel?"

"He's taking out the two vamps that were hiding in there."

As she spoke, Angel exited the crypt, wiping dust off of his pants, the leather ones Buffy loved so much. He was muttering something under his breath, in some other language.

Buffy was very careful not to look at him for too long. As horny as she was, it was a bad idea. To think in front of her friends, anyway. If they weren't around, then she wouldn't have been thinking. She'd have been doing. I'm gonna die, she decided, glancing at her lover, who joined them. His hot ass was only part of the reason for her upcoming death. Lack of sex would be the biggest cause.

"We figured we'd better join you two and make sure you got some hunting done." Faith announced, grinning at Angel.

He smiled blandly at her. "I just staked two vamps. You can leave now."

Buffy had to smirk.

Xander rolled his eyes. "That's all you two do. Screw, screw, screw."

"Got a problem with it?" Buffy said darkly.

He grinned uneasily. "Not at all."

She shrugged and they began walking towards the library. Where Buffy had every intention of losing them, and then jumping Angel.

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It was almost another three hours before Giles let them go. Buffy and Angel quickly walked the rest of the gang home, knowing if they didn't their friends would get jumped by vamps or something, and then Buffy and Angel would feel guilty for not being there. They walked fast. Their friends didn't.

As soon as the gang was dropped of, they hurried to the mansion, where they were active for much of the night.

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Two and a half, almost three months later, Buffy was six and a half months pregnant, and showing it. It was one area where she wasn't thrilled about being so thin, because it was such a difference from before. She and Angel had been together almost non-stop, and both were loving it. To Buffy's amusement, he carried a copy of the ultrasound picture in his wallet. He didn't show it to everyone. Buffy wouldn't let him. Despite that minor argument, the two had grown even more in love with each other. But Buffy was getting quite annoyed because Angel and everyone else wouldn't let her come with them when they went slaying or hunting. It hadn't been too bad though, and Angel had made up for it by sending her little love notes, and doing whatever she wanted other than patrol. And his most recent letter, the one she'd gotten early that morning, was her favorite. However, he didn't like talking about them, Buffy was sure this was a guy thing, so she hadn't mentioned it to him as of yet. They'd both been a little distracted all day.

Today she had been let out of her "prison" and the whole gang had spent the day together, like old times, except with Buffy being pregnant. Early that morning, they'd gone to the beach and ended up spending most of the day there. She and Angel had played in the water for a long time, then gone and laid down on the beach and made out for a while. Then he'd dumped her in the water. That had started a splashing war between the guys and girls. The guys had eventually been defeated, mostly due to the fact that the girls had gotten them… distracted. After that, they'd gone to see I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and they'd spent the movie laughing at the rest of the people's idea of a scary movie.

It had been fun, Buffy decided as she grabbed hold of Angel's hand and they walked towards the Bronze. The rest of the gang was divided up into couples, except Faith, who was planning on finding a honey at the club.

"So, you guys going patrolling afterwards?" Xander questioned as they stepped past a dark alley that was about half a block from the Bronze. Parking had been so horrible, they'd ended up in Booneville.

"I know Angel's not," Spike said, smirking at Buffy and Angel, who were too involved in each other for the moment to be paying attention. "He'll be busy."

"What?" Angel questioned, looking away from Buffy for a moment.

Faith grinned. "I am. Some of us," she said, looking pointedly at Buffy and Angel, "Do have these things called sacred duties that only getting knocked up can let you escape. Or being the knocked up one's boyfriend."

Buffy and Angel both shot her dirty looks, but the rest of the group seemed to find that amusing, and they started laughing.

"I'll have you know," Buffy started, looking serious. "What we do is very worth skipping patrol."

Willow blushed bright red. The rest of the group started laughing again.

"That's way more than I wanted to know." Xander told her, still grinning.

"Yeah," Cordelia started. "I mean, we-oh!" Everyone looked at her just in time to see her slump to the ground, and a huge, tough looking vampire standing behind her, holding a long and heavy pipe.

"Cordy!" Xander exclaimed, furious and frightened for his girlfriend. Faith grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She took his place and immediately began fighting the vamp. Angel moved to help her just as several more vampires, and two demons jumped out of the shadows of the alley behind them. Each vamp went after one of the humans, with three going to Buffy, and the demons after Faith and Angel. Buffy fought hard against the vamps she was facing, but she couldn't help but to be afraid for her child. That caused her to take a more defensive stand than an offensive one.

Angel was thrown against the wall by the demon he was against. He swore and jumped up again, pausing only to glance at the rest of the gang, especially Buffy, and to see how they were. It wasn't good. Xander and Faith were both trying to go after the demon. Willow and Oz were still fighting their vamps, and Buffy was struggling with two of the ones that had jumped her. Angel swore once more and fought harder against the demon. He managed to switch positions so that he was closer to Buffy, who managed to stake the second vamp when he knocked him down. Then he returned his attention to the demon. Just as another one joined it. Angel glanced at Faith and Xander, and realized with fury that the two were still fighting against the one.

And now Willow was unconscious. Oz looked at Willow for a moment, but to his credit knew he had to get the demons first. So he did his best to help Angel with the second demon. Buffy finished off the last of her vamps, and turned to help Oz with the demon he was fighting.

Some more people, Angel guessed they were vamps, stepped out of the alley. Two held guns. Without hesitating, one of them fired at Buffy. She grabbed at her shoulder, in pain, and then slumped over. Angel became overcome with anger and attacked the demon fiercely. He managed to find another pipe and began hitting the demon, trying to either kill it or disable it somehow. But then the demon got his own weapon.

Angel was thrown against the wall once more, and he went unconscious. The last thing Faith saw before she went down too was Oz getting hit in the head with a pipe.

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As soon as the last Slayer fell unconscious, Weatherby stepped out of the alley. "That's enough." He told the demons. "The money will be deposited in your accounts." The demons growled, and walked away. Smith stepped out of the shadows as well. "Collins is getting the truck."

"Good." Weatherby moved past Cordelia and Xander, who'd fallen next to each other. He paused beside Angel. Then he kicked the Hunter hard in the ribs. Angel didn't move. "All right. Let's get the girl and get the bloody hell out of here. Too many people who can kick my ass."

"Ay." Smith agreed. He stopped in front of Buffy. "You know, to be honest, I had figured if one of `em would get knocked up, it'd have been the other."

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Angel was the first to wake up again. He groaned a little as a headache immediately assaulted him, as did the pain from a bruise on his ribs. He didn't remember getting hit in the ribs. Then he remembered where he was. He immediately stood up and looked around for his girlfriend. "Buffy?" He didn't see her anywhere.

Faith groaned. She sat up, holding her head. She saw Angel glance at her. "Where's B?" Faith questioned, recognizing the look on the Hunter's face.

"She's not here." He said, his voice sounding odd, even to him.

The rest of the group began waking up. And one look at Angel's face told them what the problem was.

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"Giles!"

"Giles!"

"Hey G-man!"

The group, minus Oz and Willow, who'd gone to the hospital because they suspected she had a broken arm, hurried into the library, calling out for the Watcher.

Giles exited his office, rubbing his eyes. He looked exhausted. His eyes widened when he saw the disheveled state of the group. Jenny, who was following him, looked at them worriedly. "What-"

"We were attacked." Angel said emotionlessly. "They took Buffy." Jenny sat down at the table. "Who?"

"We don't know." Xander answered, limping to the table. Cordelia sat on the edge of it, looking exhausted as well.

"The Council." Giles breathed. He swore. "They were here this morning. I couldn't find any of you."

"We were at the beach." Faith answered quietly. "What happened?"

"They told me I had been replaced, first of all." As Giles reported this, he studied the group. "I had assumed they left town."

"Wait, replaced?" Xander questioned, torn between the need to look for Buffy, and the need to find out what the hell `replaced' meant.

"Fired." Giles explained, looking away momentarily. He hurried to continue. "I suspect now that they've taken Buffy."

"Where would they take her?" Xander questioned next.

"London." Angel answered, swearing softly. Giles nodded, agreeing. Angel moved to the phone at the counter.

"What are you doing?" Cordelia asked.

"He's probably getting us a ride to London." Spike answered grimly. Angel nodded. Spike sighed and looked at Dru. "Well Ducks, lets get some clothes."

"Everyone get enough for a week if you're going." Angel directed. "Meet back here in an hour."

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Eyes closed, stretched out on an uncomfortable cot in a cold and dirty room, Buffy struggled not to cry. She was terrified, for her sake and her baby's. Her and Angel's baby. She didn't know where she was, and she could only remember a little bit of what had happened over the past few days. She could distantly remember being forced onto a plane, and before that fighting against the men that had attacked them.

Angel! Closing her eyes once more, she reached in her pocket, and was relieved to feel a folded paper. The note from Angel. She opened her eyes and pulled it out, reading it quickly, just for support. He'd been fighting next to her. But he'd been hit by something, and he'd seemed to lose all strength. And everyone else… It had been a surprise attack, and no one had been prepared. Willow, Buffy knew, had been hit in the head, and Buffy had seen her drop to the ground, unconscious.

But she hadn't seen anything beyond that. Someone, she thought it had been Weatherby, had struck her with another one of those darts that had so effectively knocked her out the previous day. And Buffy knew that she'd been knocked out at least once more. She could vaguely remember seeing someone leaning over her with a hypodermic needle.

But she was awake now. The only problem with that was that Buffy didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

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They were on a plane headed towards England. Angel's plane, as a matter of fact. He had quite calmly informed them that he owned a plane, so getting there wouldn't be a problem. Neither would paying for plane tickets. Not that it really mattered. The only thing that did matter was that they got to Buffy as fast as they could. Her life, and her baby's life, depended on it.

Giles had told them as much as he knew about the prophecy concerning Buffy and Angel's unborn child, and then told them what he knew about the Watcher's council. It wasn't good. This, added with Angel's experiences with the council, had everyone worried. But in a way, Willow couldn't help but to be confused. Why would the council be so stupid? Number one, Buffy was a Slayer, one of the good guys. She was on their team, for Pete's sake! And then there was the fact that she had backup that came in the form of the Scooby gang. And Giles and Jenny. And they were all pissed. And Faith was seething over it too. But most of all, with Angel as pissed as he obviously was, the Council didn't have a chance in hell of keeping Buffy. Unless they didn't need to keep her, that nagging little voice in the back of her head insisted. Willow sighed and squeezed Oz's hand. She didn't even want to think that way.

Xander and Cordelia sat next to each other on one of the love seats in the plane. They were unusually silent, worried about their friend.

Giles and Jenny, showing a rare public affection, sat across from them, Jenny resting against Giles.

Faith sat in a chair, staring out one of the windows.

Spike and Dru sat on the couch, Dru holding Spike's hand. They talked about Angel, but they were too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Angel was in the other room behind them, busy doing something. No one could quite see what he was doing, but they figured he was preparing for the coming fight. He wasn't.

He had one picture of Buffy, one Spike had taken a long time ago, when everyone had still thought they'd been friends. She was smiling at the camera, dressed in tight black pants and a white top that tied around the back. She looked incredible. She was incredible. And now some bastards had taken her because he'd gotten her pregnant, and they wanted to either kill her and their baby, or to take their baby from them.

Unable to take it anymore, he stood up, going farther back in the jet, to the tiny bedroom that he also trained in. He slipped off his shirt and began punching the bag, over and over again, without a specific pattern. All he wanted was to be able to imagine he was beating the men who'd taken her away from him.

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Spike and Dru exchanged looks when they heard an unsteady thumping noise coming from the back. The rest of the group looked up, worried. "What's that?" Xander asked.

"Angel's working out." Dru said softly, chewing on her bottom lip.

The rest of the group noticed the looks going between Spike and Dru. "Is this bad?" Faith questioned.

Spike coughed a little. "He's using the plane punching bag."

"He never used it when we had to chase after Julia." Drusilla added. "He just kinda sat there."

"He only works out when he's pissed or upset." Spike sighed. "This means that he's gonna be in a rare mood for the rest of the night. Or at least until we get his girl back."

The rest of the group exchanged glances. Then Faith stood up. "Well. I say we get ready to fight too."

Everyone agreed.

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She had no idea what time it was. Even what day it was. She got a tray of food after a while. After she'd pushed it around for a while, trying to decide if it was worth the risk of it being poisoned or not, she ate it, starving. To her mild surprise, she didn't feel any effects, even when she stood up and began walking around and trying to check the place out. The only door was bolted solid, but there was a small slot where her tray had slid through.

She sighed and sat down again.

Then the door flew open, and several men came in, holding guns, all aimed at her.

Buffy was already on her feet by the time Quentin Travers came inside. She nearly growled at him. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, furious. And rightly so.

He stayed towards the back, preferring to let the men with guns keep her back. "Ms. Summers. If you just do as these men direct, there will be no problems." He smiled charmingly, and left the room. Buffy turned her attention back to the men with the guns. Just as one of them fired and hit her with another dart and she fell unconscious.

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It was a dark room, lit only by dim light bulbs that were hung sparsely. That served two purposes. It was cheap, and it hid the patrons of the seedy bar. Tonight, the bar was empty of almost all of their regulars. And tonight, it was dead silent.

"Where are they keeping her?" Angel's words were quiet, but they held an icy note that made the few remaining occupants of the bar quiver with fear. The man Angel was speaking with, who was shoved against the countertop, stayed quiet, his eyes wide with fear. Angel pressed down a little harder on his neck, cutting off some of the man's oxygen. After what seemed like forever to the Scooby Gang behind them, the man gurgled out something. Angel eased up. "What's that?"

"The Council! They took her to a safe house."

"Where?"

"I don't know." Angel shoved his hand around the man's throat again. "Outside of London!" the man gasped. "They aren't telling where. I just know it's a big house, lots of guards."

"Who's involved?" Angel asked next, releasing his throat but keeping him down against the counter top.

"Travers. The squad. Everyone."

Angel glanced at Giles, checking to see if the Watcher had any more questions. Giles shook his head slightly, and Angel released the man. "Get out of here, Jim."

The man scrambled away. Angel gave the few remaining patrons a long hard look, and the gang exited the bar.

"Where to?" Xander questioned as they climbed in the two cars Angel had provided for them.

"The House of Council."

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The House of Council turned out to be a fancy looking building on the edge of town. It was guarded by several burly looking men, who upon closer inspection were demons. Amazingly enough, the gang was able to walk right into the place. They were lead to a huge room that reminded Willow of a courtroom. There, they were left alone for a few moments.

Angel glanced around the room, his cold eyes taking in everything. The last time he'd been there, he had been in trouble with the Council. Because of what had happened with Julia and Darla.

The door in front of them opened, and four men stepped out, one of them being Quentin. He smiled coolly at the group in front of him. "What a pleasant… no I really can't say that. What a surprise." He amended coolly. "What brings you to our fair London?"

"I think you know that." Faith said, her voice clearly showing her rage.

"You're mistaken, Faith." Quentin said, sitting on one of the comfortable looking chairs. "I'm afraid I have no idea. Where is the other girl, Buffy, I believe her name is."

Angel stepped forward now, standing close to Quentin. The other men were obviously his guards, and they tensed. Quentin motioned at them with his hands and they stayed back.

Angel's gaze flickered over the guards, a cynical and amused look on his face. "You ever been tortured Quentin?"

The guards tensed once more.

"I'm afraid not." Travers said after a moment of mocking consideration. "You have though, haven't you?"

"Of course." Angel said, a faint smirk on his face. Before the guards could react, Angel yanked Quentin out of his chair and shoved him against a wall, pulling his head back so far it hurt just to watch. "I have and I remember it well enough that I'm willing to share. You either tell me where she is or I will break your scrawny neck. After I torture you for the remainder of the day." The gang took advantage of the situation to take out the three guards.

"I'll never tell." Quentin hissed.

Angel pulled harder on the man's neck, and grabbed a knife out of the belt he wore. The rest of the gang stayed silent, knowing it was necessary, but not wanting to see anything bloody happen. Angel didn't particularly care. All that mattered was that he got Buffy back.

Of course, that was before more guards came in.

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She'd been brought to another prison cell. This time, she woke wearing a plain white dress that reminded her of the one she'd worn when she'd died. She sat up on the bed, one hand going to her bulging stomach.

She was also hand cuffed at the wrists. Pulling at them, she frowned. I must be tired, she decided. The cuffs didn't even move really. Normally she'd have been able to snap them easily. She started to stand up but then felt a wave of nausea pass through her and she sat down again, squeezing her eyes shut. She had sincerely hated the throwing up part of her pregnancy, and she was pretty sure she was over it. So she was feeling sick from the tranquilizers or something.

Once more, the door opened and Quentin and his goons entered. She stood up, ignoring the nausea, even as it made her pale and dig her nails into her palms. "Nice bruise, Quentin," she said, smirking at the man's black and blue face.

"Gentlemen, help Ms. Summers out into the hall." He ignored her comment.

"Touch me and I'll kill you." Buffy countered immediately, tensing. Quentin's men ignored her and grabbed her by her arms. Buffy immediately kicked the one on her right, and tried to pull herself free from the one on her left. It had no result except to make her nausea even worse.

Quentin smiled. "Ms. Summers. You'll find that the Council is not foolish enough to take on a full strength Slayer. Seeing as your strength had not diminished from your child yet, we administered a drug into your system that shall keep you normal. A higher dose than what was used for the test on your eighteenth birthday. Quite frankly, it is useless for you to struggle anyway. These men are stronger than any Slayer is."

Suddenly very frightened, Buffy ceased struggling. She kept the furious look on her face. They'd taken away her strength and her friends. She had no idea where she was or what was going on. "Where am I?" She asked next, deciding that information was more important than dignity.

Quentin smirked faintly, knowing exactly what she was doing. "You're in London."

"London! Geez," she said dryly, still angry and frightened. But it was best not to show it. "This is probably the only chance I'll get to come to Europe, and I'll bet I won't even get to go sight-seeing." Quentin sobered up. "Actually, we've discussed taking you to the Tower of London. They still have some of the best torture devices in the world." Buffy wondered if it had just gotten really cold, or if it was the blood leaving her face. Quentin continued. "But then we decided that it would be a bad idea for us to take you there because it's such a bloody popular tourist trap for the fools who visit London that it would be a bad idea." The guards stopped walking without warning, and Buffy stumbled a little. Quentin opened a huge door in a set of double doors. As the guards dragged Buffy into the packed room, Quentin stopped them for a moment. "I don't suggest you lie, Ms. Summers. The Council will not take kindly to it."

Then the guards took her the rest of the way in.

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Fighting back the urge to struggle, Buffy let the men or demons, she really didn't care what they were at this point, bring her into the room, where she was taken past rows and rows of people, Buffy guessed there were about fifty. She was told to sit at the front of the room, in the center of the place, and the two demon guards tied her to the chair. The noise level in the room went up dramatically as she sat. Buffy wasn't sure if that was good or not.

Then Quentin entered the room, and everyone quieted as he took as seat up in front of Buffy. Six more important looking men and women, all of varying ages, took seats there too. An old man, a woman about his age, a red-haired woman and a man her age, another elderly woman and a large man, and Quentin. The room was quiet once more.

"Please state your name after the Watcher's Council." The oldest looking man ordered, looking at Buffy.

She hesitated for a moment, before answering. "Buffy Anne Summers."

"Your current job?"

"Being held prisoner by you asses." Buffy said bluntly.

There were a few titters throughout the room, but the old man and the rest of the people before her were not amused. "Ms. Summers, are you the Vampire Slayer?"

"One of them."

The woman next to the old man nodded. "Your Watcher?"

"Giles. Rupert Giles." Buffy wondered why they were asking all of the obvious questions.

"Wrong. He has been replaced by Mr. Wyndam-Price." The man who spoke sat on the far end of the row of seven. He looked to be about Giles' age.

"What?" What the hell did that mean? Buffy wondered, hopelessly confused.

"Later," the old man said warningly. He looked at the rest of the Council. "I vouch for this being the Slayer."

"I second it." Quentin said, sounding official.

Buffy glared at him.

"All in favor?"

There was a chorus of "Ayes."

"All opposed?"

The room was silent.

"The ayes have it." The old man said, nodding. "First order of business. The Council calls upon our first witness, Julia McKenzie."

And Julia, Angel's Julia, Buffy thought jealously, stepped up next to Buffy.

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They were an hour and a half away from the House of Council, according to Giles. Of course, with Angel and Spike driving, it probably would take less than that.

The group was divided into two, with Angel, Dru, Faith, Willow, and Oz in one care, and Spike, Giles, Jenny, Xander, and Cordelia in the other. They were talking to each other almost non-stop over the speakerphones.

"Okay." Xander said, leaning forward a little so the gang on the other end could hear him better. "After this, I vote we go sight- seeing all over England, and go see all the sights."

"I'm in favor," Cordelia said, staring out the window at all the dress shops. "Oh my god, did you see that dress?"

The gang ignored her as Angel turned down another side street, and they caught a glimpse of Buckingham Palace. "Wow," Willow said happily. "That is so cool!"

"It is!" Cordelia agreed, wide-eyed.

Jenny laughed. "You should see it up close. Before I left the Romani, I was here for a while, and I got to go in it for a special tour."

"Buffy'd love to see that." Willow said softly, looking away. The entire group sobered, remembering their mission, and the reason they were in England in the first place.

Angel tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He hadn't said much of anything since they'd landed, and especially since they'd left the bar.

"We'll get her back." Faith said, staring out the window. She looked back in at Angel. "Or else someone's gonna die."

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Buffy had figured out she was at some kind of trial, against herself. She still didn't understand why though. In front of her, Julia was giving an impassioned speech on how Buffy had managed to slip into Angel's bed one night and make him think she was Julia. Even from Buffy's point of view, it was obvious that few, if any, believed her. Which, Buffy observed, was probably good. However, when Buffy tried to say something, the two men who'd dragged her in there grabbed her arms and started squeezing, effectively shutting her up. But now she had bruises on her arms from where they'd grabbed her so hard.

Julia was finally finished and the Council had no more questions for her. As the doors closed behind her, there was a loud shout going through out the crowd.

The old man, who no one had identified yet, stood up. "Quiet!" He demanded.

The room went silent once more. The oldest looking woman there looked around the room, an amused look on her face. "All in favor of striking Ms. McKenzie's testimony from the record, say aye." The room was a chorus of ayes. "All opposed?"

"I am." Travers said, scowling. "I admit that Julia's testimony… it was a bit altered." He glanced at Buffy. "Testimony to that comes from the occurrences in Sunnydale, with Ms. Summers and her pregnancy. But fact remains, Ms. McKenzie's testimony did in fact hold some truth to it, and she did witness much of the relationship with the Slayer and the Hunter."

There were a few more murmurs throughout the crowd as Quentin sat.

The old man sighed. "Fine. That's fine. We'll keep it on record, but I do not want that woman in here again."

"Aye!" a bunch of people shouted.

"Quiet!" The man shouted.

Everyone quieted again. The old man looked at Buffy for a long moment. "Now. I call for Ms. Summers to speak. Opposed?" The room was dead silent. The old man nodded. "Allow her to stand."

The two demon guards untied Buffy from the chair and forced her to stand up. "What am I doing here?" Buffy questioned.

The man waited until the two guards stepped back. "You have been brought before the Council for your trial."

"And what exactly am I being tried for?" Buffy questioned, a little annoyed.

The man sighed with impatience. "You have done several things the Council does not approve of. Most recently and most obvious," He gestured to her stomach. Buffy placed her arm over the bulge protectively. "The Council demands the right to decide what to do about the child."

"It's not your child." Buffy said immediately, a furious expression crossing her face. "That I'm sure of. I think I'd remember if it were. You have no say in what I do-"

"Quiet!" the youngest looking woman, a woman who had bright red hair and looked about forty, or maybe fifty, stood up. She was very pretty for her age. "That child could hold the balance of the world in it's life."

"That child isn't even born yet!" Buffy exclaimed. "You have no control over my baby. You don't have the right to come in to my life and try to make choices for me. And that's all there is to it!"

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Summers." Quentin said regally.

Buffy whirled to face him. "And if you say another word I swear I'll rip your throat out and torture you until you'd wish you were dead."

There was another round of murmurs at that.

The old man stood up. "Enough! Settle down, girl. We haven't explained the whole thing to you." He looked at her, and Buffy could have sworn his gaze was sympathetic.

Still furious, Buffy quieted for a moment. The redheaded woman stood up again. "There is a prophecy from a long time ago, we don't know exactly when. But the important thing is that it has been accurate to this point. And the prophecy in question states that the child of the Slayer and the Hunter shall either save the world, or end it. There is no way to predict what will happen to determine this. Therefore, the Council has assembled, with you here, to determine what is to be done."

"Prophecies aren't always true," Buffy started, trying to hide her unease at the thought that her and Angel's child could possibly cause the end of the world. "And even if this one were for sure, you have no right to kidnap me and hurt my boyfriend and friends to get to me."

"Your boyfriend," Quentin started, sneering the second word, "Is a monster. He has no control, and he is a danger to everyone."

"Danger?! He's saved my life, my friends' lives, strangers' lives, and he's saved the world! Some danger."

"The Hunter is not the topic." The old man said angrily, frowning at Quentin, who'd brought it up. "Travers, sit down. Girl, calm yourself. We do understand where you are coming from, dear. But, the fact remains, the child is too important to worry about offending feelings. Even your own."

"Let me put this in words you'll understand." Buffy said sweetly. "If you touch my child, I will kill you."

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An hour later, Buffy had been retied to the chair. And gagged. The seven people in front of her had started arguing amongst themselves, and they'd exited the room for a while. The rest of the people seemed to find it fine to ignore Buffy and to argue amongst themselves. Not that she cared. She was close to getting at least one hand free, if not the other. But in all honesty, Buffy was getting scared. She still had no idea where she was, except that they claimed it was London, and judging by the multitude of British accents, it certainly wasn't Kansas. She still had no way of knowing what had happened to her lover and friends. That scared her almost as much as the thoughts of what these beasts would try to do to her child. And without her strength, they'd be able to do it fairly easily.

The group of people entered the room once more, looking stern. They took their seats. "Ungag the girl." The redhead woman ordered, scowling.

Buffy's two guards did that, and let her sip a glass of water.

"The Council has made several decisions. The first is in regards to the child. The Council, by a vote of five to two, has decided to put the girl to death to avoid chance of the End of the World."

"What?!" Buffy exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"The Council has also…" She trailed off, looking up at something behind Buffy. Everyone followed her gaze except Buffy, who was still tied to the chair and couldn't move that much. A loud murmur went through the crowd.

"Bloody hell." Quentin muttered, looking nervous.

The old man grimaced. "Quiet!"

Buffy's two guards were tense and ready to fight.

"Anyone who doesn't want to die had better get the hell out of here. Now." Buffy's eyes widened as she recognized Angel's voice. She craned her neck to see, but still couldn't.

"Quentin, I'd suggest you get moving." The old man said, an amused look on his face. Not hesitating, Travers stood and hurried out the door behind the other six.

Buffy could hear movements behind her, and she could see a bunch of people standing and filing out of the room. Her two guards were in fighting stances.

"I suggest you two move as well." The old man said cheerily. He waited until the two guards had left the room before returning his gaze to Angel. "Aren't you going to untie your girlfriend?" He raised an eyebrow. "Who, considering she's that pregnant should be your wife."

Buffy did her best not to comment, but as Angel moved in front of her, her lips twitched. He ignored that and untied her quickly. She let herself be held in his arms for a long moment, and neither said anything. Then their eyes met. "Are you all right?" he murmured, too soft for anyone else to hear. She nodded a little. "They gave me that drug. The one that takes away the Slayer strength."

His jaw clenched. "The baby?"

"We're both fine, I think." They exchanged a brief kiss, then Angel turned, facing the Council again. Buffy went over to her friends for a moment, exchanging quick hugs with all of them.

The old man looked amused. So did the redhead. The rest of the group looked annoyed.

"I suppose you should get going," the woman said. "Who knows how long before Quentin returns. And you know as well as I do that he Most likely intends to try to keep you here."

Buffy made a face. Angel nodded, and looked at the old man. "I'll talk to you later." He said, and the Scooby Gang and the Slayers hurried to get away before Quentin returned with the inevitable group of guards to try to stop them.

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The ended up going straight to the airport, and Angel made arrangements for them to fly home as soon as possible. They were able to board immediately, and within another hour, they were taking off.

Buffy and Angel were in the bedroom, Buffy lying down on the bed, and Angel sitting next to her. His hand rested above their baby as they talked softly, and explained to each other what had happened over the past few days.

Buffy fell asleep listening to the comforting sound of Angel's voice.

"Buffy?" Angel said softly, not sure if she was asleep or had just closed her eyes. She didn't stir. He relaxed a little. She needed her sleep. But he did too. Careful not to wake her, he shifted so he was lying down next to her, his hand on her stomach, underneath hers.

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Willow poked her head in the bedroom, not sure if she should expect them to be making out, or what. She was relieved to find them sleeping, and smiled at the way they were tangled up with each other on the bed. She returned to the front, with the rest of the gang. "Sound asleep, all looks good."

"Good." Faith said, nodding. "'Bout time something good happened."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Whatever you say." He sighed. "Personally, I don't like him all that much." Spike and Dru looked at him, their eyebrows raised as they heard this about their good friend.

"You just don't like Angel `cause you fell asleep in his class." Cordelia said cheerfully.

Xander frowned at her. "Hey, you're supposed to support me." Giles sighed at them. "Please. We have a long trip, I suggest that we get as much rest as we can. Or else I do believe some of us shall come to blows."

Everyone looked at him. Faith grinned. "Fine with me, either way." Drusilla rolled her eyes. "I'm going to try to get some sleep, but I doubt I'll be able to." She pulled Spike from the bar stool over to one of the couches. Silently, they laid down on it, Spike's arms around Dru.

And the rest of the group settled in for a long (Winter's) nap.

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Their nap didn't last very long, at least for Buffy and Angel. When they woke up, there were still ten hours to go. And they couldn't exactly do what they wanted, seeing as their friends and Buffy's father figure were all lying out in the other room. So they settled for talking, at least after Angel got Buffy a drink. Then they got comfortable again on the bed.

"I got your note." Buffy said suddenly. She sighed. "But I don't know where it went."

He smiled a little at her. "Doesn't matter," he said, brushing it off. "Right now, all I care about is that you're safe here again."

"I was afraid for you." Buffy admitted. "No one ever told me what they'd done to you, and they wouldn't let me ask."

Angel shook his head. "Don't worry about me, especially with the Council. They won't do anything to me, at least not me directly." He scowled. "Unfortunately, no one else matters."

"Why won't they bother you?" Buffy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"The old man that was there. He's my grandfather."

"Your grandfather?!" Buffy exclaimed, stunned.

Angel nodded. "I haven't seen him for a long time. We don't really get along, but we work well together."

Buffy sighed. "I guess that explains that comment…" she closed her eyes, leaning back against the pillows.

"Which one?" Angel questioned. He traced his finger down the outline of her face.

"Doesn't matter." Buffy insisted, her voice sounding a little odd.

"Yes it does. If it's upsetting you, it always matters to me." Angel said simply, letting his hand rest on her stomach once more. "Which one?"

"It doesn't matter." She insisted again, rolling so she was on her side, facing away from him. "Just forget I said anything."

He sat up again, knowing. "The one about me marrying you?" he questioned softly. She stiffened a little. He sighed a little in return, and studied her profile. She wouldn't look at him. He stood up, going over to his desk for a moment. When he returned, Buffy reluctantly faced him, her expression hiding her feelings, but her eyes giving away a little bit of her unhappiness. She started to say something, but he gently put one finger against her lips, shushing her for a moment. "I was going to talk to you, after we got back from the Bronze." He took her hands. "You know I love you, Buffy," he said softly. "More than anything. And I want to spend my life with you, if you'll let me." Buffy watched in amazement and confusion as Angel opened the little box that he'd just gotten from the desk. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring, in a round setting. Buffy found her mouth couldn't work. Angel studied her expression for a long moment. "Marry me?"

Unable to say the words, she sat up, throwing her arms around him. She closed her eyes to fight back tears. "Oh Angel," she whispered, a cross between deliriously happy and completely stunned. Gently, he kissed her, at the same time slipping the cool gold band around her finger.

@-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,--- @-`-,---

June, 2000

Sunnydale California

Angel's (and Buffy's) Mansion

It had been six and a half months since that trip to England and back. Buffy and Angel's baby had been born. A wonderfully healthy girl named Katherine Elizabeth O'Connor. The proud parents stayed home much more often now, a combination of exhaustion from caring for Kathy, Angel's patrolling, and the fact that they were so in love with each other and their child. The couple had married each other in the early spring, and they lived in the mansion, with baby Kathy in Spike and Dru's old room. The other couple had moved out in January, shortly after Kathy and Buffy moved in. They had decided that the new couple needed privacy, and the mansion was the best option for the family to live in.

On that June night, Buffy and Angel were in particularly wonderful moods as they sat in the front room, talking with their friends. The gang often came to visit or for dinner. Tonight was one of their scheduled nights.

Of course, everyone guessed something special was going on when they found Joyce at dinner with them too. After dinner and dessert, the huge group had gone out into the front room again, and they'd been talking nonstop for an hour. Finally, Buffy and Angel exchanged looks. "Hey guys." Buffy said, sounding deliriously happy.

"What's up, Buff?" Xander questioned, looking away from Cordelia for a moment.

Buffy glanced at the rest of her friends and her family, and shifted Katherine in her arms. "I'm pregnant." Everyone stared at her for a long moment.

"Honey, that's great!" Joyce said, truly pleased about this one. Now, Buffy was married, she could have as many kids as she wanted. Joyce beamed. Another grandkid to spoil.

"Congratulations, Buffy," Willow said, giving her friend a big hug. She went to Angel next and kissed him on the cheek. "Congrats."

"Bloody hell," Spike swore, smiling faintly. "When's this one gonna be born?"

"She's due in January." Buffy said happily.

"He." Angel corrected, smiling at his wife.

"She."

Angel scowled at her, but really didn't care. He wanted a son, but if he got another daughter, it would be just as incredible.

"You need to have a little boy," Drusilla decided, smiling at the couple. "Just to keep it even."

Buffy grinned. "I'm having a girl until Angel agrees with me on something else." She exchanged a long look with her lover.

"What's that?" Xander questioned.

"Nothing that needs to be repeated." Angel said, frowning at Buffy. They were having an argument about what to name the child if it was a boy. She wanted to name him Angelus. Angel didn't want to put his son through that hell, so he told her that if it was a girl, he wanted her to be called Buffy.

Buffy grinned back, and smiled even more at his next expression. It was his I'll-get-you-for-this-later look.

"Gross." Cordelia said, shaking her head at the couple. "You know, there are some of us who don't care to think about those kinds of things."

Buffy rolled her eyes again, and snuggled up against Angel.

Cordy grinned. "Of course, if you're willing to name your second born after me…"

The laughed at this typical Cordy humor, and soon Buffy found herself telling everyone the other details about their newest baby.

As Angel studied the woman he loved as she held their child in her arms, he smiled faintly. Life was good.

:) Sorry the ending was so corny, but I'm sick of typing, and out of ideas. Lemme know what ya think! :)

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