Chapter 2: The Favor

Willow walked out of her bedroom dressed and ready for work, she made her way into the kitchen to pour some coffee and give her fiancé, Oz a kiss good morning. Oz was a full time musician playing the guitar in the band Dingo's Ate My Baby. It didn't always bring in much money but he loved it and Willow brought in more than enough money working at Oracle Inc. as a Computer Programmer. Willow was the one who had gotten her older sister into computers to begin with which had lead Buffy to going to college to become a Computer Programmer.

"Off to work early?" Oz asked with a small smile and he buttered some toast.

Willow nodded. "I have some stuff I need to get done."

"Does that stuff have to do with your sister?" He asked knowingly.

"Maybe." Willow smiled.

Oz shook his head in amusement. "Just don't get fired."

"Hey! My boss loves me!" Willow defended herself.

"I don't want to be getting any phone calls with the term sexual harassment in it." Oz called as Willow walked out the door to head to work.

Willow stood leaning against the counter in the large break room of Oracle Inc. sipping on her hot coffee. She knew exactly who she wanted to set her big sister up with but she didn't know how to make it happen until it hit her last night. He was too much of a nice guy to turn down the request and she was going to use that to her advantage. She smiled when she saw her boss walk past the break room. 'Right on time, Mr. Boss Man.' Willow quickly put her coffee mug on the counter and ran after her boss.

"Mr. O'Brien!" Willow called, she slowed down when she got close enough to him. A few people in their office cubicles glanced at her but went back to work. They didn't want the boss to think they were intruding.

Mr. O'Brian turned to greet his employee, he could tell it was Willow from her voice. "Willow, how many times have I told you to call me Angel?"

"I know, but…"

"Our siblings have been dating for what… almost four years now. I think it is safe to say you can call me Angel." Her boss smiled.

"Five." She corrected then explained when she saw her boss confused look. "Dawn and Connor have been together for almost five years. They hit that five year mark next month." She had met Connor her first day on her new job while he was there visiting his older brother, the more she got to know him she knew he would be perfect for Dawn. Five years later and they were still together, she figured she was right. She had set up a blind date between Dawn and Connor on New Year's and the rest is couple cuteness history. Next on her to-do list was to match her older sister up with her boss. "Anyway, I was hoping you could do me a favor."

"I will do my best." Angel nodded waiting for her to ask him the favor.

"Okay, well you see my sister is having guy problems and…"

Angel shook his head. "Guy problems with Connor? I really thought those two would get married someday."

"They will." Willow nodded. "I mean, I'm sure they will… but I have two sisters."

"Oh." He said a little surprised. "I didn't know."

The redhead laughed. "Well you have only met Dawn so it's okay but anyway, I know you have a girlfriend and so I am sure you have plans for Christmas…" Angel gave her a confused look while she continued. "How good are you are pretending to like someone?"

"Um…" Angel shook his head, not knowing what to say. "I'm a little confused."

Willow looked around the large room with dozens of cubicles. "Can we…?" she pointed in the direction of his office.

Angel nodded and walked with her to his office, still confused. Once they were in his large office she shut the door behind them. "You see my parents have this huge thing about us being just like them, they have been together since high school. Me and my brother have it covered, we are still with the people we were with in high school. My brother is married, you know I am engaged. Dawn is in a solid relationship and my parents completely adore Connor but Buffy…"

"Your sister's name is Buffy?" He asked leaning against his desk.

Willow shrugged. "You see… Buffy was with this guy, Riley for four years. My mom absolutely loved him but they broke up six months ago and Buffy doesn't want to disappoint our parents so she hasn't told them."

"I don't see where she is having a guy problem, it seems like the problem is over. They broke up." Angel shrugged. "And I don't get how this has to do with me."

Willow bit her lip. "Well, we are going on vacation to San Bernardino, we do every year at this time… I was wondering if maybe you could come along and… pretend to be Riley."

Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he pushed himself off his desk to stand up. "Wait... PRETEND to be Riley? How would I do that?"

"My parents have never met…"

Angel let out a short laugh. "They have never met this Riley guy but your mother loves him?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, I think it was more the idea of him, plus Buffy didn't exactly make it much better by telling my mom all these great stories about Riley that weren't exactly true. She made him out to be this perfect guy just to make my parents happy."

"If they were together for four years why it is it that your parents never met him?"

"Riley would always back out at the last minute and Buffy would think up some excuse for him." She filled in.

"So…." Angel took a step closer to Willow. "You want me to go on vacation with your family and pretend to be your sister's boyfriend who your parents have never met."

Biting her lip she nodded. "I know it is a lot to ask and not to mention maybe a little odd… but Connor will be there!"

Angel walked over to the full length window behind his desk and looked down at the busy street, crossing his arms over his chest. "How would that fly with the rest of your family?"

"Well no one has ever met Riley before… other than me that is, so it would fly fine." She said hopefully. If she could just get him to agree then once he got there nature would take its course and he would fall head over heels for Buffy. She just knew it!

"But Dawn has met me and like you said my brother will be there."

"Just leave them to me." Willow said with a small smile.

Angel brought his right hand up to his chin and thought for a moment. If he did this it would give him time away from his girlfriend, which he desperately needed. She wouldn't leave him alone about proposing even though they had only been together five months. He wasn't ready for marriage and he definitely wasn't ready to marry HER. It would also give him some time to spend with his younger brother. He took a deep breath and turned his head to look at the young girl who asked him to do something completely insane and gave her a small smile. "Okay, I will do it."

Willow smiled brightly. "Thank you so much!"