Angel took Buffy to their second date the next evening and it proved to be even more difficult to walk away than on the first night. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they had ended up making out like couple of teenagers on the porch. He was too close to achieving his goal to seek release from somewhere else but he was convinced if he didn't get to fuck her soon, his dick was going to fall off. But he was also developing a new respect for the third date rule, then he would make his move with clear conscious and get her into his bed.

Angel was pulled out of his thoughts as his cellphone started ringing. He spun around with his chair and started digging into his coat pocket, finally finding the phone. A crooked grin rose to his lips as he saw the caller ID. “Hello, lover”, he answered and his smirk only grew as he heard her answer.

“Come on, you love it when I call you that. -- What were you doing? -- Sounds boring. -- What are you wearing?” He laughed out loud as she answered him. “Fine, don't tell me, I'll just have to use my imagination then. - Okay, I'll behave. - Just tell me when and where. - Okay, I'll see you soon. - Really, what are you wearing?”

But he didn't get an answer, only a short laugh and dialing tone. With a smirk on his lips, he set the phone down and turned his attention back to the papers in front of him. After a fruitless staring contest with the papers, his eyes drifted to the clock on his desk. Two more hours. It was no use to go back to the papers, he didn't need any notes with the cases, they were practically solved the minute he read the papers through. He leaned back against the chair and adjusted his pants that were uncomfortably tightening as his mind started suggesting what Buffy was wearing.

Two hours later Buffy and Angel met in a small café and ordered lunch. What she was wearing wasn't quite what Angel had pictured her in, actually the outfit made her look couple years older and very professional.

“What's with the outfit?” he asked and leaned over the table to get a better view of her legs. She looked down at herself, then lifted her gaze back to his.

“I had a meeting with a client and a bunch of his lawyers, so I had to put on the grown up outfit.”

“Do you have glasses to go with that?” he asked and she looked at him suspiciously, almost afraid what was on his mind.

“Yeah, why?” she asked warily.

“Then my naughty school teacher fantasy is complete”, he smirked and looked at her up and down, making her feel like she really was wearing something naughty.

“Angel!” she chastised him, blushing deep red and looking around herself to make sure no one heard him.

“Now that fantasy is going to keep me up in the night”, he stated, he loved to tease her.

“Cut that out. I actually had something to ask you”, she said glaring at him and wishing the blush to fade away.

“Okay, I'll play serious. What did you want to ask me?” he asked shifting his face to look serious.

“You're mocking me”, she accused with a halfhearted glare. “I've told you about the show I've been working on for... feels like forever now”, she started and Angel nodded, not saying anything. “Well it's on Tuesday, I know it's a weekday but he refuses to have shows on weekends. Anyway, I was thinking if you'd like to go with me, as my date.” She lifted her eyes back to him, looking at him uncertainly.

“Do you really have to ask?” he commented, then frowned. “Just so we're clear on this, it is the one with the ugly paintings, right?”

She laughed at the expression on his face and nodded her head. “Yeah, that's the one. Just don't tell him that, he is... temperamental and doesn't take criticism very well”, she stated.

He gave her a smile, one that made women fall to their knees in front of him. “Even though our date isn't until Tuesday, but how'bout dinner tonight? I'll cook”, he suggested and turned the smile into a grin that women couldn't resist, no one had ever said no to it. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, why did he have to give her that grin.

“That's th other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I can't. I'd love to but I can't. I'm going to Sunnydale for the weekend. I haven't seen my mom on over a month and I promised to come and see her.”

Why couldn't he get a break?! It was bad enough he was forced to live in celibacy till Tuesday but now he hears she's going to be out of town for the weekend. “When are you coming back?” he asked, surprised to hear disappointment in his voice.

“Sunday afternoon”, she answered, now she really didn't want to go.

Buffy pulled over in front of a suburban home and looked at it with great amount of nervousness. What was she going to say to her mother? 'Hi, mom, you're going to be a grandma because I met this incredibly secy guy in a night club and I was so drunk I didn't remember to use protection. But look on the bright side, I'm dating him now.'

She groaned out loud, her mother was going to be so disappointed in her. Reluctantly she got up from the car, grabbed her overnight bag from the trunk and headed to the front door, eying it like it was evil. She dropped the bag to the ground and took a deep breath, collecting her nerves before finally getting enough courage to ring the doorbell.

“It's open!” her mother's voice called from the inside. With a sigh she walked in and set the bag next to the staircase before heading to the kitchen. Just as she had suspected, she found her mother in the kitchen.

“Hey mom”, she said with a small smile.

“Hi honey. Sit down, I'm almost ready”, Joyce said and quickly finished cleaning the tabletop. She put the coffee on and set the table before finally turning her attention to her daughter. “So how are you, honey?” she asked while sitting to the table.

“Great. Business is doing good, I have a big show on Tuesday and I'm dating again.”

Joyce smiled sweetly, instantly perking up as she heard her daughter was dating. “Did you and Riley get back together?” she asked hopefully, causing Buffy to frown. She knew how much her mother adored Riley and that's why she hadn't told her the real reason why they broke up.

“No, mom. Riley and I are not getting back together. Ever. His name is Angel”, she said.

Immediately an image of young Julio Iglesias flashed before Joyce's eyes. “Is he an artist?” she asked skeptically, the last thing she wanted was for her daughter was to get involved with an artist when someone like Riley was so much better for her.

“No, he's a lawyer”, Buffy answered.

“A lawyer?” Joyce couldn't disguise her surprise.

“Yeah. But could we talk about this later, I really need to get into the bathroom”, Buffy said and got off the table, hurrying to the bathroom.

Lately she had been feeling like she was practically living there, one of the not so nice side-effects of being pregnant. She was just glad she didn't have morning sickness, even going to the bathroom every five minutes was bearable compared to that possibility. She closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, hoping she hadn't just jinxed it.

Buffy's cellphone started ringing when she and her mother were watching tv while waiting for the casserole to cook. She didn't even notice the smile rising to her lips as she saw it was Angel who was calling.

“Hey. - Yeah, the trip went fine”, she said to the phone. She got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen so she could talk more privately. She didn't know that Joyce followed her to the dining room and stayed listening behind the door. She hadn't met this Angel-person and she needed to know what was going on.

“No, I'm not going to tell you what I'm wearing”, Buffy said to the phone, her voice was serious but there was a smile playing on her lips.

Joyce frowned, this man was definitely not a gentleman like Riley.

“Fine, what are you wearing?” Buffy shot back with a grin, then laughed as he answered. “Why am I doubting that? - I don't know, maybe because I think you would have been arrested if you went out in public wearing just that. - Because I can hear the voices in the background. - I need to go. You try to behave, okay? - I'll talk to you later. - Bye.”

She hung up the phone and hurried to the bathroom. She made it just in time and emptied her stomach to the toilet. Apparently the baby didn't like the smell of her mother's casserole.

Joyce was sitting in the living room, she had returned there the minute Buffy hung up the phone and now she had a deep frown on her face. Her daughter had been acting strangely, like she knew something too much. She hoped this lawyer didn't have anything to do with Buffy and Riley breaking up.

After the phone call, Angel couldn't get his mind off of the blonde. Finally he called the guys and headed out but not even the noisy club managed to distract him. He tried drinking but it only made it worse.

“What is bothering you, Angel?” Wesley asked looking at his nearly intoxicated friend with sharp eyes. He had been acting strangely lately but tonight even more so. If he didn't know the man better, he would have said he was sulking. Angel turned his gaze to his friend, the only one still by the bar since Doyle had seen a glimpse of Cordelia Chase and Gunn was shamelessly flirting with some mousy looking girl.

“Nothing's bothering me, Wes”, he answered and directed his gaze to the drink in front of him.

Wesley didn't look convinced. “Angel, you know you can talk to me. Now tell me what is bothering you.”

Angel turned sharply to look at him. “Fine. You're bothering me”, he said angrily and drank down his whiskey. He was confused enough about the strange feelings that had been bothering him lately that he didn't need his friends meddling into things.

“You are on a foul mood tonight.”

Angel turned to glare at him. “Can't a man drink in peace?” he questioned.

Wesley raised his hands in surrender. “Very well. I'll leave you to it. But if you want to talk or a lift home, come and find me”, Wesley said in resignation.

“I don't plan on going home tonight”, Angel stated and signed to the bartender to give him a refill. With a sigh Wesley left the bar. Angel swallowed the drink and told the bartender to leave the bottle.

He didn't know how long he had been emptying the bottle but when he turned there was a familiar blonde leaning to the bar desk. “Hello Nina”, he drawled, for a moment he had thought it was Buffy but then his eyes focused enough to recognize who it really was.

“Hello, Angelus. Wow, that's a lot of booze you're drinking”, Nina said and sat to the stool next to him.

“Well, I felt like drinking”, he answered and downed yet another glass of whiskey. “You want a drink?” he asked, turning to her and pointed at the bottle.

“Why not”, she said with a smile and leaned closer to him, her hand moving up and down on his arm. Without paying attention to her, he signed to the bartender and ordered a martini for her.

“You remembered”, she stated with a sweet voice. Truthfully Angel hadn't remembered anything, it was a lucky guess since very few of his conquests drank whiskey. Buffy was an exception. He frowned and tried to drown the memory of the first night out of his head.

Nina was talking but he really wasn't listening and he kept ignoring the fact that she was rubbing herself against his side, practically climbing into his lap. He turned his eyes to her, she was a beautiful woman but she did very little to interest him. Her hand crawled into his lap and rubbed his dick through the pants but it didn't seem to be responding to her ministrations very well. For weeks now he had had a constant hard on because of Buffy and now that he had a clearly willing warm body rubbing against him, he felt nothing. 'Just great!'

He grabbed her wrist, ceasing the motion and got up from the stool. “I'm bored”, he stated and walked away, leaving behind a shocked very woman. On his way out, he called a cab and with wobbly feet waited for the car to arrive. He had been sitting all night, drinking too much and now he felt the affect. His large body could take a lot of alcohol before he was truly drunk but the fact that he hadn't eaten nothing but lunch came back to bite him in the ass.

He stumbled into the cab and gave the address. When he reached the destination, he pulled himself out of the car and hobbled to the door. The lights were out but he didn't care, he started banging the door. “Buffy!” he yelled but there was no answer. He kept on banging on the door, yelling her name but it was for nothing.

“Will you keep it quiet!” a male voice yelled from the house next door.

“Fuck off!” Angel yelled back and kept on banging the door.

“If you don't leave, I will call the cops!” the man threatened and Angel turned to glare at him, barely seeing the form in the window.

“Go ahead you fucking cow!” he yelled. He was about to turn back to the door but his legs gave out, causing him to fall against the swing on the porch. He climbed up from the floor, sitting to the swing and slowly lowered his head to the small pillow on it when the world started spinning.

With a groan Angel opened his eyes. For a moment he had to wonder where he was but then it hit him, he was on Buffy's porch. He sat up but the swing moved back and he dropped to the floor. “Fuck”, he growled and very slowly got up to his feet. He looked around himself, there was a cab on the driveway and he groaned as he remembered why it was there.

Taking every step very carefully, he made his way to the car, finding a sleeping driver on the front seat. He knocked on the window waking him up. “Did you have a good night's sleep?” the driver asked with a yawn as Angel sat to the backseat.

“Fucking funny”, Angel said and gave his address. He had a splitting headache and he had just spent the night on his girlfriend's porch. 'Girlfriend? Where did that thought come from?!'

When he reached his apartment, he paid the cab driver an obscene amount of money and made his way to his apartment. He fell to the couch and closed his eyes but the annoying sound of the cellphone ringing didn't leave him alone. He bent enough to dig his phone from under him and answered it.

“What?” he growled.

“Did someone have a little too much to drink?” Buffy's voice said from the other end. Angel smirked and rolled over to his back, not opening his eyes.

“Maybe a little. That's the problem with drinking alone, there's no one to tell you when you've had enough”, he said leaving out where he had slept the night. “So what are you doing?”

“Having breakfast, I'm at the fun part of pregnancy”, she answered with a smile and bit into another tomato.

“And what's that?” Angel asked.

“The cravings. I'm actually on my second box of tomatoes”, she confessed, then frowned, maybe she shouldn't be telling a guy that she was eating like a pig.

“I'll have to remember to stock with tomatoes before you get back”, he smirked.

“You're strangely confident for a guy who has a hang over”, she stated with a smile.

“It's not confidence, it's knowledge”, he answered, punching the pillow under him and trying to find a more comfortable position that didn't make his head feel like it was about to explode.

“Maybe I should let you go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you.”

“I wasn't asleep”, he assured her.

“Yeah? But you sound tired. You should go to get some sleep.”

“Okay, I'll call you back later. Bye”, Angel said and hung up the phone. He really did need the sleep. With a yawn, he turned to his side and let sleep claim him.