I am so sorry this took me so long. I hope you can forgive me! But I lost the whole first draft of Chapter 4 because my computer went crazy a few weeks ago and so I had to write it anew. This is the first part of Part 4. Enjoy and take it for a Christmas treat. Have a great day.

FIC: The Driving Lesson (4a/4)

Author: Jill Disclaimer: nope, not mine, never will be; if I could I'd claim Angel though *g* Rating: R Pairing: B/A Category: Angst, Romance, Drama - all the good stuff Feedback: oh yes, please send it to Connemara.Scarlets@t-online.de Spoilers: none really, this is complete AU

My most humble thanks go to my beta-readers, Jade, Kay and Kristen. You rock girls!!!

I got the idea for this fic by - go figure - a Slash-story. It's called "Sleep While I Drive" by Jenn ( - the story is Clex (Smallville), just to warn you. If you are a fan of Clex - read it now. It's phenomenal.)

The first thing I did was call Willow (thank God I still had Angel's cell). As soon as she heard my voice, she began to babble like crazy and I did my best to calm her down. When she finally stopped talking, I told her that I was already on my way home, and there was no need for Xander to pick me up. She was relieved because even though she'd tried her best, she hadn't managed to get a hold of him. I assured her that I was fine and that I'd call her as soon as I got home.

That done, I shoved the phone in my pocket, and concentrated on the road ahead of me. There was no traffic and the car went like a dream. I paid special attention to the speed limit. No way I wanted to end up in jail for driving without a license. My mother would have a fit, and probably ground me for the rest of my natural life, despite the fact that I was legally an adult. And I could just see Greg giving me that 'look' he seemed to have down pat.

Shit!

There I go again. Greg. Why the hell did everything always have to end up about him? It was Angel's fault. Simple as that, for forcing me to see the guy as a person, a caring brother, instead of an intruder into our not-so- happy home. The problem was, I hadn't lied to Angel. I didn't hate Greg. Not really. Not at all, actually. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of my Mom with another man.

True, she'd been dating since the split, but none of them ever stuck around long. It was all very casual. They went out for dinner, one or two even spent the night, and even though the thought of what happened behind her bedroom door made me want to lose my breakfast, I could live with that. Some of them were even nice, like Henry, the divorced lawyer from New York who'd been in town for a prolonged weekend. Liking Henry was never a problem because I knew he would leave eventually.

But then Greg turned up. Greg Henderson, with his charming smile, kind, warm eyes and perfect manners that attracted Mom like no one else before him. And I hated him. Not hated, hated, but still. Because I knew in my heart that he wouldn't leave after a few weeks. No, I saw the way Mom looked at him, and worse, I saw the way he looked at her. All my alarm bells were ringing. Dawn, the unfaithful little sister, had a crush on him. At first. But when she also figured out that Greg wasn't going away anytime soon, she went into full defense mode, which gave me an unexpected ally, and Mom a whole new set of troubles.

Both the Summers daughters disliked her new man with a passion.

Looking back, I realize that we behaved like shit. We did everything we could to make her life a living hell. We refused to have dinner with Greg in the house. We came up with all sorts of excuses to not be home when he was there. We were brats to the max. Pure and simple. We were the daughters from hell, and somehow my Mom still tried to get us to at least accept the man she'd fallen for.

God - I can't believe we behaved like such total monsters.

And she still loved us. The way a MOM is supposed to. She never wavered, not once.

I thought of Angel and what he had said about my mother needing to be happy, and that she would be willing to sacrifice her happiness for us, if we asked her to. He was right. She probably would. She'd send Greg away if we insisted. And still be alone when Dawn and I are long gone, leading our own lives.

I frowned to myself and for the first time wondered if I really had the right to force her into making that kind of decision. Was I really that spoiled? Or was I merely afraid of losing my one, remaining parent, of having another parent reject Dawn and me and turn to someone else? Damn, if I just knew what to do.

The strange noises and the fumes coming from underneath the hood, however, interrupted my musing like nothing else could have.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, then clapped a hand over my mouth only to remember that Mom wasn't around to yell at me about my language. "What in hell is wrong with you?" I asked the car, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel.

I decided that stopping was the right thing to do and when I spotted a picnic area about hundred yards ahead I pulled in and killed the engine. It went out with a little, weird sputtering noise that didn't sound very healthy at all. Not that I knew the first thing about cars, mind, but I had enough common sense to know that weird, sputtering noises were not supposed to come from the engine.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "Maybe I should take a look. Now, how do I open the damn thing?"

I looked around for some kind of operating instructions, but then I remembered the whole classic thing, which probably meant the car was old and didn't come with operating instructions. Unfortunately the highway wasn't busy either. I'd only seen one car since I'd left Angel at the diner.

Angel!

For the first time I thought about him and the fact that I'd left him stranded in the middle of nowhere. Well, not quite nowhere. There were other people, and cars, and a public phone, since I'd also taken his cell, so he'll find a way back. I think. I hoped. Oh, God, I really, really hoped. Even though I was still really angry with him for meddling and betraying me, I didn't want him to be lost. But then, people like Angel didn't get lost. By now he'd probably found some bimbo who'd offered him a ride. I ignored the painful squeeze I felt around my heart at that thought.

Besides, why should I care whether a bimbo picked him up? He wasn't anything to me anyway. Just some very, very good looking, very hot, very sexy, very . shit. And he could even be nice sometimes. Very, very nice actually. I thought about his lips and the softness of his mouth and his skin, and I wanted to turn the car around, race back to the diner at the speed of light, and pick him up, even if I had to tear him from the claws of some bosomy blonde.

Okay, so yes, he'd deceived me and lied to me, but it was all for a good cause, right? If I thought about it, he'd done it out of love, and how can you be angry with someone who did things out of love? I'd done things I wasn't really proud of in the name of love. Behaving badly towards Greg, not allowing my Mom to find some happiness that was hers alone. Compared to that, Angel's actions were pretty tame.

The problem was, however, that it wasn't just Angel who was stranded now. I was stranded, too. Well, kind of anyway. I was sitting in a car that made strange, weird noises. Noises even I recognized as not being of the good, and I had the feeling that Angel would not be so fast at forgiving me if I ruined his car. After all, it was a classic! Obviously well looked after.

Since it didn't look as if help was coming any time soon, and I knew absolutely no one I could call for help, I started to look around in the car. Maybe I'd find something, anything, that could give me a clue about to what to do. I was so busy rummaging around that I didn't hear the car pulling in behind me, and I was somewhere underneath the steering wheel when I heard a voice.

"I wonder if she's looking for the Easter bunny down there?"

A man's voice. A very familiar man's voice.

"Greg? Ouch!" I hissed when I hit the back of my head on the wheel. "What on earth are you doing here?" I looked up, right into Greg's eyes. And then a sudden, truly horrible thought hit me, "Please don't tell me you have Mom with you?" I'd be completely humiliated, and probably grounded for weeks, if not years. True, I was eighteen, but the whole concept of having a grown-up daughter hasn't yet reached my mother. For her I'm her little Buffy - and I still will be "her little Buffy" even when I'm a mother myself.

"No, I didn't bring Joyce," he said, smiling slightly as he turned to look at someone behind him.

Not my mother. Thank God. I managed to smile back at him.

"No, he didn't bring your mother. He came to pick me up."

Angel.

I wanted to hide. No. Better yet, I wanted to die. Now. Immediately. On the spot. Or maybe the earth would open up and swallow me. But no, the earth never does that when you really need it to. Never did. Whenever I totally humiliate myself it always manages to stay nice and calm.

Slowly crawling from underneath the steering wheel, I gave the man I'd deserted at the diner the brightest smile I could muster. "Oh, hi, Angel. What a surprise to see you here."

"Yeah," he replied, slowly coming closer to the car. "What a surprise."

"How . uh . I mean, how did you two meet?"

Angel gave me a funny look, as if he was wondering if I'd suddenly gone insane since I'd left him standing in the parking lot, before he said, "We're brothers, Buffy. You know that."

"Oh!" I laughed, it sounded a little hysterical - actually, it sounded a lot hysterical - like I'd just escaped from the mental hospital - and cleared my throat. "Uh .ah . Yes, I know. What I meant ... ah . was . I mean, how did Greg know where you were?"

That funny look again. "I called him?"

"Right." Another laugh bubbled up. God, maybe the earth would open up and swallow me after all? "A telephone. A public telephone I guess."

"Yes," Angel said slowly, exchanging a look with his brother. "Did you hit your head hard, Buffy?"

"What?" What was he talking about. Oh, right, I'd hit my head. I rubbed the slightly sore spot, "No. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm just .," I flooded bright red, "so terribly sorry I left you there. I behaved like a total spoiled brat. Again."

"Actually, I think you did fine, given the circumstances." That from Greg, who shot his brother a nasty look. "I knew you wanted to help. But did you actually think kidnapping her would do the trick? She can be extremely stubborn."

"I am not stubborn!" I can be a little thick headed sometimes, but stubborn was exaggerating things, certainly.

"Believe me. She's just like her mother."

"Hey, you're supposed to love my Mom. You should defend her." I sounded outraged - and I was. It was my Mom the man was talking about. The woman he insisted he was in love with.

"Oh, I love her, don't worry," Greg said, laughing a bit. "Her stubbornness is just one of her finer qualities."

"You stole my car," Angel said, his eyes hard. "I could have you arrested."

Right. I had almost forgotten that he was a cop. "Arrest me?" I squeaked. Yes, I actually squeaked. And believe me, it was embarrassing. I never squeak. Never. But the idea of being arrested - by Angel of all people - did it for me. On the other hand, being arrested by Angel could be kind of fun .

Quickly suppressing thoughts that I had absolutely no right to be thinking at that moment -- after all, I *had* stolen his car, I gave him another 100 watt smile. "You wouldn't really do that, would you? I'm not a bad person. Actually I'm usually very nice. Really. And I didn't steal your car. I had every intention of returning it when I got home."

"And why aren't you?" he asked.

Huh? "What?"

"Why aren't you home?"

Time to confess. "Ah . the car kind of made funny noises." I winced, when I saw Angel immediately go pale.

"What did you do to my car?" he demanded, anxiously looking it over. "What happened?"

"There was . a smell . and . ah . fumes."

"Fumes and a smell?" he sounded as if I'd just run over his favorite puppy. "Do you realize that I restored this car all by myself."

Greg cleared his throat loudly.

".with a little help from relatives," Angel admitted. "But it took a lot of time and a heap of money to get it back on the road."

"As you can see, he's a little protective when it comes to his car," Greg told me with a grin. It was a nice grin, and for the first time I found myself liking him. I mean really liking him. Right at that moment I didn't care if he was my mother's lover - even though just the thought of that made me shudder - or even my future step-daddy. He was just a nice man.

Who surely would protect me from Angel's wrath.

"So, Greg," I said, my smile spreading. "It was quite a surprise to find out that you and Angel were brothers."

"Yeah. I can guess." He grinned and looked at his brother who'd disappeared under the hood. "Buffy, listen," he turned back to me. "I'm really sorry about this . whole thing. I'm sorry he kidnapped you."

"I didn't kidnap her," came the muffled protest from under the hood.

". but his car isn't the only thing he tends to get protective about." I heard the warmth in his voice, the love he felt for his brother, and for a moment I truly envied them. Greg and Angel. Dawn and I are never like this, and probably never will be. I'm not sure why. It isn't like I hate my sister. But she can be such an annoying brat sometimes that it's really hard to feel any sisterly love. My Mom says it's just her age, that I'd behaved just like Dawn when I was fourteen.

I strongly deny that! I was never like Dawn.

"Tell him I didn't kidnap you!" Angel came up from under the hood and glared first at his brother than at me. "I'm a cop. I don't kidnap people. I rescue them."

I sighed. Maybe it was time for another admission. "No, he didn't really kidnap me. I went willingly."

"I thought so," Greg replied, grinning. He was enjoying the whole situation.

"Are you laughing at us?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes.

"No," he said, biting his lower lip. "I wouldn't dare."

"He laughed himself silly," Angel bit out, "when I told him what had happened. He said it was just like me to get dumped by a beautiful girl in the middle of nowhere."

"I never dumped a guy before," I confessed. Then his words sank in, and I stared at Greg, wide-eyed, "Do you really think I'm beautiful?"

"You are your mother's daughter," Greg replied, smiling warmly.

And I melted. Melted. Yeah, I know, another embarrassing moment. But I did. I swear. I felt like hot fudge. "Wow," I breathed.

"Don't listen to him. He's always been a charmer," Angel snapped.

Was that jealousy in his voice? Hmmm. "Didn't you just spend hours trying to convince me that he was the best man my mother could get?"

"You said that?" Now it was Greg's turn to stare - at his brother. "You actually said that?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Thanks, little brother."

"You're welcome."

By then I was beginning to feel a little left out. "Hey, guys."

"What?"

"What? You want to know what you did to my car?" Another glare - this time at me. Oh boy.

"Is it bad?"

He sighed, "Bad enough. But it'll survive."

I tried for my best smile, "Great."

"But you're still gonna pay for the repairs."

I nodded vigorously, "Sure. Don't worry. My Dad gave me a lot of money for Christmas last year."

"You'd actually let a girl pay for repairing your car?" Greg stared at his brother, "With money she got from her dad?"

"Stop playing the guilt card," Angel snapped. "It's all her fault. She pays. Nobody told her to steal my car."

"Angel-"

"No," I interrupted. "He's right. I should be the one to pay. And it's not as if I care about the money. Besides, Dad has more than enough."

to be continued .