Disclaimer: I own the name of the Coven, but I own none of its members, its villains, or their allies
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The Coven of Reformed Supernaturals
And then, to Angel's surprise, he was standing in the middle of a street, in the middle of the day, without any fire or burn marks on him in the least.
"What the…" he muttered, staring down at himself before scanning his surroundings. "Where am I…?"
Then his eyes fell on the street name- Revello Drive- and he became increasingly confused. After all, Sunnydale had been destroyed- pulled down into the Hellmouth when Spike sacrificed himself to stop the First's army of Turok-han-, and yet here he was, standing in the middle of the street where Buffy had lived for nearly seven years as though nothing had happened? What was that all about?
"Angel!" a voice called to him from behind. "C'mon; Kathy won't wait for her daddy forever, you know!"
Angel froze.
No… It couldn't be…
But, as he turned around, he saw that it was.
Buffy Summers, standing behind him with a smile on her face, the sun gleaming off her hair, and…
Angel's eyes widened.
A gold wedding ring on her hand.
And he had one too!
"What the…" he said, staring at his hand in confusion.
Buffy laughed, a bright, cheery sound that made Angel's heart ache with love for her all over again.
"Are you ever going to get used to it?" she asked him casually, noting his confused expression. "I mean, you've been human ever since I was seventeen; you'd think you'd be used to being ale to walk in the sun by now!"
"Uh… yeah…" Angel said, shaking his head and looking at Buffy. "Sorry… tuned out for a minute there. Where's… Kathy?"
"Oh, she's just inside with everyone else," Buffy said, smiling broadly up at Angel. "You know how she is; give her an excuse to be doted on and she'll use it as much as possible. She still can't get the picture that we love her just as much as Connor."
Sighing dramatically, she hugged Angel, who could only hug her back in confusion as she looked up at him love in her eyes.
"I mean, he may have been our first, but she was a lot easier, wasn't she?" Buffy asked, smiling up at the former terror of Europe.
Angel could only nod slightly as he followed Buffy into her old house…
Only to suddenly have a small figure in a purple dress grab at his leg and smile up at him with brilliant brown eyes and long brown hair.
"DADDY!" she yelled, looking up at him eagerly.
"Kathy…" a voice said from the main sitting room in a teasing tone, "leave your father alone and come back here before we open all the presents without you!"
"NO!" 'Kathy' yelled, releasing her grip on Angel's leg and running back into the room, leaving Angel to stare after her in shock. "Uncle Giles, tell them to leave my presents alone!"
Uncle Giles? Angel thought to himself in confusion, before Giles' words sunk in.
Leave her father alone? he thought to himself in confusion. But… but she was on me when he-
Angel froze, realisation hitting him as he stared after Kathy.
She's... she's my daughter? he thought to himself. True, after discovering Darla's pregnancy, he'd thought about naming the child Kathy if it was a girl, after the aunt she would never know, but to see a child actually walking about with that name…
Then he looked into the room, and got even more of a shock.
The room was filled with nearly all of the friends he'd ever made since his fateful encounter with Buffy.
Jenny Calendar was sitting next to Giles on one sofa, wedding rings visible on both their fingers as Jenny stroked a belly that was evidently at least seven months pregnant….
Xander was crouched on the ground beside Dawn, their arms around each other as Xander affectionately ruffled 'Kathy's' hair where she was sitting in front of him, staring at a mass of presents that, contrary to Giles' teasing, appeared to have been untouched…
Willow was sitting on another sofa, with (Angel blinked in surprise) Oz and Tara on either side of her, Willow's arms on the shoulder of a small boy- evidently only four years old- sitting in front of her, who seemed to have Oz's eyes and Tara's hair…
Another boy, almost six years old, was sitting on the ground beside a leather armchair, in which Cordelia and (Angel's eyes widened in shock) Doyle were sitting, kissing each other as the boy made mock gagging sounds…
Wesley was on the ground in front of the fire, his arms around Fred, evidently not Illyria in this reality…
Gunn was standing at the room's other entrance, his arm around Faith's waist as he smiled over at his old friend…
Even Spike was there, rolling his eyes as his grandsire entered, sitting close to Anya on the ground between the sofa (The one with Giles and Jenny on it) and the armchair where Doyle and Cordelia were sitting.
"Good, you're back!" another familiar voice said. Glancing over his shoulder, Angel saw to his ever-growing surprise that it was Joyce, holding a large chocolate birthday cake with four candles on it that was almost the size of Kathy herself. "What were you doing outside, anyway?"
"You know Angel, Mrs Summers," Willow smiled, looking over at Joyce as she laid the cake down in front of Kathy- her granddaughter, Angel thought briefly. "Any moment of bright sunlight when there's a lull in the action and he's out there to enjoy it."
Buffy smiled behind him and squeezed his shoulder. "I keep on telling him that he won't become a vampire again at the drop of a hat, but he never seems to take it in!" she said, grinning as Kathy looked eagerly up at her…
Her parents, Angel's dazed mind thought again. She called me 'Daddy'… she's my daughter… she's Buffy's daughter…
"C'mon, Kathy, make a wish!" Dawn smiled at the little girl, who looked over at her critically.
"Don't rush me, Aunt Dawn!" she said critically, in a manner that sounded older than she looked. "I have to think of a wish!"
"D-don't forget to at least whisper it," Tara said teasingly, as she patted Willow's arm. "After all, how can we grant it otherwise?"
"Hey!" the little boy over beside Doyle and Cordelia said, looking over at the two witches critically. "You never offered to grant my birthday wishes!"
Oz shrugged. "Women," he said simply, as the boy looked over at him inquiringly. "Trust me, Conner; they're always confusing."
Despite his confusion, Angel couldn't help but smile. He and Oz hadn't spoken often during his time as Sunnydale, but he'd always somehow identified with the young werewolf, and it was good to see him here, giving advice to a child as he sat with his old friends…
"Like it?" a voice said behind him.
Looking around in confusion, Angel suddenly realised that nobody was moving.
Nobody, that is, except for the person who was suddenly standing behind him.
"Cole?" Angel said, looking back at the demon in confusion. "What is this?"
"Your perfect world, Angel," Cole said, smiling as he indicated the smiling faces all around them. "Look at it. This is how your life should have been, Angel. You got the flawed model- the version where people never got to have their dreams come true- but this?"
He waved his hand at everyone in the room. "This is perfection."
"How?" Angel asked, looking Cole in the eyes as he spoke. "What changed here?"
"The curse, really," Cole said, smiling casually as he leaned against the door frame and looked at Angel with a small smile on his face. "In this reality, the curse expelled the demon from your body rather than your soul, and, with Angelus gone…"
He shrugged. "Well, you became human. Enhanced strength and senses, true, but still human."
Chuckling slightly at Angel's suddenly widened eyes, Cole indicated the boy sitting next to Cordelia and Doyle. "Nine months later, Connor here was born, chuckling as he kept on grabbing his daddy's finger after mommy had given him his breakfast. He's already showing traits of your combined strengths, and he'll only become better at demon-fighting as he gets older."
Cole began to walk around the room, looking briefly at each couple (Or threesome, in one case) as he gave Angel a brief summary of this new life.
"It took a while for Jenny and Rupert to patch things up after they learned she was there to spy on you, but, once they did, it was only a matter of time before the wedding; you were best man and Willow was a bridesmaid." Cole paused briefly to pat Jenny's stomach and smile up at Angel. "They'll call the kid Liam, you know."
"Xander never got round to dating after he and Cordelia broke up; after Connor was born, he went off relationships in general because he didn't want to risk becoming a father," Cole explained, walking over to where Angel's… sister-in-law, he supposed... was sitting with her boyfriend. "Kept warding off Anya's advances for constant sex; seeing what you and Buffy had, he kept on holding out for that rather than a brief fling."
"Dawn… well, she had her little identity crisis when the whole 'Key-thing', was revealed, but, with a little help from her friends, she got over it fairly quickly; easy to do, given that Glory was battered senseless by all four of you until she turned back into Ben and Faith broke his neck," he said, indicating Faith, Buffy, Spike and Angel. "She's been dating Xander ever since the summer of 2001; after Dawn saved his life in Pylea when he was nearly killed by one of their warriors, he realised how much she meant to him."
"He… he went to Pylea?" Angel said, looking at Cole in confusion.
"You all did; I'll get to that later," Cole smiled, as he indicated Doyle and Cordelia. "Doyle came over in 1999 to ask for some help in kicking demon arse in that city. You went along, saved Cordelia from a vampire masquerading as a producer, and set up the detective agency. These days, you and Buffy emigrate back and forth from Sunnydale to L.A. and vice-versa; Faith normally manages L.A. on a regular basis while Spike helps out in Sunnydale. With Buffy's help, you were able to stop the beacon before it reached the danger-point, and Doyle and Cordelia have been dating ever since; Doyle still hasn't summoned the nerve to propose."
"Spike here…" Cole shrugged. "The chip thing was pretty much the same as in the history you remember; he just never fell for Buffy, got a bit hot 'n heavy with Anya after they got plastered while trying to drink away their sorrows, and he's hung around ever since. Anya's pretty much the same, really; substitute Xander with Spike, have it start a bit later, cut out the wedding thing- Spike can't really see the point and Anya's content with things as they are-, and everything's indistinguishable."
"Faith and Gunn…" He shrugged. "Tragic, really; Kendra got taken out by the Mayor when she came down to help you guys out with him, and then Faith nearly defected because she just felt like a replacement. You took her over to L.A., and, after a bit of time helping Doyle and Cordelia kick demon ass, she grew into her own identity; even started dating Gunn shortly after she saved his sister from a vampire."
"Wesley came over to serve as Faith's watcher, but after the Mayor nearly broke his neck he began to make more of an effort to toughen up, and moved over to L.A. with Faith. When Cordelia and Doyle got dragged into Pylea by accident, you, Buffy, and the whole gang went on after them, Fred was rescued, the Grooslaug was politely turned down, and you all came back with a much better appreciation for your lives."
"And… them?" Angel asked, indicating Tara, Oz and Willow with another hand. "How'd that happen?"
Cole smiled. "Good question, that," he said, smiling as he walked over to the threesome. "Casual comment by Anya while feeling frustrated at her own inability to get some led to the three of them realising- after Oz got back from his spiritual quest to 'control the beast within'- that they'd actually be better off as a threesome than as anything else. So far Tara's the only one that's given birth- named the kid Jesse, by the way-, but Willow's already got a bun in the oven that nobody else knows about." He chuckled and patted the belly. "It'll be a girl; they'll call her Violet, after her 'step-mom's' mother."
"Well… what about Joyce? And Lorne?" Angel asked, looking inquiringly at the woman who he supposed was now his mother-in-law before looking back at Cole. "What happened to her? Where is he?"
"Oh, Joyce is easy enough," Cole explained casually. "She had the tumour, but that whole thing was just made worse by Glory's continued existence in Sunnydale in your history, and with two vampires and two Slayers tackling her, Glory went down far faster than she did originally. As for Lorne, you know him, I assure you; he just couldn't come here because he was busy trying to re-establish Caritas after a chaos demon tried to break into it and destroy our reality before you guys decapitated it. Don't worry; the club'll be ready in time for Connor's birthday in a month or so."
He looked inquiringly at Angel. "That is, of course, if you want this to become permanent?"
Angel looked at Cole in shock.
"Wh… what?" he asked, staring at the demon incredulously. "You… you can make this real?"
"Oh, it already is, Angel," Cole said, smiling at the vampire. "All I'd be doing is making it real for you on a permanent basis."
He placed a hand on the vampire's shoulder. "Think about it, Angel. Everything you ever wanted… friends, humanity, a family… you can have it all."
He stepped back and smiled casually at his 'friend'. "All I ask is that you let me have the same sort of thing for myself."
Angel looked around the room. Almost everyone who'd made a major impact on his life (Well, except Anya; he'd barely ever spoken to her), in the same room, at the same time, alive, well, and in love with their respective others. A beautiful wife… incredible children… an ever-growing circle of unofficial nephews and nieces…
Angel swallowed as he looked over at Buffy, her face split into a smile as she looked at their daughter.
Leaning over, Angel tenderly kissed Buffy on the lips, a soft kiss that nevertheless conveyed all the love he felt for her, even after all their time apart.
"I love you…" he whispered to her as he pulled back. Even if he knew she wouldn't hear him, he still had to say it to her one last time…
Then he whirled around and hit Cole right in the neck with a spinning kick.