A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews. Keep them a' coming :)
"What the...it's cold!" Sarai exclaimed, as she and Ryan were laying in a snow covered street, with more snow coming down. "And there's snow."
Standing up, and brushing snow off him, Ryan spoke, "this must've been the year where Sunnydale got the freak Christmas snow, I remember hearing about it on the news. I was ssssooooo jealous."
Sarai giggled as she joined her boyfriend in a standing position, "hee, snow is cool. I am mad it hasn't snowed in LA. I want it to snow when I get back. There must be some kinda spell too..."
"What? Are you kidding me?" Ryan interrupted. "After all this is happening, you are going to continue to mess around with magic to entertain yourself?"
Sarai shrugged, "well, you know what they say, if at first you don't succeed, try again. Plus, you know, there's a lot of crap on TV as of late, I need some form of entertainment." The teenagers simultaneously picked up handfuls of snow, molded it into snowballs, and threw them at each other. This continued for a good five minutes. "Okay, I am getting really cold and kinda damp now, let's stop," Sarai suggested.
"Good idea."
"Well, duh. You said that like I have bad ones sometimes."
"I'm not even going there."
"Well, well, as weird as all this time travel is, at least the powers are doing us a favoring by timing it right," Sarai said, pointing at two people walking down another street.
"It's your dad and Buffy. It's your dad and Buffy...and there's snow...Sarai, no!"
"Relax, Ryan I'm not going to do anything to them involving the snow. Even though I can think of like twenty things at this very moment," Sarai explained. "But guess what we are going to do?"
"We're going to follow them?"
Sarai smiled, "you get me so well."
Ryan sighed, "don't remind me," he teased. She threw a huge snowball at his head in revenge.
They followed Buffy and Angel all the way to Revello Drive. Buffy and Angel walked up to Buffy's house, and Faith and Joyce were standing outside, observing the snowstorm.
"Some snow," Sarai commented, causing the four to take notice of her and her boyfriend.
The four turned to the teenagers. "Who are you?" Buffy asked.
"Snow teens," Sarai replied with a shrug. "So much better than Frosty, too, I might add." Sarai looked over at her father. He was brooding. But it was more than usual. She didn't like that. "What did you do to him!" she accused.
"What?" everyone but Ryan questioned.
"Excuse her, she's...well...there was thing when she was a baby when her oxygen supply got briefly cut off. And I'm sure you all know that can have life-long affects," Ryan explained, enjoying shocked the facial expression his girlfriend had.
"Oh, you poor dear," Joyce said very sympathetically.
"HaFricken'Ha, Ryan," Sarai snarked. "I'm not crazy. The only thing that happened is that I grew up to have poor judgement in boys," she teased back. "So, anyhoo, enough about me. Let's talk about you guys and the freak snow. What's the deal? I am sure if anyone knows why something weird happened around here, it's you guys."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Faith asked.
"It means you guys handle all the weird that happens in this town, right?"
"How so you know that?"
"Intuition?"
"Try again."
"Alright, we were sent here from another time, and we kinda know about you peoples," Sarai finally explained.
"Cool," Faith said with a nod, before she was once again distracted by the snow. Although she out of all of them, with the exception of Angel, was the most used to snow, it didn't make her appreciate it any less. She loved the snow since she was little and she wasn't about to let the love die.
"Can you go a little more in depth please?" Buffy asked.
"Why don't we take this inside," Joyce suggested as she looked at Ryan and Sarai, "you two don't have coats on and it's cold. Come in and I'll make hot cocoa."
"With marshmallows?" Sarai questioned, her voice sounding as hopeful as a little kid's as they asked for a new toy or puppy.
"Sure," Joyce allowed. Sarai was happy.
'Finally I am getting something very, very good out of this,' Sarai thought as they entered the house.
"You're cold," Angel observed as he acted on the strange urge he had to make sure she was okay.
"Something so many of my wannabe's and enemies have uttered," she replied.
"I didn't mean it..."
"I know. I was kidding. Lighten up. There's snow and supposedly it's Christmas. Be happy! Unless of course Santa tried to disembowel another person you know."
"What?" Angel asked, confused.
"Never mind," Sarai sighed as she went in the living room and joined Ryan and Faith on the sofa.
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Not tiny ones, but not adult ones either. An eleven year old Dawn then appeared. "There's snow people!" she squealed, as she ran past the people in the living room and to her mother in the kitchen. "Mommy, I want to play in it!"
Sarai's face lit up. "It's PreDawn!"
Angel looked at the VCR clock in the Summers' living room, "yeah it is. But's it's not far off. Dawn should start very soon, but I doubt the sun will be out."
Sarai's thrilled face briefly changed to her patented 'my father is just to dorky to understand me' face. "Not what I meant. But I am feeling generous and I'll give you an 'A' for effort, which if you think about it makes so sense at all because 'E' should really be for effort, not 'A'."
"Girl's gotta very good point," Faith stated. Sarai smiled, she enjoyed getting Faith's approval very much.
"Okay, we've got cocoa," Joyce announced as she and Buffy carried the drinks in. Dawn was still asking to go outside, until she saw the teenagers on the sofa.
"Hi! Are you friends of Buffy?" she asked.
"No," Sarai immediately answered before sipping her cocoa. Sarai had a new idol; Joyce Summers. "This is excellent," she complemented as she drank more.
"Why thank you. I melted some actual chocolate and stirred it in, oh and I put a dash of cinnamon in as well. I think there are some Christmas cookies, left if anyone would like."
"I do," Dawn was the first to say, Buffy, Ryan and Faith agreed. Joyce started to head into the kitchen.
"Oh please, you've done enough with the cocoa. Sit, relax. I will get them for you if you tell me where they are," Sarai offered. Ryan was in too much disbelief too talk, move, or even blink. Of course in his time with Sarai he had seen many of her polite acts that she, and every just about teenager, put's on around another peoples parents, but she had taken it to a whole new extreme.
"Well, thank you very much..um..."
"The names Sarai."
"Sarai. They are on the counter. You can't miss them."
Sarai went and got the cookies. When she returned she set them down on the table. "Thank you. It was nice of you to get them," Joyce said.
"It was no biggie. Besides, I am assuming you made them, so why should you serve them too?"
Joyce was pleased by her. "That is so thoughtful."
"Not really. It's the truth. But I appreciate someone saying that about me." Sara replied, glaring at Angel and then at Ryan, who mouthed 'where'd Sarai go?' to her.
"Oh, I am sure you're parents must be so proud that they have such a polite and considerate girl," Joyce commented. Ryan fought the urge to laugh hysterically.
"Well, you know, I just believe in doing what I can for others. Especially parents, since they do so much all the time for the kids." At this point, Ryan had to excuse himself and go outside to laugh.
"This just proves my theory that not all teenage girls are inconsiderate of their parents. Buffy, you could learn a lot from this girl."
Buffy was a miffed, and Sarai was thrilled. 'Dude, that sssooo wasn't what I was going for but I am sure glad it happened!' she thought before she turned her attention to Angel. "Are you okay?" she asked, sensing some serious stress vibes coming off him. He shrugged. "Oh come on, don't be all silent and broody. It's like Christmas and stuff. Christmas time is happy time," she added, making her voice sound so painfully cheery she considered getting rid of her vocal cords.
Despite his distress and the events that had taken place that night, he laughed slightly at the girl in front of him. He didn't know why, what she said wasn't funny, and yet, there was something enrapturing about her.
"Damn girl, you got the magic touch. I didn't think he could do that," Faith said, regarding Angel's laugh.
"Yuppers, Angel's like, sad and broody, and hardly ever laughs with Buffy. Even before he went evil," Dawn pointed out.
"Dawn!" Buffy and Joyce exclaimed.
"Sorry. I have cookie's in front of me. I wasn't thinking about how I can't mention the vampire thing around other people."
"The cookie effect is a powerful one. You can never judge someone by their actions under the cookie effect," Sarai informed everyone, trying to protect her future best friend. After all, Dawn was the one who explained the cookie effect to her to begin with, so it was the least she could do.
"Exactly!" Dawn agreed at the same time Ryan reentered the room.
"And as for the vamp thing, I already know. Remember, I said I knew you peoples handled all the weird?" Sarai reminded everyone, and then she turned to Angel, "but your not weird because you're a vampire."
"Thank you," Angel sarcastically replied.
"You're weird for two-hundred-seventy-three other reasons." Everyone stared at her. "What? Don't look at me like I am exaggerating, cause I'm not. I have a list that could prove it, but it's not with me at the moment."
Ryan snorted, "oh yeah, I forgot about that list."
"You have a list of reasons why I'm weird?" Angel questioned.
Sarai nodded. "But not just that. I have many lists. I have one about why you're uncool, and one about why you have no taste in music, and there's one about..."
"Okay, you have a lot of lists about me. I get it. But, why?"
"Ah yes, that brings me to my list of things to do to keep myself busy since a certain father has this wacked-out theory that I shouldn't be allowed out past eleven on the weekends, unless I have 'adult supervision.' The whole point of going out is to get away from the adult supervision, and yet, it's like that totally doesn't matter."
"She's ba-ack," Ryan muttered happily.
"Like my pain and suffering over the whole having to stay home and watch Saturday Night Live, be a painful empty shell of what it used to be back in the old days, hell, from the reruns they show on cable it was watchable until Will Ferrell left and they got someone bad to play Bush. But really, it was the Clinton years and the first few seasons, that are the best reruns. And I am not even counting damn lip-synching scandals, that you're forced to hear talked about over, and over, and over again with no escape from it for weeks, either. Damn you, Ashlee Simpson, damn you! Damn you straight to the hardcore Britney Spears and Nixon hell!"
"You done?" Ryan asked.
"Completely. Man, that felt good to get out. So, where was I?"
"And you want me to be like her?" Buffy commented.
"Buffy, that is not nice. She was obviously troubled by this Ashlee girl. And she still has manners despite her problems."
"Back to why you have lists about me," Angel said, bringing the conversation back to it's starting point. "Why do you? Why do you even think about me at all?"
"Cause if I don't, that could be like parent-neglect or something, duh!." The room was silent. "Oh, before I went into my SNL rant, I forgot to mention that HairVamp was my dad, huh? Sorry about that."
"Excuse me?" Buffy questioned, very unpleased.
"He's my dad, father, daddy, padre, dude that is half responsible for giving me life. Well, okay, that's not actually fair to say since the woman has a much bigger and painful role. So let's call it like thirty-four-percent responsible."
"That..."
"Don't," Sarai said, interrupting her fathers reply, "don't say how that's not possible. I have heard it like a bazillion times since my little travel adventure started. Just believe me. In a few years you have a kid, and best of all, it will be me! As in, you get to have me around all the time. Yeah, it's exciting to think about, right?"
Angel stood up and went outside. Sarai followed him. Buffy stood up went to follow as well, but Ryan got up and blocked the exit. "Let them go," he advised.
"No. No. I have a right to know what's going on," Buffy said.
"Leave them alone," Ryan insisted.
"I can't. I love him. And...I know he loves me."
Ryan shook his head, "it's not the same, Buffy."
Sarai found Angel sitting on the curb with his head in his hands. "Are you okay?" she asked. He shook his head. She sat next to him. "What's wrong? Tell me?"
"It's too much...it's too much," Angel replied. He looked like he was on the verge of crying. Sarai didn't like this.
"What's too much?"
"Everything. Being back...the snow...everything. I don't get it. I just don't get it."
"The snow?" she questioned.
Angel nodded. "Yeah. The snow. It blocked the sunlight. A while ago tonight...I was going to let the sun kill me." Sarai was shocked by this information. "But, the sun didn't come. And Buffy..."
"What did she do to you?" Sarai demanded.
"It wasn't her. She...she helped me, actually. It was them. The people. The voices."
"Okay, you're starting to creep me out. What voices? What happened to you tonight?"
"I let the enemy get to me."
"Which enemy? You tend to have a few."
"The enemy. The ultimate enemy. The first."
Something clicked in Sarai's head. "Oooo. The First. Okay. Yes, I have heard of that. So, it wanted you to kill yourself?"
Angel shook his head, "no. It made me realize I should. That there was no reason to stay. Buffy convinced me otherwise...I think. I'm still not so sure."
"Well, I am. You mister, were not meant to kill yourself. After, it snowed to prevent it! What more do you need?"
"The why. Why am I supposed to live? What is my purpose? What's in store for me?"
"Boy are you ever asking the right person."
"What?"
"Don't you remember what I said like five minutes ago? I am your daughter...in the future. I know exactly what happens to you, and why you were meant to live tonight."
"Really?" he asked in a voice that was so hopeful, it made Sarai feel sorry for him.
'Wow. He's really lost. I've never seen this before. Somehow this is Buffy's fault.' she thought. "Yeah. See, in a few years from now, you are selected to be the father of a special child that is born from two vampires..."
"So I'm going to live to be some pawn?"
"No. And don't interrupt. I hate being interrupted. They didn't use you as a pawn. The powers picked you because you deserve me. And that came out a lot more self-centered than I intended, for once. Let me rephrase. You do some major good. You help people who need help all the time. And you also have a tendency to push people away and keep them at a distance..."
"No I don't."
"What did I just say about interruptions? And yeah, you do. Believe me. So the powers didn't want you to be alone. My guess? They figured they'd keep you alive tonight, so later on they can kill two birds with one stone, which by the by I am against stoning birds because that's mean and cruel, but back to what I was saying, they figured that you'd be the perfect vamp to father their vampkid, because you deserve to have like family and not to be alone."
Angel shook his head, "no, I don't. I don't deserve any rewards or..."
"Oh give it a fricken rest!" Sarai snapped. "Yeah, you did some pretty evil crap for over a hundred years, I'm aware, you're aware, the powers are aware, it's well aware. But ya know what? It wasn't your fault. You didn't have a soul. That's what things without souls do. But now? You have a soul, and you do good. And that's not just the soul because if you watch the news, it's filled out human beings with souls that are rapists, pedophiles, muggers, Michael Jackson, murders, and do just as bad as some vampires. You could've stayed evil, but you didn't. It was like your wake up call or whatever. You answered and you changed. And good behavior should be rewarded."
"So, I really have a family?"
Sarai answered by making a snowball and smashing it over her father's head. "Haven't a said it like a kabillion times?"
Angel, for the first time in a very long time, smiled as he retaliated with a much bigger snowball. "I could ground you for being fresh."
"Haha. If you can't in my time, when I am around annoying you everyday, I seriously doubt you're capable of it now," she explained as they continued their snowball fight.
"What's going on? What are they doing?" Buffy questioned as she and Ryan watched the snowball fight from inside.
"Well, I'm not a genius or anything, but it looks like a snowball fight," Ryan answered, feeling deeply obligated to be sarcastic to her.
"That's not what I meant. Angel was so down tonight. And now...how did she do it? I couldn't do it."
Ryan shrugged, "she's Sarai. She has ways with people. You don't."
"And that's supposed to mean, what?"
"Just that. She's, and if you ever tell her and feed the ego even more I'll make you pay, she's special. Very, very, special."
Later on, Angel insisted that Ryan and Sarai go back to the mansion with him, so they did. While looked around, Angel went to bed, and Sarai went to bother him. "Gonna use Fluffles tonight?" she asked. Angel stared at her. "Don't play dumb," she added as she walked to the one side of his bed and pulled to covers off him to reveal the blankie. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
"Leave me alone. It's been a stressful few days," he meekly answered.
"HEY! I though me kicking your ass with snow de-stressed you?"
"That never happened, because I won."
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not! I won completely. Com-plete-ly!"
"Did too."
"HA! See, I knew you agreed that I won completely," Sarai gleefully replied as Angel mentally slapped himself for falling into that trap. "Okay, not that that's settled, I am going to sleep. Good night daddy," she added, patting him on the head.
"Good night, Sarai. And...thanks."
"No probby."
"This place is tight!" Ryan exclaimed when he and Sarai saw each other in the living room.
"I know."
"And it's huge."
"I know. I keep asking dad to buy a place like this, but he always says no. I wonder why that is? I mean, just imagine the things I could do having a place this size all to myself while dads at work, instead of the penthouse." Sarai paused for a second thinking about what she said, before speaking again. "I just answered my own question, didn't I?"
Ryan nodded, "you really, really, did. But it's good that you admit to being crazy. Admittance is the first step to recovery."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Recovery? Pfft. Never mind, I am the poster girl for denial." They both laughed. "I'm gonna go find a bedroom."
"Yeah me too. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The two parted ways and went found a room to sleep in. Since the bedrooms all had a cold draft due to the freak snowstorm, they ended up sleeping in the living room, with the fireplace going. When they awoke the next morning, they were in the same mansion, in the same room, but it was a very different time.
TBC
A/N: Hope this chapter was enjoyable. Let me know if my hopes came true by reviewing.
Up Next: Angelus.