AN: The cliffhanger from "Bandages" was actually continued in "Bandages" since this part of the story wasn't complete yet and I didn't want to leave people hanging. Sorry about any confusion of people reading it before I edited it.

...

Morning came and light streamed in across the room, a little finger pulling on her hair brought Buffy to wakefulness.

Katie lay where she fell asleep, but now wide awake and ready for mischief.

Katie mouthed some baby talk then pulled Buffy's hair again.

"Ouch" Buffy said, not really hurt but trying to teach her child some manners.

"No pulling mommy's hair ok, that not nice." She gently scolded as she pulled her hair free of the little fingers.

She sat up and stretched, feeling a lot better than she did the night before, at least before seeing the time.

The clock read 6:52am.

Buffy cringed, but considered this was fairly late for Katie, who usually started announcing her hunger at 6am.

Buffy 'rescued' her daughter for her 'prison' and placed her on the floor to crawl around while she checked over Angel.

She inspected his wounds, finding nothing more serious than bruises. 'Thank you.' She thought to whoever kept answering her prayers.

Nurse Buffy removed the bandages but was still worried about the coma state.

Her own stomach growled and Liam kicked in conjunction. "Fine, be that way." She said to her bump.

"I'll be back soon." She said to her hubby and kissed his forehead.

Buffy scooped Katie up and gave her a quick washing and changed her diaper, much to her displeasure.

She then headed downstairs to feed the three hungry mouths, well actually two hungry mouths and a hungry mouth-to-be.

...

Buffy almost screamed when she noticed two bodies on her furniture, then she remembered the gang were spending the night.

She walked past Xander as he slept awkwardly in the two chairs, and Willow stretched out on the couch.

The hole in the wall and window had been covered by plastic and the floor swept of loose debris. It didn't look like a model room, but it was far better than the last time she saw it.

She didn't see Giles anywhere, but figured he was in the kitchen since the light was on.

She walked in and found her watcher/father fiddling with the coffeepot.

"Confounded machine! It's a plot, add computers to every bloody thing so they can take over the world!" he grumbled quietly, looking like he was about to hit it.

"Ohmigod, Giles is a closet conspiracy theorist!" Buffy quipped behind him with fake shock.

He startled and whipped around, "Buffy, thank goodness. This technological nightmare needs slaying." He said seriously.

Buffy laughed, "Yeah, no." She shook her head trying not to laugh too hard while she opened a cabinet under the sink and pulled out an 'archaic' tea kettle.

Giles visibly relaxed, "Oh thank the lord." He said taking it from her.

"Yeah, Angel can't figure out the coffeemaker either, I guess there must be an age limit on technology. You must be this young to operate."

Giles frowned, "The fault lies with you youngsters and the barmy idea you need a computer in everything! Boiling water is not a task that requires technology, a simple vessel that can hold water and be heated will suffice."

Buffy placed Katie in her highchair and grabbed a bottle of formula out of the fridge, "You just make your tea, I'll handle the coffee." She said to the watcher as she microwaved the bottle.

She quickly added the grounds and water and programmed the coffeemaker, she finished before the microwave beeped.

She picked up Katie and sat at the kitchen table, in a more comfortable position to feed the baby than the highchair would allow. Katie made a few attempts to hold the bottle herself, but it was too big and heavy for her little hands to handle.

…

"Do I smell coffee?" a bleary eyed Xander walked in followed by a tussled Willow.

Xander took over coffee duty as Giles brewed his tea.

Willow sat next to Buffy, "So how's Angel?" the witch asked honestly concerned.

"Oh yeah! What's up with the fanged avenger?" Xander asked.

"Yes Buffy, do explain the 'complicated circumstances', yes?" Giles added.

Buffy sighed, remembering she had promised to tell them. After a torn moment she reluctantly told them what Angel had said to her before the second fight.

…

The three blinked a moment, silent and still.

"Ahh…I'm sorry Buffy did you just say he's permanent Angelus now!" Xander panicked.

Buffy shook her head, "That's not what I said at all! He said his personalities merged, as in both together, not one domineering over the other."

"I'm telling you Buff, adding Angelus to the mix is NOT a positive. This can only go bad. Think of the kids, can you really trust him alone with them knowing the evil side of him is free roaming?" Xander's voice argued.

"I'm compelled to agree with Xander's perspective" Giles's voice followed, "Though he may seem calm now, one must wonder how he will react in stressful situations. His darker side could manifest in any number of harmful ways."

"They have a point Buffy" Willow confessed, "We have no idea what this merger did to him mentally. I mean I like Angel, he a peach, but I think we need to do a little research before we turn our backs."

"Yeah, or we might get a new twin piercing in our necks when we're not looking" Xander added.

"He's not evil!" Buffy countered, "He has his soul! Did you guys forget that part?"

"Oh yeah, how did that happen again?" Willow asked.

Buffy told them about the spell book.

"Oh great. So Angelus re-ensouled himself! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense." Xander said sarcastically, "I bet he conjured some fancy light-show to trick you and he's just waiting to kill us all in our sleep."

Buffy shook her head, "Then why didn't I wake up with a blood habit this morning? I slept next to him all-night and he didn't bite me." She countered angrily.

"Just luring us into a false sense of security." Xander replied weakly.

...

Angel slowly awoke early the following morning, his senses easing back from overdrive down to their normal levels.

As consciousness resumed, the first thing he noticed was he was alone.

He opened his eyes and looked over to Buffy's side of the bed, the empty side of the bed.

He was worried instantly, normally when he was hurt she wouldn't leave his side until he woke and told her numerously he was 'ok'.

Slowly he felt Buffy nearby, he always had a slight ability to just know she was around, his worry faded.

Sitting up brought a lot less pain that he thought he would feel after such a vicious fight.

He noticed the bandages were already gone too, his body virtually healed save for a few minor bruises.

'I got off pretty well considering.'

He got out of bed, donned a pair of sweatpants and stretched a few minutes to ease his sore muscles.

After a moment he realized there were voices coming from downstairs. He silently opened the bedroom door and listened.

"Ahh…I'm sorry Buffy did you just say he's permanent Angelus now!" Xander's panicked voice echoed up the stairs...followed by the rest of the conversation.

…

Buffy remained silent, she had wasted a lot of breath defend Angel and just wasn't in the mood to waste anymore.

'Unless Angel gives me a reason not to, I'm still considering him on my side.'

...

As Angel stood atop the stairs, he realized he was pissed.

After all the times he had saved their lives, after all the battles fighting with them side-by-side, after all they had been though together as a family; they had the audacity to sit in his house and accused him of being untrustworthy.

He let his anger simmer at a slow boil and made his way silently down the stairs.

Vaguely he thought before this merger, he would have felt compelled to brood in a dark room and avoid contact with them, but right now…he was looking forward to a little contact.

Mostly he was just bruised, tired and hungry, but his ego was getting the worst beating by those he considered family.

As he strolled into the kitchen, another one of Xander's derogatory remarks died on his throat when he saw Angel standing with his arms folded menacingly across his chest and glaring angrily at him.

'Oh I'm so f*cked right now.' The younger man gulped.

"You know" Angel said to the startled group, "if you're going to hold your little 'We hate Angel' club meeting, could you please not do it in my house, especially when I'm home and can hear you. It's kinda rude." He paused then said, "Actually, better yet, why don't you say it to my face...Come on...standing right here..."

They all sat still as gazelle upon seeing the tiger stalking thought the tall grass.

No one said a word.

"Figured as much." He mumbled, thinking they were all cowards.

After a moment of their stunned silence, he moved again.

He walked over to Buffy and gave his equally stunned wife a kiss on the cheek, "Morning."

He kissed Katie's head as she sat in her mother lap, "Morning sweetheart."

He then turned and walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a generous mug full.

Buffy shook off her shock and handed Katie over to Willow to continue feeding while she hurried over to Angel.

They spoke quietly to keep the others from hearing. "Angel, I'm sorry about…" she tried to apologize for her family when he held up his hand to silence her.

"No, don't apologize for them; it's not your fault." He took a long swallow of the hot coffee then set the mug down on the counter, he sighed heavily, "In all honesty, I have no idea how much I've changed because of this."

He wrapped is arms around her waist and pulled her close against him, "All I do know is how much I love you, and our family." He let his hands fall down to rub the swell of her belly. "It just pisses me off that even after all we've been thought, they still see me as the enemy." He finished sending an angry glare towards the kitchen table where the others sat.

"I know. I love you." She said stretching up on her tip toes to place a kiss on his lips.

He bent down making it easier for her to reach him and eagerly returned the kiss.

They pulled apart after a moment, "They're just scared Angel, they don't understand so they take it out on you. I'll talk to them." Buffy stated.

He shook his head, "No, I think I should."

...

Angel unwrapped him arms from his wife, drained the mug, set it down then walked over to the still silent kitchen table. "Ok, what's on your minds?" He asked them.

No one spoke.

"You were all so interested in the subject of me a few minutes ago..."

Still nothing but uncomfortable shifting.

He tried something else. "I remember killing for fun. Draining people just to see the look of death cross their face..."

"Angel?" Buffy asked, concerned where he was going with this.

"I have the faces of hundreds, thousands even in my head...each one I snuffed out before their time, just because I could."

He took a few steps and leaned against the wall, arms crossed in-front of his bare chest. "I used to see it as a badge, a legacy to my time as a vampire. Then I had my soul restored...and my treasure trove became my prison cell. I saw their faces and I was haunted, driven nearly mad with guilt and remorse. Now though, now it's different."

"Different how? Willow asked, too caught up in the story to remember being afraid to talk.

"I'm not buried by guilt anymore" He continued, "I understand that I was soulless at the time, I had no free will. Don't get me wrong, I do feel bad, I do regret...but no more than you would regret hitting a deer while driving. Circumstances were out of my control; in essence it's not my fault. I accept that now.

The Angelus you know, the soulless evil is dead. I am him, but at the same time, I'm not. In the same breath, Angel the vampire cused with a soul is dead. I'm him too, but not.

I chose to ensoul myself, there may have been self preservation issues involved, but I still made the choice. That means I'm not likely to revert to what I was, I can't lose my soul again because it is a part of my demon. Soul and demon, now part of the same essences.

Will that change some of my personality traits? Yes. Do I know which ones? No.

Does it make me evil? Pretty sure it doesn't.

My demonic side is still satisfied feeding of my own blood, there will be exceptions when I'm badly hurt, but in general, I prefer chocolate over something red.

I'm still a champion for the Powers; I'll still fight for my world and my family. I can say whoever tries to get between either of those things is going to regret it.

He looked to Xander, "Should I watch my back around you, boy? Will I wake to find a stake in it one night?

You've hated me since day one...even before you knew I was a vampire. I know it used to do with you being in love with my wife...so why do you hate me now? Is this some twisted 'I still love Buffy but she sleeps with a demon' cry for help?

Is it my history of death? You nearly married a vengeance demon, Anyanka's 1000 year murder spree didn't phase you, but my mere 150 does?

Whatever it is, I don't care, but this irrational anger directed toward me will end Harris; if not...you know where the door is."

He turned to Giles, "We've had our up and downs, recently we got along well before this merger, but I know you harbor vengeance towards me from my brief soulless stint...for what I took from you. Can you forgive my demon side? Are you able to understand the creature that killed Jenny is as dead as she is? I hope you can, being my children's grandfather, I expect to be able to trust you...that trust needs to be reciprocated."

He looked to each of his audience, "If we are to live together as a family beyond this point, you all need to ask yourselves if you can come to terms with how I am now. The decision is yours." He turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving them to decide.

...

Slowly they each took in what Angel had said, digesting what had to be the most consecutive words he'd ever spoken to a group.

Buffy chewed her lip, unsure whether she should go talk to him, or let his anger dissipate.

Xander stood and grabbed his coat off the back of the chair, "Well it seems you have everything covered here, I'm just going to go."

"Wait" Buffy called out to him before he could slink off.

"Umm, yeah?" He asked, knowing what Buffy was going to ask and really not wanting to answer.

"I'm not going to demand an answer." She began, "But Angel's right, you've been against him since I first told you about him. He's my husband, I love him to death, beyond death it that's what it takes. This tension between you both has got to stop. I'm not asking you to become best friends forever, but do as he asks, end it now." She ordered.

Xander nodded slowly; relieved his personal feelings weren't being thrown on the table for all to see. He nodded, "Yeah, I'm going to go…work on that."

"Xander" She said to get his attention again.

When he looked at her she continued, "You're one of my best friends, I've relied on you for so much over the years, you even brought me back to life once. I want you in my life, I need you in my life. Make that happen, ok?" She asked.

He nodded, then headed out the back door.

"I think I'm going to go too." Willow added after a moment. "I'm desperate for a shower. Plus...well you don't need me to pull Angel out of Coma-ville, so not much else I can do here."

Buffy nodded, "Thanks for coming, again you acted as my lifeline to the world. I'll let you know if anything comes up, or it nothing comes up, I'll just call to gossip. Say Hi to Oz for me when he gets back, maybe give him a cliff notes version of what happened."

Willow smiled, "Can do, although I'll more than likely get a blank, 'huh' and that's all."

"I know the feeling sometimes." Buffy replied.

After the two shared a hug, Willow went to catch up to Xander.

Buffy turned to Giles, who had taken Katie from Willow so the girls could say goodbye.

"She does look so much like her father, doesn't she?" He asked, holding the closest thing to a grandchild he would ever have.

"She does, almost creepy similar." She admitted, taking the mini girl Angel into her arms.

"I want you to know Buffy, I'll always be here for you, no matter what. Angel is right that I do have trust issues with his less-that-human side and I'm afraid those issues will not be cured overnight. I am willing to work towards it thou, and I can only hope he can accept that."

"All I'm asking for." Angel said from the doorway of the kitchen.

Giles turned, not realizing the former undead was already back.

"I wasn't listening in" Angel admitted, "Just starving and this happens to be the only room with food in it."

Giles nodded, "Yes, well as I said to Buffy, I'm willing and if you're willing…then for now that makes us fairly good then?" He asked.

"It does." Angel agreed, holding his hand out to shake on.

Giles looked at it a moment before taking in and giving it a good solid shake.

They certainly weren't going to hug, but the handshake gave Buffy a warm and happy feeling.

"Well, I'm going to go as well. I must say your floor is dreadfully uncomfortable and I could really use a hot bath to ease the muscles." The former librarian stated.

"Why didn't you sleep on the couch?" Buffy asked, figuring as the elder he would have gotten first dibs.

"We'll we drew straws…I didn't win." He said simply.

Buffy nodded, "That'll teach you to settle for fair, next time call seniority."

"I'm not that old." He countered.

"You're a grandpa!" She teased, holding up Katie.

"Yes…well…I'll be going. I'm sure those two will be realizing it's a long walk by now. Good day Buffy, Katie."

He turned to Angel who was waist deep in the fridge, "Angel." He stated as good bye.

The man being addressed popped his head up over the door of the appliance, and nodded while stuffing a piece of cold pizza into his mouth.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her husband.

"Bye Giles, Thank you."

Once all the guests were gone, she put an end to Angel's raid of their fridge.

"If you're going to eat, make something for me too. You're children leave me nothing." She said, referring to her breasts converting lunch to milk and Liam stealing her dinner from within.

He grinned, "What do you want?" He asked.

"Food, feed me Seymore!" She cried in a bad 'Little shop of Horror's' plant voice.

"That from the killer plant movie?" He asked.

"Hey, you're finally letting in a little pop culture! I could learn to like this new you." She joked.

"You better like me, I'm what you're stuck with." He said pulling her in and kissed her neck.

She laughed and pushed him off, "Wasn't kidding. Pregnant wife…feed now."

"You're wish is my command." He smirked as he pulled out some eggs to make omelets.

…

Some time later that day.

Angel walked up behind Buffy and wrapped him arms around her pregnant waist, "Part of me wants to be sorry, sorry for not being the human man we thought I'd be when my heart first began to beat." He whispered into her ear.

Buffy partly turned her head to look at him, "Part of you?" she asked.

He reached a hand up and ran a finger down her cheek, "Yeah, the other part just yells 'shut the hell up, at least you're not dead.'"

She shook her head with a slight grin of her face, "I think I can figure out which part is which. So which part are you?" she asked somberly.

He grinned, "Me? I'm just going to be grateful; for a beating heart, for a gorgeous wife, for two beautiful kids, and the strength to protect them."

A tear ran down her face, she was so happy she wanted to cry, but as a defense mechanism against tears she asked, "You just want sex don't you?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No." then he seemed to rethink his answer, "Well, yeah. I always want that, but that's not the reason for this chat." He said pulling her closer.

"So what is the reason?" she asked.

"What?" he asked with a smirk, "I guy can't just want tell his wife he loves her without having some ulterior motive?"

She shook her head, "There has never been a proven case as of yet." She quipped.

"Well consider this a case." He said kissing her temple.

After a beat, "By the way, there's a hokey game on in ten…"

"My favorite show comes on in ten minutes…" She said, realizing he was fighting for their only TV.

"I'll get you a bag of Oreos and a jar of peanut butter…" He bribed.

"You'll eat more than me." She stated.

"I'll let you have your own plate."

'Oh my god, he's actually serious about this.'

"Since when do you negotiate?" She question, having never had him do this before.

"Since I gave up being a whinny pushover." He countered.

"You weren't a…well you didn't usually whine about it…out loud." She covered.

"I'll let you watch Passions during commercials." He said, putting them back on track.

"Hey, why don't you watch the game during commercials…all you need to see is the score anyways."

He huffed, "It's not about the final score, its how they scored."

"Keep it up, and you won't score…for a week." She threatened, know that trick always worked.

He smirked, "Like you could resist me for that long."

'Damn! That always used to work!'

She frowned, "No fair."

"Fine." He relented, seeing her frown. "I'll watch during the commercials…unless there's a fight. Then you will not get that remote away from me under any conditions."

She thought about it and agreed, she smiles returning. "Ok. Deal."

She went to the couch to get the channels set up as he went to raid the cabinet for snacks.

…

No more to this scene, but the story will go on.