"Mahal"
By: Lynn
DISCLAIMERS: Making it short...NOT MINE!
SUMMARY: AU; Just another story where everybody's human and Angel, Oz, and Xander are the new students in school.
DISTRIBUTION: Are you kidding me! I NEED someone to host my fics. Just e-mail me if you want them. Previous Parts found at: http/
E-MAIL:
BETA READER: Ashley Russo (last parts un-beta¡¦ed)
Part19
Blinking his brown eyes awake, Angel looked around his sunlit room in a daze. He stretched his long arms above his head and let out a loud yawn. Still a little disoriented from sleep, he momentarily forgot about the company he kept in his bed, so he was somewhat startled when he heard a giggle.
With his arms still raised above him, he turned his head to the side, and saw a smiling Buffy next to him.
He smiled back at her, finally remembering what had occurred between them last night.
"Good morning," he greeted, rolling onto his side to face his girlfriend and rubbed her bare arms.
"So it is," she responded happily and grazed his cheek softly with her hand. She scooted her face closer and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.
"How long have you been awake," he asked her, playing with her bed ridden, yet still beautiful hair.
"About ten minutes," she giggled again, "Do you always smile when you sleep Mr. Liam Roarke," she asked.
"Only when I had the most incredible night with a certain blonde named Buffy Summers."
Buffy smiled adoringly at him and leaned forward to brush her lips against his again. "Good answer."
"Good enough to get me laid," Angel joked and waggled his eyebrows. His girlfriend hit him playfully in response.
"Liam Angelus Roarke," she gasped, pretending to be shocked by his words, but it was ruined when she raised her thin eyebrow and wickedly smiled at him, "You already got laid." She then squealed when Angel caught her off guard by rolling on top of her.
"Doesn't mean we can't add another tally mark on the score board." He seductively trailed his hand down her side.
Buffy's already broad smile became bigger. "As great as that sounds... I think everybody's awake."
The corner of Angel's mouth twitched up into his famous grin, and he leaned forward to kiss along Buffy's slender neck. "So? Who cares. They most likely already know you're here," he let out a small chuckle, "especially Jessica."
The blonde's eyes popped open, and she shoved Angel's shoulders so he would stop his wonderful torment.
"What do you mean 'especially Jessica'," she asked. Why would Jessica be the one to especially know what went on last night?
"I meant that even though this house is huge, these walls are thin, and the way we were going at it last night, she probably heard everything," he explained as if he just told her that the sun always rises; as if it was an everyday occurrence and wasn't a big deal.
Once again, Buffy's hazel-blue eyes bulged out of their sockets and she shot up into a sitting position, making sure the sheet covered her naked body. "Excuse me! Are you telling me that YOUR little sister heard EVERYTHING we did last night!"
"Buffy, it's no big deal. She probably moved to Connor's room as soon as she heard us."
"No big deal!" She pushed Angel off of her and shot up into a sitting position, making sure the blue sheets were covering her. "How is that 'no big deal?"
"Well, I'm sure she's used to it by now."
Buffy's jaw dropped at his statement. "I can't believe you just said that." She stood up out of his bed with the sheet still wrapped around her, and started to gather her clothes scattered around the room.
"Buffy, come on," he used the comforter to cover himself, then walked over to his upset girlfriend, "Calm down, okay? Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit here?" From the death glare he received from her, he knew that he had just said the wrong thing and he was definitely going to pay out the ass for it.
"You are such a guy. You practically tell me that you've had a lot of girls in your bed after we made love last night and you tell me that I'm overreacting? You are so insensitive!" With that she stormed off into his private bathroom and slammed the door.
He winced and stood in front of the bathroom door. "Buffy..."
"Fuck you! Leave me alone!"
He let out a long breath and scoffed in disgust at himself, then flopped back down on the bed with his hands over his face. "Nice job you idiot," he mumbled, inwardly kicking himself.
A second into his self-loathing, and there was a knock at the door. He groaned and yelled "Hold on." He put on boxers and a pair of basketball shorts before opening the door. On the other side he found the source of his and Buffy's little tiff standing in front of him with one of the cordless house phones in hand.
"Yeah," he snapped and Jessica raised her eyebrow.
"Wow, you're grumpy for a guy who just got laid. Speaking of, next time you guys wanna do it, either go somewhere private, or at least to the many vacant rooms on the other side of the house where no one can hear you. You two really need to work on your volume control."
"Thus one of the reasons why I'm grumpy," at his sister's questioning gaze, he waved his hand in dismissal and whispered to her, "I'll tell you later. What did you want?"
"Oh. Willow just called. She said Mrs. Summers called her and said that they need Buffy at the bookstore."
Coming up from behind Angel, a fully dressed Buffy opened the door wider, blushing when she asked Jessica, "When?"
"Well Willow said she said anytime you're ready."
"Which in Mom talk means now. I better go. Thanks Jessica." Without even sparing Angel a single glance, she walked out of the room, leaving him behind.
Jessica murmured, "Ouch," to her brother before following the blonde downstairs, passing Connor on the way.
"Hey Bro," Connor said to a solemn Angel with a grin on his face, "Buffy didn't look too happy... rough night?" he teased.
"Shut up," Angel retaliated, glaring harshly at his younger brother. "Look, I need to talk to you about why our sister's been all down recently," he quickly changed the subject, not wanting to talk about his predicament at the moment.
Connor's face became serious. "Noah's been an asshole to her, I know; Dawn told me." Again, a smug smile tugged at his lips, "Don't worry, I took care of it."
His brother responded with a devilish smirk of his own, "Did it include some violence?"
"Just a harsh shove against the wall, nothing drastic. He surprisingly gave in quick. Let's just say that we'll be able to make Jessica happy and make my friend Noah do something that would make him want to kill himself all at the same time."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humming a jaunty tune to herself, Jessica skipped out of her room, dressed for a night out of the house. Her mood was a far cry from a few hours ago. After gazing into the mirror, and saw how sad she looked, it suddenly dawned on her that she wouldn't let some boy effect her. It hadn't happened before, and wouldn't happen again, no matter how much she cared for him.
Figuring she had some time to kill before she left with Oz, she headed downstairs to the kitchen to get herself a drink. On her way, she passed the basement and suddenly heard a consistent, uneven thumping coming from the basement. She stared at the closed door for a moment, finding it odd that someone might be down there. She thought it was just her and Oz in the house. Knowing that there was a chance that she could walk into something compromising, if last night wasn't any indication, her curiosity got the better of her, and she cautiously made her way down the steps.
"Hello," she called out, staying in the middle of the staircase, just to be safe.
The thumping paused, and a sweaty Angel, donned in his workout clothes, appeared at the bottom of the steps.
"Yeah," he answered, grabbing a towel that was hanging on the railing and wiped the sweat off his skin.
His sister walked down the rest of the steps until she stood in front of him. She furrowed her brow and tilted her head. "What are you doing here? I thought you went somewhere hours ago."
He walked further into the room with Jessica right behind him. "No. I've just been down here all day," he reached into the mini-fridge and took out a bottle of water.
"Geez," she said, and sat herself on the bench press, "You must really be upset then."
Angel leaned against the wall. "Why do you say that?"
"Because when you're upset, you usually brood or work out intensely. At times, both. I could safely assume that this is about whatever happened between you and Buffy earlier, right?"
He put down his bottle of water, and moved to the punching bag next to him. "Maybe," he replied before hitting the heavy bag.
"What happened?"
He continued to beat on his makeshift victim as he talked to his sister, "I just put my stupid ass foot in my stupid ass mouth."
"Did you say something insensitive," she questioned with a roll of her eyes.
"You got it," he panted out, throwing a set of hard punches.
"You are such a guy," his sister stated, repeating what Buffy said earlier.
"I've heard it before," he replied.
Jessica stepped behind the punching bag, and held it steady for him. "I'm sure if you apologize for whatever you said, she'll forgive you."
Angel stopped his punishment on the bag. "You think?"
"Of course. If she loves you as much as I think she does, then she will," she assured him, but then tilted her head again, as she did when she was curious, then asked, "What did you say, anyway?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair. "Well, I told her that you probably heard us last night, and that it wasn't a big deal because you probably moved to Connor's room, and that you were you used to it, and somehow, that lead to me being a man whore."
Jessica gazed upon him incredulously, "You are stupid," she said.
"I know," he agreed, "Do you really think she'll forgive me?"
"Oh, you're going to need to grovel. Possibly even buy her something pretty."
"Yeah," he then really looked at his sister, and noticed that she was out of her house clothes and was in her "surfer" outfit. She had on loose, khaki Bermuda shorts, a black Roxy shirt, matching flip flops, and an anklet made of cowrie shells. Her dark hair was straightened and she only wore eyeliner and lip gloss. She never liked to get that gussied up like regular girls, much to her mom's dismay. "Are you going out," he questioned her.
A happy smile lit her face, which made Angel glad she was out of her funk. "Yeah. Oz and I are going to that Chinese buffet, and then we're going to the Bronze. It's open-mic night, but the Dingoes are the only ones getting paid to play there. Cool, huh?"
Despite how upset he was, Angel chuckled, "Yeah. Cool. Is Willow going?"
"No. Her uncle from New York is in town, so she has to stay for dinner. She'll be at the club later, though."
"I see. You're in a better mood, what happened?"
"I decided not to be sad anymore," she simply replied, sitting back down on the bench press.
"Obviously," he made her scoot over so he can sit next to her, "Come on. You made me tell you things, now it's my turn to help you. That's our thing, remember?"
Jessica grinned and nodded, "Yeah. I remember."
"So... Tell me. What's going on?" Angel already knew the story, but he really wanted to hear it from his sister. Connor and her may be the best of friends, but Angel and Jessica had a close relationship, too.
"Remember Noah? Connor's really shy friend?" Angel just nodded in response. "Well, I really... like him, but I never wanted to tell Connor, because I know how protective he is, how all of you are, and I didn't want to ruin their friendship because Connor decided to beat him up one day just because he put his arm around me." Angel let out a sigh. They were overprotective, but it was just their brotherly instinct to be. Plus, because they didn't have a dad anymore, they felt they had to protect her and their mother twice as much.
"Anyways," she continued, "So one day, we're like all buddy-buddy, you know, and then the next day he avoided me and ignored me whenever I was around, giving me the cold shoulder. That only bugged me somewhat, because I didn't know what I did to make him to act like that. What really got to me was when I caught him making out with Melody. I really liked him, Angel, and I thought he had feelings for me, too, the only guy who actually did have feelings for me. I mean, usually all the guys I know only want to be my friend, or are too afraid to approach me because of you four and Riley," she let out a sad chuckle, " I don't know, that's just my theory, maybe there's just something wrong with me."
Angel put his arm around his little sister and pulled her into his embrace, and despite how sweaty he was, she let him.
"There's nothing wrong with you," Angel assured her, then tilted her face up to look at him, "You're beautiful, okay? Don't let anyone make you believe otherwise. Why do you think we're all so protective of you?"
Jessica nodded. "I know, that's why I'm not in a funk anymore. I realized that I don't need a guy that makes me doubt myself. No matter how much I care about him."
Angel smiled down at his sister, he was so proud of how wise she was.
The two shared a moment before Jessica spoke up again, completely off topic. "Hey, do you wanna come with us?"
Angel shook his head and started to decline her offer. "No, that's okay. I can stay home, read a book and... brood," he joked, referring to all the times that his siblings, and Buffy, had teased him because he was such a brooder.
"Come on. You must be hungry if you've been down here all day. I know how much you like to pig out you fatty," she teased, "And afterwards, you can find Buffy and apologize for your retarded-ness. If that fails and you need a laugh, I heard the Kendall sisters are making their singing debut tonight. We can all bask in their humiliation. It'll be great."
"I don't know, Buffy seemed pretty mad at me this morning. I think she needs her space."
"How do you know? Did she tell you that when you called her?" Angel looked away from her, a sheepish, ashamed look came upon his face. Jessica's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, then she landed a swift punch to her brother's arm. "You didn't call her," the brunette male shook his head, "Oh my God! You're more screwed up than I thought!"
"I was going to call her when the bookstore closed and she was home."
"No, don't do that. Your apology would be more effective if you do it in person. Trust me, I'm a girl."
"But..."
"Ah! No buts," she stood up and pulled Angel to his feet, "You're going to dinner with Oz and me, then you're going to stop by the store and get flowers or whatever, and then you're gonna go where ever Buffy's at, and you're going to talk to her."
Jessica started to push Angel up the stairs, when Oz chose that time to enter the basement in search for his sister.
"Hey," Oz said to Angel, stopping in front of him in the middle of the stairs, "you're still here?"
Before Angel could answer their brother, Jessica poked her head from behind Angel's back, and spoke up.
"He's been down here all day because he and Buffy had a fight. Now he's gonna get ready, and come with us, and then he's gonna go to Buffy. Right Angel?"
The older teenager sighed and rolled his eyes. "Right."
"Cool," Oz responded, and then said to Angel, "Hurry up," and then turned around and exited the basement.
"Yeah Angel," Jessica said to him as she followed her oldest brother up the stairs, "You're such a girl when you get ready."
"Are not!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Buffy... Buffy dear?"
The blonde was snapped out of her daze, hearing her father call out to her. She furrowed her eyebrows and gazed at him with question.
"Huh," she said.
"Are you alright? You seem quite... distracted."
Buffy gave Giles a small smile of reassurance. "I'm fine, Daddy. It's just... stuff. Nothing to worry about."
Her father stared at her skeptically, but then softened his features and took her delicate hand in his. "Buffy, I may be an old, stuffy British man, but I am still your father. You can tell me anything, I'll listen."
She squeezed his hand. "I know, thank you, but I don't feel like talking about it." 'Especially with you,' she silently added, 'I don't think he would want to hear about what happened after my boyfriend violated his first born.'
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well, at the risk of sounding like horrible father, since you're going through some teenage dilemma, I need to ask a favor from you."
Buffy leaned forward on the counter she was behind, "Ask away."
"See, your Uncle Carter has invited me and some of our friends over so we can catch up on things and-"
"Go have fun at your poker game, Dad," Buffy interrupted him, smiling with amusement, "I'll lock up."
Giles smiled back at his daughter, "Thank you."
He told Buffy that he was stopping by the bank first and then to Carter's apartment, and instructed her to straighten up the place before she left and to call his cell phone if she needed him. He grabbed his coat and the money from the register, and kissed Buffy on the forehead before dashing out of his bookstore.
As soon as her dad left, Buffy sighed and turned around to put some music on to fill the silence of the bookstore. The frown she wore on her face before she talked to her dad crept back into place. She slumped over the counter, and went back into her thoughts. With one hand she fingered the necklace that was given to her on her birthday; it hadn't come off her neck since the day it was placed there.
It didn't take her long to figure out that the fight that she had with Angel was stupid and pointless. She didn't know what came over her to react that way, but even though she knew it was a silly outburst, her pride got the best of her, and she internally promised herself that she wouldn't be the one to break down and apologize.
She sighed and turned on the radio her dad kept behind the counter to fill the silence of the store. Once she found a song that she liked, the blonde teenager gathered all the books that weren't put back in their right place and went into the stacks.
Over the music, she heard the soft chiming of the bells that hung over the door.
"We're closed," Buffy called out, without leaving the stacks. When she didn't hear the bells ring again, she huffed in frustration and abandoned her task to show the late customer out the door.
"I'm sorry, but we're...," she trailed off and stopped in her tracks when she came in contact with a pair of brown eyes.
"Hey."
TBC…