Chapter 23

Buffy sighed and glared at the empty ice cream container she was holding. It was eleven at night and Angel was still at his office. He hadn't called that night either. She was getting frustrated with his late nights. Her hormones were going crazy and she wished she could blame it on those, but she knew that the late nights would bother her even if she wasn't pregnant. It really pissed her off that she sat at home alone most nights and couldn't go out anywhere. Despite the fact that Angel had made that speech that he wanted this baby and they would do this together, Buffy had a sinking feeling that Angel was getting cold feet about being a father.

Bam was asleep upstairs in the guest bedroom he had set up as his mini-apartment. Ville and the band had finished their US tour and were back in Europe touring. Buffy had thought a lot about Bam's offer to go to back to West Chester for a while. She had even considered staying there until after the baby was born. She was finally happy about the notion of being a mother. She was ready. Buffy glanced at the time again and then headed upstairs. She shook Bam awake.

"Wha..." He asked groggily. "Time?" Bam shot up. "Is it time? Do we need to go now?"

Buffy smiled and shook her head. "I wanna go to West Chester."

"Ok, we'll leave tomorrow." He started to lay back down.

"No. I want to leave now."

Bam sat back up and looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Bam, can we just go? I wanna go now."

He looked into her eyes and knew something was wrong. "Yeah. Sure. Go get a bag packed and I'll get one packed."

She nodded. "Ok. I'll be right back." Buffy got up and headed into her room. Her and Angel's room now. She paused for a second and then grabbed her big, black, rectangular roller bag and started stuffing clothes and toiletries in it. She grabbed the stuffed Thumper Bam had gotten her from the Disney store years ago and her big red and black fluffy pillow and wrote Angel a short note telling him she would call him later. She headed into Bam's room where he was just zipping up his suitcase.

"You're going in that?" He asked.

Buffy looked down at her black HIM shirt with a gold Heartagram on it and her black Spongebob lounge pants. She had slipped on a pair of black skater shoes and put her hair in a ponytail. "Yeah."

"Ok." Bam was in a Turbonegro shirt and jeans with his typical skater shoes on. Without warning, he took off his jeans and put on a pair of gray Ren and Stimpy lounge pants. He smiled at her. "I'll be a fashion disaster with you."

Buffy laughed. "It'll probably be a fashion STATEMENT by tomorrow morning. Besides, at least I match."

"You know I don't care." He helped her down the stairs and out the side door into the garage. Bam loaded their stuff in the backseat of the Range Rover and got into the driver's seat. Within an hour and a half, they were at LAX booking seats on the next flight to Philadelphia. Buffy had turned off her cell phone on the plane, so she didn't get any of the calls that Angel made to her. By the time he got to the airport, their flight had just taken off.

On the plane, Bam looked over at Buffy. "So, what's up?"

"What?" Buffy asked, staring out the window.

"I know you're spontaneous, but I've never known you to randomly fly somewhere in the middle of the night."

"I miss West Chester."

"I know, but you didn't call Angel."
"I left him a note."

"A note? B, you should've..."

"Bam, please don't lecture me. Not right now."

He picked up her hand and held it tightly in his. "I'll take care of you." Buffy smiled at him and squeezed his hand as she laid her head on his shoulder.

Castle Bam was quiet when they got in. Bam called for anyone to answer, but no one did. "That's strange." He mumbled. "Well, let's get your crap in your room." He took her bag and hauled it up the steps with her in tow. Her room at Castle Bam was the one place that was untouched by Angel. It was the one place that was completely under the influence of Buffy's single life. She plopped down on the plush bed and laid back.

"I missed this place." She said.

Bam picked up her suitcase and sat it down on her dresser. "I wonder where everyone is. It's weird there's no one here."

"They've got lives... I think. Where's Ape and Phil?"

"Probably at their house. You wanna go see em?"

"Not right now. I'm jet lagged."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Let's go downstairs and turn on some music and just sit down."

"All right." He helped her to her feet and down to the living room.

"I don't get it." Angel said as he paced in front of Cordelia. "She just left. She left me a note on the bed and most of her clothes were gone." Cordelia just stared at him like he was an idiot. "What?"

"Boy, you are SO dense." Cordy said.

"What?"
"Please, if I was five and a half months pregnant and MY husband never came home at night and I was left sitting around with nothing to do but gain baby weight..." She huffed and started fiddling with her nails.

"Cordy!"
"What?"

"What would you do?"

"Exactly what Buffy did. Go somewhere where I felt wanted."

"She doesn't feel wanted?"
"Angel, the only person she has to hang out with, other than her PA, is her best friend and sometimes he's not here because he has a life too. So, my guess? She's pretty lonely and pissed off. Add to that some pregnancy hormones and you've got a pretty lethal mix. Did you know that she knows a couple of different fighting styles? I wouldn't mess with her."

Angel sat down at his desk. "Why didn't she talk to me?"
"Uh, hello! You're always here." She looked at him for a moment, judging if she should say what had been on her mind lately.

"What?"

"Ok, don't get all 'grr' at me, but... I think you're scared."

"Of what?"
"Being a father and being married."

"That's rediculous."

"No it's not. Please, you've been a bachelor for, what?... 32 years and now, all of a sudden, you've got a wife and kid on the way. Hell, even I'd be scared."

"But I'm not. At least, I thought I wasn't. I thought that once I'd found the love of my life and finally settled down, I'd be ready for everything."

"Are you?"

Angel sighed. "No. I feel like there's a part of life that I'm missing."
"And so does Buffy. She's 24 years old, she has a career to die for, and she's not used to being in one place for very long. Three months, five months tops, is really all she can take. I mean, jeez, she's got a house here, she's got one in New York, one in Australia, one in Finland, and she's got her own room in West Chester. She's got more money than God, so she can afford to stay anywhere she wants for however long she wants and she's done that for years. A habit like that doesn't just go away once you get married."

"Is it me? Am I expecting too much?"

"I think so."

"So, what do I do?"

"Well, I'd say call her, talk to her, and let her do her independent thing. She's a free spirit and from what I can tell, you're never going to tame that. Even after this baby is born, she'll still travel the world with the baby."
"And what about me?"
"You're a complete home body. You like parking it in one place. You always come back cranky when you travel on business. You two are, like, total opposites." Angel glared at her. "But, hey! Opposites attract, right?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I don't know if this is going to work."

"Don't say that." Cordy walked around Angel's desk and sat down on it in front of him. "No, you guys love each other and you'll work it out. You know that once she goes back to work, she'll be travelling everywhere."

"I know."

"And she's not going to leave the baby with a nanny."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me." Angel stared at her. "What? We had lunch about a month ago and talked about everything." Cordy patted Angel's shoulder. "Opposites attract and you guys are like those psycho strong NASA magnets." She stood up. "Give her a day of freedom and then call her. I'm sure she'll be ready to talk."

"God! You know, you should let me win a few times. It'd be better for your health." Buffy said to Bam as he sunk the 8 ball in his purple pool table.

"Why?" Bam asked, setting up for a second game.

"Because! My hormones are crazy, I can't control them, and I find myself getting frustrated that I'm not winning anything!"

Bam laughed. "That's cause you suck at this game. You always have."

"Then I'm not playing anymore. Get Trivial Pursuit. I'll kick your ass at that."

"That's cause you're, like, a freakin genius. How about Monopoly?"
"Oh, that sounds fun."

Before Bam could run off to get the game, the front door opened and Phil walked in. "Hey Bam, what are you doing here?"

"Buffy wanted to come visit." Bam pointed to Buffy who had moved over to the couch and sat down.

"Hey Buffy."
"Hi Phil." Buffy called.

"What are you doing here?" Bam asked.

"I came to pick up some paperwork of yours."

"Oh. That's cool."

"What are you two planning?"

"Game night. We may go out to watch drunk guys do karaoke later."

"Hey, want me to call Ape and we can all have dinner together tonight?"

"B? Sound good?"

"Food?" Buffy called back.

"Lots." Phil said.

"Food sounds great!" Buffy said, walking into the hallway. "Lots of food sounds even better."

"She's not picking up." Angel said.

"She's probably got it turned off." Cordy said. "Doesn't want anyone bugging her on her vacation or whatever she's doing."

"I've left four messages."
"Well, then she'll call you. Isn't that what she said in the letter?"

"I wouldn't call it a letter. It was more like a note. 'Gone with Bam to the airport. Don't know when I'll be back. Call you later. -Buffy'"

"She's an actress not a writer."

"Boy, you sure are sticking to her side and you're not even being paid to."

"She's a nice person who just happens to be crazy famous."

"And that last part has nothing to do with it?"

"A little."

"It's called tact, Cordy."

"Tact is just saying things that aren't true. Ok, seriously, stop calling her. The more messages you leave, the more desperate you seem."

"I am desperate."

"So? Look, she's not going to call you back if you keep trying to reign her in. A few more messages and I'm predicting a divorce." Angel glared at her. "Oh please. You're the one practically begging her to stay in the house and die of boredom. Let her live. Let her travel. That's basically what your whole relationship was before you got married. She was travelling the world, you were staying home and working. Why, because you're married, does she have to stay home?"
"Cordy, she's pregnant. She can't go traipsing all over the world."

"Why not?"

"She's pregnant!"

"So?"
"Cordelia..."
"Oh shut up."

"Let's pretend I'm the one who signs your checks and let's see what happens when I stop signing."

"If you were going to fire me, you would've done it a long time ago. Just let her have her fun. So she's pregnant? Big deal. Angelina Jolie was pregnant and that didn't stop her from going all over Europe and Africa and all those third world countries. And Shiloh came out perfectly fin. She'll call you back. I promise. And when it gets closer to the baby's due date, she'll settle down in one place." She paused. "Which will definitely be with you."