Divine Interference
Part Six
Posted: April 13, 2004
Author's notes: Here's your promised update! And I just have to do Reader Responses, and then you can start reading the real thing!
Reader Responses:
Kate: I'm glad you like it. This is your review from Chapter Four, so you already know how I had Buffy find out, but I wanted to thank you for reviewing!
Kimiaja: I try not to bash characters. So he's just gonna sort of disappear I think. I really don't know what's going to happen to Riley, but I think he's still going to leave with the Initiative. And I'm glad you like Phae.
Bluie: glad you like it, lol.
Bashipper: Yeah, she found out, and we're going to get a bit more information in this chapter as well, things will really start to move along, hopefully!
Grace: Yeah, I liked the mansion scene too. This story is so much fun to write, I hope you all have as much fun reading, as I do writing! Lol.
And here's your regularly scheduled update!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
When Willow woke the next morning, she freaked. Buffy wasn't in her bed, the bed was unmade, and Dawn was gone. It was early Sunday morning, but Buffy didn't go to church, she thought religion was freaky. So then where was she and the baby?
At half past nine, Buffy walked through the door, her clothes rumpled.
"Thank the Goddess!" Willow cried. "You weren't here when I woke up, and I began to freak!"
"Sorry, Will. I-the spell worked. I remembered, as a dream, and I saw the whole thing. Well, big parts. I had to fill in the rest. I found out who Dawn's dad was, so I had to go talk to him. He already knew. But then, he would."
"Who?"
"Angel."
"Seriously? How? Well, I know how, but his soul..."
"Nine months ago, after Thanksgiving, when I went to visit dad, a demon's blood got into a cut, or something, and it made him human. And, well . . . .he was human, and I was there, and his soul was firmly attached . . . .we are-were in love. He had the day turned back, to save me, so I wouldn't have to fight alone, and he was supposed to be the only one that remembered. When I found out, I was in shock, and then denial . . . . Then I started crying, and I fell asleep over there. I'm really sorry for worrying you."
"Oh, that's ok. I guess I just got a glimpse of motherhood. I was so certain that something was wrong. I knew you wouldn't just leave in the middle of the night like that."
"I think I knew all along, who the father was." She murmured.
"What do you mean?"
"When he first came to visit, against my better judgment, since we weren't on the best of terms, I let him hold Dawn. And it just felt so . . .. right, standing there, while he held my child." Willow nodded for her to continue, as she took care of the child. "I think that I didn't want to believe it. Admitting Angel was, and is her father, means that I would have to admit I still care for him, in a big way, and by admitting that, I'm only setting myself up for heartbreak.
"I thought I had found the solution; Riley is an all around nice guy. He genuinely cares for me, and he'd never do anything to hurt me. If any heartbreaking was to happen, it would be me doing it. And, I like him. I don't love him like I love Angel, a love like him comes once in a lifetime, I think, but I care for Riley. I never wanted to break his heart."
"And now you have to," Willow said slowly, "right?"
"I have to tell him the truth, I can't hide this from him. When Angel's around, it's like nothing else matters, Will. I've told you this, before, haven't I?" Willow shrugged, and Buffy sighed. "When Angel's around, even the worst bad day, even the most evil a villain, there's nothing we can't face, with him by my side. Stand him and Riley side by side, and it's hard to remember just what I see in Riley." She looked down at her small child, red from fighting the diaper change.
"You have a problem there." Willow pointed out.
"How am I going to tell him?"
"Just be honest with him. He may be hurt, but it's better than him not trusting you."
"That's what I was afraid you'd say," she murmured, settling in to feed her baby.
~ * ~
"Buffy. I just wanted to check up on you. You left pretty wigged out."
"I don't know why, Angel. I have a daughter that one of my best friend's doesn't even know about yet, and her father is a 244 year old vampire, who I stopped seeing over a year ago."
"I know this is hard to accept, Buffy."
"No, Angel, you don't know. I loved you, yes, but I am so over-stretched right now, I couldn't tell you what I wanted to eat, never mind what I wanted to do with my life. I'm still not over you leaving me, Angel. And now we have a daughter together?! How am I supposed to take this?!" She ranted. He went over and picked their child up from her crib.
"Believe it or not, Buffy, I dislike this as much as you do. I'm 244 years old; I'm not supposed to be having kids. And I found out about her after you did. I hate that I've messed up your life, and your relationships with people you care about." He cradled the baby.
"I don't dislike it, I never said that! I'm just . . . . .I'm so confused." She sat on her bed, and Angel sat on Willow's currently unoccupied bed. She was out doing what Buffy called 'witchy stuff' with Tara.
"I'm always here, even to listen, Buffy."
"No, it's all to long and complicated." She sighed.
"I currently have forever, unless you plan on staking me, so I think we have time." She nodded, and began pouring out her heart to him. It was long and complicated, with many questions, like, "What are we going to tell her when she's older? What are we going to tell her about you?" and, "How can I get through this year of school, while I have slaying, and a baby to raise?"
Angel listened silently, while Buffy ranted and raved, sobbed and cried, pondered and groused. He then placed a reassuring hand on her knee, and she let him scoop her up in his arms, since they were currently free, Dawn had been placed down for a nap sometime ago.
"I can't help you with sorting out your feelings. I know I love you, and I hope that you still love me, and I love our daughter. And I have responsibilities in LA, but I'd like to be here for her as much as possible."
"You can't keep driving here everyday, after sunset, Angel. It's just not practical."
"But I can't not know my daughter. I know that you have plans with Giles and Willow, and whoever, but like it or not, being the slayer puts you at a high risk."
"So does you being a vampire! I mean I'm harder to kill than your type, seeing as I'm still here, and they aren't."
"But I'm not them." She nodded, sighing.
"You have a better chance of seeing her grow up than I do!" She pouted. He kissed her forehead.
"We both have equal chance of seeing her grow up." He said, hugging her tighter. "Buffy...I have to go back to LA for a bit. And...I want you and Dawn to come with me."
"Why?" she was taken aback.
"I want you near me. And maybe a vacation will do you good. Wes and Cordy work for me, and a few faces you don't know, Gunn, and The Host. But maybe getting off this hell-well, mouth, might do both of you some good. I don't like the thought of her growing up on the hell mouth, but we have no choice, I know. And...I sort of want to show you guys off. I know that we're not anything. But Dawn is my child, and after being dead for 244 years, I never thought I'd get to have children, and it's the one thing I miss most about being human. What do you say?"
"Uh...oh...I'll go." She smiled slightly. "I've got to tell Giles, about you, too, and Willow, and Mom, and oh, I should tell Xander about Dawn in general. And Riley. What am I going to tell him? I have to tell him something!" She started to freak, but then calmed herself, "When are you leaving?"
"Tonight, or tomorrow morning. You go make the rounds, and I'll stay here with Dawn."
"You sure? She's been fussy lately. Well, she's less than a week old, but something's off. Maybe it is the hell mouth."
"I'm sure I'm sure. But...ah, take my cell phone. I never use it, and I turn it off, and forget about it."
"Thanks." She smiled at him, taking the phone. She went to do what she had to. Xander freaked, a bit. But he was her best friend to the end, and wanted to be apart of Dawn's life. She hugged him, and then went to see her mom. She was saving Riley for last. Everybody else wouldn't be as miffed as he would. Both her mom and Giles took the news with closed faces, she didn't know what they were thinking, but they hugged her, and wished her the best of luck on her little vacation.
She couldn't find Willow, but she would leave a note if she didn't get in touch with the witch. Then she sighed, and headed towards Riley's dorm. He was the one that she really hated to talk to, mostly because she didn't want to hurt him. She thought she loved him, but there was no way she could focus on a relationship with everything going on.
She didn't tell him about Angel being the father, just that he knew, and he was going to be around, because she wanted him to be around. She also told him, with some regret, that she couldn't be in a relationship, it would be unfair for both of them. He tried to argue, but she silenced him. He had to have known that she was slipping away from him, had to have known this was coming; he did not fight it as hard as she thought he would, or have liked him to. She now knew that it just wasn't to be, no matter how she had hoped. Heart sore and crestfallen, she turned away from him, forever.
It was a very subdued slayer that returned to her child, and her father. He didn't ask how it went, because it was written clearly on her face, as she brushed by him, and held her baby close to her breast.
"It wasn't as if I loved him. Not like I loved you. But I thought . . . .I thought he'd fight it a bit more, I guess." She said quietly. He came up behind her and held her to him.
"He's just a boy, Buffy, and you barely knew him." He tried to console her.
"I know... I just..." She shook her head, ending the conversation.
~ * ~
They left early that morning. Angel drove until the sun came up, and then he sat in the back with Dawn while Buffy dove. She was apprehensive about driving, she had just barely gotten her license, and had no chance of really practicing, but Angel couldn't drive, and Dawn certainly couldn't. It was up to her.
She drove carefully, to be certain, and it only took a few hours to get there. Once there, Angel pulled what Buffy could only call a Spike, where he hid under a not too concealing blanket, and ran inside, while she carried Dawn in, leisurely, looking at the office building.
When she got inside, Cordy and Wesley were waiting for her. After greetings, mostly iffy ones, not sure where they stood with each other, not sure on what terms they were on, Cordy and Wesley were introduced to Dawn. Buffy looked to Angel, on how exactly to explain Dawn to them, but he took it upon himself.
"Cordelia, Wesley, this is Dawn. She's my, well, our daughter." As Wesley and Cordelia looked at Angel in a mixture of horror and confusion, Buffy set the carrier down onto the desk. "When Buffy came to visit me, after Thanksgiving, by some demon blood, I became human. I had the day restarted, because it was clear Buffy was going to die, without my help. Somehow, she got pregnant." Cordelia and Wesley nodded, though it was clear they either weren't pleased, or very confused.
"Angel wanted me to come with him, to get away from the hellmouth." Buffy said, still busy with Dawn. She figured they'd want to know that.
"Are...are you staying?" Cordelia asked.
"No. The hell mouth needs me, if only to keep it dormant. I can't stay here." She didn't look at Angel when she said this. They hadn't figured out how this was going to work. She knew that they couldn't be together, but he was going to insist on being apart of her life, and she just didn't know how it was going to work. "Angel, she's tired, and I was up most of the night." She said, turning to him, hoping he'd get the hint.
"Oh, uh, Cordy, could you show her to...my room? Unless you want to leave, we could get you a hotel-"
"Angel, it's fine." Cordelia motioned for her to follow, though Buffy knew the way.
"So, uh, what's new in good old Sunny D?" Cordelia asked, after Buffy had fed Dawn, and was now rocking her.
"Nothing much. Demons, vampires, impending doom and destruction."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot, you have no social life." Cordelia jabbed. But Buffy didn't take the bait. Cordelia was still so much like she had been pre- slayer days. "So, uh, how's Willow? And, uh...Xander?" Buffy noticed she didn't put either of them down.
"Good. Will's less computer gal, more wiccan gal, and she and Tara seem pretty cozy. Xander's doing construction now, and he's got some guy pals, besides us girls. Less and less Scooby gang stuff for them, more and more real life stuff." The arguments that they had had, all due to Spike, came back to her. Yes, they had made up, and she knew they were behind her 100%, but they still had their own lives they needed to live.
"Is Giles still...Giles?"
"He's not so British looking, still very bookish, though." She stopped moving, and Dawn whimpered. "Shh. Shh." She started swaying her hips again. "How have you been?"
"Good. Working with Angel is...interesting. Mind numbing headaches, demonic pregnancies. But it's really not all that bad, as a side job, until I hit the big time. If he'd just learn to use his cell phone, it would be less dangerous, but it's not unlike high school."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that."
"She's so cute, Buffy. I don't envy you in the least, all the pain and stretch marks, but you are still lucky."
Buffy smiled. Same old Cordy. But then she sobered. "How am I lucky? I don't know the first thing about raising a child. I killed my goldfish! Add the whole not living to see 21, and know knowing you're pregnant until you actually go into labor, yeah I can see why you'd think that." She said, meaner than she really meant to, but she didn't care.
"Well, sorry." Cordy said haughtily.
"Cordelia... I'm sorry. Everything's so...messed up. I'm a nineteen year old, single mother, with a life that's now dependant on me, and I have a life expectancy of less than two years. I've been doing really well in school, too. I never asked for this, but I guess I didn't really have a choice."
"I'm sorry." She actually sounded it.
"It's ok. I've been through worse. I'll deal. That's what I do, right?" Dawn was finally asleep, so she laid her on the bed, between the shored up blankets. Then she herself sat on the bed. "Cordy, I'm kinda tired. I don't mean to kick you out, but she only sleeps so long. I'd like to get some rest, while I can."
"Oh sure! No problem!" Cordelia headed to the door. "We'll catch up later, ok?"
"Yeah." Buffy smiled wanly. Once she was gone, Buffy kicked off her shoes and lay on the bed.
After awhile, Angel came down, and sat on the bed next to her. She tried to pretend to be asleep, but he just sat there, seemingly content to just watch her. She rolled over and looked up at him.
"I want you and Dawn to move in with me." She just stared at him. He had never been so...well, un-cryptic.
"H-here?" she choked out.
"No, no. Sunnydale." He sighed. "I don't want you living in that dorm room. I don't want her to grow up there. Too many germs and stuff. She'll have immunities, but I think it's too public. I'm going to buy an apartment. I want you and Dawn to live there."
"What about Willow? I can't just leave her alone."
He thought a minute, and then nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She looked at him warily. "I just don't want the demon world to know that you had a baby. I don't expect you to give her up, or hide her, but she's so young, and she'll be in so much danger...If Willow lived there, she could possibly thought to be...it could be assumed that-"
"So they'd think that she was the child of the slayer's best friend?! Everyone or thing knows Will and I are tight, Angel! She goes patrolling with me all the time! Being the slayer's kid is safer than being her friend's kid! Besides that they can probably smell her on me. I'm breast feeding, and even I can smell it."
"Fine." He sighed. "I was way out of line. But I want you somewhere safe. Safer than a dorm room."
"What's going on? This isn't like you."
He sighed. "I've done some bad things in my existence. Some you can't even dream of. But doing this to you...I can't just disappear, just leave the picture, and not be apart of her life. It would be cruel to both of you."
"So you're gonna force me to move in with you?"
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. I just want to make sure you're taken care of. It's the least you deserve." He looked into her eyes, and she returned his gaze, but it soon became too much, and she looked away. He sighed and looked down at the comforter.
"Ok." She murmured.
"What?" he hadn't heard her clearly.
"Ok. I'll let you buy an apartment. And I'll live there. But the more I think about this, it sounds like you want back in my life, and I don't know if I can let you. You left me. And not just once, but it truly felt like more than that. After you broke up with me, every time I saw you, I wondered if it would be the last. And now-now here you are, acting like it never happened, and I just can't do it!"
"I wanted you to have a life outside of demons and darkness!" he forgot to whisper.
"Well now I do! Now I have a baby; a life dependant on me! Are you happy now?!"
"Do you think I like seeing you this way?!"
"I honestly don't know what to think right now."
"I hate this! I hate your haggard appearance, I hate that you are as tired as you look. I hate the circles under your eyes. I hate that you can't sleep the night, whatever's left of it after school, and homework, and patrolling, and that tiny sliver of a social life you somehow manage to fit in! I hate my involvement in your situation-"
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, a glimmer in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time; it stopped him dead. "Are you sure you hate the day she was conceived?"
"God no! The memories have kept me going through the darkest of times, when nothing else could. And I don't hate her. She's everything I've dreamed of being able to have with you. But not now!" he turned and began pacing. "After the Shanshu, maybe, but not now, not when you have so much ahead of you-"
"What's a Shanshoe?" she asked.
Damnit!
"Long and complicated prophecy. Cryptic doesn't begin to describe it. But from what I could tell, I have a huge part to play in The apocalypse. The big one. No clue when or where, but if I...whatever I'm supposed to do, I guess I...well, not totally sure on the details." He thought better than getting her hopes up. His were high enough for the both of them. She nodded.
He looked at her, and saw just how exhausted she was, not just in her eyes, but the way she held her body. He hesitated, but then sat on the bed and took her into his arms. He then lay down, so she was in front of him. She tensed at his first initial touch, but she allowed him to maneuver her body. She shifted so she was more comfortable, and then soon fell asleep.
He lay there, for who knows how long, just listening to the rhythmic breathing of his child, and his love.
~ * ~
"Ah!"
"What?" Willow looked up from her book.
"Buffy was, ah, right, as strange as that sometimes seems. There is a prophecy regarding Dawn." He showed her the passage. It was in another language, as usual. "When the child of mortal enemies is born, and The Beast walks the earth, the slayer shall have a choice." He looked up from the book. "That doesn't sound uh, prophecy-ish, lack of a better word." Willow just grinned. "Then it makes reference to another prophecy...one that I do not have access to, of course. The council might have it in their files, but I doubt they'd share..." Willow tuned him out Council this, Council that. Sun shoe something or other; it made no difference to her.
~ * ~
Cordelia and Wesley were puttering about the office, mostly in shock at the day's events, when the door opened, and a stunning blond walked through.
"Welcome to Angel Investigations. How may I help you?" Cordelia asked. Wesley was too preoccupied getting his tongue back into his mouth.
"I would like to hire you, to find something that was stolen from me."
"Ok," Cordelia offered her a seat then took the one behind the desk, "Well, I can't guarantee that we'll take your case, our boss is strict, but if you'll just fill out these forms, and I'll be right back." She smiled as she stood up. She mimed to Wesley to keep her busy. He was confused, before she pointed forcefully downstairs, and then made a halo around her head. He nodded, and as she headed towards the stairs, she heard him offer her coffee.
She told Angel about the client, and then left him to extract himself from the blond slayer. He slowly did just that, and then followed her.
"Hello. I'm Angel," he said, shaking the woman's hand.
"Glory."
"So, what can we do for you?" Angel asked.
"I'm trying to locate something that was stolen from me. It's of great importance and I want it back."
"And what would this be?"
"Mystical energy. Also known as The Key."
Part Six
Posted: April 13, 2004
Author's notes: Here's your promised update! And I just have to do Reader Responses, and then you can start reading the real thing!
Reader Responses:
Kate: I'm glad you like it. This is your review from Chapter Four, so you already know how I had Buffy find out, but I wanted to thank you for reviewing!
Kimiaja: I try not to bash characters. So he's just gonna sort of disappear I think. I really don't know what's going to happen to Riley, but I think he's still going to leave with the Initiative. And I'm glad you like Phae.
Bluie: glad you like it, lol.
Bashipper: Yeah, she found out, and we're going to get a bit more information in this chapter as well, things will really start to move along, hopefully!
Grace: Yeah, I liked the mansion scene too. This story is so much fun to write, I hope you all have as much fun reading, as I do writing! Lol.
And here's your regularly scheduled update!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
When Willow woke the next morning, she freaked. Buffy wasn't in her bed, the bed was unmade, and Dawn was gone. It was early Sunday morning, but Buffy didn't go to church, she thought religion was freaky. So then where was she and the baby?
At half past nine, Buffy walked through the door, her clothes rumpled.
"Thank the Goddess!" Willow cried. "You weren't here when I woke up, and I began to freak!"
"Sorry, Will. I-the spell worked. I remembered, as a dream, and I saw the whole thing. Well, big parts. I had to fill in the rest. I found out who Dawn's dad was, so I had to go talk to him. He already knew. But then, he would."
"Who?"
"Angel."
"Seriously? How? Well, I know how, but his soul..."
"Nine months ago, after Thanksgiving, when I went to visit dad, a demon's blood got into a cut, or something, and it made him human. And, well . . . .he was human, and I was there, and his soul was firmly attached . . . .we are-were in love. He had the day turned back, to save me, so I wouldn't have to fight alone, and he was supposed to be the only one that remembered. When I found out, I was in shock, and then denial . . . . Then I started crying, and I fell asleep over there. I'm really sorry for worrying you."
"Oh, that's ok. I guess I just got a glimpse of motherhood. I was so certain that something was wrong. I knew you wouldn't just leave in the middle of the night like that."
"I think I knew all along, who the father was." She murmured.
"What do you mean?"
"When he first came to visit, against my better judgment, since we weren't on the best of terms, I let him hold Dawn. And it just felt so . . .. right, standing there, while he held my child." Willow nodded for her to continue, as she took care of the child. "I think that I didn't want to believe it. Admitting Angel was, and is her father, means that I would have to admit I still care for him, in a big way, and by admitting that, I'm only setting myself up for heartbreak.
"I thought I had found the solution; Riley is an all around nice guy. He genuinely cares for me, and he'd never do anything to hurt me. If any heartbreaking was to happen, it would be me doing it. And, I like him. I don't love him like I love Angel, a love like him comes once in a lifetime, I think, but I care for Riley. I never wanted to break his heart."
"And now you have to," Willow said slowly, "right?"
"I have to tell him the truth, I can't hide this from him. When Angel's around, it's like nothing else matters, Will. I've told you this, before, haven't I?" Willow shrugged, and Buffy sighed. "When Angel's around, even the worst bad day, even the most evil a villain, there's nothing we can't face, with him by my side. Stand him and Riley side by side, and it's hard to remember just what I see in Riley." She looked down at her small child, red from fighting the diaper change.
"You have a problem there." Willow pointed out.
"How am I going to tell him?"
"Just be honest with him. He may be hurt, but it's better than him not trusting you."
"That's what I was afraid you'd say," she murmured, settling in to feed her baby.
~ * ~
"Buffy. I just wanted to check up on you. You left pretty wigged out."
"I don't know why, Angel. I have a daughter that one of my best friend's doesn't even know about yet, and her father is a 244 year old vampire, who I stopped seeing over a year ago."
"I know this is hard to accept, Buffy."
"No, Angel, you don't know. I loved you, yes, but I am so over-stretched right now, I couldn't tell you what I wanted to eat, never mind what I wanted to do with my life. I'm still not over you leaving me, Angel. And now we have a daughter together?! How am I supposed to take this?!" She ranted. He went over and picked their child up from her crib.
"Believe it or not, Buffy, I dislike this as much as you do. I'm 244 years old; I'm not supposed to be having kids. And I found out about her after you did. I hate that I've messed up your life, and your relationships with people you care about." He cradled the baby.
"I don't dislike it, I never said that! I'm just . . . . .I'm so confused." She sat on her bed, and Angel sat on Willow's currently unoccupied bed. She was out doing what Buffy called 'witchy stuff' with Tara.
"I'm always here, even to listen, Buffy."
"No, it's all to long and complicated." She sighed.
"I currently have forever, unless you plan on staking me, so I think we have time." She nodded, and began pouring out her heart to him. It was long and complicated, with many questions, like, "What are we going to tell her when she's older? What are we going to tell her about you?" and, "How can I get through this year of school, while I have slaying, and a baby to raise?"
Angel listened silently, while Buffy ranted and raved, sobbed and cried, pondered and groused. He then placed a reassuring hand on her knee, and she let him scoop her up in his arms, since they were currently free, Dawn had been placed down for a nap sometime ago.
"I can't help you with sorting out your feelings. I know I love you, and I hope that you still love me, and I love our daughter. And I have responsibilities in LA, but I'd like to be here for her as much as possible."
"You can't keep driving here everyday, after sunset, Angel. It's just not practical."
"But I can't not know my daughter. I know that you have plans with Giles and Willow, and whoever, but like it or not, being the slayer puts you at a high risk."
"So does you being a vampire! I mean I'm harder to kill than your type, seeing as I'm still here, and they aren't."
"But I'm not them." She nodded, sighing.
"You have a better chance of seeing her grow up than I do!" She pouted. He kissed her forehead.
"We both have equal chance of seeing her grow up." He said, hugging her tighter. "Buffy...I have to go back to LA for a bit. And...I want you and Dawn to come with me."
"Why?" she was taken aback.
"I want you near me. And maybe a vacation will do you good. Wes and Cordy work for me, and a few faces you don't know, Gunn, and The Host. But maybe getting off this hell-well, mouth, might do both of you some good. I don't like the thought of her growing up on the hell mouth, but we have no choice, I know. And...I sort of want to show you guys off. I know that we're not anything. But Dawn is my child, and after being dead for 244 years, I never thought I'd get to have children, and it's the one thing I miss most about being human. What do you say?"
"Uh...oh...I'll go." She smiled slightly. "I've got to tell Giles, about you, too, and Willow, and Mom, and oh, I should tell Xander about Dawn in general. And Riley. What am I going to tell him? I have to tell him something!" She started to freak, but then calmed herself, "When are you leaving?"
"Tonight, or tomorrow morning. You go make the rounds, and I'll stay here with Dawn."
"You sure? She's been fussy lately. Well, she's less than a week old, but something's off. Maybe it is the hell mouth."
"I'm sure I'm sure. But...ah, take my cell phone. I never use it, and I turn it off, and forget about it."
"Thanks." She smiled at him, taking the phone. She went to do what she had to. Xander freaked, a bit. But he was her best friend to the end, and wanted to be apart of Dawn's life. She hugged him, and then went to see her mom. She was saving Riley for last. Everybody else wouldn't be as miffed as he would. Both her mom and Giles took the news with closed faces, she didn't know what they were thinking, but they hugged her, and wished her the best of luck on her little vacation.
She couldn't find Willow, but she would leave a note if she didn't get in touch with the witch. Then she sighed, and headed towards Riley's dorm. He was the one that she really hated to talk to, mostly because she didn't want to hurt him. She thought she loved him, but there was no way she could focus on a relationship with everything going on.
She didn't tell him about Angel being the father, just that he knew, and he was going to be around, because she wanted him to be around. She also told him, with some regret, that she couldn't be in a relationship, it would be unfair for both of them. He tried to argue, but she silenced him. He had to have known that she was slipping away from him, had to have known this was coming; he did not fight it as hard as she thought he would, or have liked him to. She now knew that it just wasn't to be, no matter how she had hoped. Heart sore and crestfallen, she turned away from him, forever.
It was a very subdued slayer that returned to her child, and her father. He didn't ask how it went, because it was written clearly on her face, as she brushed by him, and held her baby close to her breast.
"It wasn't as if I loved him. Not like I loved you. But I thought . . . .I thought he'd fight it a bit more, I guess." She said quietly. He came up behind her and held her to him.
"He's just a boy, Buffy, and you barely knew him." He tried to console her.
"I know... I just..." She shook her head, ending the conversation.
~ * ~
They left early that morning. Angel drove until the sun came up, and then he sat in the back with Dawn while Buffy dove. She was apprehensive about driving, she had just barely gotten her license, and had no chance of really practicing, but Angel couldn't drive, and Dawn certainly couldn't. It was up to her.
She drove carefully, to be certain, and it only took a few hours to get there. Once there, Angel pulled what Buffy could only call a Spike, where he hid under a not too concealing blanket, and ran inside, while she carried Dawn in, leisurely, looking at the office building.
When she got inside, Cordy and Wesley were waiting for her. After greetings, mostly iffy ones, not sure where they stood with each other, not sure on what terms they were on, Cordy and Wesley were introduced to Dawn. Buffy looked to Angel, on how exactly to explain Dawn to them, but he took it upon himself.
"Cordelia, Wesley, this is Dawn. She's my, well, our daughter." As Wesley and Cordelia looked at Angel in a mixture of horror and confusion, Buffy set the carrier down onto the desk. "When Buffy came to visit me, after Thanksgiving, by some demon blood, I became human. I had the day restarted, because it was clear Buffy was going to die, without my help. Somehow, she got pregnant." Cordelia and Wesley nodded, though it was clear they either weren't pleased, or very confused.
"Angel wanted me to come with him, to get away from the hellmouth." Buffy said, still busy with Dawn. She figured they'd want to know that.
"Are...are you staying?" Cordelia asked.
"No. The hell mouth needs me, if only to keep it dormant. I can't stay here." She didn't look at Angel when she said this. They hadn't figured out how this was going to work. She knew that they couldn't be together, but he was going to insist on being apart of her life, and she just didn't know how it was going to work. "Angel, she's tired, and I was up most of the night." She said, turning to him, hoping he'd get the hint.
"Oh, uh, Cordy, could you show her to...my room? Unless you want to leave, we could get you a hotel-"
"Angel, it's fine." Cordelia motioned for her to follow, though Buffy knew the way.
"So, uh, what's new in good old Sunny D?" Cordelia asked, after Buffy had fed Dawn, and was now rocking her.
"Nothing much. Demons, vampires, impending doom and destruction."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot, you have no social life." Cordelia jabbed. But Buffy didn't take the bait. Cordelia was still so much like she had been pre- slayer days. "So, uh, how's Willow? And, uh...Xander?" Buffy noticed she didn't put either of them down.
"Good. Will's less computer gal, more wiccan gal, and she and Tara seem pretty cozy. Xander's doing construction now, and he's got some guy pals, besides us girls. Less and less Scooby gang stuff for them, more and more real life stuff." The arguments that they had had, all due to Spike, came back to her. Yes, they had made up, and she knew they were behind her 100%, but they still had their own lives they needed to live.
"Is Giles still...Giles?"
"He's not so British looking, still very bookish, though." She stopped moving, and Dawn whimpered. "Shh. Shh." She started swaying her hips again. "How have you been?"
"Good. Working with Angel is...interesting. Mind numbing headaches, demonic pregnancies. But it's really not all that bad, as a side job, until I hit the big time. If he'd just learn to use his cell phone, it would be less dangerous, but it's not unlike high school."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that."
"She's so cute, Buffy. I don't envy you in the least, all the pain and stretch marks, but you are still lucky."
Buffy smiled. Same old Cordy. But then she sobered. "How am I lucky? I don't know the first thing about raising a child. I killed my goldfish! Add the whole not living to see 21, and know knowing you're pregnant until you actually go into labor, yeah I can see why you'd think that." She said, meaner than she really meant to, but she didn't care.
"Well, sorry." Cordy said haughtily.
"Cordelia... I'm sorry. Everything's so...messed up. I'm a nineteen year old, single mother, with a life that's now dependant on me, and I have a life expectancy of less than two years. I've been doing really well in school, too. I never asked for this, but I guess I didn't really have a choice."
"I'm sorry." She actually sounded it.
"It's ok. I've been through worse. I'll deal. That's what I do, right?" Dawn was finally asleep, so she laid her on the bed, between the shored up blankets. Then she herself sat on the bed. "Cordy, I'm kinda tired. I don't mean to kick you out, but she only sleeps so long. I'd like to get some rest, while I can."
"Oh sure! No problem!" Cordelia headed to the door. "We'll catch up later, ok?"
"Yeah." Buffy smiled wanly. Once she was gone, Buffy kicked off her shoes and lay on the bed.
After awhile, Angel came down, and sat on the bed next to her. She tried to pretend to be asleep, but he just sat there, seemingly content to just watch her. She rolled over and looked up at him.
"I want you and Dawn to move in with me." She just stared at him. He had never been so...well, un-cryptic.
"H-here?" she choked out.
"No, no. Sunnydale." He sighed. "I don't want you living in that dorm room. I don't want her to grow up there. Too many germs and stuff. She'll have immunities, but I think it's too public. I'm going to buy an apartment. I want you and Dawn to live there."
"What about Willow? I can't just leave her alone."
He thought a minute, and then nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She looked at him warily. "I just don't want the demon world to know that you had a baby. I don't expect you to give her up, or hide her, but she's so young, and she'll be in so much danger...If Willow lived there, she could possibly thought to be...it could be assumed that-"
"So they'd think that she was the child of the slayer's best friend?! Everyone or thing knows Will and I are tight, Angel! She goes patrolling with me all the time! Being the slayer's kid is safer than being her friend's kid! Besides that they can probably smell her on me. I'm breast feeding, and even I can smell it."
"Fine." He sighed. "I was way out of line. But I want you somewhere safe. Safer than a dorm room."
"What's going on? This isn't like you."
He sighed. "I've done some bad things in my existence. Some you can't even dream of. But doing this to you...I can't just disappear, just leave the picture, and not be apart of her life. It would be cruel to both of you."
"So you're gonna force me to move in with you?"
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. I just want to make sure you're taken care of. It's the least you deserve." He looked into her eyes, and she returned his gaze, but it soon became too much, and she looked away. He sighed and looked down at the comforter.
"Ok." She murmured.
"What?" he hadn't heard her clearly.
"Ok. I'll let you buy an apartment. And I'll live there. But the more I think about this, it sounds like you want back in my life, and I don't know if I can let you. You left me. And not just once, but it truly felt like more than that. After you broke up with me, every time I saw you, I wondered if it would be the last. And now-now here you are, acting like it never happened, and I just can't do it!"
"I wanted you to have a life outside of demons and darkness!" he forgot to whisper.
"Well now I do! Now I have a baby; a life dependant on me! Are you happy now?!"
"Do you think I like seeing you this way?!"
"I honestly don't know what to think right now."
"I hate this! I hate your haggard appearance, I hate that you are as tired as you look. I hate the circles under your eyes. I hate that you can't sleep the night, whatever's left of it after school, and homework, and patrolling, and that tiny sliver of a social life you somehow manage to fit in! I hate my involvement in your situation-"
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, a glimmer in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time; it stopped him dead. "Are you sure you hate the day she was conceived?"
"God no! The memories have kept me going through the darkest of times, when nothing else could. And I don't hate her. She's everything I've dreamed of being able to have with you. But not now!" he turned and began pacing. "After the Shanshu, maybe, but not now, not when you have so much ahead of you-"
"What's a Shanshoe?" she asked.
Damnit!
"Long and complicated prophecy. Cryptic doesn't begin to describe it. But from what I could tell, I have a huge part to play in The apocalypse. The big one. No clue when or where, but if I...whatever I'm supposed to do, I guess I...well, not totally sure on the details." He thought better than getting her hopes up. His were high enough for the both of them. She nodded.
He looked at her, and saw just how exhausted she was, not just in her eyes, but the way she held her body. He hesitated, but then sat on the bed and took her into his arms. He then lay down, so she was in front of him. She tensed at his first initial touch, but she allowed him to maneuver her body. She shifted so she was more comfortable, and then soon fell asleep.
He lay there, for who knows how long, just listening to the rhythmic breathing of his child, and his love.
~ * ~
"Ah!"
"What?" Willow looked up from her book.
"Buffy was, ah, right, as strange as that sometimes seems. There is a prophecy regarding Dawn." He showed her the passage. It was in another language, as usual. "When the child of mortal enemies is born, and The Beast walks the earth, the slayer shall have a choice." He looked up from the book. "That doesn't sound uh, prophecy-ish, lack of a better word." Willow just grinned. "Then it makes reference to another prophecy...one that I do not have access to, of course. The council might have it in their files, but I doubt they'd share..." Willow tuned him out Council this, Council that. Sun shoe something or other; it made no difference to her.
~ * ~
Cordelia and Wesley were puttering about the office, mostly in shock at the day's events, when the door opened, and a stunning blond walked through.
"Welcome to Angel Investigations. How may I help you?" Cordelia asked. Wesley was too preoccupied getting his tongue back into his mouth.
"I would like to hire you, to find something that was stolen from me."
"Ok," Cordelia offered her a seat then took the one behind the desk, "Well, I can't guarantee that we'll take your case, our boss is strict, but if you'll just fill out these forms, and I'll be right back." She smiled as she stood up. She mimed to Wesley to keep her busy. He was confused, before she pointed forcefully downstairs, and then made a halo around her head. He nodded, and as she headed towards the stairs, she heard him offer her coffee.
She told Angel about the client, and then left him to extract himself from the blond slayer. He slowly did just that, and then followed her.
"Hello. I'm Angel," he said, shaking the woman's hand.
"Glory."
"So, what can we do for you?" Angel asked.
"I'm trying to locate something that was stolen from me. It's of great importance and I want it back."
"And what would this be?"
"Mystical energy. Also known as The Key."