A/N: Because a few people have asked me about the Initiative storyline and when that's going to happen, let me clear up a little confusion. It's actually already happened, I just didn't write about it.

The whole thing with the Initiative happened sometime between Angel's disappearance and Chapter 1, which was four months later. I didn't feel like it was necessary for the story to include any of those events, nor did I really want to since that wasn't exactly my favorite storyline. This story jumps around a lot in time anyway, so just assume it already happened. :)

Now that the confusion is cleared up, on to the story…

CHAPTER 26 - BACK TO SCHOOL

-August, 2001-

"Oh campus bookstore, how I've missed you!" Willow says as we walk into the store.

Willow races over to the first aisle. "With your pens and pencils all lined up neatly, your composition notebooks in neat little stacks!" She inhales deeply. "And oh, the smell of all those new books!"

Willow casts a sheepish, sideways glance at me. "You must think I'm crazy."

I smile at her. "No, I don't think that, Will. I love how you geek out over school."

Willow laughs in a giddy, childlike way, like a kid in candy store. "I really do!"

"Well since you know this place in and out, want to help me find my books?"

"Sure, of course! Let me see your class list."

I hand her the list, and Willow frowns. "Oh no…"

"What? What's wrong?"

"These are the same classes I took last semester. I knew I should have saved my books!"

"That's okay, Will. I have Almond and Lambert. I think they're both using different textbooks this year anyway."

Willow helps me find my two measly textbooks, while she has an armful of books.

"Is the bookstore going to have any books after you leave?" I ask jokingly. "Do you any help carrying those, Will?"

"Um…yeah, that'd be great!"

She places the stack of books in my hand, the weight of the books nothing to me.

Willow examines her list again. "Okay, let's see, I now need the book for my advanced chemistry class."

"Advanced chemistry…fun." I'm sure my sarcasm is showing.

"I'm so excited I finally get to take classes for my major!"

Willow finds the rest of her books, and we leave the bookstore. In the parking lot, a horn toots, and Oz's van is parked by the curb.

"Oh, that's Oz. I gotta run."

I carefully hand Willow her books back.

"Thanks. Oz is going to help me move my stuff this afternoon."

"Hey, how's your mom taking the news that you're moving into your boyfriend's apartment this semester?"

Willow laughs as she walks toward the van. "Not very well. See ya, Buffy."

"Bye."

I turn around to walk to my own car, which is parked on the other side of campus. Of course. But when I start to move, I bump into someone.

One of my books slips out of my hand, landing right on the guy's foot. I realize seconds later that it's Riley.

"Oh god, Riley, I'm so sorry!"

Riley just laughs, reaching down to pick up the fallen book. "What is it with you and the dropping books on people?"

"Sorry."

"I'm just teasing. Wow, it's good to see you, Buffy."

"Yeah, you too. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. Where've you been lately?"

"I've been in Iowa for most of the summer, spending time with family, things like that."

"Oh."

"You have books. So does this mean you're coming back to school?"

"Yeah, I am. I promised my mom I would. Just part-time for now though. I signed up for a couple of night classes. It's just easier that way. Then I can stay home with Liam during the day."

"How is your little boy?"

"Crawling all over and into everything. I have to watch him like a hawk. He tried to eat my deodorant yesterday."

Riley laughs. "It sounds like you have your hands full."

"He certainly keeps me on my toes, that's for sure."

The look on Riley's face turns serious. "So how are you holding up?"

"Some days are okay. Liam occupies most of my time. He's a great distraction. So what are you doing hanging around the campus bookstore? Are you going to be a T.A. again?"

"Yeah, I discovered I actually really enjoy it. Just for a little extra spending money though, and only part time."

"Psychology?"

"Yeah. Professor Callahan is a lot different Walsh."

"Thank god for that."

"Yeah. But he's pretty cool."

"Well that's good."

"Oh hey, the coffee shop is giving away free coffee today 2-4. I think they're trying to get the freshmen hooked on caffeine already. Do you want to go grab a cup?"

"Oh, no thanks. As tempting as free coffee sounds, I think I really just want to go home and spend the rest of the day with my little boy."

"Sure, I understand."

"Plus I managed to convince Dawn to babysit, which she only agreed to do if she didn't have to change any dirty diapers." I glance down at my watch. "I've got about fifteen minutes before all hell breaks loose."

Riley laughs. "Understand. You better go rescue your sister."

"Yeah, or she'll never babysit for me again. I'll see you around, Riley."

"See you later. Wait, Buffy."

I turn around. "Yeah?"

"Uh, you know what, never mind."

"No, what were you going to ask me?"

"I uh…I was just going to say if you need any help studying or whatever, I'm a great tutor. But you probably don't need any help."

I shrug. "I don't know. I might. Maybe when I get into my psychology coursework, I'll take you up on that offer. Right now I'm just catching up from last semester."

"So you do like psychology."

I gave him a smile. "Yeah, I think I do. I think I'll even major in it."

Back at home, I can hear Liam wailing before I even open the door. Dawn spots me the moment I walk in, a look of relief on her face.

"Oh thank god you're back!"

I barely have time to toss my keys and books onto the table before Dawn shoves Liam into my arms.

"I am never, ever, babysitting again! This is the last time!"

I bounce Liam on my hip and make little shushing noises at him. "What's wrong with him?"

Dawn laughs hysterically. "The hell if I know! He won't eat, he won't sleep, and I'm not going anywhere near that diaper of his! All I know is that he's your problem now!" Dawn brushes past us and heads up the stairs, leaving me still trying to comfort a cranky baby.

"He's teething," Mom says later as she walks Mr. Cranky Pants around the living room.

"How do you know?"

"Oh, I know. You were like this at around the same age. Dawn too. Plus his gums are swollen. Here, take him. I have something that'll help."

Mom places Liam back into my arms and goes into the kitchen. I follow her, watching as she opens the refrigerator.

"So what do you got?" I ask her. "Some kind of home remedy?"

"Even better." Mom pulls out a teething ring. "I put this in here the other day. I thought we'd be needing this soon."

"Oh my god, you're a lifesaver." I take the teething ring and give it to Liam, who takes it and happily begins to gnaw on the chilled toy.

"Yep, definitely teething."

"Wow, how did you know?"

Mom shrugs. "Just experience from being a mom." Mom leans forward to kiss Liam's cheek, then kisses me on the cheek too. "Try a warm bath tonight as well. That'll calm him down too."

I forgot how much college homework sucks.

The readings are always twice as much, and the tests are always twice as hard. And I'm only taking two classes!

My eyes start to cross as I toss the book aside, tired of reading about biology, which I don't understand why I have to take anyway. Deciding I need a distraction, I pick up the phone to call Angel, only realizing halfway with the phone to my ear that I can't call him anymore. The fact that I've just done this must prove how tired and stressed out I am.

I put the phone back on the end table and watch Liam instead. He's sitting on the blanket in front of me, alternating between a chew toy and his pacifier. If he could put both in his mouth, he probably would.

"Angel, I can't believe you're missing this."

Spotting our collection of VHS tapes on the shelf behind Liam, I suddenly get an idea. I get up and grab the one I'm looking for, then pop it into the player. Moments later, Angel's on the screen.

Angel and I stepped out of the elevator, seeing Doyle in front of a video camera and Cordelia holding up cue cards for him.

"'If you need help, then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! Our rats are low—"

"Our 'rates'!" Cordelia snapped.

"It says 'rats'! 'Our rates are low, but our standards are high. When the chips are down, and you're at the end of your rope, you need someone that you can count on. And that's what you'll find here…someone that will go all the way, no matter what. So don't lose hope. Come on over to our office and you'll see that there's still heroes in this world.' Is that it? Am I done?"

Cordelia turned off the camera. "I don't know. I'm not getting every man, I'm getting…weasel. We don't want weasel."

"I don't know. I think people will be pouring in as soon as they hear about our low rats," Doyle said.

Cordelia put down the cue cards and glanced in our direction, noticing our presence. "Oh, look who finally came up for air."

"What are you guys doing?" Angel asked.

"Well someone's got to drum up some business around here," Cordelia said, glaring at Angel. "And since you wouldn't do my 'dark avenger' idea, I'm having to go with plan B. Wait…you *are* still planning on running AI, right? Please don't tell me I wasted all morning on this! Do you know how long it took to make these cue cards?"

"I don't have any intention of shutting down AI just yet. I just don't know how things are going to change around here. Besides, the lease on this office is still good until the end of September." He then turned to look at me and reached for my hand. "What would you think about that? If I stayed here in L.A. for while? Would you be okay with that? I don't want to make this decision by myself."

"Come on, Cordy. Let's leave the lovebirds to themselves. I'll treat you to lunch and we'll finish this video later."

"So?" Angel asked once we had the place to ourselves. "What do you think I should do?"

"I think you should stay. You should continue Angel Investigations."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, just because you're human now doesn't mean you have to stop helping people. You could do your thing here until your lease runs out, and I could finish up this semester and next, and we'll have the whole summer to be together."

"I love the sound of that."

"And besides, L.A. and Sunnydale aren't that far apart. We could see each other every weekend. One weekend I could come visit you, and maybe the next, you could come see me. And we'll talk on the phone every day." I glanced at the video camera, still set up on the tripod, and had an idea. "And…we could even make videos of ourselves."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "You want to make…videos of ourselves?"

I smacked Angel on his arm. "No, not *those* kinds of videos! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Angel laughed as I walked over to the camera, figuring out where the record button was. "What I meant was that we could make videos for each other. You know, so during the week, we could still see each other. In fact, I think we should make one now."

"I don't know," Angel hesitated. "I'm not really one for getting in front of the camera."

"Oh come on," I said as I walked around and sat in his lap in front of the camera, the red button showing that it was, indeed, recording. "I want to record this."

I cleared my throat, wrapped my arms around Angel, and smiled at the camera. "Today is Saturday, November 27th, 1999, and this is the happiest day of my entire life because I finally get to be with the man I love. And nothing, or no one, will ever tear us apart or stand between us ever again."

I turned and smiled at Angel, seeing him smiling back at me, and we kissed. The kiss went on for a moment or so, until it got a little too heavy and Angel blocked the camera with his hand. He reached over and turned the camera off as I laughed in the background.

As I turn off the television, Liam pulls himself up to my knees. He happily sucks on his pacifier and stares up at me. He's been doing this a lot lately, often times pulling himself up to the couch or a chair and standing on his wobbly legs for a few seconds until he falls down. Mom says he'll probably be an early walker. I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

"Well hey there, standing man." I reach forward and scoop Liam up into my arms. "Are you going walk for me soon?"

Liam makes some little noise muffled by the sound of his pacifier in response.

"Oh goodness, you're getting to be such a big boy." I pull Liam close to me, kissing his cheek, then letting his head rest on my shoulder as I rub his back. "Just don't grow up too fast, okay? Your daddy's missing it all."

A/N: I feel like this chapter is all over the place, but that's because I had a bunch of random scenes I needed to fit together to create a whole chapter. Some chapters are like this. I tend to write stories out of order, and sometimes I get scenes that I don't want to lose and have to find a place to fit them. Hope you enjoyed this random chapter anyway. :)