AN: CHAPTER SEVEN UP. I AM FEELING VERY SELF-ACHIEVED NOW. HAVE NEVER WRITTEN THIS MANY CHAPTERS FOR ONE STORY. THIS IS THERAPY FOR THE TWO UNBELIEVABLY BORING ESSAYS I HAVE JUST WRITTEN, ONE FOR HISTORY AND ONE FOR ENGLISH LITERATURE.

DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED ANYTHING THAT YOU RECOGNISE WITHIN, I WOULDN'T SPEND MY WEEKENDS PAINTING MY PARENTS BEDROOM TO EARN ANY MONEY. IN OTHER WORDS, I DON'T OWN IT AND ANY ATTEMPTS TO SUE ME FOR LIBEL OR PLAUGIARISM WOULD BE POINTLESS.

RATING: PG-13

Chapter Seven

Angel gave Fred a very strange look before he answered,

"I never went to Vegas."

Fred shrugged,

"Oh, we were trying to work out where you went and one theory was that you had run off to Vegas to be a show girl."

The Scooby gang tried very hard not to laugh. The idea of Angel, 'Mr. Broody', being a Vegas showgirl was too ridiculous for words. Buffy smiled and shook her head,

"Vegas is seriously overrated."

Angel gave her a very strange look,

"You went to Vegas?"

Buffy nodded,

"Yeah, I went there with Pike."

Angel stared at her,'

"You went to Vegas with Spike?"

Buffy shook her head,

"Not with Spike, with Pike. He was a friend at Hemery."

Angel looked seriously unimpressed,

"Who was this Pike?"

"He was just a friend, Angel. He helped me when I had just been called and my first watcher had shot himself."

Angel looked stunned, Buffy had never told him much about what had happened after she had first been called, but it seemed that there was much more going on than he had ever known,

"Buffy, what happened?"

Buffy smiled wearily, it was a smile that pierced Angel's heart. He hated that Buffy was forced to be this old. She had seen far too much for any seventeen year old and some things no adult should ever have to experience,

"There was this master vampire. He was called Lothos. Do you know about him?"

Angel nodded dumbly, all vampires from a decent clan knew about Lothos, he was a legend amongst their people. Buffy continued,

"He was my first major slay, there were a few fledglings before that and some I killed while Merrick was training me, but Lothos was the first big one. Merrick got captured by Lothos and shot himself through the head instead of betraying me. I saw it happen. I was hiding with Pike in the shadows and Merrick made me go and then shot himself to protect me. I saw it. There was so much blood everywhere. Pike helped me then and I dusted Lothos. I loved it. It felt so good. I felt powerful. I didn't just stake vamps after that. For a time I tortured them for what they did. Angel, I was fifteen. Pike helped me. I ran off with him over the summer after I burnt down the gym. We went to Vegas for a time. Trust me, it is seriously overrated. Loads of vamps though."

Half way through this confession, Buffy had started to cry slightly, the bitter tears of one who had seen far too much and didn't want to have to remember. Angel wrapped her in his arms and let her cry into his shirt. After a moment, Buffy spoke again,

"I just stood there, Angel. I could have done something, anything. I just froze up and he died. He broke just about every single one of the council's rules for me. He let me stay with my family. And I failed him. He trained me to fight, he taught me my duty and I just let him die. I did nothing."

Angel shook his head,

"Buffy, there was nothing you could have done. He died for you because he cared about you. Darling, you haven't failed him. You've done so much. You killed the master. You lived passed your seventeenth birthday. You've averted the apocalypse so many times you deserve an award. You are truly amazing."

Buffy stared at him,

"What did you call me?"

Angel would have flushed then if he had circulation, but he settled for looking mortified instead.

"I called you Buffy, it's your name."

Buffy shook her head,

"No after that?"

Angel looked even more uncomfortable,

"I called you darling."

Buffy wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his red silk shirt. Angel looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her shaking form and pressed soft kisses into her shining blond hair. The others in the room stared at the two in amazement. For the Weasleys and Hermione it was a shock to see the person they had last known as a hormonal self-conscious teenage boy, so in love and mature. For the Scooby gang it was the first time they had ever really seen how much Angel loved Buffy. They had all known how much she had loved him, that had been painfully obvious during the time when Angel had been moonlighting as his evil other half. Now it was obvious for Xander in particular that he would never have a chance with the slayer. Then he looked at Cordy and smiled. He wasn't sure what he felt about her yet, but he knew now that it was more than he had first imagined. Then, Buffy turned in her lover's arms and smiled sheepishly at the others,

"So, Vegas is seriously overrated. Don't go there. Very smelly. Lots of fledglings with no respect or education to speak of. Half of them didn't even know what a slayer was. I was very disappointed. But then again, so were my parents when they found out I'd been to Vegas."

Then Hermione interrupted,

"I thought that slayers weren't allowed to live with their parents?"

Buffy smiled at her interest, it was obvious that Hermione really was like Willow,

"They're not. Usually slayers are raised and trained by the council, as well as indoctrinated. I was somewhat of an anomaly. I wasn't found out to be a potential slayer and was therefore only found out when I was activated after the slayer before died. Merrick wasn't the most traditional of watchers, he let me live with my parents and attend school. Giles learnt the hard way that I can be rather stubborn. I didn't move to Sunnyhell because of the slaying. I got kicked out of Hemery for burning down the gym and my parents got a divorce. Sunnydale High accepted me and there was somewhere for my mum to start up her gallery. I only accidentally found out that Giles was meant to be my new watcher. Then the master tried to rise and I sort of had to be the slayer. I didn't want to be, but there was never a choice. My mum knows about the slayage, but she still has denial issues."

It was obvious that Hermione was itching to ask Buffy all about slaying and vampires, but didn't want to seem rude. Buffy smiled,

"Look, Hermione, if you want, we'll find a time when we get to your school and I'll tell you everything that I know. Will that be okay?"

Hermione looked overjoyed. The idea of having a private interview with THE SLAYER was a concept that would have amazed any academic. Angel smiled at her enthusiasm, it had been so long for him since he had seen these friends of his, yet they had hardly changed a bit. Maybe they had filled out a little bit, but they were still so young and so innocent. It was the way it was supposed to be. Fifteen year olds were supposed to be like this. They didn't deserve to grow up in a land of fear and hatred. They were innocent and mostly naïve. It was beautiful to see that innocence in anyone. None of the Scooby gang had that. They had lost that innocence when they first killed a vampire. Because, no matter how much of a demon a vampire is, they still were human once. That kind of life is hard to live with. That was probably why most of the inhabitants of Sunnydale lived on the continent of denial. It was easier to pretend it was just gang members on PCP than to accept that there were vampires out there and that they had once been humans, that they had once been your friends.

He knew that it would be difficult for them to understand that he was not the person who he had been two hundred and fifty years ago. Although it had been centuries for him, for them it had been just one summer. Hopefully they would one day come to understand. If they hated him then he deserved it and he didn't deserve Buffy's love and understanding. Especially not after what Angelus had done to her and her friends. It was amazing that they had not killed him on sight. They knew now what he truly had been. If he was alone for eternity then he deserved it, no matter what Buffy said. For him the worst thing was not what he had done but that he had enjoyed it, that the memories of death and torture were some of his best ones.

As if she sensed what he was thinking, Buffy wrapped her arms around his chest once again. Angel couldn't help it. His eyes were drawn to her curve of her neck. He could sense the blood pulsing through her veins. The power in her blood was so strong. He could feel it. He fought the movement, but his face was morphing into that of his inner demons. The Scooby gang reacted immediately, while his old friends gasped. Buffy turned her head to look at him and he tried once again to hide his face. She rose immediately and stared into his demonic yellow eyes. When she spoke, her voice was annoyed,

"Angel, when was the last time you had anything to eat?"

Angel replied after a moment,

"Not since before I got back."

Buffy scowled,

"What were you thinking? No, don't answer that. I'll tell you what. You weren't thinking. I'll get you a bag now and you'd better drink it or so help me I'll-"

What she would do was never to be found out as she had rooted through the bag containing his blood whilst she spoke and now returned carrying one. She threw it at him and stood in front of him, scowling at him until he drank. He opened the bag and began to drink. After a moment, he stopped. Buffy glared at him, but he spoke anyway,

"Buffy, this isn't animal."

Buffy scowled,

"You think I don't know that. There was a regular store of it in the fridges at the mansion. I presumed that they were for Spike when Drusilla forgot to go hunting. They were from the blood bank. It wasn't like I could go into the hospital and say that I found them in a vampire's mini-fridge. It'll help you get strong again, so drink it."

Angel would have argued with her, but he was just too hungry. He turned his attention back to the bag and gulped it down, stopping occasionally to savour the taste of the blood. It had been so long since he had drunk from a human. The taste was infinitely better than pigs' blood could ever be. He had missed this so much. The only thing that was better for a vampire was the blood of either one's sire or the slayer.

Once he had finished the bag, he turned back to the watching Weasleys and Hermione. He was just about to say something, when the door swung violently open. The Scooby gang was on an instant alert. Buffy swung into an impeccable fighting stance, but Angel recognised the human as his godfather. This had been the encounter he had been dreading the most.

Sirius Black raced up the stairs of his family home. He had promised himself that he would never come back here after he had run away, but here he was. At that moment, however, it didn't matter where he was. His godson was back. He raced to the room where he had been told that the younger Weasleys were staying. He swung the door open and gazed onto a shocking tableau.

His godson, who had always looked so much like his father, sat holding a bag that could have only contained human blood. His face, which had always been the perfect mix of James' and Lily's, was warped into the demonic visage of a vampire. Those of demonic amber replaced Lily's beautiful eyes and his canines were extended into vicious fangs, both tainted slightly by tinges of the blood he had just drunk. The petite blond who had attacked Ron when he had been so abusive stood in a perfect fighting stance, one hand grasping a stake and the other wrapped around the handle of a deadly looking silver knife. The others from Sunnydale also stood in fighting positions, holding either stakes or crosses. The Weasleys and Hermione were frozen in their seats.

His godson winced visibly. His face returned to its human form. He no longer looked like his parents. His eyes, Lily's beautiful emerald orbs, were replaced by dark brown eyes. His face had a much more aristocratic slant to it. His hair, which had always been so much like James', was now dark brown and neatly styled with hair gel. He was much taller than Harry had been, much taller than James and Lily. He was solid muscle and there were a few scars on his bared skin. His cheekbones were defined and those of an aristocrat. He carried himself with an air of nobility as he rose from where he sat. There was such terrible guilt and pain in those dark brown eyes. This tormented soul was not his godson. This was someone completely new. Someone he knew nothing about. But, he wasn't completely different. The scar was still there, on Angel's pale forehead. His smile was still Lily's smile, no matter how rare it was. There was still part of who he used to be in that smile and in his tormented eyes.

Angel walked toward him. The blond slayer walked at his godson's side, with her hand on his arm. Sirius smiled. His godson was so obviously in love with her. It was also obvious that the slayer felt the same way. Yet, there was something there. A deeper pain that spoke of a terrible history between the two. Angel stood in front of him then. His posture was tense, as if expecting a physical blow or verbal recrimination. Sirius wrapped his arms around his godson then. And he hugged him. Hard. After a few moments, Angel's arms came up to hug his godfather. Sirius found himself looking over his godson's shoulder then. The blond slayer smiled at him from Angel's side. After a moment, Angel spoke,

"It's really nice to see you too, Sirius. But circulation is becoming a serious issue."

The dark haired boy next to the dark haired girl snorted,

"Dead-boy, you don't have any circulation."

The slayer scowled and Angel spoke then,

"Harris, what have I told you about calling me that?"

The boy, Harris, smirked and his girlfriend hit him around the head, the slayer spoke,

"Xander, shut up."

Angel spoke then,

"Harris. The point is that I would be having circulation issues if I had circulation. It's called a metaphorical situation."

Xander Harris, for that must be the boy's name, scowled,

"Great, dead-boy's got a sense of humour. What bad timing."

Angel sighed and gestured to the fuming slayer that Xander abuse would be amusing but not necessary. Sirius extricated himself from his godson's arms and then looked at him,

"So, have you been to see your aunt and uncle yet?"

Angel groaned slightly, the slayer stared at him,

"You have an aunt and uncle? You didn't tell me this."

Sirius would have sworn that Angel flinched as he spoke,

"Yes, well. I never really got on that well with them."

The slayer scowled,

"Explain."

Angel winced,

"Well, they never really approved of magic. They didn't like my parent s either…"

"And…"

"Well, I grew up in the cupboard under the stairs. But when I was ten they gave me Dudley's second bedroom, which was okay, except they locked me in there second year and put in a cat flap to put my meals through, don't worry about it, I don't really care…"

The slayer was running towards the door, murder obviously on her mind. Angel grabbed her arms and restrained her. It wasn't that anyone would particularly miss the Dursleys, but there were those inconvenient things called laws against murder. Angel shook his head,

"No, the Dursley's don't know I'm back and they won't care. It doesn't matter. I won't be going back there anyway. We'll have to go back to the Hellmouth every holiday so there's no point them knowing. I'll go back to where-ever Buffy has to go once I've dealt with mouldy-voldy. That could present a problem actually. I think Voldemort knew Dru. There's a chance that she'll join him. And where she goes…"

The slayer nodded,

"Yeah, where Dru goes, Spike goes."

Angel nodded and the slayer scowled,

"Damn, I should never let him go."

Angel stared at her,

"You let Spike go?"

Buffy nodded,

"Yeah. He helped me get Giles out and never came back to good old Sunnydale and I wouldn't kill him and Dru."

Angel flinched,

"What can I do for Giles, Buffy?"

The slayer, Buffy, stroked the side of Angel's cheek with her hand. She smiled at him lovingly.

"Giles likes you Angel. He knows that you weren't in control of what Angelus did. And we'll find some way to make sure that he never comes back. You know that we will do that."

Angel shook his head,

"I killed the woman he loved."

Buffy shook her head just as vehemently as he had shaken his,

"That was Angelus and you know that. And I sent you to hell for five hundred years. I think that that's enough suffering to make up for one hundred times everything Angelus ever did. You always got on well enough with Giles and he liked you. You were his friend and he will forgive you. He cares too much about his friends to do anything but and you know it. If anyone's at fault for what Angelus did it's me. I was the one who pressured you. You were willing to wait and I told you not to. It's just as much my fault Angel."

Sirius tried not to think about what it was that the beautiful blonde slayer had pressurised his godson into doing or her statement about five hundred years in hell. Although he had accepted that his godson had changed, no parent likes to think about their child making love or having sex, particularly not with someone who's calling and destiny was to kill all of their kind. It was right up there with thinking about your parents having sex. You had to accept it would happen but you still would rather think about Snape naked.

Angel spoke again,

"I need to get some stuff from Knockturn Alley tonight and then we're off tomorrow. I need to sleep and you need to make lesson plans."

Buffy scowled playfully,

"I need to have a plan. I can't just be pro-active with pep?"

Angel chuckled at that and the innocent expression on the slayer's face.

"Yes, you need a plan. And I need to sleep. I'll see you later tonight, but right now you need to plan."

Buffy scowled again, but nodded her acceptance. Sirius spoke,

"Do you have any particular preference as to where you sleep?"

Angel shook his head,

"Not especially, just lots of pillows and no sunlight."

Buffy smiled and Sirius led his godson to a large room containing a large bed and no windows. He didn't want to think about what Angel would need from Knockturn Alley, but he accepted that it would be necessary.

TBC.