"Buffy!" Dawn leapt at her sister as she came out of the room and made her way to where their friends and family were sitting. "Oh, Buffy." She got pulled into a tight, bone-cracking hug by her younger sister.
"Dawnie..." I can't loss him. But that part she kept to herself. They don't need a basket case on their hands, I've gotta be strong.
"Where are-?"
"Phedra and Bry are with A-Angel. He just woke up, and he wanted to explain it to them. Maybe I should go back-"
"No, if he wants to do this, let him." Dawn told her. Buffy didn't need to say anything, but she knew what Dawn didn't say, but had thought it. Let him, 'cause he won't be around for long. The mere thought was making Buffy feel sick. She made her way past her sister and sat down in a chair. Dawn didn't follow, but walked over to her own husband how was standing a fair way up the hall next to the coffee machine.
"Hi, Buffy," said Cordelia, Buffy took a lingering look at the brunette. She'd been crying, have they all cried?
"Hi. Where's Xander?"
"At school picking all the kids up, he and Oz offered."
Buffy nodded, she didn't really have a response to that.
"I know that everyone asks all those stupid questions that you don't want to answer," said Cordelia. "But are you and the girls hungry?"
Buffy continued to look at the brunette. She's come along way. Buffy thought, in middle school and high school she was the mega-bitch, but then she tried to hit on Angel back in sophomore and when Angel refused, Xander was there to be annoying and rub the rejection in Cordelia's and he and Cordy ended up that day in a closet. And ever since then, they've been inseparable and got married during college. She's become nice.
"I am a bit, and the girls haven't eaten in hours. But you know what the-"
"Food's crappy here, I know." She flashed Buffy a smile, "and that's why me, Willow and Dawn are going to get food from someplace else."
"That'd be good."
"Sure, I'm just gonna tell Will and Dawn that we're going." She turned to leave, but then stopped and slowly again faced the blonde. "Cate's here. she's in the bathroom right now, and Ryan's on his way. We rung them all and..." but she never finished.
"It's okay. They need to be here."
"Yeah, but are you ready to talk to her?"
"No. I'm not, but she is A-Angel's sister and she deserves to be here as much as I do. Same with Ryan, he and Cate may not be married yet, but he is a part of this family."
"Okay, I'll see you later."
Buffy nodded and Cordelia Harris walked away. Buffy didn't move from the horrible chair, she suddenly didn't have any energy left in her and that scared her most of all. I have to be here for my daughters, they're so young and can't have a mother that can't look after them. I have to be strong and not get tired or sleepy, hungry or thirsty and I can't cry in front of them.
"Buffy." Came a new, but familiar voice. Buffy looked into the young woman's eyes, her eyes not like Angel's at all, but a striking grey colour, they normally looked alive, but now, they looked dead and haunting.
"Hi, Cate."
(page break)
"Yo, Oz?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think we should ring Buffy's parents?"
"And tell them what exactly?"
"I don't know, but they live really far away and they should know about Angel."
"You know Buffy doesn't talk to them."
"Yeah I know."
"And you know that they hate Angel."
"Yeah, but Buffy's gonna need more than just us."
"Not meaning to be selfish, but we've all been here for each other since middle school, for some of us it was prep school. Maybe we don't need them to be here for Buffy, we can look after her and the girls ourselves."
"I don't know, Oz. Buffy and Angel love each other more than the rest of us put together, I mean, come on, they had the big forbidden love: her parents hate him, his parents hate her parents, and everyone said they wouldn't last, it was young love that you got over, but never forgot."
"They never got over it."
"No, they didn't. Instead after high school they got married and Bryony was born a year later."
"And Phedra three years after that."
"what am I going to say to her? Sorry. But that seems stupid, 'cause of course I'm sorry, but it isn't gonna help."
"And you think that maybe Joyce and Rupert will?"
"Maybe. It doesn't matter that none of us beside Dawn has spoken to them in the past 11 years, or that they despise Angel and think that he's stolen their daughter's life, or that they live only a few hours away-"
"Is there a point?"
"Yes, they should know. Because she is their oldest child, and her husband is dying."
"I'm still having a hard time believing that this is really happening."
"I'm with you there."
"You've been handling this well, you guys know him better than me. I only got my self into this mess of a family seven years ago."
"Well, Cor's being real quiet, Willow's been crying, Dawn keeps asking how Buffy is, Seth is trying to be there for Dawn, Cate is losing it and Ryan is trying to deal with her, you aren't saying much as usual and Buffy..."
"I know what you mean."
"The point is, I think I have to be the grow-up in all this, I have to talk and listen and be the one who'll say the right thing. I suck at that, but Angel is one of my best friends and I'm gonna look after Buffy and the girls if it's the last thing I do."
"That'll make him happy."
"We should talk to him when we get back, you know, say our goodbyes."
"Yeah, I think we should."
Just then, they'd pulled up into the car park of the elementary school to pick up his daughter Lissabelle, then they would go to the prep school and pick up Nathan, Will and Oz's son and then Doyle, his own son. The other kids were with mostly neighbours, but Xander's other son, Jared who was only one, was with Cordelia's sister Faith.
"I'll go get her."
"Good, she's your daughter. I wasn't gonna do it."