Chapter Seven

Buffy sat cross legged on her bed biting her thumb nail. It had been three days since her and Angel had fought. Three days and she still didn't know how she was supposed to apologize. This wasn't something that could be fixed with a simple I'm sorry and I'll never do it again. This was huge. The family he had been trying so hard to keep together might suddenly be pulled apart all because of her. Her heart felt like breaking at the mere thought of Kathy being taken away, so she really had no idea how Angel was feeling at the moment. They both knew that when social services came, it wouldn't matter how nice the house looked, or how behaved Kathy was, it all came down to the mother. Angel played the part of the parent in that household but he wasn't even seventeen yet. To the state, it wouldn't matter if Angel was the best parent a kid could ever wish for, he wasn't eighteen yet so therefore he was deemed irresponsible.

In all the time Buffy had known Angel, which in truth really wasn't that long, she had never seen their mother. Not once had she even caught a glance. Both kids didn't speak of her all that much. She was a non existent figure in each of their lives, and frankly, that's the way they were happiest. If only there was a way to make their mother see that she could possibly loose both her children if she wasn't sober. It would only be for an hour or so that she'd have to actually play the role of a mother, but from what she had gathered that one little wish wouldn't happen. She doubted that Angel would even mention anything to her because in his mind it would probably look better to conduct the interview and say that she had been called on business out of town instead of having her there, eyes blood shot and breathe filled highly with the smell of alcohol. In many ways that was true too.

Sighing she flopped back on her pillow and pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn't just sit back and do nothing. This was her fault. Angel was the first true friend she'd had since her mom died and she wasn't going to screw that all up just because she had chosen drugs and alcohol that one day after school instead of the responsibility of others lives. Angel and his little sister were what seemed like the only two good souls left in this godforsaken town and she would do everything in her power to keep it that way.

Angel drove frantically to the preschool. He wasn't late or anything. In fact school hadn't even gotten out yet. But he wasn't about to take anymore chances to piss off the school principal. He'd already done that more times then he could count. When he arrived at the school the bell had just begun to ring. Children poured out of the halls running to their parents or grandparents for hugs and to tell them all about the finger paintings they had done that day. Kathy was among them, but she wasn't alone.

"Look who I found Angel." Kathy yelled excitedly as she clung onto Buffy's hand.

"Kath, get in the car." He locked eyes with Buffy.

"But Angel…"

"Kathy, I said get in the car." In a huff she walked off and climbed in the back seat, crossing her arms into one of her four year old pouts. "Don't you think you've caused enough damage?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Then call me up but don't show up here uninvited. You're no longer allowed around my baby sister."

"Cut the bull shit Angel. You know as well as I do that if I called you'd just hang up on me. Coming here like this was the only way I could talk to you without you making a huge scene."

"What makes you think I won't make a scene?"

"Because Mrs. Kirkland is right over there." She motioned to the top of the steps where the lady stood keeping a particularly wary eye on Angel.

"Fine, you have sixty seconds."

"Angel…" She shook her head. "I know that me saying that I'm sorry really doesn't even count for anything. I know that nothing I do is ever going to truly make up for it especially if Kathy gets taken away."

"Thirty seconds." He said glancing at his watch.

"Damn it Angel! Stop this! Now you have every right to be mad at me but you don't know everything that was going on that day. I'm not saying that any of it is going to make up for the fact that I didn't come and get Kathy, because I know it doesn't, but it's not like I just decided not to pick her up."

"No, instead you decided to go out with whoever the hell that guy was and have a good fuck instead."

"Don't you dare even start with me on that! I'm sixteen years old Angel, I'm allowed to make stupid mistakes!"

"Yeah, you are. But not when it involves my sister! I trusted you Buffy! Do you know how hard it is for me to trust people? I don't really give a damn what you were doing that day, but you could have at least picked up the phone and had the decency to call me." He shook his head, ignoring the many disapproving glances he was getting from the parents around him.

"I'm sorry Angel. You have to know that. I made a stupid decision on my part okay. I was upset. You have no idea what I was going through…."

"How the hell should I?" He yelled. "Buffy, you don't tell me anything. You didn't even give me a reason why you didn't show up. I'm trying to understand all of this but you're really not making things any easier here."

"I wish I could tell you what's going on but I just can't." Tears started gathering in her eyes.

"Why not?"

"Angel, I just can't."

"You can't or you won't" She just looked down at the ground refusing to answer him.

"When are the social services people supposed to come?" She quickly changed the subject.

Angel took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself down. "Day after tomorrow."

She nodded slightly filing that piece of information away. "What about your mom? What does she think of all this?"

He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, looking down towards the ground. "She wants to know if she still gets child support from the state if Kathy's gone."

Buffy gave him a sympathetic look. "Is she even home right now?"

"No. She got a new boyfriend and has been spending her nights shooting up at his place. I almost think it's better off that way. At least she keeps out of our way and she isn't stealing money from us constantly. I just hope she's to drugged up to come home on the day of the interview." Buffy wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to respond to all this. There was never really anything you could say comfortably in these types of situations. "Look, I better get going. I have work tonight and…" He trailed off, not quite sure either what he was supposed to say.

"Yeah, I should be going too." She smiled politely at him and walked off to her own car.

Waiting until he was out of the parking lot she picked her cell phone up and immediately dialed an old yet not forgotten number. "Aimee? Yeah it's me. I'm fine. Look, I kind of need a favor."

"Damn it!" Angel hit the car horn three times trying to get the cars in front of him to move faster. But it was rush hour and no one was going to get out of there on time.

"Angel, I'm hungry." Kathy was in the backseat of the hot little car, close to tears. Angel had been late getting off work. The bar had been so busy that he wasn't able to skip out until ten minutes past the time he should have left. Then when he went to pick up Kathy, his car died on him and he had to wait and get it jumpstarted. Now he and his sister were stuck in traffic, fifteen minutes away from home. This all would have been fine if today wasn't the day that social services showed up.

"We're almost there Kathy. Just a little bit longer." He so was not looking forward to the angry service worker that would be standing outside his home. They had probably arrived there just a few minutes ago and were knocking furiously on his door at this very moment. He just prayed though that his mom wasn't there. He'd rather show up to that meeting late than have his mother be in the house when they arrived.

"Come on. Come on. Please just move." He muttered to himself under his breath. He didn't arrive home though until a half hour later.

Pulling up into his driveway the sun was starting to set. A nice white car was parked on the edge of the street and Angel's breath caught in his throat as he realized that the social service worker was inside his house. The lights were on and glowed cheerily at him from his position outside the street. It was all over then. His mom had been home to let these people in and now it was all over. One glance at her and they were probably already packing up Kathy's things.

Unbuckling her from her car seat, Angel picked her up and held her tightly in his arms, almost afraid to let her go. When he arrived at the door his hand froze near the doorknob. He had a fleeting thought of maybe turning around and never coming back here again. Maybe running away forever. But sooner of later they would catch up with him. Stealing himself, he slowly opened the door and walked in the house. Not a single sound reached his ears. Biting his lip he set Kathy's bag down on the entrance table and walked towards his living room. Maybe the car out front wasn't for him, maybe the neighbors had some company. But when he entered the living room his hopes were dashed. Sitting on the sofa was a middle aged woman with a white clipboard, furiously scribbling down notes.

"I'm…" He was about to apologize for being so late when another woman entered his view.

"Sweetie your home." She came up and hugged him tightly. "Where have you been? I've been so worried about the two of you. I called the babysitters and she said that you were having a little bit of trouble with your car. I thought that you two were, heaven forbid, sitting on the side of the rode somewhere having to hitch hike a ride home."

Angel looked at the woman strangely. He had never before even seen her in his whole entire life. That's when Buffy came around the corner, wiping her hands on an apron. "Oh good, you guys are home. Dinners ready." She smiled and nodded for Angel to go along.

"Uh… Good." Recovering slightly he turned to the woman who had hugged him. "We got stuck in some traffic. Rush hour hit us when we got about half way here."

"But you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now Angel sweetie, I'd like you to meet Mrs. Farnsworth. She's the social service lady. Mrs. Farnsworth this is my eldest son Liam, and that one there is Kathy."

"Nice to meet you." The lady stuck out her hand and Angel immediately shook it.

"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting ma'am. I tried to get here earlier but…"

"Oh don't worry about it. You're mother and I have been getting all the paper work and most of the interviewing process out of the way while you were gone. Most of this whole interview you and your sister didn't have to be around for anyways. Now that we've got the adult process out of the way, I just have to talk to you and your sister and I'll be done."

"Oh… well that's… good?"

The lady, the person who was posing as his mother, held out her hands. "Why don't you give me Kathy? Mrs. Farnsworth, the kitchen is this way. We'd be honored for you to stay for dinner."

"Why thank you. It smells just delicious in here."

"Angel?" Kathy looked at him wide eyed as the two adults started going into the kitchen. But she soon smiled and laughed as the Buffy leaned in and whispered something to her.

"What the hell is going on?" Angel whispered harshly to Buffy when the adults were out of hearing range.

"I'm apologizing."

"What?"

"Look, Angel. You know that this interview would be pointless without having your mother here, so I called in a little favor. I explained the whole situation to my Aunt Aimee and she said she would pose as your mother during the interview. It's a good thing too since you and Kathy were late."

"Buffy are you insane? Do you know what'll happen if my mom walks through that door tonight?"

"Do you honestly think she will?"

"Buffy if we get caught we could all go to jail."

"Angel, the interview is going great. Mrs. Farnsworth practically adores Aimee. Now if you can get through dinner without saying anything stupid then you and Kathy are in the clear. Alright?"

Angel looked at her not quite sure if he should go through with it. But the picture of Kathy when she first came home from the hospital, which hung on the wall next to him, made up his decision for him.

"Drive safe now." Aimee called out as Mrs. Farnsworth drove off. "Well, that went over well." She smiled and turned to Angel. "I'm Aimee by the way."

"Hi," He hitched Kathy up on his hip a little bit more. "Look, what you did tonight…"

"Don't sweat it kid. From what I hear, you're a good person who's just had one to many bumps in his road." She smiled and lightly plucked Kathy from his arms. "I'll put her to bed for you. Poor thing. She's practically exhausted." Kathy just snuggled into Aimee's arms, going back to sleep.

Angel shut the door and walked into the living room where Buffy was currently picking some things up for him. "Hey, you okay?" She asked, blowing out some candles. He nodded. "Look, I'll be out of your hair soon, just thought I'd pick up for you a little bit."

"You don't have too."

"I want to. So…" She said in a kind of round about way. "You working tonight?"

Angel groaned. He completely forgot that he still had to turn around and go back into work. "Yeah, I better tell Aimee not to tuck Kathy in. She has to come with me."

"Let Kathy sleep. I'll stay with her tonight."

"Buffy…"

"Angel it's no big deal really. I'll be fine. Besides, it's not like we have school or anything tomorrow."

"You sure?" He really hated to sit and rely on Buffy like this again, but he really didn't want to get Kathy back up and drag her to a bar miles away. Plus, after what Buffy did for him tonight…

"Positive. You get off at three right?"

"I might be a little bit late tonight with me having to miss a couple hours this afternoon." He got up and grabbed his coat and car keys.

"Okay. Just be careful."

He opened the door and paused for a second. "Buffy?"

She walked around the corner and smiled at him. "Don't say thanks. I was just fixing what I broke."