Next Morning
1630 Revello Drive: Master Bedroom
The evening with Buffy's closest friends and their children went without a hitch. Angelus had forgotten how nice it was to be in the company of people that didn't want anything from you.
He found that he genuinely liked talking and drinking with Xander and Doyle. It was not very clear how they had all become such close friends.
Throughout the evening, Angelus promptly kept his distance with Cordelia, not entirely in the mood to play their familiar game of flirtation. In honesty, it would not have mattered, for the duration of the entire evening, Angelus' eyes were on Buffy. He couldn't wait to go home and make love to her. It was all that he could think about.
The children at the party wanted to get home quickly, excited for the morning to come.
A part of Angelus wished that Christmas could be everyday. The children were so easy and attentive, still believing that the 'big man' was watching them closely.
After Buffy and Angelus tucked the children to sleep and put out the mountain piles of presents, Angelus found a tied piece of mistletoe. He dangled it over their heads.
For a moment, Angelus feared that Buffy was still angered at him because of his idiotic forgetfulness but she never said a word about it again. Buffy took a step closer to him, she placed her hands flat on his chest and tilted her chin upwards. Angelus smiled and lowered his head, closing the space between their mouths.
Their kiss immediately grew passionate and desperate with desire. Angelus dropped the mistletoe to the floor, wrapping his arms around his wife. As their tongues dueled for dominance, he backed her towards the couch, laying her down.
Warm and content, Angelus buried his face into Buffy's shoulder. He breathed in his wife's citrus scent and tightened his arms around her.
Without warning, the bedroom door flew open. The door stopper banged against the wall, startling the parents awake.
Katie and Liam climbed up onto the bed and began to jump around their mother and father.
"Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg!" Katie scream-sang ruining the perfect memory dream Angelus was having of sleeping with Buffy the night before. "La la la, la la la! He came! He came! Santa came! Get up!" She shook Buffy and Angelus awake.
Grunting with annoyance, Angelus rolled onto his back, covering his face with a hand. He glanced at the red numbers on the alarm clock and sighed. It was 5 A.M.
"Up!" Liam shouted, sitting on Angelus' stomach. The boy leaned forward and poked his stubby fingers at Angelus.
"Mommy needs five more minutes." Buffy muttered, hiding her head under the pillow.
Katie continued to jump. "Santa came! Santa came! Santa came!" She announced.
"Santa came!" Angelus sat up, holding Liam under one arm and grabbing Katie with the other. The children fell into their father's arms, giggling happily. "C'mon, let's turn on the coffee and give mommy five more minutes." He said, carrying the children under his arms and got out of the bed.
Groggy, Buffy grunted something inaudible and pulled the covers over her head.
Downstairs: Living Room
Entering the living room, Buffy was immediately greeted by Angelus. He wore that half slinky smile that always made her melt at the knees and in his hand, he held a hot cup of coffee in his hand.
Buffy took a sip off the coffee and closed her eyes, humming with delight. "You're a God. You're like the… God of husbands."
Angelus smiled. He leaned forward, kissing the tip of her nose.
Behind them, the children couldn't wait another second to open their presents from Santa.
Buffy placed the coffee over a coaster on the coffee table and sat down behind Liam, ready to help him. Angelus walked over to the CD player and searched for a Christmas album.
"Look what I got!" Katie jumped up and down with excitement. In her arms she held a pair of rollerblades. "Rollerblades! Just what I always wanted!" She dropped the plastic rollerblades onto the ground much to her parents dismay and continued to tear open the presents.
Angelus reached into the front pocket of his pajama pants and took a seat behind Buffy. He pushed her hair off of her shoulder, kissing the column of her neck.
"For you." He said, holding a small wrapped box in front of her.
Buffy bit her bottom lip, trying to stop herself grinning madly. Carefully opening the present, Buffy raised the arch of her brow, eyeing the black velvet box.
"Open it." Angelus whispered into her ear.
Buffy did as told and opened the box. Snug in the box was a silver intricate ring with two hands clasping a heart with a crown over the heart. Buffy exhaled a soft gasp.
"It's beautiful," she said.
Taking the ring from the box, Angelus studied the traditional ring. "I don't think I ever told you about my family in Ireland." He glanced at her face, finding her staring at him in fascination. "There's a long standing tradition of exchanging these rings as a sign of devotion. It's a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this." He held up his left hand, showing her a matching ring sitting on his ring finger.
Buffy touched his hand and leaned forward, kissing the ring.
Angelus wrapped his fingers around her left hand and placed a kissing into the palm of her hand. He then slid the ring onto Buffy's ring finger, the heart pointing towards her.
Drowning their children's chatter and laughter into the background, Buffy and Angelus shared a loving kiss.
"Open mine." Buffy handed him an envelope.
Giving her a strange look, Angelus opened the envelope and took out a check for three thousand dollars. "A check?" He asked, baffled by the present.
"You seem to know your way around a men's department store. So I wrote you a check to spend at Bloomies or something."
"Three thousand dollars. Buffy, that's way too much. I can't take this. This is money that you've earned."
Buffy shushed him, holding a finger over his lips. "Get yourself another suit… or three thousand dollar cufflinks. Whatever you want."
Angelus recognised her 'resolute' expression and knew from past experience that it would be fruitless to try and argue with her. "Thank you." He accepted her gift.
"Daddy," Katie walked over to her father, climbing into his lap. "Can you help me assemble this?" She handed him a large box for a round swing and stand set for the backyard.
"Sure thing. We can figure this out." Angelus frowned, reading the back of the box, now worrying about the complexity of the instructions.
Buffy patted his knee. "Have fun with that." She tossed him a taunting smile and turned her attention towards Liam. Buffy helped him lineup all of his new Hot Wheels cars.
Angelus exhaled a heavy sigh.
Late Afternoon
Upstairs: Master Bedroom
After adjusting the toddler's shirt collar, Angelus left the boy in his bedroom to play. Angelus went on the mission to gather the women of the house.
Checking the watch around his wrist for the umpteenth time, Angelus muttered a curse under his breath.
"Buf," he said, opening the cracked open door of the master bedroom. "We're gonna be late. That woman is gonna blame me if we're late."
"No, she won't!" Buffy called out from the bathroom. "And please stop calling my mother 'that woman'."
"That woman has never liked me." Remembering all of the subtle digs Joyce Summers muttered every time he went home with Buffy in college.
Angelus stepped around the bed, approaching the bathroom. His eyes rolled over his wife's dark green dress, hugging her slender figure. Angelus held a hand over his pounding heart, certain that it would burst in his chest.
His gaze lowered to Katie, dressed in her Christmas outfit. She stood on the stepstool in front of Buffy, looking at herself in the mirror, mimicking Buffy's actions.
Buffy combed her fingers through her daughter's long dark hair and smiled at her in the mirror. She reached into her makeup bag and turned Katie's little face towards her. "The trick about makeup is to make it look like you're not wearing any." Buffy explained, applying a bit of red lipstick to her daughter's lips.
Katie glanced at herself in the mirror, stunned by the bright red hue. "That's red."
"A little pizzazz never hurts." Buffy finished and closed the cap over the lipstick. "There."
Standing in the bedroom with his hands in his pockets, Angelus watched his wife and daughter look at themselves in the mirror.
Buffy held a hand on her hip. "Beautiful. You're gonna break a lot of hearts, you know that."
Katie leaned closer into the mirror, smiling at herself. She looked beautiful like her mother. "Pretty."
"Very pretty." Buffy said, kissing the six-year-old's cheek.
Angelus spied on them for a few moments longer, basking and appreciating the attentive and wonderful mother his wife really was. She's spectacular.
Late Night
Master Bedroom
The Christmas dinner with Buffy's mother, stepfather, little sister Dawn and her new boyfriend from college was relatively painless. Joyce, as always, gave Angelus a bit of a hard time, albeit that it was subtle, and Buffy pretended not to notice. She ignored Angelus' 'I told you so' glances from across the room.
Throughout the entire night, just like the night before, Angelus couldn't wait to get him and make love to his heart-stoppingly beautiful wife.
Angelus stared at his wife, riding his cock above him. Her eyes closed, head tilted back, and mouth softly bobbing open and closed as she rode out her orgasm.
His fingers around Buffy's hips tightened. Angelus breathed in deeply then sat up, holding Buffy in his arms. His mouth kissed the invisible path between her breasts, up her throat until finally reaching the final destination at her mouth.
Spent from their passionate love making, Buffy collapsed on his chest, her face buried into the crook of his neck. After a few minutes, Buffy felt something… off. "Mmm, I can hear your thoughts. What gives?" She lifted her head, holding it up with one hand.
"It's nothing. I love you." Angelus said, twirling strands of her long hair around his finger.
Buffy stared at him unconvinced which annoyed Angelus. She always seemed to know something was on his mind without him ever having to say a word.
Eyeing him with curiosity, Buffy remained patient, waiting for him to break their silence.
Angelus knew that he could trust her, there was no question. But more than anything, he didn't want to upset her.
"You can tell me anything, Angel. You know that." She said, caressing his cheek with the backs of her fingers.
"Okay." He exhaled a breath, still internally debating whether this was a good idea or not.
Buffy removed herself from over him and sat up in the bed. She held the bed sheet over her naked body and offered her husband her undivided attention.
Sitting back against a stack of pillows, Angelus stared down at his steepled fingers. "What I have to say has a chance of making things worse." He warned her.
"Should I be worried?" She asked, half-joking, although the seriousness in his voice made her a bit uneasy. "Angel, whatever it is... we'll deal." Buffy took his hand, giving a squeeze.
Guilt-stricken, Angelus inhaled a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. Quiet for a few minutes, Angelus looked out the window as he said, "I feel like I'm living someone else's life." He finally said, turning his gaze back to Buffy.
He half expected her to look hurt and upset, but instead, she was silent, expressionless, listening to him attentively.
Buffy gave a reassuring nod to continue.
"I used to be sure about everything. Every decision I've made. I knew exactly who I was and what I wanted. Then I… woke up one morning and everything's different."
"Worse?" The pounding in her heart rattled in her ears.
Angelus' brows thoughtfully pinched together. He shook his head. "No. Okay, not exactly…" He smirked, which gave Buffy a sigh of relief. "It's just different. I never used to be like this." He said, now wondering more and more if his 'other life' was just a dream and this was always his reality. "I never had doubts. Everything I did, I thought was for the best. It all mounted to something."
"And now?"
"I have doubts." Angelus answered, his gaze fixed on her face, waiting for something in her expression to let him in on her thoughts.
Buffy exhaled a breath, pushing a piece of her long hair behind her ear. "That's okay. You're allowed to have doubts."
"You never seem to."
Buffy laughed at the look of puzzlement on his face. "Angel, you don't think I wake up some mornings and wonder what the hell I'm doing in Sunnydale?" She asked, shaking her head. "I deal with whiny and hormonal kids all day and then I come home and deal with more whiny and hormonal kids. I never have a minute to myself to just… I dunno, take a long hot bath with no interruptions. But then I stop and think about the kind of person I'd be if I hadn't married you."
"And?" Angelus lowered his eyes, studying her thin feminine fingers.
Moving to her knees, Buffy shifted to sit beside Angelus against the stacked pillows. "I think about everything that would be erased in our lives that I have no doubts about." She covered the bed sheet over her legs. "You, the kids… everything. Interruptions included. What do you have no doubts about?" She lifted her chin, looking into his eyes,
Angelus wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Buffy laid her head on his chest. "Without a single doubt, there is nowhere I'd rather be than here with you." He took her hand, kissing the Claddagh ring around her finger. "All these years… I've never stopped loving you."
"That's all I want to hear."
Angelus lowered his head, kissing her mouth in a slow and sensual kiss.