Cordy watched with interest as Angel and Buffy kissed. She had only seen people kiss like that at the movies before. Sure, she'd kissed boys herself, but not like that. Judging from what she could see, their kisses involved lots of tongues, nibbling and sucking. And that wasn't even mentioning their hands.

She was almost disappointed when they parted to stare at each other with a mix of surprise and fear. But she soon changed her opinion as they flew away from each other as if burned and just stared.

"What...?" Buffy started but then swallowed.

Angel looked at her. "It...," he answered but closed his mouth without finishing.

"Nothing," they decided as one and turned their backs to each other.

Oh, she'd read about this in her romance novels. Denial of their attraction. She wondered what would happen. To her dismay they just went in different directions to continue their childish denial. Or not... If this continued as in her novels, a fight of jealousy would follow soon. And she would help arranging it.

Cordy immediately followed the petite blond to suggest a few acceptable boyfriends...

-#-#-#-

Buffy strode through the corridors of the school, utterly confused. She didn't understand. Angel had kissed her and she had tolerated it, even liked it. They had made-out! She couldn't believe it! Angel - no, she quickly corrected herself - Marciano, was someone she disliked. Wasn't he?

Suddenly she caught the sound of someone in heels hurrying towards her and turned around. It was Cordy, breathing hard after running after her, but still without a hair out of place. Only Cordelia...

"What do you want?" Buffy snapped.

Cordy gave her a blinding smile.

"I just wanted to talk with you," she said sweetly. "Do you remember when you told me you were the queen of your last school?"

Buffy nodded doubtfully.

"Yeah," she replied. "So?"

Cordy laughed.

"You know how to get status," she said in her best airhead voice. "And if you only updated your clothes, hair and communicating skills, maybe even got yourself a nice boyfriend, you would become more popular. Then the whole not being too social thing would be out of the way and your mother would think you had stopped with the drugs or whatever she thinks you're doing."

Buffy listened with half her mind. But when she caught the word boyfriend, she started to pay attention. If she used some time to improve her social life, maybe she would get her mind off of Angel.

She gave Cordy a sudden smile.

"Why not?" she exclaimed. "Let's go shopping! Dad gave me an American Express I've never used. It's about time I do."

Cordy smiled a genuine smile.

"Yeah," she said. "Let's go shopping."

-#-#-#-

When they returned to Buffy's house a couple of hours later, both girl carried several shopping bags and packages. They carried them to her room, then sat down completely exhausted on Buffy's bed.

"I thought the eyes of that expedite would pop out when you handed her the card," Cordy laughed.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "And when you gave her another..."

Both girls broke out in helpless laughter. When they'd calmed down, they looked at each other.

"Time to clean the wardrobe," Buffy sighed.

"Yes," Cordy confirmed. "But then it's getting more fun. "We'll go to Bronze in your new clothes and search for potential boyfriends."

Buffy's gaze lightened and she started to sort out her wardrobe.

-#-#-#-

Riley Finn was a handsome man and knew it. He dressed right, had a good body and the self-assurance of someone who knew how to handle himself. Girls usually flocked around him and this particular night was no exception. Seated at the bar, he kept a look-out for tonight's entertainment while keeping up a conversation with the girl next chair over.

Suddenly, a stir began at the entrance, and he glanced that way. It was Cordelia Chase, the queen of the Sunnydale high, who arrived dressed in a very short, black dress with long arms and a deep cut, leaving her back bare except from her long hair. But the one that immediately caught his interest, was the girl at her side. A petite blond, dressed in a white dress with spaghetti straps and a tight skirt showing off her tanned legs. Interesting.

Riley got to his feet and started towards her.

-#-#-#-

Buffy noted with satisfaction that the guests at the Bronze liked her new appearance. She let herself be carried away and her body easily fell back into it's old behavior as the school's undisputed leader and diva. A dashing, supercilious smile played on her lips and hereyes sparkled as she looked out over the crowd. People immediately started to gather around her, hoping for a smile or even a dance. But with a smile, she dismissed them all and took her place at the best table with Cordelia, who grinned at her.

"You're good!" she said. "Once a diva, always a diva. You'll see your popularity boom over the night."

Buffy shuddered.

"No thank you," she said. "If you think you're a diva now, you should see me in LA. Old Buffy would have made you look like a nerd. I think I prefer to remain as a mix between pre-Merrick and post-Merrick."

"Watch out," Cordy suddenly whispered. "Riley Finn is heading this way."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Right," she said. "As if Mr. Popularity would give us a second look."

Cordy shook her head.

"No really," she said. "He's coming this way right now. Whom of us do you think he's interested in?"

She got her answer as Riley asked Buffy to dance. Cordelia sighed heavily but winked at Buffy as they headed off. Always the blond...

-#-#-#-

Angel jerked awake as his phone started to ring. A glance at his watch told him it was near midnight. Only an hour ago, he'd come back from a business dinner with his parents. Not that his thoughts had been with the contract his parents wanted to make, no they had been on Buffy. What had happened the previous day? All he could remember was a strong instinct to protect, then he suddenly was on the floor tongue-tied with Buffy. And he had quite liked it.

He shook his head and picked up the phone as it rang for the fifth time.

"Angelus Marciano," he said tiredly into the phone.

"Angel?" he heard Giles say. "There is a gathering at the library. Pick up Buffy at the Bronze and come."

Suddenly awake, he started to get out of the bed.

"OK," he said. "I'm on my way."

He put down the phone and looked around for some clothes. Quickly, he pulled on a pair of tight black jeans and a red silk shirt before taking his car keys from the table next to the door. He sped through the corridors, making a quick stop at the living room, where his sister was.

"I've got to go, Steph," he said quickly.

Steph looked up and smiled.

"OK," she said. "Don't wake Deidre."

Angel smiled.

"No," he promised. "I take the Mercedes. See you tomorrow!"

His sister nodded and he hurried down the stairs. Six seconds later, the front door closed behind him and a car started outside.

The streets in Sunnydale were empty, and no one noticed him speeding on his way through town. A few blocks before Bronze, he slowed down, and when he came to the entrance, he stopped and jumped out of the car without bothering to take the keys, he knew no thief with any brains would take a car with a license plate reading 'Angelus'.

He strode through the doors and looked around for Buffy. It didn't take long to spot her, as she slow dancing in the middle of the floor with a good-looking man.

-#-#-#-

Buffy was uncomfortable with the way this was heading. Riley was a nice guy and all, but it didn't feel right. Not like it had with Angel.

Suddenly she felt a cool hand on her shoulder and she turned around, tugging gently away form Riley. It was Angel, dressed in tight jeans and a red shirt, with a curiously tight expression on his face. She didn't know how, but she would bet her allowance he was pissed off.

"Angel!" she said carefully. "Hi."

He gave her a cold look.

"Giles want to see us in the library," he said coldly.

Not without relief, but with a weird feeling in her stomach, she turned to Riley and forced a smile.

"I have to go, Riley," she said with an apologetic smile. "Perhaps another time?"

Without waiting for an answer, she tagged after Angel, who was already at the exit. Outside, she found him waiting with his car already running. Quickly, she jumped in beside him. Without a word, he tore away and started to drive towards school.

The mood in the car was tense, and not so little threatening. Buffy could still feel a burning anger under the calm surface, and it made her twitchy. But in the end, she had to ask the inevitable question.

"Angel," she said carefully.

His handsome face turned into a grimace.

"So it's not 'Marciano' anymore," he said tightly. "'Angel'. Maybe I should start calling you 'Buff'."

She ignored the taunt and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked with enough worry to surprise herself.

The car skidded as Angel winced and the wheels screeched over the asphalt as he steered to the side of the road and he turned to her, letting his anger show in his face.

"Wrong?" he said coldly. "Wrong? I meet you just a day after we've shared a kiss after a battle and you're slow-dancing with another guy!"

She stared at him, without being able to speak a word, her feelings battling inside her.

"I'll tell you what's wrong!" he shouted. "I've loved you every since the first time I saw you, and one day, one day after I've finally gotten to be with you, I find you in the arms of another! How do you you think it feels, huh? How do you think it feels?"

Tears ran down her cheeks at his words, and the hard grip he had around her upper arms. Angrily she looked at him and ripped herself loose.

"Love me?" she said silently. "I don't think so. I'm sixteen years old!. I've never been with any man. How do you think I feel, being filled by these strange feelings? Do you think it's easy for me?"

The anger disappeared from his face as she huddled up herself into the seat, crying. Softly, he pulled her into his arms and held her. Warmth flowed over her as she felt his hands stroke her back and hair soothingly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered tenderly and held her close to him. "I'm so sorry."

He held her until the tears stopped coming, and longer than that. Time stopped as she lay in his arms, and she felt calm, free.

When she finally sat up, they smiled softly at each other. Suddenly, no words were needed, as they had admitted their feelings. Angel softly took her face into his hands and in the next moment, their lips met in a tender kiss with the curiosity of a newborn love.

-#-#-#-

Drusilla grimaced as she looked at the couple kissing in the car. The slayer didn't deserve happiness, a slayer shouldn't be happy. They were meant to be hunted and eaten. It couldn't be allowed.

Next to her, Spike smiled and took her hand in his.

"Time to destroy their paradise," he said with a grin.

"Yes," Drusilla agreed playfully. "Time to call in the cavalry..."

-#-#-#-

Caliam felt how someone shook him and opened his eyes. It was his brother, Angel.

"It's morning!" he shouted.

Christmas day! Caliam laughed and got out of his bead to run down the stairs into the living room. There were tons of gifts under the tree. Was any of them to him? He noted that Angel had disappeared. He started to go towards the tree as if he was hypnotized. There was a gift with a big etiquette with Donald Duck on, and on that, something were written.

"To Angel and Cal," he slowly spelled out.

Without caring that they weren't permitted to open the gifts until after lunch, he excitedly started to rip the package open. Underneath the wrapping, there was a box, sealed with tape. He ripped it away and opened the big box. And as he did, something huge flew up into his face, and everything went black.

-#-#-#-

When he opened his eyes again, he was laying under a white blanket. Cal sat up and pushed it away. He was in a room, sitting on a table with wheels. There were lots of other tables in the room, all covered by a blanket. Caliam hopped down from the table and went to the table next to his and pulled away the blanket. Underneath, a grown-up lay, completely white in her face.

Suddenly he heard voices from the doorway.

"He should be awake now," a man said. "If you didn't give him too much or too little blood, that is. Dru, I'm only saying this so you know, if you made him a vampire or drained him, I don't want to be in your shoes."

A beautiful laugh rung through the air and a lovely woman with long, dark brown hair stepped into the room, dressed in a deep red dress.

"He's fine, Spike," the woman said. "The blood I gave him wouldn't turn a fly. It would just keep him in a state just a tiny bit from death. But if you want him to stay alive, we have to feed him a pint of blood soon again. Without some of our immortal blood in his veins, he'll die before we want him to. He's awake now, believe me."

A man entered, Spike, with fake blond hair and dressed completely in black.

"You're right," he said with satisfaction. "He's awake. Come to uncle Spike Caliam!"

Caliam gave him a doubtful look and stepped away from him. The woman the man called Dru rolled her eyes.

"You have no idea how to do this," she commented. "Let me take care of this, Spike."

She slowly came towards him.

"Hi Cal," she said softly. "I'm Drusilla. Haven't your father told you about me?"

Caliam nodded.

"You're daddy's grand ma," he said proudly. "It's you on the big picture over the fire place at home."

Dru smiled at him.

"That's right," Cal, she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Caliam asked suspiciously.

Spike made a noise suspiciously resembling a strangled laugh. Dru gave him a look which could kill then turned to Caliam once again.

"Yes," she admitted. "But something happened that made me come alive again."

Caliam suddenly understood.

"You're an angel!" he said excitedly. "I've read about you in the Bible."

This time, it was a laugh. Spike stood in the door doubled over from laughter. Even Dru smiled broadly.

"Kind of," she amusedly said. "It's me and Spike who will take care of you now."

"Why?" Caliam wondered as he took Dru's offered hand.

"Your mom and dad made me a favor a while ago," she said grimly. "This is my way of repaying them."

She lead him out of the door after Spike and out on a parking lot outside. It was night, and a black car was parked there alone. Caliam stared as Spike stepped into it.

"Are we going in that one?" he asked devotedly.

Dru smiled.

"Exactly," she smiled. "Come!"

She stepped into the car next to Spike then she offered him her hand. Caliam skipped to her and placed himself in her knee. Then they drove away.

-#-#-#-

Caliam stepped into the house, round-eyed and hand in hand with Dru and Spike. It was huge with a high ceiling. In one corner, a flight of steps made the entry to the second floor, and huge candelabras lit the place up.

There were people there, not many, but most of them seemed to read old, dusty books for some reason.

"Are we going to live here?" he asked sceptically.

"Yes," Dru answered. "Come, I'll show you your room."

She started to go towards the stairs, but stopped as a bald guy with weird red eyes lead a scrawny boy to her.

"I saved one for you, child," he said. "As a reward for the boy."

Dru grinned.

"Thank you, master," she said. "I'm a little hungry."

She grabbed the boy, and suddenly, her face changed. It turned to a hideous mass of wrinkles and ridges, appearing from nowhere as her eyes turned yellow. But most importantly, her teeth grew as she bowed down and bit the boy in the neck.

Frightened, Caliam backed away, into the wall as disgusting sounds came from Dru. She ate the boy, like a vampire! Suddenly, she let the boy go, and wiped the blood from her face.

"That was delicious," she said. "Young and healthy."

She turned to Caliam and offered him her hand. He pressed himself to the wall. Dru frowned at him.

"What?" she said confusedly.

Cal stared at him.

"You killed him!" he accused her. "You're a vampire!"

"Oh, that," Dru shrugged. "Yes. Do you want to know how I became one?"

Caliam thought about it. She hadn't tried to kill him.

"OK," he said and took her hand. "Vampires are cool! I want to be one too. You know, I saw a movie once..."

-#-#-#-

Cal got up from the bed and dressed. He and Dru had been out stealing clothes last night, so he dressed in his new Levis and a black college shirt. Today, he would be eighteen, and Dru and Spike had promised him a surprise.

Under the twelve years he'd been with them, he'd started to view them as his parents. Sure, he remembered his real parents, but frankly, he didn't care a bit about them.

With a grin he remembered how he had watched one of his human minions rape and hurt his sister a few years ago. Or how he and Spike had managed to catch a werewolf and made it bite his younger brother Antonio.

Dru and Spike were the best! They had taught him how to fight, how to torture. He had even gotten to help them hunt food at day as he still was partly human (even if he had to get blood in his system every now and then). Normally he used his good looks and picked up girls to take to Dru and Spike. It happened that he raped them before that too, he took pleasure in the fear and pain. But he didn't get to hunt with them at night. He guessed it would come in time.

He opened the bedroom door and went down the stairs to the big living room at the bottom. Down there, Spike and Dru waited. Dru smiled happily at him as he came.

"Cal," she said seriously. "It's time."

Caliam almost didn't believe his ears. He would finally get to be turned, finally be able to live forever. But with determination he managed to hold up his expressionless face.

He watched with sparkling eyes as Dru came closer to him. When she was just a few inches from him, she let her face morph. She placed her slender fingers at his shoulder and looked deeply into his eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked seriously.

He answered without hesitation.

"Yes," he said.

Dru smiled.

"Good," she replied.

Her grip hardened as he felt her sharp fangs penetrate his skin. Cal felt a painful pleasure wash over him as she started do drink, then everything went blank.

-#-#-#-

"Wake up!" a singing voice belonging to Drusilla told him. "It's breakfast!"

A sudden hunger overwhelmed him as he felt the smell of fresh blood wash over him. Tender hands pushed his head towards the life-giving blood and greedily he started to drink.

As he was satisfied, he pulled away, and licked his lips. He looked into Dru's eyes.

"Thanks, Dru," he said seriously with his new face in place.

Dru grinned back.

"Why not thank me in a more...satisfying way?" she proposed with a smile.

Cal smiled back.

"Yeah, why not?" he grinned.

He kissed her hungrily and by that action, he put their relationship away from the mother/son one forever.

-#-#-#-

Caliam looked out over the sleeping city below him and smiled evilly. He had lived in Rome for a few months now, waiting for Dru's ultimate revenge to her ex-family, and his biological one. And now, it was time. Angel was in town, and he had joined the slayer's team. Time for revenge and death.

It had been really...nice...to see Dru again. He had missed her company for the last few months. But now he was here. And the slumbering city didn't have a clue what it would meet the coming week. And not his dear twin or the slayer either.

He abruptly turned around and mounted his black Harley-Davidson to drive down the hill with a neck-breaking speed. Tonight, the slayer would be at the Bronze, or so Dru had told him.l

He parked the bike and gracefully climbed onto the roof to look down at the people below through a window. Below, 'Dingoes ate my baby' plagued the locals at a high volume and the dancefloor was full with people. But his eyes were immediately glued to the copy of himself and the girl in his arms, a beautiful blond his senses told him were the slayer.

Smiling he watched them share a passionate kiss.

"This is promising," he murmured under his breath.