A/N
Sorry it's so short. I've been engulfed in this book called The Constant Princess. It's about Catherine of Aragon and it's wonderful. I promise that I'll have a longer chapter full of yummy angst of delicious fluff next time. But, this little part is necessary to continue the plot line.
-BuffyL

Chapter 24

Buffy sat in her room at Castle Bam and stared at her cell phone. She knew if she turned it on, there would be 100 messages from Angel... And probably a few others wondering where she was. Sighing, she picked it up and turned it on. Sure enough, her voicemail icon came on. Instead of listening to all of them, she just erased them. It was one at night and she was the only one up. So, she decided to call Angel. It was nine at night in LA. He would be up. She hadn't talked to him in a couple of days because she'd been having so much fun in West Chester.

He picked his cell phone up on the second ring. "Angel."

"Hi." She said simply.

"Oh. Hi."

"Are you busy?"

"No. I was just closing up the office. Are you ok? You ran off so suddenly and..."

"I had to get out of there."

"You couldn't talk to me first?"

"I don't want to fight."
"Neither do I. But my pregnant wife just ran off with her best friend to the other side of the country without talking to me about it."

"Oh stop! Just stop. I can make decisions on my own. Besides, everytime I try to talk to you about travelling, you always say that you're worried about what could happen and that I shouldn't because I'm pregnant." He didn't say anything. "I can travel. I'm not dying. I'm just pregnant."

"I know that."

"Then why won't you let me do what I want instead of sitting at home being bored?"

"Because I worry."

"You don't need to. I can take care of myself."

"Is that why you left? To prove to me that you can?"
"No. I left because I was bored out of my mind and I wanted to come see part of my family and I didn't want to hear my husband bitch about it."
"I don't bitch."

"You do bitch. And you treat me like I'm some tiny glass figureine that could break at a moment's notice."

"I don't."
"You do." She sighed. "Angel, I've got the greatest friends a person could ask for. Nothing is going to happen to me."

"I just... worry."

"I know. And I can't stop you from worrying, but I can assure you that I'm perfectly ok. Safe as houses." Angel sighed. She knew he wasn't happy about her being away without him, but she knew that he knew she was going to be ok. "Are you scared?"

"Of what?"
"Of having a family."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because..." Angel paused. "Because I don't know if I'm ready."
"Weren't you the one who..."
"I know. But now that I've had time to think about it and the closer it gets..."

"The more scared you are. I know. I'm scared too, but I know everything is going to be ok."

"How do you know that?"
"It's a figure of speech. Jeez! I don't know, but I do know our families will help us. And I'm totally hiring a nanny to help."

Angel laughed for a minute. "What have you been doing wherever you are?"

"I'm in West Chester and I'm having a lot of fun. Ville's going to be in New York tomorrow, so Bam and I are going up there to see him and my mom."

"I've been working."

"And there's another reason I left."

"We're back to that?"

"Yes, we are. I need you to come home at night. I need you to be there with me. I sit home at night and hope that you'll come home and have dinner with me or sit with me or even talk to me for a while. But every night I get disappointed. You've even missed the last two doctor's appointments because you've been working. We're supposed to be a team and the only person helping me is Bam. I love you. I want us to work. But I don't want to sit home at night and wonder whether you're coming home or not. I don't want to be domesticated."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I know you want to travel. I know you hate sitting in one place for long periods of time. I know I've been working myself into the ground."
"And?"

"And what?"

"And you're only working yourself into the ground as an excuse not to face the fact that you're child is due in a few months and yes, you do have a family. It's no longer all about Angel."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"
"You'll be running all over the world making movies and travelling with HIM."

"Of course I will."

"And you'll take our baby with you."

"I'd like to take you, too, but I know that you'll never leave your job."

"You can't just run off with our baby. I'll never get to see it."
"It? Our son, Angel. We're having a boy. Don't call him an 'it'. And you'll know when I'm leaving so you'll have plenty of time to see him before we leave. But I refuse to just leave him at home to be attended by a nanny during the day and I especially won't leave him there if I don't have a gurantee that you'll be home by a certain time. And why are we even talking about this now? This won't come up for another year and a half."

"I just..."

"Angel, we'll talk about it later, ok? I have to be up early tomorrow to head up to New York."

"Bye."

"Bye." She waited for an 'I love you', but all she got was the dial tone that said he'd hung up. Buffy sighed and threw her phone on the night stand with a groan. She placed her hands on her protruding abdomen and said softly. "It may just be me and you, kiddo. I don't want it to be, but you're daddy seems to be too scared of you. I just thought he'd be more grown up about all of this." There was a soft knock on the door frame and she looked up to see Bam standing there. "Hey Bammie."

"You ok?" Bam asked, walking over and sitting down next to Buffy, taking her hand in his.

"Been better."

"Listen, I heard everything you just said on the phone and to your baby boy... Buffy, I want you to know... You know, if it... If it doesn't work... I, uh... I want to help you. If you'd let me... I'd like to help you raise your son. I'd like to be a dad to him."

"Bam..."

"Buffy, I don't want you to be sad and alone. Especially with a baby. And it's only if you can't work things out between you and Angel. I hope you do because Angel makes you happy and that's all I want is for you to be happy."

Buffy squeezed Bam's hand and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Bam Bam."

"Hey, do you want to head up to New York now?"

"Now? It's 1:30!"

"Sure. Traffic'll be light and we're both wide awake. Why not?"

She stared at him for a minute and then smiled. "Sure. I'll just toss my shit in my bag and we'll head out."

Angel went about his work, but Buffy's words echoing in his mind kept him distracted. I refuse to just leave him at home to be attended by a nanny during the day and I especially won't leave him there if I don't have a gurantee that you'll be home by a certain time.... I sit home at night and hope that you'll come home and have dinner with me or sit with me or even talk to me for a while. But every night I get disappointed. You've even missed the last two doctor's appointments because you've been working....

He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. He was abandoning her slowly because he was scared. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was more than happy that he was married and he was finally going to be a father. But something in the back of his mind gave him second thoughts about the whole thing. It terrified him. And it scared him even more than he could hurt Buffy like he was. And to scare him even more, he was starting to worry that Bam was winning her over. He knew her better than Angel did. They had such a long history together.

Shaking his head, Angel tried to clear that out of his mind. He didn't want to think about it. Right now, he needed to concentrate on work. "Would you leave already?" Cordelia said, standing in the doorway.

"What?" Angel looked up at her exasperated face.

"Angel, stop brooding and go be with your wife. I was hoping that you would be smart enough to have figured out by now that if you don't get your butt over there now, she's never going to forgive you. Especially if you've holed yourself up at work AGAIN!"

Angel looked away to his computer. "I'm busy."

Cordelia hit the button on the monitor, shutting the power off. "You're not too busy to save your marriage." She handed him a plane ticket to New York City. "It leaves in three hours. If you're not on it, you might as well draw up the divorce papers for her."
"Cordelia..."
"You can thank me later. Go pack." Angel stood up and started to say something, but Cordy cut him off again. "I know! What would you do without me? Blah blah blah... GO!" She shoved Angel towards the door and watched him leave. As soon as he shut the outer office door behind him, she slumped into his chair and sighed. "I really should get paid extra for this."