Chapter 27

Sorry for the severe delay,

I have no idea what happened to my files as it has been many a years but a rewatch of Buffy & Angel has brought me hurtling back into the world of FF and it was making me uneasy that I hadn't completed this... attempting to finish these last few chapters from scratch x

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

The remainder of that night was tense, after their passionate encounter they had joined each other in the shower to clean up before the baby monitor alerted them to their son being awake. On autopilot, Angel went to get his son from his room and bring him downstairs to the kitchen where Buffy started to prepare a meal for them.

Throughout the dinner, the settling of Liam back in his room and cosying up on the sofa, his hands barely left her side. Either a brush of his fingers or his palm caressing her thigh, any time she made a move away from him she felt his hand clench against her, willing her to not leave his side. She knew why he was being possessive, like he had alluded to earlier, his emotions were on overdrive and was scared that she would come to some unknown harm.

Once they retired to the bedroom, Angel fell into a fitful sleep, she lay awake for hours watching him, his beautiful features tensing, the furrow of his brow and the occasional deep wincing sound that escaped his lips. She traced his features lightly with her fingers and felt her heart clench, she loved this man more than anything in this world, despite the heartache of losing him, the chaotic years between them and the horror of the crash, she wouldn't take any of that back.

Yes, the years had been unkind for the most part, if his dad had turned down the job offer and stayed, would they have lasted all these years? She knew what people always said, that high school sweethearts were doomed once one, if not both went to college. Would they have survived trying?

Before she could dwell any further on the past, his strong arm encircled her waist, pulling her tight against his chest as he sighed in his sleep, with a smile on her face she snuggled in and placed a kiss gently onto his chest. He squeezed her ever so gently making her feel loved and protected, Buffy closed her eyes and let sleep finally set in.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

When she woke, she was in the bed by herself, looking around she saw their room door closed over and she smiled. They normally left the door open so they could make their way quickly to Liam's room, this usually was the sign that you could have a longer sleep, if you so wanted. Lying back into the bed and pulling the duvet up and round her, she closed her eyes for a moment before hearing a smash coming from downstairs.

Jumping out of bed and hurrying down the stairs, she came to screeching halt when she saw a tray on the floor and pieces of food scattered across the tiles. Looking up, she chuckled when she heard him muttering curse words and shaking his hand before running it under the cold water from the faucet. Feeling her presence, Angel turned slowly and sighed "Sorry for waking you, thought I'd make you breakfast…"

Buffy smiled as she came closer, she smoothed her fingers over the faint red marks on his hand then placed it back under the water. His strong body leaned against her before he kissed the top of her head "Liam's napping, go… go sit down and I'll" he shrugged as he looked at the floor "I'll clean this mess up" a smile twitched at his lips as he leaned down to kiss her softly.

"Angel, you sit down, and I'll order us in breakfast… think that might be better" she giggled softly, knowing that her culinary skills, although were vastly improving due to him, were still limited at best, they both deserved something more than toast this morning. On his way out of the kitchen he retrieved the brush out of the closet and handed it to her before making his way towards the sofa.

Once everything was tidied up and their breakfast was ordered, Buffy sat with her legs across Angels and laid her head against his chest whilst his hands slowly glided up and down her calf. They remained in silence throughout their breakfast and once again as they took the same position as before. Liam started crying, Buffy extracted herself from her lovers' grip and carefully lifted him from the bassinet and brought him over to the sofa for his feed.

Although he had seen this for the past three month, watching Buffy feed their boy amazed him. He didn't think he could love her any more than he already did, once that tiny bundle was place into her arms back at the hospital his heart almost burst, with love, pride, and adoration. He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard Buffy say "If you really want to see them, I can show you them later" in reference to his gaze being on her breasts.

He let out a laugh and rubbed his face "Funny…" his eyes slowly met hers and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ears "I'm so grateful for you Buff, you and Liam… and I don't know what I'd do without you both" his eyes fell to his son then back up to his love, he saw that flicker of awe in her eyes at his words as she smiled back at him.

Standing up, he wrung his hands together and sighed deeply "I saw Lindsay come back this morning, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing…" he looked away as his heart clenched, they were never friendly towards each other, cordial but never one to drop in on each other, mostly down to Darla always trying to throw herself at him.

Buffy nodded "maybe you should go and see how he is doing… he might need someone to talk too" as far as she'd known the man he never had family over and only saw a handful of friends come by seldomly, they only had a few interactions, which were polite, the only time she saw him make the extra effort was when her pregnant belly was more noticeable, she could see the longing in his eyes before he called out to her to offer his congratulations.

Angel swooped down to kiss her quick before agreeing, he made his way upstairs for a quick shower and change of clothes. In no time at all he was making his way across the sidewalk and up to the door of his neighbours' house and knocked loudly. Half expecting no answer, he was shocked when the door swung open and was greeted by the sight of Lindsay with the look of a feeling that he knew all too well.

Wordlessly the Texan stood to the side and let Angel enter, in the few years that they had been neighbours he had never once stepped inside. The place was modest, that, he wouldn't have surmised, Darla liked high end, she liked designer and always kept up with the latest trends. He looked back to the blonde and smiled "…How is she?"

Lindsay sighed and ran his hand through his long hair "she's alive" he shrugged and went to the bar in the corner of the room before pouring them both a whiskey, he sank the drink in a matter of seconds "hooked up to all those damn machines… Doc said she's lucky to be alive, if it weren't for the CPR then she'd be dead as can be" he let out a sad scoff and poured another drink.

Feeling the waves of emotion roll off his neighbour Angel felt for the guy, before he could say anything, Linds faced him, his eyes glassy with unshed tears "Now I know we've never been the likes to be friendly to each other, it's not that I hate you but it drives me damn mad when Darla comes on to ya… but, uh, I know you love that little blonde you're shacked up with and would dare cheat on her"

Angels face tensed, he never would dream of cheating on her, for all they'd been through, he'd rather be dragged into hell than to ever do anything like that. Lindsay groaned "I keep thinkin' to myself, why? Why did she do it and why in the hell do I stay with her, she's nothing more than a fucking asshole when she wants to be…"

Easing his clenched fists, Angel cut in "because you love her" Lindsay chuckled sadly and looked to the floor, he was right, despite her constantly being a pain in the ass, knowing that she had been unfaithful and the fact that she had tried to seduce the man in front of him multiple times, he couldn't envisage a world without her in it. The sight of her blue, not breathing and then being ventilated at the hospital made him feel sick beyond words.

"I know I should be up there by her side, but I can't, I can't just sit in that chair, her not breathing on her own, all those pitying looks… I won't do it" this time he picked up the bottle and took a good long swig of it. He took a few staggered steps towards the sofa and threw himself down, slamming his head against the backrest.

Finishing his own drink, he carefully sat the glass back onto the countertop and sighed, he was stuck, he didn't want to be condescending but he didn't want to keep quiet, even if the subject in question had tried to get in between him and Buffy "Not my place to say but you would kick yourself if she woke up and she was by herself, or worse… you love her and deep down she must love you too, don't let this rage build-up"

Slapping his hand off the leather sofa and then pointing to Angel, he raged "You don't get to tell me what to do in my own goddamn marriage, ya hear!" Linds flew off the chair and flew across the room towards Angel, coming toe to toe with him. Biting back the unease, Angel held his ground and stared at him "Why you here? Here to rub in your perfect relationship with that hot little thing next door, huh? Keep your nose out my fucking business!"

Angel didn't flinch, he was biting his tongue, not wanting to cause a fight but he also wouldn't let anyone degrade Buffy in any way "Why didn't you jump in to save her?" the blondes stare intensified as Angel spoke "You were there… but I was the one to do it… to start CPR, all you did was stand there" the next thing he felt was a punch across the face and he stumbled back.

Lindsay raged at him and tried to throw another punch, but Angel blocked it in time and threw one right back, causing Lindsay to fall back onto his ass. The moment he fell to the floor, he let out an almighty wail and began to cry, not caring that Angel was in the room or not.

Stood frozen, he didn't know what to do, he watched as the typically calm and aloof man broke down in front of him. After a minute, Linds got control of his emotions and wipes furiously at his eyes and cleared his throat "tell anyone about this and I'll kick your ass, motherfucker"

Letting out a chuckle, Angel shook his head and extended his hand out to help the blonde off the floor. Once they were eye to eye again, they shared a look, by no means did this count for friendship or anything like that but it was an unspoken agreement between the two that this was them being civil and having an understanding.

Looking at the blood slowly trickling from a cut on Angel's lip, he stalked off to the ice cooler next to the bar, wrapped some up in a nearby towel and handed it to Angel without saying anything. After a pause he took another swig of the whiskey bottle that he'd picked back up "Truth of the matter is, I froze, I panicked… I knew what I should have done but my legs wouldn't move"

Angel nodded knowingly, not quite the same situation but when out on a date during college, a man at the table next to him and the girl he was seeing had choked on his dinner. As the man's partner began to scream for help, without hesitation his date grabbed the man into the Heimlich manoeuvre and saved his life. He felt a little embarrassed that it wasn't him that sprang into action, not that he had a hero complex and wanted to be involved in everything, but his mother had instilled in him to do the right thing.

With one last sigh Lindsay threw the almost empty bottle into the bin and ran his fingers through his messy mane "Guess I better shower and get back up there…" as he stomped towards the stairs, he turned one last time towards Angel, a faint smile struggling to grace his face. It looked like he was struggling to say those words, but Angel knew without hearing it that he was thanking him for saving his wife's life.

"If you need anything, give us a shout…" they exchanged another knowing look before Linds went upstairs and Angel headed back to his home. Once he closed the door over, he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, he felt for the guy, he truly did.

Buffy got up from her position on the sofa and as she came closer, she noticed his split lip and the blood that was now beginning to dry, the last few steps were quick as she reached him and touched the gash tenderly despite the venom in her voice "Angel! I can't believe he did this to you!" her eyes searched his to see that he wasn't mad or angry "Angel?"

Slipping his arms around her waist and bringing her flush against his body, he let his forehead rest against hers "He's a mess, Buffy… I gave him this one for free, don't worry I hit him back" he rolled his eyes then closed them. He felt her nimble fingers slide up around his neck to play with the hair at the back of his neck, then further on, massaging his scalp gently "She's alive, barely… doesn't sound good"

Buffy nodded against him, feeling a little bit of relief flow through her. She wouldn't say that she hated Darla, sure she made her life difficult, said nasty things to her and tried to steal her man on multiple occasions but she wasn't a spiteful person, the woman had almost lost her life "Oh..." giving him a squeeze, her heart aching as she struggled to halt bad thoughts, picturing how she would be in this scenario.

"I hope she pulls through… for his sake, I wouldn't wish that on anyone" staring off into the distance, she shut down her mind. She had been in that position, she had buried someone that she sort of loved, Riley might have been a bastard at the end but she did have some semblance of feelings for him.

Once again, her heart tugged but not for him, for Angel, always being glass half full, picturing the best of folk, she lived life on the positive but deep down there was always those intrusive thoughts that would break through from time to time, threatening her fragile mind. She closed her eyes and held him tight as she shoved down those bad thoughts, willing herself not to imagine something bad happening to him, to her son but it was difficult. She had been off medication for a long time before their son was born but sleep deprivation and post-partum hormones had been throwing her for a loop.

"I love you" she mouthed against his shirt, scared to speak out loud, she couldn't trust herself not to break down in front of him.