Disclaimer:
Not mine. They belong to Joss, the WB,
and the Grr Arg guy. I do own the kids,
Teresa and anybody else you don't recognize
A/N: this
is another IWRY you story. I made a few
changes to the general story line.
Angel knew about the shanshu prophesy before March 2000. by September
Angel investigations had already moved into the hyperion. Gunn is already hired in March of 2000. Joyce
still died but Angel couldn't make it to the funeral.
March 2000
Buffy couldn't
believe that she was pregnant, she knew how it happened or at least she thought
she did. Ever since she'd come back
from seeing Angel at Thanksgiving she had been having these dreams. Dreams of a day when Angel was human, and
then he turned back time so that she wouldn't be killed. At first she thought they were just dreams
but now she realized that they were memories of that forgotten day. She had only told two people who the father
was, Giles and Willow.
She had
already decided to give the baby up for adoption, she couldn't handle raising a
kid at 19, going to college and being the slayer. But she didn't have the heart to have an abortion. Now all she had to do was call Giles and
have him make the arrangements. Giles,
after getting over the initial shock, had been great, her mother, on the other
hand, had stopped talking to her and Riley had broken up with her.
Buffy
picked up the phone and dialled Giles' number. Ring ring…
"Hello?"
Giles answered the phone.
"Giles,
it's me." Buffy said, "I've decided what to do. I'm going to give it up for adoption."
"Buffy are
you sure about that?" Giles asked, "The rest of us could help out."
"I'm sure,
I can't handle school, being the slayer AND a baby."
"Ok, you're
going to have to get Angel's permission though, to legally give a child up they
need the consent of both parents."
"I can't
call him. He'll try to talk me out of
it and I probably won't be able to resist him.
Can you call him for me?"
"Alright,
then, I'll call him" Giles agreed reluctantly.
"Thank
you. Giles, you don't know how much it
means to me that you're doing this and not freaking out like my Mom."
"You're
welcome, Buffy. I'll talk to you
later."
"Bye Giles"
"Good bye,
Buffy"
Click,
Giles hung up the phone. He now had the
difficult task of telling Angel that he was having a child and that Buffy
wanted to give it up. He sighed heavily
and dialled the number of Angel Investigations.
Ring, ring, ring…
"Angel
Investigation, we help the hopeless." Cordelia's voice said cheerfully.
"Cordelia, it's me, Giles. Can I
speak to Angel please?" Giles was dreading speaking to the ensouled
vampire. He would not be happy about
this.
"Just a
sec" Cordy said, "I'll put you through."
Giles heard
a click and then Angel picked up the phone.
"Hello,
Giles. Why are you calling? Is there
something wrong with Buffy?" Angel
sounded very worried and it was clear that he still cared very deeply for
Buffy.
"Buffy's
fine. But she is the reason I called."
Giles dreaded what he had to say next. "You see, um, Buffy's, well, she
pregnant and it's yours."
"Giles you
know that's impossible." Angel sounded hurt.
"No it's
not. She remembers the lost day and
that's when the child was, uh, conceived."
"But the
day was turned back, that's, that's
impossible."
"Well it
happened. Angel, she wants to put the
baby up for adoption and she needs your consent." Giles let out a breath, he
had said now he had to survive Angel's reaction.
"WHAT! We finally get our dream and she wants to
give it up. No way, I'm not giving my
consent for her to give up our child."
"Angel, she
says that she can't handle school, slaying and being mother and frankly I can
see where she's coming from."
"Ok, fine
if she can't handle it then she doesn't have to. Tell her I'll take the baby."
"She won't
let you, you know she won't."
"Then tell
her that I gave my consent and that you found a good family for the child and
then bring it to me. She doesn't have
to know I have it. If she asks I'll
tell her the truth but I'm not going to volunteer the information."
"Angel are
you sure? You're a vampire and you're
running your own business, are you going to be able to give this child a normal
life. He or she deserves to be taken
into the sun and be sheltered from the reality of the cruel world. It deserves a normal family."
"The baby
will be a child of the slayer. For all
we know he or she could inherit some of Buffy's strength, or acute senses. A normal family wouldn't be able to handle
that. And I'd rather have my child know
about the dangers of the real world than have him or her ignorant of what's out
there. As for sunlight I found a
prophecy earlier this year that I will receive my humanity after the end of
days battle. I believe that battle will
be within the next few years. The Mohra
demon Buffy defeated during the lost day said something about the end of days
and others coming. And until that
happens I do have three human friends and employees."
"You're not
going to give up on this are you?"
"No, I'm
not. I'm not going to let strangers
raise my child, my miracle."
"Ok,
Angel. I'll do as you suggest. But if Buffy asks me point blank I will tell
her that you are taking to baby."
"I
understand Giles, it's hard for me to lie to her too." Angel sounded sad "thank
you"
"I'll keep
you up dated on her condition. Good bye
Angel"
"Good bye
Giles."
Angel
couldn't believe it. He was going to be
a father. He could understand why Buffy
didn't want the baby but at least it would have one of its parents.
5 months
later, September 6th, 2000
A long
scream pierced the air in the hospital room.
"It's a
girl" the doctor exclaimed. " Would you like to hold your daughter, Miss
Summers?"
"No, take
her away." Buffy said. She knew if she
looked at her daughter she wouldn't be able to give her up. "When she's ready,
Mr Giles will take her to her parents."
A few days
later Giles carried the infant out of the hospital and put her in her car seat
for the two hour drive to LA.
Angel was
nervous. Giles had called when his
daughter was born and he had spent the last couple of days stocking up on baby
stuff. Cordelia had helped him put a
nursery together and it had been ready for nearly a month. Giles had called a little over two hours ago
to tell them that he and the infant were on their way.
Angel paced
nervously, "where are they?" he
thought, "They should be here by now."
Just then
Angel heard a car pull up outside. He ran to the front doors of the hotel and
out into the dark street. Giles was
just getting the child seat out of the back seat of his little red sports car.
"Angel,
Hi." Giles greeted the vampire, "I'd like you to meet you daughter."
"What's her
name?" Angel asked wondering what Buffy had called her.
"She
doesn't have one, Buffy wanted the adoptive parents to decide." Giles said as
the walked into the hotel.
"Then her
name will be Elisabeth Rose, after my sister and Buffy's grandmother." Angel
said, "I thought about calling her Katherine but that would bring back to many
bad memories. Kathy was the one you
invited me in" There was obvious sadness in his voice.
"I know"
Giles said sympathetically, "But lets not think about that now. You have a daughter, this is a time to look
to the future not brood about the past."
"You're
right," Angel said smiling at his daughter. "Can I hold her?"
"Of course
you can, you're her father after all." Giles said with a grin.
"Will you
be staying the night?" Angel asked.
"I wouldn't
want to imposed…"
"you
wouldn't be imposing, we have plenty of empty rooms and you look exhausted."
"I am
rather tired now that you mention it." Giles said with a yawn.
"Just let
me put Elisabeth in my room and I'll show you where you can spend the night."
"Thank
you." Giles said gratefully.
Angel put
his daughter, still in her car seat, in his room and quietly shut the
door. He showed Giles to one of the
other room that they had cleaned up. He
then returned to his room and stared at his sleeping daughter until he fell
asleep.
July 2005
The End of
Days battle was over. Angel had
received his shanshu and he couldn't wait for Buffy to know. He picked up the phone to call her, and then
he remembered what Giles had said last time they had spoken. Buffy had a fiancé and was living a normal
life. He didn't want to ruin that for
her, he called Giles instead.
"Giles it's
Angel, I've gotten my shanshu, I'm human.
I want to tell Buffy but I don't want to intrude on her life if she's
happy. I'll leave it up to you to
decide whether to tell her or not. I
couldn't stand it if I stopped her from having a normal life. If you do tell though you should tell her
about Lizzie too. Bye Giles."
Angel hung
up before Giles could say anything. He
went to tell his daughter the good news.
Lizzie had known about vampires and the other things that went bump in
the night for her entire life, it was sort of hard to keep it hidden since her
father was a vampire. Angel walked into his daughter's bedroom.
"Lizzie,
Lizzie, wake up princess." Angel gentle shook his daughter awake.
"Daddy?,"
Lizzie said tiredly, "what time is it?"
"It's late
sweetheart but Daddy has something important to tell you. I'm human, I can take you out in the sun
now, and eat normal food and everything."
"Does that
mean Mommy can be with us?" Lizzie asked, knowing the fact that her father was
a vampire was the reason her Mommy didn't live with them.
"She could
if she wanted to baby," Angel said, "I called Grandpa Giles and I told him to
decide whether or not to tell her, because I want her to be happy and if she's
happy now I don't want to ruin that.
We'll just have to see what happens."
"Oh" Lizzie
said, a little disappointed, "Can I go back to sleep now?"
"Yes baby,
and tomorrow we'll go to the park together." Angel smiled as he leaned down and
kissed his daughter's forehead.
"Goodnight
Daddy."
"'Night
Angel."