Yup, failed to hit the deadline for 2016, so happy 2017! As promised, whole arc posting at once. Enjoy!
March 27, 2009 - In Sickness and In Hellmouth
Angel was pacing in his office again, he had been doing so for the better part of the afternoon. Katie and Liam were in the Med-Ward with high fevers and both Cassidy and Buffy had finally kicked Angel out of the basement floor when his nervous worry began spreading to the kids.
So he'd been pacing his office ever since, fearing a phone call stating something was very wrong with his children.
Idea's bombarded the living vampire, 'My demon blood is in them, it's poisoning their humanity…my remaining enemies are getting to me though them…I brought some contagions home with me off a demon one night…' The pacing continued as his mind ripped though itself looking for reason's his children were sick.
His heart jumped into his throat as the phone on his office desk roared to life. Half a ring went by as he grabbed it, bringing it to his ear and rushing out, "It's not fatal?"
He could almost hear Buffy laugh on the other line, "God Angel, relax before you have a heart attack, you know, that is technically possible."
"Buffy." He snipped out, beside himself that she sounded humorous when their children were ill.
She heard the near desperation in his voice and let the grin drop, "Angel, they have Chicken Pox."
The line was silent a moment, the disease itself unfamiliar to him but not the concept. "A...a Pox! Is it…curable?" He asked, unsure what this meant for his children. 'They must have medicine for that now, modern drugs or something to help, it can't be fatal, it just can't be.' He thought, thinking back to the death of many of the children in his village from smallpox, when the plagues and sicknesses swept over Galway and took large numbers of young and old with it. He'd even lost two siblings to illness, both while under the age of four.
"You're kidding right?" Buffy asked into the phone, not believing her husband was this freaked over something so benign.'For a guys who's been dead, you figure he'd been less wound up over the chickenpox.'
"Kidding? You think I would joke when our kids are sick!" He countered, not believing how casual his wife was being about all this. 'Maybe she's in shock? It must be shock.'
"Honey, all kids get Chicken Pox…it's harmless. They'll have itchy bumps for a few days then be perfectly fine. I had them, Dawn, the gang, Cass…everyone gets them."
"I didn't." Came his sullen reply, his heart still trying to beat again over the idea this sickness was 'harmless'. He'd believe it once Katie and Liam were well again.
"Then you should stay upstairs, don't come back down." She warned, not wanting him to get sick himself.
He was already planning to head out the second he put the tethered desk phone back in the cradle."Why?" He demanded, wanting to be there with his children and help them though this ordeal.
Realizing she'd have to explain it to him, "It's harmless for kids…Chicken Pox is worse for adults, extreme cases, fatal."
'Fatal for adults?!' His heart did another flip, "Then you shouldn't be down their either!"
'Oh gees, he's going to keel over.' Buffy thought as she shook her head at the phone. "Angel, baby, take a breath and relax, I can practically hear you pacing and ripping your hair out over the phone. I already had chickenpox, once you get them you become immune."
"Oh." He sighed out a whoosh of relief into the phone. His worry ebbing somewhat.
Hearing him relax, she continued. "I'm going to help Cass give them an oatmeal bath, I'll be up once they're in bed. Okay?"
He thought it over a moment, still wanting to go see them but understanding he'd only be in the way. Plus once he was down there, he wouldn't be able to stand back, he'd have to touch them and risk getting sick himself. His demon worked as his immune system, but he had no idea if it would guard him against a lethal version of chickenpox. "Yeah, I guess. Tell them Daddy loves them?"
"Of course I will. Now go relax and I'll see you soon." After he said bye, she hung up and grabbed the can of oatmeal off the counter, vaguely remembering the image of her and Dawn sitting in a tub while their parents washed them with oats when they were young. A shiver ran up her spine.
…
Angel was standing statue still and looking out the window when she entered his office. She shook her head at him, loving his fatherly instincts, but also wishing it had a knob to turn it down a bit when it came to the overprotective side of it. "Please tell me you haven't been standing there the whole time." She asked, walking up beside him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I haven't been." He replied, saying what she'd asked.
"Liar." She shot back, knowing he totally had been.
He shrugged and defended the lie, "You told me to."
Shaking her head, she dragged him over to the couch and promptly sat in his lap once he was down.
"They will be fine Angel, I promise." She told him, kissing his forehead.
"I still can't help worrying." He admitted, resting his head against her shoulder.
"I know the feeling." She agreed, remembering all the times he'd been sick or hurt and wanting to help. Her fingers began running though his hair in the hopes to release the tension she could feel in him.
After a moment, he opened up. "You have to remember, I grew up in a world where if you got sick, you usually died. Fevers and infections were top killers in my village, right behind childbirth and accidents. I lost two siblings to smallpox, nearly died of it myself. In some areas, children mortality was at 30-40%, especially infants."
Buffy leaned down and pressed her lips to his, "Angel my love, this is the modern age, where we have medicine and personal hygiene, two things the powdered wig era didn't have. Katie and Liam are not going to die from chickenpox, I promise you."
That 'I-want-to-trust-you-but-can't-help-but-remember-living-in-the-dark-ages' look crossed his face again, "I know...I just...can't help but worry." He repeated, finding he was stuck in 'anxious father' mode.
Sensing a losing battle when it came to her husband's wealth of trepidation when it came to anything related to her or the kids being unwell, she just wrapped her arms around him and leaned his head on her shoulder, sharing her comfort.
He'd been tense all day, she could feel the tension finally leaving his shoulders as she gently messaged them. It took longer than usual, be she finally felt him relax.
Now that he was relaxed, she could finally relax too.
She'd nearly forgotten what it felt like to not be tense.
It had been a long day and preceding week; fighting demons the night before, resuming training slayer in several classes, still adjusting to last week's big magically powered move from Cleveland back to the new Hellmouth location in LA, wading though the aftermath of the transition of the Angel Investigations building to it's new home in LA and overseeing all the students traveling to their new dorms, the additional stress of filling up her graduate slayer army in the newly renovated Hyperion hotel.
All that funneled down to coming home after a tiring day and realizing the kids weren't felling well and the rush to AI to visit Cass in the Med-Ward.
'Well, all that explains my fatigue over the last week.' Buffy thought as she rested her eyes while sitting in her lover's lap.
They were both actively dozing when Angel stirred, his ears picking up a strange sound.
"Turn the TV off." He mumbled, not wanting to open his eyes or raise his head from his wife's comfy shoulder. Buffy slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look over at the black screen of the television. "It is off." She stated, wondering if he was dreaming. 'Worry induced hysteria?' She wouldn't put it past him to be capable of it.
"I can hear it." He countered, opening his eyes and looking across the room to the small flatscreen mounted on the wall. As he noticed it was off, his worry induced tired eyes looked around the room to see what was causing the static sound, looking at the phone then the computer monitor. For a moment, he thought maybe he was losing it, but then his gaze quickly returned to his wife still dominating his lap.
"Well it's not me." She defended as his eyes stopped on her, wondering if she should ask Cass to take his temperature.
"Actually…" He said slowly, his dark chocolate brown eyes drifting down towards her stomach. "...it kinda is."
She looked at him a moment as if he were crazy, but then it sank in at what he was saying.
His eyes stayed glued to the source of the noise. At first he'd thought it was just static from a TV or perhaps a radio, but now that he was more awake and focused on it, he recognized it for what it was…a heartbeat, of the very fast and newly beating variety.
Buffy's eyes filled with tears of hope as Angel's fingers brushed against the material covering over her abdomen.
Over a year of being together protection free and she'd simply given up hope of being a mother again… "Angel?" She asked, wanting desperately for what he was suggesting to be true but not allowing herself to feel anything until she knew for sure.
He looked up at her then, he too afraid to hope.
"Med-Ward." Buffy stated, jumping off her husband and already walking quickly towards the stairs. He was hot on her heel a second later.
...
Cassidy was writing in her patient files in her office when Buffy breezed in and grabbed her arm. "Wha..?" She'd barely had a second to think before the pen fell from her hand Buffy was dragging her into an empty exam room.
"Kids okay?" The doctor managed to ask, figuring the overprotective parents had found something not to their liking about her doctoring.
"You tell me." The blonde Slayer asked, shoving a probe into the MD's hand and jumping up on the exam table.
The red head then noticed Angel pacing impatiently beside the table, looking both pale and excited at the same time. Reminding her of when Buffy was in labor and he was a nervous wreck.
"Oh." She realized, looking down at the prenatal imager in her hand, realizing there was some serious pregnancy anxiety in the room. "Umm, okay. Well let's see if we've got anything baking in the oven." She said as she grabbed the gel off the cart and squeezed a blob onto Buffy's exposed midriff, just below the barely visible scar from her gunshot wound.
"You know, you guys could make an appointment like normal people." She grumbled with mock agitation as she pressed the probe into the gel and searched for movement on the screen. Cass had been wondering when these two would try for another baby, it was pretty obvious they had an above average sex-life, at least compared to most of the people around here. And most of the people around here were hormonal young woman with super strength.
She could see Buffy was getting antsy as she worked her probe around, but she instantly stilled as Cass found the right position and a pulsing image filled the screen.
"Yup…you've defiantly got a bun baking." The doctor supplied unnecessarily, both parents already knowing what a fetus looked like on screen, even one as early as 6 weeks. The medic studied the black and white image, her eyes scanning the position and size of the kidney bean like shape sitting in the middle of circular hollow. The machine counting the number of beats from the newly pulsing heart in the middle of the form.
Cass watched with a smirk as both warriors focus was totally absorbed on the screen, their hands tightly clasped, possible tears in their eyes as they got their first look at their baby. Flipping a switch, the sound of the heart beating on the screen filled the small exam room, giving Cassidy and Buffy the sound Angel could hear without amplification.
Feeling like this was a personal moment for the two, Cass took Angel's free hand and slipped the imager into it, positioned it over the right spot on Buffy's belly then slipped from the room so the couple could be alone with their new life. She had some more paperwork to fill out now.
"I'm pregnant." Buffy finally managed to say after the initial shock-wave receded. Her heart had been afraid to hope, but here was her desire pulsing before her on the screen. 'A baby.'
She looked over at her husband, his eyes tearing from the screen to look at her, his own relief as being able to contribute to their child's life clearly visible in his eyes.
"I'm pregnant." She repeated, still having trouble believing it, despite the evidence. 'Am I dreaming? Will I wake and find this isn't real? That this child I love so much already isn't really in me?'
He smiled, "Yes beloved, you are." Angel leaned down and kissed her lips, sharing his joy with the one he loved.
A flood of questions filled her mind as she broke the kiss, her mouth hard pressed to keep up with the questions. "But how? When? Why now?" All those weeks and month of not getting pregnant, for over a year they were protection free, what made now the right time?
He just laughed, shaking his head. "Pretty sure you know how, I'm guessing 6 weeks ago based on the heartbeat and now seems as good a time as any." Angel didn't care how or why or when, he was ecstatic it happened at all.
She looked back at him after glancing at the screen. "Six weeks?" A little smile slipped across her face, "As in around Valentine's day?" Despite all that had happened between her and Angel with the Hellmouth and his pending returning vision, she was remembering a good collection of intimacies that happen around that day and the ones to follow.
He smiled back, fond memories flooding his mind. "I'm picturing the how…"
She elbowed him lightly, grinning like a fool but not caring.
He stepped back to avoid the blow, but the imager moved and the beating vanished from the screen.
"No." Buffy cried out, grabbing device and running it over her skin to find the spot again. She hadn't seen enough of the little life yet, she needed more, much more.
Angel took the probe back, listened for the epicenter of the beats and positioned it on her belly. Instantly the picture resumed, their unborn once again dominating the monitor.
All those negative pregnancy tests and feelings that something was wrong with her dissolved as she watched the tiny heart within her beat away.
They sat in silence a while, just watching the miraculous image.
Buffy spoke up after a few minutes, her fears resuming in her heart. "What if I lose this one too." Memories of her miscarriage surfacing as the old fear bubbled up from the depths of her heart.
Angel leaned closer, brushing his lips across her ear. "Hush a ghrá (my love). You wont."
"You don't know that." She sighed out, wanting desperately for this child to come to term, to hold it in her arms and watch it grow.
"No, I don't. But I can see her heartbeat is strong, she's a fighter." He assured his wife.
"She?" Buffy squinted at the screen, trying to discern boy or girl parts.
It was far to early to tell such things on the screen and Angel told her so.
"Then how do you know?" She demanded, slightly mad he knew these things before her.
He just smirked and kissed her cheek.
…
Later in the evening, after making sure their children were comfortable, Buffy and Angel were in the cafe having dinner, sitting closely together and just absorbing the new information.
They turned their heads when they heard a gasp. "Oh my god! Are you pregnant?" Willow asked, seeing Angel's hand laying protectively over Buffy's belly as they ate. Everyone knew from the last two pregnancies that Angel's hand was virtually glued to Buffy when she was with child.
Angel sheepishly pulled his hand back, neither intending to tell anyone just yet since they'd only found out a few hours ago.
Buffy smiled at her friend, equally unable to push down the wave of excitement. "Just found out today, so we were going to keep it quiet for a few more weeks." She left the unsaid, 'until we know I wont lose it' to herself.
Willow bounded up and down, so happy for her friend who she'd known had wanted another child for some time now. "Okay, wow. I can be quiet, promise! OMG, I can't believe it!"
At Angel and Buffy's pointed glance, the young woman calmed, "Right, incognito, relaxing…" She took a few deep breaths in and out. "Okay, see, calm."
...
"The entire building is going to know by tomorrow."Buffy muttered as she belted Katie into the backseat of the GTX, which reminded her she needed to talk to Angel about buying a new SUV since the old was one was torn apart by a demon and the convertible wouldn't be able to safely hold a third car seat.
"And why do you make that sound like a bad thing?" Angel asked, annoyed to the point of pacing that he was forbidden to touch either of the kids for the next few days until they were no longer contagious for the chicken pox.
In hindsight, Buffy knew she should have kept them in the Med-Ward so as to keep Angel more easily separate from them, but she didn't have the heart to make them stay in the hospital-like room when home would be far more bearable for the tots.
Buffy looked up from the back seat and across the car at him where he was pacing a few feet away in the parking lot, waiting for her to finish buckling the kids in so they could finally go home. "It's not that it's a bad thing, it's that it's not anyone else's business, at least not until I'm ready to let people know."
Pausing his pacing, Angel walked around the car to stand beside her, enfolding her in his arms, "Beloved, I know you're worried about this." He said as he rubbed her still flat belly, "But don't let that worry stress you out."
"I'm not." She lied as she buried her face against her husband's warm chest, not wanting to be this high strung but unable to help herself. It might have only been known to her for a few hours, but she already loved this baby completely and was terrified she would lose it.
At least now she knew why she'd been exhausted all week.
Angel kissed the top of her head, recognizing the lie but not speaking about it. All he could do was reassure her and be there when she needed him, beyond that, he couldn't physically take her worry away, as much as he would have liked to.
Once Liam was strapped into his car seat, Angel blasted the radio as he drove the GTX the few short miles back to the new LA location of their beloved home. The rumbling purr of the engine the only other sound as he slid the car up the driveway and into the garage.
Buffy practically shoved Angel away so he wouldn't get too close to the kids as she unstrapped them and brought them inside. She knew he was still worried about them and hated to keep him away, but she wouldn't take the chance he would catch the sickness too, which would be far worse to get as an adult than as a child. It was bad enough he was in the house with them, but she was going to make sure there was no physical contact.
...
The evening was quieter than usual, Buffy lost in her thoughts, Angel lost in his. The kids not feeling well enough to be talking and laughing and running around like mini tornadoes. By 8pm the household was silent, the kids in bed as Buffy sat in the bedroom and brushed her hair. It wasn't until she went downstairs to grab a snack that she realized Angel wasn't on the couch like she thought.
He'd been downstairs since they came home, having to stay away as she tended the kids upstairs, but he'd been either sketching in the living room or doing chores until now.
But he wasn't in the living room or kitchen anymore.
"Angel?" She called out, wondering where he'd gone.
Looking out the kitchen windows, she didn't think the hatch for the tree house was open, so he wasn't likely brooding out there in the cool night air. Back in Ohio, average temperatures for March were 30 to 50 degrees F, while LA tended to be in a much more comfortable span of 50 to 70.
It still amazed her that Willow's spell had been able to transport the backyard as well as the house to LA. It had taken a lot of research to locate the right neighborhood, but in the end the house ended up both close to AI and a cemetery, just like back in Cleveland. The only downside is the 8 miles to the Hyperion were actually about the same time to walk verses drive due to the traffic congestion in LA's streets.
Buffy tried to remember to ask Will to research spell for teleportation portals or something to help avoid traffic.
A bang from the garage that practically shook the foundation reminded Buffy she was looking for Angel, and gave her an idea where to look next.
Pulling on her robe, she hurried out the connecting door into the garage, worried about what the bang could have been.
Angel swearing loudly in a mix of English and Gaelic greeted her ears, letting her know whatever the bang was, at least he was alive after it.
"Angel?" She called out as she looked around but couldn't see him, "What happened? Are you okay?" The garage looked empty save for the GTX parked on the right side bay, the left vacant since the SUV's tragic end.
"Buffy." Angel sounded strained as he spoke from somewhere that wasn't immediately visible, "Grab the jack and give it a few cranks to pick the car up."
"The what?" She asked, not really knowing much about what he did with the car in here. It was a guy thing she'd never understand. "Where are you?"
"Just do it please. Pump the lever on the thing by your foot." His voice asked again, still sounding strained.
She looked down and saw the jack, the lever resting up next to the hood. Shaking her head, she moved to do it when she noticed a set of legs sticking out from under the car on the passenger side. "Angel? What are you doing under there?"
"Buffy, just jack it up already!" He snapped out.
"Fine, gees." She grabbed the lever and pumped it a few times, the car rising a few inches as the jack pushed it up.
On her fifth pump, Angel inched out from under it and moved back enough to be clear of the vehicle. Breathing out a sigh of relief, "Okay, that's fine. Thanks."
Stopping, she turned to ask why he was in such a pissy mood when she saw the blood coating his forehead. Suddenly she realized he'd been snapping at her to pick up the car because he was stuck under it. "Oh god, are you alright?" She blurted, quickly rushing over and dropped to her knees beside him as he sat on the ground rubbing his arm.
"I'm fine." He said quickly, pissed off and majorly annoyed at his tools.
"You're bleeding, bleeding doesn't equal fine." Buffy countered, getting up to grab a clean cloth and dab the blood away so she could get a better look at the injury.
His scowl softened at the worry in her eyes when she returned, "The stupid jack dropped my car on me while I was changing the oil. It pinned me down. I'm not hurt, I just couldn't get out from under it. I must have scrapped my head while trying to push it up."
"You sure?" Buffy asked, looking at his arm again, figuring he strained it trying to get out, then she ran her hands over his chest to verify no broken bones.
"Maybe a bruise or two, nothing serious." He assured, only not reaching out and touching her because his hands were covered in grease and oil.
As she pressed the cloth to his head to absorb the bit of blood, she leaned over and kissed him, to make sure he was as okay as he claimed. His kisses always told her more than his words did. It was the best way to tell if his mouth was lying or not.
And this time, his kiss back confirmed he was more than fine. So much in fact, it momentarily made him forget about his dirty hands as he pulled her closer.
When they pulled apart, she gave him a accusing smile, "You just got me filthy, didn't you?"
He glanced over at the twin hand prints on her formerly white robe, suddenly feeling he might have been better off under the car. "Uhh...I'll buy you a new one?"
"Damn straight you will. And a car, we need a new one of those too." She added while she was as it.
She saw panic flash in his eyes, "I'm not selling the GTX."
'Boys and their cars.' She thought before clarifying, "I didn't mean you have to sell the convertible, we can keep that for date nights. But we need another car, a family friendly one that can hold three car seats, and maybe a crate full of weapons with a squad of slayers. You do remember our last truck got torn to shreds."
Relief washed over him, for a moment, he though they were going to have a fight about his car. Which he wasn't selling, no matter that she said. "Yeah, we can go SUV shopping soon."He glanced over hatefully at the jack, "And I'm getting a more reliable one of those too."
She leaned over and kissed the already closed wound on his forehead, "Yes please, I have enough to worry about with demons trying to kill you, never mind household machinery and chores being the death of you."
He chuckled and they both stood, he brushing some of the dirt off his work clothes. "Alright, so we go shopping as soon as the kids are well."
"Please don't kill yourself before then." Buffy told him as she glanced over at the jack too, "I can't buy a new you at the store."
Leaning down to kiss his wife, he promised. "I'll do my best."
Instead of kissing back, she glared at him. "You're best is not acceptable. Do-Not-Get-Killed. That's an order, not a suggestion. I'm not getting fat and raising another baby without you."
Figuring out real fast she wasn't kidding, he dropped his grin and nodded, "Okay, you're right. No getting killed, promise."
Accepting his promise, she then took the kiss he'd offered a moment ago. When she'd had her fill of his mouth, "You coming back inside with me?"
"Soon." He told her, jerking his thumb to the car parked behind him, "Just need to finish the oil change."
Buffy frowned, "I don't want you back under there."
"It's not going to fall again." He stated, popping up the hood on the GTX.
Not a moment after he said it, the car banged back down as the jack failed again, he barely jumped back quick enough to keep his feet out of the way of the dropping tires.
"Or maybe it will." He amended, flinching at the memory of when that happened a few minutes ago with him under it, vividly remembering how painful it felt to have the frame sitting on his chest.
Turning back to his wife, who was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, he changed him mind, "The oil change can wait, let's go to bed."
She stepped away from his greasy hand when he reached for her, "Shower first, then touching."
He grinned to himself, thinking, 'This woman will touch blood, demon viscera, baby diapers and even vomit, but you try and touch her with oil on your hand and she treats you like you're carrying the plague.'
...
Early, March 28, 2009
Angel snapped awake as the sound of her elevated heartbeat reached his ears.
In under three seconds, he was out of bed and across the hall where his little girl was thrashing under her blankets in a nightmare.
Right before she screamed awake, his arms were around her and he was rocking her gently against him, whispering soothing words into her ear.
Katie's rigid body relaxed against her fathers, her small arms and legs were wrapped tightly around his chest and neck as she clung to him, but her rapid breathing and heart rate were slowing in tune to his calming motions.
Within a few moments, the dream was already gone from her mind, leaving it to wander to other thoughts. "Mommy said not to touch you, that you can get chicken box too."
Angel smiled as he corrected her, "I'm not worried about Chicken Pox." He kissed her forehead, at least attempting to place his lips in an area without any bumps. "Not if my little girl needs me, nothing will keep me away."
"I'm a big girl." The headstrong brunette in his arms countered, his dark eyes mirrored back at him, "I'm more than 3 and a half."
His grin widened, "Of course, I forgot, my mistake."
Buffy slipped into the room a second later, any traces of sleep must have been left in bed as she looked wide awake, "Nightmare?" She mouthed silently while Katie was resting her head on her father's shoulder, frowning at her spouse for very much violating the 'no touching sick children' rule.
Angel nodded, then shrugged, ignoring the glare from his wife. He'd worry about the lecture after his daughter was settled and back to sleep. Not before.
"Daddy?" Katie asked with her face buried in his neck, "Can I stay with you?"
"Of course sweetheart." He agreed instantly, despite his wife sending him repeated shakes of her head.
By the time Angel walked back across the hall to his and Buffy's bedroom, Katie was out cold in his arms.
"Angel." Buffy whispered, being quiet for Katie's sake but knowing the little girl could sleep though an explosion, "She's sick, you need to stop touching and start washing."
"Later." He dismissed quietly, not about to risk waking his child because Buffy was being overzealous about Chicken Pox. "Besides, my demon will likely make me immune."
"You don't know that." Buffy countered, annoyed and frustrated with her bullheaded husband.
"Did you want me to ignore her nightmare? Tell her she has to sleep alone when she'd scared?" He asked, more to make a point than to be mean.
Buffy's mouth pulled tight, her eyes reflecting the fight within. Finally she let out a breath, "Fine, but if you get sick, I'm not nursing you back to health."
His lip quirked up, "Think Cass will wear the sexy nurse outfit?"
Buffy whacked him, well away from where Katie was still snoring on his shoulder. "Asshole" She muttered under her breath.
Wresting to keep his laugh down as to not wake his daughter, he took a few quick steps and slipped a kiss onto his wife's cheek, "You know I'm joking. I only want to see you in a sexy nurse outfit."
"Not helping." Buffy muttered, playing at being annoyed more than she felt it. She knew he liked to push her buttons occasionally, usually to keep her mind off something else, like her annoyance in him holding their contagious child.
"Then I'll make it up to you in the morning with breakfast in bed." He offered, sitting down on the edge of the mattress and adjusting Katie in his arms so he could lay back down.
"It's a start." Buffy supplied, hiding her grin as she walked around to her side of the bed.
Angel smirked at his wife as he got comfortable, then Katie shifting slightly and burrowing her face into his chest made his smirk grow into a full smile. Placing a kiss on her crown, he wrapped her in his arms, his thumb caressing her back. "I'll take my chances with a pox any day for this."
Buffy yawned and pulled the blankets up over them after shutting the light, "And if you do get sick, I'm so throwing this conversation back at you." She told him as she leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead.
"That's fine." He agreed, finding his child's small body snuggled against him worth any risk.
Laying back down, Buffy thought to herself how sexy her husband looked right now, not in a 'I want to sex you up' way, but in an 'I want to raise my baby with you' way. Despite being a thick headed pain in her ass, he was a great dad and she wouldn't want him any other way. 'You're a lucky one, your daddy is nothing if not devoted to his children.' She thought as she rubbed her still flat belly, thinking about the child growing within and feeling Angel's hand slip over hers. 'You'll have him wrapped around your little fingers the minute you're born.'
...
March 29, 2009
Over the next 24 hours, the little red spots covering Katie and Liam spread like wildfire, the toddlers constantly squirming in itchy discomfort.
"Angel, we can't bring them to work like that, Chicken Pox is extremely contagious, I can't risk it spreading among the slayers."Buffy pointed out, "We'd have an epidemic."
Tossing the dishrag he'd been using to dry the plates off back onto the counter, he agreed, "Yeah, scratching and patrolling wouldn't exactly be a comfortable mix." He shrugged, "So we stay home until the kids are well."
Buffy pulled the plug out of the bottom of the sink, letting the excess hot soapy water swirl down the drain, "They'll be contagious for like another two weeks, we can't be out that long. Not after all the time we've been off lately due to, well, other events." She trialed off, not wanting to think about the Hellmouth or his blindness or her being shot or the other long list of constant interruptions in their life even before the chaos of moving back to an active Hellmouth.
Angel looked out into the living room from his vantage point by the sink, watching the two little ones on the couch watching their Disney movie with little enthusiasm. "One of us could teach classes while the other watches the kids, we could swap every other day." After a second he seemed to reconsider as his eyes briefly touched her stomach, "Actually, maybe I should go in, you don't need the added workload of both our classes right now."
Buffy turned to face her tall idiot, "Stop that thought right there. You are not already suggesting that me being pregnant means I have to spend the next 8 months wrapped in bubble-wrap on the couch. We've discussed this, I'm not made of glass, I need to be active and I'm sure as hell not going to even hear this argument at 6 weeks...scratch that, at any weeks."
Angel took a step back and raised his hands, "Okay, okay, don't slay me. It was just a thought."
"A bad one, so don't breed it into more." She moved her hands in a 'shoo' motion to get to the cabinet behind him.
Moving out of her way, he sighed inwardly, remembering her being pregnant wasn't exactly always sunshine and rainbows, he was now remembering the thunderstorms that could send bolts of lightning at him at any time. "Noted." He replied, about to head into the living room and keep his mouth away from her when she stopped him with her voice.
"Where are you going? I need the peanut butter first." Buffy pointed up to the lonely jar well above her head on the top shelf.
A little spring of happy stirred as he walked over and reached up, grabbing the jar for his short wife. "Anything my lady requests is hers."
With a hidden smirk, Buffy took advantage of the offer, "Oh good, because we are almost out. Remember to get extra crunchy."
'Well dummy, you walked right into that one.' He thought before nodding, "Okay, I'll put it on the list."
At her glare he amended, "Or I guess I could run to the store now."
"Good, and we're almost out of calamine lotion too, get two bottle of that, it's the only thing helping with the kids' itchiness." Buffy added when he turned to head upstairs to get dressed in something more suitable for LA supermarkets than a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.
He wasn't surprised when his shopping list swelled by three more by the time he was about to walk out the door.
It wasn't until he stepped into the garage he remembered he still hadn't finished his oil change on the GTX. "Shit." He muttered as he eyed the jack wearily. 'It's just for a few seconds, it just needs to hold long enough for me to get the filter on.' He thought as he picked up the filter box and tossed it in his hand, his eyes scanning for the pair of stands he had buried someplace, so when/if the jack dropped again it wouldn't be on him this time.
Twenty minutes later, he was pouring in the new oil into the engine when Buffy called out to him, "I thought you were going to the store?"
He glanced over at her as she stood by the door, arms folder across her chest. 'Okay, she's not in a good mood today.' "Sorry, I forgot I needed to finish the oil change first."
"And you couldn't have done that after the store?" She asked, watching him like a hawk watches a rabbit.
Angel shook his head, "No. You need oil, without oil to lubricate the pistons, the friction will destroy the engine within seconds."
He was wondering if she was going to bite his head off, but instead she walked over to him and refolded her arms over her chest. "And you used that deathtrap jack again? You went under the car even after I told you not to."
Straightening, he looked down at her, "You just said to not get killed, and I didn't." He pointed to the stands under the frame, "Besides, I used the stands to hold the car up after I jacked it, they kept it from crushing me when the jack let go."
Her hazel green eyes looked from his dark chocolate to the edge of the metal stand she could just see under the car, then back to her husband. He had that, 'I'm walking on landmines' look in his eyes.
Unfolding her arms, she took the two steps up to him and watched his guarded expression, like he was expecting a slap.
Slowly she reached her hand up and wiped at a dark smudge on his cheek, "You're all dirty again."
"Sorry." He apologized automatically, trying to keep himself out of the doghouse, or maybe the tree house in his case.
Turning to grab a clean looking rag, she wiped the crud off her finger before going to work on his cheek. "You keep doing that."
"Getting dirty?" He asked, unsure what she was referring to.
"That too." She agreed, "But I meant apologizing, you've done it like 10 times today."
He blinked before shrugging, "Sorry?"
Her lip quirked up a bit, "That wasn't a trick statement, you don't need to apologize, save that for when you actually do something wrong."
"Haven't I?" He questioned, figuring she was mad at him for something. She seemed to be toying with him, like she wanted him to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
"No. At least not yet" She answered before her eyes narrowed at him accusingly, "Why? What did you do?"
"Nothing." He replied quickly, hoping he hadn't dug himself into a hole before he even knew he was holding a shovel.
"Good. Keep it that way, I'd much rather not be mad at you." She leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips, quickly deepening the kiss as he leaned over to make it easier for her and her arms snaked around his neck.
After oxygen began to become necessary, she pulled back and frowned, "What's wrong?" She was used to his arms wrapping around her when they kissed, when he didn't, it was very noticeable and made her think something was wrong.
"Nothing, I just...oily hands." He pointed out, letting her see the black smudges covering his fingers. It had taken a lot of willpower to not pull her against him. He knew if he soiled another article of her clothing, she'd fold him up like origami.
"Okay, you have been given a temporary reprieve." In return, she kissed him again. When she finished, she pecked him one final time before adding, "Now finish with the car and get me my peanut butter."
With that said, she turned on her heels and disappeared though the door back into the house.
He watched the empty doorway for a moment before shaking his head, '6 weeks and already starting with the crazy mood swings, I'm so not going to live long enough to see my baby born.'
...
He was half way home from the grocery in town when his phone rang.
"Angel." He answered, not looking at the caller ID as he struggled with turning down the stereo and keeping a hand on the wheel and the phone to his ear. An extra arm would have been helpful.
"Are you still at the store?" His wife's voice asked into his ear, a hopeful sound in her tone.
He looked around inside the car for a second before answering, "Why? Did I forget something?"
"We need new thermometer." Buffy answered cryptically.
"What happened to the old one?" Angel asked, now looking for a place to turn around.
There was a short silence before Buffy replied quickly, "It fell and I might have maybe stepped on it."
"You didn't cut yourself did you? It's full of mercury." He would have rattled off the dangers but his wife over spoke him.
"I had shoes on and it's inside the bathroom, I locked the door to keep the kids out." After a second she added, "Get a digital one this time, I know you love your old world stuff, but technology is far less dangerous. I mean really, who puts toxic metals in a glass tube that's intended to be put in the mouth? Especially for little kids."
"Okay, I'll grab one. A digital one." He placated.
"You're already half way home, aren't you?" She asked, realizing it had been a while and like most men, he was a quick shopper.
"No, no I just left." He lied, but he hoped she couldn't tell over the line.
"Liar." She spoke into the receiver, hearing the truth right through his voice.
"I already turned around, so I might as well just get it." He admitted, "I can stop at the pharmacy around the corner to avoid the city traffic it'll only take a few minutes."
Smiling, Buffy agreed, "Okay, thank you and be home soon. I love you!"
"I love you too." He told her right before he hung up and dropped the phone back into his shirt pocket, wondering if he'd get another call before he finally got back home.
...
As Angel pushed the front door open and hurriedly shut it behind him to keep the below average cool air out, Buffy grabbed one of the bags out of his hands, instantly digging inside of it. The smile on her face slid down into a frown as she pulled out an item and read the label on the jar in her hand. "You got smooth peanut butter." She said in a flat voice.
'And here I thought she was coming to help with the bags.' He thought a moment before she asked him about the jar in her hands. Moving to put his purchases on the coffee table in the living room to free up his arms, he sorted though his bags for a second before he took the small smooth peanut butter out of her hand. "This one is for me, I found a recipe for peanut butter waffles and it calls for smooth." Handing her the other bag he said, "These are for you."
She pulled out two much larger size jars and her bummed expression flipped into a megawatt smile, "Extra big and extra crunchy! The perfect combo!" She noticed there were two jars, "Two?"
He smirked, "Yeah, one for you, and one for the rest of us."
"I knew you were a keeper." She grinned as she put one of the containers down so she could reach behind her husband's head and drag him down for a kiss, not that he needed much encouragement.
A cough from behind them put a quick end to the making out.
Liam stood looking up at his parents, a frown on his pale face, his cheeks and forehead flushed. "Mommy." He said listlessly, holding his arms up, wanting to be held.
"Oh baby." Buffy crouched and scooped her son into her arms, feeling his forehead with her hand and frowning at how warm he felt.
She was about to ask her husband to get the thermometer, but he was already in action digging though the bags. Once found, he handed it over and knelt down beside his wife and son, looking worried and feeling useless.
Liam let his mother place the tip of the thermometer under his tongue as he laid his head down on her shoulder, his hazel green eyes half lidded, his small lips in a pout. Angel would have thought it was cute if the boy wasn't sick.
As they waited for the temperature reading, Angel dug the calamine lotion out of another bag and grabbed some q-tips from the downstairs bathroom, carefully stepping over the old broken glass thermometer as he hurried back over to his restless son. The boy was scratching at the small red spots that covered his whole body, obviously uncomfortable and getting frustrated.
"Hey Buddy, I know it's itchy but scratching is only going to make it worse." Angel spoke as he dabbed some of the pink lotion on a few exposed sores, "Here, this should help make you feel better."
The digital device beeped it was ready a few seconds later and Buffy's brows pulled down in worry, "101.7 F" She said, "High, but not panic-ably."
"Enough for me to panic." Angel muttered quietly as he applied more lotion to his son's stomach and legs.
"I'll call Cass if it reaches 102 F." Buffy assured as she stood and adjusted her son more comfortably in her arms. "For now, I'll give him a cool bath to help with the fever and itchiness."
Angel was about to put the other groceries away when Katie wrapped her arms around her father's leg, the little girl looking green. "Daddy, I don't feel good." A few seconds later, she bent over and was sick on the carpet.
The balance of the evening was spent in much of the same fashion.
...
March 30, 2009
Early the next morning, Angel growled at the alarm as it pierced his ears with it's high pitched wail.
With a heavy whack from his fist, the clock alarmed once more with a dying cry then fell silent.
With her face buried in her husband's chest, Buffy mumbled, "Did you just murder another alarm clock?"
"Not sorry." He grumbled, pulling the warm body in his arms closer and preparing to fall back to sleep.
With a groan, Buffy forced herself up to her elbows and out of the plushy comfort of her spouse's body, looking down at him with bleary eyes, she said, "If you're going to teach my class today, you need to get up. I have a 9 am Introductory Stake Handling class followed by a 11:30 am Advanced..."
The rest of what his wife was saying faded out as his ears focused across the hall, listening though doors and walls to the two bedrooms his children were sleeping in. As he listened, their slow rhythmic heartbeats assured him that both were indeed asleep, he'd been worried they would wake again as was the pattern all night.
He'd be surprised if he's gotten 2 hours sleep all night.
"Angel!" The voice beside him rather loudly snapped.
He turned to look at Buffy as she sat up and folded her arms across her chest. Realizing she'd caught him not paying attention. "Sorry babe, I wanted to make sure the kids were still asleep. I heard what you said, most of it at least. I'm getting up."
"Just like that?" She asked, looking more pouty than mad.
He blinked for a second before realizing what she wanted. With a slight smirk he said, "Or I could sit in bed for a few more minutes and kiss my wife good morning."
"I think you should do that second one first." She answered with a serious expression, before it melted away by their kisses.
When kissing good morning was sufficiently accomplished, he popped out of bed, now far more awake and lively than upon first waking, and headed for the shower.
Buffy lounged in bed for a few moments more, her fingers tracing over her stomach, thoughts of their new life wandering in her mind. A mix of excitement at being pregnant, fear about loosing it, slight depression for getting fat again but mostly she thought about love. So much love already that her heart hurt.
...
The morning calm didn't last long, the kids woke shortly after and a their itchy red bumps were making themselves known.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay home?"Angel asked as he stuffed a packet of pop-tarts into his jacket pocket, his eyes glancing behind his wife to watch the two listless youths as they sat scratching their extremities instead of eating their scrambled eggs.
Using her hands to direct his face back towards hers, Buffy stretched up and gave her husband a long reassuring kiss. "Yes, I'm sure. We already missed too many classes and honestly I want you as far away as the Chicken Pox as you can get."
"I'm not going to catch it." Angel grumbled but did agree on missing too many classes. "Okay, but call me if you need help, or if Liam's fever rises or if you think Cass should check them again or..."
Buffy's hand over his mouth stopped his worried rant, "I love you, but shut up and go already, it's 8:45, you're going to be late."
"Okay, okay." He looked sheepish for stalling for almost 30 minutes already, "I love you, I'll be home right after work."
She let him kiss her cheek before she gave his butt a whack out of the kitchen and towards the front door in the living room. "Don't get your cute butt kicked by my class!" she called as he headed out, mostly to help get his mind off the kids. For a three hundred year old ex-vampire he had a heck of a worry streak.
He flashed her a quick grin before he ducked out the door.
...
If any of Buffy's students thought having their Intro Stake Handling course led by a living vampire was odd, no one said it out loud. The perspective of a vampire was vastly different to that of a slayer, since most slayers had never spent a few hundred years of their un-lives in fear of having a shaft of wood driven though their hearts.
Angel thought he'd done well in showing them both what if felt like holding the stake, and being the one it was pointed at.
This last class had been a batch of newbie slayers brought in fresh from all over the globe, some of the youngest that had been called during the slayer activation spell back in Sunnydale 2003. Any girls that had been younger than 14 had been identified then sent home to their families until they reached at least 15, after that they were required to take a basic training session for a year. Once they completed basic slayer training, they had the option to continue training or return home to their families. Most wanted to learn more and returned in shifts to take advanced courses, but some had no interest in becoming slayers and retired around age 16.
These girls were what was basically the runt of the litter, most being close to 9 when activated as a slayer 6 years ago, now around 15, they were scheduled to take their year long basic training.
It hadn't been formally brought up as a flashing red flag yet, but there hadn't been any new slayers found since the spell completed 6 years ago, not even after the deaths of current slayers.
There were still almost two thousand slayers world wide, the majority still needing advanced level training, but the number was only decreasing with every slayer death. The survival rate of a slayer today was over a thousand times greater than when there was only 'one girl in the world' fighting demons, but some still died, and none had been called to take their place.
These young woman would be the first new group to start training in LA, but also potentially also be the last newbie group period.
Shaking his head of these currently unneeded thoughts, to keep his mind focused on the problems of the here and now variety, he thought about calling home to check on the kids. Before he could grab his cell from his pocket, one of the smallest of the slayers in the class walked towards him, looking at him with a mix of awe and terror.
"Are...are you really a vampire?" She asked, having heard from some of the older more advanced slayers that there were two male vampric trainers, both married to slayers.
Angel hadn't had much time for introductions that morning as he'd been running late, and the girls had been eager enough to learn that the hour long class had flown by in what felt like a few minutes, now he was conscious of the fact he knew pretty much nothing about the young woman he'd just shown how to hold a stake, and apparently they knew just as little about him.
Sitting himself down on one of the benches along the wall, Angel tried to look less intimidating to the wide eyed girl standing before him. Flashing her a friendly smile, he shrugged, "It's a part of me, like how being a slayer is a part of you."
"But you don't have fangs." She pointed out, not seeing any sharp teeth when he'd smiled.
Angel had forgotten what it was like to be that young, to see the world in only so much black and white. Now that he was listening for it, he could hear her heart pounding in her chest, scared but acting brave. He'd thought all the slayers brought in had basic knowledge about the demon world, apparently there had been a few sheltered girls in the mix.
"Not everything you see is what it appears to be." He answered truthfully, "Demons don't always look like devils, nor do all pretty faces belong to the good guys."
She swallowed and looked closer at his face, thinking he had a pretty one. "Are you a good guy?"
"I'd like to think so." Angel admitted, then asked, "Do you mind telling me your name?"
"Fred. I mean Winifred Marie Oliver, some people try to call me Winny, but I hate it, it sounds too much like Winny-the-Poo, and I don't want people to think of poo when they think of me." She answered in a rather long rant, making Angel's chest squeeze as he remembered his Fred, the friend he lost to Illiria.
The girl looked nothing like his Fred, her hair was short with dirty blond curls, her eyes a bright sky blue, but the tendency to babble was familiar to him, his wife and daughter shared that trait.
"Fred, how old are you?" He asked, not believing for a second she was the required 15.
Her answer was the lie he expected, but as he keep his eyes on her, she fidgeted before sighing out, "Okay, I'm really 12, just had my birthday last month."
'Barely 12, she's too young for this, not even hit puberty yet, how could she have been called at only 6 years old?' He thought, "Fred honey, why are you here? You're not supposed take basic training for another 3 years."
She shifted from foot to foot before shrugging, "I'm the youngest, there are no other slayers my age. I didn't want to take classes alone."
As soon as she said it, he did remember hearing of one slayer that was called during the activation spell that was far younger than most of her peers, it seem Fred was that girl.
With a sigh, he nodded, "Okay, I can understand not wanting to be alone while going though training, it's scary to travel here from your home, live with a bunch of strangers and to have to learn a lot in a relatively short time, but training isn't going to to easy, it's hard and it's painful and it's every day. If you start the program, there is no backing out, you're locked in for a year. If you want to change your mind and come back when your 15, you need to let me know right now."
Fred just stood there looking at him with big sad eyes. After a long silence she spoke softly, "I have no where else to go."
Thinking she was being over-dramatic, Angel asked, "What do you mean? Your parents must want you to come home."
Looking at the ground under her shoes, she shook her head, "My mom died a few months ago, she never let me read the slayer books I got from Mr. Giles, she said my stepdad didn't like them. My stepdad used to ignore me...but after she died...he started looking at me. He'd say stuff, like how much I looked like my mom or how I was supposed to act like the lady of the house now. One night he came home drunk, he tried to come into my bedroom, but I held the door shut. I don't want to go back there, my stepdad scares me, and if he tries to touch me, I might hurt him. I know I'm strong, but I don't know what to do with that strength, I never got to read about what being a slayer means."
Angel was floored. 12 years old and already a runaway, coming from a home with a neglectful mother and an abusive stepfather. A kid that was already small for her age and less schooled than her peers in what being a slayer meant. Instantly he already knew this girl was going to have a special place in his heart, maybe it was the fatherly side of him wanting to look out for a parent-less child or the teacher in him responding to her thirst for knowledge, but he stood and walked the few paced that separated them before dropping down on one knee to be closer to her in height, "Tell you what, I won't mention your age to the other instructors, but you'll have work extra hard to get on the same level as the other girls you'll be training with."
Her big blue eyes widened in surprised delight, "I can stay? Really? Wow! Okay, I will, I promise I will."
He returned her smile, "Good, now first thing you need to do is get the books from the library you didn't get to read, those are important. The Slayer's Handbook will outline all the basics you'll learn in classes while the hands on moves will be taught in these training sessions. When you hear the phrase, 'knowledge is power' that's true, learn as much as you can as fast as you can, the whole bottom floor of the library is open to everyone. If you find something you don't understand, don't be afraid to ask for help. In the past, slayers might have acted alone, but not anymore, part of being a slayer now means having a team around you, a family that supports one another."
"A family." She said it longingly, "I'd like a new one of those, my mom was nice, at least when she wasn't listening to my stepdad, but he...he was bad."
Angel assured her, "You don't ever have to see him again."
"What about after my year is up? Do I have to leave?" She asked, worried she'd have to go back to him when her training was over.
"No one is forced to stay." Angel told her, "And the same is true about leaving, you're free to decide what to do with your life. Employment opportunities at Angel Investigations are always open to graduates, as are advanced slayer courses. If you decide slaying isn't for you, we'll find you a way to earn a living, even at 13."
Her bright eyes faded after a moment, "What if my stepdad comes here? He knows about me being a slayer, and doesn't like it, he could come to take me back with him."
They'd already handled more than a few cases of students with unreasonable parents, and now they had the law on their side. "We have emancipation and guardianship rights for our students to make sure you're able to legally remain here even if your legal parents refuse. As far as the courts are concerned, entering this building makes you an adult, giving you the freedom to make your own choices about your future."
The relief that spread across Fred's face was instant, "Really! That's so cool!"
'Yeah, cool.' Angel thought sadly as Fred thanked him and grabbed her bag, saying on the way out she needed to find the library.
He wished he had time to show her were the library was, but he had his own class to teach in 15 minutes. He needed to hit the restroom first and check in with Buffy to make sure everything was alright with the kids.
...
'Finally.' Angel thought as he tossed the wet towel he'd been wiping sweat off his face with into the corner of training room floor. One of the slayers on staff would collect all the towels and toss them in the wash later, plenty of odd job like that were how they kept the place clean and running smooth while giving the slayers a chance to earn a little pocket change.
He'd worked up quiet a sweat over the last hour, the last class really giving his a run for his money. It had been a two hour long advanced course in close combat, and he had a few bruises to reflect how well the girls were learning.
Now that the day was over, he was more than ready to head out. Momentarily he wondered if he should go find Fred to see if she'd found the library, but the throb of pain in his lower back reminded him how good an ice pack and Buffy's hands messaging his sore muscles would feel right about now.
He was just about to head out the front door into the parking lot when his cell rang in his pocket.
"Angel." He answered, his thoughts of a pleasant, relaxing evening shattering with Buffy's panicked voice over the line. "Buffy? What? Calm down I can't understand you!" Angel urged over the phone, asking her to repeat.
"It was on fire!" Buffy exasperated into the phone, causing Angel to stop short when he heard her.
"Fire? What's on fire? Are you okay, the kids...the baby?" The living vampire was nearly running to the car now.
"We're fine." She explained, "But the dinner I was cooking isn't, I think the oven is ruined too..." Now she sounded about ready to cry.
Re-gripping the phone, Angel took a deep breath and asked her to give him the whole story. A few minutes later he learned she'd been cooking dinner but got distracted by the kids, said dinner caught fire and charred the inside of the oven, but she'd been able to get the flames out before the fire department had to be called. Overall, it was more of a scare than a life-threatening event, in which the only casualty was the inside of the oven, and maybe the pan the food had been in.
"Appliances can be replaced, as long as everyone is safe." Angel told her over the line, "I'll go grab us something from the cafe, we can discuss remodeling the kitchen over dinner."
Buffy, which had actively been trying not to cry and being equally angry at herself for being so upset, gave a small laugh, "Okay, but hurry home."
"I will." Angel told her he loved her and hung up as he headed back into the building and towards the elevator, thinking to himself this pregnancy was going to be far worse on his wife's hormones than the last two.
He hoped he and the house survived it.
...
TBC...