Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, the next chapter is longer!

Happy New Year!

Chapter 9: Buffy's Funny Rash

When Buffy woke up the whole house was quiet, which meant either everyone was still sleeping or they just hadn't ventured out into the rest of the cabin yet. She walked down the hallways, she looked at the still undecorated Christmas tree in the corner of the living room normally it would have been decorated the night they got it but Xander was tired and hungry then yesterday had been too busy. She continued through the kitchen and made her way up the stairs. She was actually thankful that her parents had wanted Willow and Dawn's rooms closer to their room when they bought the cabin because they were the youngest. There was no way they heard her and Angel the night before, or at least she hoped no one had. She had tried to be quiet but when he did that thing with his tongue… she shook her head trying not to think about it. He wasn't even there anymore and he was occupying her mind. He had left in the middle of the night and from the sound of it, it was his girlfriend on the other end. Who else would he call baby and leave so suddenly for? Shaking her head again she didn't want to think about that either. The only people who could have heard them were the other two people who also had a bedroom on the first floor. She smiled at the thought of her brother hearing her and Angel having sex, he would have been so uncomfortable and embarrassed. The down side would be that Anya could have heard them too and she wouldn't think twice about blurting it out in front of everyone.

Once she got to the top of the stairs she turned to the left and walked down the short hallway, she listened for a second outside the door. She couldn't hear anything but there was no way Oz was still sleeping. He was normally up before everyone else, he would go outside to shovel the snow that had fallen over night so the sidewalk was clear and a path to the cars if anyone needed to get out. When they were younger her father used to do all shoveling with the help of her older brother until Xander was old enough to do it on his own. Xander was happy once Oz had started joining them on their trips because he enjoyed shoveling the snow unlike Xander. Buffy softly knocked on the door but did not wait for a response. She opened the door slowly and slide into the room to find her younger sister sitting on the bed, still in her pajamas with her laptop in front of her on the bed.

Willow looked up at her older sister and smiled. "Hey. Where is Angel?" She wondered why her sister was in her room instead of with her boss.

"He left." Buffy eyed her sister as she sat down on the bed. "Might have something to do with his girlfriend."

"Oh." The redhead whispered. "So you know about her…"

Buffy nodded. "And so did you but yet, you still set us up."

"He isn't serious about her!" Willow exclaimed. "He complains about her all the time to his friends at the office."

"That doesn't matter, Will. Now I feel bad, I'm no different from Sam now!"

Willow looked at her older sister, she seemed upset about it. Riley had cheated on her with Sam for a year before she even found out and when Riley did finally tell her about their relationship Sam just walked right up to Buffy and introduced herself, like she hadn't broken up their relationship.

"You know the worst part?" Buffy asked looked down at her hands in her lap. "I can't stop. Even after I found out about her… we were still together and as soon as I woke up he was the first thing I thought about."

"I'm sorry." Willow whispered but then tilted her head to the side. "When you say together… what is going on with that?"

Buffy shrugged. "Well, we had sex but it was kind of weird the first time."

"Weird because you haven't had sex with very many guys or another kind of weird?"

"Weird because it was outside… against a tree." She answered. "and because we could here you singing your happy song."

Willow's eyes got large. "Wow. So you guys are like a couple now."

Buffy shook her head and then shrugged. "I don't know, he isn't here. He left in the middle of the night, he said it was a work thing but I heard him on the phone. He called whoever it was Baby."

"So…" Willow pursed her lips and turned her computer around. "Why does your Facebook say you're in a relationship with him?"

Buffy looked down at the laptop then back at her sister with one raised eyebrow. "He did that last night but you don't find it weird that it says he is in a relationship with me but his picture is still him and his girlfriend?"

"Maybe he just didn't have time to change it." Willow shrugged. "Don't define your whole relationship on Facebook, Buffy. You told me that when Oz didn't want to put on his Facebook that he was in a relationship."

"Oz didn't have a Facebook!" Buffy exclaimed. "You made him one so he could put that he was in a relationship with you!"

"I know." The redhead smiled. "So, he left in the middle of the night? That sounds kind of sketchy."

Buffy nodded. "But he said something last night… he said, he didn't come here prepared to fall in love."

Willow's eyes widened and her mouth fell open but quickly turned into a smile. "Oh my God!"

Both girls looked towards the door when they heard it open, Oz walked in with red cheeks.

"How's the snow, Oz?" Buffy smiled.

"Not too bad." He answered. "We didn't get much last night. Where is Angel?"

"I scared him off in the middle of the night." Buffy joked.

Oz nodded. "So he found out about your funny rash?"

Buffy laughed and threw a small pillow at Oz.

0o0o0

Everyone made their way into the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast. They were moving around the kitchen weaving in and out of the other family members as they gathered everything they each needed. Joyce looked at everyone in the kitchen. "Where is Riley?"

"Um…" Buffy was about to answer when Willow jumped in.

"He left early this morning." She answered for her older sister. "A work emergency."

Joyce looked oddly at her two oldest daughters. "I thought UCLA was on Christmas break."

"They are." Buffy nodded. "A TA just needed something from him so he went to help, he loves his job."