CHAPTER 7 – Threats and Revelations
Note:
Thanks for all the reviews, people!
This chapter is not quite as long as my previous ones, but the next one should follow shortly.
Buffy thought about leaving immediately. She could leave now without saying one word to Angel. It would serve him right. But he'd probably just follow her to Sunnydale anyway, like he had done last time they'd had a big fight. No, she would wait until he got back, say her peace and leave.
She was sitting with Connor in the garden, cuddling him. "Why does your daddy always have to be like this? Why can't he be straight with me for once? Why does he always have to do stuff behind everybody's back? Let's hope he doesn't do that to you. But if he does, you are always welcome in Sunnydale, little man. You can always come and visit your aunt Buffy. And the others will love you too. There is Willow, for example. She's a witch, you know. And uncle Xander, he is a really funny guy. A bit clumsy sometimes, likes to get into trouble with girls, but a real good guy. You'll like him. I guess your dad would not want you to hang out with him though. But now you know how to get back at your dad. Xander is a real good option for that."
Buffy was so engrossed with Connor that she hadn't heard Angel approaching. He had heard the last part of what she had said.
"You are right, I don't want my son hanging around with Xander."
"Oh… you are back. Good." Buffy didn't look up. She kissed Connor on the head and said, "Remember what I told you, I am always there for you. You can count on me. I promise. I love you." She stood up and handed Connor to Angel. "I am leaving."
"Leaving? You can't leave. Your car isn't-"
"Don't you dare say one more word! I am sick and tired of your lies!" Buffy said angrily.
Angel just looked at her confused, not knowing what had prompted Buffy to react this way.
"Why did you want to keep me here? I don't get it. Couldn't you just have asked? No, you had to go behind my back and lie to my face. What could have possibly been so important that you treat me like that?" Buffy asked disappointedly.
"I can't tell you."
"You can't tell me?"
"Buffy, believe me-"
"Real bad choice of words there."
"Please, listen, it's nothing bad. It's… Please just stay another night," Angel pleaded.
"You get one more chance to tell me why you lied to me. Otherwise I am out that door and on my way home."
Should he tell her? Would she believe anything he said right now? He couldn't tell her. He simply couldn't. If he told her the truth now - without any proof - she would probably run back to Sunnydale even faster. She couldn't remember their day together. She'd declare him crazy. He himself would declare anybody else telling him something as incredible as this crazy.
"Buffy, I know I messed up again. I'm sorry. But I can't explain it right now. I will tomorrow, I think."
"You think?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"It's complicated."
Buffy simply headed for the door.
Angel ran after her. "Buffy, listen to me for just two minutes. If you still want to leave after that, fine."
Buffy stopped, but didn't turn around.
"I will tell you what is going on, I promise. But I really can't yet. Please stay until tomorrow. One more night, that's all I'm asking. Besides I don't want you driving like this, especially not in the dark."
Buffy whirled around angrily. "Why can't you tell me today, but tomorrow? Is this some kind of bet? How long can you fool Buffy Summers until she notices?"
"Buffy, will you just trust me?" Angel pleaded in a soft voice.
"Trust you? After this?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"Yes."
"You are asking a mighty lot there."
"I know. Please, it's basically just a couple more hours. You can still leave angry tomorrow. I wouldn't blame you." Was he gambling too high? Should he just tell her? He would have to tell her something tomorrow anyway, no matter how the tests turned out.
Buffy thought about it for a moment. A couple more hours wouldn't matter. But she was so angry. She needed to get away. But he was right, she was in no condition to drive, she knew she wasn't the best driver anyway. And nobody could upset her like Angel. And Angel knew that too. Then a thought occurred to her. It wasn't really fair, but she didn't care at the moment. How far would he be willing to go to have her stay here? What was more important to him, his secret or her safety?
"I'm going," she said resolutely.
"Please, Buffy, don't."
"I listened to you. You said I could go afterwards."
"Of course you can leave. But I don't want you to drive."
"I can't stay here. And you can only blame that on yourself."
"I know," he said dejectedly. Then something occurred to Angel. Something the Oracles had said, about her being reckless with her life if he sent her away. What if she ran from him instead? If she had an accident, he would be responsible for killing Connor's mother.
"Don't drive now," Angel begged. "You can stay in a hotel. I'll pay for it. Across town if you want."
"No. Goodbye." Buffy turned and headed for the door again.
"I am not sure who Connor's mother is," Angel blurted out. "I had a DNA test done. The results should be in tomorrow."
Buffy stopped immediately. Slowly, she turned around to look at him. "What?" she asked confused.
"Darla might not be Connor's real mother. To make sure, I sent some DNA samples to a friend, to check a theory. He should have had the results by now, but he was very busy, so it took longer than expected."
"Why would you want me to stay for that?" Buffy asked irritated. "Who else besides Darla is in the running? Besides, that is pretty twisted. It's usually the father people are not certain about. Because the mother gives birth. And Darla did give birth to Connor, as I remember you telling me. Wouldn't it be more likely that Darla tried to pin a baby on you, not the other way around? Or was she really dead and somebody posed as Darla or what? Any other vampires you slept with lately? Were you that drunk that you can't remember? Oh God, please don't tell me that after all we talked about it actually was-"
"No! No, it's nobody we discussed. I swear," Angel interjected quickly.
Buffy just looked at him, completely confused and at a loss for words. "Then why?"
"I went to the Oracles and they implied… well, no, they didn't just imply, they told me that…" Oh God, how to explain all this. She would never believe him. He had kept things from her and lied to her. She didn't even now about the day that wasn't, so everything would make even less sense. How could he possibly explain this? He had somehow deluded himself that a positive DNA test would solve all his problems, that he would simply show it to Buffy and she would accept it. But it didn't explain anything. What a mess.
"Buffy, I know this sounds crazy, but I truly believe it," he said as calmly as he could. "I just wanted some further proof first. I believe you might be Connor's mother."
Buffy's face lost all color. After staring at Angel blankly for several seconds, Buffy burst out laughing. And she couldn't stop. Whenever she started to calm down a bit, it would start anew. Until her laughter gradually turned into sobs. Angel took a step towards her, but she immediately took a step back, holding up her hand to ward him off. Angel gave her some space, not knowing what else to do.
Cordelia, Fred and Gunn had heard the noise and had come to look what was going on. Neither Buffy nor Angel had noticed them at the time, too engrossed in their argument. When Angel finally saw them standing around, he hastily motioned them to disappear again. Cordelia opened her mouth to say something, but Angel flashed his yellow eyes and turned vamp face on them to show them he wasn't kidding. They immediately drew back, but as soon as Angel had turned his back on them again, they stopped on the farthest reaches of the stairs, hiding in the shadows.
Buffy was still sobbing uncontrollably. In between sobs she tried to say something, but no words would come out. She just kept crying. When Angel tried to approach her once more, she backed away again until she made contact with the wall and slowly sank down against it.
When she finally calmed down enough to say something, she looked at Angel with questioning eyes and said sarcastically, "Let me guess, we are really in some science fiction movie where I was abducted by aliens or something."
Angel thought how, ironically, that actually wasn't that far from the truth.
"Because if you would bother to remember, we only slept with each other once. Uno. One time. One single time. Oh, and by the way, that was four years ago."
Angel realized, not for the first time today though, that he was in very deep trouble.
Buffy went on, "Believe me, I remember, because it's the one thing in my life – again, notice the 'one' here - I can never add another incident to. That one is closed. No repeat performances."
Then Buffy's look fell on Connor, who was strangely unperturbed by the whole commotion going on around him. Angel noticed this and slowly sat down cross-legged in front of her. Buffy continued staring at Connor. She wished it were true but… All of a sudden, it wasn't such a ridiculous thought anymore. She reached out her hand to touch Connor's cheek, just like she had done that first time, when Holtz had been holding him in that dark alley. She felt that connection again and it made her want to cry all over again. Could it really be? But he was part of Angel, of course she would feel something. She took a couple deep breaths before she reached her hand out again, this time reaching for Angel. Softly, she touched his cheek. Angel leaned into her warm hand. A cold tear ran over her hand. With a sad look, Angel silently begged her to understand, to believe.
"How? How could… It doesn't make sense, Angel. Please don't do this to me, because you want it to be," Buffy pleaded.
"I'd never do that to you," Angel said gently. "That's why I wanted to wait for the test results to come back before I told you."
"How?"
It was such a long and complicated story. Where to start? Finally Angel offered, "I messed up again?"
Buffy actually had to laugh at that. But she also smiled. It was honest and it was most likely true. And for once he fessed up to it – whatever that was - up front. "Sounds promising," she said.
"You think so?" Angel said cautiously, hopefully.
"Yes, so far, it sounds like us," Buffy said with a timid smile.
"Well," Angel looked down at Connor in his lap, "it has a happy ending." Then looking at Buffy, he added, "I hope."
TBC
