Part Twenty-Two

You've been cold to me so long, I'm crying icicles instead of tears

Everyone had been kicked out of the apartment for the impending arrival of Joyce, except Doyle and Connor who Buffy hoped might be able to sweeten her mother's mood a little. Reluctantly, Angel had filled her in on what Giles had told them and the little he now knew of Kaitlyn including that she was most likely the cause of everything that had happened to them. The timing was bad, but Buffy had to know, or she wouldn't know to distrust the dark-haired Immortal. Buffy was anxious to meet with Giles as soon as she could now he was back but there where other things that needed to be dealt with first.

Flitting from one end of the room to the other Buffy smoothed her perfectly manicured hands over the skirt of her summer dress, the fabric was plain and simple: white with a pattern of intertwined red flowers that had been purposefully chosen along with the styling of her hair and make-up to make her look as innocent as possible. Feeling the weight of Angel's hand on her shoulder, Buffy jumped at the familiar electric shock that ran through her senses at the touch. Turning round she gave him a nervous smile.

"It'll be fine." Angel assured her, though there was a hint of doubt in his voice.

She nodded, feeling too ill to say anything.

Another fifteen minutes ticked by before the doorbell finally rang.

Nervously stepping up to the door Buffy slid back the bolt and twisted the handle to open the door, pulling it wide she was faced with her mortal foe.

"Hi mom!" She said brightly.

"Buffy!" She cried in return, and the woman through her arms around Buffy in a tight hug.

From his position by the window Angel watched the exchange carefully, Buffy's mom was an older replica of her daughter, small but still taller than five-foot-nothing Buffy, with slightly curly blonde hair, cropped short by her shoulders, she wore a semi-formal and well fitted skirt and shirt and Angel wondered if it was her intention to try and intimidate her ex-husband. He tried to keep in his smile as he wondered what she was going to say when he realised that Buffy's father was long gone. As much as he was not a lover of even the potential fight that was about to happen he would dearly love to get his claws onto the sperm donor otherwise known as Hank Summers.

Doyle and Connor had appeared from the kitchen and had gathered around Joyce as well, pulling her luggage inside and taking turns at hugging the woman. Stepping into the apartment Joyce smiled as she looked around. "This is a beautiful apartment. Did Hank hire a cleaner before I arrived?" She joked, taking in the spotless interior.

"This is all Buffy's work." Angel assured her. Seeing him for the first time, Joyce's eyes flickered in shock.

"Uhm, Mom, this is Angel." Buffy introduced, moving round to Angel's side, she slipped her hand in his and held her breath.

"You're friends?" Joyce questioned.

"Angel lives here, grandma." Connor told her impatiently eager for her to turn her attentions to him. Joyce's jaw dropped and Buffy instinctively winced.

:

Willow sighed into her cappuccino and shut the book with a thump, she was sitting at a café on the corner of Thirty-Third and Belle View, waiting for Oz to finish his band practice and meet her, she'd brought a couple of books on the prophecies but she wasn't having any luck at all. Flicking through the next text she glanced at the photograph of Kaitlyn she was using as a bookmark, it wasn't the one from the CCTV but one Angel had shown them, from when they had briefly met in bohemian Paris just under a hundred years before. She was certainly exceptionally beautiful but there was a coldness in her eyes worse than any she had seen at the Council, she'd managed to track her fairly well through history so far, most references to her where from Europe, there was tell of her in ancient Greece and pagan England, and occasionally as far out as the Middle East and North Africa.

Tracking her was simple really, where photographs or drawings where available, as the girl was always a variation on the same dark hair and pale skin. Most often she had died before she hit her early twenties and she never married or had children, though she was occasionally linked as the cause of various divorces. The name Angelus had given them, Kaitlyn O'Connor was the one and only time Willow could find she'd been married - to a local farmer. She was born in Galway in Ireland, and years later she had been the first victim of the vampire Angelus along with the rest of her family.

The Paris picture was parallel to a passage in the Quortan Chronicles, the author, a Monk later found slaughtered with his entire Monastery, had clearly spoken extensively with Kaitlyn, though it was clear he hadn't written everything down. It was obvious that she was angry with Angelus for what he had done to that family she had once belonged to, but it seemed more than just grief that drove her, two hundred and fifty years later it would have to be. She didn't want him dead, not really. At least, not so long as he hadn't suffered first.

And Willow was beginning to suspect she knew why.

:

The blood drained out of Joyce's face remarkably quickly, taking a moment she coughed quietly. "A room mate?"

You could say that, Buffy thought wryly, but she bit it back, along with her urge to curl up behind Angel. Or under a bed. "Not exactly."

"But he lives here?" Joyce prodded.

"I do." Angel echoed. Pulling in a breath, Buffy felt her eyes drop to the floor unable to take the cool questioning from her mother.

"Where exactly do you sleep?" She asked quietly.

Buffy's eyes danced up to her mother. Glancing round the room she noted Doyle and Connor had made a hasty departure earlier, though whether they had actually left or whether they where hiding out in the bathroom was yet to be discovered, dimly she wondered if they did happen to be in the bathroom what they thought of her cleaning job. Dropping Angel's hand, she took a step closer to Joyce. "With me."

"How… I mean…" Joyce trailed off again. "What the hell are you thinking of Buffy?!" She finally yelled. "You ask to stay with your father, when really you where intending to shack up with some creep?!"

"He's not." Buffy said calmly.

"And what does your father think of this?" Joyce ravelled oblivious, "probably thinks it's dandy. Have a kid, Buffy, he might raise your allowance-"

"How the fuck should I know?" Buffy shot back. "I haven't seen him in two years!"

"Well, unless he decides that…" Joyce trailed off. "What?"

:

Willow smiled as Oz took a seat at the table across from her. "How was practice?" She asked brightly.

Oz shrugged. "lead, drums no base, same as every practice." His lip twitched a little as he watched Willow flick though the books in front of her anxiously, her fingers playing with the corner of the picture of the Kaitlyn. "Find anything?"

"Lots. Nothing we can use." Picking up a text from the corner of the table, Oz flicked through the pages. Pausing he studied the page in front of him for half a second before glancing up at Willow.

"Anything I can do?"

Willow's eyes widened, and impatiently pushing his arm of the book she span it around to face her. "Oh god…" she whispered. "You found it…"

:

"Joyce…" Angel started.

"That's Mrs Summers to you."

Angelus' eyes flashed yellow. "Mrs Summers." He ground out. "Your daughter has been raising herself the last two years, she is beyond capable of making her own decisions, whether they involve me or not."

"Whatever my bastard ex has done, Buffy you are still a child, if Hank is gone then you are coming home with me." Joyce rounded on Angel. "And if you even think of coming after us…"

Angelus laughed hollowly. "Don't even think you can threaten me."

"The law is on my side." She hissed.

Angelus opened his mouth to reply, but with a gentle movement Buffy silenced him, Stepping between her mother and lover Buffy faced her mother. "No it's not."

"Your still a minor Buffy, in case you've forgotton."

Buffy let one hand flutter over her skirt. "I may be a minor but I've lived alone for two years, in the courts eyes it's reasonable grounds for reinstating myself as an adult instead of a minor."

"W-What?"

"I can sue you for custody of me." Buffy reiterated.

"For…" Joyce glanced hopelessly around the room for a moment before her eyes settled on Angelus. "You! This is your fault!"

"I went and got the papers yesterday, Angel didn't know anything about it." Buffy stepped back from her mother. "I'm sorry, but I can't deal with this right now."

"Because it's always the end of the world with teenagers, it's always too much to talk to your mom!" Joyce shot back, "all you're doing is proving that you're still a child to me."

"I haven't had the liberty of being a child in a very long time."

TBC...

Hey guys, I've been on holiday hence my non-postage, but I did finally write the dreaded Joyce scene. I'm… uncertain about it. There may be more, more details will be revelled but I think that's all for the real-time conversation here.

Anybody miss me? Weasy