It was about 11:30 before I woke up. I looked around the room until my eyes landed on a figure sitting in a chair. I smiled when I realized that it was Erik. He quickly got up and came over to my bed. He lay down next to me and kissed my neck.

"Good morning luv. Happy birthday." he whispered against my neck. I smiled.

"I forgot that was today. I always forget."

"Hey I don't even know when mine is." I smiled. He had been alive for almost 100 years so I would think that he would forget. He seemed to realize that I was getting restless and he moved off of me and onto the edge of the bed.

"Well, people are waiting for you downstairs if you want to get up and get dressed." I nodded as I watched him get up and go to the door. Before he was able to get out I called back to him.

"Wait outside the door. I'll be right out." he nodded and closed the door. I jumped up and headed to my clothes case that I had gone to get the night before so I could live here. I opened it up. I decided to wear my black jeans; black converse, a black t shirt with crimson coloring around the seams, a gold necklace with a red rose attached to it, my black leather trench coat, and finally, added my new engagement ring to the mix. I gave myself one look in the mirror before heading to brush my hair and teeth.

I walked out the door and over to Erik who was standing on the other side of the hall. He smiled brightly when he saw the ring on my finger. I smiled back and grabbed his hand with the hand without the ring. We walked hand in hand down the stairs where I saw a boat load of presents of all shapes and sizes and Angel, Lindsey, and all the people that worked for Angel were standing next to the pile. Angel smiled as I came down the stairs. I walked over to them and gave Lindsey and Angel a hug. I looked over at the other people and noticed two boys, and two girls. One girl walked over to me followed by the other one. She walked up and smiled, holding out her hand.

"Hi Alex. I'm Cordelia. This is Fred,' she pointed to the petite girl that followed her. 'Gunn,' she pointed to the black man. I waved to both of them and they said hi back. 'And that is Wesley." I said hi again and he gave a British introduction. Everyone laughed at him and I saw him blush furiously. He saw me looking at him sympathetically and he smiled. He mouthed 'thanks' as I glared at everyone who was laughing and they all stopped in an instant. I mouthed 'your welcome' back. I looked around at everyone until Angel spoke up.

"Right well, let's get to those presents huh?" he suggested and I smiled. I went over and sat down. When everyone was seated and waiting anxiously for me to open them and see what I got. Angel handed me a medium sized package. I opened it and smiled. Lindsey had gotten me the new set of all the nirvana cds. I looked at him.

"Thanks dad. You knew I wanted these?" he smiled and nodded. Angel handed me a slightly bigger package and I opened it. It was a red shirt with the Full Metal Alchemist sign on it. It had the cross with a snake on the back and the trans-mutation circle on the front. I smiled as Gunn held up his hand. I thanked him and Angel handed me Cordelia's present. It was a set of black and red earrings. I thanked her and moved on. I got a book about demons and how to kill them from Wesley and I knew that that would come in handy if I was going to learn how to fend for myself against whatever Wolfram and Hart threw at me. Fred got me another book all about the ancient arts and how to learn them and master them. Angel got up and went into the other room and called for something named Tao. I had no idea what he had but I was excited none the less.

Out runs a small tiger cub. I looked up at Angel in astonishment.

"I had to. It was about to be killed. The man said I could take it because it was a boy and they wanted a girl to mate with their male they had already bought."

"It's so cute. Thank you so much." I ran over to him and hugged him.

"You're welcome." He hugged me tighter before letting me go. I walked over to Erik and sat down next to him. He whispered very quietly in my ear.

"You ready?" I nodded my head. I stood up with Erik and got the attention of the group.

"People! We want to say something. First of all, thank you for the gifts. They are all fantastic. I love them. But now, we have a surprise for you. Last night, Erik and I were talking and one thing led to another and..." I held out my hand and everyone gasped. Cordelia jumped up and came over to see the ring.

"That is beautiful! How did you afford such a thing?" Erik started to fidget.

"Well I have money from the 1800's and it is worth more now in America so I have enough for us to live off of for the rest of our lives without working." he stuttered out.

"So she will be in good hands? I don't know much about you to know if I can trust you." said Lindsey suspiously. Erik walked over to him.

"I know you don't know much about me but Alex and I have been seeing each other secretly just in case you didn't approve."

"For how long? How long have you been seeing each other?"

"About six years." Right before Lindsey could say anymore, Angel got up.

"Alex, can I talk to you two in private?" he asked quietly. We went into the back room and sat down. He looked at us and sighed. I thought he was going to yell at me when he hung his head and put his hands on his head but when he lifted his head, he was smiling. He came over to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I am so proud of you. I hope you know what you are doing but I will always be here for you." I smiled and chuckled in relief.

"What about Lindsey? I don't want him to be mad at me and not want to help."

"He will come around. It's hard enough having a daughter turning 18 but her getting engaged in the same day is overwhelming. He will be happy for you in time. Don't worry. Do what you plan on doing and I'll get him to come around."
"Thanks dad. I don't want my other dad to disown me or anything."

"Have you talked about when to get married?"

"I don't know." I looked over at Erik. He shrugged. "I hoped as soon as possible. I can find a nice place to stay and a place that is big enough for a tiger and you know... in time... children." I smiled as he stuttered. I looked at Angel and saw that he was smiling too.

"I can help if you'd like. We have some resources on the internet that can help."

"That would be great. We can look as soon as possible and we need to get a license to own exotic animals."

We all agreed as we got up and went back into the foyer. Everyone was talking when we came back out but stopped immediately when they saw that we had come back out. They looked from Angel, to Erik, to me, to Lindsey in unison and it was almost funny. I looked at Lindsey and saw that he was kind of upset. I went over to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the back room by ourselves so we could talk.