Part XV

“Honey, can I come in?” Joyce Summers asked knocking on Buffy’s closed door.

Wiping the tears that still clung to her face after her little talk with Giles, Buffy concealed her sad voice and answered with fake happiness, “Come on in.”

Joyce walked across the room to where her daughter sat on the edge of the bed just staring at the wall ahead of her. Sitting down next to her, Joyce placed a comforting hand on Buffy’s knee. “You know, if something is wrong, you can tell me. I may not truly understand the slayer portion of you life but I have read all the parenting books and I might understand,” Joyce said while patting her daughter lightly on the knee.

“I don’t know if you can,” Buffy answered in a muffled whisper.

“Well, I think the operative word here is might,” Joyce chuckled.

Hearing her mother’s soft laugh, Buffy couldn’t help to stop the smile that spread across her face. Her mother had that knack about her. Joyce could always comfort her even when her world seemed to be falling into the tiniest pieces imaginable, which it certainly did often. Apocalypse after apocalypse, Joyce Summers was always there for her daughter and that made Buffy even more miserable was the fact that she had a wonderful mother, why not a father?

“Come on, you can tell me,” Joyce nudged her daughter gently with her shoulder.

The only response that was given was complete silence. Huffing quietly to herself, Joyce decided to initiate one of the most time-honored traditions that all mothers have the awesome capability to possess – the art of prying.

“Ok, let me guess. Umm…” she said aloud and looked toward the ceiling. “Boy difficulties.” Joyce noticed the slight twinkle in her daughter’s eyes when she made her first guess. “With that look, I think I am getting somewhere. Now the question is, what kind of boy troubles? Too many, not enough?”

“Probably too many,” Buffy admitted to her mother thinking about Angelus and their night together while Joyce was out on business. Then her mind went to Giles and the betrayal that she felt when he heard his conversation with the Watcher’s Council about her.

“Well, you know what the best cure for that is?” Joyce asked with a large grin on her face.

“’Thelma and Louise!’” they both said at the exact same moment and started laughing.

“So what to you say? We could eat raw cookie dough, lounge in our pajamas and watch movies all night?” Joyce offered her daughter. “All perfect remedies to the problems caused by the male species.”

Before Buffy could answer her mother’s question, the phone in her room began to ring shrilly. Sighing and leaning across the bed to pick up the phone, Buffy found out that it was for her mother.

Buffy waited patiently while her mother talked on the phone with some person whose voice she didn’t recognize. Hearing her mother end her conversation, she turned back around to respond to her mom’s proposal.

“You what, that sounds…” Buffy started saying but was suddenly cut off by Joyce’s voice.

“They need me in LA by tonight for something really, really important with the gallery. So can we do the angry girl movie night some other time?” Joyce asked apologetically.

Shrugging in submission, “Sure, no problem. The gang wanted to go to the Bronze tonight and I said that I would go.”

“Rain check issued,” Joyce said as she walked towards her daughter’s door.

“Rain check accepted,” Buffy said as she watched her mother leave for her room to pack up for her trip. Alone in her room, Buffy stood up to look in her closet for the clothing of choice for tonight’s festivities.

~ ~ ~

Buffy’s stay in a quiet house was quickly sudden burst of friends streaming into her house. From all the way up the stairs with her door closed, she could still hear the constant bickering between Cordelia and Xander in the downstairs. “So what have you been doing lately up in LA, Cordy? Polishing your knife collection?” Xander asked with malice in his voice.

“Actually, yes,” Cordy admitted sarcastically. “Every single one particularly matching to my fashion taste. Does anyone have a dictionary in here? Xander probably doesn’t understand what fashion sense is so I think we may need to look it up for him.”

“Same old Xander and Cordy,” Buffy softly laughed to herself as she walked out of her room and down the stairs where the heated battle continued to be waged. “It is nice to have the whole group back together in Sunnydale, don’t you think?” she said aloud breaking up the argument for a few seconds at least.

“Hey Buff,” Xander greeted.

“Hey everyone. Now, Doyle, are you regretting coming here now?” Buffy directed her attention to the man that had his arm draped around Cordy’s shoulders.

“It like being in the middle of bar fights before the punches. I am enjoying myself quite a lot actually,” he admitted.

“Can we go now?” Cordelia whined. “We can drive.”

“Oh, driving means no walking. I second that!” Xander exclaimed suddenly.

“And how long did it take you to figure that one out slick,” Cordy shot back at her ex-boyfriend. “You are not going in my car.”

“Why would I want to go in your car, anyway? I may mess up the interior and you will have your daily hissy-fit,” Xander quipped.

“Xander didn’t you drive?” Willow asked meekly hoping to stop the fight.

“Oh yeah. Now I remember,” Xander recalled. “I have my own car, thank you very much.”

“I think we should probably get out of here for blood is shed between these two,” Tara offered.

“Good idea,” Buffy said while she pushed everyone out of her house.

Getting in their designated cars, the short trip to the Bronze was relatively uneventful due to the fact that ‘the Bickersons’ were separated for a moment.

Leaning over to whisper in her friend’s ear, Willow asked, “Do you think Angelus is going to be here tonight?”

A smirk went across Buffy’s face, “Not sure, I guess we will just have to find out.”

The rest of the car ride was spent in near silence and as soon as they were parked, the gang spilled out of their cars and made there way towards the Bronze. Keeping Cordelia and Xander in opposite ends of the group, the air that was placed around them was relatively civil. But then suddenly a scream was heard in the alley next to the club.

“Oooooh, I smell a trial coming on,” Cordy said excitedly as the group began to sprint in the direction of the cry.

Stopping suddenly in eyesight of the vampire as he attacked an unwilling bystander, Buffy turned to the girls in the group, “You guys ready?”

“Ready as ever?” Willow agreed with the petite slayer.

Turning back towards the vampire in question, Buffy yelled, “What is your obsession of giving people massive hickeys?? It is not a very appealing custom.”

“SLAYER!!” the vampire growled as he threw his victim to the ground where he promptly ran from the scene.

Powerfully stepping to the tall creature in the dark alley, Buffy continued on with her taunting and faux crying, “Is that all I am to you people?? I am so not feeling the love in the room.”

Hearing its last slam, the vampire quickly attacked Buffy where she began to initiate their hand-to-hand combat. Punch for punch, kick for kick, Buffy was easily getting the upper hand in this fight.

“Sounds like that one has not very good technique,” Willow noted aloud.

“I AGREE!” Buffy grunted while she ducked from one of his punches.

“Ok, and what is with the holey jeans?? That look is so passé, especially with the patches that cover up some of those holes,” Cordy huffed.

“What are you guys doing?” Xander asked in total confusion. “Why are you acting like Dick Vitale in a basketball game?”

“Don’t worry, honey,” Anya said to her boyfriend. “You will understand later.”

“SO CAN I KILL IT NOW!!” Buffy grunted still not staking the vampire.

“I don’t know. I think he is kind of cute,” Anya admitted to the crowd.

“WHAT???!!” Xander yelled at his girlfriend. “Are you on something, An?”

“I think for once, I will have to agree with Xander on this one,” Cordy agreed. “That guy belongs in an ashtray.”

“Oh My God, the world is coming to an end. XANDER AND CORDELIA AGREE ON SOMETHING!! Buffy stake him quick because the apocalypse is just around the corner,” Willow laughed to her friend while Buffy promptly drew a stake from the back of her pants and implanted it into the heart of the vampire.

Walking back over to her friends and dusting off her tight jeans and backless tank top, Buffy chastised her judging panel, “Jeez, took you guys long enough.”

“Sorry,” Willow, Tara, Anya and Cordelia said at the same time.

“Well you know, no harm no foul. I say we Bronze it now,” Buffy shrugged jokingly at her friends as they walked out of the alley not paying attention to the two pairs of eyes that camouflaged themselves in the shadows.

~ ~ ~

Sitting at their usual table, Cordy and Xander yet again one more time decided to declare their proverbial war of slashing words.

“Not to break up anything here, but my feet can’t hold still any longer, I feel a dance coming on,” Buffy admitted as she excused herself from the table and walked toward the dance floor.

In the back of her mind, Buffy prayed that Angelus would come to her the exact same way that he had the first time that they had met. Something tingling across her skin was telling her that that would be quite probable tonight. Swaying her hips seductively to the music, she hoped that her movements would pull the tall, dark vampire in her direction.

~ ~ ~

Angelus could barely stand there in the shadows watching her exquisite body move to the strong beats coming from the loud speakers. Throughout that entire day, he could smell her on his skin and no matter how hard he tried, her aroma could not be removed.

// Everywhere I go I see your face

every sound I hear is the sound of your voice

why are you haunting me

why can't I let you go?//

If he had a heart that could beat right now, it would probably be throbbing a mile a minute as he watched her hips roll to the music and her hair flow wispily across her shoulders. Her smell permeated on him stronger as he felt his arousal start to jut painfully against his confining pants.

//So everything about me is a lie

Or at least it seems that way

When I look into your eyes

The truth scares the shit out of me

Whoever said love is blood and love is real

Has never felt the way I feel//

The demon and the man screamed inside his body to drag her away from the dance floor and slam her against the nearest wall. She was just too beautiful and to not touch her and be inside her again was complete agony.

//What does it matter

What's done is done and I should

Get on with my life

Why are you haunting me?

Well I don't know what it is

But I can't seem to make myself forget

Was it something that you said

Or is it all the guilt inside my head

Why are you haunting me?//

Hearing the song suddenly come to an end, Angelus decided that it was just about time to make himself known to the woman that he would claim again tonight. Weaving between all the sweaty bodies that stood in the middle of the club, he was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone abruptly grab his slayer by the hips and pull her into his chest. Everything inside him began to boil at the thought of this.

“SPIKE!!”

Part XVI

The beat of the haunting song reverberated in Buffy’s ears as her body swayed to the music in mimic of her one night with Angel. The rhythm flooded her body and echoed throughout the room, calling out for its mate. The entire world just melted away as she caught herself completely entranced in the words, her movements, and her dreams of him.

Buffy felt warm bodies and hot hands graze her bare back and leather bound legs but she made no recognition of them. Her body wanted one that contains in itself no warmth, but that would be warmed by the heat of their bodies becoming one. With her eyes closed, she dreamt of him. The icy touch that sent shock waves throughout her body and sent her mind reeling. The hard, muscular body that covered hers and marked her as its own. Those dark eyes that portrayed much passion and fire. Silently, she called out to him in hopes that he would hear her.

As the song slowly came to its close, something inside her body was screaming at her telling her that Angelus was near. Not wanting to stop her dancing, Buffy continued on hoping that it would draw him closer to her. A small smile began to creep across her face as suddenly she felt two cold hands grip her hips tightly in their strong grasp. But something was odd about this touch, these hands were just as cold as his, but it wasn’t Angelus.

Shocked suddenly, Buffy turned around quickly to meet the person whose hands they belonged to. She found herself looking at a face that was new to her. But from the physical descriptions that Anya had told her, Buffy could assume who he was.

“Spike!” she hissed as she stared coldly into his steely eyes.

“Hey there, cutie,” he whispered as he still kept a strong grasp on her waist and hips. “Miss me?”

“How would I miss you when I don’t think I have met you before?” Buffy inquired. With how close he held her body, Buffy could not look around him to see if Angelus was there but she knew he was. Something deep down in her soul was yelling his name as if he was lost somewhere in the crowd and it was desperate for him to be found.

“Well,” he sighed, “You know me. Always looking for a party and I hear that Sunnydale has the biggest rave you have ever seen.” Spike leaned over to the side a little for Buffy to catch a glimpse of her dark vampire standing deep in the abyss of people at the Bronze. The mark that he left on her skin burned slightly as she saw his eyes and body flare with anger at her closeness with Spike.

A slight smirk traveled across her face as she saw him standing over there, clenching and unclenching his fists in anger. ‘Now let’s have a little fun,’ she thought to herself sinisterly.

“Well, actually I don’t know you but are you looking for a party?” she asked with the slightest hint of seduction in her voice and moving closer to him to grind her soft body into his. Leaning in to whisper into his ear, she hiss, “I think you came to the right place.”

“Oh really??” he asked as he moved his body closer into hers and felt her small hands snake around his gaunt back and lightly move across his ass.

Another sinister smile spread across Buffy’s face as she felt his obvious arousal press into her abdomen as she ground herself into him. ‘I hope Angelus is liking the view,’ she thought as she felt his anger boil to scalding measures.

Breaking away suddenly from his grip, Buffy sneered at the anorexic vampire. “If you want some, come and get it!” Turning about face and sauntering off of the dance floor, Buffy left Spike standing there wondering what in the world she is planning on doing.

Walking away from Spike, Buffy could feel Angelus follow her as she exited the Bronze to get some air. Even though her body was so close to Spike’s, it didn’t once produce the kind of electricity that shot through her veins when Angelus was 20 feet away from her. “I hope you liked the view,” Buffy called out knowing that Angelus could hear her cry.

“Actually no,” he growled as he emerged from one of the many shadows that were scattered in that alleyway.

In mock fashion, she shook her head, “Well then, next time I am just going to have to try a little harder, don’t you think??”

Suddenly sprinting her direction, Angelus caused Buffy to retreat backwards so that her back was pressed firmly against the hard brick wall and he had her cornered there. “What makes you think there will be a next time?” he growled as he ground his body into hers and clasped her petite wrists in his large hands and raised her arms over her head.

His closeness to her was sending shock waves throughout her body and she felt her wetness start to seep through her underwear as she felt his large erection nudge into her. Her mind was clouded with lust for this man and suddenly her knowledge of many different words seemed to escape from her memory. Looking deeply into his dark eyes, she was completely lost but then she thought of something to say. “I have to keep my options open, there are just too many choices that I have for a mission that I am working on.”

“Well, let me narrow your number of choices for you,” Angelus whispered breathily in her ear as his cool mouth began to softly nibble at her pale neck.

All breath was caught in her throat as his lips traveled across her face, placing feather light kisses on her highly stimulated skin. Buffy could no longer suppress the faint moan that escaped her lips as his body moved against hers and his hands that roamed across her body and underneath her small tank top.

Promptly lifting her body up from the ground, Angelus felt her muscular legs wrap around his waist as their tongues dueled in each other’s mouths. Buffy felt his human visage slowly melt away as she scraped her tongue across his elongated fangs to draw some blood and let it tantalize his tongue.

Suddenly Buffy broke away from his embrace and pushed him away from the wall. “I don’t know. I could find better, I guess you will just have to prove me otherwise,” Buffy said as she sprinted away from him and he promptly followed to wherever she was planning on going.

~ ~ ~

“Uh, guys. Has anyone seen Buffy in a while?” Xander asked as he scanned the Bronze for any sign of the petite slayer.

Shaking her head, Tara responded, “No, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“We should probably find her. She might be in trouble and needs our help,” he added in concern.

“Xander,” Willow tried to calm her friend. “How long has she been the slayer?”

“I guess five years or so,” Xander admitted.

“And how many brain cells have you lost by trying to go out and help her when she can handle herself perfectly?

“Uh…” he said aloud.

“My point exactly. She is fine. I saw her only a few moments ago with some blonde guy on the dance floor, she is probably out there with him.”

“Did anyone recognize him?” Cordelia asked the group.

“Oh, that was Spike,” Anya admitted nonchalantly.

“Spike! As in Spike from the list?” Tara asked.

“One in the same,” Anya continued.

“You were so right about him. That is the first anorexic vampire that I have ever seen,” Cordy laughed to herself. “It is almost scary that I actually believe that he should eat more.”

“Where’s a camera when you need one?” Willow laughed. “But don’t worry, Xander. Buffy can handle herself.” ‘I just wonder what Angelus is going to do when he figures out what she is doing with Spike.’

~ ~ ~

Buffy was almost out of breath when she finally made her way back to her front porch. She knew that Angelus had chased her all the way back her and she was just waiting for him to make another appearance of that night.

Right when Buffy turned to face towards her street, she came right around to find Angelus’ lips dominating hers in a passionate kiss. Her body became so limp under his administrations that she almost fell over under the sheer force of his presence in front of her.

Breaking away from his kiss to catch her breath, she seductive murmured into his ear, “You made the journey all over here, maybe we can make the best of it. Would you like to come in?” she asked as she tightly gripped the front of his dark silk shirt and dragged him into her home.

As soon as Angelus stepped across the threshold, Buffy fiercely attacked his lips and body with her own. Responding with equal ardor, Angelus wrapped his strong arms around her tiny body and lifted her off the ground to pull her more tightly into his chest.

“Bed. Need bed,” he moaned in her lips as she overpowered him with want.

“Upstairs,” she breathed into him as he pulled her up so that he could easily sprint up the stairs to her room. “First one on the left.”

Abiding to her commands, Angelus pushed himself into her room where he gingerly laid her welcoming body onto the bed. Exerting most of his weight on top of her body, he ground his hips into hers and she rapidly responded to his actions by returning them with equal force.

Needing to touch the cool skin on his chest, Buffy promptly tore away the silky material of his shirt off his body and it opened for her wandering hands. Any remnants of unneeded breath caught in his dead lungs as he felt her soft fingertips trace the chiseled lines of his chest.

With his hands behind her back, he quickly undid the strings that held the backless tank top together and pushed it off her shoulders to reveal her perfectly rounded breasts. Gently Angelus moved his mouth to one of her erect nipples and slowly made circles around the swollen tip with his talented tongue.

Her mind was completely caught up in the motions of his exquisite mouth that she failed to notice his hands moved down her body and begin to undo her pants and slide them down her body along with her already soaking underwear. Buffy moved her hands down his chest to lightly rub the skin just below the waist line of his pants and begin to unfasten the fly to his smooth leather pants.

In a matter of moments, both Angelus and Buffy were completely nude, preparing themselves to become one. Posing himself between her milky thighs, Angelus quickly thrust himself to the hilt into her dripping core where she swiftly arched her body to bury him deeper in to her body.

With inhuman speed, he began to slam her petite body harshly into the soft mattress as her legs wrapped around his torso bring him in closer to her.

“Angelus,” Buffy began to moan as she felt her climax come to her with impressive speed with every new thrust into her slick passage. His body in hers felt completely right and nothing could stop Buffy from loving every inch of him.

He couldn’t suppress the growl that was forming in his throat as he felt her muscles spasm and clench around his erect cock. The demon inside his body wanted to roar with pleasure as he fit perfectly inside her body.

Once again the demon visage came upon his countenance as he scraped his teeth along the soft column of her neck causing her body to wriggle more under his immense weight. Feeling their climaxes coming at the exact same moment, Angelus bit down on her neck and felt her hot ambrosia flood his senses.

His bite again caused her reach her peak and her body milked every bit of cold seed into her womb.

For a few moments, the two lovers laid in complete motionlessness as their bodies still were entwined in each other. Angelus licked the remnants of blood from her broken skin then moved his lips over to hers and placed a tender kiss of her soft lips.

Carefully he removed himself from her body but never let his touch waver from her glistening body. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her in closer to his body.

“Do you have a decision yet over all those choices?” Angelus whispered in her ear.

“Not yet, I will have to see in the morning,” Buffy said as she turned to look into his beautiful eyes. “Spike might take your place in my bed if I don’t find you here.”

Hearing his childe’s name, Angelus felt his anger boil all over again. “If he ever touches you, I will cut off his dick even before he bats an eye,” he growled.

“Then don’t leave me,” Buffy commanded.

“Wasn’t planning on to,” he admitted honestly. ‘Where did that come from?’ he asked himself as his hand yet again wandered down her abdomen to where his child will lay one of these days. ‘But first, I have to have a little heart to hear with the blonde vampire.’

Part XVII

“Guys, uh Buffy has been gone a really long time. Don’t you think we should go out looking for her?” Xander asked the group with a little more pertinence in his voice.

“God, Xander, and people call me the nosy one!” Cordelia exclaimed aloud tried of hearing his overprotection of the blonde slayer. “Whatever she is doing now I am pretty sure she can handle herself.”

“Besides that, I think she will probably be keeping quite busy tonight with those two vampires just dying to get in her pants,” Anya said quickly before she could think about what was going to pop out of her mouth.

Hearing her comment, the rest of the girls at the table sent her piercing glares while Willow quickly elbowed her in the side to tell her to be quiet. Growling and rubbing her side, Anya mumbled, “What was that for, Willow?? You saw what she was doing on the dance floor with Spike and before with Angelus, what do you think they are planning on doing tonight.”

“ANYA!!” Tara, Willow and Cordelia all chastised through gritted teeth.

“Anderxay siay otnay upposedsay otay nowkay,” Willow whispered aloud to the ex-demon.

“If you want me not to tell Xander something at least you can say it in English,” Anya whispered back at Willow when Xander was able to hear his name in their conversation.

“What about Xander?” he asked.

“Um that…” Doyle was quickly trying to recover from their little slip up. “Buffy and the rest of the girls here didn’t want you to know the little secret they are planning on doing for a present for Giles’.”

“And why do you know and not me?” Xander asked the new guy of the group.

Cordelia quickly came in with a new lie. “Well, since he is a new person of the Scooby group, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal to tell him.” Now adding a little more Cordy-esque attitude, “Whereas you on the other hand is an open book where Giles can extract all the information he can from you by using convoluted vocabulary that you have no idea in the least to comprehend. And using your mental state, he can tell exactly what is going through your mind.”

“Right?” Xander muttered in confusion. “Now I understood a few words in that sentence, maybe it was a good idea not to tell me. But will you tell me now?”

“NO!!!!!!” Willow, Tara and Cordelia all screamed at the same time.

“It’s still too early,” Tara meekly admitted. “But we will let you know if the time is right.”

“Is anyone else bored now?” Anya stated quickly changing the topic of conversation. “I want to go home.” Grabbing Xander’s arm sharply, she dragged him out of his chair and onto his feet.

“It is getting pretty late and I… I mean we have school tomorrow,” Willow added while looking back at her girlfriend and smiling.

“Well, I guess that means we should be shoving off as well, ‘Delia,” Doyle joined in the departures. “See you guys later?”

Almost at the same time, the entire group stood up from their table and made their way out of the Bronze. Xander was still nervous about not seeing his friend in a long time so his eyes continued to wander across the club in search of Buffy.

From person to person, Xander could not find the slayer but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the blonde man’s profile that she had been dancing with on the floor. Staring at him keenly, he watched as the blonde man’s head turned to face toward him. The slightest hint of amber was found the deep recesses of the man’s eyes and a tiny trail of dark liquid trickled from the corner of his mouth.

‘Oh My God!’ Xander thought to himself. ‘Buffy!’ But before he could and confront the man, Anya held onto his arm tightly and refused to let him backtrack into the club to investigate what he just saw. ‘Is Buffy in trouble?’

~ ~ ~

When Buffy finally opened her eyes in the morning, she actually was surprised to find Angelus still lying in her bed next to her with his arm draped across her small waist. A small smile spread across her face as she reached down with her hand and laced her fingers with his as they lie on her stomach.

Looking over at the clock that was on the nightstand beside her bed, she noticed that she had to meet Giles for her morning check-up with him. ‘Just another Tuesday in Sunnydale,’ she stated to herself as she slowly began to wiggle her way out of her slumbering lover’s tight grasp.

Finally releasing herself from his arms, she heard a faint growl in the back of his throat as soon as she was no longer in contact with him. “I know how you feel but I really need to take a shower,” she whispered to him as she stood up from the bed and made her way to the bathroom, not even covering her nakedness.

Alone in her bedroom, Angelus was suddenly stirred awake when he noticed that his slayer was no longer lying next to him. A roar wanted to rumble from his throat as the demon inside his body screamed at her absence from him. Looking over at the pillow next to him, he expected to find another one of her notes to him but instead found nothing. ‘Where is she?’ he snarled as took a sniff of the air in order to see where her scent would lead him.

Angelus’ ears suddenly perked up as he heard the sound of water running in one of the opposite rooms in the upstairs. Reaching down across the floor from the bed, Angelus searched for his boxers that he had discarded last night. As soon as he found them, he slipped them on and ventured out of her room to find out where his slayer would be.

Her scent of vanilla was increasing with every step he took towards the room where he knew that she was probably showering in. He felt himself grow quite hard as he breathed in her fresh aroma and imagined the steaming water trickle down her body, caressing her flat stomach and hugging her muscular legs.

Reaching down and turning the knob on the door to open it, Angelus was promptly attacked by the boiling steam that covered the room like a blanket. The steam smelled of her and through the tiny droplets of water he could taste her in his mouth. Angelus was forced to squint his eyes slightly to cut through the think opaque material that shrouded the room and blocked his view of her exquisite body.

Finally his eyesight sliced through the thick steam and he saw her bending over in the middle of the shower, using her hands to slowly caress her legs as they moved up towards her hips. It was probably a good thing that he didn’t need to breath because it felt like all the oxygen in the room was vacuumed clean out of there as he watched her run her small hands through her darkened blonde hair, slicked back by the water cascading down on her.

Unable to control himself any longer, he sauntered through the dense cloud and opened the shower door so that he was standing behind her as soon as he stepped inside.

Buffy knew he had been in the room with her the entire time; she was just waiting for the moment when he would join her in this shower. She felt her back crushed up against his chest as he smoothed his hands around her body, one hand holding tightly to abdomen where the other made its way up to her breast where his palm began to slowly massage it in gentle circles.

“I thought you left me,” he whispered in her ear as she began to rub her ass into his increasing engorged arousal. “I was getting a little upset with you.”

“Well, now you know what it feels like,” Buffy responded back to him in a faint moan.

Harshly, Angelus grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him where he promptly took possession of her lips in a heated and passionate kiss. Buffy wrapped her arms around his body to pull herself in closer to his muscular chest.

Buffy groaned softly as she felt his hands wander across her damp skin and venture down towards her moist core. Dipping two fingers into her slick heat, he lightly teased her by circling her swollen nub with the tips of his fingers. Her hands at the exact same moment were traveling across his broad back and finally made their destined location at his ass where she squeezed his firm cheeks and pulled him closer into her.

Scalding water continued on trickling down their entwined bodies as Angelus lifted his petite lover off of her feet and pushed her welcoming body into the tiled wall of the stall. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she felt him positioning his arousal at her entrance. Dropping her body down slowly on top of his impressive length, he inserted himself inside her with agonizing slowness. Inhibiting her from moving so that he filled her all the way, he made shallow thrusts into her body to tease her.

Angelus removed his mouth from hers and slowly began to trace tiny featherlike kisses across her jaw-line to her ear where he gently pulled her earlobe into her mouth and played with her flesh with his tongue.

He heard her frustrated growl as she clenched his ass a little tighter hoping to entice him to fill her completely. A sinister smile spread across his countenance as he felt her arched her small body into him trying to have him rub all of the sensitive spots inside her body.

Feeling him lightly graze the inside of her, she finally felt her vaginal muscles begin to flutter around his erect cock as he moved his hand faster around her tumescent clit. Moaning softly she felt herself start to build her climax as Angelus began to move more deeply inside her body.

At the moment that her vaginal walls clenched around him, he thrust himself quickly inside her filling her completely. Completely inside her, she dug her nails forcefully into his strong shoulders as he began to drive her harder into the smooth tile on the wall.

No matter how many times that he would penetrate her, Angelus was still surprised at how tight she was. Her movements under his administrations were bringing him on the brink of insanity and he could no longer suppress his animalistic need of her. The primal force of this necessity was beyond both demon and human comprehension even though Angelus didn’t want to understand this as he began to lose himself in her strong body.

Unleashing the demon within, his inhuman strength was entirely thrown at his slayer, which she promptly responded to with equal ardor. Buffy screamed his name as he pushed himself all the way to her cervix. With a force able to crack the hard tile and pinching her aroused clit, he thrust into her one last time before he felt her supple body milk every last drop of seed from his cold body with her fourth orgasm of the morning.

Each being totally satiated, their bodies became so soft and limber that they crushed into each other to keep them from falling to the ground. Angelus refused to remove himself from her body as he met her lips in another emotional kiss, which let all the emotions they felt for each other in the open. Buffy removed her hands from his back and shoulders and began to run her fingers through his almost black hair.

Breaking the kiss and stepping back from her, Angelus turned around to pick up the shampoo that was sitting on the ledge of the tub that she was about to use before he decided to join her under the water. Moving his hands through her soft hair and massaging her scalp with the pads of his fingers, he felt himself ready for another bout of lovemaking when he heard her faint moan escape her mouth.

Buffy turned from facing him to facing the spout so that she could release all the bubbles from her tresses. Again, he pulled her back into his body as the water traced both of their bodies with its streams.

“You know, a girl could get used to this,” she whispered aloud to him.

“Well, don’t get to comfortable yet. I have some business to attend with a few unwanted friends before we are safe,” Angelus growled thinking of what types of games he has to think of now for Spike and for any other person who would dare touch her like he does.

Finally turning off the water in the shower, Buffy removed herself from the stall and began to towel off her soaking body as she felt Angelus’ eyes grate across her skin making it sizzle again for his touch. She wrapped the towel around her body as she extended out a towel for him but instead of accepting that which she offered, he opened up her towel and stepped inside it with her and met her lips in another kiss.

“I would love to stay like this all day long, but didn’t you say you have some business to attend to. You should get going because I have some things to do, too,” she admitted and walked out of the bathroom.

“What things?” Angelus asked with curiosity in his voice.

“I have to meet another man for an afternoon rendezvous,” Buffy answered him smoothly as she pulled her clothes over her head and pulled a brush across her damp hair.

Answering her with a growl, his blood began to boil yet again at the thought of her being touched by another man. Grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him, he wanted to make sure she noticed his apparent anger.

“Don’t worry, lover,” she assured snidely. “I will be back shortly.” Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek she fled the room and made her way out of her house.

Turning his attention from where she just was standing, Angelus reached out to her phone and began to dial a few digits into the keypad.

“Yes, someone needs to come a get me… I don’t fucking care that it is daylight outside… Now!” he shouted into the phone and placed the receiver back down to hang up the phone.

“Now it is time to pay my childe a little visit!” he snickered to himself as he clothed himself and waited for his ride to come and bring him to the mansion.

Part XVIII

The vampire that Angelus had just concluded a conversation with was trying his patience every second that he waited for his arrival. He found himself, on numerous occasions, staring back at the wall clock that hung inside Buffy’s house watching the hands of the clock slowly tick around the open face. ‘The quicker I get to Spike, the quicker I can start to kick his ass,’ he sneered to himself as he suddenly heard the sound of a car pulling up the driveway to her house.

Grabbing the closest blanket to him and draping it across his shoulders and head, Angelus opened up the front door to face the harsh reality of the rays of sun beating down from the sky. He sprinted so he didn’t have to prolong this experience and jumped into the back seat among many broken glass bottles then shut the door behind him.

Smelling his childe all around him, he growled at the driver as he started on the journey back to the mansion. “Spike’s car, huh? Interesting choice,” Angelus sneered calmly as he kicked the empty Jack Daniels bottles to his feet.

“Excuse me, Master Angelus. It was the only one that was available at the time,” the minion answered with fear dripping from his words. “Had to leave in kind of a hurry.”

“Was Spike in the mansion when you left this morning?” Angelus asked still maintaining his commanding presence.

“Uh… I don’t think so, sir. He came in last night and I believe that he hit the tunnels under the city an hour or so before your phone call,” he answered nervously as his eyes darted from the front to the rear view mirror which he prayed that he could see Angelus and what he was doing back there.

“Well, I will just give him the best welcoming ever when he returns,” he said with evil thoughts running through his minds. ‘So many ways to torture, so little time!’

“Why would that be, sir?” the driver asked in curiosity.

Huffing in anger as to why he would ask, Angelus thought it important to indulge in his driver’s thoughts. “Why not? Sometimes people just deserve a special greeting when they do something that sparks my interest,” a growl rose in his throat at the image of Buffy and Spike dancing together last night ran through his mind.

“Did he do something special?” the minion pried.

“Nothing that a vampire with a death wish wouldn’t do.”

“Did he take on the slayer??” the driver asked with new excitement gracing his voice. “It would be so nice to see someone finally put the last nail in the slayer’s coffin.”

Angelus was barely able to restrain his anger to rip this fledgling’s body in half when hearing his words. Nostrils flared and his hands clenched ferociously in the attempt not to lash out.

The minion found Angelus’ silence in the backseat to his comment quite unsettling. He thought that the thought of bringing down a slayer would make Angelus the happiest vampire on the face of the planet but he got the strange feeling that his master was upset at his words. “Master Angelus, are you planning on taking out the slayer in the near future?” he asked trying to break the silence.

‘Taking out in a different sense,’ he thought to himself. “All dependent on my mood. If I feel it is necessary then I will,” he put on a façade of hatred to fool his naïve minion.

“Well, if you want me to, sir. I will be your ear around this town to help you find her. I hear she lives in a house close to the one that I just picked you up from,” he offered as the car turned into the dark garage behind the large mansion. “Then if I see her, I would be proud to handle her myself for you.”

Angelus again heard his threat to his lover’s life and he could no longer withhold the anger inside of him. Reaching down to pick up the closest bottle on the ground, he promptly smashed it leaving the neck of the bottle with shards of sharp glass clinging to it.

The minion quickly turned to face his master at the sound of the glass breaking and he was met with Angelus’ hand with the glass rapidly coming towards his face. In a moment’s glance, the shards of glass jaggedly removed the minion’s ear as Angelus looked happily at his writhing minion.

The minion brought a hand up to his head to press firmly against the open wound on his head as his body trembled in fear at his master’s actions.

“If your assistance was warranted then I would have asked for it. But until now you will just have to watch what your ears might pick up and hopefully the simple fact that you are missing one will be a constant reminder to that,” Angelus scolded coldly as he removed himself from the backseat of the car and make his way towards his bedroom.

Angelus silently made his way through his home to his bedroom where he regretfully removed his clothing that Buffy’s scent still clung to like a second skin. The aroma of sex and vanilla tantalized his sense and he felt himself grow incredibly hard at the thought of the owner of that distinct perfume.

Pulling a new shirt over his back and replacing his tight leather pants for ones of the same style, he smiled haughtily to himself as he made his way down the stairs to prepare himself for the greeting that he was planning for his childe.

Situating a chair on the opposite side of the room from the door that Spike would be entering from the tunnels, Angelus basked in the damp darkness that the shadows cast by his house’s unique gothic architecture could provide to him. For the second time that morning, Angelus’ virtue of patience was tested as he waited for Spike to arrive.

An ice-cold stare seemed to penetrate across the room and through the closed basement door as he heard the knob on the door slowly turn and see the bleached blonde vampire saunter through it.

“Lucy, I’M HOME!” Spike called through the silence that greeted him in the mansion.

“How was your day, dear?” Angelus hissed from across the room and stealthily rises from his chair. “Do anything special?”

Trying not to feel intimidated by the power that radiated off of Angelus’ body at the moment, Spike shrugged non-chalantly and sighed, “Nothing of great importance.”

Angelus began to slide across the hardwood floor to confront his childe face to face while Spike just stared back at his sire. “Meet anyone while you were gone?” he pried as he felt himself tower over his weak childe.

“Saw the slayer,” he answered with the same tone as previously. “And what can I say about the bloody bint? She has one of the sexiest asses that I have ever encountered in all of my years. I wanted to taste her, feel her blood roll across my tongue and feel her muscular legs wrap around my body as I pounded her into the nearest hard surface.”

Angelus’ demon roared at Spike’s words and nothing would now come in the way of the discipline that Spike just seemed to be begging for at the moment. He promptly brought a fierce punch to Spike’s gaunt face as he watched his childe slump to the ground unconscious and not prepared for his sire’s violence response.

“You will never, ever get that close,” Angelus warned as he knelt down to the unconscious vampire to pick him up and drag him to another one of the many rooms inside of the abandoned mansion.

Not caring that his childe’s face scraped roughly against the hard floors, Angelus brought him to the other room and picked him up just to place him on one of the chairs and tie him to it. Spike’s head rolled forward as he was made to sit straight up in the chair and Angelus removed his heavy leather boots from his feet and placing his hands on tables to the side of his body.

Angelus left his childe sitting there momentarily to retrieve some of the toys that he would be utilizing on this very special occasion. He returned in due time to the room to see that Spike still sat there unconscious.

“And he still sleeps even when company comes to pay him a visit, that is quite rude of him,” Angelus said aloud as he heard his child gradually stir from his slumber. “You were starting to worry me for a second there Spike, I don’t like to see you all helpless like that.”

Spike suddenly tried to pull at his restraints but found them impossible to break through. “What the bloody hell?” he asked with malice in his voice.

“I should probably be asking you the same question, don’t you think?” Angelus said as he moved towards the restrained vampire with a hammer in his fist. “You have fun last night?”

Being in the mood to tempt his enraged sire, Spike smirked back at him and sneered, “Always a thrill to dance with the slayer.”

Kneeling in front of Spike, Angelus stared into his eyes with passionate hatred. “Answer me one question for me, how is it possible to dance when you don’t have any toes left?” Suddenly and with great strength, Angelus brought the heavy hammer upon a couple of Spike’s small digits hanging from his foot.

Yelping in the sharp pain that ran up his leg, Spike didn’t want to show any weakness as Angelus looked up at him for an answer. “Very easily, thank you very much,” he forced words to come out of his mouth.

“We’ll have to see about that one,” Angelus hissed as he brought the hammer down one time more. He continued his administrations to Spike over and over again leaving all the toes in his feet just a bundle of grinded bones and deep bruises all over his abused flesh.

“I am surprised at you, Angelus. I thought you had more in you,” Spike commented way past the point of agony as Angelus stood up in front of him to retrieve another toy.

“I am no where near finished with you,” Angelus commented as he turned back around revealing the large chainsaw that he held in his hands. “Answer me another question, how do you dance without legs?”

Pulling on the rope to the chainsaw, the claws of the tool roared to life as Angelus crept closer to his childe with ever intent to use it to the best of its potential. Moving to Spike’s side, Angelus unhurriedly brought the loud machine towards the detained vampire and began to let the teeth of the blade eat away at Spike’s pants then onto his cold flesh.

There was no rush to remove Spike from his legs so Angelus did his best to prolong the pain and the screams radiating from his childe. Those screams were music to the dark vampire’s ears as he felt the blades tear into Spike and detach his legs from his body. “Awwww… Spike, take it like a man!” Angelus yelled over the loud roar of the machine as he successfully removed his childe’s lower appendages.

Turning off the engine of the chainsaw as soon as that feat had been accomplished, Angelus once again turned to get another toy. A smile spread across his face as he turned back to see the legless vampire groaning in pain. Walking with a cleaving knife in his palm, Angelus asked Spike again, “And how is it possible to reach out and touch your date when you no longer have any fingers?”

Detaching one finger at a time from Spike’s hand at a time, the demon roared in pleasure because the self-gratification of his torturous acts both supplied need to do evil and the knowledge that his blonde slayer will be faced with one less danger on her life. Angelus looked in favor at the work that he had just accomplished by removing all of Spike’s digits then brought the knife to his lips to lick the blood that was on its surface. “Why waste blood when it is so easy for me to get?” he taunted as he stared in Spike’s eyes, which had gone hazy after all the pain that he was experiencing.

“So are you going to answer me these questions or not?” Angelus asked as he stood back from his childe.

Silence filled the room, as Spike couldn’t formulate any words in his agony.

“Awwww, Spike. I thought you had more in you,” Angelus jeered at the semi-unconscious vampire. “But oh well, having this slayer in my life probably provided me with the only sense compassion that I have ever felt since being turned so I think I may help ease your pain. It is a wonder what women can do to you.”

With the knife still in hand, Angelus quickly brought it around his body and promptly removed Spike’s head from his broad shoulders. He sighed with relief as he watched his childe begin to crumble to dust before his eyes.

“Women… Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” he smiled as he turned from the empty chair and walked out the door only to be forced to wait one more time. Wait for the moment when the sun would fall below the horizon and he would be able to see his beloved.

Part XIX

For the next few weeks, Sunnydale became a relative ghost town for all the evils that still roamed the earth. If they weren’t destroyed by the slayer and her ever-so-efficient judgment crew, then they would ultimately be handled by an extremely pissed off vampire who joined the side of good to protect the woman who is coming all so close to winning his undead heart.

Angelus would always have an eye on his slayer and if anything would ever happen to her, then hell would pay. Most of his watching over her would end up with a long, beautiful night caught in the embrace of her strong arms. His mind continually raced back to the dance that was shared between his lover and Spike, but then a sinister smile crossed his face due to the fact that Spike would never bother them again or the world for that matter. Without the blonde vampire’s presence, Buffy is safe and Angelus would do anything to keep it that way.

“You know,” Buffy whispered into Angelus’ ear as she felt his arms pull her tighter into his broad chest. “We should honestly try something else for a date beside saving each others’ asses then running straight back to the closest bedroom.”

“Are you complaining?” Angelus retorted with a tease.

“No,” she admitted truthfully. “It’s just that there should be more to this thing that we are having at the moment.”

“Like what?” he asked back as he released her from his embrace and turned to face her.

“I don’t know…” she thought aloud. “Something?”

“I can think of something we can do right now,” he hinted as he grabbed her and pulled her chest and body flush into his, then pulling her leg up to rest on his thigh.

Pushing him away playfully, she chuckled softly, “And how would that be any different than what I mentioned previously?”

“I don’t know,” he thought to himself jokingly. “I don’t recall having to save your ass or you saving mine for that matter.”

Raising her voice in indignation, “Excuse me mister, but what was that little incident with the whatcamicallit demon that we faced a couple of hours ago, huh? Did you do it a favor by decapitating it because the no-head look is so in season right now!”

“Isn’t that your friend, Cordelia’s responsibility to make the judgments on fashion?” he asked.

“You know about that??” Buffy replied in shock.

“I have known about that even before our first night together,” he admitted truthfully with a smile on his face.

“I was curious as to why you didn’t seem to care when I killed all those vampires with you being present.”

“Like I give a rat’s ass about those stupid fledglings. Less time fighting them gives you more time to be with me,” he pulled her again to his body and this time she didn’t push away.

“Ahh… I get it,” she smiled wickedly as she moved her small hand between their bodies and scratched her fingernails across the moderately coarse hair just below his navel. Her smile got bigger due to the faint moans that escaped his lips under her playful administrations. “But honestly, are we going to do something other than what we have been doing?” she asked still not removing her hand from its place.

With forced speech, Angelus responded, “I will tell you one thing, I would rather be caught dead then going to see a chick-flick movie or any movie for that matter.”

“You should probably should not say that because I do have the capabilities to kill you and put you out of your misery,” she joked.

“How about I meet you at the Bronze tonight and we can take things from there?” he offered still groaning from her actions.

“I think I can accept that offer,” she agreed and leaned in to lightly brush his lips with her own. “But I have a feeling as to how that night will end up.”

“So what are we going to do now before we both have to leave?” he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“I can think of a few things…” Her words were suddenly muffled by the sheet on the bed that she pulled straight over her head concealing both the lovers.

~ ~ ~

As soon as Angelus left her room, Buffy promptly picked up the phone and dialed Willow’s number quickly.

“Hello?” a tired voice rang from the opposite end.

“Wills? It’s Buffy,” she excitedly answered back into the receiver. “Did I wake you?”

Yawning, “No… Tara and I were awake.” Willow lied to Buffy as she turned on the spot that she was sitting in to look over at her lover who was still sound asleep with the blankets on the bed twisted around her body. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. I just need you to come over here. Need to talk to my best friend,” Buffy said.

“Uh, sure,” Willow conceded. “Let me get some clothes on and I will be over your house in 15 minutes. Angelus isn’t over your house right now, is he?”

“He left right before the sun came up. You know he has this weird skin disease that won’t allow him in direct sunlight, makes his skin turn kind of ashy. Not even a whole vat of Lubriderm’s’ can cure that sucker.”

“And that would be a very bad thing,” Willow laughed softly with her friend. “Well, let me get dressed and I will see you soon, ok?”

“Yeah, ok. See you soon.”

“Bye,” Willow said and almost put down the phone but then was suddenly stopped when she heard Buffy call out her name on the other end.

“Willow! Wait!!!”

“I’m still here,” Willow said as she pulled the receiver back to her ear. “Did you need something else?”

“Could you get me a pregnancy test on your way?”

~ ~ ~

Buffy couldn’t stop pacing her house while she waited for Willow to show up at her front door. Millions of thoughts ran through her mind as she twisted and turned her fingers in her hands while she paced. ‘Being three weeks late might mean nothing, right?’ she asked herself over and over again, almost not hearing Willow open her front door and step inside.

“Willow,” she greeted and looked at the clock on the wall. “That was quick!”

“I would think so! After the request you gave me before we hung up the phone, how could I not!” she panted out of breath having basically run across town.

“Ohhh… What did you get?” Joyce’s voice suddenly came out of the kitchen to greet the two girls.

With her eyes wide with shock, Buffy didn’t want to tell her mother her mission for the last month and a half had been. “Just something from the store.”

Willow quickly came to her friend’s assistance. “I am working on a new spell that would allow Buffy to hold anything in her hand, say a few magic words then it would blaze with the brightness of the sun making any attacking vampires go poof.”

“You got this stuff at the grocery store?” Joyce inquired as she looked down at the ‘Jewel-Osco’ bag that Willow gripped tightly in her hands.

“Yeah,” Buffy sighed. “You would be totally surprise to find what type of magic things you can find at the grocery store.”

“Whatever, honey,” Joyce said smiling. “Just promise me that what you do upstairs, don’t let it stain your carpet. I just had that cleaned a couple of days ago.”

“Sure, mom,” Buffy agreed as she and Willow turned to walk up the stairs. Turning her attention to the red head behind her, Buffy whispered, “Could you help me with a little forget spell so my mom won’t ask me about this again?”

“Sure,” Willow whispered back then pulled a small flower from her pocket and said aloud, “Forget.”

“Done?” Buffy asked which Willow quickly returned with a nod.

“Are you ready, Buffy?” Willow inquired with concern in her voice as soon as they entered Buffy’s bedroom.

Sighing with nervousness, “Ready as I will ever be.”

~ ~ ~

“So what’s the box say on how long this should take?” Buffy directed her question toward the Wiccan that studied the instructions on the back of the box, over and over again.

“Two minutes,” she read not taking her eyes off the box. “I can make it go faster with a little spell, if you want?”

“No, you don’t have to. Two minutes will be over before you know it.” But the time Buffy waited for the results felt like an eternity. Her fingers were all red because of the strong grip that her hands held on them.

Willow looked to her friend and found it blatantly obvious the nervous excitement that flew across Buffy’s face. “I am sure that everything will turn out all right,” she assured. “And if it doesn’t, I am pretty sure you had fun with this little plan of ours.”

Smiling in agreement, Buffy nodded her head. “What time is it?”

Willow looked down at the watch on her wrist, and then averted her gaze back at Buffy. “You can go and check now, Miss Ants-in-you-Pants!”

Buffy stood up as quickly as possible and ran to the bathroom where the pregnancy test lay on the sink. With the results turned toward the wall, Buffy was forced to pick up the test and turn it to have the answer stare at her in the face.

“So, what is it?” Willow yelled through the door, growing impatient with her friend’s silence inside the bathroom. Buffy suddenly opened up the door with her eyes downcast to the floor. “So… What is it?” Willow pried and watched Buffy’s eyes move from the ground to stare at her in the face.

“I’m pregnant!” Buffy admitted with a huge smile stretching from ear to ear.

Willow promptly took the slayer in her arms and pulled her in tight in a fierce, excited hug. “Oh. My. God!!!!!” she exclaimed as the two girls tried to tone down their impulses to shout for joy. “Wow!!!”

“My sentiments exactly!” Buffy consented and allowed happy tears to run down her cheeks. “How do I break the news to Angelus?”

“I really don’t know about him, but how are you going to tell Xander, Giles or your mother for that matter?”

The mood in the room grew suddenly somber over the questions that were just brought to their ears. “Oh boy, I have no idea!” Buffy exclaimed.

“First, I think you have to tell Angelus, then we all will come up with a way to tell the others,” Willow suggested.

“That’s probably the best way to do this,” Buffy admitted. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you guys.”

“Well, I think your judgment sessions would probably be a little more quick and lot less interesting,” Willow laughed.

“True, true,” Buffy laughed with her friend as they came back together in a strong hug. “I remember Oz telling me something that you said to him. ‘We don’t have cable, so we make our own fun.’ I think it works nicely for this particular instance.”

“What can I say, I knew that saying would be good for something in the future!”

Part XX

Buffy couldn’t stop smiling. It seemed that nothing could break the good mood that the pregnancy test just revealed to her. Now she and Willow were venturing off to see a doctor that would give her some advice on what to do to prepare for the coming of her baby.

“Ready to go?” Willow asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I just have to go and tell my mom that I am going out then we can go, ok?” Buffy said as the two friends made their way out her bedroom and down the stairs.

“Buffy,” Joyce greeted as she turned from the hallway and saw her daughter walk down the stairs. “Oh, Willow, I didn’t know you came over.”

“I climbed through the window,” she joked.

“Ah… You girls going somewhere?” Joyce inquired.

“We need to make a visit to Giles in the Magic Box,” Buffy lied not wanting to let her mother know that she is going to a doctor to discuss her pregnancy.

“Then tonight you are patrolling then going to the Bronze,” Joyce finished for her daughter.

“Good call, I am quite impressed, Miss Summers,” Willow complimented Buffy’s mother. “Are we that transparent?”

“No, I know all. Kind of a parental sixth sense,” Joyce smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “You guys have been going there a lot lately.”

“Gotta love the Bronze,” Buffy admitted.

“Or is it someone at the Bronze?” Joyce began to pry.

Staring at her mother with eyes opened wide, she asked, “W-what?”

“I have just noticed that for the past couple of weeks you seem a little lighter and happy. You have a look in your eye and also your skin seems to be glowing,” Joyce told of all the things that she had noticed lately. “So when can I meet him?”

“Um… I, um…” Buffy stuttered before Joyce came in.

“Ok, so that was the parental overbearing virtue at its worst there. I don’t mean to push but I would really like to meet this man. I can just tell that you really care for him and he would be absolutely stupid for not feeling the same about you.”

“I’m sure he does,” Willow quickly interjected into the conversation.

“Well, we got to go,” Buffy stated quickly and pulled Willow toward the door. “Oh shoot, I forgot my jacket. I will be right back.” Buffy promptly sprinted up the stairs leaving Willow and her mother alone in the front hallway.

“Have you met the guy yet?” Joyce whispered to Willow.

“I have seen him, yes,” she said to her friend’s mother. “Don’t worry, Miss Summers, when Buffy is ready she will let you meet him.”

“I know. It’s just that I hate to see her alone sometimes and also I am getting a little antsy,” she sighed. “After my little surgery, I came to the realization at how short life truly is and I want to see her happy with someone and hopefully consider having a family of her own some day.”

“Well, you never know Miss Summers. He might just be the one to help her with that,” Willow whispered assuredly as Buffy came running down the stairs to make her way out the door.

“Ready to go?” Buffy asked as she lightly grabbed Willow’s arm. “’Bye, Mom.”

“Bye honey. See you later,” Joyce waved then shut the front door behind her exiting daughter.

“So what did you talk about while I was gone?” Buffy inquired.

“Nothing of great importance,” Willow stated with a smirk.

~ ~ ~

“So, what did the doctor say?” Willow asked as she stood up from one of the waiting room chairs to greet Buffy who just came out of the doors.

“I’m about a month along,” Buffy stated happily. “She gave me all these notes on prenatal vitamins.”

“Oooo, are they the chewy ones in the shapes of Flintstone characters?” Willow asked trying to keep the happiness going.

“I wish,” Buffy exclaimed. “These things are huge! I hate taking pills.”

“I think they are kind of necessary though,” Willow said.

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Buffy shrugged defeated.

“So have you decided how you are going to tell everyone about this because in a couple of months I don’t know if you will be able to keep it a secret,” Willow commented.

“Well tonight I plan to tell Angelus then I think Xander,” Buffy thought aloud.

“Why not Giles first?” Willow inquired.

“He is going to be the hardest to tell because he was the one that told me that it was impossible for slayers to become pregnant then kept the truth away from me on how I can have a baby. I need to think of some civil way of telling him because I might get really mad at him very quickly if I tell him.”

“He will understand, I am sure,” Willow said confidently. “We will think of some way to tell him, it will be all right.”

“Thanks Will,” Buffy stated then brought her friend in her arms in a hug. “I think we need to let our fellow conspirators though before tonight.”

“We can call them from your house. I’m pretty sure that Cordelia will come over with a new outfit for the baby,” Willow declared.

Buffy laughed at her comment and included, “I think you are probably right!”

~ ~ ~

“I didn’t know if you were having a boy or a girl so I just came with an outfit for both,” Cordelia stated as she walked through Buffy’s front door with Doyle at her back. “Aren’t they so cute?”

“They are perfect,” Buffy smiled as she escorted her friends into the living room. Everyone was there except for Xander because he had to work that day but as soon as he got off, he was coming to the Bronze with Anya.

Buffy sat down on one of the couches in the living room and tenderly began to run her fingers across the soft fabric of the clothes that Cordelia had purchased for her baby.

“So are you going to tell Angelus and Xander tonight?” Cordelia asked breaking Buffy out of her thoughts as she stroked the baby’s clothes.

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling loudly, Buffy nodded her head. “I am not too worried about telling Angelus, the one that I worry about is Xander.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about him,” Anya broke into the conversation. “If he gets angry, I will just have to make him forget tonight. Tonight is our ‘shiver me timbers’ night where we…”

“WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW!!!!” Everyone in the room yelled at Anya to get her to be quiet.

“Ok, ok. I get the hint,” Anya retorted as she rolled her eyes. “But I am pretty sure he will understand.”

“Well, I will have to tell him sometime and it is better tonight than never,” Buffy admitted to the group. “All I know is that the Bronze will be quite interesting tonight for sure. I just hope they don’t blow up at me.”

“I am pretty sure everything will be ok,” Cordelia assured.

“Are we going to die tonight?” Tara whispered into her lover’s ear.

“I hope not,” Willow answered back.

~ ~ ~

“So are all you ladies ready to get down with your bad selves?” Xander asked as he placed his arms around Anya and Buffy who were standing next to him while they all walked to the club.

“Always,” Buffy laughed to her friend.

“So is anything special tonight happening at the Bronze?” he asked as he let go of Buffy and still had his arm wrapped around his girlfriend’s shoulders.

“Who knows? The Bronze is hardly ever a boring place,” Tara stated.

“Yeah,” Anya agreed. “Someone might have something special to tell you tonight. Buffy???”

“What’s up, Buffster?” Xander directed his question toward his blonde friend.

Not wanting to tell him at this exact moment, she stared at him wide eyed. “I…” she started to say but then was interrupted.

“Oh yeah, slayer what is cooking in that body right now?” a loud hiss came out of the shadows.

“Haven’t you guys learned anything,” Cordelia spoke aloud as the figure came out in the open. “So far none of you have been judged with adequate enough scores to save your asses, why try to tempt the panel?”

“Because I know something special about this petite slayer, that should give me a few bonus points, don’t you think?” the vampire quipped and stepped toward the slayer who had done the same with him.

“Don’t you know anything about the law, you aren’t supposed to let out information slip without the judge requesting for it,” Willow informed the vampire. “That takes away those points. Buffy I suggest you get this over and done with, he isn’t worth our energy to judge.”

“Oh come on, Wills. I haven’t had the chance to join in on the fun yet,” Xander whined. “I want to be a judge.”

“Who can ignore a plea such as that? Let the fun begin,” Buffy sighed as she swung her arm around her body and made contact with the demon’s face. The vampire had not been looking at the slayer at the moment, so he was caught in surprise when she punched his jaw.

“Oooo, lack of preparation. That is not an impressive trait to have, I must say,” Xander admitted aloud as he watched Buffy commit herself with hand-to-hand combat with the vampire.

“Never a good one!” Buffy grunted as she ducked to avoid the vampire’s fist to make connection with her face.

“How about unoriginal?” Doyle felt the need to join in Xander’s comments.

“Oooh, that’s a good one!” Xander yelled as he saw Buffy block everything that the vampire sent her way. “I think you can kill that one.”

“Oh goody,” Buffy sighed as she leaned down and pulled a stake concealed by the cloth of her pants.

“I don’t think so,” the vampire said as he reached down and ripped the stake from her grasp, causing it to tumble to the ground. He quickly wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled her back against his chest to allow her neck open for his bite. Quietly he spoke in her ear, “You will not rest, you will not sleep, for what you carry inside your body will be the death of you. I give you the chance to sleep now.”

“I don’t think so!” a voice came behind the vampire and very quickly the demon began to crumble into dust.

The entire gang came rushing towards Buffy as soon as they saw that she was in trouble but then stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the dark man behind her and killed the threatening vampire.

“And who are you?” Xander asked aloud.

Buffy quickly turned on her heels and threw her arms around the man’s neck and held him close to her body. She let out a sigh of relief to know that Angelus had just saved her life and their child’s.

The group was shocked in silence as they watched Buffy and, for those who knew his name, Angelus holding each other.

“Guys, why don’t we go in? Buffy will catch up with us soon,” Cordelia stated as she pushed everyone out of the alley to leave the two alone.

“No,” Xander stood defiantly. “I am not going anywhere until he answers my question.”

“Xander, I don’t want to be forced to kick your ass so come inside,” Willow threatened. Taking her not too seriously, he sighed and went inside with the rest of the group.

“Are you ok?” Angelus growled.

“Just fine,” Buffy stated as she looked up into his dark eyes. “I have something to tell you. Angelus…” she started but then was quieted by him.

“Buffy, shush,” he whispered. “I think I hear something.” Angelus broke from her embrace and all of a sudden the soft sound became less.

“I don’t hear anything,” Buffy strained her ears to hear something.

“Wait a second,” he said as he turned back towards her and listened closely to her. The hum of her heartbeat rang clear in her body along with the soft sound of air coming in and out of her lungs. But there was something else there when he came closer to her. Angelus reached out and traveled his hands across her arms and moved down her torso. Trying to pinpoint the soft purring sound, his hands rested on her womb and suddenly his hand felt warm from where he was touching.

Hastily removing his hand from her abdomen, he looked straight into her eyes with a surprised glare radiating from his. Buffy quickly grabbed his hand and placed it back on to her stomach and nodded at him.

“Holy fuck!” he stated in shock.

Part XXI

Looking into his eyes as he pressed his palm tightly, yet gently to her abdomen, Buffy saw all different types of emotions flash across his chocolate colored gaze. Lust, need, fear, weakness, passion but strongest of all was pride, pride in what they created together and pride to know that he had another piece of evidence concluding she being his.

“Is that all you can say?” Buffy harassed jokingly at her lover’s silent shock after those few words said. “Angelus, you have not been known to be tongue-tied in any particular moment… Ever!”

At that moment, Angelus promptly released his hand from her stomach and wrapped both arms around her body to bring her into a blistering kiss where he pored every bit of passion and love that swelled inside his cold, hard body. He ran his tongue erotically across her lips then plunged it into her mouth to declare war with hers. Buffy quickly responded to his probing kiss dually with equal ardor and passion. Her fingers, as if they had their own minds, managed to tangle themselves in the thick spikes of his dark hair as his fingers flexed and relaxed on her back, pulling pieces of her shirt inside his strong grasp.

Angelus regretfully broke the kiss to allow her to catch her needed and his unnecessary breath. He placed her back on the ground on her feet and stare directly into her eyes which her were caught in a cloudy haze of emotions.

“Well, I guess that proved something,” she said dreamily.

“And that would be?” he moved his lips closer to hers to feel her warm breath on his skin.

“You can’t be tongue-tied because if you were I don’t believe you could kiss me like that,” she smiled at him and her returned to her his lopsided grin which caused the blood that ran through her veins to boil. “That doesn’t make up for the not-too astounding response you gave me. But it helped a little.”

Smirking at her insinuation, he said, “Any little bit helps.”

“I’ll forgive you for this one but you are just going to have to make-up for this later,” she teased as she pushed her fingers through the space between a couple of buttons on his shirt and lightly scratched her fingernails across his muscular chest.

“Name the time and place and I will be there,” he assured her not removing the smile from his countenance.

“Well… Let’s see,” she thought aloud looking away from his eyes. “I think I might have to check my calendar to see if I can squeeze you in somewhere. It is such a drag to pencil you in my busy schedule around all my potential suitors.”

The satisfaction that was painted on his face was suddenly replaced with a deep feeling of jealousy. The thought of having some other man’s hands on her just made his skin crawl in rage and he quickly grabbed her arm and turned her around to look straight into his eyes. He knew that she would not tremble in front of him in fear but he just wanted to let her know that he loathed the idea that she was with another.

Buffy saw the little green-eyed monster hastily flood onto his face after she said those words. She was not afraid of the intensity that he looked at her with; she just stood in front of him and smiled. “You get jealous over little old me, that is so cute!” she laughed as she cupped his cheek in her warm palm.

“I don’t get jealous,” he negated through gritted teeth.

“Angelus, you can’t lie to me. I read your eyes like an open book,” she smiled as she softly smoothed her thumb across his skin.

Sighing in defeat but not admitting verbally that she was correct, the look that he held in his eyes immediately changed to its original passion.

Buffy saw the change and the smile on her face got bigger. “I love you, Angelus.” She now saw the plethora of emotions travel across his face again at her words but before he could say anything, she quickly added, “We have to be getting inside now, our public awaits.” Seizing his hand in hers, she pulled him into the entrance of the Bronze to tell everyone the news.

~ ~ ~

“It’s been a long time since we left her alone with that guy,” Xander choked nervously on his drink. “I should probably go outside to see if she needs any help.”

“I think we have had this conversation before, Xander,” Willow shook her head back at her best friend.

“We did?” he asked in confusion.

“You see all those brain cells that he has lost over the past couple of years is starting to rot away his brain,” Cordelia added trying to allow Xander some time to remember their previous conversation at the Bronze a couple of nights ago.

Suddenly remembering what was said, Xander exclaimed, “Ohhhhh, I REMEMBER NOW!!!”

“Applause or coins?” Cordelia quipped.

“I would rather get my reward in something I could eat, preferably cookies, thank you very much!” he shot back at her.

“I think you may have had one too many of those already,” Willow chuckled.

“No, guys, honestly. She has been out there a long time, we should go and see if she is alright.”

“Xander why don’t you keep your eyes off the door?” Tara offered. “Look toward the dance floor or something.”

He slowly pulled his eyesight away from the main entrance of the club to watch all the bodies shaking and writhing to the music that radiated from the stage. His eyes watched so many people but his thoughts still remained on Buffy and her new friend from outside. Not one thought strayed until he caught glimpse of an old classmate from high school who had run with the likes of Cordelia – Harmony Kendall.

Looking up and down her dancing body, he saw the large bulge on her abdomen under he very tight tank top as she moved. “Can you believe that?” he asked the group in front of him.

“Believe what, honey?” Anya asked.

“Harmony Kendall.”

The rest of the groups’ eyes moved in search of hers while Cordelia’s moved to look down at the table in front of her. After her breakup with Xander, her relationship with Harmony had never had the same connection that they had before.

“I can’t believe that, it looks like she is pregnant and yet she still acts like a prostitute and grinds up against the first available body she sees,” Xander scoffed.

“Who are you guys talking about?” Buffy asked as she and Angel walked up to their table to find all her friends’ gazes pointed toward the dance floor.

“Harmony,” Cordelia said stoically.

“Oh, really?” Buffy exclaimed.

“Yeah, I can’t believe her. She is the biggest slut that I have ever seen,” Xander said his mind. “She is the last person that I would imagine getting married at this time and yet here she is, pregnant no less!!”

“Maybe she is married or in a steady relationship?” Buffy muttered under her breath.

Xander hastily turned his attention to Buffy along with the rest of the gang. “Oh come on Buffy. You have to be really stupid to think that she is in that type of relationship. It is Harmony, we are talking about.”

“You never know, Xander,” Willow admitted as she saw the pain suddenly grow in Buffy’s eyes.

“I just feel so bad for that kid. Having an unwed mother to raise you, not too smart on Harmony’s part. I am surprised that she doesn’t just get rid of it and put the baby out of its potential misery. Some life, I must say!”

Tears began to form in Buffy’s eyes at his words and she tried with all her might to try to stop them from being shed. Her body tensed up with fear but then she felt Angelus’ hand slowly massage her back to release some of what she was feeling.

Breaking the silence after his final words, Xander smiled at Buffy, “So who’s your new friend?”

Hearing his voice one more time was the last that Buffy could handle at the moment and she broke down into tears. She pulled herself fiercely off of her chair and sprinted out the door with her hands to her face to catch some of her fallen tears.

“What was that about?” he asked as he looked around at the group and finally his gaze landed on the mystery dark man that looked at him in hatred.

Everyone at the table knew how Xander’s words must have hurt Buffy and they wanted to tell him off for them, telling him that she was about to be an unwed mother too, but they didn’t for they knew Buffy wanted to tell him.

“I think we should probably get out of here,” Cordelia offered after the group was silent in awkwardness.

“I agree,” Anya said abruptly and stood up from her seat.

“I’ll meet you guys outside in a second, I just have to use the little boy’s room real quick,” Xander excused himself and walked toward the bathroom not noticing Angelus storming behind him.

Angelus leaned against the wall beside the bathroom, waiting for Xander to come out so that they could have a little heart-to-heart. He watched the door like a hawk, and as soon as he saw Xander step out, he moved toward him with an evil smirk across his face.

“I don’t think we have been properly introduced,” Angelus said cordially as he quickly grabbed Xander by the throat and pushed him into the nearest wall. “I’m Angelus, and you must be Xander.”

Responding to him only in a soft cough, Angelus shook his head at the daft man. “No need to waste breath right now because you are going to need it!”

Xander’s eyes became huge at hearing the dark man’s words and he opened his mouth to say something.

“You see, here’s the problem that I see,” Angelus said casually. “Buffy is carrying my child and you, oh genius one, just upset her with your previous comments. I would love to squeeze every last breath from you so that you can never speak again but I know how highly Buffy thinks of you as a friend, so I will let you go with a warning.”

“And. That. Would. Be,” he coughed and brought a loud gasp of air into his lungs.

“You make her upset again and I will kill you. You make her cry and I will do it. You make her frown and I will do it!” Angelus growled as he moved his face closer to the confined man’s face and let his vampire visage slide to threaten Xander with his sharp fangs.

“*VAMPIRE! *” Xander coughed as he stared at Angelus with wide eyes.

“You would think me otherwise?” Angelus asked as he returned back to his human face and released his grip to allow Xander to crumble to the floor in a heap. “Now you must excuse my hasty departure, I have to find Buffy.” He quickly turned on the balls of his feet and stealthily bounded out the main entrance to find his lover.

Xander moved his hand up to his throat and softly rubbed his bruised skin in the hopes of soothing away his fear. ‘Giles!’ he thought to himself as he got up off the floor and left the Bronze without dusting off his dirty clothes.

Part XXII

“Xander!! Wait, slow down!” Anya yelled as she saw the form of her boyfriend barreling past her and the rest of the gang while they were walking away from the Bronze. She saw the scared look in his eyes as he streaked past them not hearing any of their calls for him to stop.

“Awww… Looks like someone is trying to air dry the wet spot in the center of their pants,” Cordelia said in mock sympathy. “Look at him go!”

“You think Angelus talked to him?” Tara asked Willow as she held on to her hand tightly.

“Who else do you think could have scared him enough to sprint away like that?” Doyle said while his eyes were transfixed at the body that was slowly loosing himself to the darkness.

“Yeah, especially a man whose motto of physical activity is only run when chased,” Cordelia softly chuckled and the rest of the group couldn’t help but to smile at her comment.

“I think he deserved that though,” Willow admitted openly. “I mean, what right does he have to make those statements. I love Xander to death, but sometimes he is the biggest nincompoop that I have ever met.”

“But a sexy nincompoop,” Anya interjected quickly.

“The one good thing I can say is that at least Xander is still alive. I have read way too much on the killing patterns of one Angelus, ‘The Scourge of Europe,’ and the people who rub him the wrong way end up missing,” Willow ignored Anya for a moment to continue on.

“Missing??” Tara asked in confusion.

“Well,” she thought aloud. “I shouldn’t really say missing. People have found a little piece here and a little piece there, but nothing of a whole identifiable body.”

“Ewwww… That can’t be good,” Cordelia winced.

“I would say not,” Doyle affirmed his girlfriend’s words.

“But like I said before, Angelus could have killed Xander and since he didn’t, that is always a good sign.” Willow looked toward the group who had all agreed with her with the slight nodding of heads.

“Did anyone see where Buffy ran off to?” Tara asked bringing the conversation off of Xander.

“No, but I am pretty sure that Angelus went to find her after his little heart-to-heart with Xander,” Cordelia hoped. “He will find her, I know he will.”

“I sure hope so,” Willow said sadly. “She looked horrible.”

“So did Xander,” Anya added always with a defense for her boyfriend. “Now after Buffy’s boyfriend had to have a chat with him, I am going to have my work cut out for me tonight to get him to relax.”

“Oh, wouldn’t it be such a shame that Anya was deprived of sex for one night while her boy toy was too stressed to be in the mood,” Cordelia sighed.

Responding to Cordelia’s comment truthfully, Anya admitted, “You have no idea!”

~ ~ ~

“Buffy!!!” Angelus called out in the darkness in search for his beloved. She could be anywhere at this particular moment and he tried to reach out with everything that he held inside of him to find her. “Buffy!!”

He ran through the streets with his inhuman speed, passing by flickering streetlights, littered roads, abandoned buildings and ghostly cemeteries in a relentless pace that would not falter until he would find her and hold her once again to his chest. ‘If anyone else hurt you, I swear on all things unholy, I will put them in so much pain that they will wish that they would never have been born!’ the demon inside him roared in loathing.

An hour of unceasing search had left Angelus’ efforts fruitless. It felt like he had scoured the town at least 50 times and yet he found no glimpse of her glowing form under the bright light of the full moon. There was only one more place that he had to look and he prayed that she would be there – The Mansion.

Quietly walking toward the place that he had called home for the past month or so, Angel smelled the air quickly and suddenly a familiar scent wafted through the air and tickled his senses. Angelus walked through the creaking door and the aroma of her got stronger and stronger with every step he took inside his house. He tiptoed softly across the hardwood floors and crept toward his bedroom, opening up the doors to find her curled up in a small ball on top of his red, silken bed sheets.

“Angelus?” she whispered gently through her fallen tears.

“I’m here, baby,” he answered back to her as he sat down on the bed next to her and placed a soothing hand on her back.

“I want to kill him,” she cried softly. “Would he say the same thing about me if I would have told him about our baby?”

“I doubt he will come out with a whole combination of words to insult you without having his vocal box ripped from his nostrils,” Angelus said softly. “I could still kill him, if you want me too. I really wouldn’t mind.”

“If anyone is going to kill him, it is going to be me,” she said mimicking the words that he said to her the night they had made love for the first time. Buffy slowly uncurled herself from the position that she was in, in order to pull herself up to stare deeply into Angelus’ deep, chocolate eyes.

With calm hands, Angelus reached up and softly removed the salty tears that continuous traveled down her milky white cheeks with tender kisses across her face. Buffy felt supremely better with having him there with her as he moved his lips on her skin and finally resting on her mouth for a comforting kiss.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him as they regretfully broke their embrace.

“If you really want to thank me, then would you let me kill him for you?” Angelus pleaded like a little child. “Maybe not kill but permanently paralyze?”

“Even as much as that though appeals to me, I would have to regretfully decline,” she sighed loudly. “But there is one thing you can do for me right now.”

“Does it involve maiming?” he joked.

“No, sorry. Can you walk me home?” she asked innocently.

Angelus, at her request, promptly stood up in front of her and offered his hand to pull her up on her feet. Meeting her lips in a brief kiss, he looked down at her and whispered, “I honestly hoped that you would ask a little bit more, but this give me the opportunity to plan a torturing strategy.”

Buffy playfully slapped the side of his shoulder and scolded him, “Am I going to have to punish you to get all those evil things out of your head?”

“Oooh, is that a promise?” he laughed and took her hand in his to lead her out the door and out of the mansion.

Most of their walk from the mansion back to her house was kept in relative silence. Both of them just enjoyed each other’s presence to ruin it with a few uttered words that the silence could easily explain. Noticing her slight shiver from the cool night air, Angelus stopped their walk momentarily to remove his large leather jacket to wrap it around her dainty shoulders.

Buffy grabbed the lapels of the coat firmly and pulled the warm jacked tightly into her body, breathing in the air with its mixture of fine Italian leather and the aroma that was uniquely Angel.

Treading softly across her front porch and into her house, Buffy tried to be as quiet as possible as to not wake up her slumbering, or hopefully slumbering, mother, while Angelus still stood outside her door waiting for their goodnight kiss.

“Oh Buffy, you’re home,” Joyce’s voice cut through the silence as she walked up behind Buffy and turned to look out the still opened door. “And who might you be?” she asked as she looked straight at Angelus.

“Mom, this is Angelus… Angelus this is my mom,” Buffy introduced them quickly as she saw the glimmer of humor traveled in his eyes.

“I can see where Buffy gets her good looks, if I would have known any better I would say you would be sisters,” Angelus said in his ever so famous sweet talking voice.

“Well, thank you,” Joyce smiled as she looked over to see Buffy shaking her head in disbelief.

“Angelus, always the charmer!” Buffy sighed and smiled at her lover.

“You betca,” he agreed with an evil smirk across her face. Buffy felt all the blood rush to her cheeks as she blushed at his words.

“So Angelus, what are you doing tomorrow night?” Joyce asked quickly. “Would you like to join us for dinner?”

Buffy fervently shook her head at him to tell him to say no, but he only smiled bigger at her efforts. “I would love to,” he accepted as Buffy’s hand moved up to her face to conceal her eyes.

“Be here around seven,” Joyce ordered. “Well, I am pretty tired so I think I will head up to bed. Goodnight, Angelus.”

“I’ll see you later! Pleasant dreams,” Angelus said as he watched Buffy’s mom ascend the stairs and vanish to the upstairs.

“I hope you are prepared for what you have just gotten yourself into,” Buffy shook her head at him and smiled faintly. “I don’t know where you are going to hide the food so my mom won’t notice that you don’t eat, not like you would want to though, I am surprised that her cooking hasn’t killed me yet.”

“I promise that she won’t even know that I won’t be eating. Just tell her not to use garlic, that could turn out badly,” he hinted to her.

Yawning softly, Buffy said and pointed to her head making a mental note, “Check that, no garlic.”

“Appreciate it,” he whispered as he took a step forward to stand closer to her. Angelus could feel her hot breath on his face as he moved toward her and pulled her lips to his in a delicate kiss goodnight. Pulling away, he smiled, “So this is goodnight.”

“I am surprised that you haven’t said anything about staying the night with me,” Buffy admitted with a little disappointment in her voice.

“We will just have to make up for that later,” he said as he turned away and walked down her front porch steps out to the street.

Feeling a smile on her face one more time, Buffy silently shut the door behind her and walked up to her room to prepare for a sleep filled with dreams of him and only him.

~ ~ ~

Xander felt the burn inside his body as he sprinted as fast as he could to Giles’ small house. He never really liked to exercise all that much and he was definitely feeling the effects now as he stood in front of the door and panted heavily trying to bring more oxygen into his lungs.

Now pounding on the dark wood door with a loud knock, he knew that it was late and that Giles was probably asleep but this was too important for him to sleep through.

“Giles!!!! OPEN UP, IT’S XANDER!!!” he yelled still in a pant at the door.

Xander heard the faint shuffle of feet across the floor on the other side of the door and slowly the door cracked open to reveal a horribly disheveled ex-librarian. “Xander, if the world isn’t ending, I really don’t want to hear it,” Giles yawned angrily.

“I think it might,” Xander sternly said as he pushed past the watcher to pace across his living room floor. “Something is wrong, we need to get a hold of someone that could be of some help here.”

“Why, what happened?” Giles asked with his eyes halfway closed in sleep.

“Buffy’s pregnant,” he blurted out suddenly and promptly made Giles open his eyes widely.

“What?!” he asked in disbelief.

“Yep, has something baking in the oven, is suffering from the nine month flu.”

“That’s impossible!” Giles exclaimed.

“It is possible and do you know what makes this even more thrilling, guess who is the proud papa – A VAMPIRE!!!” Xander almost screamed.

‘How did she know?’ Giles asked and kept those words to himself.

Breaking the silence, Xander asked, “So what are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted truthfully. “Why don’t you go home and I will think of something to do?”

“How can I?” Xander asked. “I need to do something.”

“Well, there isn’t much we can do tonight so for once, listen to me.”

Shaking his head, Xander conceded. “Whatever you do, I need to know!”

“Don’t worry, I will. Now goodnight, Xander,” Giles said almost pushing the young man from his house. He tightly closed the door behind him and quickly sprinted to his telephone to frantically punch the numbers to make a call.

“Yes, this is Rupert Giles… I need to speak to Quentin Travers!”

Part XXIII

Giles anxiously rapped his fingertips on the table in front of him, waiting for Travers to pick up on the other line. Through countless seconds he sat their trying to figure out the best way to tell his superior of the situation that Sunnydale has found itself in as of late.

“Mr. Giles?” a male voice came over on the other side, his voice incredibly thick with its strong English accent.

“Quentin?” Giles retorted back to him desperately seeking the person that he needed to talk to right now.

“What time is it there?” Travers’ voice rang through.

“Three in the morning,” Giles answered with not the slightest bit of sleep in his voice.

“Is that a little early for a wake up call for you?”

“Well, when the situation is in need of discussion, time really isn’t exactly an issue.”

“Ahhh… I understand. So what’s this call in regards to?” Quentin asked finally starting the conversation to get down to business.

“I really don’t know where to begin. A couple minutes ago, a friend of Buffy’s came to my door to inform me that the slayer is… How do I say this?” Giles started to say but was promptly interrupted.

“Come out with it Mr. Giles, I don’t have year here!” Travers started to get annoyed with Giles stumbling.

“She is pregnant,” Giles said softly, barely above a whisper.

“WHAT?!” he yelled.

“I don’t understand…” Giles started to say but then was promptly cut off by Quentin.

“It’s ok,” Travers said calmly. “Things like this have happened before.”

“It’s what?” Giles responded, dumbfounded over his calm expression.

“Have you kept all the information on how slayers can have children?” he asked.

“Everything,” Giles assure. “I don’t think there is any way that she could have know, this must have just happened by accident.”

“This types of accidents have happened before and I am not just talking about what happened in 1566, many slayers have been impregnated by vampires through their vicious acts of rape on the parts of those demons.”

“I haven’t heard any other than that one,” Giles said in disbelief.

“That’s because they have been kept quiet by both slayers and their watchers. It is somewhat embarrassing to both parties that she is carrying a being that is quite possibly the spawn of Satan,” Quentin began to explain. “As you know in the midst of fighting, the demon is willing to do practically anything to subdue an opponent, sometimes that involves sexual violence. Some vampires are actually noted throughout many volumes of anthologies of being exceptionally prone to being sadistic rapists. Angelus is a prime example of those types of demons. He uses every part of himself to lure young victims and removing them of something that they hold dear.”

“Didn’t they fight them off?” Giles asked.

“Of course, but the first reaction mostly is shock and wonderment on what is happening. The woman inside the slayer gets afraid of this attempt and shies away, no matter how much training they have undergone.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“The Council will send you a package in the mail in the next few days. Inside will be a couple of pills that you must get her to consume.”

“Pills?” Giles wondered.

“Yes, some Mifepristone pills,” Quentin clarified.

Giles sat on the side of the phone in complete silence trying to think of where he had heard of those before. Suddenly the thought hit his brain, “RU 486?!”

“As Americans consider them, yes. They are abortion pills that the Watcher’s Council has handed out to slayers for many years now.”

“Are they safe?” Giles asked with concern in his voice.

“The research center of the Watcher’s Council has patents on some of the most known medications on the market today. Basic ones such as Zoloft, Viagra, Mifepristone, Prozac, are just some that we have been working on hundreds of years before civilian scientists got hands on them, handed to them, by us. We get profit through pharmaceutical companies that advertise their product, that’s where most of the money that flows through this establishment. They have worked in the past, so I am positive that they are safe. The only one that didn’t work was back in 1566.”

“What happened then?”

“No one knows for sure but I am positive that they will be quite effective for your slayer’s case. She really needs to take them because if she doesn’t, then the pain that that thing will cause her might just take her life. Her body will not be able to handle carrying something that evil and it will cause her pain.”

“How do I get her to take it?” Giles asked.

“She is like a daughter to you, appeal that type of love for her. Believe me when I say, the child will kill her if she tries to bring it to full term,” Quentin warned. “This is important and you must tell her that.”

“So, when is the package coming in?”

“I will send it out now and it should be there in a day or two,” Quentin informed him. “We’ll keep in touch and tell me how things are going on the Hellmouth. If you love her, you will get her to take them.”

Giles knew that he loved her with everything that he held in his heart so he knew that he had to heed to the Council’s suggestion. “I will be waiting patiently for it.”

“Good, talk to you soon then?”

“Goodbye, Quentin,” Giles said as he heard the click of the phone on the opposite end. ‘Now how am I going to get to sleep with all this running through my mind?’ he thought to himself as he trudged up the stairs with heavy feet to try to go back to bed.

~ ~ ~

The next morning Buffy practically skipped out of bed because she had one of the best nights sleeps that she has had in a very long time. The words that Xander had spoken to her had hurt so much but Angelus was there to help her up when she was feeling down. ‘Grrr… Xander!’ she thought to herself as the images of her punching him in the face and breaking his nose in multiple places. But her thoughts about her revenge were quickly stopped when she heard her mom yell up the stairs.

“Buffy, it’s Willow on the phone!!” she screamed.

“I’ll get it!” she yelled back with a song on her voice.

Reaching across her bed to get the phone, Buffy quickly brought the receiver up to her ear and said, “Wills?”

“Oh God, I am so glad you are alright!!” Willow said in relief and rapidly continued. “After you left the Bronze last night in tears, everyone was worried about you!”

“Even Xander?” Buffy asked with a slight touch of cynicism in her voice.

“That jackass,” Willow exasperated. “He needs to be knocked into the middle of next week. I think Tara and I are going to start looking for something magical that might do just the trick.”

“Ooooh, can I be there when you do something?” Buffy asked excitedly.

“We would be holding it in your honor, it just wouldn’t be the same without you there,” Willow laughed. “So what happened last night?”

“You mean after I made a fool out of myself by running out of the Bronze?” Buffy asked.

“Buffy, you had every right to do that and besides from the look on Angelus’ face after you left, he needed a little release a little aggression and Xander was just the person for the job.”

“I heard a little about their little chat,” Buffy started to smile. “I wonder what they said to each other.”

“I don’t think Xander will ever tell what Angelus said to him. He ran out of their so quickly last night that I think I would have needed to catch a train in order to keep up with the pace that he left last night. I have never seen him that scared in his life.” Willow couldn’t suppress the soft chuckle that rose in her throat. “It was even better when Xander tried to walk by Jack O’Toole in the 2nd grade but didn’t have enough guts to do so, so he had to make a semi-circle around him about 30 feet out, that was some good times that day!”

“I can just imagine,” Buffy smiled and laughed when she remembered how Jack treated Xander in high school.

“Did Angelus find you last night after you left?”

“Yep and he walked me home just to make sure that I was ok,” Buffy said dreamily as she thought of him.

“I swear that if I had to judge who had the soul last night between Xander and Angelus, I could have sworn that it was the latter,” Willow admitted.

“It was almost embarrassing though when he walked me home, guess who was there to greet the two of us?”

“Your mom!” the thought suddenly hit her.

“Yep and tonight she had cordially invited him to a dinner with the two Summers women,” Buffy said in mock formality.

“Oh boy, that should be fun,” Willow quipped.

“You have no idea!” Buffy smiled. Suddenly her phone beeped indicating that there was someone waiting on the other line. “Hey Wills, I have another call, so hold on a sec.”

“Sure,” Willow said as Buffy pressed the flash button to see who was on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Buffy, it’s Giles,” he said stoically.

“Oh Giles,” Buffy said in surprise knowing that she didn’t want to tell him right then and there about her pregnancy. “What’s up?”

“I have some stuff to talk to you about.”

“Me too,” she admitted to him.

“Would you come to the Magic Box tomorrow so we can talk?”

“Sure, I’ll be there sometime in the afternoon,” Buffy indicated.

“See you then,” Giles said as Buffy pressed the flash button on the phone to return back to Willow.

“Willow?” Buffy asked.

“Yep, still here. Who was that?”

“Oh, just Giles, he wants to talk to me about something, as usual.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t see why not, he needs to know that he lied to me and that if he ever does it to me again, I will knee-cap him,” Buffy joked.

“What about your mother, tonight?”

“With Angelus there, I think it will be ok,” Buffy said. “He will give me a little courage to do the deed. I don’t think anything can go wrong anymore!”

“I hope you are right, because you just said the ultimate jinx” Willow admitted openly.

Without conscious thought, Buffy quickly put a hand to her abdomen to protect the life under there. “Everything will be fine, it has to be.”

Part XXIV

Some people say that the best thoughts come to you when you are in the shower, so Buffy decided to utilize that idea by basking in a hot steaming bath to pass the time. Throughout the whole day, her mind raced with what is going to happen tonight. Her heart both feared and anxiously waited for the day that she would tell her mother about Angelus and her child. Buffy knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for too long and tonight would be the perfect time to tell her. But how…

Buffy pulled back her dark blonde tresses into a loose French twist with small tendrils of hair falling onto her face and shoulders. She slipped silently into the hot bathtub and the soft, iridescent bubbles gave way to her worn body. Releasing a long, deep sigh from her throat, Buffy let her body relax in the soothing warmth. With the tips of her fingers, she circled the pillars of bubbles, making the water turn all around in small whirlpools. Buffy kept her thoughts clear for a long period of time, but she couldn’t hide from her thoughts of Angelus.

Angelus.

Buffy closed her eyes and saw him on the back of her eyelids. His tall form, broad shoulders, sleek torso, narrow hips, well-defined ass, muscular thighs… his glorious hands. His hands were the best part of him, the most ironic—the same hands that caused so much brutality and death were the exact same that made her blood boil and her body scream for more. Unconsciously, her hands came upon her body as her mind began to imagine another set of hands actually touching her.

Her hands began at her upper chest and moved slightly lover to gently massage her increasingly pert breasts. After much attention to them and a few faint moans that escaped her mouth, her body wriggled under her own administrations as her hands moved down her abdomen, just how she would feel Angelus’ hands upon her body. Fingertips would press deeply and rub every inch of her stomach and place a firm palm on her womb, feeling the heat radiating from new life. Moving lower her fingers scraped softly through her downy pubis in search for her moist center.

Delving inside, her fingers began to probe every sensitive spot and her body arched to meet her hand.

“BUFFY!!!!” her mother called from downstairs. “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING IN THAT BATHTUB FOR SO LONG????”

With an irritated grunt, Buffy removed her hands from her body to place them on the sides of the porcelain bathtub. Her eyes slowly opened, removing his image from her mind, replacing it with the bland color on the bathroom wall. “NOTHING, MOM!!” she yelled a loud.

“Well, then get your buns out of that tub before you turn into the biggest prune on the face of the planet!” Joyce yelled. “You have been in there for at least 45 minutes and dinner is going to begin in an hour or so.”

“Ok, Mom,” Buffy called back as she sat up in the water pushing aside the bubbles that still lingered on the surface. “My Mother—THE BUZZKILL!!” she laughed to herself. ‘How can you think of yourself as being sexy when you can’t get past seeing a picture of a giant prune when you look in the mirror at yourself.’ She stepped out of the water and grabbed the nearest towel to wrap around her still dripping body to go prepare for dinner.

After letting the water drain out of the tub, she walked across the hallway to get dressed in her room. She rooted deep through her closet to find suitable attire for tonight’s festivities—a black pair of Capri’s with a light pink tank top with a cardigan over the top. She pulled them out of her closet and flattened them out on top of her bed. Undoing the small knot that held the towel against her body and let it fall towards the floor.

It didn’t got too far before she felt a pleasurable tingle run down her spine. Pulling the towel up against her bare body, she knew she wasn’t alone in that room.

“You know, you should lock your windows when you aren’t in the room. There are dangerous men out there,” a velvety voice broke through the silence of the room.

Buffy turned around to find Angelus standing inside her window with his shoulder leaned up against the nearest wall and his feet crossed at the ankles. Buffy’s body was still slightly humming from her thoughts of him while she bathed and his very presence in the room sent more shocks of electricity everywhere. “How do you know, I am not looking at one at the moment,” she raised an eyebrow at him.

Angelus strode towards her with the predatory step of a jungle feline, only to stand within breathing distance from her. “Then I say you need to increase on security around here,” he whispered erotically as he moved a hand up to her shoulder to trace the line of her collarbone, undo the knot to display her body to his hungry eyes.

“I’ll remember to do that next time,” she forced through bated breath.

“You can never be to sure,” he assure to her right before he took possession of her lips with his own. He wrapped his arms around her body feeling her still moist skin under his fingertips. Buffy quickly responded to his actions and melted into him. Her knees became so weak, that she fell backwards onto the bed with his impressive weight on top of her.

Buffy rolled them so that his back was now pressed firmly against the bed and she straddled him and ravished his mouth with her own. Suddenly, she broke from his kiss to look him straight in the eye. “We can’t do this now, my mother is downstairs,” she hissed from pleasure as his fingers massaged her hips that caused her to grind up against his growing erection.

With a sly smile on his face, he whispered back to her. “I promise to be quiet.”

“I can’t promise that,” she returned his smile with one of her own. But before she could stop him one more time, he pulled her down towards his chest one more time, not allowing her any more time to protest.

~ ~ ~

After many long, pleasurable minutes in each other’s arms, Buffy knew it was time that she got ready for the dinner and that he had to leave. “Angelus, you have to leave,” she pleaded as she tried to push him out her window with his pants still opened wide. “I will greet you at the door in about five minutes!” she whispered loudly as he climbed down into the darkness.

Buffy hastily smoothed her hair that was in disarray and pulled on a new outfit to quickly come downstairs to meet her mother.

“Buffy, I think we might have a mouse or something,” Joyce confided in her daughter as she walked down the stairs.

“Why do you say that?” Buffy asked in confusion as to what brought this question on.

“I heard some soft squeaking and rustling upstairs while you were getting ready… Are you ok?” she changed the subject rather quickly, when she saw the flushed look on Buffy’s face.

“I… I, um…” The doorbell rang to give Buffy some time not to answer her mother’s question. “I am going to get the door.” Opening the door, Buffy saw Angelus step through with a shit-eating grin on his face and his clothing still slightly rumpled.

“Hello, Buffy… Good evening, Mrs. Summers,” he greeted as he pulled to blood red roses from his back to hand to the ladies of the house.

“Well, how sweet of you!” Joyce exclaimed as she dug her nose inside the flowering petals and inhaled its scent deeply. “Why don’t you come on in? Dinner will be served in a few minutes.”

Joyce turned on the balls of her feet to go back to the kitchen, leaving Buffy and Angelus along in the front hallway. “Long time, no see,” Buffy whispered to him as she moved around him to press herself into his chest and sought his lips with her own. Naughtily, she reached around his body and grabbed the lobes of his ass tightly in her hands and pulled him closer to her.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” a voice called through the front door.

Buffy quickly pulled her hands from his backside and her mouth from his, to turn towards the door to see Xander standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here, Xander?” Buffy asked him with malice in her voice.

Xander ignored the piercing glares coming from both Buffy and Angelus as he pushed inside her house. “It just came to my attention that I haven’t talked to Buffy’s mom in a while, so I thought I would come and visit.”

“Oh, Xander, what are you doing here?” Joyce asked as she heard a third voice enter her home.

“Just to see you,” he said to her. “Is that dinner I smell?”

“Yes, Buffy, Angelus and I were having dinner tonight,” Joyce admitted and without looking at her daughter shaking her head, Joyce invited Xander to eat with them. “If you aren’t too busy, you can always eat with us.”

“Oh why thank you Mrs. Summers, I would be honored,” he accepted courteously. “You know after slaving all day in the hot sunshine, no wonder why I am always so famished. What have you done during the daylight, Angelus?”

Joyce smiled warmly at her new guest and lead all three of them to the dining room table to sit them all down for a nice meal. “So, what do you do?” she asked Angelus as the motherly interrogation began.

“Ooo, now this is a question, I ask myself all the time,” Xander chimed in as he placed his elbows on the table and rested his face on his hands in Angelus’ direction.

Ignoring Xander’s comment for the time being, Angelus responded coolly. “I work for the government.”

“The government,” Joyce said in surprise. “Really?”

“The government, huh?” Xander added. “And what pray-tell do you do for them?”

“I work for the Bureau of the Census. Mostly under population control,” Angelus said with a slight hint of joy in his voice.

“Do you like it?” Joyce asked innocently as she stopped the fork on its path towards her mouth.

“Oh yeah, I bet he does. I assumes he just eats it up, don’t you Angelus?” Xander jabbed at Buffy’s boyfriend.

“Xander!” Buffy growled at her friend as a smile swept across his face. “Stop it!”

“Stop what?” he responded innocently. “We are just having a civil conversation at the moment. Oh, Mrs. Summers could you hand me the rolls, please?”

“Sure,” Joyce answered as she lifted the basket of dinner rolls in Xander’s direction.

“Oh boy. GARLIC BREAD!!!” Xander exclaimed excitedly. “God, I love this stuff. Would you like some, Angelus?” he asked as he almost threw the wicker basket across the table.

Sending the brown haired boy an evil glare, Angelus promptly turned down his offer. “No thank you.”

“Come on, what are you afraid of? Bad breath?” Xander kept on pushing. “I honestly, think that it might be the least of your problems.”

“Xander!” Joyce found her voice as she stared at her daughter and seeing the look of pain and anger that spread across her face. “Why don’t you just eat your food right now?”

The room filled with momentary silence as three of the people began eating up all the food on their plates as the other, took a taste here and a taste there, just enough to not let anyone know that he wasn’t eating.

“Oh, Buffy, I wanted to tell you!” Xander broke the silence. “There is a sale at the closest department store that Will and I noticed. I think it goes for Juniors, Missus and MATERNITY,” Xander said putting a little emphasis on the last word. “You are probably going to need some new clothes soon.”

Hearing enough, Buffy threw her napkin that was on her lap and excused herself from the table. “Buffy, wait!” he mother called out which made her daughter stop dead in her tracks. Turning her attention to Xander with a slight hint of hatred in her eyes, she stared him down. “Xander, I think you should probably leave.”

“What did I say??” he said naively.

“I think you know,” Joyce said, even though she had no idea what he said that would offend Buffy, as she stood up to point towards her front door. “You can come back when you don’t say something that would upset Buffy.”

At first, Xander just sat there in his chair to defiantly stare down both Summers women and lastly his gaze fell upon Angelus, who was now standing and sending a faint growl in his direction. “I think you should go, too,” Angelus hissed at him.

“I can get the hint when I am not wanted, so I think I will,” Xander said with haughtiness and fearfulness in his voice. “You all have a nice evening and maybe I will see you sometime in the daytime, Angelus.”

Xander left the room, leaving the three others standing there in angered silence. “Well this was a great night,” Joyce sighed in defeat.

“I am sorry about that, Mom,” Buffy apologized.

“It wasn’t you. I don’t know what was Xander’s problem, he was even pissing me off and I really don’t know why,” Joyce shook her head.

“I think I ought to be going too. I some business I need to attend to by morning,” Angelus turned to walk out of the dining room. “Thank you for the evening,” he said as he walked away with Buffy quick on his heels.

“Angelus,” Buffy whispered and he pretended that he couldn’t hear her. “Angelus, please listen to me!”

With her hand on his shoulder, he turned to face her and to see the tears in her eyes. “Angelus, let me deal with him, please!” she pleaded.

Seeing the sorrowful look in her eyes, he couldn’t deny her request. Nodding his head in consent, Buffy smiled shallowly at him and pulled him into a strong embrace in her arms. She released him and he put a finger underneath her chin to raise her face to place a soft kiss on her lips.

Breaking away from her and stepping outside the house, he stared at Buffy’s eyes as she smiled a little brighter and shut the door behind her. “She said that she would deal with him, but she didn’t say anything about not being able to pay him a little visit for the time being,” Angelus said to himself as he turned on his feet to track down the unexpected visitor.

Part XXV

“Hey Ahn,” Xander greeted tiredly as he walked through his front door and greeted his girlfriend.

Anya strode up to him with her arms crossed in front of her chest. “And where have you been??” she asked with worry in her voice. “You weren’t here after I got back from work, you were supposed to be here and you weren’t.”

“I am sorry,” Xander apologized sincerely. “Had to do something.”

“Something???” Anya asked as she raised her eyebrows into sharp points. “What did you do??”

Xander shrugged his shoulders as he trudged heavily past her and into their bedroom. “Nothing,” he lied.

“Well, if you don’t tell me the truth then there is going to be no sex for you tonight,” she threatened. “And I was so looking forward to this day. Tonight is our shiver me timbers night!!”

Xander sighed and sat down on the bed with his hands rested on his knees. “I am sorry, Ahn. But I am not in the mood tonight anyway, it has been a long day.”

“Well good, I wasn’t in the mood either!” Anya’s voice raised and she turned to stomp out their bedroom door as Xander fell back on his bed and took a deep breath as he hit the sheets.

On her way out the door, Anya kept on the argument that they might have just had. “Oh yeah, not in the mood tonight. Long day, huh? Yeah, my butt. Ruin my plans why don’t you? Grrrr!” she ranted but then was suddenly silence by the sound of someone knocking on her front door. “Now who in the world would be out this late at night?”

The knocking at the door continued as Anya stepped quickly to the door to open it. “Yeah, yeah, I am coming…” she stated as she pulled back the heavy door. “Oh hi,” she greeted.

“Hello, you’re Anya right?” Angelus asked with the largest shit-eating grin on his face. “I have heard so much about you.”

“Long time, no see, Angelus,” she smiled nervously.

“Have we met before?” he asked in confusion but not removing the smile on his face.

“By reputation,” she openly admitted. “While you were in Italy in the 1882, I was there cursing a young man who had been unfaithful to his girlfriend. She wished that he…” she started to say but Angelus quickly finished for her.

“Every time that his eyes looked upon another woman, he would get a piercing pain in his face then go blind for a weeks time,” he remembered of that man’s fate and laughed softly. “Your work?”

Anya lifted her hand in the shape of a gun and blew off the top of her finger as if it were spoken. “The one and only Anyanka, at your service.”

“Good job. That guy was so much fun to play with. For a whole month, a few female companions that I was acquainted with would intentionally pass him by just to see him writhe,” Angelus complemented her. “What a memory it was to see a full grown man crawling out of a building on his hands and knees only to crawl smack dab into the side of the opposite building.”

Laughing to herself, “And his girlfriend went to the infirmary every time he knocked himself unconscious just to openly mock him.”

Angelus joined her in her laughter and said, “Ah, those were the days! But I am not complaining about now.”

“So how are things with Buffy, anyway?” Anya asked knowing how well everything was going, she just wanted to continue on their conversation, not falling into that ugly awkward silence part.

“Now that you mention Buffy, I should probably mention why I am here,” he responded to her question with a large smile on his face. “Can I, by chance, come in?”

“Sure, come on in,” she said as she moved aside and motioned with her hand to invite him in.

“How very courteous of you,” he stated as he walked past the threshold into her home.

“No problem,” she said as she escorted him to the living room where she enticed him to take a seat. “So what’s up?” she asked.

“Well here’s the thing…” he started to say but was interrupted by Xander streaming into the room.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Xander asked as his temper flared.

Angelus caught the frazzled look on Xander’s face and could not suppress a huge smile that spread across his face. Staring straight back at him, he leaned back on the couch and propped both of his feet on the coffee table in front of him. “Oh Xander, I didn’t see you there. I didn’t know you lived here?”

“And know you do, so you can leave!” Xander commanded, knowing that his life and Anya’s was in danger with his man in his living room.

“Well, I can’t really do that, now can I?” Angelus commented. “I have been invited in and to leave so suddenly would be rude.” He leaned his head back on the top of the couch and looked around the room. “You have a nice place here, I must say. And a girlfriend that matches here perfectly. I am quite impressed, very spiffy,” he said as he assessed the room.

“You keep her out of this,” Xander said with gritted teeth not removing himself from the spot that his feet seemed to be planted in.

“Who Anya?” he asked with an innocent tone to his voice. “Now why would I bring her into this?” Angelus sat up straight from his slumped position and turned from Xander to Anya who sat there on the chair motionless. With his long index finger, Angelus beckoned her to come to him.

She understood his command and she promptly came to her feet in a trance that he seemed to have drawn her in. Her eyes never wavered from his as she walked toward Angelus and sat right next to him on the couch.

“You see, she wants me here,” Angelus stated as he patted her gently on the knee with his hand.

“Don’t touch her!” Xander said not able to move.

“Now why would I think of doing such a thing,” Angelus asked naively as he moved his hand up to her face to stroke her cheek as she stared blankly in front of her.

“Because you are a soulless son-of-a-bitch that raped Buffy and now is pregnant with your spawn. And, of course, Buffy’s opinion on how to save precious life, won’t get rid of it. Not to mention you are a blood-sucking fiend from beyond the grave, that is always a good thing,” Xander yelled and his nostrils flared.

Angelus could barely contain his anger after hearing Xander’s words, but he knew that this conversation would be more effective if he would stay calm. “I wonder if Anya here, holds the same opinion,” he declared as he moved his face closer to her ear to whisper in it.

“Don’t. Touch. Her!” Xander punctuated every word.

“Aww, Xander. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt her. I think she may find it quite pleasurable,” he sensuously hissed as he pretended to tilt his head into a position to sink his teeth into her flesh. Within a hair width’s distance from her throat, he placed a soft kiss to her neck and pulled back to look straight at Xander. “She’s not the one that I would like to be hurting right now, I have no vendettas against her. I am saving that for a very special occasion that has your name on it though.”

Angelus dropped his grip on her and stood up to come eye to eye with Xander. He was only a few inches taller than the 20 year-old, but none-the-less, his presence towered over all. Walking past Xander, he gave him a quick wink and said, “I’ll be seeing you around.”

“You are such an animal!” Xander hissed.

“Oh that reminds me. Do you own a dog?” Angelus asked.

“No, why?” Xander asked not understanding the purpose of the question.

“Such a shame, though. I bet he was a happy thing,” the vampire said cryptically as he stepped out of Xander’s house.

With Angelus gone now, Xander quickly sprinted to Anya who was just now blinking her eyes and coming out of her daze. “Anya, are you alright?”

“Xander,” she shook her head at him. “Must have zoned out there for a couple of minutes there. Where’s Angelus?”

“He’s gone. Left only moments ago,” Xander stated as he gripped her tightly by her shoulders and stared her straight in the eyes.

“And I didn’t get to say goodbye,” Anya pouted. “Maybe I can still catch him.” She quickly rose to her feet and ran to her front door and outside in search of him. Her eyes scanned back and forth across the darkness and found no sign of him. Turning back around towards the front of the house, she closed her eyes and sighed loudly. “I missed him, but don’t worry, I can say something to him the next time he comes over… Oh My God!” her words came out panicked.

Running to her side, Xander asked frantically. “Ahn, what is it?”

No words came at the moment; all she could do was point. He followed her finger to where she was looking and suddenly all the air flew from his lungs as she punched his stomach.

The sight in front of them caught Xander by surprise when he saw a young puppy nailed to his front porch railing. “Oh My God!” he said in shock and moved to pull Anya closer to his chest.

“Do you know how long it is going to take me to clean that up?” she asked totally ignoring the brutality of the situation. “All I can say is that at least they didn’t use bunnies, that could have really traumatized me!”

~ ~ ~

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