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Chapter 10: What's Mine isn't Yours

Angel made it halfway up the staircase when he heard a familiar creek. Staying close to the wall, he watched the back door open.

"Late night?"

Dan nearly jumped out of his skin. "When did you get back?"

"I guess I should be glad you're getting in before the sun this time."

"Whatever man." He started up the opposite staircase.

Angel called out. "Anne is visiting."

Dan stilled.

"She's in the kitchen." Angel watched him continue his ascent. "You don't want to say hi?"

"I doubt she wants to see any of us." Dan looked back with an uncertain frown. "She's here to fight evil?"

For this troubled teen, Angel wished he could say no. Instead, he settled for, "She still cares about you - about all of you."

Dan walked on. "No one said she didn't."

Cordelia stepped out from the counter. "I can always count on you two for the drama."

Frowning, Angel looked down at her. "You don't usually do silent observation."

She smirked. "Like I'm gonna step in any of that." Her finger wiggled from the lobby to the stairs. "You and Buffy can clean up your own messes."

He shrugged. "Messes are a part of life." He leaned against the railing. "If it was up to me, she and I would be holed up in a big bed for the next decade - or two." He grinned.

"You expect me to believe this visit was her idea?"

"Saving future generations from evil was her idea; not doing it alone was mine."

"I still get visions you know."

He smiled. "Your destiny doesn't depend on me. It's all your own."

She pursed her lips. "Groo and I are doing a lot of good."

"Doesn't surprise me. Just remember: your destiny doesn't depend on him either." He continued up the stairs and turned around at the top. "You're a champion in your own right." He walked back to the library.

Buffy stood in the doorway burping baby Kyle. She glanced around Bernie and Dan's room.

"I like what you've done with the place."

"Anne." Bernie's smiled widely. "I thought we had to do the visit thing tomorrow."

She stepped quietly with Kyle snuggled at her neck. "I won't tell if you won't, so tell me what's been going on?"

"We moved."

Dan rolled his eyes. "She can see that grease-face."

"Angel told me all of you helped with the remodel."

Bernie nodded. "Gunn knew some guys who were good at this stuff. They kept us from screwing it up or killing ourselves."

She smirked. "Good thing: that not getting killed."

Dan's eyes tracked her as she walked around the room with the baby in her arms.

Ignoring, his roomate's weird behavior, Bernie shrugged. "Groo has been handling the demon stuff so we have a lot more free time now."

She nodded. "I hear he's good people." She looked at Dan. "What do you think of our champion from another dimension?"

"He's fine I guess."

Sitting next to him on the end of the bed, she rubbed a hand down his back. "Something on your mind?"

He shook his head. "Everything's cool."

"I may look a little different, but I'm still me. I can handle hearing whatever is on your mind."

Dan stared at Kyle. "It doesn't bother you?"

"What doesn't?"

"Holding Kyle after . . . "

Her eyes widened with comprehension. She shifted the baby on her lap. "Honestly? Handing him back is going to be a lot harder than holding him."

Bernie sat on his own bed. "You could still have another baby someday, right?"

Shaking her head, Buffy smiled sadly. "Even if things go the way I hope, I don't see another kid in my future." She kissed the top of baby Kyle's head. "Vin was and always will be my miracle boy."

Dan crossed his legs on the bed. "What's the new big bad this time?"

"I don't know." At their confused faces, she continued, "I'm here about an old bad. One I don't seem able to outrun."

Bernie's eyes turned earnest. "How can we help?"

"That's what I should be asking you. We were a team and I left you guys."

Dan looked down at his hands. "You needed to get away."

Bernie nodded. "When Lilly told us what happened, she said you might not be coming back." Bernie looked at Dan. "I guess we just didn't believe it."

"I should have said goodbye." She rubbed her hand down Dan's back again. "It was a rough time, but I hope you guys know I never stopped caring about you."

"No one thought that." Dan huffed out, "No one could ever think that."

Buffy's brow crinkled with concern. "Hey Bernie, could you bring Kyle back to Gemma. I think he's in need of some diaper aid."

Bernie smirked and took away the fussing baby.

Buffy watched them walk about before turning her attention to Dan. "While I've been gone, what's been going through that head of yours?" Dan still wouldn't look at her. She frowned. "Come on buddy, talk to me."

"After you left, I heard Gunn say the reason you didn't move away after your divorce was because he asked you to stay . . . for us." He glanced up. "You stuck around to help even though it wasn't safe." His breathing grew labored. "We're the reason Vinny's gone. We're the reason you lost your baby."

She rolled her lip and blinked her eyes to keep from crying. "Now, you listen to me. The only person responsible for what happened is me. I knew the risks and I made a choice and I gave him up.

"But you did it for us."

She put her hand over his. "I won't let you take responsibility for my kid." She lifted his hand and brought it down for emphasis. '"Not you, or Gunn, or anyone else. He was mine to protect and I screwed up." One tear leaked out. "I screwed up big time, and I live with it every day. Don't you dare try to carry that guilt because I deserve all of it."

Dan started crying. "I'm sorry."

Reaching over, she pulled him into a hug. "Dan, you guys are my family too." She held him tight as he cried on her shoulder. "I love you all so much." She tucked her face close his and let his hands claw into her arm and side. "That doesn't ever change."

Buffy walked into the library dragging her hands over her face. "Times like this I wish I smoked or drank or something. . ."

A sweet voice replied, "You should get some rest. You've had a long day."

Buffy looked up with a frown to see Fred looking back at her. Buffy looked around the room and saw Fred, Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, and the renowned Groo. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Our taxes." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "What do you think we're doing?"

"You don't need to join the research wagon. I mean you have a hotel of responsibility already on your plate."

Groo stood. "Your chosen quest proves bravery." He bowed his head. "We honor it with aid."

Turning another page, Angel shrugged. "If they want to look through boring old books, I'm not going to stop them."

Buffy took a seat at the table, grabbed a book, and said the only thing she could: "Thank you."

Cordelia stood from the table. "We've been at this for more than a couple hours. I'm getting doughnuts."

Groo stood too. "I will accompany you on this venture."

The room gave their thanks as the couple departed.

Fred smiled shyly. "He still calls her his Queen."

Buffy smirked. "Queen C must love that."

"It's like something out of a fairy tale."

Her dreamy tone earned an admiring gaze from Wesley. Seeing his stare, Fred blushed, smiled, and looked back down at her notes.

Buffy's eyes twinkled at their adorable flirtations.

Angel took Cordy's interruption as an opportunity for a conversation break. "I heard you talked to Dan."

She smirked. "Did you hear that or did you hear me talking to him?"

Angel remained serious. "I'm glad you two had a chance to connect."

"I left a lot of loose ends here; this trip is like a trial run for what's waiting in Sunnydale."

"But it went well with Dan?"

"Dan wasn't angry with me. He was angry at himself." Putting down her book, she looked at him. "It's different."

"You had to talk with him to know what he was feeling. Until you talk to them, you can't assume anything." He added in an even quieter voice. "You were wrong about what I was feeling."

She shrugged and glanced away. "It doesn't hurt to prepare for the worst."

"Ya'll?" Fred's voice nearly trembled. "I think I found a way to do this."

Wesley leaned over to read the text. "That's not. . ."

Her voice turned into an anxious squeal. "We just need a way to make it bigger - make it include all the kinds instead of just one."

Wesley continued frowning at the text. "Fred you're . . . brilliant."

Buffy leaned back in her chair. "You guys want to fill us in?"

Fred scrunched up her nose. "And we need a way to make it stick. I mean, if we do this all-inclusive thing, we'd want it to work for more than fifty to eighty years."

Buffy and Angel stood and moved behind Fred. Reading over Fred's shoulder, they both felt a million thoughts rush through their minds.

Angel scowled. "I think I know how to make it broader."

Buffy nodded. "And I know how to make it last." She looked at him and saw brown eyes as troubled as she felt. "I guess we can't escape destiny after all." She leaned against him giving and receiving solace. "Different paths to the same destination."

Fred frowned. "I thought this was what you wanted."

Angel curled down around his love. "We did too."