The Love of An Angel Chapter Three By Disguised Diva

**AN: I sort of have a writers block as far as this story's concerned, so this won't be as good as the rest of the chapters were, but I'm trying since so many people are asking me too!**

**AN 2: I'm sorry it took sooo long, I've been working on other stories and IRL stuff, and well, here's chapter three. It's really long. I hope that makes up for it! :P**

Joyce watched from across the cafeteria as Buffy sat at one of the small drab tables, a Styrofoam mug in her hands, talking to the one guy she'd never wanted to see back in Buffy's life. And all her objections were gone now. She couldn't say Buffy didn't know what she wanted, or that she wasn't old enough, because she had a daughter, and she'd always known she wanted Angel. She couldn't say he was a vampire. He wasn't. she couldn't do anything, or say anything against it.

"Thank you," she heard her daughter say. "For understanding." Angel took her hand and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. You should be here for him," he responded gently.

"I just. he's always been there, you know? When no one else was on my side, there was Giles all ready to research. even when he didn't take me seriously, he was there," she ran a hand through her hair. "What if he isn't now?"

"He will be," Angel told her. "A mild heart attack isn't enough to kill Giles. And even if it were, he'll always be there. You'll always be his Slayer."

"Yeah, except Pike said that about Merrick, and. everything's so different. I can't lose Giles again!" Buffy looked up at Angel. "The last time, when he got fired, I thought he was going to go away and never come back, like Merrick did. I didn't think he'd stick around. And then Wesley came and I never got a minute alone with Giles, even when the conversation had nothing to do with demons, and I thought he was going to steal Giles away and I'd never get him back and now this. I can't take this anymore!"

Joyce walked out of hearing distance to sit with Dawn. The teenager was ecstatic that Angel had returned to Buffy's life, and a part of Joyce was too. She was finally ready to admit that he wasn't really so bad for her. In fact, conversations like that proved that he could be really good for her daughter, that Buffy opened up to the former vampire in a way she'd never opened up to anyone ever.

She loved Buffy. Buffy loved Angel. Maybe it was time for Joyce to just accept him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy looked through the glass at her mentor and step-father. She hadn't wanted to witness the surgery itself, but now as he slept, she couldn't help peaking in.

He looked weaker than Buffy had ever seen him, connected to the IV, and there was a bruise on the side of his face from when he'd fallen. Buffy let a small tear slide down her face watching him. He wasn't Super Giles anymore. There were no demonic history books around him, he wasn't wearing glasses. He wasn't scary Giles who played guitar in coffee houses. Hell, he wasn't even demon Giles that only Spike could understand. He was just a tiny little frame hooked up to some tubes in a hospital.

Small hands tugged at her jacket, and Buffy knelt to Emma's level. Willow had just brought her over. "Momma, I want to see Grampa Giles," the little girl whispered. She sounded scared and Buffy figured she probably was. Scared because no one would tell her the truth, or what was happening. So Buffy picked her up and held her so she could look in the window. "That's not Grampa Giles."

"Yes it is, sweetie. He's just really sick right now," Buffy told her daughter.

"Tell Gramma to give him some soup, like you always do," Emma ordered. "And I'll go give him chocolate like he gives me."

"No, Em. This is a different kind of sick. He needs to do what the doctor says, and we do too," Buffy smiled. "It'll be okay, though. He'll be okay."

Emma looked at her mother tearfully. "No he won't! He's in a hosibal! He's gonna go away forever, like Grampa Hank did last year and then I won't have any Grampa's to give me toys and candy!"

Buffy blinked at the mention of her father's death. Hank had been in his house when a servant lit the L.A. mansion on fire. He and his second wife had died, leaving Buffy, Dawn, and their half/step-siblings (Sarah, Crystal and Marcus) fatherless. Sarah and her husband had taken the other two in. Buffy had gotten the call that he was in the hospital and taken Emma down to see her grandfather. Joyce and Dawn had followed only to find Hank already dead.

"No, honey, what happened to my daddy was different. Grampa Giles will be okay," she promised, praying she was right. "He just needs a lot of rest."

"What if a monster comes?" Emma asked quietly.

"Then Mommy will just have to fight it on her own," Buffy answered, holding her daughter closer.

"Gramma! Gramma!" Emma wiggled away from Buffy and ran to her grandmother. "Make Grampa wake up, I wanna make him better."

"I'm sorry, Emma, but Grampa needs his sleep right now," Joyce said sadly. "I'm sure you'll be able to talk to him soon though."

"Why?" Emma looked at her grandmother, then her mother, and then back. "Why is Grampa sick?"

"Sometimes when people get old, their hearts start having troubles," Buffy answered, walking over to her. "Grampa's done a lot of good, but it did too much to his heart, and now he's gotta rest it for awhile."

"You did a lot of good too mommy. Is your heart gonna get hurt?" Emma looked at her fearfully.

"Not if I'm really careful," Buffy answered. "And I am."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The first thing Giles heard was a steady beeping noise when he woke. Then slowly, he came to realize he was hospitalized. Joyce sat by his bed, and Buffy held a sleeping Emma beside her. "Hi," he whispered to his wife and step daughter.

"Hi," Joyce whispered back. "You scared us there."

"I remember falling," Giles looked away. "Is that how this happened?" Joyce nodded.

"You had a mild heart attack," she answered. "They said you should be okay."

"Well, that's good, I suppose," Giles smiled weakly. "That I'll be good."

"Giles you need to be careful," Buffy looked seriously at him. "You've been overdoing it."

"That's impossible," he retorted. "I'm unemployed."

"Yeah, but you still manage to work too much," Buffy smiled. "Giles I'm serious. You really scared me. if you. just promise me, okay?"

"I promise you I will be more careful," Giles noticed how red her eyes were, as if she hadn't slept in days. "How long have I been here?"

"All weekend," Joyce said. Emma rubbed her eyes.

"You waked up!!" the girl cried. "Bad Grampa. You ruined Mommy and her Angel's weekend!!"

"I'm sorry," Giles smiled at her. "I didn't mean to."

Buffy laughed a little, then looked at the clock. "Whoops, you, Missy, need to get home," she said, tickling her little girl. Picking her up, she looked at Giles for a minute. "I'll go see if Will's still here."

"It looks like you could use some rest too," Giles looked at her. "Besides, don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I can miss it," Buffy smiled at him. "Will can get me the notes."

"No fair! If Mommy misses school, I do too," Emma said. "I dun wanna go to preschool. I wanna stay with Mommy."

"Buffy, go," Giles ordered. "I'll be fine."

"I'll walk you out," Joyce offered, standing with them. She bent to kiss Giles quickly, then lead her daughter and granddaughter out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Mom, I can't go to school worried about him," Buffy said quietly. Joyce nodded.

"I don't expect you too. Take a day off, you deserve it. I'll take Emma after school, you and Angel could use some time together," Joyce smiled. Buffy gaped at her.

"Who are you and what have you done with my mother?" Buffy smiled.

"I know I haven't always been. supportive of your relationship with him," Buffy snorted. "But Buffy, even I can see how bright your eyes have been these last few weeks."

Buffy smiled and hugged her mom. "Thanks, Mom. That really means a lot to me."

"I'm glad," Joyce smiled back. "Now go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Emma had fallen fast asleep by the time Angel pulled the convertible into Buffy's drive way. Buffy looked over at him from the other bucket seat. "Thanks," she whispered. Angel smiled.

"My pleasure," he answered. She took his hand and they just stared at each other for a few moments, in awe of how everything could change, and yet you find out that nothing at all had. Angel leaned over, and their lips met gently.

"Do you. would you like to come in?" Buffy asked shyly. Angel looked back at Emma for a minute. "She'll be asleep," Buffy pointed out. "And anyway, she likes you."

He smiled, thinking about how warmly Emma had accepted him. "Okay," he agreed, undoing his seatbelt. Buffy helped her daughter out of the car, and carried her up to the door. Willow and Oz's van was parked next to theirs.

"They must have come back while I was with Giles," Buffy mused, looking over. She let them in the house quietly, and told Angel to sit anywhere, while she put Emma to bed.

The home was perfect for her, more so than her mom's home had been. There were big bay windows that would make the scattered lights pointless during the day, and let the starlight in at night. The floor was made of engraved wood, with beautiful patterns, and there was a very large red rug in the center. The walls were dark blue. Facing the windows, on either side of the door to the hallway, were beautiful red sofas and matching loveseats. End tables between them held blue china vases containing white flowers. On the other side of the room, by the outer door, were a piano, a chess table and 2 chairs, and a stereo.

On the other side was an easel, on which rested a not quite finished portrait of Emma, in the sunlight, with sunlight hitting her blond head, her green eyes sparkling from the smile on her little face. Buffy had painted it, the style matched the style he'd seen in her old watercolor book for her high school art class. The love pouring out of the picture was amazing. "Wow," he whispered.

"You like it?" her familiar voice said.

"It's amazing," he answered, turning to look at her. She blushed at him.

"I'm working on it for this art course I'm taking. I'm minoring in art history so I can maybe take control of my mom's gallery when she retires," Buffy told him. "I just think it should be kept in the family."

Angel smiled. "I think that's a great idea," he encouraged. "You always have had great taste."

Buffy blushed even more. "Yeah, well, you taught me," she laughed a little uneasily. "She's sleeping."

"She's a sweet girl," he followed her into the dining room where there was a small bar by a fire place. She poured herself a glass of red wine, then offered him one.

"She is," Buffy agreed, leaning against the bar. "Light of my life."

"I can see why," Angel looked at her, trying to look anywhere but her lips. They looked so warm, so inviting, like a treasure he was only recently allowed to indulge in. Even now, now that they were together again, and every thing felt. right, he and Buffy rarely kissed. The past two weeks had rushed by, with him coming down to Sunnydale or her going up to L.A. or phone calls. But little physical contact.

And while he was thinking about all that, she'd moved closer, pressing those warm, inviting lips to his and he could only think one thing as she pulled him closer, letting their tongues duel playfully.

He was home.