And another chapter! Go Me! (Okay I admit it - the last one was just on the short side and I felt bad, particularly as I took so long to update! Then I got writing again and couldn't stop.)

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Angel stirred as something tickled his ear, as he wasn't used to things that tickled his ear when he slept it was enough to make him surface from sleep to realise that the something that tickled him was a lock of Buffy's hair. She was asleep in his arms!

Which was pretty obvious to someone of even the meanest of intelligence as that was where he had last seen her. Duh. He eased his arms away from where he held her tightly in an effort to sneak a look at his watch but was diverted by a grumpy growl from his brand new girlfriend. She was his girlfriend right?

"Not a morning person huh?" he whispered as he pressed a gentle kiss to her creased forehead.

She briefly screwed up her face further, looking impossibly cute as she did so before mustering a smile and burrowing her face back against his chest with an unintelligible but happy sounding mumble.

Angel let her snooze; thankful that she wasn't awake enough to feel how waking up with her in his arms had affected him, or rather a certain part of his anatomy. After schooling himself to think about less pleasant things and regaining control he gently shifted his body in an effort to wake her again. He was rewarded by one slightly bleary eye popping open.

"It's nearly two in the morning Buffy."

The eye half closed, "Mmmpff."

"The rain's stopped and the party could be winding down pretty soon."

"Oh."

"It's getting a little bit cold out here and there aren't actually any blankets or anything."

Buffy shunted herself upright, "Ugh, okay but as soon as we get back to the house you get into my bed in exactly that position so I can keep on sleeping that well."

Angel smiled at her happily, "I aim to please." It might not be a traditional invitation into a woman's bed but it was one that he was very pleased to accept.

"Okay then."

After lighting a fresh lantern apiece and shutting the temple doors they retraced their steps through the maze, by the time the reached the exit in the outer hedge both were shivering miserably despite Angel loaning Buffy his coat and trying to rush them along.

"I'm glad you woke me up now," commented Buffy as she snuggled deeper into the Angel scented confines of his jacket. "This weather is so miserable, I wonder if I dreamt the warm sunshine this morning and nice as the temple is I really don't fancy it in sub-zero temperatures."

Angel chuckled at her exaggeration, "Yeah, but at least it's just cold now instead of wet too."

Buffy playfully whacked Angel on the arm as he swept her into his arms to carry her over the lawn and back to the pathway that only ran three quarters of the way up the garden. "Now you just went and jinxed the whole thing, it'll rain again now."

As if in response to her words there was an answering rumble of thunder.

Buffy squeaked in dismay as rain gently began spattering down again a minute later, "I was just kidding!"

By the time Angel had set her back on her feet as he reached the stone path the rain was back to pounding down. Buffy hitched up her skirts and broke into a sprint, she was probably going to look wretched and drowned rat-like by the time she gained the safety of the house. Angel ran past her with a shout of "Follow me!" heading down a path she could barely see but he clearly hadn't forgotten in his years away.

At last the house was in sight and Angel veered away to the left instead of heading for the nearby side door or balcony steps. "Kitchen should be empty." He called over his shoulder. That made sense Buffy realized, they were still trying to hide after all.

At last they reached the protection of the kitchen doorway with its sheltering overhang. Angel cracked the door open and poked his head into the dimly lit room. The coast was clear and they quickly scurried in and down a corridor to the rear staircase. Hand in hand they ran lightly up it before peeping around the corner to see if anyone was about. To judge by the music and laughter still going on in the ballroom it was unlikely that they would run into someone but it was probably better safe than sorry. No matter how desperate Buffy was for the opportunity to comb her hair, check her make up and get out of the now sticky, sodden and very uncomfortable dress.

They reached Angel's bedroom doorway first and he leant down to kiss her briefly, "I'll just get out of these wet clothes and give you a minute to change too and then I can come to your room to sleep if you still want?"

"I still want." Buffy confirmed with a smile as he opened the door. She had only invited him to sleep, which he seemed to understand so he wouldn't come expecting more but if they felt like letting more happen that would be okay too and there would be no pressure. She almost giggled at the idea of what Spike would have to say about the sweet innocent Buffy Summers having such thoughts.

Then the sound of laughter filled the air, someone or rather several someones were about to come around the corner from the main staircase, which wasn't far away. As quick as a flash Buffy darted past Angel into his room and he quickly followed, slamming the door shut. They stood staring at each other stifling the urge to laugh nervously; they had so nearly been caught at the last hurdle! Buffy moved closer to the door and listened, much to her disgust the two or three people whoever they were seemed to be having a conversation right outside the door.

"They're right outside," she hissed at Angel, "How am I supposed to go and make myself decent if they're gonna stand outside and put the world to rights."

Angel leant nearer the door too, "Why couldn't they just go into their damn rooms," he mumbled before nearly jumping out of his skin when a knock at the door came.

Buffy squealed and bolted for the protection of his bathroom without another word, shutting the door sharply.

Angel hastily tore off his shirt that had been clinging damply and briskly towelled his wet hair with a semi-dry towel he had abandoned earlier as both would have been a dead giveaway. Then he marched over to the door and yanked it open, three of his youngest cousins stood outside, two were swaying drunkenly, the third merely looked embarrassed and flushed.

Angel glared from one to another, "What?"

"We come to congratulate you." Slurred one sticking out a hand to slap Angel's shoulder.

"Huh? Why?"

The other swaying one grinned, "You and the lovely Faith have been missing all night!"

"You're the man!" giggled the embarrassed looking one.

Angel could feel a faint blush starting to creep up his neck, "Hey, guys, I wasn't with Faith and what are you, like fifteen now, you shouldn't be drinking, not this much anyway."

"Sixteen actually," corrected the embarrassed one looking slightly ashamed.

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Ah, it's alright. Spike got the knockout Buffy and you snagged hotty Faith. They're both stunners, no-one could blame either of you for vanishing all night."

"We just hope you're being safe about it," chortled the drunkest of the trio as he lurched against the doorframe. "Give it to him Max."

The embarrassed Max dug into his pocket, slapped something into Angel's hand and grabbed the other two and began dragging them away as they hooted with laughter, looking back at Angel and giving him the thumbs up.

Angel shook his head, he hoped for their sakes they were on their way to bed not back to the party as they had clearly overindulged. He looked down at the box in his hand and blushed even more furiously than before. They had given him a triple pack box of condoms!

Hoping their hangovers were terrible because they had only increased his bad thoughts he shut the door and tossed the packet onto his desk nearby. "Buffy?" He called, "Okay they've gone now."

At which Buffy peeped back around the bathroom door, "I couldn't stand my wet dress a moment longer, can you throw me a dry shirt or robe I can wear as all your towels seem to be damp."

Angel gulped and hurried to do as she asked, damn the boys, his mind didn't seem to be able to stay off the topic of sex now, was she naked behind his bathroom door?

"Here you go," he told her as he offered her a long black silk shirt through the gap in the door. "I don't actually have a robe or I'd let you have it."

The shirt was accepted, "That's okay, this will work just as well."

Angel turned away and was rummaging in his untidy chest of drawers looking for a t-shirt and sweatpants to wear when the door clicked open again and Buffy stood in the doorway with her blonde hair combed sleekly round her face and her glamorous make up from earlier washed away. She looked beautiful and the shirt he had given her barely covered her sheerly stockinged legs, despite the fact that he had tried to select the longest, most opaque one in his wardrobe, mainly due to fearing what a shorter flimsy white one would have done to his hormones.

"Hey," she said with a smile as she headed towards his bed and sat down crossing her legs.

He promptly dropped the loose black t-shirt he had chosen. He bent and picked it up with shaking fingers, what was he thinking to be planning to spend an innocent night in her bed; she made him tremble at the very idea so how was he going to cope with the reality? It was the terrible trio's fault, making his mind wander further down a path it had already been straying onto.

"Who was it at the door?" Buffy asked.

He promptly dropped the sweatpants he had just chosen.

"Uh, Angel?" She said amusedly.

"Just some slightly drunk teenaged cousins of mine that's all."

"Oh, what did they want?"

Angel gulped and then found his sense of humor, "Oh to congratulate me on spending a long and glorious night with Faith, then they admonished me about safe sex and passed me a box of prophylactics!"

Buffy stared open mouthed before bursting into fits of giggles. "Oh no, now people don't just think I'm screwing Spike they think you're screwing Faith!"

"It's going to be a big mess that's for sure." Angel agreed, "It's going to look like a big scandalous wife swap."

"Apart from the we're not married part." Buffy put in.

"Well yeah."

Buffy groaned and flopped back on his bed, "I think the snowball just got bigger and faster! It's like something out of a slushy, trashy novel."

Angel absentmindedly pulled his t-shirt on as his brain kicked into gear. He sat down on the bed beside Buffy hardly noticing that her flop back onto the bed had exposed even more leg and some black stocking tops. He eased off his boots and pulled off his socks, tossing them in the general direction of his laundry basket, his hands had got as far as unbuckling his belt before he fully recalled Buffy's presence.

She was sitting up again looking at him curiously. "What you thinking?"

"A possible escape route."

"Really?" Buffy was shocked. She and Spike had been wracking their brains for weeks and hadn't had any very bright ideas.

"Well like you said it's just like something out of a romance novel."

"Yes."

"And what genre does my mom adore beyond any other kind of novel?"

"Romance."

"Exactly."

"Oh. Oh, now I get it. What could be better than one son paired off than two sons paired off?"

"That's what I figure, we might not even have to explain the whole truth of the matter. We can just claim to have had a bit of a re-shuffle in the dating pairs."

"But we can't claim to be engaged any more than Spike and Faith can."

"No but we can be dating seriously with the possibility of marriage someday being waved about."

"Plus you'll be moving back here which would probably compensate for not having a married son." Buffy added slyly. "You do realise we are even worse than Spike for plotting and fibbing now?"

Angel pulled a face, "it's not exactly fibbing though, it's just careful editing of the truth as it stands now, it's not telling more lies it's covering up and disposing of the ones already told."

"You should've been a lawyer." Buffy told him dryly. Before leaning over to give him a hug. "You are a genius though and I quite agree that unpicking the whole thing could be unnecessary. We should probably discuss things with Faith and Spike first though."

"Absolutely."

"Well, now we solved that and your cousins have relieved their dirty minds with a lecture on protection are you getting into those or and coming to my room or are you planning on staying there?"

"We could stay here?" suggested Angel, "You slipping out of my room dressed like that would look very dodgy if anyone saw you."

Buffy grinned and undid a few buttons on the shirt to give him an eye- popping view of cleavage and black lace, "And as lovely as this corset is I don't think I can sleep in it all night and as my panties and stockings are all attached to it they would have to come off too, so-."

Angel stood up swiftly holding the sweatpants casually over his lap, "I'll change, brush my teeth and be right there."

Buffy nodded and stayed where she was, "I'll wait for you."