Ch. 6

Hyperion.

Back at the hotel Buffy and Angel sat and talked while they waited for Giles. They had so much to catch up on. 16 years worth in fact. Angel told Buffy all about the demons he had fought and Buffy told Angel About all the things the hellmouth had spit out at her. As buffy explained in detail about the Gentlemen Giles walked through the door.

"Buffy, Angel are you alright."
"Yeah Giles were cool. Hey did you happen to bring any doughnuts."
"Buffy did you really think I would let you down?'
"You're a God."
"Good morning Angel."
"Giles. It's good to see you again."
"Likewise. Now is Ora here yet, because I really don't want her around when I read this prophecy. She'll just freak out."
"No but she will be here in about 20 minutes so whatever you have got to tell us start telling."
"Ok. I found this hidden compartment in the new desk that I bought a few weeks back. Inside I found a sheet of paper. It has taken me three weeks to finally decipher what it said. It was written in a Pre-Germanic language that has been lost for…"
"Giles I want to be alive to hear this prophecy."
"Sorry. Anyway I believe it talks about the end of days. So I feel that I should share it with you."

Angel looked over at Buffy and then backs to Giles.

"Well what did it say?"

Giles pulled a piece of paper from his pocket,

"Well it's more like a poem. Um it says…

'To shanshu comes it's light and the ray through which it shines,
The ray through which light comes has the power of mind.
Sever the ray and all will find Hell will come your way,
Unite the ray and all will say light will light the way.'

Now there is one word that I don't really know and that is Shanshu. Primarily it means death. So I believe it means that deaths light will come to it along with a ray or something that is connected to either one of these things."
"Giles, Shanshu can also mean life. The people that wrote the language that that prophecy is written in considered life and death the same thing."
"How did you know that?"
"About 17 years ago Weasly deciphered a prophecy that said the vampire with a soul will shanshu. At first we all thought that I was going to die. After a whole series of events occurred Weasly realised that Shanshu means life and death. It meant that I was going to live."
"You are going to become human?"
"Correction. I did become Human, last night. But I hope that that clears up that bit of the prophecy."
"Yes I believe it does. Thankyou."
"No problem. Now Giles this 'ray' is it connected to the light and Shanshu, I mean me."
"Yes I believe so I don't know h…Buffy what are you smiling at?"

Angel turned around and saw that Buffy was sitting on the couch, hugging her knees, rocking backwards and forwards grinning like a clown.

"Buffy what's up?"
"I'm the light, aren't I?"
"Yes. At least I guess you are. You have always been my light. Nothing brightens me like you do.'
"You still love me?"
"With my whole heart my love. Did you think I would ever stop loving you? You're still my girl."
"Always. God I love you Angel."

He kissed her passionately and only stopped from lack of oxygen.

"Well this is nice but can we please get back to earth-shattering prophecies?"
"Angel I need to tell you something. It's really import…"
"Tell me later. Nothing is as important as the end of the world."
"I agree. Now Buffy, Angel I believe that this 'ray' is connected to both of you in some way. If this prophecy is going to come true then I think that someone will try and take it from you. We just have to try a…"
"Angel please listen?"
"Buffy wait on minute. I need to finish telling you about this prophecy."

Buffy got up and started pacing the room.

"As I was saying we need to try and figure out what that might be. Originally I was to wait till you came back from L.A to tell you about the prophecy but when Willow told me that Ora had followed you I decided to come as well. Now that I know that Angel is the Shanshu I am glad that I did come. Angel can you think of anything that might be a connection to you and Buffy that may make a difference in the end of days battles?"
"Not really. Buffy can you think of any thing?"
"It's about time you let me speak." She stopped pacing and went to sit down next to Angel, "Guys there is something you should know. It's about Ora."
"What about Ora"

Buffy could have laughed at the expression on Giles face if the situation wasn't more serious.

"Ora isn't her full name."
"But I saw you put Ora on her birth certificate."
"Yeah I did. No one except Ora and myself not even Riley knows her full name. I named her as a tribute to someone that I met once. This Woman gave me hope and she left me with a gift so perfect that I had to dedicate something to her. "
"Well who is this woman Buffy"?

She looked over at Angel and took his hand

"Angel, Ora's full name Is…Oracle."
"Oracle, but that means that…"
"I told you I would never forget."
"Oh my God. Buffy is Ora…?"
"Angel, you're a father."
"But that's impossible. The Oracles said that you wouldn't remember about that day."
"Well I guess their theory had a design flaw cause I remember every single moment."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I love you so much and at first I didn't know if I would keep remembering everything that happened. After I found out that I was pregnant I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to have to worry about me and Ora."

Giles looked up and looked Buffy straight in the eye.

"Buffy does Ora know that Riley isn't her father?"
"Yes. I was going to tell her myself. She came home about six years ago and said she wanted to talk to me. I decided to let her talk first then I would drop the bombshell. We sat down and then she asked who her real father was. I asked what she was talking about. She asked what Riley's blood types and mine were. She already knew what they were but I told her anyway. Riley and I are both A+. She nodded and I asked why she wanted to know. Then she asked why her blood type was AB -. I sat down and told her all about you and our relationship and about the day that wasn't. She just smiled at me. I asked what she was smiling about…"
"And I told her that I was glad that she had once had someone that made her happy."

Everyone looked up as ora came down to sit next to her mum. She looked straight into Angel's eyes and held his with her own.

"I knew that Riley had never made her happy. And to tell you the truth I never really felt close to Riley. Mum showed me a picture of you Dad and I started to cry. She asked me what was wrong and I said that I loved you. I had never met you but I loved you in all the ways that I didn't love Riley. I love you like a daughter loves a father."
"Good Lord. Buffy why didn't you ever tell me? And Ora, you knew that Angel was your father and you didn't even let on."
"Giles. I thought that you were perceptive. Almost exactly six years ago my ability to read vampires minds came to light. Around that same period I started to spend a lot of time in the new Sunnydale high library. Although I love history I never looked at the books in your library because most of them were about demons. If you were paying attention to your job you would have noticed that most of the books that I started to borrow out of the library were about Angel and more specifically Angelus. I was learning about my fathers past."

Ora got up and knelt down in front of Angel.

"I know all about your past. And I want you to know that I don't blame you for anything that your demon did. You are a completely different person to your demon side. I love you with all my heart. But if you even try to leave my mother again. I will personally hunt you down and tie you up and keep you prisoner until you agree to stay. Am I clear."

Angel didn't say anything. He cupped Ora's face with his hand and stroked his thumb over her cheek.

"You are so beautiful. You truly look like your mother."
"Sorry Honey. I have to disagree. She looks like you."
"Ooo. Already they're fighting over me."

Buffy frowned at Ora then looked over at Giles.

"Okay, now that that cleared up I think I may have figured out this Martian written prophecy."
"Really. Well please do share."
"Okay. Well Shanshu is Angel and I'm his light and Ora is our kid. She should be the ray because she shines from both of us. And we both came to him."
"Yes I believe that does make sense."
"Ora can read vampires minds. Something that we originally believed to be impossible. She has the power of the mind."
"What about the last two lines?"
"Well, I reckon that the demons will try and take Ora away, that would be really bad cause we wont be able to read the vamps minds and they could be planning something really icky. But if she's with us, we will defiantly win."
"And when did you get so smart."

 "I had a rather knowledgeable boyfriend when I was a kid."

Buffy smiled and looked at Giles to see what he had to say.

"Yes I do believe that what you said makes sense. Now we only have to keep Ora with us."
"Oh yeah like that's going to be hard."
"Ora."
"What. I'm not about to go running off…except that I'm about to go running off."
"May I ask where?"
"Mum chill okay. I'm meeting up with Hayden to say goodbye then I'm going to do some serious shopping."
"Well some things never change"
"Who's Hayden?"
"It's cool dad, Hayden's my boyfriend. Don't worry, mum checked him out. Walks in sunlight, toenails don't grow after they've been cut, helps slay vamps in a Xander capacity. It's all good."
"Sorry, it's just that now I know I have a daughter, one that at any second could be taken away from me, I really want to protect you."
"And this is why I loved you before I met you. " Ora smied
"And why I never stopped loving you." Buffy finished
"I love you too sweetheart. I mean sweethearts."

Ora smiled and gave Angel a hug

"Thanks dad."
"Your welcome. Just do me one thing?"
"What?"
"Wait till Cordelia gets back. That way you can have someone with you."
"I'm going honey. She'll be fine."
"Please still take Cordy with you. She's half demon now so that could come in handy."
"Half demon huh. All right but I don't want to wait for long. So many shops so little time to see them all in. Dad's been sending me money ever since Ora was born. I have a little bit saved and I want to spend it."
"They'll be here soon. I'll go page Doyle."

At that moment two little kids around six or sevens years of age came running into the lobby.

"Uncle Angel, Uncle Angel."

Angel gave a huge smile and bent down to give them both a hug.

"Hey. I was just about to give your daddy a call. You must have known I needed you and you came to help."

The little girl looked up and spoke in a serious voice.

"Mummy knows when people need help not me."
"Just a joke sweetie. Where are mum and dad?"
"Coming. Uncle Gunn as well."
"I know. They left here earlier. Your mum wanted to go shopping."
"Well she hasn't been yet. I wanted to come here."
"Nice to know we're loved."

As he said this, the door opened again and Cordy, Doyle and Gunn walked in with another girl.

"Sorry Angel but the kids wanted to see you and I wasn't about to get any shopping done with them like that."
"It's cool cordy. Actually it's perfect, Buffy and Ora want to go shopping so you three can go together while the rest of us look after the kids."

Angel looked over at Buffy who he noticed was standing a little way away.

"Buffy, I'd like you to meet a few people. This," he picked up the little girl, "Is Elspeth Rose and this little terror is Cody James. They're Cordy's twins. And this," he went over to the girl standing next to Doyle, "Taylor Winter, their eldest."

Buffy smiled and gave a little wave.

"Who are you?" Elspeth asked coming over Buffy.
"I'm Your Uncle Angels Wife. So I guess that makes me your Aunt."

She looked up at Cordelia and Doyle.

"If that's okay?"
"Sure it is. Wife huh, Angel finally tell you about that ring."
"No, Ora told me about them. After I had figured it out for my self. Sixteen years to late but hey, better late then never."
"So my guess is your Buffy summers."

Buffy looked over at Taylor in surprise.

"Yeah I am. How do you know my last name?"
"Angels got it marked down in his desk."
"Huh?"
"Taylor what were you doing going through my desk."
"One question at a time. Mums yearbook didn't have a really good photo, just one of you accepting some award at your prom. I asked who it was and mum told me but she only said Buffy before she stopped and did something else. Then I noticed a picture of the same girl in a book Angel was reading. It turns out he uses that picture as a bookmark. Any way I was looking at last years calendar and I noticed that certain dates had been marked with a picture, a heart or a rose, no name or anything. So I went into Angels desk and found his address book and diary."
"Hang on you read my diary?"
"Punishment later story now."

Angel tried but couldn't resist the look of innocence on Taylors face

"Okay."
"So I found your diary and I looked to see if you had written on a date that was marked with a picture. I found one and I only read half of it because it was too sappy but it had Buffy's name mentioned like a hundred times. So did the other dates marked with pictures so I figured out it was you."
"Great, now my daughter's going to have a career in espionage."
"I don't think it's that bad Doyle. But I am threatening to kill you daughter if she breathes a word about what was written in my diary."
"I wont. But there are other pictures as well. Who's the person that has a grave or fire?" "Um…"
"One of the date's was August 17."

Buffy burst out laughing.

"Jealous much. Taylor was one of the other dates September 23?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"August 17 is Riley birthday. The other day is the day that Riley came back asking my forgiveness for leaving me. Stupidly I forgave him."
"Wow Angel. You knew when he came back but you didn't know that your girl had a daughter."
"Funny huh."

At this point Giles went and stood before Angel.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be doing this but I forgive you."
"Giles are you mental? Why are you sorry about forgiving me? I'm kind of sorry that you did. You should never forgive me. Ever. What I did to you was unforgivable. Please take back your apology."
"Angel. I'm sorry because you should be the one forgiving me. I have treated you so badly. The only time that I felt any gratitude toward you was when you left. Then she met Riley and I felt even happier. In my heart she is my daughter and I should have seen that the only happy time in her life was when you were around. I will not take back my apology, you made her happy that is nothing to be sorry about."
"Un fortunately she made me happy as well."
"Yes she did. But that was nineteen years ago. Forgive and forget."
"Thankyou. I don't know if you have ever tried but if you go up the stairs 3rd floor door 326 you will find every thing set up to contact the spirit world. I talk to her every anniversary and Christmas as well as the Romany Gypsy celebration. She would love to hear from you. Call her by her Gypsy name."
"Angel…"
"Go please."
"Thankyou."
"Will you stop saying that?"

Giles smiled and ran up the stairs.

"You know for a guy in his late fifties he moves pretty fast."

Everyone looked at Wesley who had just walked in.

"So would you in his case."
"What's she talking about now?"

Buffy looked at Angel and smiled. Angel turned back to Gunn.

"When I turned into Angelus in Sunnydale nineteen years ago I took to tormenting Buffy. I threatened to kill all her closest friends. I only managed to kill one, Giles girlfriend and soon to be fiancée."
"Sorry I asked."
"It's cool."
"Fiancée?"
"Yeah I found a ring."
"My father doesn't even tell me he's getting married."
"I think he was going to propose but I kinda started on a killing rampage and Jenny was found out so it never happened."

Buffy nodded at Ora who went over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"We're sorry dad."
"For what?"

Buffy stood in front of him.

"For this"

Buffy stood back and punched Angel in the face. As soon as she did she was at Angels side.

"Sorry baby."
"What the hell was that for?"
"You needed some sense knocked into you. It's not like I don't love the whole brooding thing but will you stop feeling so guilty for something that happened almost twenty years ago. It's in the past. We've all forgotten and so should you."
"It's about time someone got through to him."
"Thankyou Cordelia."
"Your welcome. So Buffy, Ora, shopping?"
"Like you have to ask twice."
"Before you go take this."

Angel reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money and gave it to Ora.

"Split it between you."

Ora counted the money and gaped at Angel.

"There is $3400 here."
"Yeah."
"Angel."
"Please take it. There is $100 there for each year I haven't been in your lives. Seventeen years if my calculations are correct so there is $1700 each."

He also handed Buffy a key.

"Take this to the car park and next to my car you will find your birthday present for this year."
"You bought me a car."
"I always buy you something. Now get going. Oh and Cordy, have fun."

With this he gave her $200. Cordy stared at him.

"Okay. Bye."
"I'm never going to hear the end of this."
"Don't worry Doyle. It's just this once."
"Man where did that money come from?"
"I've been alive for over 200 years. I know how to save."
"But that time in New York when you were feeding off rats and stuff, where was your money then?"
"I was having one major guilt trip and I felt that I couldn't use it. It just seemed wrong at the time. I lived through the depression, I saw how the lives of people were changed and I realised that having it good all the time can be bad, that's why I haven't bought out much money. You appreciate it more when you earn it."
"Makes sense I guess. Now what's Buffy and Ora doing here?"
"Sit down guys, you're in for a weird story."