Chapter Thirteen: Surprises on The Morning After


Angel woke up the next morning quite disoriented. The bed he was laying in wasn't his, it smelled different, female, and it felt different. And somehow the warm body beside him, the warm legs entwined with his ... his eyes popped open only to fall on Buffy's sleeping form and a smile crept across his face. He wanted to reach out to touch her face, to trace the line of her jaw, her brows, just touch, maybe to claim, but he didn't want to wake her.

She looked so relaxed and comfortable slumbering on her pillow and so he
contented himself with studying her face. She had matured a lot, she wasn't the
girl anymore he remembered but a woman, a beautiful, desirable woman with an
ex-husband and two children, a life of her own.

He felt a sharp pain in his chest thinking about everything he had missed in her
life but he quickly pushed the dark thoughts away. There was no use dwelling on
the past. Nothing would change it, all they could do was move forward and try to
make it work in the future. They were both still young and had a whole life ahead of them. A chuckle escaped him at that thought. Had he just referred to himself as young? He shook his head in disbelief, it seemed he was more and more becoming human, judging the age of person by their appearance.

And he had to admit he was glad she had two kids. It had been one of the reason
why he'd left her and for he still wasn't able to give her children he at least
didn't have to feel guilty for taking something away from her.

Looking back at Buffy he saw her stir and slowly blinking her eyes open. When
they finally focussed on him she smiled. "Hi," she leaned forward and their lips
met in a sweet kiss. "Hmmm," she made and stretched beside him. "This is heaven.
Waking up like this, you by my side, looking at me...," she stopped and suddenly
frowned, "Why were you watching me?"

He chuckled again, "Are you afraid I'm discovering any of your secrets because
you talk while you sleep."

"Do not," she replied. "I don't talk in my sleep. I have slept beside men for
some years and none of them ...," she broke off realising what she'd said and
reached out to take his hand, "Angel I'm sorry. It's not how I wanted to start
the day after..."

"Shhh," he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Don't worry. That was the past. This is the presence and hopefully the future and I just thought while I was watching you," he gave her a little grin, "that dwelling on the past will not help. We both have a past and I can guarantee that mine is much more colourful than yours. I can't even count the women I was with."

"That was your demon," she said firmly.

"Only partially, Buffy. But before I became a vampire I wasn't a saint either and there was Anna after I became human and ...," he broke off suddenly feeling
uncomfortable and not willing to let the mention of Darla destroy this morning
after their wonderful night together. He would tell her about it, he vowed, but
not right now. And it wasn't important anyway. Not anymore. Darla was
non-existent, sucked into hell like all the other demons that once roamed the
earth.

"What I wanted to say is that it's not what was that counts." He kissed her palm
and then gazed deeply into her eyes, "I love you. That's all that matters and I
don't want you to tap around the men you've been with all the time we're
together. I want you to feel comfortable around me, that's the only way we can
make this work."

"I love you too," she said and blinked, "God, you're really turned me into a
fountain." Smiling a bit shakily, she added, "This has to stop soon or everybody
will think something terrible has happened to me, all red-eyes and puffy cheeks."

Popping herself up upon an elbow she ran a hand through her hair, "Yuck," she
exclaimed feeling it all sticky from the sea-water. "I think I need a shower,"
lowering her lashes, she smiled, "And you too. The one in my bathroom is big
enough for two."

In response he grinned and was about to get up and pull her with him, when her
phone suddenly rang. Quickly glancing at the clock she groaned and reached for
the receiver, "I can't believe this. Who the hell is calling us at nine on a
Saturday morning? ... Yeah," she snorted into the receiver, not caring whoever
was at the other end of the line.

"Buffy?"

The blonde's eyes widened in disbelief and her gaze locked with Angel's who of
course had no idea who was calling.

"Cordelia?," the former-slayer said. The ex-vampire's eyes now mirrored hers when he let himself fall down on the bed again.

"Sure it's me," the former mayqueen chirped. "How are you?"

"Are you alright?," Buffy asked, annoyance clearly audible in her voice. "Because there has to be very good explanation why you're disturbing us at this time of the morning."

"Did you just say us?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and Angel couldn't suppress a chuckle, he could
imagine very well what she had to listen to.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, "you remember. Me and the kids."

"Try again. I just called your mom and she told me the kids are with her,"
Cordelia shot her husband a nasty look when she saw him shaking his head. Gunn
was sitting opposite to her at their kitchen table and could hardly believe his
ears. His wife was actually checking up on Angel and Buffy.

The ex-slayer's eyes narrowed, "You called my mother?"

"Sure," Cordelia said without any sign of embarrassment. "I didn't want to call
unprepared."

Buffy was speechless for a second. How did Angel manage to work with her and not
strangle her twice a day, she wondered. "I think you don't want to hear what I
want to do at the moment, I suppose," the blonde asked sweetly.

"Just tell me, after hunting demons for years nothing can shock me," the brunette replied.

"No trust me," the former slayer said with a certain tone in her voice, "you
*don't* want to know." When she saw Angel signalising her, she handed the phone
over to him.

"Cordelia," he said into the receiver, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"So there you are," she ignored his question, "you sound a bit angry. I thought
you'd be quite happy this morning."

Now it was his turn to be speechless, looking at Buffy he saw her smile and
smiled back, then his attention was on the call again, "I really can't believe
you did this."

"I just wanted to know if everything was fine. I'm your friend and I care for
you," she sounded a bit hurt, "So sue me!"

And of course he couldn't stay angry at her words, "It's okay and I really
appreciate your concern. But there's no need."

"Alright," she replied mollified, "Have a nice weekend."

"I will, you too. And Cordelia."

"Yes."

"Don't. Call. Again."

"I love you too," she replied and then the line went off.

With a groan Angel fell back on the pillow and shook his head, laughing. "I can't believe this."

"Neither can I," Buffy laughed as well. She quickly leaned over and kissed him on his chest. "Now, you're still up for this shower?"

*****

Much later they sat in her kitchen over breakfast, feeding each other, smiling,
touching from time to time, just enjoying the togetherness. Angel was dressed in
sweatpants and a shirt, he'd brought with him, just in case, and Buffy was
wrapped in her robe when suddenly the doorbell rang.

Smiling a bit sheepishly, she looked at him over the rim of her cup, "Maybe
another check up. Xander probably or Willow," she shook her head and was about to get up when she realised she wasn't really dressed for visitors. "Uhm ... uh ... Angel would you mind, I mean, could you," she asked and pointed at the robe she wore, the robe and nothing under it.

"Sure," he replied and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he left the
kitchen, "I'll be right back. Maybe you want to change?," he suggested. "Just in
case I can't send whoever it is away."

"Good idea," she turned and quickly ran into the bedroom, pulling a trouser and a t-shirt from a drawer, not really caring how it would look on her. Anything was better than just standing there in a bathrobe. She heard Angel open the door and then silence.

Then suddenly a well known, angry male voice shouted, "Who the hell are you and
where is my wife and my kids?"

End Chapter Thirteen