Chapter 20: Long Day's Journey Home Buffy opened her eyes and for a moment she had to just look around herself, despite the time she had spent in her mother's house, she still needed some time to get used to waking up in her old room instead of her and Angel's bedroom with him next to her. Then again, she didn't even want to get used to waking up without him. She shifted to her side and grabbed the phone from the nightstand, dialing the number she knew by heart. It didn't take long for him to answer. “I'm awake”, she declared with a smile. They had agreed on that she would call him in the morning because he didn't want to take a chance on waking her up. “So I hear”, he answered getting up to sit on their bed. He ran his hand through his unruly hair and looked at the clock on the nightstand. “How did you two sleep?” “Okay. But there was still something missing”, she answered and added a pout to the last part even though she knew he couldn't see it. “And what would that have been?” “You. I need my Angel-pillow to really sleep”, she answered and fell back against the bed. She missed him. The calls didn't exactly make up for not seeing him. Angel could hear the pout in her voice and just imagining it made a small smile appear to his lips. “Well, you're getting your pillow back in nine hours”, he stated. Buffy frowned, that didn't sound right. “Nine? But the bus leaves at six. Did I miss something?” “You didn't miss anything. I figured I'd pick you up”, he explained. “Really?” She climbed to sitting position and slowly shifted towards the edge, setting her feet to the ground before pushing them into her fluffy slippers. “Do you want to talk to the baby?” she asked with a smile. There was a short pause. “I know you want to”, she added as he didn't answer. At night when Angel thought she was asleep he talked to the baby in hushed tones, she thought it was so cute that she didn't mention it because she was afraid he might stop. “I'm gonna put the phone to my belly”, she said to the phone and lowered it to her stomach. She could hear Angel's soft voice on the phone, but couldn't make out the words. Immediately as he started talking, the baby that had been calm through the night and the whole morning, kicked. She smiled and placed her hand to her belly, the baby definitely recognized his or her father's voice, she was convinced of that. After a while, she took the phone and placed it back to her ear. “Hey, it's me again. Did you two have a nice chat?” “I was just telling her I miss her mom”, Angel answered with a smirk, he knew what was coming. “Or his”, Buffy reminded him with a smile. “Or his”, he amended. During his one sided conversation he had gotten off the bed and dressed. He wasn't going to leave the room since knowing Cordelia, she would hog the phone and the chances of getting it back any time soon would be slim to none. “But now we're going to get breakfast. I'll call you back later. I love you”, Buffy said and got up to her feet. “Okay, I let you go. I love you too and I'll see you soon”, he said back and they hung up. Both of them headed downstairs, Angel in LA and Buffy in Sunnydale. Buffy walked into the kitchen where Joyce was already sitting on the table with breakfast set. Joyce raised her eyes to her daughter. “Morning, honey”, she greeted with a soft smile. “Morning”, Buffy answered and poured herself coffee before sitting down to the table. “Should you be drinking coffee?” Joyce asked with a frown as she watched Buffy put sugar and milk into her coffee. “Yeah, I get one cup of coffee in the morning”, she answered and took a sip of the hot liquid. They ate their breakfast with polite conversation, Joyce carefully avoiding the subject of the man who had gotten her daughter pregnant. Buffy swallowed the last piece of toast and frowned. “There wouldn't happen to be any oranges and pickles hidden away anywhere?” she questioned. Joyce smiled and shook her head. “Sorry, only orange juice. Why oranges and pickles?” Again Buffy frowned. “I'm having bit of a craving. I'm really scared of what kind of eating habits this baby might develop since I want to eat the strangest combinations of food”, she answered, she was sure that if she wasn't pregnant the foods put together would have grossed her out. “When I was pregnant with you, I just loved the beach. I used to spend hours there just sniffing the sand”, Joyce said with a fond smile. She liked to remember the times when everything was blissfully normal, before her marriage fell apart, before her daughter got into trouble and before she became a slayer. “Sniffing sand?” Buffy asked with a confused frown. Joyce laughed. “Yeah, I had this weird thing for it. I actually forced your father to drive me there many times a day.” “Well, who am I to judge. I put mustard on Angel's fried eggs. I'll be one happy Buffy when the baby decides to come out and I'll be eating normal foods again.” “Well, it's natural to want strange things when you're pregnant”, Joyce said and patted Buffy's hand. She had successfully managed to dodge the subject of Angel through out her daughter's stay, she had accepted the baby, but was still getting used to Angel. She figured it was safest to avoid mentioning the man. “I need to get back to the gallery soon, will you be alright by yourself?” she asked and got off the table, starting to clean the dishes off the table. “I'll be fine. But could I bum a ride to Giles' apartment?” Joyce turned around to look at her daughter. “Again?” she questioned, doing her best to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She couldn't help but feel jealous for Mr. Giles spending so much time with her daughter, for the past years he had been a large part of her daughter's life and she felt herself neglected. Mr. Giles was an adult, he could have kept Buffy out of the harms way instead of pushing her towards it. Sometimes she really regretted moving to Sunnydale, maybe if she would have chosen another town everything would have been alright. She shook her head, no it wouldn't have been. What little Mr. Giles had told her about slayers, forced her to realize that they would have found Buffy and nothing would have been different, except maybe she wouldn't be expecting Angel's child. “I just need to talk to him and it still is the scooby central despite me living in LA”, Buffy answered and got off the table to help her mother. Joyce looked at her daughter, she really was a grown up but then again, she hadn't been a child in many years. “Of course you can get a ride, you shouldn't be walking long distances now”, she finally answered the question, pushing her jealousy aside. “And my feet agree with you”, Buffy stated. xxx Buffy was sitting on the couch, sipping her tea when the phone rang. Without even thinking, she turned in her seat and answered it. For a moment Wesley was confused to hear Buffy's voice on the other end, he was quite certain he had dialed Mr. Giles' number. With a frown he considered the possibility that he might be becoming absent minded British stereotype like on some horrid tv program. “Buffy? Umm... I was certain I phoned Mr. Giles”, he said to the phone. “Yeah, you did. I'm at Giles' place. Do you want to talk to him?” “That would be nice, yes”, he answered and removed his glasses, rubbing them against his shirt. “Giles! Phone!” she yelled towards the kitchen after covering the speaker with her hand. Giles appeared from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel and quickly made his way to the phone. “It's Wesley”, Buffy told him and handed over the phone. “Wesley?” Giles said to the phone. “Yes, good day, Giles. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering when are you planning on sending the papers.” Giles frowned. “That bloody stupid piece of wires didn't work apparently”, he said and removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It appears I must send the papers with Buffy”, he stated and glanced at the woman in question. She was again sipping her tea, not paying any attention to him and he made a quick note to restock on the tea. “Do you think it is safe? If the papers do contain as delicate information as you suspect...” Wesley didn't finish the sentence. He sighed tiredly and rubbed his forehead, but it did very little to ease the headache he was going to have. “I believe the papers will be safe with her and...” Giles stopped what he was saying and again turned to look at Buffy. Discreetly he went to another room to finish the conversation, not wanting Buffy to hear it. It was still too early to announce the news to everyone, he hoped that he was wrong, he prayed that he was wrong. Buffy watched as Giles went to the other room, he had been acting strangely her whole stay and she was starting to suspect there was more to it than just awkwardness because of her pregnancy. But her train of thought was interrupted as Willow and Xander walked in with their girlfriends. “Hey there, big mama”, Xander joked and got a slap on the ribs from his girlfriend. “Do you want the pregnant lady to cry?!” she said accusingly then walked to Buffy, leaning closer to her like she was about to talk to a small child. “Please don't cry. I find the slayer in tears very disturbing.” Buffy just stared at the former demon, not sure how she should take it. “Then it's a good thing you weren't around when Angelus was running loose”, Xander commented and Buffy sent him a glare. She hadn't been offended by him calling her big mama, her emotions had been steady for the last few days, but she still didn't like the hostility Xander showed towards Angel. “So where's Giles?” Willow asked, trying to distract the conversation away from the disaster it was heading. “He's on the phone”, Buffy answered and signed towards the door. “So what are you guys doing here?” She turned her gaze back to her friends. “We have a free period”, Willow answered signing to her and Tara. Tara offered Buffy a shy smile and a wave of her hand. “I was just bored. And here was the safest bet to find you”, Xander stated with a shrug. “Hey, it's your last day here in Sunnydale, we could go to Espresso Pump or something. Just to... you know, hang. We haven't done it so often lately. The hanging I mean”, Willow suggested, wringing her fingers nervously. “Yeah, we need to get you away from these musty books and have some fun before you have to return to the life where you spend your days with Cordelia”, Xander said with a smile. “With your ex-girlfriend”, Anya muttered not even trying to disguise her jealousy. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the man. “Anya, honey. Cordy and me are over, done, finished, finito, never gonna happen”, Xander assured her, but she didn't seem to be softening. “She's pretty”, she stated like it explained everything. “You're prettier”, Xander tried to convince her, giving her a cute smile. From that declaration Anya seemed to brighten a little, she stopped glaring at him but didn't loose the pout. Xander clapped his hands together as it seemed one catastrophe had been prevented, and turned to look at Buffy. “So what you say, Buff, are you willing to hit the town with your old buddies?” “I could use some fresh air”, Buffy stated with a shrug and got up to her feet. She went to the other room and immediately Giles stopped talking to the phone, turning to her with expectant expression on his face. She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note to it, holding it for him to see. He read it, 'I'm going out with the guys' and nodded as if giving his permission. He covered the phone with his hand. “Just be careful”, he said and she gave him a smile. “Of course”, she said and left. Giles shook his head and turned his attention back to the phone conversation. “Sorry about that, Buffy just informed me she is going out with the others. As for the matter we were discussing, I'm afraid the prophecy is from a reliable source. But first we have to confirm that it truly is talking about Buffy and Angel, we must be absolutely certain, without any room for a doubt...” xxx Buffy and the others had returned from their outing and were sitting in Giles' living room. They had stopped by the Summers house where Buffy said goodbye to her mother beforehand and brought her luggage to Giles' apartment. Buffy was having a conversation with the wicca's when the door opened, interrupting them. Faith breezed inside and walked straight into the living room, falling to the armchair and taking a relaxed pose. “Faith? Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” Giles questioned with a frown while closing the door she had left wide open. “To let you see I'm still alive and kicking, B here told me you were all worried about me”, Faith explained looking at Giles innocently, then got off the chair to sit next to Buffy, forcing Willow to scoot away. “So how's my niece been doing?” Faith asked looking at the bump. Buffy had to smile, it appeared everyone were convinced that the baby was going to be a girl, only Tara didn't give an opinion and Buffy suspected it was because she knew which one the baby really was. “He or she is doing fine. Strangely kick-less”, she answered. Faith grinned and placed her hand on the belly. “Come on, give auntie Faith a good kick”, she said. “Don't encourage the baby”, Buffy chastised and soon got a strong kick to the ribs. “That's my girl”, Faith grinned and the baby kicked again. “The baby isn't even born yet and already you're a bad influence”, Buffy said and gave Faith a playful glare. But as usual, Faith didn't seem to be affected by it. “I thought you were supposed to be on that bus already”, she stated looking at the blond slayer. “Angel's gonna pick me up”, Buffy explained and an smirk rose to Faith's lips. “Couldn't wait, huh? When's the hubby coming?” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Soon. Depending on how heavy his foot has been on the gas pedal.” “Well, then we've got just enough time to talk business before he gets here. Let's go outside, you look like you need some air”, Faith said and practically dragged her sister slayer outside, this time closing the door behind her. Willow looked after them with a frown on her face. “She's always whisking her away, it's like they have a private club. A club where we can't join”, she said, she felt neglected now that Faith had straightened up. Tara took her hand, giving it a soft squeeze and offered a gentle smile to her girlfriend. Immediately Willow felt better, less alone. But Xander was glaring at the door, after a while he got up from the chair despite Anya's protest and headed to the door. He needed to know what was so important that it couldn't be discussed in front of them. “So why are we here?” Buffy asked looking around herself, then turning to Faith. She knew it wasn't a slayer-talk just by looking at the brunette. Faith shifted on her feet, feeling uncomfortable. “Just need a little favor.” “Shoot.” Again Faith changed her weight to the other foot, she couldn't understand why she was feeling so uncomfortable, it wasn't like she was ashamed or anything. “Could you not tell the others about me screwing Spike. It's not like I'm ashamed or anything. But I'm on the shaky grounds with them, except for Giles, he's cool with me. Xander's the one with the biggest grudge, might be the whole popping his cherry and trying to strangle him thing, but I just want everything to go by smoothly till you're back in the game, you know.” Now it was time for Buffy to shift nervously. “Sure. I'm not gonna say anything to them. I'm still recovering from the trauma and having hard time believing it.” She shook her head in disbelief, then turned to look at Faith. “I still can't believe it. You and Spike”, she cried out. Faith rolled her eyes. “Come on, Goldilocks, it's just sex, a normal bodily function”, she said and pointedly looked at the blondes stomach. “Oh this is rich!” came Xander's voice from the door and both women spun around to look at him. He didn't look happy. “Faith and Spike! Why am I not surprised?” Faith glared at the man, it was none of his business what she did or who she did, he had no right to criticize her. “It figures. You always wanted to be like Buff so now you're boinking the dead too”, he said, his voice dripping with hostility. He didn't trust the brunette, she had tried to kill them all once, but now everyone treated her like she was one of them, like nothing had happened. But he wasn't going to forget like everyone else did. Shacking up with Spike only made his stand stronger. “Xander”, Buffy chastised, but the young man ignored her, his eyes sharply staring at Faith who was looking back at him without caving. She wasn't Buffy, she didn't need to give up her beliefs to keep her friends happy, and that's what Xander was: Buffy's friend. “Why don't you take a hike, Xander”, she said in a commanding voice. “You can't tell me what to do”, Xander said with confidence, he wanted to add 'slut' to the end but stopped himself, he didn't trust Faith's mental health enough to push his luck. “Fuck off, monkey boy. I may not pound some sense into your thick skull since I'm all reformed, but I can tell your overly jealous girlfriend who got there first”, Faith said with a hard glare. Xander opened his mouth to speak but decided against it, suddenly he didn't know what to say. If Anya knew about his and Faith's past he would never hear the end of it, it was hard enough with Cordelia just two hours away and he had barely dodged the bullet in New York. He turned to Buffy for help, she had to put stop to what Faith was doing but she just looked at him with sad eyes. His gaze hardened, she had picked the psycho's side instead of her friend's. “Why don't you pop out the spawn so we can get rid of her”, he said to Buffy before stomping back inside, slamming the door behind him. Buffy jumped at the loud noise, her nerves were on end and tears were forming in her eyes. This was not how she wanted her visit to end. “Well, I guess there's no point in asking you to keep the secret”, Faith stated, then turned to look at the blond, noticing the tears in her eyes. “Hey, B, don't cry. Don't let that asshole get to you”, she said. Buffy wiped the forming tears away and shook her head. “That's not why I'm crying, it's the stupid hormones. And don't call him an asshole”, she said sniffing. “Well he is right now”, Faith defended her point, but shrugged it away as she didn't want to upset Buffy any further. “I think I'm gonna sit down, my feet are killing me”, Buffy said with a sigh, she wasn't ready to go back inside and face Xander, he needed time to cool off. She sat to the edge of the fountain, she wanted to remove her shoes but resisted the urge, maybe she'd have Angel rub her feet when they got home. A crooked smile rose to her lips as she remembered how one of their sessions had ended up the time he had gotten shot. “What are you smiling about?” Faith asked with a smirk, looking at her suspiciously. “Wicked things I hope.” Buffy was thankful that it was dark outside so the brunette couldn't see her blush. But thankfully her so called wicked thoughts were cooled down as she also remembered how the session had ended, with Cordelia walking in on them. “You're outside and it's after dark”, Angel's smooth voice came from behind them, sending shivers down her spine. She turned around with a crooked smile on her lips and slowly got up to her feet. He was standing in the shadows, looking very much like the creature of the night he was. “I'm with a slayer, could I be in any safer company?” she questioned and crossed the distance between them. “That's beside the point”, he said like a father telling child she had been naughty. She just gave him an innocent smile. “Hi”, she whispered like they had just met. She pulled him into a kiss and he responded into it without hesitation. Automatically his hand drifted down her side to her stomach, covering it protectively. Slowly he pulled back with a small crooked smile on his lips. “Hey”, he greeted back. They both were oblivious to the world around them, especially to the dark slayer that was wearing a wicked smirk. “And here I though B was all sexually repressed after getting the big and pointy stomach”, she stated, drawing the couples attention to herself. Buffy blushed and sent a chastising glare at the brunette, but Angel couldn't keep the smirk from forming to his lips. Faith laughed as she saw it. Buffy turned and gently slapped him to the stomach as she noticed what Faith was laughing at. Quickly Angel wiped the smirk off his face, he thought it was cute how she still got embarrassed by their sexual relationship, but then a frown started to form on his face. It was probably his fault, the things he had said to her the first morning as Angelus had left her insecure of her abilities for a long time. They had never talked about it, he had never told her the things Angelus said were all lies, that his demon had known they were the best way to get to her, to use her insecurities against her. “You're starting to brood again. Is everything okay?” Buffy's voice pulled him out of his glum thoughts and he turned to look at her concerned face. “Nothing's wrong. Just thinking”, he assured her and pressed a soft kiss to her head. She looked at him skeptically, but didn't say anything, it wasn't the time to try to get inside his head. “Where's your luggage?” he asked steering the conversation elsewhere. “Inside. Lets get the bags so we can head home”, she answered and the three headed inside. xxx Angel took the bags to the car and twice Giles reminded Buffy that she needed to give the files and the book to Wesley immediately as they arrived to LA. Xander was sulking, but he did say goodbye to Buffy, ignoring Angel. The others were more emotional and after quick goodbyes the couple headed towards Los Angeles. After passing the Sunnydale-sign, Buffy turned in her seat to face him. “Stop the car”, she told him and he turned to look at him, concern showing in his voice. “Are you feeling sick?” He pulled over, killed the engine and turned in his seat, giving her his full attention. “Nope”, she answered with a reassuring smile. “I haven't seen you in days and I wanted to do this.” She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss. He smiled against her lips before deepening the kiss. She cupped his cheek as her other hand ran through his hair, settling to the back of his neck to play with the fine hair. He shifted in his seat to move closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. He let his lips trail away from her lips, shedding soft kisses down her face to her neck and tracing the scar with his tongue. She shuddered at the feeling, a small whimper escaping her lips. After a while, he forced himself to pull back. He took long calming, but unneeded breaths while gazing into her heated eyes. “We better get going”, he stated with a gruff voice and turned his attention back to the car. He restarted it and they continued their trip back to LA. He couldn't wait to get home. They arrived to the hotel couple hours later and he insisted carrying all the bags, only allowing her to keep the things Giles had sent to Wesley. “At least let me carry the backpack, you look like a pack mule”, she complained, but he just shook his head, not giving in. With a petulant sigh, she followed him in. Neither of them noticed the dark figure standing in the shadows on the other side of the road. They were greeted by Wesley, who had sprinted out of the office the minute he heard them come through the door. Buffy couldn't help but smile at his expression, it was like a little boy waiting for souvenirs. “Here's the package Giles sent”, Buffy said and handed the folder with the book to him. “Marvelous. Thank you”, he said with a smile and took the folder, hurrying back to the office. He couldn't wait to read the papers, time was not on their side and he was bursting with anxiety. Buffy and Angel looked after him before heading up the stairs. “He and Giles have been acting majorly weird lately”, she stated while walking. “I know. Wesley has done a lot of researching lately, he has practically commandeered the office”, he agreed and opened the bedroom door for her. “Something's up. Giles was all evasive when it came to mentioning the baby”, she stated and sat to the bed, sighing in relief as she removed her shoes. Angel set down the bags and turned to Buffy. “I trust Wesley and Giles, he wouldn't do anything to hurt you.” Buffy nodded in agreement, she knew Giles would never hurt her, not intentionally anyway. “And I trust them too. But it's still weird. They're all watcher-y and buddy-buddy these days”, she said and slowly laid down against the pillows on the end of the bed. “But isn't it a good thing that they are getting along”, he said. He had his own doubts about what was going on, but he didn't want to worry her. But his mind was far away from the two watchers as he watched his mate lounge on the bed, the kiss in the car came rushing back to his mind. Slowly he crossed the distance between them, looking very much like a large predator. He sat to the edge of the bed without taking his eyes off hers. “How are you feeling?” he asked with a low voice, his hand drifting down to her stomach and disappearing under her shirt. “Good. Feeling good”, she answered, his touch was causing shivers run through her body. “I need to go patrolling”, he stated, but made no move to leave. His other hand made its way to her hair, he loved her long hair, he could make a hobby out of running his fingers through it. She leaned into his touch, closing her eyes. “Yeah, you should”, she whispered. He leaned down and gently kissed her lips, making it brief because he knew he had to leave before he was too tempted to stay. “I'm going”, he said and got off the bed, but still was not moving towards the door. “Hurry back. I'll keep the bed warm for ya”, she said with a husky voice and a wicked smile. He swallowed. “You can count on that, baby”, he whispered so quietly she could barely hear it, and then he was gone. He hurried to downstairs and grabbed couple of stakes, it was going to be a quick sweep through the streets. He was on his way to the door when the light in the office caught his eye, he made his way to the door and looked inside. Wesley was oblivious to the world around him as he was reading the pages in front of him with a deep frown on his face. Quietly Angel pulled back from the door and left the hotel, making a mental note to ask Wesley about the papers the next day, but right now he had more urgent things to take care of. To be continued...

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter