Chapter 36: Fathers

"Angel?" Buffy whispered as he was about to fall asleep. "I'm hungry."

She didn't want to go out there because she could still hear his family out there. It had been 3 hours and they still weren't gone. 'Are they taking everything in the house?' She wondered.

"I don't think you want to see them." Angel mumbled half asleep.

"… But I'm hungry." Buffy said sounding like Rolly in 101 Dalmatians.

Against her better judgment Buffy walked down to the kitchen to get something to eat. Anything. She started to look around for the chocolate chip muffins Angel had made the morning for breakfast when Patrick walked in.

"We are almost done." Her boyfriends father told her. "Well, actually I am done. I don't even know what they are doing."

"Oh. Okay." Buffy nodded.

Patrick sighed. "Buffy, I just wanted to let you know… I had nothing to do with it. I didn't know what that wife and daughter of mine were up too. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

"Really?" She asked him not knowing if she should believe him.

"Honest to God, and that means a lot coming from me. I am straight up Irish Catholic. I would not put the Lord in this if I wasn't being completely honest with you." He told her.

"Thank you, Patrick." Buffy said with a weak smile.

He gave her a small smile back. "Another think I want you to know. I like you. Genuinely like you. I think you are a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders who could be good for my boy. You have a great family and nice friends." Patrick walked closer to Buffy. "I have already seen a change in him. Joining the Army didn't change him, he was the same after he joined as he was before. Drinking all the time, sleeping with all the women he could. He never could hold down a steady job. He was a lazy piece of…"

Buffy looked at Patrick with wide eyes. "Well, lets just say I see a complete 180 in him. He is only with one girl now and I only saw him drink once since we have been here. I want to thank you for everything you have done for my son."

"You really do love him." Buffy looked at Patrick admiringly

Patrick nodded. "Of course I do. I have always wanted what was best for him. Now I see maybe the Army was what is best for him. If he hadn't joined then he never would have met you and I think you are one hell of a woman!"

Buffy didn't know if she should believe a word that was coming out of his mouth but he seemed like he was being truthful. Maybe she did have someone on her side in the Angelus family. Buffy took the muffins out and put them in front of Patrick. "One for the road?" She asked him.

Buffy rolled over in bed, she had woken up about 45 minutes ago but she didn't want to get out of bed. She knew she had to soon though, she had to go to work. She looked at the clock on Angel's night stand, 15 minutes and then she really had to get up. Buffy laid the top half of her body on Angel's back and placed soft kisses on his shoulder blade over his tattoo. She loved his tattoo, it was a Gryphon with the letter A in its claws. She always wondered what it meant, she could deduce that the A stood for Angelus though… unless he was drunk and with a girl who's name started with A.

Angel started to stir. "Mmm, that's a nice way to wake up." He mumbled rubbing his face against the sheet. His pillow was on the mattress above his head. "Are they gone?"

"Uh huh." Buffy mumbled against Angel's back. She knew he was talking about his family. "They left yesterday. I talked to your dad. He was all ready to leave but your mom and Kathy were dragging their feet."

"That's just like my dad. Once the damage is done he is ready to bail." Angel said with his eyes still closed.

Buffy rested her chin on Angel's shoulder blade. "Actually, I don't think your dad had anything to do with it. He said he didn't and I believe him."

Angel opened his eyes, turning his head to try to look at her, he said. "Buffy, my dad lies. Its what he does. He is a lawyer. You should know better then anyone else lawyers lie."

"I really didn't get the feeling that he was lying, Angel." She whispered. "I feel really bad for everything that happened. Once you cool down some more I think you should call them."

Angel shook his head and laid it back down on the bed. "They tried to break us up, Buffy. Why would you want me to make nice with them?"

Buffy bit her lip. "Because they are your family."

"A shitty family. I really thought Kathy was different. She wasn't like that before, when I still lived there. She was so sweet. I know I wasn't home a lot that last year. I moved out after I graduated but I still went back a lot." Angel let out a short laugh. "Hell, I never wanted to pay my rent so I was in and out of living there for that whole year."

"You took your hoes back to your parents house?" Buffy joked with a smile.

Angel could hear the smile in her voice so he knew she was being playful. "Hell no! That's what I needed my own place for."

Buffy laughed and kissed his back. She looked at his tattoo and wondered now if the A did stand for a girls name. Things hadn't worked out so he could just tell people the A was for his name. "What's the story with your tattoo?"

"The Gryphon? I thought I was like one. Granted I was drunk when I got it." Angel smiled.

Buffy hesitated for a second. She had thought maybe he was drunk and got the A for a girl. "Fierce, courageous, loyal and wise but solitary?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, isn't that me?"

Buffy smiled. "Did you know they only take one mate?

"No. I didn't." He whispered.

"Yeah, once they chose that mate they are faithful forever. Even if the other dies they wont find someone else." Buffy said tracing the outline of his tattoo.

Angel rolled over and Buffy leaned on his chest. "How do you know that?"

Buffy smiled. "Your kidding right? You met Giles! I have known him for 8 years, 4 of those years I spent 5 days a week with him. He has lots of books in that second home of his that is called the Library."

"You just sat around and read books all the time?" He joked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, but I did read a lot. Not as much as Willow but A LOT more then Xander and Veronica."

Angel smiled back. "I could see that happening."

"Jenny once asked us why we were always in the Library. Xander said it was because reading makes our English good." Buffy laughed. "I don't think it worked very well. I still butcher the English language!"

Angel ran his fingers through her hair. "Your's isn't so bad. Xander, he could stand to read a few more books."

Buffy laughed again, then looked at him. "What's the A for on your tattoo?"

"Now your kidding, right?" Angel grabbed his pillow and put it behind his head. "Its my name."

"Oh." Buffy said with a small smile. "I thought maybe you knew a girl with…"

"Who? Ann? Amanda, Ashley, Anna?" Angel joked.

Buffy made a face. She didn't like where this was going. "You have been with all those A names?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't big on names."

"Right." Buffy looked down at Angel's chest. "I have a tattoo."

"Yeah, I saw that one day." He said moving her hair from her neck but not being able to see it. "I didn't see all of it though. What's it of?"

Buffy sat up and moved her hair to the side. "Its called The Mark Of Eyghon. Giles has a matching one that he got on his 20th birthday, it symbolizes his inner demon kind of thing. Back when he got it they used to call him Ripper. He was a pretty big bad ass back in the day. Got in a lot of trouble. I got mine when I was 16. One of Giles' old friends came into town., Ethan Rayne. He said he could see a little bit of Ripper in me. Ethan did the tattoo for me. Giles was pissed, he said I was to young for a tattoo and I didn't even tell my mom about it until she got out of that I'm your mother I have to control you phase… which was pretty much when I started college." Buffy laughed. "Have you ever thought about getting more tattoos?"

"I don't know if I would want anymore." Angel thought about it for a second. "I'm not big on the idea of being covered in tattoos."

"Me either." Buffy turned back around to face Angel. "I kind of find it scary when people are covered in tattoos but one or two of something small is okay. I just haven't found anything else I would want on my body forever."

"You know what I would want on my body forever?" Angel smiled, reaching out for Buffy to pull her on top of him. "You." He ran his hands down her body and cupped her bottom.

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."

Angel kissed her. "Maybe I could design another small tattoo. Something symbolizing you and get it done."

"Really?" Buffy asked. "Me?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah"

"A tattoo is forever, Angel. Your leaving in a little over 9 months, no more us." She said moving off of him.

"Who said? Maybe I just want something to remember you by." He told her.

"A tattoo symbolizing someone else is a lot to think about. It's a big deal." She said as Angel sat up in bed facing away from her. "Your mad?"

Angel didn't respond.

"Are you really mad?" Buffy asked still not getting a response. "Are you to mad for me to tell you something I found out recently?"

"What?" He said quietly.

"I.." Buffy looked down at the bed. "I found out… Hank isn't really my father."

"What!" Angel said again this time more loudly turning his head towards her. "That's a huge deal Buffy. How did you find that out? And why didn't you tell me sooner? Like as soon as you found out."

"Well, my mom is dating my biological father." Buffy said looking up at Angel. "I don't know what took them so long to get back together and I didn't want to tell you because things weren't so hot between us, your family was here and it wasn't really something I wanted your family to know. It would have just been another thing for them to look know on me about"

"You know who he is? Have you met him?" Angel asked shocked.

Buffy nodded with a smile. "All my life. What would you think of me changing my last name to Mars?"

"Keith?" Angel shouted "Keith Mars is your father? Veronica is your sister?"

Buffy nodded, he was shocked but she was happy.

"Keith knew! Didn't he?" Angel asked getting up from the bed. "He cares about you way to much to just be your friends father and Veronica, you two are to much alike. I mean you have differences but you are a lot alike. You even have a few of the same features. Have you noticed that?"

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "Blonde hair, short… Dawn has brown hair and is tall. I guess Dawn just has a little of my personality."

"Yeah, she does!" Angel nodded quickly.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at Angel playfully. "When you said me and Veronica are a lot alike… does that mean you would date her too? Because we really don't need another Logan on our hands."

"No." He said pointing at her. "Those differences I mentioned. I like those differences."

Buffy smiled flirtatiously. "And what are those differenced."

Angel smiled back. "Your softer, sweeter, more caring." He said crawling back on the bed towards her. "Beautiful. Sexy."

He slowly lowered her down to the bed and kissed her.

"As much as I love this." Buffy said with a kiss. "We both have to get ready for work."

Angel nodded and kissed her again. After a moment he stopped. "You thought my family would look down on you? For what?"

"Not knowing who my father was." She whispered bending one leg up for Angel's hips to fit better between her legs. "My real dad isn't a lawyer. Your dad liked the thought that I was a lawyers daughter… right?"

Angel nodded.

They got ready for work as they normally would have and Angel drove Buffy to Mars Investigations. "Kind of makes sense that you would work here now, you are a Mars."

Buffy smiled. "Yeah. I am."

"Your really happy about it, aren't you?" He asked.

Buffy nodded. "Before I just felt like Keith was a father to me, now I know. He is. If I had found out Giles was my dad, I would be happy too… but back then he was still living in Britain so that wouldn't happen."

Angel nodded. "Pick you up tonight?"

"Actually, I have an appointment." Buffy told him before she got out. "Keith is taking me."

"An appointment?" He asked her.

Buffy nodded. "For my license. I am a little nervous but Keith seems to think I am ready and I really want the car!"

"Veronica's car?" He said watching her nod.

"Veronica said then me and you could have his and her cars because mine would pretty much be the smaller girlier version of this car." Buffy told him.

"You don't want me to take you to the test?" He asked, he wanted to take her.

Buffy shook her head. "I have something else to do before I take the test and I have to be there at noon and you would be working so its just easier to have Keith take me."

"Okay." Angel nodded. "Fine. I will see you tonight then."

Buffy gave Angel a kiss before getting out of the car.