The Journey, not the Destination

by Xena Avenger

An epically long fic. What happens in is? Starts with Angel fighting the dragon and Buffy helping deal with the consequences. Story begins at the end of 'Angel, Not Fade Away.' Buffy/Angel

74. Afterimage - Part 4

Buffy's heart dropped in her chest as her gazed fixed on Angel's motionless form laying facedown against the far wall.

"No." She whispered, fearing him dead. It was the last word her mouth allowed as her throat tightened shut.

Her steps were slow as she walked towards him; terrified she had arrived too late to save him and was now only here to retrieve his corpse.

Her eyes scanned over the still form, taking in the rumpled clothes and the thin layer of dust covering his body as flakes of the ceiling rained down from the recent quakes.

He'd fought, that much was obvious.

Looking up, she checked the wall and noticed a smear of blood, right beside a blown out chunk of rock that looked like a small explosion had impacted.

Checking her lover's motionless body with her eyes, she quickly found the back of his head was glistening with blood. It didn't take long to figure out whatever he'd been fighting against used some sort of energy weapon, the resounding explosion threw him into the unforgiving stone wall...hard.

On reflex, she looked around but could see no threats. Whatever had been attacking him, was long gone now.

Dropping to her knees, she tentatively reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, sliding it over the dusty fabric towards his neck, expecting the skin beneath to be cold and stiff.

Instead, her fingers found warmth, and then the steady thump of his heartbeat.

'OhThankGodHe'sAlive!' Her eyes dripped wet relief as the thought flooded though her and she quickly looked him over to make sure there were no other injuries that could change the initial diagnosis. Finding nothing but scratches and bruises, she quickly rolled him onto his back and to examine his front.

Normally, she could tell when it was about to happen by the spike in demonic energy, but when Angel's face shifted and she suddenly found herself pinned to the dirt floor by a clawed hand around her throat, she realized the Hellmouth beside them was both causing his demon to react and her to not be able to distinguish between the two energies.

His eyes were wide open, the same golden shade as always when his game face came out to play, but they had one big advantage over his human eyes, sight. They were focused on her, angry and wild, and the difference in size between the pupils was a sure fire sign of a good concussion.

Recognition didn't seem to be kicking in on its own, and for a moment Buffy was worried it wouldn't. Air was getting tight from the clawed hand around her windpipe, but fighting to throw him off would only cause him to react like she were an enemy. Instead, she loosened one hand from around his chokehold and slid her fingers along his cheek, trying to reach him though touch. Calling his name would have helped, but the pressure on her throat wouldn't allow air out either.

For a good long moment, he did nothing but growl threateningly, but then he blinked and leaned in lower to smell her.

A second later, his hand released from around her neck and he slouched over, pushing away from her as he groaned in pain, trying to claw his way back to full consciousness.

His eyes burned from the flash of dark energy The First hurled at him, his ears were still ringing and dripping blood from the quaking and high pitched screams, his mouth was dry, his nose clogged with dust, the throbbing in his head was nauseating and his entire body felt like one big bruise. In a half conscious attempt, he tried to reel in the demon, but this close to the Hellmouth his control was too weak and he was too disorientated.

Vaguely, he knew Buffy was close, but his head was too scrambled to work out where, why or how.

Quickly drawing her breath back into her burning lungs, Buffy reached for her concussed love, moving to steady him as consciousness began to fade from his eyes. "Angel, relax, it's over." She whispered as she pulled his head and shoulders into her lap, then peppered his face with as many kisses as she could, thankful he was alive.

"Buffy." Her name was muffled as he pressed his face against her shoulder, his voice slurry and apologetic even with half consciousness, but it was music to her ears.

"Shh." She whispered to him, running her fingers though his hair, careful to avoid the prominent bump on the back where his head had collided with the rough stone wall. "It's ok, you're ok."

He settled against her, relaxing into her arms, perfectly content to be in them. His head throbbed, but despite the pain he felt good. The grief he'd been carrying and the helpless feeling that had been burdening his shoulders for almost a month was finally gone.

Peace.

Buffy felt a bit of worry creep back in when Angel seemed to slump against her. However, after a moment she realized he'd fallen asleep.

A smile pulled at her lip as she studied his face, relieved at how tranquil he looked after whatever had transpired down in the bowels of the Earth, only steps from the seal that held back the power of the Hellmouth. Her smile faded as she ran her fingers lightly over the back of his head, her digits pulling back as she felt the warm stickiness of blood. 'Shit.' She thought, realizing she had no bandages on her at the moment to treat the wound.

Before she could think of ripping her sleeve to make a makeshift dressing, she heard her name being called faintly in the distance.

"Over here!" Buffy yelled out to Willow to help direct her friend towards them.

A few minutes later, Willow found her way into the cavern, her own glowing spheres lighting her path. "Ah, there you are!" The redhead breathed in relief of finding her friends, as she took in Angel looking battered but very much alive she smiled, "Oh good, you found him, in one piece even." Then she noticed the vamp face and blood on the back of his head, "Ok, so slightly demonic and mostly in one piece." She amended, un-slinging a medical bag from her arm and hurrying over.

Buffy took the bag with her free arm, grateful for something to treat her husband's injury.

With Willow helping, Buffy quickly cleaned and bandaged Angel's head as he mumbled something either incoherent or possibly some form of Gaelic swearing against her neck as he hazed between unconscious and asleep.

When she was finished patching him up, she ran her hand down his back and talked softly into his ear. "I'm going to move you now, Ok honey?"

He groaned but gave no other sign of hearing her, his eyes were shut and his body was relaxed.

'Damn, I'm going to have to carry him out of here.' She thought to herself. It wasn't that she couldn't physically pick him up, but he was longer than her and awkward to carry, not to mention it would be difficult to do so in these tight tunnels without knocking him into more rocks.

"You need…help?" Willow asked, wanting to help, but not sure she wanted to be responsible for helping carry her friend when there was such a high 'oops' possibility. Not to mention the demon face brought back unpleasant memories of Angelus biting her.

Buffy positioned herself so she could pull Angel up, but he surprised her when he stood on his own.

"Angel!" She scrambled to help him as he leaned and braced against the wall, a growl escaping his throat as vertigo threatening to drop him again.

"I'm conscious." He muttered, shaking his head to clear it but quickly deciding that only made it worse. After a few deep breaths, the pounding in his head was lessening, not going away, but at least getting more tolerable.

Buffy watched his face like a hawk, looking for any signs of him about to pass back out.

Her worry relaxed a bit when his left arm wrapped around her waist and drew her up against him, his lips pressed against her forehead, "I'll be ok, promise." He assured her quietly, "Just tired."

The anxiety she'd been carrying finally died as she leaned up and kissed his lips, the returning kiss told her enough to know he was indeed ok, if not weary and sore. The demon's features hadn't faded from his face, but she knew his brain was thinking in human terms, which was good enough for her.

"You can have a nap once we get to the car." She promised him, moving to help support him whether he needed it or not, by now she just enjoyed touching him.

"Lead the way." He motioned with his free arm, unable to see anything and too tired to focus much on using his other senses. As far as he cared, Buffy could be his eyes.

Willow grabbed the medical bag and the three of them began the slow climb back to the surface.

Although he was fairly conscious, Buffy was acutely aware Angel was badly concussed as he stumbled and swayed during their ascent, the slur to his speech was another sign, though his talking hadn't continued once they began to move. In fact, he'd grown completely silent save for an occasional grunt, groan or growl.

She had a bad feeling he was relying heavily on the demon's stamina right now, but there wasn't much she could do to help him in the confines of the debris strewn tunnel. However, the moment they reached the surface, getting him horizontal and comfortable became the top priority on her To-Do list.

By the time she could see sunlight poking down from the entry hole at end of the tunnel, Angel was already fading back out again. Willow hurried ahead to get the car and maneuver it as close to the rubble crowded entrance as possible.

The climb out to the surface was challenging with him mostly dead weight, but she managed to rouse him long enough to help her with the ascent.

Within three minutes of exiting to the surface, Buffy was in the backseat with Angel leaning beside her, his head on her shoulder.

He was out cold.

...

The ride back to Angel Investigations took far longer than the mad dash to Cleveland, but Buffy barely noticed the clock as she focused on her lover's face as he lay up against her.

The mask of the demon had faded once they got to the car, the pull of the Hellmouth no longer strong enough to draw the vampire out.

Buffy hadn't been surprised when he'd nearly collapsed upon reaching the vehicle, she could tell he'd been pushing himself to stay both upright and awake. Once the need for both had vanished, so hadn't consciousness.

She didn't mind though, he was in her arms, safe and sound. Her fingers were brushing through the short dark hairs along the base of his head, a reflex that worked to keep both of them relaxed.

When Willow pulled into the AI parking lot, Buffy herself had been half sleep. Shaking her head to clear it, she gently shook Angel's shoulder to wake him, "Angel, I need you to wake up now, just for a few minutes."

He didn't move.

She tried again with a bit more enthusiasm.

Nothing.

It wasn't until the third attempt that she began to worry.

"Willow, something's wrong." The blonde addressed her friend as she was still unsuccessful at rousing her spouse, "I can't wake him."

"I'll get Cassidy." The Wicca said as she hurried into the building.

Looking him over again, Buffy checked her husband's breathing and pulse, finding both to be normal. When she pulled his eyelids up, the same uneven brown pupils were staring blankly at her. Peeling the bandage back from the back of his head only assured her the bleeding had stopped and the wound was closing.

Nothing indicated why he'd be unconscious.

A few minutes later, Cassidy and Willow returned, pushing a gurney along with them to transport Angel's dead weight down to the Med-Ward.

Once Cassidy had him hooked into the IV lines and installed the monitoring equipment, Buffy stopped pacing to face her. "What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?"

"Buffy." The Medic address, "I've had him in here less than five minutes. I might be good, but I'm not that good." When the redheaded doctor saw Buffy's frown she added, "Look, his vitals are strong and steady, his wounds are minor and mostly healed already, other than the concussion, he looks pretty good for the circumstances. I'll just run some tests to rule out anything that could be a problem and take it from there, ok?"

"I don't consider unconscious to be classified as 'good'" Buffy muttered, getting frustrated when she didn't know what the problem was or how to fix it.

Cass took a blood sample and moved to work her equipment, "Honestly, I don't think he is unconscious." She added as she tweaked the fluid drip on the IV, "It's more like ultra deep sleep."

Buffy knotted her brow before glancing down at him, noting for the first time the deep bags under his eyes. Unwilling to leave him until he either woke or she at least knew why he wouldn't, she moved a chair beside the bed and slipped her hand around his.

Buffy wasn't aware of how much or how little time had passed while she sat holding her lover's hand, it wasn't until Cassidy held the phone in front of her face that she realized the medic had been talking to her.

"Huh? What?" She asked, looking back confused at the communication devise for a moment.

"I said." Cassidy repeated softly, "Giles wants to talk to you."

Her children flashed in her mind and she took the phone in the hand not clutching Angel's, "Giles? Are the kids ok?"

After ten minutes of assuring Buffy the two toddlers were indeed perfectly fine, he informed her he was just checking in and wanted to know how Angel was doing.

At his name, Buffy looked down at her husband's still form, "Still unconscious."

From beside her, Cassidy shook her head, muttering quietly, "Not unconscious. Deep sleep. Tests were conclusive."

Buffy eyed the doctor suspiciously as she spoke to her father of the heart, promising to be upstairs in a few minutes.

As soon as she hung up, she whirled around to face Cass, "What do you mean he's asleep? Asleep means I can wake him, and I can't wake him."

The medic raised her hands in an 'I'm unarmed, don't slay me' pose, "Just saying what the test results concluded. Physically, he has a pretty good concussion, but besides that, he's going to be ok. From what I can see, medically speaking, he was dehydrated, malnourished, under-rested, and over-stressed...all signs point to he crashed from a combo of those...and I can add that the head wound certainly didn't help. Whatever happened in the Hellmouth defiantly did a number on him, energy wise, he was like a dead battery when we got him out of the car. Honestly, I really want to say you lied about him walking out of the tunnels, because he shouldn't have been able to. Of course we all know how stubborn some living vampires can be, especially when it comes to doing what shouldn't be medically possible." The last remark she eyed the prone man on the bed, finding ribbing the one in question wasn't as fun when he wasn't aware enough to hear it.

"He is the most stubborn bull-headed man I know and love." Buffy admitted, now wishing she'd carried him out of the cave instead, "But trust me, when I say he 'walked' out, I do use the term loosely. He was leaning most of his weight on me, I only let him walk because carrying him over the rough floor would have taken both forever and likely caused him more head trauma."

They were both silent for a second as they scanned over the man on the bed, then Buffy turned to Cassidy, "I need to run upstairs for a second, will he be ok?"

"He's not going anywhere, I can assure you of that. He's out cold and I don't foresee that changing in the next ten minutes."

Buffy chewed her lip a moment, fighting with herself over staying with him and going to see her babies, but motherly instinct won out. Leaning over, she kissed his cheek and promised to be right back.

...

After Buffy exited, Cassidy scanned over her notes and adjusted some equipment, measuring out fluids for the IV lines and removing some of the monitoring pads from his chest.

As the minutes ticked by, curiosity began to poke at the back of her mind. She'd heard the training slayers and Buffy herself say that while vamped, Angel could see and wondered if his eyes showed any physical signs of the ability. Although her scans had shown his eyes were healed, he thus far had failed all visual stimulation tests.

'Well, he's down for the count, now is as good a time as any to check his eyes again.' She figured she might as well take advantage of the coma-like sleep, he couldn't complain about a test he wasn't awake for.

Cassidy tilted the observation light over the bed so it illuminated his face before slipping her pen light from her white lab coat pocket, she leaned over the prone man to gently lift an eyelid before sweeping the beam over his right eye. She wouldn't have tried it if he hadn't been blind, but a demonic backlash wasn't at the forefront of her mind if he wasn't light sensitive. The last time she'd checked his eyes, his pupil hadn't reacted in the slightest to the stimulant of light.

This time however, the irregular sized brown pupil constricted as the light passed over it, but it didn't remain brown.

'F*ck.' The thought barely processed before a clawed hand wrapped tightly around her neck, an angry pain-filled growl issued from the no longer sleeping living vampire as he grabbed the hand holding the penlight in a crushing grip and sat up, his demonic face inches from hers.

Ok, so apparently his eyes weren't as blind to light as they used to be, and the demon wasn't as out cold as the human had been.

"A...Angel, it's m...me...Cass...idy." The medic forced out her mouth, the air to and from her lungs was having difficulty moving freely with Angel's hand gripped around her throat. She was cursing herself, she usually was more careful around Angel when he was a potential threat, and never had she been in this situation before when Buffy wasn't here to rescue her.

Never again would she shine a light into the vampire's eyes, blind or not.

If she survived.

The golden gazed demon glared back at the veined outline of a human in his grasp, his burning eyes narrowing as his foggy brain tried to process what was going on. He'd awoke to pain flashing into his eyes and the sense Buffy wasn't close, both factors contributing to his foul demonic mood. The squirming collection of blood in his grip was speaking again, words that his mind was having trouble processing.

He yanked the mortal closer and breathed in its scent, finding the female's smell to be familiar.

'Bad Daddy! No hurt Cass!' The thought rose up as he associated scent to memory, recognizing the medic that often treated him.

'Friend, not foe.' He concluded as humanity won out in his mind over the animalistic urges of the vampire.

Cassidy stumbled back when the tight grip suddenly released her wrist and neck, an overwhelming feeling of relief washed over her at not resemble string cheese after an encounter with the claws of a disorientated demon.

She tossed the penlight away just in case as she rubbed her sore bruised hand.

Angel growled at the pain in his skull and the throb in his eyes as he sat hunched over on the gurney, the heavy weight of weariness pulling over him like a soaked blanket, making him feel like he hadn't slept at all. Everything around him felt too bright, too loud, too strong smelling. He couldn't remember what had happened to him, why he hurt or when it occurred, but he did remember he'd been looking for Buffy before he'd lost consciousness. Despite the pain, there was one thing he wanted more than to be unconscious again. "Buffy." Her name sounded rough as it was forced from his dry throat, his whole mouth feeling like sandpaper. She wasn't here, and he had to know why and where she was.

The doctor was cautious to approach him again, his game face always giving her a chill, but she was well aware that if he was speaking in human language, his brain was thinking like a man again, not the beast.

Still, she kept a few good feet back and spoke quietly. "Buffy's fine. She was sitting down here with you for a while before going to check up on the kids, she should be back soon." Cassidy assured him, figuring he had only really regained consciousness to seek her absence.

Some of the worry in his gut settled at that, but it wouldn't all vanish until he could verify that statement for himself. He wanted to get up and go find her right now, but when he tried the room spun and nausea clenched at his stomach.

"Oh no you don't." Cassidy's voice was quickly followed by her hands on his shoulders to push him back down onto the bed when he'd tried to rise, which shouldn't have been as easy as it turned out to be. "Concussed people do not have permission to leave, and you my friend are still very much in the land of concussion."

"Am not." He growled out as he laid back down, though he knew it was a lie. The spinning room was proving him wrong even more by the second and the blinding glare of the lights above were stabbing at his eyes like knives, even with them squeezed tightly shut.

Seeing her patient in pain and a few shades greener than normal, her fear of being mauled was cast aside as the healing instinct kicked in. Adjusting the IV stand beside the bed with one hand to flow more painkillers, she switched off the observation light above the bed with the other when she noticed he was flinching away from it and keeping his eyes shut. "I'm the one with the medical degree, so I make the judgment calls. Now just relax and take a few deep breaths."

Once she knew he wasn't going to try and rise again, she quickly grabbed a cloth from the bin beside the sink and rinsed it in cold water before wringing it out and laying it over his brow and eyes to help relieve some of his pain she could plainly see on his vampric face.

As the cold cloth touched his skin, the soothing feeling was instant as the light was cut off. A growly sigh escaped him as the pain eased, it didn't make all his pain vanish magically, but it did feel pretty damn good.

Next, she filled a glass with more cold water and pulled a straw from the draw beside the sink, "Ok, nice and slow".

He hadn't known what she'd meant until he felt the lip of the straw touch his, then the feeling of the beautiful wet liquid flowing into his dry mouth and slipping down his parched throat was almost heavenly. Cassidy had to pace him, or else he would have drained the cup in seconds and likely made himself sick.

"How's that? Better?" She asked the now far more comfortable man leaning back on the cot.

He nodded, but only slightly to keep from aggravating his headache, which was finally down to a dull roar. "Yes, thanks."

Cass watched him a moment, still unnerved by the sharp fangs poking out from between his lips. "Think you can 'un-game' your face? Or is there an underlying problem I should be aware of?" The redhead asked, unsure why Angel still had the demon mask. Under normal circumstances he wore it only when on purpose or in extreme duress or pain.

A confused look washed over his face and she noticed him tongue his teeth, a moment later, the demon features vanished.

"Sorry, didn't notice until you said it." He admitted tiredly, easily repressing his demon's features back under his skin now that the pain was manageable.

"No big, I suspect it's due to the last place you were fully conscious was within the Hellmouth." Cass concluded, 'not to mention being abruptly awaken by pain and with Buffy being absence' she thought guiltily.

He turned his head towards her, his eyes still covered by the cool cloth, "The Hellmouth? Why?" His mind whirled as he tried to recall what had happened last, but the furthest back he could remember had been going to take a nap after Buffy left for work that morning.

A frown crossed the doctor's lips, "Memory loss is normal, but not a welcome sign of concussions. Can't tell you why you went to Cleveland, as I have no idea, and I'm certain Buffy would like to know the answer to that as well, pretty sure she was planning to drill you about it the second she knew you were ok."

Now the frown shifted to Angel's lips, "When I try to remember, all I see is darkness."

"Well don't try now, you're exhausted and concussed. Let yourself recharge before trying again. Doctor's orders." A grin tugged at her lips, "Don't make me sedate you."

He growled at that, a "No" firm on his lips.

A few seconds later a blur rushed into the room, right up to Angel's bed. He didn't need to look down to know Katie was standing there watching him with big wide eyes, likely feeling unsure if she should disturb him. He removed the uncertainty by offering his hand to her and addressing her with a smile, "Hi beautiful."

With a megawatt smile, she snagged his hand to pull her up onto the bed and cheered loud enough to alert her mother who was walking much slow than Katie's race down the corridor that "Daddy's awake!".

Turning back to her father, she cocked her head to the side and asked, "How can you know I'm beautiful when your eyes are covered?" She asked, her big brown orbs examining the swatch of cloth Cassidy had wrapped over Angel's eyes to ease the discomfort caused by the glare of the lights.

He smiled at that, pulling her closer, "Even a blind guy can see you're beautiful."

While he talked to his daughter, Cassidy adjusted a few of the IV lines and monitoring equipment around so it wouldn't be in the way of the family that was about to invade his narrow bed.

A few seconds later, Buffy slipped into the room holding Liam's hand, walking at the boy's shorter pace and helping him up onto the bed before bending down to kiss her husband hello. "You look terrible." She offered, only slightly joking as she looked him over, glad he was conscious at least.

A grin tugged at his lips, "Thanks, I feel it too." He admitted, pulling her back in for another kiss.

Despite the pep in his lips, she could tell he was exhausted. When the kiss ended, she scanned the visible part of his face as he answered questions from the kids and tickled them here and there. She glanced over at Cassidy, who was keeping a steady vigil a few feet away to offer some privacy. Catching the medic's eyes, she indicated they needed to talk in private, away from vampire hearing.

Cassidy nodded and slipped from the room and down the hall to her office. Turning back to her husband, Buffy smiled when Liam yawned and she found her out. "Looks like someone missed their nap today."

"Nap with Daddy." Liam muttered, nesting down between his father's left arm and side, resting his head on Angel's shoulder.

"I'm not tired." Katie stated, folding her arms across her chest and pushing out her lip.

"I am." Angel said sleepily, tugging the sheet up to cover his son as he got comfortable, secretly glad for the excuse to go back to sleep.

"You are?" Katie asked, looking like she was debating the idea now that both her brother and daddy were sleepy.

"Oh yeah." He nodded, already feeling his body sinking down.

Katie looked down at her daddy's shoulder a moment, "Ok, I'll keep you company" she spoke as she settled down opposite her baby brother. Her eyes slipped shut soon after.

Angel was wondering if Buffy was going to pull a cot beside him when he felt her lean down and kiss the two snuggled up in his arms before pressing her lips to his. "I'll be back shortly."

Curiosity pulled him back from the edge of sleep he'd been tottering on, "Where are you going?" She didn't normally leave when both he and the kids were in the same room.

A smirk tugged at her lips, "Don't you worry, I'll be back to haunt you soon enough." she leaned down and ran her fingers though his hair as she kissed him again for good measure, never really satisfied with brief kisses.

"Kay" He muttered, already half asleep.

She waited a few moments to assure all three were resting comfortably before slipping out of the Med-Ward and down the hall to Cass's office.

The redhead looked up from the medical chart she was scanning as the blonde entered.

'"He's out cold, don't foresee that changing in the next ten minutes" you said", came Buffy's comment as she to stood beside the desk. She liked to be there when Angel woke, and was slightly annoyed he'd done so without her based what the medic had predicted a short time ago.

Cassidy actually blushed, "Yeah, well now I know the demon is on a different sleep schedule."

"What do you mean?" The slayer asked before her eyes picked up on the redness on the medic's throat and right hand. "Oh God, did Angel attack you?" She asked, suddenly horrified she wasn't there to prevent it and worried about her friend.

"Completely my fault." Cass stated, briefly informing the worried wife how she'd foolishly shined a light into a living vampire's eyes and incurred demonic wrath for it.

Despite Cassidy's assurances she was ok, Buffy still felt terrible for not being there to prevent the altercation.

"To get back on the medical track" Cass said to change the subject, "I did learn though this experience that Angel's eyes do react to light now. Add that to we know the demon can see, I would say it is only a matter of time before Angel figures out he isn't as blind as he thinks he is."

"You obviously don't remember how stubborn he can be." Buffy added, wanting his sight to return but knowing her husband had a tendency to have a fixed mindset on certain things.

After a moment of each working over their own thoughts, Buffy asked, "Can I bring him home tonight?"If it wasn't a medical necessity he stay, she'd rather have him home than in the Med-Ward. Truthfully, she was a bit jealous of her son and daughter getting to curl up in their father's arms, she really wanted her Angel pillow back tonight.

Cass made a face, "Until I validate the concussion is gone, I'd rather keep him for monitoring." At Buffy's crestfallen look, she added, "I'll re-evaluate in a few hours, his demon healing might heal him by then, as long as he gets adequate rest."

Buffy nodded, still hoping for a good snuggle that night, tomorrow was Valentine's Day and she was still hoping for a little time alone to celebrate. As much as she was mad he'd left home, gone to the Hellmouth and tried to get himself killed without her even knowing why, she mostly just wanted to hug him and be glad he was alive still.

The raw relief that he was alive was mostly what kept her from blowing up at him the second he'd regained consciousness. A second contribution was the fact he wasn't being as distant and unreachable as before. Whatever happened in the Hellmouth, she could tell by the brief interactions with him that the dark cloud which had been settling between her and her lover had dissipated. Trying to be optimistic about what had happened, at least now he wasn't as broody or self-deprecating.

She still had every intention of grilling him for the details, but she wasn't going to risk having him shut back down on her by demanding it so soon. The hope was he would tell her on his own, maybe after they got to enjoy the little holiday together.

When the talk with Cass ended, Buffy wandered back over to the Med-Ward to watch her family sleep for a little while. The idea of pulling a cot over and joining them played though her mind before she decided against it, her body was still wired from earlier, sleep would be impossible right now. Looking at the wall she noticed she had her late afternoon class starting in 20 minutes. Grateful for a chance to direct her energy to something constructive, she leaned down and kissed her husband's cheek, promising to be back later.

A low growl assured her he'd acknowledged her presence and disproved of her leaving.

With a smile, she kissed his forehead before whispering to prevent waking the kids, "I'll be back after class, and Cass says if you rest and heal, you can come home tonight." She figured she might as well plant the seed now, since she knew he'd be complaining to leave the minute he woke anyways.

He made a sound of agreement and Buffy gave him one last peck before heading upstairs to change for class.

...

Angel awoke to a small body trying to work out of his grip.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked the little girl squirming in his arms, a smirk hiding under his straight face.

"Have to potty." Katie answered, wiggling again.

As much as he could have used a few more hours of sleep, the thoughts of resting were replaced by the desire to be dad. "Ok, hang on a sec." He moved his arm and helped her off the bed before quickly releasing himself from the IV line and few monitoring pads, knowing Cass would be mad but not caring at the moment.

He'd worry about it when his daughter wasn't dancing around in desperate need to pee.

After he got Katie to the restroom, Liam roused from his sleep in his left arm and asked about lunch.

Angel's stomach agreed with the idea immediately.

He was in the elevator before he realized he was naked save for a pair of loose sweats. As much as he didn't care about being exposed, he also realized he was in desperate need of a shower. He could still feel the dust from the Hellmouth sticking to his skin.

When the elevator opened to the cafeteria's floor, Katie shot out and grabbed someone in the hall in a cheerful hug. Angel took a deep breath and smelled Xander's scent.

The one-eyed young man stopped to greet his niece before pausing to see who Katie had been with and to assure she wasn't wandering the halls alone again after sneaking away from a sitter. His lips tugged down into a frown as he watched Angel exit the elevator with Liam walking along beside him, immediately noticing the living vampire's haggard appearance, sparse clothing and a bandage covering his eyes. "Hey man, you ok? To be honest here, you kind of look like an extra in a disaster movie."

"Thanks." Angel replied, knowing it was true so he didn't bother denying it. Instead he decided to take advantage of the other man's presence, "Listen, can you take the kids to the cafe for me? I'm going to grab a shower first."

He hadn't seen his niece and nephew in a few days, so Xander agreed quickly, figuring if the living vampire looked like something the werewolf dragged in, Buffy would be involved shortly and the kids would need babysitting anyways. "Yeah, no problem. Was just heading in for a late lunch anyways."

"Great, thanks." Angel answered, waving his children goodbye as he slipped back into the elevator and headed up to his office for a shower.

Once inside the elevator again, he rubbed at his throbbing eyes under the bandage, wishing it blocked more of the light.

...

Buffy wiped the sweat off her brow and checked the clock. Class had run late but the workout felt good, her excess energy was well used and she was now free for the rest of the day. She took a quick shower in the locker room before heading back to the Med-Ward to check on her family. Figuring the kids would be waking from their nap soon, she could bring them upstairs for lunch to allow Angel a few more hours rest.

Thoughts of the buffet menu vanished from her mind as she entered the Med-Ward to find Cassidy looking annoyed at the empty bed where Angel had been sleeping earlier.

"Where's Angel?" She asked immediately, especially after the day she went though already she was in no mood to play hide and seek again.

Cass shrugged, "I was hoping you knew. I sure as heck didn't give him permission to leave."

'He has the kids.' She thought immediately, hoping that ruled out him doing anything stupid. "How long has he been gone?"

The medic placed her hands on the bed and felt for the temperature, "Bed isn't warm, but not cold yet either, so he hadn't been gone that long."

"I'll bring him back down when I find him." Buffy assured the medic as she turned and headed out of the room to track him down. 'Defiantly going to install GPS in that man once I find him.' She thought as she checked the restrooms on the basement level before deciding to try the cafe.

Her relief was short lived when she entered the cafeteria and found only her children and no husband. "Xander." Buffy addressed her friend as she greeted her children and looked them over quickly to make sure they were ok, it was an automatic response to becoming a parent. "Did you see Angel? Do you know where he went? Is he Ok?"

"Whoa Buff, relax." Xander held up a hand to the rush of questions from the blonde's mouth. "Met Angel in the hall like 10 minutes ago, he asked me to feed the monsters. Said something about a shower. He seemed a little worn around the edges but otherwise ok. Why? Is something wrong?"

"I'll fill you in later. Can you just keep an eye on them for a little longer for me?" Buffy asked, antsy to locate her spouse and make sure nothing was really wrong.

Xander nodded that he was free to watch the kids and she quickly hurried out after thanking him.

The ride up to the offices seemed to take forever, Buffy was pacing the small elevator and quickly darted out before the doors fully opened. Knocking wasn't in her thoughts as she stormed into her husband's office, looking around and immediately noticing the lights were off.

'He's not here.' Came her first thought, but before she could enter further, the feeling washed over her. A second later Angel walked out of the small bathroom in the back of the office, naked save for a towel wrapped around his waist and a second one he was drying his hair with. The bandages were back over his eyes.

After a moment, he paused mid stride and turned his head towards her, her scent and heartbeat alerting him to her presence. He suddenly realized he'd left the Med-Ward without permission and Cass likely sent Buffy to retrieve him.

"Hi." He said quietly, feeling guilty and preparing to be lectured for breaking the rules again. He knew she hated when he ignored Cassidy's medical advice.

Any thoughts of anger at him were absent the second she saw him standing there, only relief he was ok registered. Without a word, she walked towards him.

Angel expected her to be mad, but when she wordlessly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight, he realized she been more worried than mad.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." He assured, quickly wrapping his arms around his wife as he felt her snuggling close against his chest. "Katie needed to use the bathroom and Liam was hungry, then I realized how badly I needed to shower the Hellmouth dust off my skin. I should have left a message."

She was barely listening to his excuses, it didn't really matter at the moment, she was just glad he was ok. He was still apologizing when she leaned up and pressed her lips to his, effectively shutting him up.

Angel hadn't been expecting a kiss, maybe a slap, but he wasn't going to object. He leaned down to make it easier for his shorter wife, pulling her in closer as the kiss deepened.

It had been the last thing on his mind, but now that it was happening he realized how much he'd needed this. He'd been so distant from his wife lately, her love was like a soothing balm, chasing away all his pains and worries.

Reluctantly they both pulled away after a few moments, needing breath.

As she stood against him, listening to his heart beating in his chest, she looked up at him, examining the lower half of his face and scanning over his covered eyes.

"Why did you leave?" She asked, now that she was assured he was ok, the question was ravaging her mind.

"The kids were hungry..." He repeated, thinking she'd meant just now before she cut him off, "No, I mean earlier. Why did you go to Cleveland? The Hellmouth?" She ran her fingers over his chest, "Why did you want to..." She couldn't say the rest, the thought of him killing himself horrified her.

He stiffened at the question and Buffy expected him to shut down again, instead he indicated they should sit. Those thoughts hadn't been in his mind a moment before, but her asking suddenly made him aware of the memories that he'd been unable to recall earlier.

Buffy guided him to the couch and they slipped down onto it together, her eyes studying his face as she awaited his answer.

Just when she thought he wouldn't give one, he spoke slowly about the dream he'd had after she'd gone. He told her about the consecutive nightmares since witnessing the death of the infant. Finally, he told her about who was behind his torment.

Buffy's eyes widened in horror, "The First?" Part of her wasn't surprised, she'd felt it in the Hellmouth, that terrible deep rooted fear of the first evil, the recognition of the screaming voice from within the cavern. She'd hoped she'd been wrong when the thought first swept over her mind, but learning how close he'd come to ending his life again due to the same incarnation of evil that tried to take it before was staggering.

He told her about the pure white light, about the true soul of the sacrificed babe and how she'd saved him. Buffy heard the peace in his voice as he spoke about the doomed infant, the knowledge the child was 'happy' also eased the ache her own heart had felt upon being denied the ability to rescue the innocent baby.

He told her everything he could remember before falling silent. Lost in his own thoughts.

They sat quietly for a long time, neither knowing what else to say. Finally, a smile tugged at Buffy's lips and she let out a small laugh.

Angel's brow furrowed as he sought to find the humor in all that had happened. "What's funny?"

Buffy simply hugged him tighter before saying, "Nothing, yet somehow everything. That after all this time The First is still playing the same sick games and the Powers are still using something magical and white to rescue you from your own guilt complex when I'm too late to save you myself."

Angel didn't laugh immediately, but after a moment the stoic face cracked into a grin. "Pathetic huh?"

"I think this freaks me out more now, because we know The First wouldn't be targeting you if it didn't think you were a threat, and the Powers wouldn't be defending you if you weren't important." Buffy pressed closer against him, "Honestly, I was kind of hoping you would just be mine post heartbeat."

Angel leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "I am yours. Champion guy is available only on borrowing terms for short periods with my wife's verbal and written consent only."

Buffy smiled at that, moving to straddle his lap so she could more easily kiss him. Their kisses were heating up before the mood was killed by Angel's stomach reminding him that there were other hungers besides lust.

As tempted as he was with ignoring that organ in lieu of another below the belt, his wife made it clear sex wasn't happening until Cass cleared him from the Med-Ward and he'd regained his strength.

He mock complained about needing another much colder shower as Buffy dragged her lover over to the closet to get him dressed.

A short time later, Buffy was dragging her husband through the doors of the Med-Ward, finding Cassidy with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping in annoyance. "So what part of 'no one leave this room without being discharged' did you not understand?" Cass asked the tall Irishman as he sat back down on his bed, not expecting an answer but glad at least he returned under his own power, if not his own will.

"Parenthood." He defended, knowing he'd break every and all laws or rules when it came to his family's needs. "And I needed a shower." He added a moment later.

"Can't argue with that." Cassidy admitted as she stuck a thermometer in Angel's mouth.

Buffy ran her fingers along the base of her husband's neck while the doctor performer a few routine tests, like blood pressure and heart rate and listened to his lungs.

The medic studied the cloth Angel had re-wrapped over his eyes before asking, "How sensitive are you eyes? Are you experiencing any pain or burning? Have you tried to see anything?"

He leaned away from her fingers when she moved them closer, "They only hurt when uncovered, any light at all is painful and gives me a headache from the brightness, even when my eyes are shut."

Hearing that made her feel worse about shining the penlight in his eyes earlier, she really didn't blame him for attacking her under the circumstances. "Ok, no light then. Granted I would really like to check your pupils to assure the concussion has dissipated."

"I would highly prefer you didn't." Angel responded immediately, unwilling to have the blinding headache return.

"You're far more coherent than when we wheeled you in. Speech is no longer slurred, conscious and aware, your vital are good. Any nausea or dizziness?" Cass checked off in her head the list of signs and symptoms of concussion, eliminated them down the line.

Shaking his head, he replied, "No."

"Are your ears ringing? Feeling fatigued?" The second question was more or less a trap, both woman could tell he was tired still.

"No ringing, I admit I could use another nap." He told them.

"How's your memory? Can you remember what happened?" Cass probed, curious herself.

Buffy answered that one, "He remembers, we talked."

The medic made a few notes on his chart, "Ok, so I'm concerned about the light sensitivity, but I'll pass you to leave later on today. I'd like you to get a few more hours rest here before you're discharged." The medic knew once he was home, resting would be the last thing he'd do, especially with two young children around.

Buffy smiled at the thought of bringing him home while Angel groaned about having to stay a few more hours.

"Don't be a baby, take a nap and when you wake up we can go home." Buffy kissed her husband's cheek as he laid back on his bed, adjusting the pillow to a more comfortable position.

"Can he eat something first? His stomach was making some horrific sounds before we came down" Buffy directed her question to Cassidy while the doctor put away a few pieces of medical equipment that were no longer in use.

Cass nodded, "As long as it's from that bed and nothing heavy."

"Great, mush, can't wait." Angel muttered tiredly, figuring he was getting applesauce for lunch instead of the pork roast he'd smelled from the hall outside the cafe earlier.

"Be right back." His wife told him as she kissed his cheek and headed upstairs to get him something to quiet his stomach.

He was mostly asleep by the time she returned with a container full of chicken soup, but the smell of substance roused him long enough to eat. When Cassidy retired to her office, Buffy slipped another box from the food bag, one containing a small portion of the pork roast with roasted potatoes and veggies.

Angel's mouth split into a big grin when he smelled the roast, "God I love you." As an Irishman, he was a big meat and potatoes kind of guy, and knowing his wife snuck him in his favorite made him love her even more.

Buffy watched him wolf down the late lunch, both pork and soup vanishing quickly into his once empty stomach. She'd decided on the pork too but with a side of pasta salad, some protein and carbs to back fill her energy demands for the day.

Once he was done eating, Angel made a good attempt at staying awake, but his fatigue mixed with a full belly soon lulled him to sleep.

Buffy didn't mind, since the point was for him to sleep anyways. She could have gone back upstairs to get her paperwork done, but instead had grabbed it off her desk when she'd gotten him lunch, so she could watch over him, for the dual purpose of making sure he stayed put this time and her own peace of mind that he wasn't wandering off again.

Stretching out in the chair beside him, she went to work studying the reports from the police station, sorting out what could be demonic and assigning a graduate slayer team to investigate the reports that seemed warranted.

...

Several hours passed by uneventfully before Cassidy returned to check on her worst patient. He wasn't her 'worst' because she didn't like him or anything, but solely due to the fact she saw him more often than anyone else and he disobeyed the most frequently of all her patients. She loved him as a friend, but being his physician was a pain in the ass.

Angel groaned and pulled his blanket up over his head when he felt Cassidy probe at the fabric he'd tied around his eyes.

"Still sensitive?" The medic asked, unsure if his healing would have fix the problem as he'd slept or if there was a medical issue she should be addressing.

"Yes." He replied with a tone that said, don't touch.

Cassidy took a few steps back and put her hands behind her back, "Ok no more touching, promise." After a moment of thought, she excused herself to go find something he might be willing to use in the mean time, instead of wrapping a bandage over his face.

"Are you grumpy?" Buffy asked the blanket her husband was hiding under.

"No." His mumbled reply came from under it, sound annoyed at the question.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" She was unsure if he wanted to go home or if it would be less taxing on him to just stay in bed here.

"No, this place gives me a headache." He answered from beneath the sheet.

"Do you have a headache now?" She figured it would explain his pissy mood.

"Yes." He admitted, the blanket above him doing little to block the scent was the making his head pound.

Wondering if a little sugar would help sweeten him up, she asked, "Will a kiss make you feel better?"

He tossed the sheet off, "It's worth a shot."

With a smile, she leaned over and pressed her lips to his, she giggled as he pulled her down over him and added a little tongue for good measure.

His bad mood vanished quickly.

Cassidy clearing her throat beside them was the cue to save the rest for later.

"So, is he cleared to leave?" Buffy asked as she smoothed over her skewed top, noticing the time and wanting to get home before 7pm, that way she'd have time to bathe the kids and give them time to play before bed.

At that, Angel sat up, also eager to get the hell out of the Med-Ward, he hated the smell of antiseptic and was more than willing to be someplace he could grope his wife without prying eyes.

"That will depend on the answers to the following questions." The medic looked to her patient before pressing something into his hand.

"What's this?" He asked, feeling the thick cloth and trying to figure out by touch alone what it is.

"It's an eye mask typically used for light blocking while sleeping, but you may find it more comfortable to wear this instead of tying bandages over your eyes, it will also block light more efficiently. The channel here." She moved his hand to show him what she was talking about, "keeps your eyes off the mask, so you can open and close your eyes without your lashing rubbing the material."

"I'll try it." Angel replied as he ran his fingers over the smooth cotton, eager for the mask to work as he could still feel the bright lights of the Med-Ward even threw his closed eyes that were wrapped. "You'll have to shut the lights first, even with my eyes closed it is too bright in here."

"Not a problem." Cassidy replied as she moved across the room to the switch and flipped it off, plunging the room into total darkness, "just let me know when you're ready".

It only took a few moments to remove his makeshift light blockers and put the mask in place. "Ok." He gave the go ahead to switch the lights back on, squeezing his lids shut in the event the mask didn't work to his expectations.

After a few seconds, he slit his eyes open slowly and looked around. The mask did as he'd hoped, blocking out 100% of the light. He blinked a few times and felt the relief of being able to open and close his lids without the weight of material holding them down.

"How does it feel? Good?" Cassidy asked, both her and Buffy watching him closely.

"Yeah, much better. Thank you." He told her, forever grateful for her help.

To his relief, Cassidy only checked a few vitals and asked about how he felt again before clearing him to leave, on the condition he took it easy for a few days.

"He will." Buffy said beside him, determined to make sure he did just that.

...

Buffy shook her head when they had not even been home for five minutes and her husband was already chasing the kids around the house. 'That's my bull headed husband for you...oh well, all three will be out cold soon and I can take a long hot bath.' She thought to herself, watching with a grin as her toddlers 'attacked' their father with pillows.

"Katie, not in the face. Make sure you don't knock daddy's mask off." she warned the two little warriors before heading into the kitchen to warm up dinner.

After the meal she'd brought home from the cafe was eaten and the kids were bathed and all played out, they tucked the little ones into bed.

"Your turn." She nudged her husband towards the bedroom, intending for him to retire to bed as well. He might have had more energy than before, but she could tell he was still running on low and not at 100% yet.

"Only if you join me." He teased, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her flush up against him.

"Oh no, Cass said for you to relax and get some rest." Buffy denied, enjoying the feel of him rubbing against her but needing him to follow doctor's orders until he was back to full strength.

He only pulled her closer and ran his fingers along the areas that drove her crazy, with his lips on her neck he offered another angle, "Yeah? Well nothing relaxes me more or gives me a better nights rest than making love to my wife."

"Sly, real sly." She retorted, very tempted but still unsure if the energy drain of sex would be in his best interests right now, granted she felt like it would be in hers. His hands were turning her on in the worst way right now. "Ok, cut that out. Don't make me toss you outside into a snow bank to cool you off."

Her empty threat was promptly ignored as he continued to rub and caress over her skin, his hands having long since slipped up under her shirt to find her sensitive nipples.

She groaned and leaned back against him, suddenly forgetting what she'd been thinking a moment ago.

"Still want me to stop?" He asked, a devils grin on his lips as he knew from her groans and the scent of her arousal she was caught in his snare.

"No, never." She whispered longingly, turning in his arms and pulling him down so her lips could melt with his.

As their kisses deepened, she guided him towards the bed, quickly yanking off the clothes that were getting in their way.

Before she knew it, she was laying on her back and her lover was kissing up her body, his mouth finding her taunt nipples as his long fingers slipped up inside of her.

"Angel." She called out softly as her body clenched around his fingers, wanting more of him, so very much more.

"Oh Buffy." He groaned out as he sank his throbbing arousal into her hot depths, her legs tightening around him and drawing him in further.

Their lips met again as they moved together, slowly at first but quickly building momentum as their needs grew stronger. Her nails dug into his shoulder and back, holding him to her as he nipped and sucked at her neck.

Her cry of passion was swallowed into his mouth as he clamped his over hers to keep the sound from waking the kids. Her hands moved up and gripped his hair as he moved more deliberately now, hitting the spot that drove his wife to climax every time.

She gasped and cried out as her body shuttered in orgasm, her tightening muscles squeezing the part of her lover buried deep within her.

Angel groaned out his wife's name as he thrust three more times then lost himself in her.

She felt him fall still as he released into her, her lower tummy warming with the sensation of his seed filling her womb.

"I love you so much." He whispered into her ear, kissing her neck as they both hovered at the edge of ecstasy.

"I know the feeling." Buffy replied when she'd finally caught her breath, the weight of her lover pressing her into the soft mattress beneath her was magical. She was absently stroking the back of his neck when she realized he hadn't roll off her yet as usual. "Angel?" She called softly, realizing he'd fallen asleep inside of her when he gave no reply.

'Well, he's sleeping at least." She figured, not at all bothered to be 'trapped' under her Angel blanket. She moved enough to grab the discarded comforter and pulled it up over them. As an afterthought, she slipped the mask off so he would be more comfortable, since his face was pressing into the side of her neck and the mask was skewed anyways.

"Goodnight." She whispered before her eyes shut and she dreamed of her lover's smile.

'Guess we got a good head start on Valentine's day.' She thought right before she drifted off, knowing it was after midnight and officially the 14th.

...

Angel groaned and rolled onto his back, taking his sleeping wife with him. She shifted and snuggled against his chest as she adjusted to the new position, her body relaxing again as deep sleep resumed.

He smirked and kissed her cheek, looking down at the beautiful woman sprawled over him.

It took him a moment to realize her image wasn't in his memory, he was actually seeing her.

He blinked back his shock, that after a month of total darkness that his wife's face was his first real sight.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered, drawing his knuckles down her cheek, actually watching his hand as it traced his wife's perfect skin.

A tear of joy slid down his own cheek, his eyes growing wet and his vision shimmering with the liquid relief.

After what felt like a lifetime, he forced his eyes off his woman as she stirred in her sleep, the weight of his stare rousing her from slumber.

"Angel?" She called softly, unsure what had woken her as she lay tangled up in her lover's arms.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." He apologized, kissing her forehead as she wrapped her arm around his chest and pulled herself closer.

"What are you doing?" She asked sleepily, blinking in the darkness but unable to make out anything.

A smile pulled at his lips, "Watching you sleep."

"Creep." She sighed out, smiling at her joke as she nuzzled against his shoulder.

A chuckle escaped his throat as he watched her yawn, "So I've been told." He humored back, unfazed by the insult.

"Shut up and sleep, doctors orders." She mumbled, half asleep herself.

"Yes dear." He whispered, but she had sunk back own beneath the waves of sleep.

Instead of following suit, he looked around the room for a while, surprised how well he could see in the total darkness. He could make out the curtains and blinds which were drawn tight, the new moon was hidden in the sky thus offered no light. When his eyes skimmed over the digital display in the clock, he felt the ache that always accompanied the light, even one as dim as the red glowing numbers on the clock.

After spending a few hundred years as a demon in the dark, he wasn't all that surprised that his night vision had returned. Based on the pain even dim lighting caused his eyes, he didn't have much hope for his day vision.

'Who cares, I can see her face, that's all I want.' He thought as he looked down at his sleeping wife again.

He felt around and found the discarded mask, slipping it on over his eyes for when dawn brought the sun again.

Taking a deep relaxing breath, he closed his eyes and fell asleep with a grin on his lips.

...

As the sun slowly rose over the horizon, its light washed out over the world, slipping into the bedroom over the tops and along the sides of the blinds and curtains.

Buffy stirred awake as the light slowly brightened the room, her hazel-green orbs peeking out from under heavy lids as she woke. Her first sight was her breathing pillow's rising and falling chest, her first sound its gentle snores.

With a grin, she sat up on her elbow and studied her sleeping spouse. Her eyes were drawn to his mask, figuring he must have woken at some point and put it back on as she clearly remembered removing it last night.

Thoughts of last night made her grin turn into a full smile.

Intending to let him sleep as long as possible, she slowly moved off him and slid along the bed to hit the restroom before the kids awoke. She made it to the edge of the bed before he rolled onto his side and scooped her up against him.

His spooning behind her would have been better if she hadn't had to pee.

With a sleepy voice, he asked, "Where you going?"

"Pee break, be right back." She answered, lifting his arm and slipped off the bed.

He groaned, feeling a sense of déjà vu before remembering waking like this with Katie yesterday.

Less than a minute later, Buffy sat on the bed beside him and bent down to kiss him. "Morning sleepyhead. How are you today."

He smirked and pulled her down beside him, kissing her lips. "Horney."

Sure enough, she felt him pressing against her in a sensual manner. As sleepy as he sounded, at least one part of him was fully up. "What part of 'rest' do you not understand?" She exclaimed, knowing his brain was oblivious to the date but apparently his dick wasn't.

"I'm in bed, isn't that enough?" He teased, knowing she wanted him to sleep and relax but his body had other plans.

Despite her promise to Cassidy to keep him resting, she found herself making love to him again. Like a drug, once she had a taste of him, it was impossible to get enough, and it was the day for loving.

They had just finished when Angel kissed her cheek and informed her the kids were awake. His hearing picking up on their quickening heartbeats and sounds of movement.

"It's your turn to make coffee." She muttered, her brain still rushing full of tingly feelings and a smile that wouldn't go away.

He grinned evilly, in a very playful mood after being able to make love to and see his wife. His next desire was to do both at once. "I don't know, Cass wanted me to rest, maybe you should bring me breakfast in bed."

"I'll be bringing you breakfast in a coffin if you don't get your sexy ass downstairs to the coffee pot." Buffy threatened, figuring if he was being a wise ass, she'd throw it right back at him. As an afterthought, she needed another few moments before her body would respond to walking again.

'Been there, done that.' He thought before replying, "As my lady commands." He teased, kissing her cheek before rolling off the bed and searching the floor for his pants.

After a few minutes of unsuccessfully probing the floor, he directed his voice towards his wife, "A little help?" He might be really good at navigating the house and acting like he could see, but locating things without sound or scent was still impossible for him. The whole room smelled of sex and their combined scents, blocking him from sniffing out his own scent of his clothing.

With a smile, she shrugged. "I don't know, I'm kind of enjoying this." She replied, her eyes drinking in his very naked body as he felt around for the garment.

"Sadist." He mouthed.

With a laugh, she rose from the bed and handed him his pants, which had been laying on the edge of the bed. "Don't forget, a little cream with two sugars." She added with a sweet smile as he pulled his sweats on.

"Ok, lots of milk with no sugar coming right up." He teased as he ducked out the door.

As she exited the bedroom behind him, she called down the stairs with a smile, "If you mess up my coffee I'm staking you!"

"Is daddy in trouble?" Liam asked from his bedroom doorway, his big hazel-green eyes peeking out from behind the door as he watched his mother.

Buffy laughed as she knelt down to her son's height, "No sweetie, mommy and daddy were just teasing one another. How did you sleep? Hungry for breakfast?"

The little boy's worried face snapped back into a smile, "Breakfast!"

After collecting a sleepy Katie, Buffy walked with the kids downstairs to find her husband cooking eggs for breakfast. With a raised eyebrow she asked him, "How are you cooking without looking? How do you know when the food is done?"

With the grace only someone with a demon inside could manage, he picked up his daughter in one arm for a morning kiss before switching for his son and continued to probe the frying eggs over the stove with the other. "I can smell when it's ready. The browning has a distinct odor."

"Ah huh." Buffy sounded as she slipped past him to the just finishing coffee pot, two mugs already on the counter and awaiting pouring. She noticed one mug had cream and sugar in the bottom.

With a smile, she poured them each a cup as the smell of eggs filled the kitchen.

After she got the kids in the booster seats and they were sipping down their juice, she slipped up against her lover and ran her eyes over the pans on the stove, one contained bacon while the other two had fried and scrambled eggs.

"How do you want your eggs?" Angel asked as he took a sip of his coffee, listening to the crackling whites and yokes and bacon sizzling.

Biting her lip, she leaned in close and whispered, "Fertilized."

Angel abruptly inhaled his coffee as he gasped and began to cough.

She felt bad for making him choke on hot coffee, but the look on his face had been priceless. She padded his back and teased further, "Do you need a sippy cup too?"

When his lungs finally spit the non-air from them, he turned to face the woman beside him, "Who are you and where is my wife?"

Laughing, she leaned her head against his shoulder, replying, "Your eggs are burning."

He turned his attention back to the stove and swore under his breath and he grabbed the pan off the burner.

"Give me that and go sit down before you catch the house on fire." She ordered, taking the pan and moving it to the counter while pointing him towards the table. "You're cooking skill are beginning to resemble mine."

He took his coffee with him, smirking at her playfulness this morning. He dove into the conversation his little ones were having while he waited for breakfast.

Buffy portioned out the cooked meal onto plates and made sure all the burners were off before laying the food out on the table for her family to enjoy. The toaster popped up the bread and the buttered or jellied pieces made the meal complete.

It took less time for breakfast to be consumed than it did for it to be cooked, "Ok, go play." She commanded the nearly 4 and 3 year olds to get them out of the way so she could clean, they darted off to the living room to play right away but before Angel could join them Buffy pulled him aside."Not you."

A smirk pulled at his lips when Buffy grabbed his wrist, "Did you have something else in mind?" He suggested, pulled her in close and thinking x-rated thoughts.

She rolled her eyes at his endless libido, "Any time now you can start using the head on your shoulders and not the one in your pants."

He chuckled at that, but didn't let her go. "I'll take that as a 'maybe later', so what did you need?"

Buffy reached her hand up and traced just around the mask, "How are your eyes?"

Angel stiffened as his wife's fingers brushed so close to the mask, afraid she might pull it up. "No change." He found himself saying, unsure why he didn't tell her about his ability to see in total darkness. A part of him wasn't ready for her to know that yet, he also feared it might have been a fluke.

"Have you tried getting your eyes used to the light again? Maybe taking the mask off..." She started to ask in hopes the sensitivity would fade and he would regain his sight, but he pulled back from her abruptly.

"No. The light hurts and I'm not going to repeatedly give myself a migraine for the fun of it." Angel retorted, moving back as if he was unsure if she'd try to take the mask from him.

The hostility hadn't been expected, "Damn it Angel, you can't just cover a problem and pretend it doesn't exist. Pain isn't normal and if there is a medical issue impacting your eyes you need to let Cassidy know so she can treat you."

"I'm fine." He bit out before exiting the kitchen and effectively ending the conversation.

Buffy closed her eyes and hung her head in her hands, unsure how one question turned into them fighting again. 'Oh Angel, why must you be such a stubborn ass sometimes?'

As much as she didn't want to leave the tension in the air again, especially on Valentine's day, but she figured she give him some time to cool off before approaching him again.

...

An hour had passed while Buffy cleaned the kitchen and put away the washed dishes. Stepping into the living room, she found the kids absorbed in a movie.

Angel wasn't with them. 'Where the heck?' She wondered, not feeling him upstairs, but then she heard the sound of a shovel scrapping ground. Walking over to and glancing out the window, her saw her husband was shoveling fresh snow off the front pathway.

"Great, snow." She muttered under her breath, once again remembering why she wouldn't mind moving back to LA where snow was nearly impossible. 'And what the heck is he doing, he's supposed to be resting!' She shook her head at her impossible spouse. She wanted to go out there and tell him he shouldn't be shoveling, but that would only grate more sand into their current argument. 'Just let him be Buffy.' She told herself, 'He'll come talk to you when he's ready.'

To be safe, she checked his progress outside every now and again from the window, just to make sure he didn't pass out in a snow bank or anything.

...

Some hours had passed and he'd managed to clear the front walkway and the driveway, using the feel of the shovel scraping cement and asphalt verses the frozen grass and dirt, it marked out the boundaries then all he had to do was toss the snow over into the grassy areas. It was a fairly mindless job, one Angel found soothing at the moment, it let him just blank out and focus on the repetitious 'scoop, lift, throw, scoop, lift, throw.'

By the time he couldn't feel his limbs and he was sure his testicles had shrunk so far into his body they were up by his chin by now, he finally called it quits.

Heading around back, he carefully navigated the un-shoveled side of the house to enter the backdoor into the kitchen so he wouldn't track snow into the front living room and have his wife stake him for it.

...

Buffy dropped the heavy laundry basket on the floor by the bed and glanced out the window into the driveway below, frowning when she didn't see her husband. She stopped folding clothes and headed downstairs where she could get a better view of the yard.

Standing by the couch and looking out the picture window, she scanned the pathway to the house and the driveway, nothing. Getting worried, she walked over the front door and opened it, looking more directly into the yard and more purposely at the ground to see maybe if he'd fallen.

She took a step out onto the front landing, craning her neck to see around the side of the bushes, a hard layer of snow crunching under her slippered foot.

"You're going to catch cold."

The voice behind her made her jump.

He didn't need sight to know he's startled his wife, the sound of her heart skipping a beat and the gasp of air from her lungs was solid proof. He hadn't intended to scare her, he'd just felt the cold and heard her opening the door and had been curious. It wasn't until she'd jumped he realized she was likely looking for him outside. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He apologized.

With her hand over her heart, she shook her head, "I didn't hear you come in." Now that she knew he was inside, she quickly stepped back into the house and shut the door behind her.

An awkward silence followed.

She scanned him over quickly, noticing he'd shed all but his boxers and tank, leaving an abundance of goose flesh visible. "You're cold." She spoke as she instinctively placed her hands on his arms and ran them up and down to try and rub the heat back into his skin. She didn't like the frigid feel of his skin, it brought back memories of the vampire he'd been and the constant room temperature of his body. It had never bothered her when he was still a dead man, but now he was normally warm, she wanted him to stay that way.

"I've been called worse." He replied, caught between annoyed and amused at her trying to warm him with her hands.

Regaining her head, Buffy realized what she was doing and quickly let go, remembering they were currently arguing. Heat flushed on her cheeks, "Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's ok." He heard himself say, "It felt good." Actually, he was sure he could feel his testicle again, any touch from his wife tended to awaken that area of his body first.

After another brief silence, he spoke his feelings, "I don't want to fight."

Answering back, she told him, "I don't either."

Encouraged by his words, she took a step closer, wanting to offer support and comfort.

As she closed the distance between them, his arms slowly encircled her waist and drew her the last few inches, hovering around her like a man around a fire. "You're so warm." He whispered into the golden strands, finding his nose drawn to her hair and the scent of her shampoo.

Leaning into him, she rested her head on his chest, hearing the steady thumps beneath. The thought suddenly occurred to her as her cheek rested on his thin tank, she asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but where are your clothes?"

"Back of the chair in the kitchen." He said quietly, lost in feeling the warmth spreading back into his body, soothing away the stinging ache of cold.

"You went around back so you wouldn't track snow into the house." She said more to herself than him, realizing now why she hadn't known he'd come back inside was because he came in the back door.

"Yeah." The reply came as a deep relaxing sigh, more breath than words.

Buffy could feel the shivers receding, his muscles relaxing. After a few minutes, Buffy stepped back to look up at him, her eyes running over the mask covering his eyes, "Are you hungry? I can make you lunch." It wasn't quite lunchtime yet, but that usually meant little to the living vampire's stomach.

To her surprise, he replied, "Not yet, maybe later."

Angel saying 'no' to food sent up a big red flag in her head, "No? Are you sick?"

A smirk tugged the corner of his lip, amused his wife instant thought he was ill if he wasn't hungry. "No, I just want to give my stomach a chance to thaw first."

Switching thoughts, she offered. "You want a hot chocolate?" Suddenly getting a craving for something chocolaty herself.

His smirk shifted into a smile, "Yeah, that sounds great."

'Ok, good, not sick.' She validated in her head.

Taking a quick glance over at the kids, Buffy checked they were still engrossed in playing with their toys before leading her husband into the kitchen. Angel took a seat at the table as Buffy filled a kettle with water from the faucet and placed it on the stove to heat. Two packets of powdered hot chocolate and a set of mugs were placed on the table before she took out a couple of spoons from the drawer by the sink for stirring.

Glancing over at the corner, she saw Angel had draped his wet snow covered garments over a chair and slid it by the heater to dry. When her eyes turned back to her husband, he was shivering again slightly, the goose bumps reappeared and were dominating his skin.

Wanting to chase away his discomfort, she slipped down onto his lap as they waited for the water in the kettle to heat.

The awkwardness of before morphed into a comfortable silence, his arms wrapped around her as they fed off the nearness of the other and he absorbed her warmth.

When the kettle began to whistle, Buffy left him only long enough to shut the burner and pour a cupful of hot water into each mug, Angel had emptied the powder into each vessel a few seconds beforehand.

A few moments later, Buffy was back in his lap and they were both blowing on their cups and sampling the steaming liquid, mini marshmallows melting from the scalding temperature.

Breaking the silence, Angel spoke first, "I'm sorry I was such an asshole earlier, I shouldn't have snapped at you, it was uncalled for." He apologized, realizing getting mad at her being concerned about him was ridiculous.

She leaned back against him, "It's ok, I understand this whole situation has you beyond frustrated. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't keep bringing it up." Her head told her to end it there, but her mouth continued, "It's just...Cass thinks you should be able to see, your test results show the damage has healed. She showed me some fairly convincing evidence that your blindness is more a mental condition than a physical one, and I just want you to work though it so you can get your sight back. I know how much it means to you."

When he didn't immediately respond, Buffy was a little afraid she said too much and he was about to dump her on the floor and walk out. With his eyes covered by the mask, it was difficult if not impossible to read his face.

"You're right. Pain isn't normal and I do need to have Cass address it." He trailed off, honestly not wanting to deal with having his doctor prodding his eyes and bringing with it another round of migraine inducing headaches, but also knowing he can't walk around forever wearing a mask over his face. His thoughts drifted back to that morning, of opening his eyes in the pitch dark of the bedroom and finding not pain, but sight. He remembered looking down at the woman currently sitting in his lap, he wanted that again, not just in the black of night when she was unable to see him back.

He felt her hand slide along his cheek, her thumb passing over the layer of stubble that reminded him he needed to shave soon.

After a silence long enough to allow the hot chocolate to cool to drinkable temperature, he admitted to her, "I can see."

A smile washed over his lips, "Yes, that's just the thought you need to be thinking to get the picture to pop back on." She didn't realize he was being literal.

His face remained impassive as he shook his head, "No, I mean I saw you last night, I watched you sleep."

Buffy's smile faltered as she took on a serious expression, "You watched me sleep?"

Taking a deep breath, he leaned back in the chair and told her of walking up without the mask and looking down to see her laying on his chest, that his first sight in nearly a month had been her beautiful face.

The smile returned as her thoughts caught up, "You can see in the dark, but the light hurts your eyes."

He nodded once, "I think so, I only have the once as evidence." After a second he added, "But it needs to be pitch black, even the dim glow of the digital clock stung my eyes."

Buffy now understood his lack of real enthusiasm for the discovery, it was virtually a useless ability to only see in total darkness when so very little of their lives were spent in that condition.

With a sexy grin, she decided she'd have to remind him of all the benefits of seeing in the dark. "So I guess a sexy outfit for Valentine's day isn't completely off the menu then."

His head turned towards her quickly enough, A ghost if a smile on his lips, "What sexy outfit?" There was a hunger behind that mask, she would bet her stake on it.

His mind flashed though all her bedroom outfits; Indian Princess, Naughty Nurse, Bootylishous Pirate, and the leather unberbust corset set. All but the last of his wife's costumes did not survive their first encounter with a horny living vampire as he practically shred each to get to the flesh that was hidden beneath, like pulling wrapping off a present or a piece of chocolate before you can enjoy it.

'Hooked like a fish.' She thought before answering. "Well since today is the day and I didn't exactly have time before this to buy one, so I guess you will just have to wait and see what I can find in the closet." She teased, knowing all he was picturing right now was her in various states of undress.

His lip turned down and a growl escaped low in his throat at being denied something he suddenly really wanted.

Deciding to play-up the suspense of Valentine's day to keep his mind focused on that instead of the short comings of his eyes, she slid off his lap and took a sip of hot chocolate, "You can growl all you want, but it won't make me wearing a sexy outfit happen any sooner."

He absently dropped his mug onto the kitchen table, his tongue no longer interested in the taste of chocolate, he wanted a taste of Buffy. Rising to follow her, "We can always practice until then." His head was so focused on the idea of Buffy in lingerie, that he blurred over the fact he completely forgot about buying her a Valentine's day gift.

'Like a fish.' She thought again, her face remaining neutral as she internally smiled at how easily she could distract her spouse, especially when sex could be used as leverage. "It's a possibility." Came from her mouth, her eyes purposely looking out the window over the sink as she gave off a disinterested tone and body language.

Her heart jumped as she felt him come up behind her, quickly spinning her so her rump was pressed against the edge of the sink and his hard body was flush against her front, "A possibility?" He questioned, his hands coming to rest on her hips, his thumbs gliding up and down her sides.

A giggle escaped her throat.

"What?" He asked, unsure what was funny and really hoping she wasn't just messing with him.

"You're not cold anymore are you?" She asked more for him to think about the question than to answer it, she could see the gooseflesh was gone and there was a slight flush on his cheeks from the sexual tension.

He blinked under his mask, catching on to her scheme. "No, I'm not." He assured, "Just the opposite actually."

With more of a teasing tone, "You need to go back outside to cool back down?"

A growl rumbled though her, he lifted her onto the edge of the sink and closed the distance between them by stepping between her parting legs. "Do you really want me cooled down?" As he said it, he pulled her somehow closer, their bodies flush together as his arms wrapped around her back.

With a smile, she folded her arms around his neck, much easier than usual now she was sitting up taller from her vantage point on the sink, "Ok, no more talking." She suggested as she pressed her lips to his, no longer thinking around keeping up dialog with her brain flooding full of sexy thoughts.

He didn't argue as she nipped his tongue and pressed her legs tightly around his waist.

Before they could really reach second base, a voice behind them was the emotional equivalent to a bucket of cold water, "Daddy, what are you and mommy doing?"

"Each other." He whispered low to his wife before she released her hold and pushed him back so she could jump down.

"Angel!" Came her whispered scold under her breath, her lips and cheeks fully flushed already from their kisses, preventing them for turning any redder.

He slipped a dishtowel off the edge of the counter and held it casually in front of him before turning around, to hide the bulge in his all too thin boxers from his child's notice, "I was just telling your mom how pretty she looked today." Came his reply, the corner of his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh.

Buffy rolled her eyes at him as she smoothed her hair back from her damp forehead, feeling like a jump into a snow bank sounded like a great idea right about now. Directing her focus over to Katie who was still watching them from the edge of the living room, "We were just talking Sweetie. Do you need something? Are you hungry?"

Katie shook her head back and forth, sending her father's dark brown hair cascading over her shoulders, "No. But Liam has a crayon stuck up his nose."

As concern for his son replaced the arousing feelings of a few seconds ago, he felt his groin deflating. By the time he was fully back to pre-aroused conditions, Buffy had already disappeared into the living room and removed the offending crayon. He could clearly hear the distress in his son's cries.

He had just walked into the living room when Buffy's voice warned him away, "Angel, don't come in here."

"Why not?" He'd just managed to ask, offended that he was suddenly being forbidden from comforting to his own crying child, when the smell hit him.

Blood.

This wasn't just any blood, it was a special tantalizing mixture of his own and Buffy's, the blood of his loins.

Angel shook his head to dispel the sudden craving, reminding both himself and the demon within that the scent belonged to his child, not food.

Worry overpowered hunger by ten fold.

"What happened? Is he ok?" Angel asked, still hearing his son's cries and smelling the scent of the blood and growing more worried at the lack of reply.

Buffy had been watching her husband's face carefully as she'd held the tissue to Liam's nosebleed, the crayon having not come out without a fight. She'd been worried about how Angel's demon would respond to the smell of blood, as she knew that was the catalyst for the demon taking control in the training room. She'd seen him stiffen the moment he'd smelled it, then shake his head to clear it.

However, the only emotions registering on his face now were concern and worry, no traces of hunger.

"Just a nosebleed." She told her spouse to placate his growing need to know what was happening, "It's already stopping."

"I told him not to shove it up there...he didn't listen." Katie explained as she sat on the floor a few feet away, the jaws of her T-Rex scooping up her brother's matchbox cars to devour them.

Ignoring Buffy's warning, or more accurately put, unable to obey it, he'd moved closer and was now at the couch where she was holding their son in her lap.

By now, Buffy knew her husband. When it came to her or the kids, he could be a complete pain in the ass mother hen. Now knowing he was no danger to their child, as soon as he sat, she placed Liam in his lap.

His arms wrapped around his son, whispering comforting words as Buffy went to grab a wet facecloth to clean his red smeared face. After a few minutes of bouncing on his father's knee, the big fat tears slowed as Liam calmed then smiled, the tears having been more from the attention than actual pain.

By the time Buffy finished washing their son's face and hands, the boy was squirming out of Angel's lap to resume playing with his toy cars. The trauma of the crayon up his nose already forgotten.

...

"They go by so fast." Buffy lamented as she glanced the calendar, already feeling the loss of the weekend. 'Monday morning is tomorrow. Shit, I need to talk to Angel about that. Is he coming back to work? I sure as hell am not letting his wandering ass stay home again, at least not without tying him up to something.' The image of him in handcuffs suddenly came to mind, she added that idea to the Valentine's thought-box.

She took a deep breath and sighed it out, her mind turning back to Saturday night into early that morning. Her little striptease in the dark of their bedroom and being carried caveman style into bed by her growly lover. It had been too dark for her to see anything, but Angel had been watching her all night, savoring all the visual delights he'd missed over the last month. She'd been a little unnerved about him repeatedly watching her orgasm, but the fact he could hear and smell everything about her body should have negated that. A long time ago she accepted that she'd married a borderline obsessive stalker.

'Speaking of the devil.' She thought as a pair of arms slid around her waist and pulled her back against a warm broad chest.

Leaning back, she enjoyed the moment before replaying to his question of what she was doing.

"That's what we need to talk about." She unhooked his hands from around her body and turned to face him, adjusting her position so she could still hold his hands, but needing the few inches of space to better see his face, her eyes scanning the pull of a frown at his lips, and wishing she could see his eyes behind the mask for a clearer idea what he was thinking.

"Tomorrow is Monday." She told him, "and I know you're upset about what happened in the training center, but I really would feel more comfortable if you came to work with me." After the Hellmouth incident, she had no intentions of leaving him alone again, not for a long time, she just couldn't tell him that without making it sound like she didn't trust him.

He picked up on it anyways, "You don't trust me."

"Of course I trust you." She defended, pulling their still linked hands tight and leaning in place a kiss over his heart, "I love and trust this more than anything else in this world."

Unwinding her hands from his, she slid them up his chest then neck, her fingertips brushing the back of his head to indicate she wanted him to lean forewords.

He did.

When he was close enough, "What's in here..." she said as she stretched up and placed a kiss on his forehead, "...sometimes worries me though."

He took a breath, straightened and stepped back from her, his body language as unreadable as his face.

Buffy's heart sank, he hadn't said anything or made any gestures, but his moving away still felt like a slap to her. "Angel, please don't misunderstand. I do trust you, it's the things outside us I don't trust, the circumstances that happen because of who we are. I don't want to watch you like a boiling pot, but lately things happen when I'm not here...I just don't want to lose you."

He offered nothing, not a twitch or a head shake, as animated at a stone statue.

A moment of silence passed between them before she vented, "Ok, yeah, turning around and finding my husband about to kill himself in a Hellmouth kind of damaged my trust a little bit...can you blame me?"

The silence returned. A million thoughts were rushing though Angel's mind, remembering his recent disappearing acts in the Hellmouth and the training center, the way he'd distanced himself from his wife and children while suffering the guilt The First had stirred in him over both the baby and the students. He thought about how supportive Buffy had been to him thought his recovery, both before and after his hearing and smell returned. Of how wonderful she was even about his being blind. 'I don't deserve her.' He thought briefly, wondering how he ended up being married to someone so amazing when all he brought to the table was a dark past and more than a few complexes. 'She deserves better.' A voice popped up inside his head, 'Then change to be better you dummy.'

'I'm going to lose him again.' She thought dejectedly as the silence grew uncomfortable, her heart beating heavy in her chest. His stone stillness was worrying the hell out of her. She was expecting this to turn into another fight, that he was going to call her something and take off or just stonewall her for the next month.

He blinked behind his mask, his nose alerting him to the scent of salt. The scent of tears. 'Good job idiot, you made her cry. Stop standing here debating your worth and act like a man.'

She was surprised when he finally spoke. "I'm Sorry." The words were said with feeling, but Buffy wasn't sure if he meant for what had happened or for what he was about to do. He was famous for both.

She half expected him to turn around and walk out of the room to vent and be broody, instead he took a step forwards and wrapped his arms back around her, bringing her in close.

With relief, she stepped into the embrace, wrapping herself against him.

He moved back slightly and she hadn't even realized she'd had tears in her eyes until his thumb brushed a drop away. "Don't cry Buffy, please don't cry." He said quietly as he pulled her closer, smelling the salt and feeling even more like as ass for bringing the tears to her eyes.

"I'm not." She defended, trying to hide the moisture by burying her face in his shirt. 'I was thinking of the Hellmouth, of how close I really came to losing him to The First.' She thought, mad at herself for crying but slightly glad the results ended without a fight between them. Woman learn at a young age that tears can be very useful in the right situation, although it hadn't been intentional, the emotion just happen and brought with it the waterworks.

Shaking off his melancholy over her words, he came to the realization he couldn't be angry or defensive. He did what he'd done, of his own free will, there was no one to blame but that guy he saw in the mirror, or used to see in the mirror. "I've been untrustworthy." He whispered quietly into her golden hair, not in sarcasm or hurt but in honest emotion, "You're blameless for not trusting me, I did that to myself. If anything, you'd be foolish to not feel that way, and if I've learned one thing since loving you, is Buffy Summers is no fool." After a second he added, "I've also come to the conclusion her husband doesn't share that title."

She couldn't help the laugh that came from her heart, relieved he wasn't mad at her for not trusting him to be alone and actually being humorous about it. Squeezing him tight, she shook her head, "Fool or not, you're mine."

A smile tugged at his lips, "Yours, always."

They stood there for a good long while, the silence no longer uncomfortable, at least until the kids reminded them they weren't alone.

After an interlude of laughing children darting between their legs before disappearing into the living room to continue their game of tag, Buffy turned to her husband, "So, your coming to work with me tomorrow?"

He smiled, but even with the mask in place she knew it didn't reach his eyes, "Yeah, I'll go, but I can't promise not to hide in the armory all day."

Taking that as a 'as good as you're going to get' she nodded and stretched up to kiss his cheek, "As long as you're findable, you can sharpen all the weapons in the building and I'll be just fine with that." After a second she added, "Just don't slice your arms off or anything."

This time, his grin did reach his eyes as his arms slipped around her waist and draw her in close, "Can't do that, then I couldn't do this." He told her, hugging her tight.

When their lips met again, she stopped worrying about tomorrow. Somehow, she knew everything was going to be alright.

...

Angel had worked himself into a light sweat by 10am, one sword was sharpened, another two polished. He was about to start a javelin when he was interrupted by a knock on the armory door. He glanced down at his watch, not expecting Buffy to return from her meeting with Willow and Giles for at least another half hour.

"Hang on." He called out, putting the spear down on the unsharpened rack and grabbing his mask off the table before glancing around in pitch dark room one more time to remember where everything was before the lights switched on and he resumed being a blind man. One great advantage to the vault style room was no windows, letting him see in the perfect darkness worry free.

"Ok" He called out once the mask was safely covering his eyes, hitting the switch to flood the room with light and allow whoever had knocked to see when they entered.

The door slowly squeaked open, and he was reminding himself to oil the hinge before his attention was drawn to the fact at least a dozen young woman were crowded around the door and looking in at him. 'Oh no.' He thought briefly, thinking his training class had come for vengeance upon learning he was in the building.

Instead of anger and hate, he could only sense a collected case of nervousness from the group of slayers. Before he could ask what it was they wanted, Andrea stepped forwards and told him, "You're late."

"Late?" He questioned, his nose and ears attuned for any weapons about to be hurled in his direction. He didn't really want to end up in the Med-ward or dead after being stabbed with something he just sharpened. Granted at least he knew the blade would be immaculate. He was well aware a sharp edge was far superior to a dull one, it actually hurt less as the cuts tended to be cleaner.

"You're late for class." Jackie clarified, snapping his attention back to the young woman.

"Class?" He asked, confused as to why the women he nearly killed a few days ago were now standing here telling him he was late.

"Yes, class." Jin pointed out, "Where you come to teach us fighting skills."

"We took a vote." Molly announced, "It was unanimous, we want you back."

Angel knew his mouth had fallen open in shock, but he couldn't seem to remember how to shut it. After a few moments of looking like a hooked fish, he shook his head, "I don't understand, I lost control, I could have killed you all the other day." For the life of him, he couldn't understand why they would even want to look at him, never mind have him train them again.

Linda stepped forwards, the cast on her arm smelling like plaster. It would only be about a week before it would be ready to come off, the advanced slayer healing mending bone and muscles far quicker than normal humans. "So? Something tries to kill us everyday anyways, we're slayers."

"If anything, it's the best kind of practice. It's the most real." Clair pointed out, her injuries already fading and nearly healed.

He stood there blinking behind his mask, almost dizzy with the sudden thoughts of resuming his regular training sessions and the overwhelming sense of gratitude and pride for these young woman, knowing it must not be easy to come down here to ask him this.

"I um..." He started, unable to continue, he could feel his nose loosening and the string of tears at his eyes.

"I think he's gunna cry." Becca remarked.

That snapped off the waterworks and he forced his poker face back into the forefront. "I'm not crying, just trying to plan a routine last minute." He covered, only half successful.

A few of the girls cheered, Jin asked hopeful, "You come train us?"

With a smile splitting his lips, Angel agreed, "Yeah, starting now, my classes are back in session."

The rest of the girls high-fived and announced their excitement in the plan working.

On the way out of the armory, the thought struck him. "Hang on, give me a sec to call Buffy."

One of the young woman stopped and raised her eyebrow, "Do you need to ask your wife's permission or something?"

Angel felt all eyes fall on him. He was almost temped to just say yes, but the Angelus side of his head refused to throw his masculinity into the trash. "No." He said slowly, thinking on the fly, "But when you have a family you'll understand, it's respectful." In his head he was really thinking, 'I vanish again and she's going to stake my ass.'

...

A short time later, they were in training room 2 in the lower level of the building.

"Ok ladies. You wanted another lesson in fighting blind, so here it is." With that said, Angel switched off the lights, plunging the room into total darkness.

After checking very carefully before lifting the mask, he found his idea had panned out. The room was 100% light free, granting him the freedom to go mask-less and the ability to see in the dark.

As the only one with vision in the room, he was busy keeping order as the slayers practiced their moves; adjusting the girls around, watching forms and offering advice, he almost completely forgot about his visual handicap in the light.

At least until they were switched on suddenly.

It had been almost an hour into the training session, Angel was currently guiding Clair in a move when someone in the hall looked into the dark room and heard voices, in order to see what the source of the sounds were, they flipped the light switch.

The burst of brightness caused all the young woman to jump, groan and shield their night vision adjusted eyes.

For Angel, it felt like someone just lit his eyes on fire.

An involuntary growlish scream escaped his throat as the pain exploded in his head. Squeezing his eyes shut did nothing to block the radiating agony the light bolted from his eyes to his brain. The intensity of his sudden migraine brought him to his knees before he blacked out entirely.

"Holy shit, the light killed him!" Amanda yelled in panic as she watched her teacher drop.

Andrea was already running for the phone to call the Med-Ward.

"He not dead, he breaths." Jin announced as she watched his chest slowly rise and fall.

Jackie picked up Angel's mask off the bleacher where he'd placed it earlier, "You think we should put this back on him?"

"Might help." Michelle spoke, but none of the teens made a move to get closer. They all remembered his demon's reflexes and negative response to outside forces when he was hurt.

"What's going on, what happened?" Cassidy demanded as she raced in with a gurney after hearing only part of the frantic call before rushing in to help, being only down the hall made response time lightning fast.

The slayers explained what happened while Cass took the mask from Jackie and placed it back over Angel's eyes, being more focused on his health than being clawed if he woke demonized. In the back of her mind, being surrounded by slayers gave her a higher survival rate as the group of them could overpower Angel's demon if needed.

"Help me get him on the gurney." She asked, having to give the 'hurry up' hand gesture when no one immediately stepped forward to volunteer. Taking a big needle with a high dose sedative out of her Med-kit, she informed them, "This will knock him flat in about 3 seconds, he moves, I'm stabbing him. Ok?"

That gave the girls enough encouragement to pick up their unconscious teacher and load him onto the wheeled bed.

Cassidy swore under her breath as she noticed red slipping down Angel's cheeks from under the mask, looking like bloody tears. As to not upset the students watching her, Cass put on a professional face and focused on the important aspects as the only conscious adult in the room, "Had anyone called Buffy?"

When she got no replies she stated for someone to that that immediately before dismissing the teens and quickly moving Angel to the Med-Ward.

Buffy appeared only a few moments after Cass had gotten the gurney into the Med-Ward and the brakes engaged, the slayers having nearly flown down to the basement levels upon receiving the frantic call from one of Angel's students.

"Cass? What happened? Is he ok?" The wide eyed slayer asked as she quickly slid beside her husband's bed and brushed her hand along his cheek, frowning at the trail of blood she found.

The medic filled the worried blonde in on what she knew while rooting around in a cabinet for something, hoping to find anything useful to look into Angel's eyes without using light.

"Damn it." The sound of the doctor swearing under her breath caused Buffy to tear her gaze away from her injured husband and address Cassidy, "What is it?"

Sighing, Cass walked closer, meeting the slayer's hazel-green eyes, "I was deluding myself into hoping I had a pair of night vision goggles or something, because I really need to see what's going on in his eyes and I know the light causes him extreme pain, but I really have no other alternatives. I need to see what caused the bleeding."

The blonde looked between her spouse and doctor a moment before positioning herself to hold Angel down if he resisted, "Make it fast please." As much as she also didn't want him to suffer more pain, the blood was scaring her. She didn't want Angel to lose his sight forever.

Forgoing the penlight for now and making sure the overhead light wasn't directly pointing at his face, Cass nodded her thanks and positioned at his head for the best position to look down into his eyes. Taking a deep steadying breath, she slipped her fingers under the mask and slowly peeled it off his blood dampened face.

As expected, his lids were shut. After placing the spongy mask aside, the medic carefully and lightly placed her thumb and forefingers against his right eyelids, slowly separating the skin to see the orb underneath. 'Bloody mess in here.' She thought while peering into his normally brown eye, immediately seeing the numerous broken capillaries that had burst under the strain of the light assaulting him.

"Do you think he's completely blind again?" Buffy asked, looking down at her husband's face and praying this hadn't set his progress back to an unhealing level. She would still love him with the same intensity even if he did lose his sight, but she didn't want him to never get to see their children grow up.

"Not sure." Cass replied as she closed the lid and checked his left eye, finding much the same.

"Oh." Due to the dark color of Angel's eyes, the doctor at first hadn't noticed something, now that she checked his right eye again she found the same.

"What? Something bad?" Buffy asked, looking down into his eyes with Cassidy before noticing it herself. "Ok, that's not normal."

Instead of the usual chocolate brown pigment, his irises were entirely black as they were overly expanded, causing the whole middle of his eye to be pupil.

The medic shook her head, "No it isn't, and it explains why he's over sensitive to light. The iris control the amount of light that enters the retina, fully open as it is combined with a vampire's natural acclamation to darkness is over stimulating his retina's and causing the pain, bleeding and visual impairments."

Buffy bit her lip as she looked down at her lover's face, "Can that be fixed?" She asked, looking up to meet the doctor's green eyes.

"I might have some drops to constrict the pupil, let me check." Cassidy quickly moved over to the cabinet as Buffy carefully sponged the blood away from Angel's eyes with a damp cloth, relieved at least he wasn't still actively bleeding.

After a few moments, Cassidy returned with a small dropper bottle. "Ok, this will help to contract the pupil a little and hopefully relieve some of the sensitivity. No promises it will cure his blindness, but it's worth a shot."

Carefully lifting his right eyelid again, Cass directed the dropper in place and squeezed a few droplets down onto the eye. The liquid hit the lens in a circular splash, making little white dots as the blood on the surface of his eyes was pushed aside. She closed the lid and messaged her finger over it a moment to help move the medicine around.

Before she could peel his left eye open, Angel growled and turned his head away, finally rousing from his blackout.

Cass immediately stepped back, careful to give him room and to keep out of grabbing range.

When Angel rolled onto his side and made a retching noise, Cass quickly grabbed a trash pail and shoved it up under the living vampire's face to catch the ensuing vomit.

Buffy moved forwards to help steady him as he was sick, patting his back to help comfort and encourage.

After a few moments, his stomach emptied and he rolled to his other side, brushing off his wife's hand as he did, mumbling sharply to "Go away."

The rejection stung as the blonde pulled her hand back, turning hurt eyes to Cass as if looking for an explanation from the medic as to why Angel would push her away too.

Noting his body language and creasing her red brows, Cassidy shut the overhead light and moved over to the cabinet to pull out a chemical ice pack, shaking the rubberized package to activate the cooling reaction. Being careful to avoid any possible claw action by staying behind him, she placed the pack on Angel's head while he was safely turned away from her, curled into a fetal ball and looking as if in severe pain.

Instantly he snatched the bag from where she'd left it and adjusted it to a better position against his forehead, trying to remember his name over the shooting pain in his skull.

Cass turned to Buffy, "Ok, so intense migraine is my guess. Somehow I don't think he'd take kindly to an IV right now, but I do have some pills it you want to try and get him to swallow them."

The blonde nodded as Cass slipped a few pain killers into her palm.

Once equipped with the drugs and a glass of water, Buffy moved around the cot to where he husband had yanked the sheet up over his head and was laying in a ball on the small cot, "Angel, honey, can you hear me?"

A growl under the sheet was his only reply, and not exactly a human one.

"I have something to help with the pain." She offered, talking softly.

A hand slid out from under the sheet, palm up, with claws extended from his fingernails. She knew for certain he had vamped, but was positive he wasn't being controlled by the demon's mind.

She placed the pills into his palm before the appendage retreated under the sheet, not reappearing for the water.

Not knowing what else to do, she slipped down into a chair and slid it beside his bed, unwilling to leave him, especially in pain.

After a good solid ten minutes passed, the body on the cot sat up under the sheet, rising like a corpse on an exam table.

Buffy's heart thumped in her chest as the sheet fell away, a pair of golden red tinted eyes staring at her. "Angel?" She asked, searching those eyes for her husband.

He growled and blinked, those yellowed eyes glancing around before stopping on her.

It took her a moment to notice his right eye was the only one open, but it was focused on her.

He didn't respond to her for a few moments, he merely looked away and blinked a few times before the golden hue faded and the demon mask vanished from his face.

"Angel?" She called again, studying his face for any traces of his thoughts, barely aware of the change features from vampire to man.

He turned to her again, his left eye still tightly closed before mumbling, "Who switched on the light?"

Encouraged he was at least speaking, she moved to sit on the bed beside him, "Don't know, but I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. How's your head?"

"Pounding." He groaned, his right hand moving to rub his temples.

Finding an opening, she leaned over and slid her hands around to replace hers for his. When he didn't immediately pull away, she slipped in behind him for a better position.

He groaned again as she messaged his temples, this time less painful sounding as he leaned back against her.

"Better?" She asked, noting he was using her shoulder as a pillow, giving her full access to anywhere she could reach.

"MmmHmm." He hummed out, eyes closed and body slack.

A few minutes passed without event before he abruptly sat up off her, "Ok, I'm good, still have a headache but it's manageable now."

Cassidy materialized out of nowhere, "How's are your eyes?"

His right turned towards her, she could easily see the brown again as the drops worked to constrict the iris back to normal. "What did you do to them? My right feels ok but the left is...not."

The doctor smirked, "I think I figured out the cause of your pain, your pupils were over-enlarged, letting in too much light and causing your sensitivity. If you let me, I can put in droplets to correct your left eye." She held up the bottle and gave it a little shake.

His one working eye glanced at the bottle before moving back over to the medic, "Fine, but be quick."

The medic applied the droplets quickly, then instructed him to keep his eyes closed for ten minutes to allow both eyes to adjust together to the change in lighting.

He nodded and leaned back against Buffy again, the slayers resuming messaging his temples to pass the time.

When the ten minutes had passed, Cassidy came back over to check his progress but found his slow deep breaths to mean he'd fallen asleep against his wife.

She pointing to the snoozing living vampire and gave Buffy a 'what did you do to my patient' look, the blonde merely shook her head slightly, not wanting to disturb the man laying against her shoulder.

Almost half an hour passed before Angel inhaled deeply and sat up off her, his hand rising to rub his eyes.

Buffy leaned forwards and placed a hand on his shoulder, "How's your headache?"

He let out a breath as his hands dropped from his face, "Gone."

Glad to hear that, she slipped off the bed and moved around to his front to face him, "Did the drops help?"

To answer her question and to find out for himself, he slowly opened his eyes and pointed them towards her face, blinking a few times as the image of his wife came into focus. Most of the lights around him were either switched off or turned away from him, but his brain and eyes barely acknowledged the lighting over the fact his wife's face was clearly visible before him.

"Now there's a sight for sore eyes." He said quietly, his lips pulling back into a smile as he drank in her image.

"Are they still sore?" She asked, worried he was still in pain despite the droplets and painkillers.

His smile widened as he looked her over, his hands reaching out and slipping around her to pull her in closer, "Figure of speech." He answered, only half paying attention to anything except looking at his wife.

As those big brown eyes of his roamed over her, she felt her cheeks flushing and a smile of her own spreading over her face, "You can see." Although still bloodshot, it was clear he was really looking at her and no longer just looking in her direction.

"A little fuzzy, but yeah, I can." He answered with a wide grin, unable to take his eyes off her lips.

Wrapping her arms around his neck as he tugged her tighter, she leaned in closer, her lips magnetically drawn towards his.

It was only while kissing his wife that his eyes finally slipped shut. In those moments of sightlessness, the fear that his sight would be gone again when he opened them caused his eyes to snap back open. To his relief, the darkness vanished upon his lids parting and brought the world back into focus. 'I need to see her.' He thought as he kissed his wife deeper, 'I need to see every inch of her...right now.'

...

Cassidy was on her way back into the Med-Ward from her office to check if Angel had woken yet when the man in question breezed past her, his wife was thrown over his shoulder fireman style and his pace was similar to that of a runaway train. "Hey, I didn't dismiss you!" She yelled out after him, Buffy laughing from her backwards position replied, "Were not technically leaving."

A moment later, Angel reached the confinement room located just outside the Med-Ward, pulled the door open and disappeared with Buffy inside it.

Cassidy held her hand over her face and shook her head, knowing exactly what those two would be doing to contaminate her once sterile room.

...

Buffy slid open her hazel-green eyes and lifted her head off her lover's chest to look down at him, she smiled at his silly grin and dreamy expression, he was obviously still feeling high from their passion and the explosive ending.

"Can I put my clothes back on now or is your second wind going to have a second wind?" She asked with a tease of false annoyance, finding his sudden urge to undress her again after their first session ended to have been rather pleasant if not ridiculous and funny. 'Man acted like we hadn't had sex in months, and we just finished!'

He blinked the daze away and turned his gaze onto her face, his grin widening, "Isn't it usually three strikes before you're out?"

Rolling her eyes at the bad baseball pun, she sat up and pulled the blanket around her chest to keep his wandering eyes off her breasts. "I wouldn't exactly call that a strike, and besides, I passed three the first round." Her smile betrayed the sarcastic tone she'd used.

"I know, I keep count." He teased back, bringing his hand up to brush a lock of wild blonde back behind her ear.

"Perve." She called him as she climbed over him and off the small cot, again the gleam in her eyes letting him know she was teasing.

Chuckling, he sat up and admired her as she dropped the blanket to dress, his eyes gliding over her curves, muscles and creamy smooth skin.

"Don't even think about it." His wife's warning voice pulled his mind back out of her body.

Uncomprehending for a moment, he looked down and noticed he was already at half mast. "Little late for that."

His pants hitting him upside the head were a clear indication sex was not going to happen again. "Ok, ok, I'll wait." He defended as he jumped off the bed and yanked his pants up around his hips but leaving them unbuckled until it was more comfortable to fasten the zipper. He'd just finished pulling his shirt over his head when he looked down to find Buffy standing inches away from him, a mischievous light in her eyes.

"Don't move." She told him before he could ask what she was doing, lopping her thumbs into his belt loops and dropping to her knees, his pant dropping with her.

His heart jumped in his chest as he watched her head bobbing at his waist and felt her hands and mouth gliding over his now very hard member, his eyes rolling back in his head as the pleasure rushed over him.

Her name gasped from hip lips when she finished him off, needing to hold the cot for support.

He was just getting his breathing back under control when she stood up and licked her lips, "There, now you had three." She figured she might as well keep with his three strikes pun.

A snort escaped from him as he pulled his pants up, finding himself much cleaner now and it far easier to zip them shut, "And here I thought you were done with sex for today."

She shrugged as she washed her hands in the small sink in the corner, "Well I missed lunch, so I could use the dose of protein."

His jaw dropped open at her words.

Still wearing her teasing smirk, she told him, "When you're done looking like a caught fish, I'm sure Cassidy wants to check your eyes." With that said, she opened the door and let herself out.

It took a moment for him to remember how to close his mouth, but then he grinned and shook his head, "God I love that woman." He muttered to himself as he headed back to the Med-Ward.

...

"20/20." Cassidy told him as she read his chart after the eye exam, "Looks like your eyes are fully functional and other than mild sensitivity to bright light, they are back to normal. I'll recommend wearing UV blocking sunglasses outside for a few days and a pair of light shaded ones for indoor use."

"Does that mean I can go?" He asked, eager to leave the Med-Ward and check in with his students, he wanted to apologize for ruining their training session again.

Cassidy did a wonderful job of not rolling her eyes at his bluntness for wanting to leave, "Yes, you are cleared to leave." Part of her had wanted to say no, to tell him he had to re-sterilize the containment room he contaminated, but to be honest, she'd rather do it herself so she knew it was done right.

"Great, thanks." He said as he quickly stood up and headed for the door.

Buffy, who had been sitting on the cot a few feet away during the tests, flashed her a smile as she stood and addressed the medic before following her husband, "Thank you for all you do, it means the world to us, even if he doesn't say it, Angel is grateful for all you do for him."

Cassidy blushed, "As long as he can walk out of here on his own, that's all the thanks I need. Now if you don't mind, please keep him out of my medical facility for a while. He's already clocked in too many hours here as it is this month."

Smiling back, Buffy nodded, "Trust me, he's on a short leash from now on."

With that said, she headed out to see where he went and make sure he stayed out of trouble for a while.

...

'I should have known.' Buffy thought when she finally found where Angel had vanished to after he scurried out of the Med-Ward. She'd thought he was going to find his students or maybe to grab lunch at the cafe, but she tracked him down to the nursery where he was just standing at the door watching the kids while they played with Willow and Oz.

Her arms wrapped around his waist as she came to stand beside him, her gaze switching between the love of her life and the children that love grew inside of her body.

"They got bigger." He said quietly, watching as Katie and Liam danced around the sparkly lights Willow's magic produced. It had been almost a month since he'd lost his vision, just under a month since he'd been able to really look at his children.

"Every day." She agreed, leaning against him as she watched him watching them.

Finally those dark chocolate orbs reluctantly tore away from the kids and focused down at her, a smile flirting across his lips.

"What?" She asked, unsure what he was thinking.

"I love you."

A blush rush over her cheeks as she stood on her tippy toes to reach her husband's lips with hers, "I love you."

"Um, hey." An embarrassed sounding male voice spoke from in front of them, an alert that Oz had approached and they were blocking the door while lip locking in front of it.

They broke apart, Buffy still blushing while Angel had a smirk on his lips. "Sorry Oz, your free to escape if you need to." Angel addressed the ever changing hair colored musician, this month it was black spikes with purple tips.

"Thanks." The werewolf said as he passed, needing to use the restroom.

"Daddy!" Their daughter's voice suddenly yelled out, Katie finally noticing her parents lurking in the doorway and came running over to greet them.

Angel took a few steps forward and scooped up first Katie then Liam as he followed his sister's lead.

"How are my favorite monsters doing? You guys have gotten so big." He said as he gave each a kiss.

"Daddy, you no more blind?" Katie asked, her big brown eyes looking into her daddy's matching one and seeing him looking back at her.

An even bigger smile than before spread across Angel's lips, "Yeah baby, daddy's no more blind."

Willow noticed her entertainment services were no longer needed as the living vampire turned into super-dad and played with the two rambunctious toddlers, so she made her way over to her best female friend as she stood watching her family in the door.

"Hey Buffy, so Angel's not blind anymore?" She asked, having heard him talking to Katie.

Buffy shook her head, "Maybe to reason, but not to sight." She said with a smile, telling Willow about the incident with the light and the drops to constrict his irises back to normal dilation. She left out the sex parts for modesty.

"Wow, that's great. For a while there, I didn't think he'd ever see again." Willow admitting, not thinking he'd regain his vision after so long.

A serious expression washed over Buffy's face, "Honestly, I was afraid he wasn't going to either. I know it's only been like 3 weeks, but it feels like a lot longer, especially after all that's happened since the LA Hellmouth formed. In that time, the SUV was wrecked, he was eaten by a toad demon, we had that all-nighter fighting demons in LA, the Hellmouth tunnels collapsing, his total loss of all senses, slow regain of his voice, smell and hearing, then the issues with his nightmares, his demon going nuts in the training center, being lured to the Cleveland Hellmouth by The First, and lastly this episode in the training room with the lights." Buffy took a deep breath and sighed it out before addressing her friend again, "I'm more than ready for this chain of events to come to a close, I'm not sure how much more I can take. Sometimes I just want to lock him in a pillow lined room so he can't get hurt again."

The redhead nodded, "Yeah, he has been accident prone lately huh, but I totally understand how you feel, just not how you deal with it. I hate it even when Oz gets a paper cut from his sheet music, never mind something really bad, I'd be a wreck."

"I've come close, and I have a feeling Angel's going to be the cause of me having grey hair by age 30." Buffy joked, at least she hoped it was a joke.

The conversation drifted off when Oz came back, nodding his head towards the living vampire that was currently on all fours as the kids rode him like a horse, "Sighted again?"

When Buffy affirmed it, Oz nodded, "Cool."

After a few minutes of small talk, the Osborn's took their leave and Buffy joined in on family time, hoping from now on there would be a little peace for the Summers family.

Little did she know, things were going to change real soon.

...

The End of this story arc.

This chapter turned out to be a LOT longer and more complicated that I anticipated, thus why it was split into two titles. I had some severe writers block for a while and had to rehash a few things, but it finally came together.

'The Journey, Not the Destination' will eventually continue in another arc.

To be more consistent and to keep from having long gaps again, stories will only be posted upon completion, so the whole chapter will post same day.