A/N: I figured I would add another update since I wasn't able to last night. There will only be one more chapter after this and then I will post the sequel the following day. That's if you would be interested in a sequel, let me know.

Chapter 12.

When Buffy and Faith entered the hotel they were both covered in black slime. Cordelia and Willow opened their mouths to say something but were cut off when both Slayers growled "Not a word" before heading straight for the stairs. Angel, Connor and Dawn followed the Slayers inside. Dawn and Connor were trying not to laugh, while Angel had a pained expression on his face.

"What happened?"

This only caused Dawn and Connor to crack up laughing as Angel threw himself in the chair. "They ruined my car" He mumbled abjectly.


Once the girls had showered and washed their hair repeatedly they made a re-entrance downstairs. "Remind me never to follow your instructions again Wes, that was disgusting." Faith said shuddering again at the thought.

"I have to agree, that was worse than the bezoar incident, do you have any idea what that stuff was?" Buffy asked throwing herself in a chair.

Wesley mumbled something not even her Slayer hearing could pick up. "What?"

Wesley sighed. "It was the liquefied insides of the demon, that was how the spell worked. It was slowly recreating the demon, if the orb had continued growing eventually it would have formed the leader demon. So it was a good thing you stopped it." He finished with a hopeful grin only to cringe back at the glare coming from the Slayers.

"Any y'all want pizza?" Fred asked loudly trying to change the subject.

The three woman who had returned from the fight immediately got sickened looks on their face while Connor jumped up and reached for the box.

"How can you eat that?" Dawn asked trying to settle her stomach.

With a mouth full of pizza Connor turned to her quizzically. "Why wouldn't I?"

Dawn just rolled her eyes.


Meanwhile Buffy had noticed Angel had disappeared and wandered into the kitchen to look for him. She found him at the sink drinking what she assumed to be a container of blood.

"I think it's time we had that talk, don't you" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Angel gulped down the last of his blood. He knew this was coming sooner or later, he was just hoping for later. Slowly he nodded his head and motioned for her to follow him to his office.

Buffy shut the door and turned to face him. "Dad?"

Angel sighed and leaned against his desk. "Yes Connor is my son"

"You mean you adopted?"

"No, he's my blood Buffy,"

Her head spinning she sat down in one of the chairs "How is that possible?"

"No one's really sure, there was a prophecy, a child born of two vampire's would aid in the coming apocalypse, we're still trying to figure out the specifics."

"Why didn't you tell me, all this time and you never said a word" She thought for a moment. "Two vampires, whose his mother."

"Darla, and there just wasn't a perfect time, what was I supposed to do, call you while you were dealing with Glory? While you were dead or while you were trying to recover from being ripped out of heaven, when would you liked me to have told you?" He said a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"How about anytime over the three years you lived in Sunnydale, I'm sure there would have been over a hundred chance's for you to tell me you had a son" She retorted.

Angel looked confused for a moment. "Buffy, Conner was only born last year."

Buffy looked at him incredulously. "Angel, I may be blonde but I'm not stupid, that kid's at least 18."

Angel smiled in understanding. "Buffy, Connor was only born last year, he was kidnapped and raised in a hell dimension, time runs differently there, as we both already know, he was only gone a month here but when he returned he was a teenager."

Buffy let out a little "oh" and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry... wait a minute, if he was only born last year that means you and Darla..." She trailed off again.

Angel sighed. "Wolfram and Hart brought her back, they used her and Drusilla to mess with my head and as much as it pains me to admit it, they succeeded. I went a little nuts for awhile, fired my friends, set Darla and Drusilla on fire-"

"Ahhh" Buffy said in understanding, at Angel's questioning look she explained. "Drusilla came to Sunnydale last year, she kinda had scars all over her face and arms, that explains where they came from."

Angel nodded. "Anyway I was at my lowest point and ended up sleeping with Darla. It wasn't perfect happiness like it was with you, it was utter despair, it snapped me out of the funk I was in. I came crawling back to my friends, and after a lot of sucking up, and a lot of clothes for Cordelia"

Buffy laughed at that and muttered something about 'things never changing' but Angel ignored her and continued.

"But eventually they forgave me, things were quiet for awhile, then Darla comes back 9 months pregnant. We had a bit of a run in with a vampire clan wanting to worship that baby, and an old enemy of ours coming back to kill us. I remember we were out in the rain and the baby was dying, a vampire's body wasn't made to carry a child, so in the end Darla staked herself and there was Connor just lying in her dust. Everything was ok though till Connor was about 2 months old he was kidnapped" He didn't feel the need to tell her about Wesley being responsible, they'd already dealt with that and moved on. "There was kinda a standoff, Holtz had him, a demon had a portal opened and Wolfram and Hart had guns pointed at him. If I had of done anything they would have shot him, so Holtz jumped into the portal, Wolfram and Hart left, no longer interested and the Demon closed the portal and disappeared before I could get to him. I searched for a way to find him for a month and next thing I know there's a portal opening in the middle of the lobby and a teenage boy jumps out points a stake shooter at me and says 'Hello dad'. Things were strained, he'd been raised to hate me and he did, it took awhile but I managed to get him to talk to me, and hear what I had to say and were working on a real father-son relationship now"

He was so lost in the memories that he barely felt Buffy's arms surround him in a comforting embrace. He just held her for a moment and let the feelings wash over him before pulling back and wiping the few stray tears that had fallen down her cheeks. "Hey, it's ok now though, everything's fine."

"I know" She whispered. "I just wish I could've been there for you."

"I know." He replied. "But I was ok, I had Cordy there she pulled me through."

Buffy looked him in the eye. "You really love her don't you?" She asked seriously.

Angel nodded. "Yeah I do. I cant explain it, it's like you once told me, it's different from what we had, and though you'll always own a piece of my heart..." He trailed off.

Buffy smiled and sat back down in the chair. "I know exactly what you mean, you will always be my first love, but we've now moved on and found love again."

Angel looked up sharply. "You have a new boyfriend?"

Buffy's eyes widened at her slip. "NO!" she exclaimed before looking down. "I don't know, maybe, it's not something I wanna dwell on right now, but there is someone in my heart, let's just leave it at that"

Angel nodded slowly deciding he didn't really wanna know anyway. He may have moved on but it didn't mean he didn't still care for her a great deal or liked the idea of a new man in her life. "Ok"

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about on the phone?"

Angel looked confused for a moment before remembering their conversation the previous day. "Oh no, that was about a job offer, I guess you don't really need it right now unless your still interested?"

"Sure, Dad's money isn't gonna last forever and I really don't wanna have to go back to something like the Doublemeat six months from now. What's your offer?"

Angel stood up and walked around his desk and sat in his chair. "I was thinking maybe you'd like to open up a branch of A.I in Sunnydale, I realize there's not as many people there as their is in L.A, but you could probably cater to the surrounding town's as well. I still own the mansion, so you could turn that into the office's. There's enough room to put some cages in the basement, you have the bedrooms to place anybody in that might need protection, there's also the training room." He looked up at her. "It's just a thought, that way if there's any demon emergency's or apocalypse type stuff you wouldn't need to come up with excuses like you would in a normal job, plus there's also the added bonus of also allowing the rest of the group to work. I know Xander and Anya already have a job, but Willow and Tara might like the added income, and from what I've heard Dawn is turning out to be quite a good researcher, she might also like an afternoon job. What do you think?"

Buffy sat in silence, she couldn't help but think this was the most she'd heard Angel speak ever. Shaking herself she got back to the topic at hand. "But we do the job anyway."

"Yes, this way you would get paid for it, I'm not saying charge everyone that you help, but there are other circumstances too. For example we once had a client who was getting blackmailed with pictures, now this guy hadn't really done anything illegal but the person responsible was using demons. Cases like that are the type you charge for because it's not life threatening, but they also couldn't get help from anywhere else."

"I get the point, I'll have to talk to the others about this" She looked down at her watch and saw that it was close to 11pm. "We better get on the road, but I will call you about this and let you know."

"That's fine, but about driving back to Sunnydale, I think you should wait till morning, It's been a long day for Dawn, and you if you had to work all day, why don't you spend the night here and head off after a good night's sleep. You can share Dawn's room and there's a spare room in the suite for Willow."

She stifled a yawn, mention of a bed made her suddenly realize how tired she actually was. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." He smiled at her. "It really is good to see you again Buffy."

She leaned over and hugged him. "You too Angel."

Together they walked out into the lobby to find only Wesley. "Where'd everyone go?" Angel asked.

Wesley looked up. "Oh uh, Fred and Gunn went home, Faith went to shower again, I think Connor's in the kitchen and Cordelia insisted Willow, Dawn and Buffy should spend the night after both girls had yawned quite a few times and sent them to bed before heading there herself. I was just putting these research book away before I was gonna head out myself." He placed the last stack on the shelf before turning back to face them. "Is there anything else you need?"

Angel shook his head. "No thanks Wes, you go home and get some rest"

"I will" He grabbed his keys off the table. "Goodnight Angel, goodnight Buffy"

"Night Wes" Buffy replied.

"Goodnight Wesley, I'll see you tomorrow" Angel looked to Buffy "You go up to bed, it's the third door on the left. I'm gonna find Connor and head up myself."

Giving Angel a smile she nodded and headed for the stairs. "Night Angel"

"Sleep tight Buffy"

Entering the room Buffy opened the first door and saw Dawn asleep on the bed, shutting it quietly she opened the next one and saw Willow also asleep. Deciding she'd talk to her in the morning she went back to the room she would share with Dawn. Careful not to wake her sister she climbed into next to her and fell quickly to sleep.

End Chapter 12.