Tramonto Ristorante

A man in a black and white suit held open the door for Buffy as she entered the luxurious restaurant off of the long strip LA's wealthier section.

She had decided to meet Angelus at the restaurant, not yet wanting to reveal everything about herself. She wasn't hiding her daughter from Angelus per-say, but she was afraid she'd scare him off before they had a chance. Buffy figured a woman with a six-year-old was not exactly what Angelus had in mind. She knew eventually if things went well—and there was still a possibility they won't, but if they do, then she'd have to tell him.

Until then, Buffy kept her private life just a more little close guarded.

The restaurant was also a short distance from the gallery, Buffy decided to leave her car and walk to the restaurant.

"Miss Summers," the man said with a polite smile.

Buffy looked at him with surprise that he knew, who she was, "Uh, good call."

The man's smile widened, "Mr O'Connor had told us to expect your arrival and to escort you to the table." He gestured for her to follow him.


Awestruck by the intimate elegance of the restaurant, Buffy suddenly felt completely out of place. She ran a hand over her black dress, hoping she didn't appear too underdressed or whorish.

She decided to keep her hair down in loose curls which fell around her shoulders. Her black dress was tight hugging her slim body, showing off her every curve. Her makeup as perusal was minimal and natural and her choice of jewellery was limited to earrings and a bracelet.

That familiar tingle in her stomach flip-flopped, she focused her eyes and saw Angelus sitting alone at a quaint circle table with his legs crossed and a glass of wine in his hand, looking as handsome as ever. Her cheeks heated under his hungered gaze as he took her in.

Angelus stood from his chair and held out his hand for Buffy to take. With a sultry smile, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "You look beautiful." He told her.

Tipping the host with a hundred dollar bill, Angelus returned his attention back to Buffy and helped her into her chair.

Unable to stop himself, he bent his head and brushed his lips over the sensitive area of her neck. He smiled hearing her gasp and her hand reached back to touch the back of his head. She turned her chin to him and accepted his brief kiss before he stood straight and sat back down, otherwise, he would have cleared off the table with his arm and had his way with her right then and there.

"I hope you like Barbera wine, 'cause I ordered a bottle of it," Angelus said, passing her the red glass of wine.

"I, um…" she accepted the glass of wine and adorably frowned, "… don't know much about wine. But I'm sure I'll love it."

He smirked watching her sip the wine.

Buffy wasn't much of a drinker. She never really had a chance to explore her alcohol horizons on the count of she was a mother during the prime 'alcohol exploring' time. But she knew she liked mojitos and usually whatever else Faith shoved in her face to drink.

"So…" Buffy placed the glass down and looked down at her hands feeling a bit awkward.

Angelus felt the same. It's been a long, long time since he's been in this type of situation, he wasn't sure what to say or do. "Um…" he hesitated, "… here we are."

"Yeah, we're on a date and we have no idea what to say to each other."

They shared a mutual smile in its humorous irony.

"Tell me about yourself." He began the conversation with a standard subject.

"Well… I own an art gallery."

Angelus smirked, "I've read a few articles on it since the last time I saw you… you're very popular."

"You've read articles about me?" A seductive smile crossed her lips.

Leaning forward, drawn to her smile, Angelus lifted his eye from her mouth to her eyes, "Every single magazine article and newspaper blurb I can find."

"I've read some stuff about you, too." She told him, almost teasingly so.

"Not all of it was good," he admitted sipping the wine his hand.

"You have an interesting story… Liam O'Connor." Buffy said catching his look of surprise.

Angelus smirked surprised that she had found out his birth name. That meant, she really dug into the archives to find out about him.

"Why Angelus?" Buffy asked.

His small smile widened, "The nickname was given to me by my mother and it just stuck. But you know something about nicknames sticking, isn't that right, Elizabeth?"

"Touché," Buffy reciprocated his smile and then continued, "You were born in Ireland. Your grandfather founded Wolfram & Hart in 1969. A few years later, your family and the family business moved to California when you were still a kid," He sat back and listened with a bit of amusement. "When your grandfather retired, your father briefly took over the business but then he suddenly passed away leaving the law firm back into your grandfather's hands before you took it over… and here we are…" she sipped the wine, enjoying its rush of tingles as it hit the back of her throat. "Now, Wolfram & Hart—under the 'great' Angelus O'Connor has been an international success. But I couldn't help but notice… there was little to no mention of your mother."

"She passed away when I a child... before coming here."

Buffy sat up a bit straighter and frowned, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was a long time ago."

"Still… losing a parent is hard."

Not wanting to spoil the evening with an emotional talk about a subject he has not thought about in over a decade, Angelus stealthily turned the subject on her. "How about you? Tell me about yourself."

"I thought you read everything you needed to know in magazine articles and newspaper blurbs."

Angelus smiled, "Only about your business. No mention about you or… how and why you know McDonald." He didn't mean for Lindsey's name to be brought up, especially now that he was on a date with the beautiful blonde. Curiously, Lindsey's name was never spoken by Buffy. She never mentioned him once, which made Angelus question the status of her relationship with the attorney.

"Um…" Angelus knew she was frazzled by his sudden mention of her 'other man'. "Lindsey is a… complicated subject."

"Are you seeing him as well? I thought having several lovers was not your… thing?" He hated himself for how jealous he must've sounded but this woman made him crazy with untapped emotions.

Buffy's brows rose up her forehead, "Lindsey and I aren't… We aren't—I mean we were—" she noticed the pain in his eyes and specified herself, "—in college—like six years ago but… n—not anymore." Buffy took a breath, evening out her nerves and told him with perfect clarity, "We were together for a while back in college then… stuff happened and then we broke up and now we're…"

"… Friends?"

"Yes," she was thankful that he finished piecing her vaguely half-finished puzzle.

"So when you came to the firm to meet him for lunch…"

"… That was two old friends meeting for lunch."

Feeling less jealous of her relationship with the attorney, Angelus relaxed and smiled, showing her that he had accepted her explanation. "Where are you from originally?"

"Originally, here…" she shrugged, "… LA, but after Mom and Dad divorced when I was around… fifteen or so, Mom and I moved to Sunnydale, where I graduated high school and went to college."

"Sunnydale… nice town," he said unsure how to respond to a place so suburban.

"It's a bit 'suburban,'" Buffy said, much to Angelus' surprise, "but it was a nice place to grow up."

"What brought you back to Los Angeles?"

Buffy sipped her wine and explained, "After my mother remarried, I was about a year out of college when she announced that she was selling the gallery. She just wanted something different, I guess. I didn't want her to sell the gallery to just anyone. She built it from the ground up and so I bought it from her and kept it going in Sunnydale for a while, but I knew the only way for it to thrive was to bring it here."

"And you did just that," Angelus smirked, admiring her business sense. At first glance, Buffy did not come off across as a woman with savvy business sense and a keen eye for art. She appeared to fit the role of a beautiful dumb-blonde, but underneath that gorgeous long golden mane was a mind so intelligent and so quick-witted, it spun Angelus on his head.

He watched her smile, infatuated with the glow of her face. Angelus found himself falling back into the depths of her expressive green eyes. He'd be a happy drowning man if it meant he forever got look into her eyes. Forever? What's happening to you? He wondered for the hundredth time.

The moment was shattered by the ringing of a cell phone.

Buffy gave him an apologetic look as she reached for her clutch purse. "I'm sorry," she softly told him and took out the cell phone, reading the caller ID.

Angelus waved his hand, not offended by the sudden interruption of the date that was going rather well, in his opinion.

He watched her frown, probably not recognising the number, but instead of turning off the ringer and ignoring the phone call, like he would have done, Buffy answered the call.

"Hello?" She frowned and nodded, "This is she."

Not moving his eyes from her face, he watched Buffy's neutral expression fall into a mixture of fear and panic. Angelus sat straighter, knowing whatever was being said on the other end of the call was hurting her.

"Okay—Yes, I understand. I'll be there right away." Buffy said quickly and hung up the phone.

Angelus watched as she glanced around the table to gather her things. Your car is too far away… You need a cab. She turned to see the host walking by and pulled him over to her. "Excuse me, uh, can I have the number to a cab company—Any cab company."

"Yes, ma'am," the host went back to the front desk.

"Buffy, what's happened? What's wrong?" Angelus asked with concern.

Buffy frowned, "That was, uh… he said… I have to go." She looked at him with fear in her eyes. "I—I'm sorry to cut tonight short but…" She stood and turned around, almost running into the host.

"The number you asked for, Miss." He held out a small piece of paper to her.

Buffy took the paper and started to dial the number as Angelus stood behind her with increasing worry for her.

"Buffy, talk to me," Angelus tried.

"I need to go the hospital."

"Okay, I'll drive you." He placed his hand on her lower back and kept his voice soothingly calm, careful not to add to her apparent worry.

"But—"

"—No, I'll drive you. The cab will take too long." He waited for her nod then escorted her towards the exit and passed the host a wad of bills to cover the wine and any inconveniences.

St. Mary's Hospital

Buffy and Angelus charged through the doors of the emergency corridor.

Searching through the crowd, Buffy looked for the front desk in a panic.

She spotted the desk and quickly staggered around the crowds to reach the front desk with Angelus following behind her.

"E—excuse me," she said with a shaky voice. "Where's the Children's Wing?"

Angelus frowned with a bit of confusion upon hearing her question.

"Third floor," the nurse directed.

Buffy nodded and took off to the elevators, almost forgetting that Angelus was closely following behind her.


Stepping out of the elevator, Buffy spotted another front desk with a few nurses on computers.

"Excuse me—" she began.

"—Buffy!"

Buffy and Angelus whirled around to see Lindsey standing outside the doorway of a hospital room waving his arm.

Lindsey frowned with a mixture of confusion and surprise when he noticed Angelus standing closely behind Buffy. "What the hell is he doing here?" Lindsey scowled, hating to be left out in the dark, especially when it came to Buffy.

"Not now," Buffy warned with a seedy glare. She immediately pushed past him and went inside the room to see a dark brown-haired, faintly freckle nosed, blue-eyed six-year-old girl, sitting on the edge of the examination table kicking her partially tied shoed feet that hung off the side and a stethoscope around her neck.

"Mommy?" The girl looked up from listening to her own heart with the stethoscope.

Without another moment spared, Buffy went over to her little girl. She cupped the girl's little face, mindful of the cut bandage under her chin and kissed her forehead, thankful that she was okay.

"What happened?" Buffy turned, spotting the seventeen-year-old babysitter named, Kennedy sitting off to the side looking shaken by the ordeal.

"W—we were playing and she fell…. She hit her chin on the edge of the table… There was blood… I—I didn't know what to do, so I brought her here and…"

Lindsey held his hand over her shoulder and nodded, "You did the right thing."

Buffy nodded in acceptance, not angered at the teenaged babysitter but relieved in her thinking and ultimately relieved that her daughter was okay.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked the girl with a soft, comforting voice.

"Yeah," she nodded and frowned, looking at her mother a bit nervously, "Am I in trouble?"

Buffy smirked, "No, you're not in trouble. But you're gonna give me an aneurysm one of these days."

The girls blue eyes brightened with hopefulness, "Can I have ice cream?"

With a dancing soft smile, Buffy ran her fingers through her daughter's dark brown hair and rolled her eyes, "We'll see." Buffy replied much to the six-year-olds disappointment.

"Did you drive here?" Lindsey asked.

"No—Yes, but I didn't drive," Buffy answered.

With a nod, Lindsey didn't know what was happening between Buffy and Angelus, but he knew he sure as hell didn't want the malicious boss taking his girls anywhere. "How about we take Kennedy home and I drive you and Dawnie back to the house."

Buffy faced him and nodded when her eyes caught Angelus standing outside of the hospital room.

His dark eyes were on the adorable child. She had big cheeks and a pouting mouth; Angelus knew she had inherited from Buffy. The girl's long hair, that was parted in the middle was dark brown; which she no doubt got from Lindsey. She wore a multicoloured striped t-shirt, blue jeans, and worn out black and white Converse shoes.

He knew right away that the girl was Buffy's. Angelus had no doubt that the girl would grow into a beautiful woman like her mother.

Angelus' eyes shifted from the girl and met Buffy's gaze.


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