Angel's hands were shaky but it had very little to do with the freezing air he had stepped out into. He paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the hotel several times before reaching for his phone.
"Hey," Buffy's voice finally came on the other end of the line. He could easily tell she had been asleep. "Are you up to something utterly exciting?" she asked him, her voice still scratchy.
"Uhhh..." he trailed off. He wished he hadn't bothered her now that it was too late.
"Angel? You okay?"
"Yeah. No. No... I did something stupid."
He heard rustling on the other end and then, "Stupid how? Are you in trouble?"
He let out a shaky breath. "No."
"Well, what's up then?"
He was quiet again for a long time so she repeated his name twice before he answered. "It was a long day. There was Darla and lawyers and bullshit," he told her, still pacing. "There was her mom and dad in the lobby. A couple of run ins with people I-we-I knew. It was just a shit day."
"I'm sorry," she told him in a soft voice.
"Then there was drinking," he continued. "And then there was Eve." She remained quiet this time and Angel let out another shaky breath. "Eve is Darla's younger sister. They hate each other."
"Oh."
"I slept with Eve."
"I did gather that," she responded, he noted she sounded a little amused. "Well, I mean I did tell you that you should do something fun. And call me about it at that."
He groaned. "This was not fun."
Angel reentered the hotel lobby to get out of the cold as he talked with Buffy for the next half hour. It didn't exactly make him feel better about his choices of last night, though. He'd been raging mad almost the entire day so sleeping with the person who Darla loathed more than anyone on the damn planet had seemed like a good thing, at the time anyway.
After getting off the phone with Buffy, he did as she suggested and went back to his room and cleaned up, drank a shit ton of water and got some Tylenol to down. He climbed into the secondary twin bed that shared the space and finally went back to sleep.
He was so ready to get back to California.
OoOoO
For the rest of his stay, Angel hardly left the hotel room. He dealt with the legal mess Darla had stuck him in and stayed close to the room after what went down with Eve. The only upside to anything right now had been finding out he'd get at least some of his money back, one way or another.
Darla got verbally reamed for her actions and that had been nice to bear witness to. He was told she'd be asked to either replace his half of the money she took or they would recover it through other means so there was that.
Otherwise, the whole process was draining and maddening. He couldn't believe how wicked the woman he'd shared a bed with for nearly a decade behaved. How greedy of a witch she was trying to be with this whole thing. The lies she spun made his head hurt, the claims she made for what she thought she deserved made him want to laugh to the point of tears. It was all a disaster.
He was grateful he only had to see her a couple of times and never for long. Never alone.
Darla never mentioned Eve so he assumed she didn't know. He knew he sure in the hell didn't want to be the one to tell her but at the same time he thought he wouldn't mind seeing her face when she did find out.
In his final hours before he needed to get back to the airport he finally decided to keep his promise to Buffy. He ate at his favorite restaurant then found some museums he'd never been to and decided to look around.
OoOoO
Angel quickly regretted not getting a straight flight back to California. Heading out it wasn't so bad because he dreaded it in the first place, but it taking forever to get back was wearing on him. He wanted as much distance between him and Darla and Eve and everything else.
He just wanted to get home and wind down from the past several days.
When he finally spotted Jenny he felt a wave of relief. He'd only taken a bag big enough to carry on with him so it was quick enough to exit the airport, find the car and be on their way. Angel fell asleep within minutes of being on the road but when he woke back up he filled Jenny on everything that had gone on, including mentioning his one night stand issue with Eve, but leaving out the details.
"You are a grown adult. You are legally separated, you are in the process of getting divorced... it is one hundred percent your choice and your right to have sex with whoever you want."
Angel shot her a look. "It was not my best choice of the whoever."
Jenny shrugged and they drove without saying another word about it. Angel closed his eyes trying to get the memory of naked Eve out of his head. "Do you think you'll be up to going out to eat breakfast somewhere tomorrow?" Jenny asked as they finally passed the Welcome to Sunnydale sign.
"What about your guys' big Saturday stuff?"
"There's Santa Claus." Angel raised an eyebrow. "Buffy wants to go to an event in the morning. There's apparently a large breakfast with a Santa Claus and the whole works. She is very excited."
He couldn't help the tug at his lips. "Uhh... I guess?"
"Good," Jenny said slowly. "Because Buffy possibly signed you up for some things to do while we're there..."
"What kind of things exactly?"
"And she left some things for you over at the house for when you got back," Jenny finished.
"Again... what kind of things?"
"Um, well I didn't exactly go through it but there's some decorations, some pajamas, things like that."
"Why am I starting to feel dread about going back to the house all of a sudden?"
OoOoO
"Angel," Buffy's voice whined. He turned around and couldn't help but smile at the sight of the young blonde. "You're not wearing your pajamas. Did Jenny not give them to you?"
"Oh, no... she did."
She pouted more at him but came closer to hug him all the same. "You're no fun," she told him as she pulled back away.
"Still not exactly in the Christmas spirit," he told her. "Much less now than I was before my trip."
"Well, it is good you have me around then," she told him, now smiling again. She hooked her arm into his and began showing everyone around. She set everyone up at little stations to help get things going for the event and happily moved through the busy gathering crowd.
She returned not too long after to help him with his craft station, she made sure everything stayed in orderly fashion, messes were cleaned up as they were made, she took pictures for several families and took pictures with even more, she laughed and made easy conversation with the children and their parents as they came through.
As things began to wind down a little he was somehow convinced to make ornaments with her, do a puffy paint snowman, and make reindeer hats. When everyone gathered back together they followed the crowd over to where breakfast was being served.
After, came a hallway of games and finally there was Santa Claus and a petting zoo, which of course had reindeer. He couldn't help but laugh and get sucked into Buffy's endless excitement. While they waited in line she wasted no time making more friends with young children as she asked them about what they wanted for the holiday or she'd compliment them on their outfit and a million other ways she found to just make someone smile… if only for a moment in passing.
He followed her as they met the many animals and elves, took photos together in front of them and other displays, and sat on Santa's lap when it came their turn.
"See. It wasn't so bad."
"No, I guess not," he admitted.
"And... it gets you in a better mood for tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Mmhmm. But we will worry about that later... let's go shopping!"
"Again?"
"But of course! It's Christmas time!"
OoOoO
Another two hours were spent at the mall, then Angel came back to the apartment and crashed again until the pounding on his door woke him back up. He was surprised it was now dark again. His trip really had wore him the hell out.
In her arms Buffy held the elf pajamas she'd gotten for him. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. You'll be in a car with just us. No one's going to see you. You'll be fine."
"All we're doing is looking at lights?"
"Mmhmm."
He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he grumbled. He stepped back so she could come inside and her face lit up as she looked around the apartment but she didn't say a word, just handed the white and green clothing over.
When he came back out she was waiting with two large cups in her hands. She smiled so hard he thought her face must hurt and he blushed. "This is ridiculous," he told her.
"Nope. Here's you some hot chocolate," she told him, handing his cup over. He took it from her and got his shoes on then followed her out to the car where they waited for Jenny and Rupert. She messed with the radio until Christmas music was playing and sat back. "What did you normally do for Christmas?" she asked.
"Um. Well, for awhile it was switched every year between Darla's family and mine but along the way she started getting mad if we didn't do the whole thing at her parents' so it just defaulted there. My office would throw a huge event then afterward we'd go to her parents' and stay the night... wake up in the morning for whatever. Our house would have a tree and whatever decorations she added, I didn't really do too much. I always loved when we went to my mom's and I got to see my family. It was kind of just a day with her family..."
The others joined them, bringing him out of his little trip down memory lane.
The journey began and they drove around all of Sunnydale to look at Christmas lights and displays before making a forty five minute roadtrip to go through a large drive thru light show. Angel had to admit he found himself pretty impressed with it. They seemed to have spared no expense and it was quite a winding trip that took nearly an hour to get through.
At the end there was a "Santa Village" which Jenny asked if they wanted to park and go through. Buffy reluctantly told her no because of her deal with him but when he saw her face at the horse drawn lighted carriage and it's course of "snow" he groaned. "Go ahead."
"Nooo. No. It's okay."
"Park the car please. I'll feel like an ass the rest of the month if you don't go do that."
"I can come back another day."
He shook his head. "Let's do it."
Once again, he found the petite blonde hugging the life out of him. He was sure the car hadn't even parked before she was out of it and rushing toward the little village and she'd already had two bags of stuff in her hands before the rest of them caught up to her.
She told the married couple to go on the ride first and took a million photos of them before the ride began and as they started away then she took him around to see what else was being offered.
They checked out the little shops, sampled countless baked goods and got a batch of the best brownies he'd ever tasted in his life in the process, took even more photos... she got to meet the other horses that weren't currently working and happily stood for probably ten minutes under a fake snow machine.
When it was their turn, the man dressed as Santa who would be in charge of their carriage assumed they were a young couple in love. Neither of them bothered to correct them and instead Buffy smiled and took his hand and put on a show as if they were just that for the ride.
"You look like a kid in a candy store. Every time," he told her.
Buffy laughed. "There's magic in the air. Look at this. How can this not just bring you absolute joy?" she asked, looking all around her.
He had to admit, the trail the horses were taking them on was pretty amazing. It made him feel those butterflies in his stomach again like when he was a kid and fascinated with the bright lights, glitter everywhere... "It is beautiful."
"But not as beautiful as you, dear one," the Santa exclaimed, handing a wrapped present to Buffy. And then one to him as well.
"No, not as beautiful as you," he agreed softly with the big man.
When the ride ended, they met back up with Jenny and Rupert who were nearly as bad as Buffy. They had both of their hands full of newly purchased items, plus they each showed the pair what Santa got for them.
Buffy sat down with hers, mentioning it actually felt quite heavy. She made a sound before pulling out a roller skate from the box.
Angel couldn't help but laugh when he found a pair in his box as well. Both had been in their sizes no less.
"See. Magic is in the air."
OoOoO
Once she was on break from the office, Buffy set up shop back in the guest house. Angel had one more day than she did then he was out for the holiday as well.
Christmas Eve was mostly spent with some of Buffy's friends, fulfilling a number of apparent traditions. Gifts were exchanged amongst them before parting ways for now. They returned to the house for dinner and they all watched two movies together. While they played Buffy roped everyone into doing a few more last minute crafts and they all wound up just sharing stories more than paying attention to the television by the end.
"Are you sleeping out here with me?" Buffy asked as she happily set out cookies and milk and ignored him shaking his head at it.
"Excuse me?"
She nodded toward the sofa. "Are you camping out to catch Santa?"
He laughed. "Does that ever work?"
"Not so far but you never know. This could be my year," she said with a wink.
"Oh, what the hell," he muttered and soon was helping her with the sofa bed. "Why not?"
OoOoO
Jenny got them each a pillow and comforter, Buffy had a red set while he had a green one to keep up with the Christmas theme. They all got fresh glasses of hot chocolate and Rupert read a couple of short stories and then everyone opened their Christmas Eve bags. Everyone was up together until after midnight just enjoying talking and being together but finally everyone decided it might be time to try and get some sleep.
Angel ran over to the apartment to grab his phone charger and make sure that he locked up. He grabbed a handful of cookies as he came back inside, handing half of them over to Buffy who was already laying down under the large comforter. "I feel like I'm going to have gained twenty pounds between now and the end of the year."
"I could always take them back..." he started, reaching a hand back toward her.
"Don't even think about it. I will be fat and happy, thank you very much."
He snickered then plugged his phone up and got up on the small mattress beside her. "Why do I have a feeling you're going to be up at the asscrack of dawn?"
"Who sleeps in on Christmas?! What a ridiculous notion."
Angel shook his head as he yawned, getting more comfortable as he pulled his blanket over himself.
OoOoO
"Angel." He barely heard it. "Angel." The nagging whisper came again. Then there was hands on him, shaking him. "Angel!"
He made a noise and eventually opened his eyes. It took him a moment to remember where in the hell he was as he found himself face to face with Buffy. She was laying in bed beside him, her hair was a mess, her face was glowing through. "Hey," he finally managed out.
"It's Christmas!" she beamed.
"Right," he grumbled in between a string of yawns. "Christmas. Hi."
She shoved at him lightly. "Get it together, no time for your groggy self," she told him.
A moment later she was throwing off her red comforter and paddling off down the short hallway to where Jenny and Rupert slept. He could hear her waking them both up while he tried to wake up his own self. He flipped over to his back and propped himself up into a seated position as he took the sight before him in.
The Christmas tree had more presents under it than it had when he'd gone to bed last night, the stockings were filled, milk had been drank and all but one half of a cookie having been eaten.
Buffy nearly came flying back into the living room, she clapped her hands and sat back on the bed beside him as they waited. "You are the most excited person I have ever seen in my life," he commented. She was damn near bouncing.
Buffy laughed. "It's Christmas! You're supposed to be excited!"
Rupert insisted on getting a cup of tea before the madness began and Buffy huffed at him but soon they were all seated and gifts began to be passed around. With everything going on he hadn't had an endless supply of funds to use for Christmas but he made sure to find something for everyone who'd come into his life during this dark period that would mean something to them, especially for the three others in the house with him this morning.
He wasn't surprised Jenny and Rupert had spent more than they should have on him but he truly appreciated every last bit of it. They had already done more for him than anyone had in a very long time and it made his chest hurt to really stop and think about how wonderful they'd been to him.
He loved the new wallet, handmade key chain, the many new tools... the art kit... new clothing items and boots... the books, it was all amazing. He had so many new gift cards he didn't even know where he'd start. And he knew that his little apartment would be looking much more appealing as soon as he got everything set up. They'd gotten him so much stuff for his place he almost felt like he was drowning in gifts by the end of it all.
And Buffy... of course she went bigger than she should have but he also expected that. He couldn't help but smile at every gift that came from her... the movies he'd mentioned before he'd never seen and she couldn't believe it, a fill in journal book, a box of pajamas that looked like one for each holiday and a small box of various day passes and tickets to various places...
OoOoO
"These might be my favorite things in the world right now," Buffy said as she pointed down at her feet. She'd wasted no time in switching her snowman toe socks for one of the sets of cabin socks he had gotten her. She'd been wearing them ever since.
Angel sat down his load next to the one she'd helped him bring over. "Well, I am glad that you like them. They were kind of a last minute thing I debated about."
"I may never take them off," she declared with a hint of a laugh. "Thank you so much, Angel. I loved everything. I'm going to put those passes to such good use, there is never a time I do not enjoy a good zoo or a good aquarium."
"I will be putting all my many to use as well," he told her.
"And see, you can go whenever you want... not just when you get dragged off by me. And with whoever you so choose so you're not always stuck hanging out with me, either."
He shrugged. "I don't mind going places with you. You probably make everything more enjoyable anyway."
OoOoO
Another non-surprise had been Christmas brunch. Pancakes shaped like various items such as Christmas trees, Santa, reindeer, donuts to look like snowmen... fruit cut up to look like candy canes... the works.
Rupert had made sure to invite some of their favorite neighbors over and everyone had a nice little meal while they got absolutely stuffed. He was sure he hadn't even eaten this much at Thanksgiving, and that was saying a lot.
He helped clean up, both from the brunch and the mess of boxes, bags and wrapping paper from the morning, then helped Rupert set up the new tablets Jenny had gotten for them. The Englishman muttered about it the entire time but he did try it out once Angel got everything up and running. The rest of his morning was actually spent helping do one thing or another... hanging up photos or artwork, putting together furniture, rearranging space around so new items could fit where they were desired.
The afternoon was spent playing on the Nintendo Switch system Jenny had gotten for Buffy and Angel, watching Elf, snacking even though he had no idea how he was adding anything more to his stomach at that point, and just lounging around. It was a nice difference he noted from the many years spent at his in-laws' place.
By the end of the day he had put some of his stuff away as well but he wasn't in a rush about it, figuring he would do a little here and there over the rest of his time off from work. Or, perhaps, save it for times when he needed a distraction from his head later on.
OoOoO
Angel had returned to work for a day and a half between Christmas and New Year's Eve and it had nearly wore him out. He didn't think he even wanted to go ring in the damn new year anywhere but with many pushes from his favorite blonde he found himself agreeing in the end.
The Dingoes were playing again which was nice, he didn't love the fact of how busy The Bronze was when they got there though. He was never overly thrilled with giant crowds of drunken people like this.
He wore the silly hat Buffy gave him though, took the pair of sunglasses she offered, and the drinks. He had easy conversation with Oz before he had to go get ready for the show, and with Willow. He'd somehow agreed to dance with Cordelia at some point.
It was shaping up to being a strange evening.
"Are you making any New Years resolutions tonight, Angel?"
He looked over at his shoulder just as Buffy sat next to him. "Not so much."
Buffy rolled her eyes and ordered herself another drink. When it arrived, she tapped him several times on the shoulder to grab his attention again. She pointed across the room. "That girl is burning holes in you," she whispered.
"I had noticed," he told her.
"She's cute," Buffy whispered.
"The last time I went drinking in a bar I went home with my sister in law. I'm thinking it may not be the best way for me to meet a woman."
"Maybe that is exactly what you need," Buffy told him. "Or at least making a new friend or flirting or whatever to enjoy yourself more. It's about to be a whole new year... it's a fun night with loads of celebrating going on. You are more or less single, there's a cute girl, and you deserve some happiness. You deserve to let loose and be wild sometimes, too." He didn't respond other than with a side eye look her way.
It wasn't too long after he was left alone again the striking brunette made her way over to him. "Hi."
"Hello."
"Is that your girl?"
He looked over to where Buffy and Willow were dancing. "No, just a friend."
"Hmm. Well, in that case... I'm Faith," she told him, raising her eyebrows.
"Angel," he told her.
"Faith and Angel... how about that?" She hopped up on the stool next to him, took his glass out of his hand and drank the rest. "Do you wanna dance?"
"Not really."
She put his glass down and quickly laid her now free hands on his legs, sliding up his thighs. Her face was now mere inches from his as well. "Do you wanna go back to my hotel room?" When he didn't respond, she leaned in and kissed him.
"That's probably not a good idea either."
Her head cocked to the side, a playful smirk on her face. "I never said it was."
Angel didn't stop her when her hands began massaging him through his pants, or as she kissed him once more. "How about this," she whispered. "How about I give you a little... taste test... we'll say, and then you can decide if you want the rest of what I have to offer."
Angel let his mind race for a moment before he found himself agreeing and following behind her, their fingers wrapped up together as she led the way. It wasn't as if he had a wife to be faithful to anymore, it wasn't like he didn't have needs going unmet, it wasn't like it would be the end of the world to go fuck some random hot girl who he picked up at a bar he'd thought.
Faith wasted little time once they were in the parking lot, less when they finally made it to her car. He'd barely sat down in the passenger seat before her mouth was sucking on his very aching cock. Angel closed his eyes and let his head fall back as she worked him until he couldn't hold on any longer. He'd not even had time to recover before she was speeding out of the parking lot.
He'd been proud of himself for keeping his shit together for the most part after the whole attacking Lindsey incident. Then there had been his night with Eve as well. But he really hadn't done anything incredibly stupid beyond that, he hadn't been making a long string of poor choices with his life, he'd not let his emotions even get the best of him as much as possible. Yeah, he'd go through bouts of sadness, of anger... but he mostly just bottled them up and tried to get through the day to day. So, he found letting loose of some of that control, letting go of some of that built up endless frustration with a long night with a sexy woman in a shabby rented room wasn't so damn bad. Even if just once in a blue moon.
OoOoO
Life pretty much went back to normal once everyone returned to work. He was the first one back on a regular schedule, then Buffy was back to her own apartment during the week and they'd find something to do on the weekends, Jenny and Rupert having gone back to work once school started back again.
He was trying to do a little branching out during the week, a few times he met up with Oz, he had coffee with Willow at the library one morning when he was on break, he after work every now and then he'd go to the library as well, or the gym. Jenny and Rupert had gone with him a handful of times to use some of the tickets Buffy had gotten him but most of his bigger adventures he saved for the two of them.
As the first month of the new year faded into the next he was unhappy to get news that he needed to come back out again to deal with the shitstorm with Darla. It was mostly signing some paperwork at least and not having to face her again, at least not yet.
He headed over to tell Jenny but found Buffy instead. It wasn't the weekend or a holiday so it was a little bit of a surprise to find her.
"Hey." He noticed the dining table covered in a mess of what looked like glitter, stickers, fuzzy balls and a whole number of other things as he walked passed. "Do I even want to know?" he asked her as he passed by her as well, peeking his head to see where his aunt was.
"Giles wanted to do something fun with the kids on Valentine's Day... so, we were going to make little craft bags for everyone but then he decided he might want to do just like some tables set up with different ideas... so anyway, I thought I would help."
"It looks like Cupid threw up on the table right now," he said, stepping back her way.
"Well, it's all just in a pile and not sorted. Hush. I also brought you some fun decorations you can put up in your house."
"I won't even be here for Valentine's Day."
"Where are you going?" Jenny asked, just coming into the kitchen as well.
"Guess."
She sighed. "You have to go back again already?"
"Apparently. But maybe it's a good sign that it'll all be over with soon. But... with my luck I'm not holding my breath."
"Boo," Buffy said, fussing with bags. "I was going to make you be my non-date date."
"What about your boyfriend?" he asked.
Buffy made a face at him. "Riley is not my boyfriend," she huffed. "I went on two dates with the man and there will not be a third, let alone on Valentine's."
"Uh oh, what's wrong with Riley?" Jenny asked.
"Nothing... I mean, he's very nice, just kind of boring. And he and Samantha apparently only separated a few months ago so... not really wanting to be his rebound girl."
"I liked Riley," Jenny said with a frown.
"I've only been split for a couple months," Angel told her. "And I sure and the hell am over Darla's dumb ass."
Buffy shrugged. "Trust me, though. He's not over her and that was pretty apparent. Maybe another day but I cut my losses there for now."