While all
that was going on in LA Buffy had managed to get herself and her kids packed
and into the car. Jenny was still
asking questions about Angel.
"Do you
still love Daddy Angel?" Jenny had started calling him Daddy Angel as soon as
Buffy had told her his name.
"Yes I do
baby, I never stopped."
"Then why
did you marry Daddy?"
"Because it
was dangerous for Angel and me to be together. That's changed now. Actually it's been changed from since before
you were born but I didn't know because Grandpa Giles didn't tell me."
"If you
haven't seen him in so long how can I have a sister?"
"A long
time ago the thing that made it dangerous for us to be together went away for a
day. A little while later I had your
sister. I knew that Angel was her
father. I wanted to put the little girl
up for adoption and told Grandpa Giles to get Angel's permission. I thought he did, and I thought that she
went to a nice family, someone I didn't know. I never even saw her. It turns
out that Grandpa Giles took your sister to her father. Angel's been raising her ever since. Today your sister, Lizzie, turns11."
"Why'd he
call today?"
"It turns
out that your Aunty Willow is Lizzie'teacher. She told Angel that you Dad and I were apart and convinced him to
call. Now what do you think we should
get your sister for her birthday? I
think we should get her two things, one from you and Davey and one from me."
"I want to
get her a stuffed animal." Jenny decided.
"Me too."
Piped up Davey from the back seat. He
had been listening to the conversation between his mother and sister.
"Ok, a
stuffed animal from you two and I think I'll get her a gift certificate for
music since we don't know what she likes."
Buffy
turned the car into the parking lot of the Sunnydale mall and quickly got her
kids out. The first stop they made was
at the music store for a gift certificate and then they went to the toy store
to pick out a stuffed animal. The kids
decided on a stuffed pig that, coincidently, looked a lot like Mr Gordo. The
entire shopping trip took less than ten minutes then they got back on the road.
Back in LA
The kids
had finished their spaghetti and devoured half the cake. Lizzie had opened her presents and now it
was time to get down to work. Angel divided up the tasks.
"Gunn, go
to the hardware store and get the letters for the names Buffy, David and
Jennifer, and get an and sign. After
you get back add the Buffy to my door, change client 1 to David, that's the one that joins with mine, and
client 2 to Jennifer. Cordy make room
in my room for Buffy's stuff and maybe make it a little more Buffy
friendly. Wes, get the two rooms at the
end of the hall ready to be turned into client rooms to replace the ones we're
using. Teresa, Kate, Willow and Tara get the kids rooms ready. Ryan, Sam and
Izzy you guys clean up the rec room and make some room in the toy box for Jenny
and Davey's toys. The rest of you kids
have to train for half an hour and then after your showers you can help whoever
needs helping."
The group
split up to perform their assigned tasks. As the others were leaving Jordan
approached Angel. "Uncle Angel, I'd like to join the special training to join
AI when I'm older."
"Have you
talked to your Mom about this?" Angel asked.
"Yes he
has," Kate said coming up behind her son, "and I said it was ok."
"Ok Jordan,
Lizzie and Heather have already done their special training for today but you
can join us bright and early tomorrow morning at 6:30."
Jordan
gulped, "Six thirty? That's early."
"If we
practiced any later you kids wouldn't get to school on time. If you want to be a member of the team
you'll have to play by the rules. Now
go get changed for training."
Jordan ran
to his room to get changed. Angel went
to get changed himself.
2 hours
later
Everyone
was finished their assigned tasks. There were two rooms upstairs ready for children to move into, Angel's
room was 'Buffy friendly', the rec room was clean and, Buffy and the kids had
their names on their respective doors just like everyone else and there were
two new client rooms. Everybody, except
Lizzie, was sitting in the rec room talking about the good old days back in
Sunnydale, well Angel, Willow, Wesley, and Cordy were talking and everybody
else was listening. Lizzie was sitting
by the front window of the hotel holding the picture of her mother off her
bedside table. She was staring out the
window watching for her mother's car. Willow had told her it was a blood red suburban with a thin silver
stripe down the side. Just as Lizzie
saw the car coming down the street Angel stood up in the other room and said
simply, "She's here." He left the
others and walked briskly toward the front of the hotel.
"Huh? How
can he know that she's here, he doesn't have vampire hearing anymore?" Gunn
asked no one in particular.
"Well you
know how spiderman has spidey sense, Angel has Buffy sense and Buffy has Angel
sense. They can always tell when the
other one is around even if they don't see them." Willow explained.
Angel
entered the lobby just in time to see Lizzie running out the front doors.
Buffy
pulled up in front the Hyperion, just as she stepped out of the car a young
girl ran to her. The girl latched her
arms around Buffy and said, "Mommy," in a small voice. Buffy hesitantly put her arms around the
girl and said, "Hi Lizzie."
"Lizzie do
you think you could detach yourself from your mother long enough for us to say
hello." Angel said coming up behind his daughter.
"oh, sorry
Dad." Lizzie let go of Buffy.
"Angel,"
Buffy breathed
"Buffy," he
replied. He could say her name like
nobody else could. The one word carried
a thousand emotions and meanings.
They stared
deep into each other's eyes seeing only the love they had for each other and
the longing intensified by 11 years apart. They moved toward each other, Angel grabbed Buffy by the waist and
pulled her close to him. He kissed her,
softly at first but then deepening the kiss with the longing of 11 years. She lifted her hands, entangling them in his
hair and pulling him closed to deepen the kiss even further.
Lizzie,
somewhat embarrassed at witnessing the scene, turned her attention to the
little girl who had gotten out of the car after Buffy.
"Hi, you
must be Jenny," she said crouching down so she was at eye level with the five
year old. "I'm your sister, Lizzie."
Lizzie
glanced at her parents who were still engaged in the passionate kiss. "What do
you say we leave these two love birds alone and go inside?"
"Ok," the
girl responds, giving her mother and Angel a disgusted look.
"What about
your brother?" Lizzie asked, motioning to the small boy sleeping in the car
seat in the back of the car.
"Oh, he can
sleep through aaaanything." Jenny exaggerated.
"Ok, come
on." Lizzie said standing up and taking Jenny's hand in her own.
She led the
small girl through the front doors of the hotel. And towards the rec room
located on the other side of the lobby.
"Wow, you
live in a hotel?" Jenny asked in awe.
"Yeah. I know it looks really big but you'll get
used to it. Let me introduce you to
everyone." Lizzie said to the small
girl as they entered the rec room. "Everybody this is Jenny. Jenny these are the people that work with my
Dad. That's Wesley and Cordy and their
daughter Heather, she my best friend. That's Gunn and his wife Theresa, that's Kate and I think you already
know Willow and Tara. Faith works here
too but she's out right now."
"Hi," Jenny
said shyly and waved.
"Hehmm,"
Wesley cleared his throat loudly, "If you don't mind me asking, where ARE Angel
and Buffy."
"They're
still outside getting reacquainted or rather their lips are getting
reacquainted." Lizzie quipped.
"Oh, I, uh,
see." Wesley responded slightly
embarrassed by the response to his question.
Angel and
Buffy entered the rec room, he had one arm around her waist and the other one
was carrying a small boy.
"Look who I
found outside." Angel said, a goofy grin plastered on his face and his eyes
shining with love.
"Hi Buffy."
Cordy said getting up to give the former slayer a hug.
"Hi Cordy."
"It's good
to see you again, Buffy," Wesley said giving her a friendly smile.
"You too,
Wesley." She turned to Willow and Tara, "Wil, I don't know how I could ever
thank you enough. If it wasn't for you I might never have found out that Angel was
human."
"Your
welcome Buffy," Wil got up and enveloped her friend in a bear hug. "Least I
could do after you saved my hide so many times."
"Uncle
Liam," Heather piped up, "Can we eat now? I'm really hungry."
"Yeah we
can eat as soon as Jenny and Davey get to bed." Angel answered, "Lizzie why
don't you show Buffy where Jenny and Davey's rooms are." He passed Davey to
Buffy so he could get to food ready.
"Sure Dad."
Lizzie said leading her mother and Jenny out of the room. Jenny looked tired so Lizzie picked her up
and carried her up the stairs. When
they got to the top of the stairs Lizzie pointed out the rooms.
"This is
Jenny's room, right at the top of the stairs. The next one is Davey's room and it has a connecting door into you and
Dad's room. On the other side of your room is my room, it has a connecting door
to but we don't use it anymore. Next to mine is Heather's and then her sister
Izabel who's connects to Aunt Cordy's and Uncle Wes's room. On the other side of their room is Ryan's
room. On the other side of the hall is
Sam's room and then Gunn's and Theresa's, then CJ's. Next to CJ is Jordan, they're best friends just like me and
Heather. Then's it's Jordan's mom
Kate. And right at the end of the hall
is Faith's room."
"Just a
minute, Faith works for Angel. Faith as
in renegade slayer that went to jail Faith?" Buffy asked shocked. Buffy quickly glanced at her younger
daughter who luckily hadn't heard the question because she had fallen asleep in
her sister's arms.
"Yep. She's really changed. She got out on parole last year and has been
working here ever since. She wasn't
down stairs because she had a dinner with an informant that she couldn't get
out of, she should be back soon though."
"So does
everybody live here?" Buffy asked. It was
a reasonable question considering they each had their own room.
"No, just
me, Dad and Faith and now you, Jenny and Davey. The other's just have rooms for when they have to work the night
shift or if the kids have to stay here while their parents go out on a case."
"We'd
better get these two to bed." Buffy said in a low voice. "You take Jenny into
her room. She's already in her pj's so
just take her shoes off and slip her under the covers. If she wakes up tell her I'll be in in a
minute to say goodnight."
Lizzie nodded as she slowly opened the door
to Jenny's room with her free hand. She
took her sister's shoes off and tucked her into bed. Her movements were slow and smooth so she didn't wake the
sleeping child. She had a lot of
practice putting sleeping children to bed because both Sam and Izzy had a habit
of falling asleep on the couch downstairs. She kissed her sister lightly on the forehead and quietly slipped out of
the room. She joined up with Buffy in
the hall way and they headed down stairs. Just as they were about to enter the rec room to join the others they
heard the front door open. Lizzie
automatically turned around to see if it was a client. She sighed with relief
to discover that it was just Faith returning from her dinner; she didn't want
her Dad's special night to be ruined by an emergency case. Buffy had turned around too. A look of surprised crossed Faith's face.
"B? What
are you doing here?"
"Lets just say
fate finally decided to give me a break and let me know about Angel being
human."
"Huh? What
d'ya mean?"
"Turns out
my new computer teacher is Willow. She
told Dad that Mom was divorcing her husband because she was still in love with Dad. Willow convinced him to call Mom and here
she is." Lizzie explained. "It's the best birthday present ever."
"Buffy,
Lizzie what's taking you guys so long? The spaghetti's getting cold." Cordy
called out from the dining room.
"Coming."
Lizzie called back. "Come on you two can play catch up while we eat." She
dragged her mother into the dining room so they could chow down.
