Chapter 3: I'm Chicken

Buffy drove up the snow covered driveway to her parent's cabin in the mountains, judging by all the cars she saw everyone else was already there. She had taken her sweat time getting ready, she waited until the last minute to pack and loaded her things into the back of her car as slowly as possible. She even asked Amy if she wanted to go grab something to eat before she left, Amy had pushed her out the door and said they would do lunch when she got back. So she decided to drive below the speed limit which didn't make the people driving behind her very happy. She took a deep breath 'no more stalling, Summers.' She got out of her car and went to get a few things out of the back seat and slowly made her way to the front door.

"There's my favoritest little sister named Buffy!" Xander practically attacked her as soon as she walked in the door.

"Hey Xan." She smiled.

"Buffy!" Dawn shouted getting up from the couch where she sat with Connor. "I'm so happy you are here!"

Buffy brushed Dawn's long brown hair behind her ear and hugged her. "Me too. I missed you."

"Riley really couldn't make it again?" Her mother asked as soon as she walked into the room. "I hope he is feeling okay. Are you sure he should be alone with the flu?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, his mom will be there soon."

"I thought his mom lived in Iowa." Her father asked as he went to hug her.

"Oh, yeah… um he asked her to come." Buffy lied.

Joyce Summers put a basket of bread on the table in case anyone was hungry before dinner. "The least you could do is be here on time, you live the closest and yet everyone else was here hours before you."

OoOoO

Buffy sighed once again as she listened to her mother drag on and on about Riley and her job situation. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She is the disappointment in the family, she got it.

Willow thought she heard something outside and got up to check out the window, she moved the lace curtain slightly with her fingers and smiled. "Hey look Buffy, Riley made it after all."

Buffy gave her a confused and worried look as Joyce, Xander and his wife Anya rushed over to the window where Willow, was to see Riley. They saw a tall dark haired man closing his car door and making his way up to the large two story cabin as he looked around his environment.

Buffy slowly got up from the couch to make her way over to the window but before she did Willow opened the front door and welcomed a man into the house. Buffy's mouth dropped open when she saw the tall man with dark hair and eyes. 'Most definitely NOT Riley.'

"Sorry I'm late, I got a little turned around." He smiled and looked towards the door that Joyce was now closing.

"It is so great to finally meet you!" Joyce smiled. "How are you feeling? Where is your mother? You could have brought her with you."

"Um…" Angel didn't know what to say, he looked to Willow for some help.

She smiled "How about we let him get settled before jumping into 21 Questions."

"Of course." Joyce smiled. "Where are my manners? I am Joyce and this is my husband Rupert. It is so nice to FINALLY meet you."

Angel smiled and nodded at Joyce and her husband then looked over at his brother and Dawn who both had a surprised look on their faces, they were sitting next to a thin pretty blonde on the couch. He looked back at Willow questioningly, maybe he should have gotten more details from Willow, and he didn't know how he was supposed to act or what he should be doing. Willow locked eyes with him and pointedly looked towards the blonde on the couch. "Isn't it great that RILEY could come after all, Buffy? We are all so happy that RILEY is feeling better."

"Um…" Buffy looked from her younger sister to the man and back to her sister again. "Will, can I talk to you for a second?" She grabbed ahold of her younger sister's arm and pulled her out of the living room as Willow grabbed Angel's sleeve and tugged on him to come with them. Once they were all in the room Buffy shut the door, Angel started glancing around the bedroom. "What is going on Will? I am so confused here because, I know Riley and that..." She pointed to the well-dressed man looking around her bedroom. "is NOT Riley… with the dark hair and the eyes and, and the muscles."

A small smile played across Willow's lips. "Riley has muscles."

"That is beyond the point!" She whispered "He also has a pet cow named Sue! Oh… wait, that was one of those embarrassing things I vowed to never say aloud."

Willow laughed and the man that she still didn't know raised his eyebrows.

"Who the hell is this?! If you hired an actor to play my boyfriend then that just means I have hit a new all-time low and I have had a lot of lows as of late."

"This is my boss." Willow offered looking towards him. "and I'm not paying him, he is doing this as a favor."

"Your…" Buffy started to breath heavy. "Your boss? Please tell me you got another boss because if you mean your boss as in Connors brother I might just have to kill you and believe me little sis, they WON'T find the body."

"Oh, but Oz won't rest until they do." Willow joked. "Would you really want to do that to Oz? It would break his heart if he didn't have me."

Buffy let out a deep breath as she sat down on the edge of the bed pouting. "Now Dawnie and Connor know how pathetic I am… and I really liked him. Now I can't show my face near him again. I'm going to miss my baby sister's wedding because I'm to chicken to tell my own parents that my boyfriend dumped me."

"Buffy, they aren't going to get married any time soon."

"Yeah, right! I'm sure he is planning on asking her, hell maybe he already did and they just aren't telling us." She laid her face in her hands. "Those two are disgustingly adorable."

Willow laughed. "So you have said before. Buffy, Angel just wants to help."

"Angel?" Buffy looked up at the man who was looking at her like she was crazy. She had forgotten he was even in the room. 'Great, now I made an ass out of myself in front of the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen.' "I'm really not this crazy… " She started to tell him. "but I am this pathetic, I'm sure you already figured that out when my sister asked you to come here. I am so sorry."

"It's okay." He gave her a small smile. "I wanted to help out my favorite employee and I could really use a break."

Buffy was about to say something when the two youngest people in the house busted through the door and closed it quickly. "What is going on?" Connor asked.

Buffy sighed and threw herself back on the bed. Dawn jumped on the bed, hovering her face right above her oldest sisters. "Buffy, I know I have never met Riley before but I have met him.." She pointed to Angel. "and that is Angel."

"Riley broke up with me six months ago." She pouted.

Dawn's eyes got large. "Are you serious? Why?"

"Can we not get into the gory details?" Buffy asked.

Dawn looked at her sister sadly. "How gory?"

"Very." Buffy sat up and her youngest sister hugged her tight.

"I'm sorry Buffy."

Connor made his way over to his brother when Dawn jumped on the bed with Buffy, he was now leaning against the dressed next to Angel. "So, how did you get roped into a Summer Family Christmas?"

"I was asked." Angel answered his younger brother as he watched the blonde hug his brother's girlfriend.

"But you aren't dating Buffy?" He asked looking over at the blonde.

Angel shook his head.

Connor looked slightly disappointed. "Too bad, I really like her."

OoOoO

Everyone sat in the living room while Joyce cooked dinner, Buffy kept toying with the hem of her shirt. She didn't know what to do, Willow had made Buffy and Angel sit together on the couch whispering that their parents would think something was up if they didn't sit together.

"Buffy, why don't you and Riley go out and get some firewood? The fire is starting to die down." Her mother said not bothering to look up.

Sighing Buffy got up from the couch, she looked down at Angel when he didn't move. He glanced up at her and saw her expectant look. "Oh."

Buffy grabbed her coat and handed Angel his as he followed her outside.

"I'm really sorry you got dragged into this." Buffy said walking beside Angel in the snow. The snow wasn't very deep but she didn't like it, her parents loved the snow.

Angel shrugged. "Getting firewood can't be that bad… as long as I don't have to chop it."

"No, you don't have to chop it." Buffy laughed. "It's already chopped and stacked neatly behind the house." She bent down to pick up a rope that was tied to a wooden sled. "I was talking about having to pretend you're Riley. I'm sure you have better things to do then be here… and there is the fact that I should just man up and tell them."

Angel put his hand on the rope. "Here, let me get it. I actually don't mind being here, it's nice up here. It's quiet, peaceful and my brother is here."

"You're lucky us kids are past the picking at each other phase… mostly." Buffy laughed. "I am just praying that I can stand my mom nagging at me the whole time, if not Big Bear Lake isn't too far away. I'm sure I could easily put myself out of my misery."

"I do wish I had more to go on though… I don't know anything about this Riley guy." Angel said as he started stacking the logs on the sled. Buffy went to grab a log but Angel stopped her. "It's okay, I got it."

Buffy smiled, the real Riley would have made her stack the firewood on the sled. "Well luckily for you, my family doesn't know much about him either."

"I heard that you told your mother stories about him… even if they aren't true." He gave her a small smile.

"Willow likes to over share." She joked. "They were mostly just things I wish a guy would do, not that I have ever had a guy that would do them… but hey, you already got one of those things just by being you."

"What do you mean?"

"The firewood." Buffy nodded towards the log in his hand causing him to look down at it. "The real Riley wouldn't have said 'I got it' or anything other than 'Aren't you going to help?' He was such a gentlemen like that."

"I believe the man should do the heavy lifting." He said picking up a log in each hand and stacking them on the sled.

"Well…" Buffy picked up a log. "I believe men shouldn't do all the heavy lifting." She placed the log in the stack and looked up at Angel as they started walking back to the cabin, Angel slowly pulling the sled behind them. "One thing though… you totally support my career because you love me."

"Okay." He nodded. "What do you do?"

Buffy bit her lip. "I'm a waitress. I know, that sounds totally stupid because you own this like multi-billion dollar company but…"

Angel shrugged. "Who am I to say what you should do for a living? If something makes someone happy then they should do it."

"I didn't say I was happy." She laughed. "I said it was my job."