The drive from the airport to Bardstown, Kentucky was about an hour. Angel had let Buffy pick the rental car and they ended up with a red BMW Cabriolet. Now they were driving around Bardstown, Kentucky with the top down, even though it was only fifty degrees outside. As soon as they entered the small town, Buffy's jaw dropped open. It was like something out of her history book in high school. All the buildings were beautiful and white. They looked like they were built in the nineteenth century.

"Oh my God! Angel, you lived here?" she gushed.

"Only for a few years." Angel pulled up the driveway of a small blue cottage-like home. "And this," he said, "is home". They got out of the car and Angel popped the trunk to get the bags.

"Angel, it's gorgeous," Buffy said, still in awe.

"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted an old man with a southern accent from the porch. Ron was in his mid-seventies. His hair was all grey and he had a large belly. Buffy thought he reminded her of Santa Clause.

"Ron!" Angel shouted. Dropping the bags, he ran to hug his old friend.

Ron quickly hugged Angel and pushed him away. "Who is this beauty?" He asked Angel and pointed to Buffy.

Buffy blushed.

"Hi, Mr. Spencer. I'm Buffy!" Buffy introduced herself energetically.

"Mr. Spencer? Who you callin' Mr. Spencer? That's my grand-daddy! You call me 'Ron', ya hear?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, no sense stayin' out here. Lets get inside. You must be exhausted." Ron held the door for them as Angel, once again, struggled to juggle Buffy's bags.

The inside of the house was filled with old fashion style furniture.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home," Ron said as he pulled a beer out of the refrigerator, which was covered in a child's crayon drawings and pictures of Angel as a kid, wearing all different kinds of baseball uniforms. Buffy looked at the clock. It was only ten in the morning. That seemed a little early to start drinking.

Buffy decided to allow Angel and Ron sometime to catch up and she gave herself a tour of the house.

The living room was rather small with a beautiful fireplace. She noticed there wasn't a television anywhere. There were only two couches and a large coffee table. The walls were decorated with old photographs. All the flooring in the house was wooden.

There were only two adjacent bedrooms. The master bedroom had a queen sized bed with a blue quilt covering it. There was a black and white picture of a young couple hanging on the wall. The room had a small attached bathroom.

The next room was much smaller. It had a twin bed with a red plaid quilt. The walls were covered in Red Sox memorabilia. Everything from the lamp to the trash can was baseball themed.

"I see you found my room," Angel's voice rang in her ear.

Buffy turned around. Their faces were no more than an inch apart. "I thought Ron was just your social worker."

"He was, but when I lived in Bardstown I stayed with him every weekend, so he made me my own room."

"I didn't know you were this obsessed with baseball."

Angel laughed. "Yeah, it pretty much took over my entire life. Come here." He took her hand and led her into the room.

Buffy's hand tingled at his touch. Her senses were always kicked into fifth gear when they were close.

"You want to see my mother?"

Buffy nodded. Both Angel's mother had run off when he was only two years old. He rarely talked about her. Buffy didn't know if it was because he didn't remember her or if the topic upset him to much, but either way, she never brought it up.

Angel motioned for her to sit down on the bed as he reached into the top drawer of the nightstand. The drawer was completely empty except for one small, wrinkled picture. He handed it to her and sat next to her.

"Angel, she's beautiful." Buffy wasn't lying. His mother had reddish brown hair with blue eyes and very pale skin. She was very thin. In the picture, she was wearing a green dress and balancing a chubby baby on her hip. Buffy assumed the baby was Angel. His mother was standing in front of a very run down house. The house was very small. In fact, it looked more like a shack than a house at all. Buffy couldn't imagine anyone living there.

"She was. Too bad she didn't believe she was. She always had the scummiest boyfriends. She was a sucker for the abusive ones. She never had any confidence in herself. I think that's why she left. She thought he was the only guy who would ever like her."

Buffy knew Angel wasn't looking for her pity. He just trusted her with his dark past. She was always someone he could confide it. Buffy continued to stare at the picture. "Do you ever want to find her?" she asked.

"No. When she left she decided she didn't want me to be a part of her. I don't need her. I have my own family now."

Buffy looked at him blankly. Angel didn't have any family.

"I have Ron, Spike, Willow, Tiffany, and you. I have some of the best friends in the world. I don't need a drunken mother to complicate things."

Buffy gave him a sad smile in agreement. Angel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Listen, Buffy. I brought you here because I wanted to talk to you about-"

Suddenly Buffy's cell phone rang, cutting him off.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi Buffy. It's Riley."

"Hey, Riley." Buffy smiled. Riley was the TA of her psychology class at UC Sunnydale. He had asked her for her number right before spring break and had offered her free tutoring sessions to prepare for the final. Buffy knew Riley had other intentions when he offered to tutor her and while she wasn't the least bit interested, she felt very flattered by his offer.

"Hey Buffy, I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up and I could help you prepare for the final like we talked about."

"Actually, I'm out of town for the week. I'm sorry. I should have told you, it was kind of a last minute trip."

"That's okay. Will you give me a call when you get back?"

"Of course. I will talk to you later then"

"Bye."

"Who was that?" Angel asked curiously after she hung up.

"Riley. He is a TA for one of my classes. He offered to help me study for the final," she responded.

Angel stiffened at her words. "Why would he do that? You have straight A's."

"Maybe he is just being nice. Gees. I didn't realize I had to ask your permission." She said defensively after sensing his aggression.

Angel smiled to lighten the mood. "You don't. I'm sorry. Besides you can't study with him because I have you for the whole week." He laid down on the bed and pulled her on top of him.

"Oh you do, do you?" She laughed and rolled on to her side to avoid what could have been an awkward position.

Ron cleared his throat from the doorway. He was holding a different beer this time. "Sorry to interrupt you two love birds, but I made pancakes and there getting' cold."

Buffy blushed at the name "love birds". She understood that to anybody else, their playfulness would have made them appear to be a couple. From the term, she could tell that Angel had never told him otherwise either.

"Come on." Angel grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed.