I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too, while I get to work on chapter 21!

Chapter 20: Buffy's Blessing

"I just had the weirdest conversation in my life!" Xander exclaimed, as be barged into Angel and Oz's dorm room.

Angel looked up from where he was unpacking his school bag, quickly. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so he could run some errands before he had to head to the Summers' house to pick up Buffy to take her to work. She must be exhausted because he was tired himself and she was the one working the shift. "How does a weird conversation differ from any other conversation you have ever had?"

Xander rolled his eyes, sitting down on Oz's bed. "This one was…"

"Can you talk and walk?" Angel asked, grabbing his wallet and putting it in his pocket. "I have to get out of here."

"Didn't you just get here?" Xander asked his friend, standing up and following him out the door.

Angel nodded, turning around to lock his door. "I just got back from class, yes, but I have some stuff I need to get done."

"Oh." Xander shrugged, taking large strides to try to keep up with his best friend. "Well, anyway, I got asked to prom!"

Angel stopped mid step, causing Xander to bump into him. "You got asked to prom? By who?"

"Faith!" Exclaimed Xander. "I said yes because hello! She's a girl and I haven't been on a date with a real one in a long time. But what do I wear?"

"Don't you still have your tux from prom?" Angel asked as he started walking again.

"Well…yeah." Xander nodded. "But if you haven't noticed, I have kind of gained a…" He motioned to his stomach. "KEG since then!"

"You have not." Angel shook his head but looked down at his best friend's stomach, just to make sure, the Summers' girls and most recently Faith had been feeding him fairly well since they started working on the basement. "If you need a new tux then you can tag along with me."

"Where are you going?" Xander asked as he follow Angel out of the building, towards the parking lot.

Arriving at his black convertible, Angel unlocked the car. "Prom stuff." He answered, as Xander hoped in the passenger seat. He didn't need to know every detail, he just wanted to tag along. "I have a stop to make before we look for tuxes though."

0o0o0

"Keep an eye out for this place…" Angel said to Xander as they drove down the street slowly, he knew it was around here somewhere. "It's called… Couture Crush."

Xander made a face. "What's…"

"Never mind." Angel nodded towards a store that had dresses hanging in the windows on display, before pulling up in front of the store.

"Um… Angel." Xander paused before he got out of the car. "I don't know if you know this but we are men… we need to wear, oh, I don't know." He shrugged. "a tux!"

Angel shook his head as he got out of the car. "I'm aware, but I told you that I had a stop to make."

Angel looked around the store when he walked in, he had never actually been in a woman's dress store before, it was a little overwhelming. Girls had an overwhelming amount of choices, he was silently thanking God that it was easier to pick out a tux.

"Can I help you?" A sales woman asked Angel and Xander.

Xander wondered away, as Angel nodded his head. "A girl came in yesterday, my… my girlfriend, she was going to pick out a dress for prom and put it on hold." He knew he had lied about Buffy being his girlfriend but he would repent later, he just didn't want to come off as a crazy stalker to the sales woman.

"Okay! Follow me." The woman motioned for him to follow her to their computers, it wasn't very often that a guy came in looking to match his tux to his dates dress, but it did happen occasionally. "What was the name?"

"Buffy Summers." He told her, then watched as she typed it into the computer.

The woman nodded. "Yes, it looks like she actually put two dresses on hold yesterday."

Angel nodded, Buffy had mentioned that she had picked out two dresses depending on how much she got paid determined which dress she bought. "Do you… do you know which one she liked more?"

"I wasn't actually here… but…" The woman turned around towards a blonde woman putting some dresses on a rack. "Cassie! You were here when Buffy Summers came in yesterday, right?"

Cassie thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah, what's up?"

"This is Buffy's boyfriend…" The sales woman motioned to Angel, he couldn't help but smile when she had called him Buffy's boyfriend. "He was wondering which one she seemed to like more, do you know?"

"Well, from her reaction when trying them on." Cassie smiled. "She liked the white with the gold empire waist, but from what she told her friend, it didn't sound like she would have enough money for it and would have to go with the pink one."

Angel nodded at the women as Xander called his name from the back of the store. "Hey, man! They have a secret tux section back here!"

Angel laughed. "Two birds, one stone. Could you help me find a tux that would go perfectly with the white dress?"

The sales woman raised her eyebrows at the man, her co-worker had just said that his girlfriend couldn't afford the white dress and he wants to match to a white dress instead of the pink dress that was on sale.

Cassie smiled at Angel. "Yeah, come on!"

"Did there happen to be a brunette with Buffy yesterday?" Angel asked Cassie, as they walked closer to Xander in the tux section.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, a brunette and a redhead."

Angel smiled, nodding towards Xander. "Good, the brunette is his date."

"You have it easy then." Cassie shrugged at Xander. "She got a black dress. Simple but sassy, you are going to love it. It seems like you are all cutting it pretty close to prom, aren't you?"

Angel nodded. "I didn't even know I was going until Monday and Buffy said she would let me know as soon as she could what color her dress was. Last night she told me it was between a pink dress and a white dress."

"I didn't even know until today!" Xander exclaimed, it still blew his mind that Faith had asked him. Out of all the people she could have asked.

"Your…" Cassie thought for a moment, she knew she remembered the guys names that the three girls were talking about. "Xander, right?"

Xander nodded. "How did you know?"

"The girls were talking about a Xander, Angel and Malcolm." She said nodding her head with each name.

Angel smiled. "I'm Angel."

Cassie laughed. "Malcolm doesn't need any help picking out a tux, I guess."

Xander and Angel looked at each other and shrugged. "We don't know him."

0o0o0

After school Buffy and Willow rushed to pick up Faith from the Summers house and then to the bank to cash the check that Jenny had given her the day before. The plan was to go to Couture Crush and pay for the dresses that she and Faith had picked out. Buffy had decided to go with the pink dress just because it was on sale, she could afford to pay for most of it with the check that Jenny had given her and Joyce had given Faith some money to get the dress because it was on sale. She offered to help Buffy pay for her dress, but Buffy refused. Joyce wanted Buffy and Faith to have as many teenage experiences as possible and prom was a very important one. After Buffy tried on six dresses she finally settled on the first two that she had found. Faith had decided to go with the first dress she had tried on because it was the cheapest one she could find, and it just happened to look amazing on her! Willow had jokingly made a comment about the dress being so cheap because it was missing most of the material.

Willow had the hardest time finding a dress, she kept worrying about what Malcolm would like. Buffy was convinced Willow had tried on every dress in her size, but all of them were either too revealing, too short, too long, or didn't go with her hair color. At one point, out of frustration, Willow had said she hated her hair color and wanted to shave her head. Faith had then told Willow that Malcolm probably didn't like bald girls. It wasn't until Buffy had sat Willow down and told her not to stress about it and if Malcolm didn't like her red hair then he wasn't the right guy for her. That seemed to satisfy Willow and she decided to go with the champagne color dress that Buffy had found for her.

Buffy rushed up to the counter at the dress shop with Willow and Faith walking behind her. "HI." Buffy smiled at the red-headed woman behind the counter. "I just wanted to come and make a payment on my prom dress, and my friend needs to pay for hers."

"Okay." The woman smiled at her. "Who wants to go first?"

Faith smiled and bumped Buffy out of the way with her hip. This was the first time she had ever bought a dress that nice and the big key word in there was bought. She had stolen a good amount of clothes in her day because her mom never had the money to pay for them. She was excited to be doing things the legal way. "Faith Lehane."

The woman laughed at Faith's actions as she took the money from Faith, then turned around to search through the rack of dresses that were on hold to find Faith's prom dress.

Faith turned around, leaning on the check-out counter. "So, Red, last night when you got home did you put your prom dress on and dance in front of the mirror?"

Willow shook her head quickly. "No!" After a pause, she shrugged. "Maybe, just for a minute. I…" The red head took a deep breath. "I needed to get used to the… no sleeves."

Faith laughed, and turned back around to take her dress from the sales woman before stepping out of the way for Buffy.

"My name is Buffy Summers." She told the woman, getting the money out of her purse. "I know I need like another $70 and I will come back tomorrow to pay the rest, I just need to get…"

"Don't worry about it." The woman smiled as she looked at the computer, then turned around to search the rack for Buffy's dress.

Buffy looked at her friends confused, when the woman handed her a white zipped up bag. "Um, I think there has been a mistake." Buffy shook her head looking down at the dress, the pink dress came in a clear dress bag just like all the other dresses that were on sale, and she hadn't even paid for the dress yet.

The woman shook her head as she looked at the computer again. "No, this is your dress." Then she checked the tag on the dress again. "It says Buffy Summers."

Buffy unzipped the dress bag slightly to see the white material of the dress she had really wanted but couldn't afford, then shook her head.

"It's already paid for." The sales woman confirmed, looking at her computer. "No mistake."

Buffy was even more confused now. "But... wh… who?"

The woman clicked something on the computer, then looked up at the blonde. "Someone with the last name Giles."

Buffy hugged the white dress to her tightly, she wasn't going to cry, or she didn't want to cry but she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

Willow looked to Buffy, from where she was currently having a conversation with Faith about her prom dress. "Buffy?"

"Yo, B." Faith looked at the blonde, worried, before walking towards her. "What's up?"

"My dress…" Buffy whispered, still holding the dress tightly. "It's paid for."

Faith grabbed the top of the dress bag to look at the dress inside. "That's the white one, how is it paid for? You had 100, that dress was like 300."

"She said…" Buffy trailed off. "She said someone with the last name Giles."

"Which one?" Willow asked, curiously. "At this point, all of them would help you, it could be anyone in the Giles family."

"Angel." Buffy whispered. "He's the only one that I told where I was getting my dress from."

0o0o0

Faith walked towards the basement door, after the girls hung their dresses in Buffy's room, the guys work truck was in the driveway so that meant that Xander was there, and probably Oz and Angel. Buffy would probably appreciate Angel being there, and from what Buffy had told her before, Willow liked Oz, or at least she used to before she went and started chatting with Malcolm. Faith didn't understand the whole attraction to meeting people online and being in a relationship with that person, you didn't know what they were actually like and she hadn't even seen this guy in person. Willow was nervous and excited, at the same time, to see Malcolm for the first time at prom.

"What are you guys doing?" Faith asked, walking down into the basement and looking at the guys questioningly. They were just standing there, looking at nothing.

"Admiring our work." Oz said with a small smile, until Angel turned when he heard Buffy talking to Willow. "And we're done."

Buffy smiled brightly. "Hey, Angel."

"Hey, Buffy." He smiled back, then motioned around the basement. "Do you like it?"

Shaking her head, she looked around the room, Angel had that way of sucking her in. "Wow, yeah. Are you guys done?"

Faith looked around the basement, it looked the same to her… okay, so there were hard wood floors and not so many wood board showing but did that mean they were done?

"Not yet." Oz nodded. "But almost."

"Hey! We did a lot of work!" Xander exclaimed, almost offended at the expression on Faith's face.

"We have to move the washer and dryer out of here to finish the flooring." Angel jumped in, looking at Buffy. "Your mom said to leave the ceiling as is."

"It's not even my mom's house, how can she tell you what to do?" Buffy smiled.

"Willy is already so happy that we have done what we have, he won't care if the ceiling is still exposed wood." Angel shrugged. "I actually think it looks pretty good exposed."

Xander nodded, even though he would have liked to finish it, he knew that Angel and Oz had more going on in their lives than he did and didn't have time to go to the Summers house every day. "We were thinking… a desk over here, since you want to be all school like…" He pointed to the far corner. "And you mentioned liking those organizational cubes, Buffy…" Xander pointed across the room. "I could build you some!"

"Or I could buy some at Walmart." Buffy laughed. "So much faster and cheaper."

"But you would have to pay for gas to drive all the way to the closest Walmart." Xander reminded her that they didn't have a Walmart in Sunnydale. "And what's cheaper than me building it for free?"

Buffy laughed again. "Xander, you have way too much time on your hands."

"Angel could help!" Xander volunteered his best friend, knowing full well that Buffy would love to have Angel around still. "Okay, not right away because he has finals, but he could help soon."

Angel shrugged at Buffy. "if you really wanted me to, I could after I finish school."

"You don't have to do that." Buffy said softly. "Um, Angel… can I talk to you?" Buffy nodded her head towards the stairs.

Angel followed her up the stairs, into the kitchen. "Am I in trouble?"

Buffy looked up and him and bit her lip. "It was you, wasn't it?" Angel raised his eyebrows at the blonde. "You bought my dress. The woman said the last name, on the card that was used, was Giles."

"Oh." Angel nodded.

"You didn't have to do that." She whispered.

Angel shrugged. "I want you to have the dress you want, not the dress you feel obligated to get."

"How did you know which dress it was that I wanted?" She questioned.

Angel let out a small laugh. "I asked the woman that worked there."

Buffy smiled up at him before wrapping her arms around his waist. She smiled even bigger when she felt his arms wrap around her. "Thank you." She whispered. "You've done enough"

"Not possible." He whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I'll pay you back." She said, still hugging him.

Angel shook his head. "No, you won't."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully, he always did so much for her and never asked for anything in return. "So, if you guys are basically done with the basement, does that mean you won't be coming over anymore?"

Angel softly rubbed her back. "I'm sure I can find a reason to come over."

"Do you guys want to hang out tonight?" Buffy asked.

Angel eyed Buffy. "I'm not taking you to work?"

Buffy shook her head. "I called and I quit. Manny wasn't surprised, they have a lot of turnover."

"But there goes your chance at turning him into a children's book." Angel laughed.

Buffy hid her face in his chest and laughed.

0o0o0

"It isn't fair!" Faith pouted as Willow guided her out of the dining room towards the stairs.

"Faith." Willow said seriously, pointing to her face. "Resolve face."

"But…." Faith whined. "It's not fair that B gets to stay down here and watch a movie with hotties and I have to study!"

Buffy laughed. "Resolve face, Faith."

Willow nodded, pointing to the stairs. "Monday will be here before you know it, and no matter how much money you offer to pay me, I will NOT take the test for you."

"You don't have to take it for me." Faith reasoned. "Just hang out under the table and tell me the answers."

Willow shook her head. "Resolve face!"

Faith stomped her foot, and started to go up the stairs when she turned around to look at Buffy, Angel, Xander, and Oz getting comfortable in the living room. "That used to be my life."

Buffy heard what Faith had said and she rolled her eyes. It was true though, Faith got to hang out with Oz and Xander the last few nights when Buffy was working, after Willow had left for the night.

"Oh!" Willow shouted, running back out into the living room when her phone made an alert sound. "That's Malcolm!"

Buffy and the three guys watched in anticipation, but Willow simply read the message and quickly replied before happily running up the stairs to Buffy's room.

"She sure looks perky." Buffy noted, moving the bowl of popcorn more into the center of the coffee table. They had just ate Chinese food but it was Xander's idea to have popcorn while watching the movie.

Oz nodded. "Yeah, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step…" His nod turned into a shake. "I don't like it. It's not healthy."

"Check out the jealous man." Buffy laughed.

Oz shrugged. "What are you talking about?"

Buffy gave Oz a pointed look. "You are jealous."

"Of what?" Oz tried to play off.

"Willow's got a thang." Buffy smiled. "And you're left hanging."

Oz scoffed. "What? That's meaningless drivel. I'm not interested in Willow like that."

"Bull!" Buffy shook her head with a smile, sitting down next to Angel. "You like her! I know you do, I have heard you guys talking in the basement."

"What?" Angel asked, they had talked about a lot when they were working on her basement, and even though Buffy knew about his feelings now, he didn't know exactly everything that she had heard. "You... you did?"

Buffy nodded. "I heard about how Oz likes Willow and Cordelia was trying to impress you. And let me tell you, mister, Cordelia is just trying to impress you! Xander's underwear are more holy than Cordelia Chase."

"Hey!" Xander shouted.

Angel raised his eyebrows at the blonde. "How do you know how many holes his underwear has?"

"They aren't!" Xander shouted. "At least not since I bought new ones a few days ago."

"It's just an expression." Buffy smiled at Angel.

"No." Oz shook his head. "They are pretty holy."

Xander's shoulder sank in defeat, no one was listening to him.

"I'm just saying…" Buffy shrugged. "if you saw Cordelia at school then you would know…" Then she turned back to Oz. "You're jealous."

"It's just…" Oz shrugged. "This Malcolm guy… What's his deal? Tell me that you don't have a slight case of the wiggins?"

"Okay, slightly." Buffy nodded. "It's just, we don't know what he's actually like."

"Or who he actually is." Angel threw in.

"I mean, sure, he says he is a high school student." Buffy said, looking around at her three friends. "But I could say I'm a high school student."

Angel gave her a teasing smile. "You are."

"Okay." Oz nodded at Angel. "But Buffy could also say that she's an elderly Dutch woman, and who's to say that she's not if she's in the elderly Dutch woman chat room?"

"I get your point" Buffy nodded, with a slight smile but then turned serious. She was slightly on edge about this whole Malcolm thing, and yeah, she was concerned but she hadn't realized how much people could lie on the internet. "Oh. I get your point. This guy could be anyone. He could be weird, or crazy, or old, or… He could be a circus freak." Buffy started to panic. "He's probably a circus freak!"

"Yeah! I mean… we read about it all the time." Xander stood up, and sat back down in the chair with his leg underneath him. "Ya know, people meet on the net, they talk, they get together, have dinner, a show, horrible ax murder."

Buffy's mouth dropped open, she couldn't believe this was happening! Panic started to overtake the blondes body. "Willow ax murdered by a circus freak… okay, okay! What do you do?" Buffy felt Angel's hand on her back, gently rubbing small circles, which brought her back to reality. "Xander!" She threw a piece of popcorn at her friend across the room. "You get me started! We are totally overreacting, guys!"

Angel looked around the room at his friends, did that stuff really happen on the internet? He leaned in a little closer to Buffy. "You promise you don't get on the internet?"

"Not to talk to guys." She turned to look at Angel, she loved how close he was. "The only thing I do on the internet is Kids Min related." Angel smiled at her answer, then Buffy looked at her friends again. "I mean, I feel like I should be looking this guy up and getting more information about him, but I don't know how to go about doing that. Willow is the computer whiz."

"I could do it." Oz offered. "As long as you know his last name and some basic information about him."

Buffy shrugged. "The information I know about him is the basic of the basic. Last name Black, seventeen."

Oz thought for a minute. "Yeah, that's pretty generic stuff. I probably wouldn't get any hits on it. If you had a picture then it would work a lot better. There is a program where you can put in a picture and it will show you everywhere it is on the internet. All social media."

"That's the thing." Buffy leaning forward, closer to her friends. "He hasn't sent her a picture and she thinks that's okay because they care about each other." Buffy looked from Angel to Xander and back to Angel. "Please just tell me that you guys will be there when he shows up. It's really freaking me out." She turned back to Xander with an annoyed look. "Especially now, thanks Xander!"

Angel nodded. "Of course, we will."