AUTHOR: Goddess Isa
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com
SUMMARY: The sweetest possible Christmas fic I could think of g
SPOILER: None, really
DISTRIBUTION: Sandee, of course - My site - http://planetslaythis.homestead.com - Crystal and Butterfly if they want it - A Soul's Redemption - Anyone else - sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-PG
DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel, Willow, Giles & Joyce belong to Joss, the evil creature that he is. Megan and Lucas belong to me!!!!
Angel paced nervously on Christmas morning. Buffy was upstairs tending to their infant son and their four year old daughter Megan Elizabeth was tearing into her gifts as though it were the first and last Christmas she would ever get to have. He trudged through the discarded wrapping paper, heavy in thought.
He loved her more than anything. Ever since he'd become human and she'd agreed to live with him in sin, life had been blissful. Buffy had dropped out of school and started volunteering at the home for battered women and children Angel had opened. They loved being able to help other people, and everyone thought of Buffy and Angel as the perfect married couple with two children.
"And we are married, really." Buffy would say happily to him as they lie in bed at night. She'd kiss her Claddagh ring, then pick his hand up and kiss his. "I don't need a piece of paper to know how I feel about you."
And although he felt the same way, he always wanted the opportunity to stand at a beautiful alter in some large church and pledge his undying love to her in front of all their friends and family.
"Daddy!" Megan said, tugging on his flannel PJ pants. "Look! Barbie house."
He sat down with her and opened the doors, rang the doorbell and played with all the house's features. His heart wasn't in it thought, and he knew she knew it.
Megan jumped up and one point and ran up the stairs. Sighing, Angel began gathering the trash into a large plastic bag, thinking about whether or not to give Buffy her last gift. Before Lucas had woken up and demanded to be changed, the three of them had opened stockings and some of their other gifts. Angel had filmed some of it with his camcorder, but he'd shut it off right after Buffy went upstairs.
"See?" Megan said when she returned with her mother and baby brother. "Daddy sad."
"Angel?" Buffy asked softly. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. No. I'm...."
"Megan?" Buffy said with false cheerfulness. "Will you go into my closet and get that pink package you kept peeking at all week? It's for your father."
Megan took off and Buffy set the baby boy in his bassinet before looking him straight in the eye. "What's wrong?"
"I'm nervous about a choice I made."
"Why? What choice?"
He sidestepped her second question. "I guess I made the choice quickly and I'm afraid things won't work out the way I planned them to."
"Angel..."
He went over to the fireplace and reached behind the picture they kept of her with Giles on prom night. He pulled out a velvet box and Buffy stopped breathing.
"I guess I'm scared that I won't get the answer I'm looking for." he knelt in front of her and opened the box. "Buffy Anne Summers, I love you more than anything on this Earth. Will you marry me?"
"Yes! Why would you ever think any different?" she dropped to her knees and kissed him, her hands gently massaging his shoulders. She pulled back just enough so that their foreheads touched as they leaned into each other. "I love you."
"I love you too."
She held out her left hand and he took off the silver Claddagh, placing it on her right hand and then he gently kissed her wedding ring finger. She beamed when he slid the diamond engagement Claddagh on her hand.
"It's so beautiful," she mused.
"It's perfect for you." He leaned forward to kiss her again but didn't get the chance.
"Ohmigosh!" she jumped up. "I've gotta call Willow. I've gotta call Giles! I've gotta call my mother so she can pretend to disown me and not speak to me for another month."
Angel laughed. "How 'bout we tell Megan first?"
As if on cue, the little girl with a mass of dark brown curls came trudging down the stairs one step at a time. She handed her father the present and smiled happily. "Daddy not sad?"
"No, I couldn't be happier." he said.
"Open it," Buffy said with a sly grin.
Angel carefully took off the paper and was holding a white tee shirt with hand prints and hearts sponged onto it with colorful paints. At the bottom, "For you, Daddy" was written in all caps on a crooked line. He beamed.
"You like it?" Megan asked hopefully. "Mommy helped."
"I love it. It's the best gift anyone ever gave me."
The little girl hugged her father warmly then went back to play with her toys.
"Wait, Megan," Buffy said. "We've got something to tell you."
She brought her Barbie with her as she came back over. "What?"
"How would you like to be a flower girl?" Angel asked.
"In a pretty dress?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes." Buffy smiled.
"Pink?"
"Sure, you can get a pink dress." Buffy said.
"Yea!" the little girl began dancing around and Buffy laughed. "I don't think she gets that you and I are the ones getting married."
Angel put an arm around his fiancee. "I think she thinks we already are."