AN: Realizing this story takes place in 2010 just makes me realize how far behind I am, already 2019! This is more of a drabble than a full story, more or less filler for the real ones I'm 'kinda-sorta' working on. I'll get there, eventually...

At some point between 'Complications' and this story, Willow and Oz would have had their baby. I had plans to write it, but creative juices just weren't flowing. I'm sure details will bleed into the next arcs.

August 17, 2010

Buffy came in from the back with an armload of laundry, already mentally categorizing which clothes belonged to which child. As she turned to head upstairs with the newly washed and needing to be folded laundry, she spotted Angel passed out on the couch with 9 month old Joan in his arms, Liam nesting beside him and Katie sitting down by his feet. Curious as to what her five year old was doing instead of napping, she soundlessly put down the clothes and walked closer. When she could finally see over Katie's shoulder, Buffy almost barked out a laugh.

Katie was happily painting her snoring father's toenails a bright and cheery pink.

Katie turned when she heard a stifled noise behind her, and found her mother holding her hands over her mouth. For a moment, the red in Buffy's cheeks make Katie think she was furious with her, but after a moment realized her mother was actually working hard to contain a laughing fit.

Before the laugh spilled out, Buffy retreated, grabbed the clothes, and hurried into the upstairs bedroom to let out the giggles she was barely containing.

She absolutely couldn't wait until Angel woke and discovered his new look.

…

Almost an hour went by as Liam, Joan and Angel napped.

Finally the younger of the three roused, her movements waking both her brother and father as well.

As Joan grabbed Angel's nose and gave it a honk, Liam asked, "Daddy, can I have a sandwich?"

"Hmm? Ah, yeah sport…" The sleepy former vampire muttered rather nasally with a small hand squeezing his nasal passages shut. He was still groggy even as he sat up to pull the prying fingers off his face, however the arm not currently holding his youngest daughter was being pulled into the kitchen by his hungry son.

Still trying to get his nose back, Angel made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Liam as the boy played with a monster truck at the table.

After utilizing some fine maneuvering skills with one occupied arm, he sliced the sandwich into four bite sized pieces and slid the plastic 'big wheels' plate in front of his middle child. After, he grabbed the OJ from the fridge and poured some in a cup for Liam and Joan as well. Before returning it to the fridge, he chugged down a few swallows to help wet his own throat as Joan sucked nosily at the sippy cup in her hands.

Now more awake, he looked around, wondering where Buffy and Katie were.

He made another stack of sandwiches, figuring the rest of the family was ready for lunch too, and wolfed down two as Joan made a mess of his shirt with the one she was mashing between her fingers.

"You know we do own a highchair for that." Buffy commented upon seeing her peanut butter covered husband as she breezed in from outside, where her and Katie had been enjoying the August heat by splashing around in the kiddie pool. Well, Katie was splashing, Buffy was trying her hardest to return to her former role as California Sunbathing Queen.

The five year old ran past them and snagged a sandwich from the counter as Buffy took the sticky baby from her husband to clean her up. "Come on Jo-Jo, let's get you nice and clean after Daddy let you get all gooey." She paused in her thoughts a moment, 'Peanut butter covered husband', let's just store that away for later.'

The dark haired man stuck his tongue out the moment his wife's back was turned. Grabbing a rag off the counter and running in under warm water.

"Don't think I didn't see that." Came her teasing reply as she turned and shot him a 'caught you' glare.

Shrugging, he grabbed another sandwich with his left while wringing out the cloth with his right before sending her a wink, "Does that mean I've been a naughty boy?"

"Don't push your luck." Came her teasing response as she used the damp rag he tossed her on Joan's fingers. 'Oh yeah, sex tonight will very likely involve peanut butter.'

It wasn't until a few minutes later, while Angel was looking down at the floor by his feet for Liam's truck that zoomed off the table, that he noticed his bright colored toenails.

"What the f...?" He snapped out, almost swearing as his demon instantly recoiling at having pink paint on his feet.

Buffy stifled a laugh as she wiped Joan's face, the baby less than thrilled about the action and loudly expressing it.

Angel cast a distrusting glance towards his wife's turned back, then focused his annoyance on his oldest daughter. "Katie, did you do this?" He asked with a cold tone, one that had made many cower in fear over his numerous years as a murderous demon.

Katie looked up at him with a pure innocent look, completely unaffected by the sudden vampire 'rage'. "Now we match, Daddy." She said with a shining smile while wiggling her own pink hued piggies.

Wham! He was hit by her big brown eyes, and any anger he had evaporated at that. "Uhh?" He stumbled over how to reply.

Her smile fell to a pout, "You don't like it?"

"Umm, no I do…I just…" He struggled for a moment, worried he'd make her cry, "Pumpkin, please don't paint daddy's toenail pink."

"Why not?" She asked innocently, "Mommy lets me paint hers."

Angel briefly glanced down a Buffy's pink painted toenails to confirm the story.

As the wife plopped a now clean Joan into the highchair, she shrugged, "Free pedicure? Yes please. And bonus, she's got her daddy's art skills so she actually does a good job for a five year old."

Angel rolled his dark eyes, "So not the point here."

"Are you mad?" Katie asked with big pouty eyes.

His demeanor abruptly changed as he knelt down to be move level with her, "No, sweetheart, it's just that, boy's don't wear painted toenails."

"Liam didn't mind." She bounced back and Angel glanced over and noticed his son also had the same shade of polish.

'How did I not notice all these pink toes?' He wondered.

"He's four." Angel defended but Katie didn't really get the point.

"You know you're going to lose this fight, right babe?" Buffy muttered just low enough for him to hear.

Realizing it too, he let out a defeated breath as his oldest looked back expectantly at him. "Does painting my nails make you happy? He asked.

She nodded a yes with such ferocity he wondered how her head stayed attached.

"Then you can paint them any color you want." Even as he granted permission he could feel the cringe in his very soul.

"Finger nails too?" she asked excitedly.

He looked back as her like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck, "Uhh…" but soon found he couldn't say no to that face. "Yes honey, fingers too." And he sealed the deal by kissing her forehead.

She shrieked out a 'yay' and hugged him tight around the neck as she kissed his cheek back. "Thank you daddy!" she said, then quickly ran off to find more nail polish.

Behind him, Buffy shook her head. "She's got you molded like play dough."

"Does not." He shot back, standing to face her.

Buffy just smiled back as him, "You could have said no to the finger polish, I did."

He groaned, "Now you tell me."

She stepped closer and grabbed a handful of shirt, a spot that wasn't smeared in peanut butter, and pulled him down to lick some peanut goodness off his earlobe. "I think pink is sexy on you." She whispered in his ear as she did.

A smirk spread across his lips, "Really now?"

"Very" She agreed while nipping and lapping at the stubborn peanut butter.

He melted closer to her with a low pleasured growl, his brain short circuiting out everything except the feel of his wife's lips and teeth against his skin.

Liam rolled his eyes as his parent flirted and went into the living room to play while Joan was too busy smashing her sippy cup on the table to notice.

Just as Angel was feeling himself growing aroused by his wife's actions, Katie ran back into the kitchen and snatched his hand to drag him to the couch so she could act upon his permission to paint his nails.

With a groan, he let Katie drag him away as Buffy giggled to herself and snatched up the last sandwich.

…

The next day, Angel was standing in the training room in AI wearing a white tank and grey sweatpants while laying out the groundwork for the lesson plan to the trainee slayers when he caught the young women looking back strangely at him.

Pretending he didn't know what they were looking at, he asked "Is there a problem ladies?"

They all quickly tore their eyes from his hands and barefoot toes except for Marie, the most senior slayer besides Buffy and Faith currently in the building, she voiced the statement for her and the others, "Your fingers and toenails are painted pink."

"And?" He almost growled, annoyed they were looking but also interested to hear their opinion of that sore subject.

Being a slayer, she picked up on the demon stirring in him, "Just, uhh, didn't know you umm… liked that sort of thing." She blurted out in nervousness.

He eyed her hard a moment, then honestly stated. "I don't." After a breath he added, "But my daughter does. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Aww." Sarah spoke up, "You let your little girl paint your nails? That's so sweet."

"Little Katie did that?" Asked Jenny, "Isn't she like three?"

"Five." He automatically corrected.

"She does a good job." Marie remarked as she stepped closer to examine his nails, "Think she'd do mine?"

"Yeah, me too." Jamie and a few others asked from the back.

He snatched his hand back and raised an eyebrow, "Umm, I don't know. I'll ask her. In the meanwhile, we're supposed to be running a class here ladies, not a spa."

They took a moment to shove the girlie girl stuff to the back of their minds and refocused on slayer training.

The rest of the session went by without distraction.

…

Buffy slipped into her husband's office, finding him leaning back in his chair with a book instead of filling out paperwork as she expected. Instantly she knew he was either upset, or otherwise uneasy about something. It wasn't like Angel never read for pleasure, just the opposite, but he didn't read at work unless he needed a temporary escape from something.

"How'd your new look go today?" She asked with a smile, zoning right in on the subject she knew was bugging him.

He glanced up from the text to shoot her an annoyed look before returning his eyes to the open pages. "I think I found Katie a full time job."

A smile of motherly pride washed over her face, "The girls want Katie to paint their nails too?"

"Apparently." He remarked, still absorbed in the book.

Buffy had no room in her day for a moody husband, so she waltzed over and removed one of his hands from the book so she could slip down into his lap, then closed the loop his arms made by 'reattaching' his hand to the book again. She leaned back against him as if she were in her favorite chair, which was pretty much the truth, and glanced down at the book he was holding now in her lap.

"What'cha reading?" she asked, looking down at the foreign words. She was always slightly annoyed when he read a book that wasn't in English, she felt like he was hiding what he was interested in reading about from her.

"Huh?" He replied, the book he'd been so absorbed in moments before was already forgotten the moment Buffy settled into his lap, simple printed text lost its draw entirely when the competition was his sexy wife. Actually, pretty much everything lost his interest when compared to Buffy. The only exceptions to the rule were obviously the kids, and on a rare note, chocolate.

She smiled at him, pleased her charms were already distracting him from the impending brood he'd been destined for. She gently slipped the book from his loose fingers and placed it on the desk to keep it out of the way.

She lightly ran her hands down his long arms, caressing them with her touch and finishing by lacing her digits though his.

Automatically he closed his fingers around hers and hugged her closer, his face nuzzling against her neck as he breathed in her scent.

She smiled again at the knowledge she could so easily distract him from just about anything as she felt every muscle in his body relax...well almost every muscle.

At the thought, she realized her daughter had indeed inherited her 'feminine charms' from her, thus Angel's almost complete lack of ability to say 'no' to the little girl. She made a mental note to work on that for later in life when Katie would need more restrictions.

Squeezing his left hand, she brought it to her lips and gently kissed each painted tip, taking special care to assure the childish color was no deterrent of her affection.

Slowly bringing her eyes up to his,"So is Mr. Big Scary Vampire going to keep brooding over a little pink nail polish?" She ran her tongue over his index finger, flicking the muscle along the tip and making him growl with raw hunger. "Or are you more interested in what's behind door number two?"

Just as quickly as she turned up the sexy, she shut it down, asking in a boring a sounding voice as possible, "Because, I could leave so you can continue reading your book."

His arm swept to the floor the few items that had been on his desk a moment ago, including said book, as he quickly stood, lifting her off his lap and dropped her bottom onto the now clear desk.

"What book?" He asked, leaning over her and hungrily nipping at her throat.

Leaning into his touch, she ran her hands over has back and pulled him closer, teasing as she breathed, "So you going to prove to me how manly you are with pink fingers and toes?"

Wolfishly grinning against her lips, "No. I don't need to prove I'm manly, but I'm going to have some of your pink...and I'm not talking fingers or toes."

"Angel!" She squeaked as he went for her zipper.

They lost track of the conversation for a while, his mouth and tongue busy in her nether region and her only vocalizations not at all coherent.

When he had his fill of her, he pulled her quivering body against his and nuzzled her neck, "You know, pink was actually a very masculine color back in the 1800's, it was considered to be warlike in its similarity to red blood. I'd been known to wear pink suits with floral embroidery, provided I ate someone wearing one, not to mention a bloodstained garment tended to become pink in the wash, which was all the more convenient that it was fashionable."

Her brain took a few moments to transition from 'sexy time' to his 'back when I was evil' speech before she responded, "Please tell me you're not reminiscing about your eating people glory days right now."

With a smirk against her ear, "Well, I was just eating you..."

Whacking him, but not actually that hard, she shook her head, "Uh, you so don't get enough blood to your brain these days."

Grinning, he agreed, "True, it's entirely your fault most of it is pooling south at the moment."

Slipping a condom from the stash in his draw and reaching out for him, "I guess this means you're over the whole 'pink' makes me grouchy thing."

"Very much." He agreed, his hand covering over hers as she eased the condom onto his swelling interest, "I'm more than ready to be suited up and slipping into something pink again."

"Such a horn-dog." She muttered somewhat distractedly as he pulled her against him and rocked his hips, rubbing his firm flesh against her still sensitive areas.

At least two more condoms were used up before they were as satisfied as able with the time allowed them, both having another class to run before their shift was over for the day.

Buffy shoved her lover away after a few long cuddly moments, needing a few minutes to herself to wrap her brain back around slayer thoughts and out of her husband's pants.

After scouring the floor for her discarded clothing, she retreated into his small bathroom to freshen up and fix the disaster sex left her hair.

Meanwhile, he flopped back down into his desk chair after pulling his pants back up and zipping them, a smirk anchored to his lips.

He'd get fully dressed a little later, like once his wife kicked him out of the office to go attend his own class.

Until then, he was content to lounge.

Besides, he didn't really care if he showed up to class looking like he'd just had sex, unlike his wife, who at least attempted to be a little discrete.

His dark eyes scanned over his pink nails again, but this time he just grinned.

...

End