Thank you, from the bottom of my little Buffy obsessed heart, for all the reviews!

I am glad you guys are liking my Buffy/Ben bonding. I always thought Buffy should have been Connor's father. FYI-Ben doesn't live at W&H w/ Angel...he goes to UCLA so he stays there.

A/N: I decided that Angel saved Gunn! I'll fix the chapter where Wes says that he and Fred would like Buffy. Gunn's gonna (hehe) make an appearance.

Onward!

Chapter 7

Later that night Buffy crept her way into Angel's office as he stared at papers and held the phone to his ear.

She sat on the couch and lifted her legs over the edge, carefully keeping them crossed so her skirt didn't slip up. She lifted a magazine off the coffee table, 'Newsweek?' she thought, 'Maybe I'll learn something?' She flipped through the pages as Angel's voice filled the room

A smile crossed her lips. She loved his voice. She loved how it was deep and soft and completely Angel.

She tried to read an article on healthy eating tips, but she was too distracted by Angel's voice. She sighed and dropped the magazine on the table. She pulled her legs down off the side of the couch and set them on the floor. She was bored and needed something to do. A mischievous smile grew on her face.

She stood up and slinked over to Angel. He looked up and smiled brilliantly, she smiled back at him. She walked around his desk and ran her hands over it. He watched her as he spoke into the phone.

She walked around his chair and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. She bent her head down and licked his ear. A small giggle came from Angel, but he continued to talk on the phone.

Buffy was biting his ear when he put the phone down, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Nooothing." She purred, she unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt and reached her hand in and rubbed his chest over his heart.

"What did you do today?" He asked, his eyes closed with the pleasure of her touch.

"Mmmmm, nothing more interesting than sparring."

He laughed, "Oh yeah?"

She nodded, though he couldn't see her. She walked around the chair and look down at him. He set his hands on her hips, "You are so beautiful. Have I ever told you that?"

Buffy shrugged her shoulders, "Once or twice."

"That many huh?" A huge smile reached his face.

Buffy nodded. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. Angel purred.

"Dinner?" She asked.

Angel nodded dreamily, "Take out?"

"No, actually..."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Mmmmm. Dinner with Ben and parents."

"His parents?"

Buffy nodded.

"um...Okay."

Buffy sat on his lap, her legs over the side of his chair and her arms wrapped around his neck; she rested her forehead against his and kissed him lightly.

"I love you." He whispered.

"Join the club." She joked.

"I'm the president of that club."

He pulled her closer to his chest and kissed her deeply. Buffy sunk into Angel. Passion soon consumed them and Buffy was unbuttoning Angel's shirt and he was running hands up and down her back and through her hair when someone interrupted them with the clearing of their throat.

Angel pulled back first, panting for air. Buffy gasped as she blushed and saw a handsome black man grinning stupidly at them.

"Gunn." Angel said breathily, buttoning his shirt back up.

Buffy pulled at her shirt to straighten it and pulled her flowery pink skirt down over her legs.

Gunn laughed, "Hey man." He sat down on the chair opposite the champion and his love.

"You're back." Angel observed.

"Thanks Capt. Obvious."

Buffy laughed. She moved the stand up, but Angel kept is hands on her hips and pulled her back. He was obviously not embarrassed to have their displays of affection at the office. She smiled.

"How'd it go?" Angel asked.

"Pretty good. Little painful, what with a demon that decided to make a punching bag out of me, but they signed the treaty." Gunn put a pile of papers on Angel's desk.

"Great." Angel didn't move to look at the papers, but rather leaned his head onto Buffy's shoulder.

"Wanna introduce me?" Gunn asked, gesturing to the blonde that Angel was ogling over.

Angel smiled, "Charles Gunn, this is Buffy Summers."

Buffy extended a hand and Gunn took it and placed a light, polite kiss on it. Buffy blushed, "Nice to meet you, finally."

"Nice to meet you too." Buffy smiled.

Gunn looked at his boss, "Notice how I said 'finally'?"

"Nope." Angel laughed.

Gunn looked back at the smiling Slayer, "You can call me Gunn."

"You can call me...well...Buffy."

"So I am guessing your trip to Rome went good?" Gunn pointed out.

"Yeah." Angel kissed his loves shoulder.

"Very good." Buffy smiled. She kissed the top of Angel's spiky head.

"Glad to hear it. How long you in town for?" Gunn asked Buffy.

"I dunno. Few days maybe. We haven't really...well talked about it, yet."

Gunn threw back his head "Ahhh. I see. Denial huh?"

"Not denial...just postponing 'til it's absolutely necessary to think about it."

"That's denial baby." Angel half laughed.

"Oh."

"Well I'll let you get back too...what you were... doing. Later man. Good to meet you Buffy." Gunn said as he headed out the door.

"You too." Buffy called as Gunn waved back.

"He's nice." Buffy said, laying her head on top of Angel's, replacing her arms around his neck.

"I knew you'd like him. We should get ready for dinner."

"Yeah." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I thought your parent were going to be here..." Angel said to Ben as he sat at the table next to his son and Buffy.

"They were, but they called about a half an hour ago, my sister is sick, they wanted to stay and make sure she was ok." Ben said.

"Oh. Well that sucks. It would have been cool to meet them." Buffy pouted a bit.

"Yeah. So should we order?" Ben asked.

At dinner, Ben, Buffy and Angel talked about a wide range of things. How Ben was doing at UCLA, about Buffy's home in Rome and her family. And of course, Ben's favorite topic, demon fighting.

Ben was thoroughly impressed by Buffy's tales of her Slayerhood. Even Angel was impressed with the tales of the last few years. Her defeat of Adam, her battle against the hell god Glory, and The First.

"So...so how many apocalypses was that?" Ben asked.

"Um.... eight. I think. I kinda lost track after the fifth or sixth one."

"Impressive." Ben smiled.

"Well those are my apocalypse-y stories. I haven't even told you about the time I took out Faith and put her in a coma or...or the time I killed Dracula... twice. Or the Buffy breaks her ass stories. Those one's aren't too fun."

"You killed Dracula?" Angel asked, the first time he had spoken up since before Buffy had begun to talk about Glory. He knew that her fight against Glory had been the one where she had lost her life to save the world. He didn't want to think about it.

"Uh-huh. Twice."

"Good job. He was a fake, owed me thirty pounds too." Angel said.

"You too huh?" She said, remembering Spike's complaints of Dracula years ago.

Ben was engulfed in Buffy's story when the bill arrived.

"I have an idea. Let's go to the beach. I know it's dark, but it still could be nice." Buffy said.

A twinge of pain struck Angel and Ben's face.

"Angel?" Buffy asked in the silence of the two, "Did I say something?"

"Bad memories." Ben said.

"Oh. Ohhhh!" Buffy said, remembering what Angel had told her about his son locking him in a box and throwing him into the ocean, "I'm so sorry. I didn't think. I thought it would be-"

"Don't worry about it honey." Angel said, trying to relieve some of her apparent distress.

"You say that a lot." Buffy mumbled.

"You know...I think going to the beach would be great!" Ben said.

"Really?" Buffy chirped.

"Yeah. I think we have to go." Ben smiled.

Angel nodded, "I do too."

Buffy smiled, "Let's go."

Angel dropped a tip on the table and walked out of the restaurant behind his soul mate and son.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"See, this is nice." Buffy said, walking in front of Angel and Ben on the beach.

"Yeah. Nice." Angel said, avoiding the shore, sticking away from the water.

Ben was right behind Angel. Buffy was the only one within 15 feet of the ocean.

Buffy looked behind her to look at the men, "Come on." She walked up to them and took one of each of their hands in her own and led them to the pitch-black sea.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, I'm right here." She assured them.

Angel and Ben followed her willingly. Angel trusted Buffy with his life, and Ben felt like he could too.

"See?" She asked when they actually reached the water, Buffy's toes touching the tip of the cold wetness.

Ben and Angel loosened a bit and Buffy let go of their hands.

"How does it feel?" Buffy asked Angel. It was the first time he had been to a beach as a human, other than the day that wasn't and that was only on a pier.

"Amazing." He said as the ocean spray dampened his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the sea air.

Ben picked up a rock and threw it into the water.

The sound of the waves crashing on the pile of rocks to the right was beautiful.

Buffy watched as her newly rediscovered lover soaked in the oceanic air. A smile crossed her lips. She took a step closer to him and put her hand on his face, his eyes still closed.

Ben took that as his cue to give the couple a few minutes together. He walked down along the beach some.

Angel had a silly smile on his features as Buffy's small hands came to a rest on his face.

He opened his eyes, and look down at the petite blonde, "Thank you."

Buffy nodded, "I'm so glad I get to share this with you Angel. And your son."

"I was so worried that you wouldn't like him, or he wouldn't like you, or something equally bad might happen. I never expected..."

"Of course I like him. He's you. Plus he has a wicked right hook."

Angel laughed.

"You thought he might not like me?" Buffy asked, a tiny frown crossing her features.

"I thought he would never even give me the time of day Buffy, so yeah, I worried."

"Well than I guess you got lucky, huh?"

"More than you know." Angel reached his hands to Buffy's forearms, that still contacted with his face, and pulled them down as he moved in for a kiss.

Buffy returned the kiss and pulled out, she tugged him into a hug and held onto him tightly. His large arms embraced her tiny frame. Sobs wracked her body.

"Buffy? What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just...don't leave me again ok?"

"What? Of course I won't."

"I need you Angel. I need you!" Cries still came from her.

Angel put his hands on her face, "I need you too." He pulled her head to his lips and kissed her forehead, "Where did this come from?"

"I dunno," Buffy cried, "I was just looking at you and I realized how much I need you, and I guess I freaked, thinking about if you left me again...I don't know what I'd do."

"I wouldn't. I love you Buffy."

"I love you, so much, Angel." Buffy pulled him back into her embrace and they stood there. Buffy listened to Angel's heart that was so much a part of her own, and the sound of the waves.

TBC What do you think? R&R