Chapter 26: The Confession

Title: Reunion time.

Author: Nikka

Author notes: Hi everyone, If you need to know about summary, rate and all the rest it's all in chapter 1 I'll just remind you that English is not my native tongue so you may find some spelling & grammar mistakes, you're more then welcome to let me know about them but remember you may find them while you read the story. Have fun.

Disclaimer: Angel & Buffy's characters are not my creation (wish they were) they belong to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Other characters that are not familiar from the show do belong to me.

Author's remark: My chapters as of ch 12 will no longer be reproof by Sigma due to the fact that I have no internet and I'm asking someone else to post the remaining chapters for me. I want to take this opportunity and thank sigma for all the help. And I hope you will continue reading my story even without the excellent work sigma has done. Thank you again sigma for all your great work.

She quietly got in, hoping no one was awake. She really wasn't in the mode for talking right now. She walked up the stairs and went to check on Dawn, She was sleeping like a baby. She hoped Cordelia didn't tell her about what was going on. She wanted her sister to worry about boys and what to wear to the dance, and not about the next evil that will unleash his wrath on the earth. She closed the door and walked to her room, avoiding going near the bedroom. She got inside and closed the door behind her. She remembered when her mom was around; it was easier then, keeping Dawn away from all the scary things in Sunnydale. But now when there's only the two of them she had no one to be the barrier, there is not one person/ ex demon/ vampire who isn't part of the bizarro world that is Sunnydale.

For some reason she couldn't get Spike's behavior out of her head. He didn't act like normal Spike, he actually cared, and he was hurting. For the first time she felt sad for him. She couldn't help but think how ironic the situation is; a vampire slayer feels for a vampire, a real one without a soul. She changed her cloths and got into bed. She had a busy day and an even busier day tomorrow. She decided it was time to call it for the night regardless of the fact that it was 04:00 pm. She closed her eyes and tried to think happy thoughts hoping to god she wouldn't wake up all sweaty and scared from another nightmare.

"Good morning". He said in a joyful tone She barely opened her eyes. She was so sleepy. "Come on sleeping beauty, it's time to wake up." Still she didn't budge. "It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining…"

"How would you know?" she said and turned to the other side covering herself with the blanket.

"Cor come on." He shook her.

"Okay, okay I'm up." She said as she opened her eyes. He looked at her smiling like a kid in a candy store. "What's with the 'happy smile'?" She asked.

"What?! Can't a man feel good for no reason?" He asked smiling.

"A man could." She said and got out of bed. "But you? Never." She put on her rob.

"I'm just feeling good this morning. I have a good feeling about today." He said all excited.

"That's great we'll need this positive energy for today." She walked over to the crib to check on Conor. He was lying there with his pacifier looking peaceful.

"Why today?" Angel asked confused.

"You know, the spell." She reminded him.

"Oh." His expression changed. He wasn't smiling any more. She noticed that.

"Angel it will be all right. I promise." She tried to reassure him as she walked to the door. "I hope the bathroom is free I could really use a shower." She remarked.

"Cor?" He called her and she turned. "Don't make promises you can't keep." He looked sad and worried all at once.

"I never do, Angel." She said smiling and walked out closing the door behind her.

He wanted to believe her. God how he wanted too, But he couldn't. He had a bad feeling about this spell from the get go. Oddly enough when the spell involved Buffy's blood, he was concerned of course, but not as much as he's concerned right now about Cordy. Maybe it's because he knew Buffy could handle it and he's not Sure Cordy could. True she is part demon, he thought to himself. But she's no slayer and that's what scared him.

"Good morning." Dawn greeted Cordelia and Angel as they entered the kitchen with Conor in Angel's arms.

"Hi Dawnie." Cordelia greeted her back stroking her hair. "Aren't you going to school today?" Cordelia asked looking at the clock, it was 10 minutes to 09:00.

"Yeah I am. I'm waiting for Xander." Dawn explained.

"Does he drive you to school every day?" Angel got into the conversation as he gave Conor his bottle and set on one of the stools. Dawn couldn't stop staring. She had never in a thousand years dreamed of seeing Angel like this. "Dawn, are you okay?" Angel asked again when she didn't answer back.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah I'm fine. What did you ask?" She asked confused.

"Does Xander drive you to school every day?"

"Pretty much." Xander who just walked in answered.

"Xander you're late. I'm late." Dawn said nervously.

"I know I'm sorry. I'll ask Buffy to write you a note. I had a busy morning." He apologized.

"Troubles with the little lady?" Cordelia teased him.

"If only you knew." He answered back. "Buff, just the person I was looking for." Xander said to Buffy as she came into the crowded kitchen.

"What are you doing here it's almost 09:00?" Buffy looked at Dawn.

"Don't look at me. He was late." Dawn said pointing at Xander. Now Buffy turned an angry look at him.

"Sorry Buff, had some things to do this morning." Buffy sighed. "Look can you write Dawn a note. I don't want her to get in trouble for my mishap." Xander smiled at Dawn letting her know it was all good.

"Sure. But you better leave." She took a paper and a pen from the drawer and wrote something on it real quick. "Here." She handed the paper to Dawn. "Now go, it's late." Dawn grabbed her bag and they left.

Now when there was only the three of them in the kitchen she noticed Angel, and had the same expression as Dawn. She too couldn't stop staring.

Angel noticed that. "What's with all the staring?" He asked Buffy.

"Ha, what?" Buffy phased out of her daydream.

"The staring. First you're sister now you. What? Does it run in the family?" He teased her.

"I'm sorry Angel but I've never ever seen you like this and what can I say… I'm speechless." She laughed.

"Fine laugh, I don't care I'm a devoted father." He pouted.

"Oh honey." Cordelia comforted him. "She's not laughing at you she's laughing with you."

"No, actually laughing at him." Buffy giggled from behind the refrigerator door.

"Don't mind her, I think you're a wonderful father." She came close to him and landed a kiss on his lips just as Willow came in.

"Ohhhh." She said surprised. Cordelia & Angel stopped kissing and looked at the shocked Willow.

"Hi Willow." Cordelia greeted her like nothing happened.

"God… I mean good morning, I guess." She looked at Buffy for an answer. Buffy Just hinted her that they'll talk about it later.

"What's up?" Cordelia asked while purring herself a cup of coffee.

"I talked to Giles and Wesley and they say they made real progress, so I'm heading to the shop now to meet them so we can arrange everything for later." Willow explained.

"Where's Tara?" Buffy asked when she noticed Willow was solo.

"It really didn't make much sense for both of us to miss class. She'll join us later."

"Okay." Buffy had nowhere to be but she really wanted to leave the house. She knew she was okay with the Cordelia, Angel thing but it was still too wired for her to see them like this. Besides she knew how curious Willow was to know what's up. "Will, I think I'll join you."

"Sure, let's go." Willow said anxiously.

"You guys are okay? Do you need anything?" Buffy asked before heading out.

"Nop. Where fine." Cordelia said with a smile.

"We'll meet you later at the shop." Angel added.

"Have a nice day." Willow said as they left the house.

Cordelia smiled. "Do you have a vague felling like we made them feel uncomfortable?" Cordelia asked knowing the answer.

"You too ha." Angel smiled back. He felt it too.

"I thought Buffy was okay with the 'us thing'?" She said to Angel.

"She is." Angel said.

"Then why was she acting all wired around us?"

"I guess it's wired for her to see us like this. We did drop a bomb in her lap." Angel tried to explain Buffy's behavior.

"So what? I think her and Spike is a bigger bomb then us." Apparently Angel told Cordy about last night.

"Cor, you promised not to say anything." He reminded her.

"And I won't. I just don't get it."

"Get what?" Angel asked confused.

"Where she gets off judging us when she's all smooching with bad boy."

"Forget about it." Angel got up holding Conor in his arms. "What do you want to do today?" He asked.

"We have the spell thing, remember?" Cordelia drank her coffee.

"I remember." Angel hated been reminded of that damn spell. "But still we have a few hours." He smiled.

"Yes, filled with sunshine." Cordelia said sarcastically.

"Ho, right. I forgot." Angel looked disappointed.

"But you know what?" Cordelia tried to cheer him up.

"What?" Angel said in a moping tone.

"We can ask Lorne nicely to take care of Conor for a few hours and we can spent them together. Alone." She smiled.

"I like that idea." Angel was happy again.

"I thought you would." She smiled.

"So tell me already?" Willow said anxiously as they walked out of the house.

"Tell you what?" Buffy was toying with her.

"Come on. Spill." Willow demanded.

"There's not much to tell." Willow rolled her eyes she obviously didn't believe Buffy.

"Okay. I tortured you enough." Buffy said smiling. She loved hanging out with Willow like nothing ever happened. "All I know is they're together and they love each other." Buffy summed it up.

"That's it? That's the scoop?" Willow was surprised, she was expecting more.

"He didn't tell me much." Buffy explained.

"Is it for real? Does he love her?" Willow asked.

"Yeah it is and he does. I hate to say it but I think even more then her ever loved me." Buffy felt so proud of herself for been able to say it out loud.

"Buffy are you okay?" Willow asked concerned.

Their conversation was interrupted by car driving beside them honking. It was Xander.

"Hi Xander, what are you doing here? Aren't you working today?" Buffy asked.

"I decided it was a waste just to show up for a couple of hours so I took the day off." He explained.

"Can you do that?" Willow inquired.

"It's great to be in charge." He smiled. "Get in I'll give you a lift." He offered.

"Actually we were in the middle of a very interesting conversation." Buffy said smiling.

"Oh really? About what?" He asked intrigued.

"Should we tell him?" She asked Willow.

"Come on you guys…" He moaned.

"Fine but it's not a five minutes talk. Maybe we can go somewhere else." Buffy offered.

"Sure we can go to the park." Xander said.

"Cool, let's go." Buffy climbed in Willow followed her.

All through the drive Willow was so quite, while Buffy filled Xander in on the Angel & Cordelia thing. When he heard he nearly drove off the road. He was shocked and a bit mad. After all he never did like Angel and Cordelia used to be his Girlfriend. Only after Buffy remained him he was engaged to Anya that he calmed down.

"Besides Xander, if I'm okay with this you ought to be." She smiled.

They got to the park and got of the car. They started walking when Buffy noticed Willow was very quite.

"Willow, are you okay?" Buffy asked concurred.

"What?" Willow was daydreaming.

"Will? What gives?" Xander noticed her space out too.

"Buffy do you remember what I asked you before?" Willow asked all of the sudden.

"When before?" Buffy tried to remember.

"Before when I asked you if you were okay?"

"I guess so why?" Buffy didn't quite follow her.

"Are you? Okay that is."

"Yeah, I had time to deal with it." Buffy brushed it off. "Did you know that I knew about them before they did?" Buffy smiled.

"Really?" Xander was interested to hear this.

"Will?" Buffy called her when she didn't answer back.

"I didn't mean just the Angel thing, I meant the whole enchilada, everything that happened it the past two days. We didn't even get a chance to talk about it. To explain." Willow knew she had to do this now or they'll never get the chance.

"Will, maybe now isn't the time." Xander said not sure if this is the right time.

"It's okay Xander." Buffy assured him. "Willow I'm fine. I'm here, I'm alive…"

"And as I recall that was the problem to begin with." Willow cut her off.

"Will!" Xander snapped at her. He didn't like the direction this conversation was heading for

"What's done is done." Buffy said calmly.

"Stop talking to me like a motivation speaker with all your slogans. I want the truth, the uncensored version." Willow snaped at her. This time Xander didn't say anything. He too thought it was about time they have this talk.

"Okay, you want the truth." Willow nodded her head. "Here goes." She said and took a big breath. "I was happy. I fulfilled my duty; I did what I was supposed to do. I knew you were all fine. I wasn't worried; I knew someone would replace me. I felt no fear, no hate, and no pain. Just peace, contentment." She looked at Willow and Xander, they both seemed so sad. "And then it was gone, taken away in a heart beat." Willow lowered her head she couldn't look at Buffy, Xander stayed firm. Buffy kept on. "At first I didn't understand why I was back. I thought it was my punishment." She laughed a bitter laugh. "When I realized you brought me back, it throw me. I didn't know what to feel. On one hand I hated you for doing this." Willow raised her head and looked at Buffy. "On the other I loved you for loving me so much that you couldn't let go." Buffy took willow's hand. "Will, you couldn't have known, how could you I didn't even know. You thought I was in some kind of hell dimension; you thought you were rescuing me. You both did." She looked at Xander and took his hand also. And for that… I love you." Willow started to cry softly. "No don't cry." Buffy hugged her. "It will be all right, now that we're together. Now that the truth is out." Xander joined in on the hug. "We have a long way to go." She pulled back but still held their hands." We have so much to learn. We can do this; we can go through this together. The sorrow isn't gone, maybe it never will be. But it's easier to bear. The load doesn't seem so heavy when I have you guys to count on. I love you way too much to ever hate you." They all hugged.

They stayed in the park a bit longer. Walking talking, figuring things out. Nothing much changed except the fact that they had each other. She wasn't alone anymore she had her friends. For the first time in a long while she felt happy, she felt good. She wished they could stay here forever, but time moved on and they had a spell to go to. So eventually they headed back to the car. They had less then an hour and a lot to do.

"I bet you Giles is climbing the walls right about now." Buffy laughed.

"Oh Giles. I forgot I was suppose to help me." Willow looked anxious as they drove off to the shop.

TBC.