Disclaimer:
see the prologue
Angel
sighed. This would be one of the
toughest phone calls he had ever made.
He slowly picked up the phone and dialled Giles' number.
RING, RING.
Buffy picked up the phone.
"Giles
residence, Buffy speaking." It was so good to hear her voice again that Angel
couldn't say anything for a few seconds.
"Hello, is
anybody there?" her voice came again.
Angel managed to find his voice to answer her.
"Buffy, it's
Angel. I need you to listen to what I'm about to tell
you and not say anything until I'm done. Ok?"
"Ok." Buffy
was shocked that he had called, she hadn't heard from him since her mother had
died, and he'd called to say that he couldn't make it to the funeral because of
a case, and confused as to why he wanted her to listen and not interrupt..
" Buffy I have
two very important things to tell you.
I'll start at the beginning.
When you got pregnant freshman year and put the baby up for adoption, it
didn't get adopted, I had Giles bring her to me. Don't get mad at him for lying to you, because he didn't. I talked to him about this and he never said
straight out that I had given my consent and he said that he had found a good
home for the baby not a good family.
That home was with me. Her name
is Elizabeth Rose but she goes by Lizzie.
She's 11 now and as you probably know today is her birthday. Since she grew up with me as her father she
knows about vampires and other demons.
The other important thing is that I'm human. I have been for almost 6 years.
I received my humanity as a gift from the powers that be after the end
of days battle. Lizzie was 5 at the
time. When it happened the first thing
I wanted to do was call you but then I remembered that Giles had said you were
engaged and happy. I called him
instead, I told him what happened and I gave him the choice of telling you or
not because I didn't want to ruin your happiness. And since you didn't show up I assumed either he didn't tell you
or you were mad at me. The reason I'm
calling now is because it turns out the Willow is Lizzie's new computer teacher
and when I found that out I invited her and Tara over for dinner. She told me about what happened with Chris
and why you're divorcing him. She told
me to call you and I agreed that now was a good time. I'm done now." Angel took
a deep breath and held it while he waited for her response. The line was silent for a few moments and
then she spoke.
"Wow," she
started, "that's a lot to take in at once.
I'm glad you called, and I'm not mad, not at you anyways, Giles,
however, is going to get a good tongue lashing when he gets home." She laughed
a bit. At the sound of her laughter he
let out the breath and relaxed.
' You don't
know how happy it makes me to hear you say that." Angel said relieved.
"I'd like
to meet her, our daughter." Buffy said, she sounded slightly choked up.
"Of
course," Angel agreed, "you can come see her whenever you want. She wants to meet you too."
"Is it ok
if I come tonight?" Buffy asked, "I don't want to miss another minute of her
life, or yours. I've already lost 11
years of her life and 6 years of you being human."
"I can't
think of a better birthday present for her." Angel said. "And you know I have
always loved you, I would love it if you would come and stay with us, at least
for a while."
"How about
forever?" Buffy asked, already knowing the answer. "I can pack up my stuff and
the kids stuff and be there in two and a half hours."
"Forever is
more than I could ever hope for." Angel said, now he was the one who sounded
choked up. "I take it the extra half hour is to pack."
"Partly. We're basically still living out of
suitcases so packing should only take about 15 minutes. That leaves 10 minutes to yell at Giles, he
just walk in the door, and 5 minutes to get the kids dressed and out the door."
"What are
you going to tell your children, if they ask where they are going?" Angel
wanted to make sure he covered all the bases.
"If it's
alright with you I'd like to tell them they we are going to live with their new
Daddy." Buffy held her breath waiting for Angel's response; she didn't have to
wait long.
"Of course
you can say that," Angel said with a smile in his voice, "I'd be honoured to be
their new father. I suppose as their
new father I should know their names." He had just realized that she hadn't
told him her kids' names.
"Oh, I
can't believe I forgot to tell you." Buffy said, amazed that she had forgotten,
"Jennifer Katherine is 5, she goes by Jenny and David Liam is 3, her goes by
Davey."
"You..you..I
wha?" Angel stammered.
"Yes, Jenny
is after miss Calandar, Katherine is after your sister and Liam is after
you. Even when I was with Chris, you
were never far from my mind."
"Willow
told me that Chris didn't know about the slaying so I assume that the kids
don't either?" Angel asked, He knew that if they came to live here they may not
be able to keep it a secret long. The
only reason Isabel hadn't figured it out yet is because she was the quiet type
who wasn't really curious or sceptical about what her parents did and the other
kids were to young although Sam was getting suspicious.
"Actually,
Jenny knows," Buffy said, "but only because she was kidnapped by some vamps
about a year ago. They only had her for
one night so it was easy enough to cover up from Chris. I just told him that she was staying at a
friend's house. I swear that man is so
naïve he would believe any story I fed to him.
Well I guess the sooner I get off the phone the sooner I can be
there. We can talk more when I get
there."
"Just a
minute Buffy," Angel said before she could hang up, "We're having spaghetti for
supper do you want the adults to wait for you?
We're going to have to feed the younger kids but Lizzie and her best
friend Heather can wait 'til you get here."
"Yeah, that
would be great, who all is there?" Buffy asked wondering who was there.
"There's
Wesley and Cordy and their two girls Heather and Isabel and their son Ryan,
Gunn and his wife Theresa and their son CJ and daughter Samantha, Kate and her
son Jordan, me, Lizzie, Willow and Tara." Angel didn't mention that Faith was
ojsl one of his employees, she was out at dinner with a contact.
"Wow, what
a crowd. I better go pack up. I'll see you in 2 ½ hours."
"Bye Buffy,
I love you." It sounded so natural to say those words, it didn't seem like 11
had passed since he had said them to Buffy heself and not just to the picture
he kept beside his bed.
"I love you
too, bye Angel."
Angel hung
up the phone and headed back into the living room to tell the others the good
news.