Shylock Dynasty is my favourite unfinished story – I'm here. I'm back and this will get finished. I really hope you've enjoyed it so far.

Part Nine

"I saw it too."

Angel didn't seem to know how to react. Peeking over Callum's head Buffy could see his mouth opening and closing soundlessly before he suddenly lurched to his feet. He wound through the room pacing in circles and avoiding the boys and their toys without seeming to actually see or notice them. Finally he stopped and shot Buffy a hurt and confused look from across the room, as Callum's heaving sobs died down to sighs and mumbles. "Buffy, I have no idea what you're talking about."

She sighed heavily and getting up from the sofa leant down to slide Callum back to the floor and his puzzled little friend. "Connor can you look after Callum for me sweetie? He should be okay now." Connor nodded mutely as she left her son behind. Buffy grabbed Angel's arm to steer him back into the kitchen area and out of earshot of the kids.

"Did you read my book Angel?" Buffy asked quietly.

"Slayer? Of course, but-"

"I didn't make it up." He quirked one eyebrow at her and she held up her hand to cut him off. "Obviously, I made some of it up. A lot in fact. But the basic idea… that there's a girl out there who fights demons at night? I know it's true. I've seen it." She waved her hand absently and tried to distract herself. Shuffling a pile of letters on the counter uselessly in her hands, she kept her eyes away from Angel unwilling to witness his disbelief. "I have these dreams. Horrible nightmares. Where monsters kill people. Over and over again. My mom sent me to a therapist, more than one." She could feel the grim smile on her face and knocked it away thinking of the bills her mother must've paid to be told repeatedly there was nothing to be done. "It didn't help. Eventually, when we moved to Sunnydale it got worse."

She straightened up, peeking at Angel under her lashes, but he wasn't giving anything away. "It wasn't just that I had more dreams, and I did. It was that suddenly I was dreaming about people I'd sat next to in Chem class that day. When I went to school after they'd be missing or found dead."

"Buffy." He ran one hand through his spiked dark hair. The hair he'd loved to let her play with. Before. "This can't be. It must be a coincidence."

Her lip twitched in glum acceptance. "No coincidence. There's no such thing as 23 identical coincidences. 19 students, 2 teachers, 2 principals. Locals too. I saw all of their deaths. Their graphic violent horrible ends. I couldn't cope. I tried to save them. But it's not prophetic. I don't get to know in advance. I'd just turn up in the woods and fall over a corpse."

Her hand was idly smoothing over the counter top and she flicked her eyes back to him. He was trying to puzzle it out. Come up with a rational solution. She allowed him the chance. She'd done the same often enough. "Not long before you came to Sunnydale I was assigned a guidance counselor. He also did not get it." She felt herself smiling genuinely as she thought of the man who'd helped her so much without realizing how. "He told me to look for things in the dream I could change to help myself, help the people in them. Once I tore my eyes away from the horror I started seeing this girl. All the time."

"You met her you know."

"What?"

"About my size, skinny, dark hair. Wears a lot of leather. Pain in the butt."

He frowned. "Faith?"

"That would be her. Faith's the Slayer. It took me a while to work out. Faith was in a lot of my dreams. She'd be too later, of course. Because the person would die. But sometimes she nearly managed. Usually she was fighting off monsters trying to get to them. I found out she lived in that scummy interstate off the highway. After a while I started popping by, taking meals if she was injured the day before."

"Meals? Now I know you're lying." But Angel's eyes didn't say liar. He was interested, relaxed, curious. Little things were making sense.

"Mom made them." Buffy laughed, "she loved that I wanted to help someone. Even if she didn't know the details. Anyway, after a while she got to trust me. If there were demons she'd missed I'd tell her where they'd been."

"You helped." Angel echoed a small smile gracing his lips.

"Of course."

His hand found hers and he gripped her palm tightly for a moment. "For you. Yes. Of course you helped, when you found a way to do it. Not everybody would."

Buffy sighed. "Except, after Mom died I needed money. Wrote Slayer. Now Faith hates me. I have to leave whatever info I've got on voicemail."

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "I have to ask you. About Fred. She went missing from campus that day we had, in LA."

Buffy nodded slowly. Painfully. "I don't… Fred's gone. I'm sorry Angel. You really need to talk to Gunn about this."

Mutely Angel flicked his eyes over Buffy's face searchingly. "I know, Buffy. Gunn, we talked about it at the time. I just-" He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "I had no idea Buffy – I knew what happened with Fred, and her Professor, and that thing from the portal. I had no idea there were more. That there are enough demons out there to have killed 23 people just from you school. That man on the television…"

He trailed off. "That Callum also saw." He sighed. "I take it this gift is hereditary."

"Apparently." Buffy replied every bit as glumly. "You know I wouldn't want this for him."

"It's okay." Absently he drew her closer, folding her into the curve of his chest and under his arm as he ran as his fingers through her hair and down her back.

She shook her head against his warm chest "It isn't okay, Angel. It's about twenty state lines over from okay. I can cope with me. But not Callum. I didn't want him to be like me."

"I did." He sighed deeply and she could feel his lungs working under his shirt, she was surrounded by the bulk of his reassuring presence. "I'm sorry I didn't come back for you, Buffy. It took so long to sort Kaitlin out I thought you would have moved on. I had no idea about Callum or your mother. I feel like I could have done so much for you and now it's too late.

Buffy leaned back a little from his achingly familiar embrace and took in the worried frown he'd settled into.

"Angel, I'm fine. Callum is fine. At least I know what's going on with his dreams even if I'm not sure what exactly to do about them.

"I do believe you about the dreams." He reassured her. "It makes a lot of stuff make sense. It just also makes me feel even more terrible for leaving you instead of helping. I don't deserve you."

Buffy touched his face, running one hand along the stubble around his chin. "Well for start you can stop with the blame game." She stretched up on her tip toes to press her lips against his gently and the warmth of his body against hers drew her closer, until her hand was sliding under the buttons of his cotton shirt and smoothing over the hard flesh of his chest underneath.

"Ahem?"

Buffy snatched her hand away guiltily.

"Oh don't mind us love." Spike piped up from behind his wife. "Angel here could really do with a good roll in the hay."

"Spike!" A chorus of groans filled the kitchen.

"What?" His perplexity was definitely fake as he made his way to the fridge and started chucking things out ready for breakfast. "Can't help it if Angel's been moping over you for years. For a while -" He paused as he dug out something at the back and emerged a moment later with ketchup. "I was sympathetic. I too know the love of a difficult woman. But Barry Manilow on repeat got old fucking fast."

Spike surveyed his open-jawed audience. "So who wants a fry-up?"

Buffy and Kaitlyn were matched in their embarrassment, red-faced and silently gaping at the bleached blonde. Angel settled for a seething glare and curled fist. Kaitlyn broke the silence first, shaking her head as she took a seat at the counter. "Christ you'd've thought I'd've been used to that man by now."

"Manilow?" Buffy finally mouthed. "You kept that under wraps."

"It's not a deal-breaker is it pet? I'd never hear the end of."

Buffy slipped her hand quietly into Angel's and willed him to restrain himself. "If you want rid of me you'll have to try harder than that."

A flicker of a smile touched Angel's lips and Buffy's stomach lurched in response. This was them being couple-ly. Slipped right back into it. And guessing by his firm grip on her hand, Angel was as happy with it as she was.

Except. "Is that really the time?" She motioned to the clock on the big fridge.

"Yes." Kaitlyn echoed back uncertainly.

"Fionn is going to go spare." Buffy span around trying to remember what she needed to do and spotted Callum still playing in his jammies, and not been fed yet. "Angel? If I run to Fionn's are you alright with Callum?"

"Absolutely." Angel near jumped at the chance. He leaned over the counter and waved at his son to get his attention, a silly grin spread over his face. "Do you want to stay here while your mom pops out Callum?"

Callum considered it thoughtfully. "Here with Connor?"

Angel nodded.

"Sure." He yelled lunging at his friend as they dropped their cars and started chasing each other round in a fast and furious game of chase.

Angel smiled smugly at Buffy. "See – no problems. Go see your grandmother. She'll be wondering what happened to you."

oOo

Buffy was back in Sandycove an hour and change later. But her mind and heart was resolutely in Fox Rock at Caritas with Angel and her son as Fionn fussed around her, offering the breakfast she'd missed.

"Looks like a good time was had by all."

"Sorry?" Buffy dragged herself back to Fionn. "What did you say?"

"That look on your face." Fionn smirked. "I've not seen that one for a few years. Take it your boy is just as fine as you remember. Or maybe you've got a more entertaining reason than usual for the bags under your eyes."

"Ye- Fionn!" Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin. Then relaxed and chuckled "somebody wants to be a thoroughly modern grannie."

"Somebody isn't blind." She shot back. "Anyway, if you want to be with Angel I'm pleased for you. It'll be lovely for your boy. And better for me if he'll convince you to stay this side of the pond."

"Maybe." Buffy replied, and pushed that worry away to think on more. "Nothing's official." She amended. "Just waiting to see how things go. Rushing doesn't help anything." She reasoned. It was easy enough to be cautious having once been the pregnant voice of experience.

"Funny family he comes from though. He just lives with his sister and her husband now?"

"Yes. Spike, and their son." Buffy filled in absently.

"At Caritas you say?" Buffy nodded. "I remember it from when his grandfather lived there. Although it burned down and they moved. I heard your Angel rebuilt it with the money from his paintings."

Buffy shrugged. "We haven't really talked about his family. He doesn't speak to any of them outside of his sister. Whenever he does he just talks about how obsessed they all are with money and debt."

"Really?" Fionn seemed surprised. "His grandmother was a lovely soul. Angel told me that was how Spike met the family, he's a nurse, came over to treat Isabella when she was sick. Must've been a fighter too, she lived a long time ago."

"Spike's a nurse?" There weren't words for the shock Buffy was feeling. "Can't imagine his bedside manner."

Fionn laughed in a loud burst. "Oh, I know, I've met him. And his mother. But it's a big healing family that one. A lot of nurses and midwives, even the men, right back beyond when people didn't think men could be nurses."

"I feel like the world is revolving backwards." Buffy shook her head to shake the feeling away and stood up from her seat a little regretfully at leaving her grandmother behind.

Perhaps she knew what Buffy was thinking, because Fionn stood too and went to shoo Buffy away. "You didn't come here to see me, missy, much as I love it. Go back to your Angel."

"Thanks, Fionn." Buffy smiled, and she grabbed her bad and headed back towards the door. "I'll give you a call later and fill you in."

"You better!" Fionn threatened.

oOo

On the way back Buffy had decided to detour and pop to the shops for a few bits and pieces. Little gifts for Kaitlyn and Spike for putting up with their unexpected visitors and they weighed against her leg as she trudged down the hill towards Caritas. The sky was just starting to tinge with the sunset. Little jets of pink and orange creeping through the sky and darkening the few clouds to tumultuous looking grays and blues.

She was much later than she'd intended to be and a couple of bottles of wine clinked as she tried to hurry herself. It would be bedtime soon, if not already gone and Callum might be funny about it without her. Buffy wondered how Angel had coped. She assumed since Connor was living in the same house he must have babysat often enough but a whole day was a different thing to a few snatched hours and she hoped her boy was making a good impression. Buffy didn't worry about Angel somehow getting fed up of their son, just that it might all have been a bit overwhelming to leave them for so long so early.

A bitter smell was being swept in on the breeze and glancing at the skyline Buffy wondered who was starting a barbeque when it was already getting dark. A thin coil of smoke wreathed it's way past the trees below her and she frowned.

Buffy heard an echoed muffled poof and shattering glass. Her gut rolled and wetness splashed her legs.

But she was already running. The smoke was already thickening up, way too much for a barbeque or bonfire. Everything in the sky was black and the smell was foul coating her lungs with every breath as her heart pounded and she dived down the hill towards her child and the burning house.

TBC

Finale next week. Let me know what you think and what you want.

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