This will be the last chapter I post for tonight. I have to get to bed for work in the morning, I will try to post the next chapter either before I leave for work or when I get home. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 8:

Buffy hung up the phone, pushing herself away from the counter and watched Dawn happily run over to Xander as he was putting a few finishing touches on the stage he had put together the night before. She really did have the best friends, Xander had even called into work and told them he couldn't make it because he was sick, but he was really helping her and her mom out. She raised her eyebrows but let out a small nervous laugh when Xander handed her little sister his hammer. With Dawn being so young, giving her tools that she could get hurt on was something that made the older Summers sibling nervous. "Xander, let's try to remember that she is only six."

"I know, I know, Buff." Xander waved towards his friend, dismissing her comment. "I will watch her."

Joyce walked up beside Buffy with a smile. "Believe it or not, Buffy, but when you were Dawn's age you were trying to help just like she is."

"And who was I helping?" She asked her mother teasingly. "The guys that were hired to build stuff?"

Her mother laughed. "Yes, actually. You know your father never picked up a tool in his life!"

Buffy shook her head and laughed, out of the corner of her eye she saw a short man with bright red hair walk into the gallery with a taller dark-haired man close behind him. She turned and smiled at them, with her mother following suit. "Hi." The younger blonde walked towards them. "Is one of you Oz?"

The shorter man with red hair nodded, offering her his hand. "You must be Buffy."

Buffy nodded and then motioned towards her mother. "This is my mom, Joyce Summers."

"I'm Devon." The dark-haired man smiled from beside Oz.

Buffy smiled and nodded, she would be polite to the dark-haired man, especially since he flew all the way from Chicago to Sunnydale to help them, but she kept what Angel had told her about him in the back of her mind. "Nice to meet you."

"We really can't thank you enough for this." Buffy shook her head, looking towards her mother as the older woman spoke.

"Don't worry about it." Oz shrugged. "What's important to Angelus is important to me."

Joyce smiled at the two younger men. "Well, since Buffy said that you refuse to be paid, the least you could let us do is feed you. We will order you absolutely anything you want!"

"Sounds good." Devon smiled at Buffy. Oz glanced towards his bandmate, he hoped that Devon didn't try to hook up with the blonde like he seemed to constantly do.

"Okay, so…" Buffy turned towards Xander who was currently letting Dawn pound the stage with a hammer. Luckily, Dawn wasn't very strong. "Xander was nice enough to build a stage for you guys, which apparently my little sister is doing the finishing touches on." She laughed. "Feel free to bring in your stuff and if you need any help don't hesitate to ask Xander."

"Hey!" Xander whipped his head around in protest. "Shouldn't Angelus be here to help?"

"No." Buffy smiled, turning towards her mother.

Joyce shook her head with a teasing smile. "I'm not allowed to meet him yet."

"Ahh." Xander nodded, Buffy must want to make sure Angelus likes her enough that her mother won't scare him away.

Joyce turned back towards the two men. "Is it just the two of you?"

Oz shook his head. "We have two more guys, they are outside in the rental van."

"You rented a van?" Joyce asked. "Let us give you the money for it."

Shaking his head again, Oz held up one of his hands. "Don't worry about it. Angelus already took care of it."

"Is there anything he hasn't taken care of?" Joyce wondered.

Oz laughed. "No, he has everything covered. We are even staying with him while we are here."

"So, he is going to be getting a taste of what his house is going to be like once more people move in." Buffy smiled, then turned to Xander. "Anything like a frat house yet, Xan?"

Her dark-haired friend shook his head. "Not nearly enough people."

Oz smiled at the blonde, he already liked her and because Angelus had them fly all the way there within a matter of hours to play at an art showing, he must really like the blonde. He nodded towards the door. "We're gonna start unloading."

"Alright." The blonde nodded. "Remember, if you need ANY help…" She trailed off, pointing towards Xander.

0o0o0

Buffy smiled as she leaned against the wall, everything was all set up at the gallery for the showing the next day and everyone was hanging out listening to Oz and the rest of the band play. She really did like their sound, it was a band that she could see herself listening to.

When the music stopped, Joyce smiled at Buffy before turning towards the four men. "That sounded great. By the way, what is the name of your band?"

"Dingoes Ate My Baby." Devon smiled at Buffy and her mother.

"Devon wanted it to be Hobgoblins." Oz told her.

The drummer, Sam, laughed. "But it was already taken… by a Wizarding band in Harry Potter."

"How was I supposed to know it was in Harry Potter?" Devon asked defensively. "I don't watch that crap."

"Buffy was just reading me Harry Potter!" Dawn said excitedly.

"Reading?" Devon said, confused. "Oh, of course! I read them."

Oz rolled his eyes. "I have never seen you crack a book in all the years I have known you."

Buffy laughed at the men before grabbing her purse off the counter. "And on that note, I need to go get ready for my date."

"You have a few hours before your date." Xander shrugged. He never understood why she took so long to get ready.

"Date?" Devon asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Buffy nodded. "With Angelus."

Devon let out a sigh, he had only lost one girl to Angelus and that was Darla, luckily, he had already hooked up with Darla before she started dating Angelus.

"Is Angelus coming over tomorrow when you babysit me?" Dawn asked her older sister. "I really like him."

Joyce tried to hold back a smile as she looked to her older daughter. Buffy bent down so that she was more level with her little sister. "I don't know, Dawnie. Last night he was just helping with the showing."

"But he brings me movies and pizza." Dawn reminded her.

Joyce let out a quiet laugh and smiled. "It seems like he has your sister's approval."

"He knows my favorite pizza, mommy!" The small girl exclaimed. "Can he come over again?"

Joyce looked from her younger daughter to her older one, then back to the little girl. "That would be up to him and Buffy. I don't mind if he comes over though."

"I'll mention it to him." Buffy reasoned with her little sister.

"Ah!" Xander threw his hands up in the air. "You two crazy kids go have fun!"

Buffy laughed, shaking her head and she turned around to leave, calling over her shoulder. "Bye!"

0o0o0

Angelus put his arm around Buffy as they sat in the booth at the restaurant, she smiled and leaned into him. "How did it go today with Oz?"

"Good." Buffy nodded, tearing off a piece of the roll on her plate and eating it. "The band sounds good and mom likes them too. I totally see where you wouldn't like Devon though."

Angelus eyed her as she continued to eat the bread. "Why? What did he do?"

Buffy shook her head. "Nothing. He just gives off this vibe."

"He is only going to be here for a couple more days." He told her, grabbing his own bread as they waited for their food to be brought to the table. "I guess you just won't be coming over until Devon and his vibe are gone."

Buffy laughed. "I would deal with his vibe if it meant I got to see you."

Angelus smiled at her. "If he knows that you're my girl then he will leave you alone."

"Is that what I am?" She asked hopefully. "Your girl?"

Angelus nodded, earning a smile from the blonde beside him. "I'd be lying if I didn't already consider you my girl, but to make it official, would you be?"

"Always." She whispered.

"Good." He smiled, lightly grazing her cheek with his knuckle. "Because according to my mom, we have already been on at least seven dates because there was food involved."

Buffy laughed, shaking her head. "What?"

Angelus nodded. "My mom said if I cooked or bought you food then it's considered a date. Her logic is, if you have been on more than five dates then it's an exclusive relationship."

"Well, I'm not seeing anyone else." Buffy told him, turning more to look at him. "Are you?"

"Buffy…" Angelus shook his head. "It's only been you since I laid eyes on you."

Buffy bit her lip and smiled before whispering. "Well, if we are seven dates in then I think we are way past the first kiss date."

"Are we?" He teased her.

Buffy nodded slowly. "I think you should probably kiss me now."

"Happy to oblige." He smiled before leaning towards her and kissing her softly.

After a few moments, Buffy pulled away from Angelus, breaking the kiss. "Wait. If we are seven dates in and exclusive, then my mom is right." She looked into his eyes before whispering the last part. "She needs to meet you."

"My mom wants to meet you too." He told her softly. "I'm actually going to Texas to go visit them and well, me and my mom were both kind of hoping you would come with me."

"Go to Texas?" Buffy asked, slightly shocked. "To meet your mom?"

Angelus shrugged. "And my dad and sister."

"Wow." She slowly shook her head. "And here I thought this was our first date. Now we are exclusive and taking trips to meet the family."

"Buffy, if you aren't comfortable with it then it's fine." He offered her a small smile. He didn't want it to seem like he was pressuring her to meet his family.

"No." She whispered, shaking her head. "No, I want to. You just have to meet my mom first."

Angelus nodded with a smile. He couldn't hold back his happiness, he didn't know what he would have done if he had to go without seeing Buffy during the whole time, he was visiting his family. "I can do that."

"Wow." Buffy smiled, leaning her head against Angelus' chest. "This is all going very fast."

"I'm pretty sure in some cultures we would be married by now." He told her in a teasing voice.

Buffy laughed, lightly slapping his chest. "How about we start with you meeting my mom."

"I would meet her right now if you wanted me to." He whispered down to her right before the waitress came with their food.

Buffy pouted as she lightly pushed away from Angelus' to sit up straight. "Well, Dawnie is already asking if you can come over tomorrow but since my mom will be at the showing, you wouldn't be able to meet her anyway."

Angelus thanked the waitress before turning his attention back to Buffy "Just tell me when and I will be there."

"You know you have this little thing called a job, right?" She smiled teasingly at him.

"We'll see." He shrugged. "Since you will be watching Dawn tomorrow night, any chance you could come over during the day?"

"With Devon there?" She gasped jokingly, before smiling at him and nodding. "Yeah, I can do that, if you can do me one favor."

Angelus looked from his plate of chicken and pasta to the blonde beside him. "What's that?"

"Kiss me again." She smiled brightly.

0o0o0

Buffy and Angelus walked hand in hand through the park after they had finished dinner, stopping occasionally for a kiss. It seemed that after sharing their first kiss, neither one of them could get enough of the other. Buffy laughed and shook her head as she saw a blonde girl and a dark-haired man kissing on the park bench. Buffy looked towards Angelus and then nodded towards them. "That's kind of sweet."

Angelus shook his head, if he was right then the girl was named Sunday and the boy was named Eddie. Eddie was a shy freshman when he had met him just a few months ago and Sunday was one of the mean girls. It was sad that even college had mean girls. The two college students just didn't seem like they would be a good couple. "So, have you thought anymore about college?"

Buffy laughed, slightly turning towards him as they walked. "What was I supposed to be thinking about? I know that I'm going."

Angelus let out a small laugh. "I meant if you were going to live on campus or with your mom."

"Oh." Buffy pursed her lips and shrugged. "That depends."

Angelus looked back towards Buffy. "On?"

"Book Club" She said simply.

"Book Club?" Angelus laughed. "What does a book club have to do with where you live?"

Buffy shook her head. "I will tell you about it some other time." She stopped walking to stand in front of her date. "Maybe you might want to join the book club with me."

Angelus looked down at her, slightly confused. He hadn't been in a book club in years, and even back when he was younger it wasn't his choice. His mother had forced him into joining a Mother-Son Book Club. "I guess it would depend on the book." He shrugged.

"I'm sure it would be a good book." She shrugged, glancing down at their entwined fingers. "Not that I have anything to compare it to, I mean… I've never actually…"

"Never been a part of a book club?" He asked her. "Why start now then? Believe me, I have done a book club, not that exciting."

Buffy bit her lip, then looked up at him. "I was never interested before, but recently, maybe I have been thinking about it."

Angelus laughed, shaking his head. "The one that I was in was pretty boring, maybe it would have been more exciting if I actually got to have a say in the book but everyone else picked it."

"Well…" Buffy trailed off as Angelus began walking again, taking her along with him. "If it was just you and me in this book club then maybe it would be better."

"Just us?" He asked, looking towards her before looking back in front of him. "It would give us a reason to spend more time together."

Buffy leaned her head against his arm as they walked. "That sounds nice."

He leaned down, placing a kiss on top of her head. "Yeah, it does."

0o0o0

"So?" Willow asked excitedly into the phone, waiting for her best friend to answer. "How did it go?"

Buffy shrugged. "It was good."

"Just good?" The redhead questioned. "You went on a date with a total hottie and it was just good?"

Buffy laughed at her best friend. "It didn't feel like a first date, Will. It felt like we had been together for a while. Like, I was that comfortable. But oh my GOD!" She squealed with excitement. She promised herself she wasn't going to be the typical over excited girl after a first date but she just couldn't hold it in anymore. She had been calm long enough. "When he kissed me, I didn't want him to stop!"

"Kissage?" Willow asked, hopeful. "There was kissing?"

The blonde let out a sigh, throwing herself back on her bed. "Oh, yeah. Lots of it! It was like everything went dark and there was just me and him. He is such a good kisser! He asked me to go over to his house tomorrow, so hopefully there will be more of it."

"Tomorrow is the showing though." Willow looked concerned. "You are going to be watching Dawn."

Buffy nodded against the phone, smiling. She couldn't wait to see Angelus again. "At night I will have Dawn, during the day, I am going to be at Angelus' house with him."

"Oh!" Willow beamed. "I hope there is kissage then too!"

"You wanna come?" She asked her best friend. "I'm sure Angelus won't mind."

Willow thought for a moment. "It won't be weird? I mean, you guys are in this new relationship, do you really want me hanging around?"

"Xander will be there too." Buffy reminded the redhead. "And Angelus' friends that are helping with the showing are staying there too."

"Oh, yeah." Willow nodded. "I forgot about that. I guess, if you think it would be alright."

The blonde nodded. "Of course, it will be."

"Are we inviting Cordelia?" Willow wondered.

Buffy pursed her lips as she thought, then shrugged. "Maybe… I talked to her yesterday and she didn't even mention Angelus, which is new. Maybe what he said to her sunk in. I can give her a call and ask her if she wants to come."

0o0o0

Angelus walked into his house, spinning his key ring on his finger, he was still smiling from his date with Buffy. It was weird to him that it didn't feel like a first date at all, he was already so comfortable with her, it felt more like they had been a couple for years instead of a new relationship. Spending the evening with Buffy made him want to spend even more time with her, ever since he had dropped her off at her house, he kept thinking about what his mother had said about his job getting in the way of spending time with Buffy. The smile didn't even drop from his face when he saw his friend playing video games on the couch, it was the same exact position Xander was in when he had left for his date.

"Hey, man!" Xander shouted, only glancing in the direction of his friend before going back to his game. "How'd it go?"

"Great!" Angelus said with a laugh, he didn't think anything could bring him down right now. He started to make his way to the kitchen to grab a water bottle but stopped in his tracks, turning back towards Xander. "By the way, I'm going to quit the pool."

Xander suddenly dropped his controller, turning quickly to his friend and new roommate. "WHAT?!" He shouted. "You can't quit! Riley quit already, we are going to be short staffed!"

"Finn quit?" Angelus asked, slightly surprised. Riley wasn't the type of guy to up and quit, he always talked about how his mom raised him to do the right thing and be responsible.

Xander nodded enthusiastically. "Something about him missing his mom and he couldn't go all summer without seeing her, he's going back to Utah or Kansas to be with her until the new semester starts!"

"Finn is from Iowa." Angelus made a confused face, how did Xander not know where their friend was from.

"I don't care where he is from!" Xander exclaimed, turning fully towards his dark-haired friend. "The point is, he quit! That means more work for me!"

Angelus shook his head, he should have known it would come back to something like that. "So, quit."

Xander shook his head. "I can't go without a job, even if it's a crappy job."

"Xander, how much of your own money have you actually spent since moving in here?" Angelus questioned.

He shrugged before thinking about it for a moment. "Not much."

"You're welcome, by the way." Angelus shook his head, laughing. "You don't need the job."

Angelus had a point, and if he didn't have a job then Xander could play more video games and eat more snacks! "Okay." He shrugged again, turning back to his game but looked to his friend again. "Why are you quitting?"

"To spend more time with Buffy." Angelus smiled again before continuing into the kitchen for his water.