Chapter 19: Explanations


"Hi Buffy," Willow smiled at her approaching friend over the table.

"Hi," with a deep breath the former slayer fell down on the chair, her face
wearing a disappointed expression. "Sorry, I'm a bit late, but Cordelia called to tell me that Angel would be late."

The red-head studied her friend's face for a moment and then smiled, "Well then
it'll be dark when he arrives and everything will be much more romantic."

Buffy brightened instantly, "Yeah, right."

"I've already ordered two waters and salads, I hope that's okay with you?"

"Sure," the blonde nodded, then suddenly laughed, "I think Angel's gonna faint.
He was so sure he couldn't have kids."

"Oh, oh, that reminds me, I talked to Giles about it."

Buffy's eyebrows shot up, "You talked to *Giles*? To *Giles*? About *me* being
pregnant? Willow!"

"Calm down," the red-head grinned. "He sends his congrats by the way. No, but I
thought he might have an explanation for all this, I mean for Angel not being
able to procreate at first and then with you ... well, you know."

"And how do you think Giles would know that or did he become an OB-gyn since last time we saw him?"

"No, of course not, but hellmouth closed or not, Angel is still an ex-vamp and
you are an ex-slayer, right? So I thought that explanation might need some
special Watcher-knowledge." Willow sipped from her water the waiter had just
brought before and watched the blonde with an expression of amusement as the
words sank in.

"Oh," was all Buffy said and settled back into her chair she had been sitting
upright on. "Right."

"Okay. And besides being a bit grumpy because he seemed to have female company,
it's evening in London, you know," the both women grinned, "well, he of course
went into full watcher-mode and called back. And yeah, it seems that even
vampires could have had kids ... with slayers, as the slayers vaginal fluid seems to have revitalising qualities."

"Wow," the blonde replied, "you mean that I could've become pregnant on my 17th
birthday and that Angel's whole 'I can't have kids speech' was for nothing?"

"Not for nothing, vampires are infertile, unless they mate with a slayer of
course, which is not quite likely, or do you know any vampire-slayer-couples
besides you two?"

"No," Buffy sighed. "But hello, I'm no slayer anymore."

Willow gulped the water down she'd been drinking and gestured with her hand,
"Right, but it seems the ex-slayer thingy just changes your strength, not the
rest of your body."

"Wow again," the blonde said and nodded at the waiter who brought the salads. As
soon as he was gone, she grinned, "And you talked about this, I mean vaginal
fluids and stuff, with *Giles*, without him going into total embarrassment
overdrive?"

"Well," stuffing a tomato in her mouth, the red-head grinned too. "There was some coughing involved, and clearing his throat and stuff."

"I'll bet," Buffy laughed. "Poor Giles, being bothered with something like that." Then she suddenly did a double take, "Did you just say he had female company?"

"Yeah," Willow confirmed. "I don't think it's anything serious, probably Olivia."

"And then you say it's nothing serious? He's seeing this woman for years now. And frankly I'd like to see him happy with a woman. And Angel would too. He's really over this 'I feel guilty because my demon did all that stuff', but if it comes to Giles it's a different chapter."

"But he seemed really relaxed at the dinner we had and during the picnic," Willow stuffed another slice of tomato in her mouth. Thinking about it, she added, "But then this is Angel and he's the master of not showing any emotions. Centuries of practice probably do that to you."

"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "But he's so much better these days. I mean, he laughs a lot, especially with the kids. David is like drooling over him, he adores him so much and last Sunday he called him Daddy. Angel had to struggle really hard not to immediately cry like a baby. And he's good for Ashlynn too, she misses her father and of course Brent hasn't called ever since he was standing in front of my apartment door after the first night Angel spent there." She had to grin at he last words.

"Oh, how I would've liked to see that," Willow grinned as well. "To see Angel all possessive," she giggled, "and with Brent of all people. I never told you before, because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, but he was never one of my favourite people."

"I knew," Buffy said with a smile.

"You did?"

"Willow, you've never been one for hiding your feelings. But if it sets your soul at peace, Brent didn't like you either. In fact he was really repulsed by your chosen lifestyle. To say it in his words 'that's just not healthy'."

The red-head narrowed her eyes, "He actually said that? Well, next time he's
around I won't try to be polite. Arrrgh. I wished I could still do some
witchcraft, I would turn him into something slimy or do a spell so he get warts
or ...," she broke off and gave the ex-slayer a sheepish smile. "Sorry. But he is such a ... hypocrite. I mean, he doesn't care for his own children and allows
himself to say something about my lifestyle. At least our kids are not
neglected."

"I still think it's fascinating that the girls don't get the mommies mixed up."

"Yes, isn't it? But they never had problems with it. But to say the truth, I
never thought I'd end up like this, I mean living happily with Oz *and* Tara, and even sharing Oz with her." She shook her head and laughed, "But then, so many crazy things happened in Sunnydale and compared to this we're almost normal I suppose. But the most surprising thing is that I'm not jealous, I'm just plain
happy. I probably got used to sleep with two other people in a bed. It's warmer
too." She grinned at her last statement.

"And your mom seems cool with it now."

"Oh she is," Willow's grin even widened, "she just denies that it's happening.
With friends she talks about Oz as her son-in-law and Tara is just my best
friend, but she loves her grand-daughter and can't turn from Amy's charm, so last time when her friend Sara was there, she told her they were twins and both mine."

"She didn't?," Buffy said in disbelief.

"Oh yes," the red-head shrugged, "but I really don't care. At least she's stopped glaring at Tara all the time, that's a great plus. As I said, I didn't see me living with two people at the same time, but when Oz came back all these years ago I wasn't able to decide between those two, I loved them both and still do. I almost couldn't believe it when Oz agreed to live with us both. He liked Tara from the start and the love between them grew gradually, although it's completely different from what we feel for each other, Oz and I, I mean. Maybe that's the reason I'm so comfortable with it. Oz loves me passionately, completely while his feelings for Tara developed from a deep friendship as did hers." She sighed, "But coming back to the previous subject. Did you say Brent didn't call since he came down to Sunnydale four weeks ago."

Buffy nodded and swallowed the piece of lettuce she'd been chewing, "Yeah. And I
could strangle him. But thanks to Angel she doesn't feel the loss as much as she
did before." She thought about it for a while and then said, "Maybe it would've
been good if mom would've remarried as well."

"Maybe," Willow tilted her head, "but then there was Giles and he always acted as if he was your dad and if I recall it correctly the man your mother considered to marry ended up being a robot, collecting ex-wives in a basement."

The blonde shuddered, "Don't remind me. He really gave me the wiggins. And
remember those cookies he used to bake, making everyone like him and being all
friendly."

"Oh yeah," the red-head nodded, "he was a good cook, Xander immediately fell in
love with his pizzas."

They both shared a laugh. Then Willow's eyes suddenly took on a certain
expression. "What do you think, after telling Angel about the baby, do you think
he might drop a certain question?"

*****

Buffy stood in the living-room of the house she and kids shared with Angel now,
staring out into the darkness. She'd arrived back home only an hour ago, after
she'd brought her children to Joyce. They hadn't been spending a night with their grandmother for the last four weeks and Joyce had kept begging to have them with her again.

So her daughter had decided that this was the perfect opportunity. She wanted to
be alone with Angel when she told him about the baby, not being disturbed by
David's wailing or having Ashlynn around who'd refuse to go to bed and regularly
cuddled up with Angel on the sofa, falling asleep theere in the end so that he hadto carry her into her bedroom. As much as Buffy enjoyed to see her kids with the man she loved, tonight she needed to be alone with him. She could only guess the rush of emotions the news would cause in him.

She whirled around when she heard the key in the door and ran into the hallway
throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply for a greeting. He was
laughing when he pulled back and his eyes were shining, "Hey, what a way to say
hello! Not that I'm complaining, in fact I was looking forward to it, although
I'd never have dreamt ...,"

She covered his mouth with her fingers and gazed deeply into his eyes, "Shut up," she whispered and again caught his lips with hers.

When they parted again there was concern in his eyes, "Is something wrong?"

"No," she assured him quickly and smiled, "nothing is wrong. Actually
everything's perfect, it couldn't be any better. But come in and sit down. We
both need to talk."

"We do?," he asked and let her pull him to the new leather sofa they'd just
bought last week. "What ever about?"

"About ... well," she beamed at him when they sat down, looking at each other,
Angel's face wearing a quizzical expression. "I have some news."

"News, huh?," he still didn't look more intelligent.

"Uh-huh. And good ones. At least I hope they are good. Well, for me they are
good, and I suppose they'll be good for you too, although of course we never
talked about it, but ..."

"Buffy."

"Uh, sorry, babbling. But I'm nervous."

"Who could've guessed," he teased. "You wanted to tell me some news."

"Right, the news," she bit her lower lip and entwined her hands in her lap,
"okay, you know that I had a date with my OB-gyn this morning. A routine check,
so nothing special, but then it appeared that there was something special after
all," she again bit her lower lip, then took a deep breath and said, "I'm
pregnant, Angel. We're having a baby."

Silence.

Angel's eyes widened, he could all but stare at her, it almost seemed as if he
hadn't understood what she'd told him, if it hadn't been for the shock slowly
entering his eyes. She was about to reach out for his hand when he suddenly stood up and walked over to the window overlooking the garden, his hands stuffed deeply in his pockets.

She watched his back, his unmoving form for a while and then cautiously asked,
"Angel?" He still didn't react, so she stood up and went over to him, but stopped at a foot distance, not touching him. She cleared her throat, "I know this came like a shock to you, because you thought you couldn't have children and for this we never took precautions while making love, but Giles said that it's a slayer-vampire thing," she let out a short laugh, "funny if you consider that we are both human now, but not so average as it seemed. Slayer vaginal-fluid had revitalising qualities and ..."

She couldn't finish because the very moment he turned back to her and the words
stuck in her throat seeing his eyes. Besides the tears that were standing in them there was such tenderness, such joy and peace shining from them, she couldn't help her own eyes filling as well. Then he suddenly reached out, pulled her to him and held her so tight that she had problems to breathe properly. His voice was muffled in her hair, when he finally spoke, "God, Buffy. You can't possibly know what that means to me."

"Maybe not," she against his chest. "But I can feel it now," she joked

Immediately he loosened his embrace and concern was in his eyes, "Did I hurt
you?," he asked searching her eyes.

She reached out and touched his cheek, "No," she said with a smile.

He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly. Gazing deeply in
her eyes, he whispered, "This is like a dream coming true. I mean being with you
after all," his voice broke and he had to clear his throat to continue, "it's
almost unreal, but this ... a child ... with you. Yours and mine," he kissed her
again, not finding the words to express his feelings. The kiss was sweet, then
passionate, then sweet again and Buffy could smell the salt of the happy tears
they were sharing.

When they were finally out of breath they were smiling into each others eyes,
then embracing each other again. "I want to make love to you now," he whispered
in her ear, "I want to show you how much I love you, how much this means to me."

"I want that too," she replied and planted a kiss on his jaw.

With entwined hands they climbed up the stairs to their bedroom.


End Part 19.