Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Angel, they belong to Joss Whedon et al. I do not own Skylar, her backstory, or her powers, they belong to gidgetgirl.
A/N: I have removed the hostile reviews, and shall do so in the future. Any queries regarding my stories or characters can be addressed to me through my email address, not using my reviews as a message board.
Okay, people like the cute baby Skylar, so you get a couple more chapters of that, before we move on.
"The vampire crept through the house, searching for the little girl hidden behind her bedroom door." Angel paused in his tale, and glanced down at Skylar. The baby blinked back up at him, her blue eyes innocent, and blew a bubble, enraptured. Angel frowned worriedly. Was it okay to be telling horror stories to a two-month-old baby? Skylar kicked her legs happily as if to dissuade him of the notion that he should go back to tales of fluffy rabbits and ducklings. He shook his head, a tiny smile turning up the corners of his mouth as he snapped her little pink romper suit back on, and did up the tiny buttons awkwardly, his big fingers fumbling.
Scooping her up in one arm, he put away the powder, and the packet of diapers, and settled back down onto the bed, the soft glow of the lamp beside him casting shadows across the baby's interested little face.
Skylar worked her mouth a bit, making tiny protesting sounds as she batted her hands about. Carefully, Angel picked up the bottle beside him, and sat back, the baby drinking hungrily. Wide eyes gazed up at him blurrily, as if to remind him to finish the story.
"He heard her breathing hard, and her little heart beating, and smiled to himself," Angel told her in a soft, whispering voice. Skylar blinked up at him, her eyes suddenly sharply in focus, telling him plainly that she wasn't having any of it. Sighing, Angel's hopes of getting the baby to sleep earlier than normal faded, but he cuddled the warm, sweet-smelling bundle closer, a tiny part of him happy. When Skylar was in his arms, he could forget the problems facing him, the Ascension, Buffy, the faces that haunted him, and only one little face filled his mind. "He crept nearer, and nearer, smelling the blood.."
"Hey." Buffy leaned against the doorway, her golden-blond hair mussed from the wind outside and her cheeks flushed pink, watching them, a little smile quirking her lips. "Angel, were you telling that baby a story from your vamp days?"
"No," Angel replied defensively, playing with one of Skylar's miniature fists as she pounded the bottle, trying to feed faster. Buffy laughed, and walked over, dropping a kiss onto his cheek.
"You never tell me stories about your vamp days," she attempted to pout, folding her arms over her chest. 'What happened to Squirrel Nutkin, and three little pigs?"
"She doesn't like them," Angel confessed sheepishly. "She screams." Buffy rolled her eyes, shooting him a humorous look all the same.
"Angel, she's two-months-old," she rejoined, sitting down beside him, running her fingers over the fuzz covering Skylar's head.
"She's bright," Angel attempted to argue, but met her eyes, as she shook her head reprovingly once more.
"Aren't you going to say hello?" she whispered, reaching up to kiss him properly. Obediently, he bent his head to kiss her back, not losing his hold on Skylar's bottle. Pulling back a little, Buffy smiled, and nestled in against his chest, looking down at the baby.
"Her eyes are changing," she remarked, sliding one fingertip across Skylar's soft skin. "They're getting darker." He followed her gaze, to the happy look of the contented baby. Skylar's eyelids were drooping, but determinedly, the baby was staying awake. He noticed with surprise that her blue eyes were not the light, bright colour they'd been when he'd brought her home, but were now a deeper colour, murky. He hadn't realised.
Buffy snuggled in closer, tucking her legs up beneath her as she watched her lover and the baby contentedly.
"You know, my Mom was stressing over the whole situation," she confided, yawning sleepily. "But I just want to forget about it, you know? Maybe after I'm done fighting the apocalypse, again, we can just stay in here, and make the world go away. I mean, it has running water, right? We can just stay here, and watch her," she added, tracing a pattern across Angel's hand. He felt like he'd been burned.
"Uh, Buffy?" he drew back, standing, lifting Skylar against his shoulder. He stood uneasily facing her.
"What is it?" she rose, facing him, her forehead creasing in worry. He coughed, shifting Skylar in his arms.
"This, Skylar, she doesn't change anything," he said, meeting her eyes in a steady gaze. "I'm still... after the apocalypse, I'm still leaving. I'll be taking Skylar with me."
Buffy flinched, a look of pain in her eyes as she met his. She nodded slowly, blinking fast, and swallowed. "Yeah. Skylar doesn't change anything. Why didn't you say anything? You just went along with it, let me think-"she broke off, letting the sentence tail off. "God, Angel." She swiped at her eyes angrily. "Couldn't you be bothered to tell me? You let me think it had changed, that this meant something different."
He remained silent, as still as stone. Tears sparkled in her eyes, as she bit her lip wordlessly. Finally, she lifted her gaze, imploringly.
"Will you say goodbye?"
He shook his head, feeling like he'd just had everything ripped apart once more. "It's best... for both of us.. if I don't," he replied, his voice husky. She lifted her chin, strength of the Slayer enough to get her out of it, her pride intact, and nodded.
"Goodbye."
The smoke shifted over the building, sirens from the fire-engines screaming as they arrived to help with the blaze, ambulances helping those wounded in the battle onto stretchers. He stood, Skylar wrapped tightly in his arms, and watched her. Smoke-stained, and dirty, but still smiling, she exchanged the post-apocalypse banter with Xander and Willow that he'd come to expect. And then, for one heart-wrenching second, she looked up, and found his eyes across the devastation. Time slowed, and then regretfully, he turned, and disappeared into the gloom as she glanced away, gone before she could look up.
A/N: Distinctly un-B/A story here! Canonically, this period was a B/A story arc, so it has elements of B/A in it. Next chapter, L/A, Cordelia, Doyle and the actual plot, involving baby Skylar.
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