"Yes she
will be a slayer but she's going to be prepared. I've been training her ever since she was 4. Now she trains two hours every day. She trains an hour in the morning before
school, with Heather and now Jordan, another half an hour with them after
school and half an hour with all the kids. Most of the kids know about vampires and demons since it's what their
parents do for a living. Isabel, Sam
and Ryan don't know but Sam is starting to get suspicious," Angel explained.
"I see you
guys have a lot to talk about, I think we'll collect our kids and get out of your
hair," Kate said getting up.
"You guys
don't have to go," Buffy said.
"No, we
should go, it's getting late," Wesley reiterated. "Is it alright if Heather
stays here tonight, since she has to be here early anyways?"
"Yeah, no
problem," Angel answered. "Kate, Jordan can stay too if you want."
The others
left the room to collect their sleeping kids.
"No I think
I'll take him home, but thanks," Kate answered. "I'll see you in a few hours."
"There must
be some kid out there racking up a lot of money with all the baby sitting you
must need," Buffy said to Kate.
"No, thank
god Dennis doesn't mind looking after him when I'm at work," Kate said
forgetting that Buffy didn't know who Dennis was.
"Is Dennis
your boyfriend?" Buffy inquired.
"No my
ghost," Kate clarified. "Well he used to be Cordy's ghost. When she and Wes got
married she moved into his place and I took her old place. Dennis makes a great baby sitter."
"Now I've
heard of everything," Buffy commented, "A ghost for a babysitter, who woulda thunk it."
"Yeah well,
I should go. Bye Angel, nice to meet
you Buffy." Kate walked out of the room and up the stairs.
"Ok back to
our conversation, I can understand why Lizzie trains so much but why Heather
and Jordan?" Buffy asked Angel curious as to why he was involving people that
didn't need to be involved.
"Both
Heather and Jordan want to join Angel Investigation when they are older," Angel
said as he stood. "Why don't we move into the rec room."
"Sounds
good to me. But finish answering my
question," Buffy said as she followed him into the other room.
"I train
them so they will be ready to patrol. I'm training all the kids with hand to hand and staffs, the ones who
know about vamps are also training in swords and stakes, and Lizzie and Heather
and soon Jordan are training in crossbows, daggers and eventually I'm going to
train them in battle axes," Angel explained.
"Talk about
over kill," Buffy commented sarcastically.
"I don't
think so," Angel countered. "I want
them prepared for whatever's out there. Even with my vampiric strength I have trouble defeating some of the
demons we come up against."
"I thought
you were human?" Buffy asked momentarily confused.
"I am but
the powers let me keep my strength and healing abilities so they didn't lose a
warrior. Just because the end of days
battle is over doesn't mean that there aren't still demons out there," Angel
explained.
"You don't
have to tell me, I just don't see why we have to teach kids to kill them."
Buffy said half-heartedly. She didn't
want children having to worry about demons but at the same time she knew it was
necessary.
"If we
don't teach the kids who will take over when we're gone," Angel said. " I mean
a good part of why you survived as long as you did was because of the
scoobies. If it hadn't been for Xander
you would have died at the hands of the Master."
"I did
die. Remember Kendra," Buffy said
pointedly.
"I meant
you would have stayed dead," Angel said gently.
"I
know. And I guess you're right if
Lizzie has a network of friends that fight with her she's more likely to live
longer as well," Buffy conceded.
"You see I
just don't want our daughter to die." Angel pointed out.
"I
know. But has she always known her
calling. I mean you did let her have
some childhood, didn't you?" Buffy asked hoping Lizzie's childhood wasn't like
Kendra's. 'Poor Kendra grew up with her
watcher, she never had a chance to be a kid,' Buffy thought to herself.
"Of
course. Until she was about 7 or 8 I
just told her that she was taking the martial arts courses to be able to defend
herself. When I told her about her
calling is when I started trainer on the side. Now she trains the two hours with me everyday and goes to the Dojo twice
a week for an hour. She spends an hour
each week training for her black belt and the other hour helping teach the
younger kids. She's also on the school
judo team. In between that stuff, art
club and soccer she barely has any spare time." Angel said, proud of his
daughter's accomplishments.
"Art club?
I take it she inherited that from you because she definitely didn't get it from
me. I play pictionary and people think
my goat is a duck," Buffy quipped.
"She's
actually pretty talented," Angel said getting up. He went to a desk and opened
a drawer. From the drawer he pulled a
sketchpad. "Here look at these," he said handing her the pad.
Buffy
opened the book and found numerous sketches of people, places around LA and
everyday things. She had seen Angel's
sketches before and these were almost as good, it was hard to believe that an
eleven year old had drawn them.
"Wow, if
she wasn't a slayer she could be the next Monet," Buffy commented.
"I don't
see why she can't be both. I do hope
she gets a real education first though. I want her to have something to fall back on." Angel said as he returned
the sketch pad to it's place in the drawer before retaking his seat beside
Buffy.
"You think
to far ahead. Plus you're forgetting
that she's a slayer, she could die before she even graduates high school,"
Buffy said with a sad look in her eyes.
"I know,
but I like to think all the training we're doing now will pay off and she'll
follow in her mother's foot steps," Angel said optimistically.
"I want our
daughter to live as much as you do Angel but look at Kendra, she trained for
her whole life and she died within a few months of arriving in sunny dale, less
than a year after she was called," Angel winced as Buffy mentioned the slayer
that was killed while Angelus had control of his body. Angel recovered and said,
"But Kendra
had no exposure to the outside world. I
think if we combine her training with a normal life she could easily be the
best slayer ever."
"I thought
I was the best slayer ever?" Buffy teased.
"you are
and always will be in my eyes." Angel said softly as he leaned closer to his beloved.
"What are
you trying to say Mr O'Connor?" Buffy
said leaning in as well.
"Only that
I love you more than life itself," Angel responded, his face now only inches
from her's.
"Care to
proof it?" Buffy prodded.
"I'd love
to." Angel said just before he caught
her lips in a passionate kiss.
The kiss
deepened, he pulled her onto his lap as she entangled her fingers in his gel
filled hair. After a while they pulled
away from the kiss breathless.
"What do
you say we go to bed, my love?" Angel breathed into Buffy's ear. Buffy's only response was to kiss him
again. The kiss was passionate and full
of longing. Angel took this to mean
that she agreed. He picked her up and
began to carry her upstairs, never taking his lips off hers. He stopped in front of his bedroom door and
opened it with one hand. He carried her
across the threshold and shut the door behind them. He laid her down on the bed and they proceeded to lose themselves
in each other in a way they hadn't been able to do since that fateful night
nearly 12 years before.
