OK I know that the pic is crappy right now. Hopefully I can come up with a better pic, or if someone else wants to try their hand a pic for me just email me at ladymackenzie at bellsouth.net. (I will give credit to whoever makes me the best picture to go along with this chapter.) Basically I wanted Joyce and Hank either standing in front of Giles, Buffy, and Angel who were sitting on the couch or Joyce and Hank sitting in lazy boys in front of the couch with Giles, Buffy, and Angel sitting on the couch. Buffy is in the middle of the couch. However, this pic did not come out at all like I had wanted it to. I couldn't get the pictures that I needed to make it like I wanted and then I just totally messed it up. But at least it's something.
I changed pictures. But it's still not what I wanted. And yes I did try to make it better. While I think it is better, it's still not perfect ya, know?
I think I fixed the formatting problem. If you see anymore formating mistakes, please email me and let me know.
Giles, Buffy, and Angel were sitting on the couch and Hank was sitting in one recliner while Joyce was sitting in the other recliner. “Ok. Mr. Giles is here now. Somebody tell me what just happened out there? How did those men just turn to dust?” Joyce asked impatiently.
“They were vampires, Joyce,” Hank said as he looked at his daughter.
The three on the couch were stunned. “Dad, you know about vampires?”
“I was attacked two weeks ago. This gang of kids saved me and told me what it was that attacked me. They said that they were vampire hunters. They fought the vampires pretty well, but you could tell that the vampires were much stronger than they were,” Hank paused, not sure what to make of the realization that his petite teenage daughter was stronger than street kids. Then he continued, “You and Angel were stronger than those vampires out there. And you fought them better than the vampire hunters.”
“Did you happen to get the vampire hunters names?” Buffy asked.
“I overheard one of the men call the one I talked to ‘Gunn’.”
“Remind me to look him up and thank him the next time I’m in L.A.,” Buffy said, thankful that someone had been there to save her dad.
“Buffy, how are you stronger than the vampires that you fought tonight?” Hank asked.
“I’m The Slayer,” Buffy said nervously.
Hank, who had no idea what The Slayer was, asked. “You’re the what?”
“In every generation there is one girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer,” Giles explained. “Buffy is The Slayer.”
“You said one girl. What about those kids in L.A.? And what about Angel?”
“You said yourself, Dad, that the vampires were stronger than the kids in L.A. I have the strength to fight them.”
“What about Angel? He was stronger than those vamps out there.”
“I’m not a Slayer. I help Buffy train, research, patrol, and fight. I’m sure that the kids in LA are only doing what they feel is necessary. Ever since Buffy moved from L.A. to here, I’m sure the vamps feel as though they have the run of the city. It may be suicide what they’re doing, but they’re fighting a war between good and evil. And if they are fighting and killing vamps, then I’d bet they are on our side. Buffy is needed more here on what is known as the Hellmouth, though.”
“I agree, those kids seem to be fighting for the good side. If they stay in a group when they fight, then they stand a better chance of all of them coming out alive,” Giles said.
“But my baby is out there doing this alone?” Joyce said.
“She has the strength and the skill to do so, Mrs. Summers,” Giles assured her.
“And she’s not alone. I’m out there with her,” Angel stated.
“Well she doesn’t have my permission,” Joyce said.
Hank didn’t know what to say. Buffy and Angel had never seen Giles turn so red before. So before Giles could say anything, Buffy spoke up. “Mom, it doesn’t work that way. When we first moved here, I tried to quit. I wanted to have friends, I wanted to date, wanted to make good grades. I wanted to be normal. But you know what? My first day of school, there was a boy found dead on campus. You know how he died? He had died the night before. He lost all of his blood, through two little marks in his neck. He was killed by a vampire. I tried not to care. I really did. But you know what, Mom? You and Dad didn’t raise me to be that cold hearted. No matter how hard I tried not too, I cared. I cared when some vamps took Willow and I went after them. I was able to save Willow, but not her and Xander’s friend Jesse. He was turned. I wasn’t able to save him.
“Mom, I’m not normal. I haven’t been for two years! I was called in L.A. when I was 15. I lost all of my friends, my grades dropped. And because I wasn’t able to tell you and Dad about my calling, I started to get into trouble. It’s not something that I can ignore. If I do the world could end—literally.”
Giles agreed, “Buffy is right, Mrs. Summers. She has on several occasions stopped the world from ending or Hell being brought to this dimension. You expressed to me one time that you were afraid that Buffy had no responsibility and wasn’t applying herself to her school studies. Buffy has more responsibility in her little finger than most kids do these days. Yes, she has to cut classes sometimes to fight the forces of evil, but when she is in class, she tries her best to learn everything that she should.
“Buffy is a unique Slayer. She is the first slayer that was not raised by her Watcher and she is the first Slayer to start her training after she was called. Buffy is also the first slayer to have a life outside of Slaying. And she is the strongest Slayer ever and I believe that it’s because of you, Mr. Summers, Angel, Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia. Angel on several occasions has saved Buffy’s life. And Xander even preformed CPR on Buffy once.”
Buffy could tell that her mom was about to freak and her dad didn’t look so well either. They both looked as if they were about to start yelling, so Buffy started talking as fast as she could explaining, “Yeah. That was another time I tried to quit. I found out about a prophecy that said that the Master would kill me. I tried to quit. I wasn’t going to go fight him. But then I thought of you, Mom. And I knew that if I didn’t at least try to kill the Master then you would die. And I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you. So I went to fight the Master determined that he would die along with me. He over powered me, bit me and then threw me face down into a puddle of water. He literally drowned me.”
“Xander and I found her, he did CPR on her and she killed the Master,” Angel finished for her.
“However, she’s still The Slayer. That one minute of unconsciousness did not strip her of her Slayer skill or strength,” Giles continued. “Most Slayers don’t make it to age 18. Out of the few who do, most don’t make it to age 22. Only one Slayer in all of history has ever made it to age 29. Only one Slayer has ever had a child, but she died at age 22 and left behind a 4 year old boy to be raised by her Watcher. Now I may not be Buffy’s father. In fact, I don’t have children of my own. But I do believe that Buffy has earned the right to be happy.” Giles paused for a couple of seconds before continuing, “And I want to congratulate you both on raising a fine young woman. I could not have asked for a better Slayer.” Or a better daughter, he thought to himself.
Oh my gosh can this conversation get any worse? Buffy thought.
Joyce decided to find out just how much Giles knew about Angel and Buffy’s relationship. “Mr. Giles, did you know that Angel and Buffy were dating?”
“Yes, I did. I have to report to The Watcher’s Council on Buffy’s slayings, training and progress. They know that Angel helps her to train and slaying. They also know that along with Willow, Xander, Oz, and Cordelia, Angel helps with research. But I have her life outside of slaying out of my reports.”
“Why?” Joyce curiously asked.
“I don’t feel it’s any of their business, Mrs. Summers.”
Angel remembered about a question that Hank had asked and thought this would be a good time to explain why it was dangerous for the Council to know of his and Buffy’s romantic relationship. “Mr. Summers, you asked how I was stronger than those vamps that we fought tonight. Simple. They were fledglings. Newly risen vampires. I’m a lot older than they were,” Angel said as he morphed into his vamp face.
Giles quickly added, “Angel is the only good vampire that we know of. He is the only one with a Soul. However, if the Council found out Buffy’s personal relationship with Angel….Well I’m not sure what would happen. A Slayer has never dated a vampire before, but I don’t want to take the chance of the Council sending some one to kill Angel.” And possibly Buffy too, he thought to himself.
Joyce had one more question for Giles, “Did you know that Angel was having sex with my daughter?”
Angel looked down at the carpet as Buffy put her hands over her face and whined, “Moooom!”
Giles again turned red, but not so much out of anger and frustration as anger and embarrassment, “Uh.. No, Ma’am, I didn’t know that.” Why didn’t I know that? Surely Buffy would have told Willow and Willow can’t lie to save her life, but I never asked Willow. That’s why I didn’t know. I didn’t ask Willow.
“I guess that’s why I was asked to come here tonight?” Hank asked.
“Yes,” Joyce said while looking at Buffy and Angel.
“Well, I’d better be going. Just call me if you have anymore questions. Angel, walk me out will you?” Giles said as he got up to leave.
“Sure.” Angel said as he thought, Oh, boy. I’m going to die at the hands of a Watcher.
Once outside on the Summers’ front porch, Giles turned to Angel and said, “Angel, I didn’t say anything before, but I really didn’t think that a romantic relationship between you and Buffy was a good idea. But I have overheard more than the kids think I have and it’s what Buffy wanted so I kept quiet. But I have to say something now,” Giles paused and looked directly into Angel’s eyes. Alpha male challenging another Alpha male. “You break her heart, and I swear to you, I will personally stake you,” a little bit of Ripper came through the threat.
“I understand, Giles,” Angel humbly said. He understood just how Giles felt about Buffy and while he knew that if he didn’t have his soul, then he would be the Alpha male of any pack of vampires that he ruled over, he would still show respect to Buffy’s father figure. Angel knew that Buffy also thought of Giles as a surrogate father. He stood on the porch watching Giles making sure that he made it to his car safely. Devlin could have sent more vamps over and he wanted to be ready to fight if Giles was attacked.
When Angel walked back inside he heard Buffy tell her parents, “Never invite anyone in that you don’t know. Vamps need an invite to enter a private residence and once you invite them in, they can come in anytime.”
Angel sat back down on the couch next to Buffy and waited for the worst to happen.
Joyce spoke first, “I talked with Buffy a little bit last night. There will be no sex in this house. If she stays at Angel’s she is to tell me that is where she is. I have made an appointment with my GYN to get her on the Pill. She was able to fit Buffy in next week.” Joyce really didn’t understand this slaying business at all. But as Buffy’s mother she felt that she needed to try to at least understand. “Now with this slaying…I don’t know. What time do you do your slaying?”
“Usually I Patrol around sunset. Sometimes I need to Patrol after midnight. It really depends on what is going on.”
“What’s going on right now?” Joyce asked not sure if she really wanted to know the answer but she also knew that she needed to know when to expect Buffy home and when to start worrying if her daughter was dead in a ditch somewhere. And boy did that phrase take on a whole new meaning now. Now it was all too entirely possible and not just something someone said to make a loved one go on a guilt trip for being late and not calling.
“Right now?” Buffy asked and Joyce nodded.
Angel looked at a 18th century painting on the wall behind Hank and Joyce and quietly spoke up, “Right now, there is a trio of very dangerous vampires in Sunnydale. One of them has marked Buffy and me as his ‘target’. We need to find him before he gets you, Mr. Summers, Giles, Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, or Miss Calendar alone. If he finds you without one of us around to protect you, then you’re dead. He likes to tortures his ‘targets’ before he kills them. And killing everyone close to the ‘target’ is just one of his torture techniques and it’s only the first that he will use.
“The other two are just as dangerous, but I think that once we defeat Devlin, Spike and Drusilla will be a lot easier to take care of.”
“So what time do you have to be patrolling?” Joyce asked.
“Well, we need to start at sunset and keep patrolling until we find out where Devlin, Dru, and Spike are,” Angel said.
“So, Buffy, I won’t have to reschedule your doctor’s appoint. It’s at 4 on Tuesday afternoon.”
“It won’t interfere with the slaying,” Buffy said.
“I’m still not happy about this Slaying thing. But apparently I don’t have a say in it,” Joyce angrily said.
Hank finally spoke up, “I would love to say ‘No sex,’ but I know it didn’t work with us and I don’t expect it to work with you. So, I’m going to have to agree with your mother on the rules. No sex in either of our houses, and if you do spend the night with Angel, then we are to know that is where you are. And protection is to be used at all times.”
“Angel can stay here, but when he does, Buffy, your bedroom door stays open.”
Angel and Buffy nodded. Even though they didn’t need to use protection, they would say that they were using to soothe her parents. Hank thought, I really don’t want to agree to that, but he is a vampire that could hurt me if I tried to banish him from seeing my daughter. Besides, Buffy looks like she loves him like Joyce and I loved each other in the beginning. Maybe if we had these rules, things would have turned out different. But out loud he said, “Same goes for when you’re visiting my house.”
Angel and Buffy nodded again.
“Buffy come help me in the kitchen,” Joyce said and got up to go to the kitchen. Buffy followed her.
“Angel, I don’t know you very well, but it seems as though Buffy loves you. Just what are your intentions?” Hank inquired trying to do the fatherly thing and give his daughter’s boyfriend the third degree. Joyce had left the two of them together alone and he took that to mean that she wanted him to grill the vampire.
“Sir, if Buffy wanted to, I’d marry her right this second,” Angel answered truthfully.
Hank’s mind just raced with this news. If she marries him, we won’t have to worry about pregnancy and I wouldn’t have to pay child support. “If she agrees to that, I’ll give my consent,” Hank said.
Angel was surprised, “You would?”
“Yes, I will. And I will do my best to convince Joyce as well,” then Hank hastily added, “But you have to make sure that she stays in school.” After all he had to sound like he was doing this for Buffy’s happiness and that the fact that he wouldn’t have to pay child support anymore didn’t have anything to do with it.
“Of course. School is important. I’ll send her to any collage that she wants to go to after she graduates from high school,” Angel strongly agreed.
“Fine, then we’re agreed. But just so you know, I’m not going to force her to marry you. She has to want to marry you.” Even though Hank was afraid of the vampire in front of him, he was against forced marriage. He had been forced to marry Joyce and it ended badly. He didn’t want Buffy to go through the same thing. Even if it meant him having to pay child support for the next year.
“Yes, Sir. I understand,” Angel was shocked that her parents were taking this so well. He had been expecting to be staring at the business end of a shotgun. Well ok that was before they found out that he was a vampire. After he revealed to them that he was a member of the undead, he thought for sure that Hank would stake him. He knew that things had changed since his day, but he didn’t think that they had changed that much. He had no idea that Hank was being this compliant because he was afraid of what the vampire would do to him if he didn’t agree to everything.
In the kitchen Buffy and Joyce were preparing the salad. Joyce noticed the claddagh ring on Buffy’s left hand. “That’s a pretty ring. Where did you get it?”
“You mean the claddagh?”
“Yeah.”
“Angel gave it to me for my birthday,” Buffy smiled.
Joyce nodded. “He’s not 24 is he?”
Buffy sighed, “No, but you wouldn’t have believed me if I had told you how old he really was.”
“How old is he?”
“He was born in Ireland in 1727 and he was turned in 1753.”
“Wow. So he’s over 200?” Joyce asked shocked. Her baby’s boyfriend was older than the United States of America.
“Yeah.”
“Did he tell you what the claddagh meant?” Joyce asked. She didn’t know Angel well enough to make a judgment on this kind of thing. Who was she kidding? She didn’t know him at all. But she was determined to fix that. She would get to know him.
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, in my line of work, I’ve heard of the claddagh and I know the history behind it. And I was just wondering if you knew.”
Buffy looked up from dicing tomatoes and said, “If this was 1700’s Ireland, we would have been married when he gave me the ring.”
Joyce nodded. “Are you that serious about your relationship with him?”
“Yes I am and I really don’t think he would have given me his mother’s wedding ring if he wasn’t. But I’m too young to get married legally without your and Dad’s permission.”
I was a year younger when I married her father. But look how that turned out. But then again, Mr. Giles said that she might not live that much longer. I want her to be happy. “Do you think that you could be happy being married to Angel?”
“Yes,” Buffy replied without hesitation, but she was confused by the question.
“I don’t mean for just a few years, Buffy. I mean for the rest of your long life,” Joyce stressed the word long. If she had anything to do with it, Buffy would out live her.
“Mom, you heard Giles. Slayers don’t have a long life expectancy,” Buffy had long ago resigned herself to that fact, now she was trying to prepare her mother.
“Buffy, Mr. Giles also said that you are different from other Slayers. Now I believe that you will grow old and die of natural causes,” Buffy smiled at her mother. “Now, do you think that you could be happy with Angel as you age and he stays looking 26?”
“Yes,” Buffy answered again without hesitation.
“You would have to stay in school.”
Buffy was confused so she looked up and asked, “What?”
“If I were to give you permission to legally marry Angel, one of the conditions would be that you stay in school,” Joyce said as she looked into her daughter’s eyes.
Buffy raised an eyebrow, “Ok. Um. What about Dad?”
“You let me deal with him. You just be sure that Angel is as serious as that ring implies.”
Buffy smiled. “Thanks, Mom,” she said as she hugged her mother.
After a pleasant dinner, Buffy and Angel left to patrol and Hank stayed to help Joyce clean up the dishes. As they cleaned the dishes from dinner, Hank talked to Joyce about letting Buffy and Angel marry now instead of making them wait a year and them getting married with or without their permission. At least this way they could make sure that Buffy stayed in school. Also Buffy would be happy and they wouldn’t force this on them.
Joyce let Hank talk and then agreed to what he was saying. She just let him believe that he had talked her into it.
When Buffy and Angel returned from patrol, Buffy was covered in purple slime. “You know, it’s not fair. Why am I covered in purple slime and you’re not?”
“Because I was far enough away when you beheaded the Mataza Niño Diablo,” Angel answered with a smile.
“I feel all gross and yucky.”
“I think you’re beautiful covered in demon slime.”
“That’s…sweet…gross, but sweet,” Buffy said.
Angel smiled, “Go get cleaned up before you start itching. The blood of Mataza Niño Diablo will make you itch if you don’t wash it off quickly.”
“Ok. I’m going to go take a shower,” Buffy smiled as she stood up on her tiptoes to get a quick kiss from her lover.
As Angel watched Buffy walk up the stairs, Joyce and Hank entered the foyer from the living room and saw their daughter covered in the demon’s purple slimy blood.
“What is that all over her?” Joyce asked.
“Oh, Uh… We killed a Mataza Niño Diablo.” When he saw their confused faces he said, “They’re usually only in South America, but we killed it before we found out why it was here.” Joyce and Hank still had blank faces waiting for information, so Angel continued, “They kill children and eat their brains.” Joyce’s face went pale. “Don’t worry, it’s dead. When Buffy killed it, its blood splattered all over her.”
“Ok. All you had to say was that she had demon blood all over her,” Hank said.
“Oh well, I misunderstood. I thought you were asking what kind of demon.”
“I’m going to go get her a towel from the laundry room,” Joyce said. She went down to the laundry room, grabbed a couple of towels from the dryer and walked up the stairs to the bathroom door and knocked, “Buffy, I have some towels for you.”
Buffy opened the door and took the towels and said, “Thanks, Mom.”
As Buffy showered, Hank and Joyce talked with Angel. “Angel, I’ve talked with Joyce and I’ve convinced her that Buffy’s happiness comes first. So we will sign any forms we need to for Buffy and you to get married—if that is what Buffy wants—as long as she stays in school. However, as her parents, we need to know, how are you going to support her?” Hank asked.
Angel was visibly uncomfortable, “I have several investments and I own a few businesses. If you’re worried about Buffy not getting everything that she needs, you don’t need to. Buffy will never want for anything.”
“Do you mind us asking which businesses you own?” Joyce asked.
“Well, Buffy and I haven’t really talked about this so she doesn’t know, but if it will help to put your minds at ease, I own The Bronze, L.A.M. Jewelry, Kathy’s Emporium, Sean’s Men’s Wear, Ashlyn’s Restaurant, just to name a few here in Sunnydale. If you want to know everything that I own, you can check under MacKenzie Enterprises.”
“You own the most expensive and from what hear, the best restaurant in town?” Joyce asked impressed.
“Well, I wouldn’t know about the best…” Angel said modestly.
“Well, my clients are always impressed when we come up here for dinner at Ashlyn’s,” Hank said.
If a vampire could blush, Angel would have been blushing. “It’s just authentic old Irish cooking.”
“The way your mother cooked?” Joyce asked genuinely curious.
“Well, the way our servant cooked,” Angel shrugged.
After half an hour, Buffy came into the living room dressed in a pair of gray sweet pants and a T-Shirt. “Well, I feel all better now,” she announced as she looked at her parents and the love of her life.
“Well, I have an early appointment in the morning and it’s a thirty minute drive to L.A. and another half hour to the house. I wanted to tell Buffy bye before I left though.” Hank gave his daughter a hug and said, “Call me when you get a break in Slaying and you can come see me.”
Buffy smiled, “OK.” She was surprised that he actually came over and then stayed to say goodbye to her. Her father seemed too busy for her lately. So it was a nice surprise to see him take the time out of his schedule to come and play the part of the father that he was supposed to be.
After Hank left, Buffy and Angel went upstairs to Buffy’s room and Angel called Giles to tell him about the Mataza Niño Diablo while Buffy did her homework. Joyce was downstairs in her office on her computer. She looked up MacKenzie Enterprises and sure enough, it listed all the businesses that were owned by Angel. It listed everything that Angel had told her and Hank and more. It seemed as though Angel also owned some rental houses as well as an apartment complex. He also owned more businesses than what he had told them. Some of his businesses were national and he even had a couple international businesses. If Angel was indeed the owner of MacKenzie Enterprises as he claimed to be, and at this point Joyce had no reason not to believe him, then he was very rich. She was very impressed. Of course, he had been alive for more than 200 years. He had to have made money some how. And he seemed to be very good at investing his money.
After Buffy finished her homework, Angel debated on whether or not to tell her now or wait until later to tell her that her parents had agreed to sign the consent forms for her to marry him. He decided to wait. They climbed into bed and fell asleep in each others’ arms with her bedroom door opened. When Joyce passed by Buffy’s room an hour later, she couldn’t help but notice that Buffy was smiling in her sleep. She also noticed how comfortable the couple looked and how they looked like they belonged in each other’s arms.
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Chapter 5 Teen
Chaprer 5 NC-17
