Chapter 2:

"Gotta say, Angelus." Lindsey called down the hall as he quickened his pace to catch up to the other lawyer. "A whole two weeks straight at The Hyperion, I'm shocked."

"And how do you know it's been everyday?" Angelus asked, switching his suitcase to his left hand.

Lindsey shrugged. "I have my ways. Keep this up and you might just win this bet."

Angelus rolled his eyes, he already knew he was going to win the bet. "You could have told me it was a homeless shelter."

"Oh, but where is the fun in that?" The Texan smiled as the other man walked into his office. Lindsey tapped the door before he turned to leave, calling over his shoulder. "Maybe I will see you there tonight."

Angelus sat at his desk before placing his suitcase on top and opening it. He pulled a case file out just as his brother walked in the door. "Hey bro, how's it going?"

"It was going fine until so many people found their way to my office." Angelus smirked.

Doyle rolled his eyes. "So, you are winning this bet, right?"

"Why is everything about this bet?" He wondered. What if he just gave it all up? What if he said to hell with it? The bet was starting to annoy him.

His younger brother narrowed his eyes at him. "Because you are dedicating so much of your life to it right now. I mean, when was the last time we hung out? When was the last time you went out?"

"My personal life is just fine, thank you." He replied without looking up from the file in his hand. "I saw Darla not too long ago."

"Okay, but what about Faith or Gwen or Virginia. Virginia is a nice looking…" Angelus looked up at his brother causing him to stop talking. "Right, you were all about Glory recently."

"Glory had everything going for her." Angelus nodded, thinking about the woman that gave him exactly what he wanted out of a relationship and to top it off, she had her own money. "But she's crazy." He laughed. "I'm not talking about the good kinda crazy either. The her twin brother died in the womb and she thinks she absorbed his soul and now shares a body with him, kind of crazy."

Doyle shifted his eyes from left to right and then back to his older brother. "So you aren't doing crazy anymore? That pretty much takes all your girls out of the running."

"Most of my current girls." Angelus corrected him.

Doyle nodded. "Right! Because Virginia isn't crazy!"

"Not crazy?" Angelus laughed. "She was in her early 30's and still a virgin!"

Doyle laughed, his older brother was something else. While it wouldn't bother him to be a woman's first, it definitely bothered Angelus. "Then why have you still been seeing her?"

Angelus gave his brother a cocky smirk. "Because I told her she would have to fix that little problem before we could see each other."

"Wait." Doyle shook his head. He thought he had witnessed a change in his brother the last few weeks during the short times they had been able to see each other but the way Angelus was acting right now, maybe he was wrong. "You made her have sex with someone else before you would have sex with her?"

The older man shrugged. At the time, that was just how he worked but recently he had started to think it might have been a little… wrong. He was never one to rethink his choices, he made them on the fly and never looked back. The past recent weeks had been different, Virginia kept popping into his mind. He would have to call her. "I wouldn't say I made her."

"But you did say the words 'have sex with some guy then I will have sex with you'?" Doyle asked with raised eyebrows. He was beginning to think his brother was adopted, or maybe he was the one adopted. The two were just too different when it came to women to be brothers. It might have something to do with the way women flocked to Angelus because of his charming good looks while Doyle had to work a little harder. Just a little harder, not much. Doyle was a catch and he knew that.

"Around in there, yes." Angelus nodded with a sigh, he looked back down at the case file in his hand before pulling another file out of his briefcase. "I have a lot of work to do before tonight, so if you don't mind…"

Doyle raised his eyebrows at his brother as he got up from the chair on the other side of the desk. "You going to The Hyperion tonight?"

"Just for a little while." He mumbled as he read over the file for the case he was currently working on.

"You sure you are going to have time for that?" Doyle questioned, tonight was the Wolfram and Hart Christmas party and Angelus never missed it. Doyle thought for a moment that Angelus would ask the girl from the shelter, Buffy, to be his date, he had mentioned her several times which was more than he mentioned most girls. But, when he asked his brother who his date was, he was more than surprised by his answer. "You know how Darla hates when you are late. You are still taking Darla, right?"

Angelus simply nodded. "I will see you tomorrow, Doyle."

Doyle laughed as he walked towards the door of his brother's office. "No, you won't! You are going to get so drunk you don't know what direction is up and end up at Darla's place."

Angelus laughed as his brother walked out of his office. It wouldn't be the first time that happened.

0o0o0

Buffy sat at the desk in the office, she was exhausted and the most draining part of her day hadn't even started yet. How was she going to make it through the night? She looked down at her copy of the to-do list for the shelter, she still had so much to do before Christmas. How could she even think about having a social life right now?

Angelus walked into the office, going straight for the sign in sheet.

"Hey." She smiled at him from behind the desk.

He glanced up quickly from where he was writing. "Hey."

Buffy watched him for a moment. "How are you?"

Angelus shrugged as he stood up. "The usual. I can't stay for long today, I have something to do later. I need to stay pretty clean today, so that I'm not spending an hour trying to get paint out of my hair."

The blonde gave him a small smile. "So what you're actually saying is no paint war."

Angelus nodded once, using the pen to point at her. "That's the one." He tossed the pen back on the desk next to the clipboard. "I'm going to see if Welsey needs help, I think he said he was setting the table for dinner tonight." With that he left the office without looking back at her.

Buffy pursed her lips. She didn't know what reaction she was expecting but she didn't want it to be one where he practically ran out of the room, away from her.

Last Night

Buffy laughed as Angelus once again told her a story about his brother, Doyle. He seemed like such a character. "Does he often gamble?"

Angelus nodded with a laugh. "If the day ends with Y."

"Maybe he needs help." Buffy laughed as she painted the wall. She was so grateful that Angelus was helping her not only paint but clear out the rooms before they painted and put everything back once they were done. He had been spending a lot of time helping at The Hyperion in the past couple weeks and she knew if he stopped coming in at some point, she would miss him. "Counseling or a meeting."

"Don't let him hear you say that!" He laughed, reaching above her head to get a spot on the wall that needed to be painted. Buffy pouted when she felt liquid fall on her cheek, Angelus looked down at her laughing. "I'm sorry, you seem to have a little something…" He brought his hand to her face but instead of wiping it off, he smeared it on her face more.

Buffy gasped when she felt the paint smear on her face. "Angelus!"

"What?" He asked innocently. "I think it's the best work I have ever done."

"Well, then I could say the same thing…" she trailed off as she ran the roller in her hand down his whole face.

His mouth dropped open, any other time, no one would dare to do something like that to him. Anyone who knew him outside of The Hyperion knew that he wasn't one to mess around, and he had a short fuse. He opened his eyes to look at the blonde in front of him before flinging a paint brush in her direction, causing drops of paint to splatter on her shirt. Yeah, he had a short fuse, but it seemed that when it came to Buffy, things didn't bother him as much. He was more open to laughing, joking around and having fun. It wasn't something he was used to, he would joke around with his brother but nothing to the extent that he did with Buffy.

Buffy picked up a small paint brush from the top of the paint canister, flinging the access paint on his shirt so that he matched her. "Ha." She smiled before flinging it at him again.

Angelus smirked at her before bending down and scooping the blue paint into his hands from the canister and pouring it on top of her head.

"Not the hair, Angelus!" She screamed as the paint dripped down her face.

Angelus smiled even bigger at the shocked look on her face. "What are you going to do about it?"

The blonde gave him an unimpressed look as she picked up the whole canister, earning a worried look from Angelus, right before she splashed the whole can towards him, getting it all over his clothes, face and hair.

Angelus even surprised himself when he started laughing, wiping the paint from his face the best he could, the paint was still dripping all over him so he decided Buffy was in need of a hug. The blonde gasped as he held her to him, covering her in paint as well. Angelus laughed even harder as he began to tickle her, she laughed and squirmed to get away from him. They both fell to the floor but he never let up tickling her until he realized he was laying on top of her. He looked down at her seriously, before slowly kissing her. She smiled up at him when the kiss broke, just before she kissed him again. "Maybe we should get you home and cleaned up." He whispered, caressing her face.

"I am home." She smiled with a small laugh.

Angelus looked down at her confused. "What?"

"I live here." She whispered.

She lived at The Hyperion? Was she actually homeless? "Oh." He pulled away from her to stand up. "I guess I should get home and get cleaned up."

Buffy sat up, a slight pout on her face as she watched him walk out of the room they had been painting. She glanced around the room, looking down at the white sheets on the floor, it was a good thing they always covered the floors. This room would have been ruined by their paint war.

Current Day

Angelus stopped at The Hyperion door, he turned around to look at everyone getting ready to eat dinner. He didn't stay very long, just long enough to help Wesley set the tables. Buffy caught his eye as she made her way into the kitchen. He didn't like the feeling he was experiencing, it was almost like he missed spending time with her while he was there. For the past couple of weeks he had spent every day with her, but tonight he hardly spoke to her and God help him, he missed her. That was something he never experienced before. He didn't miss women, he didn't chase after them. No, he made them do all the work if they wanted him. So, why was it that he wanted to put all the work in with Buffy? He almost didn't even care that she was homeless and living at The Hyperion. He shook his head as he turned back towards the doors to go home and get ready for his evening.

Buffy stood at the doorway to the kitchen and watched as Angelus left for the evening, then turned at the sound of her name being called. "Yeah, Willow?"

"The food delivery never showed up earlier, it's here now." The redhead pointed over her shoulder.

Buffy let out a sigh, why did it have to come right as they were about to serve tonight's dinner? "I will go unload it." She gave Willow a small smile. "Just make sure everyone gets served."

Willow raised her eyebrows at the blonde. How was she going to unload all that Christmas dinner food by herself? "Wesley, Fred, Anne and Gunn can serve dinner. I will help you."

"Gunn is here?" Buffy questioned, making her way through the busy kitchen. "Did his truck get fixed already?"

"Thanks to you." The redhead smiled before turning towards the man in question. "Gunn! Come help us unload this truck."

The tall African American nodded without saying a word he went straight out the back door to start unloading the truck.

"What's up?" Willow nudged her best friend lightly with her elbow. She could tell when something was wrong with Buffy, even when she tried to hide it. They had been best friends for too long.

Buffy shook her head. "Nothing."

Willow grabbed Buffy by the arm just as the blonde was about to pick up a crate of fresh vegetables. "Don't give me that 'nothing' crap. This is me, Buffy. What happened?"

The blonde took a deep breath. "I kinda kissed Angelus yesterday and now I feel like he's being weird. He left right after and then today he barely spoke to me. Hell, he didn't even stay very long. He helped Wes and left."

"You kissed suit guy?" Willow asked, shocked. She knew Buffy said she was crushing on him but it was very unlike Buffy to make a move on a guy. She hadn't even had a boyfriend since college.

Buffy pouted as she nodded her head. "Clearly it was a bad idea… but he did kiss me first."

Willow raised her eyebrows. If he had kissed her first then he must have some sort of feelings for her too. "Was it… bad?"

The blonde shook her head quickly. "No! It was nice! Really nice… unless it was bad for him! I mean… when was the last time I kissed someone? It's been a while! What if I'm bad at it?"

"You are NOT bad at it!" Willow exclaimed. "I have never heard anyone complain about Buffy kisses before. Not even Poophead Parker! Maybe you should ask Lindsey to help you find out tonight." Willow laughed at the expression on her best friend's face.

0o0o0

Angelus sighed as he walked into the party, all of his co-workers would see him showing up late, which is something he never did, no matter what the situation was. When it came to work functions, he was always on time. Tonight, Darla made him wait two hours while she got ready. If he was late picking her up then she would throw a tantrum but he couldn't show any signs of irritation if she made them late. Sometimes he wondered why he kept seeing her, but when she walked out in her thin strapped red dress, he second guessed himself again. Yeah, Darla was hot but there were plenty of other women that he could have brought as his date that would have showed up on time. He gently placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her away from certain people he worked with. They could mingle for a while before drawing attention to themselves in front of the Senior Partners.

"I can't believe it!" Darla gasped as she started walking quickly, Angelus watched her storm off with concern. He didn't need her causing a scene, but chances were her father would just cover it up anyway. "What are you doing here?" The blonde snapped at someone he couldn't see.

"Darla, please don't." He whispered walking up beside her.

"I'm guessing the same thing you are." Came a female voice that caused his head to snap up. What was Buffy doing here? Angelus looked her up and down, she had a red dress on like Darla but it wasn't nearly as revealing, with a pair of white heels instead of Darla's black heels. Buffy was breathtakingly beautiful. That was when he realized there was a male arm around Buffy's waist. He looked beside Buffy with a challenging look to find none other than Lindsey McDonald. Why was she here with McDonald? Were they dating? He did see them hugging one day at The Hyperion but Lindsey had kissed her on the cheek that night. If Buffy was Angelus' girl, he wouldn't have kissed her on the cheek.

"You are on a date?" Darla glared at the other blonde. "You never come to these things!" She turned to look at Lindsey. "Seriously, Lindsey? You actually grew your hair out?"

Lindsey smiled at the saucy blonde, shaking his head to allow his long blonde hair to flow. "I think it looks good. Buffy gave me a blowout earlier tonight."

Buffy rolled her eyes with a laugh. "I can't take you anywhere."

"You shouldn't be here!" Darla huffed, with a small stomp of her foot.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at the other blonde. "And on that note, will you excuse us?" Buffy took Lindsey by the hand, as they turned to walk away. Why was Angelus here? And why was he with Darla? "What is he doing here?"

"Angelus?" Lindsey asked, grabbing a new drink from a passing waiter. "He works here."

"Oh." She whispered. "Would have been nice to know before we got here."

Lindsey smiled at the blonde as he took a drink of the alcohol. "All that time you two have been spending together at The Hyperion, he never mentioned working here?" Buffy shook her head as she watched Darla and Angelus across the room. "He ever mention knowing me?"

Buffy shook her head again. "We didn't really get around to personal stuff… I mean, he has talked about his brother but that's as far as it went."

"You ever talk to him about your sister?" Lindsey questioned her with raised eyebrows.

"No." She whispered, finally looking at Lindsey. "You know I don't do that very often."

"So, Angelus has gotten more personal with you than you have with him?" The Texan laughed. "That's surprising. He has never been the sharing type since I have known him."

"Is he dating her?" She whispered as her eyes went directly back to the couple in question.

Lindsey shook his head and shrugged. "Like I said, not big on sharing. Why?"

Buffy let out a sign as she turned back to her date. "We kissed yesterday."

"Seriously?" Lindsey asked shocked. "You know about him, right?"

"I know that I like who he is when we are together." Buffy shrugged. "But like I said, I don't know much about him. He seems like a sweet guy, he's volunteering… what do you know about him?"

"Buff…" Lindsey downed the rest of his drink. "He's only volunteering because I made a bet with him. The shelter needed help, so I made bets with several people here to get them to show up. He is the only one that took the bait."

Buffy pouted, apparently she had been wrong about Angelus. "What was the bet?"

0o0o0

"Can't say I expected you to be here." Angelus walked up to Buffy with one hand in his pants pocket, while the other nursed a drink. "Much less with McDonald. If I had known you two were dating…"

"We aren't." She cut him off. "But clearly you are with Darla." She has been watching them as discreetly as she could, Darla had her hands all over him.

"How do you even know Darla? You don't seem like the type of people to run in the same circles." He asked, taking a drink.

Buffy frowned at his statement. What kind of circle did she look like she ran in? Was Darla that much better than her? "She's my sister."

Angelus choked on his drink before forcing it down his throat. "She's your what? I'm positive you said sister."

"I did." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest.

"There's no way." Angelus shook his head with a smile. He had no idea how that was possible. "You're messing with me. I mean, Darla is extremely well off and you, you live in a homeless shelter."

Buffy glared at him for a moment. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe I live there by choice? Maybe I'm not as poor as I look." Angelus opened his mouth to speak but she turned and walked away from him before he could.

0o0o0

"Where is everyone?" Angelus asked, slowly walking into the sign-in office, when he saw Buffy sitting at the desk. The Hyperion was oddly quiet for it being so early in the day. When he had come over the weekend the whole place was packed with the homeless trying to keep warm.

"Probably in their rooms, it's still early." She answered not looking up from the paperwork she was filling out. "As for the helping hands, prepping the Christmas dinner." She set her pen down and sat back in the chair, finally looking up at the man. "What are you doing here, Angelus?"

He shrugged as he walked further into the office. "It's Christmas Eve, you can't tell me you don't need volunteers."

"I know about the bet." She crossed her arms. "Lindsey told me, I think it's safe to say you are no longer being voluntold to be here. Go home."

"Are you mad at me? Over Darla?" He questioned, sitting down in the chair across from her. "I'm sorry that I didn't know you were sisters." He scrunched his face up, thinking. "Although, I don't know how I didn't make the connection. You do look similar."

"This isn't about Darla." She shook her head. "Okay, maybe a little bit about Darla. You kissed me when you're dating her, my own sister. But don't worry, I got the message. Kissing me was repulsive."

Repulsive? That's what she thought? It was the complete opposite. His feelings for her scared the crap out of him. It was easier to stick to his old lifestyle and be with whatever woman caught his attention, instead he found himself thinking about Buffy and instead of calling one of his many female companions, he spent most nights alone. He had only called Darla a couple of times since meeting Buffy and thinking back, it may have been because Darla reminded him of Buffy so much. Instead of telling her everything, he stuck to his cool guy attitude. "We don't like to put a label on it."

"Label?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "So, you're what? Just having sex with my sister?"

Angelus shrugged. He never used to care what people thought of him, right about now though, he was feeling like scum. He cared what Buffy thought.

"Well, I guess it's good I found out now." She frowned. She wasn't going to cry. Not yet. Not when he was still in her office.

"I'm not that bad of a guy, Buffy." He whispered. "But speaking of finding something out. I thought you were homeless just to find out you are loaded."

"I'm not…" She shook her head.

"You're dad's my boss!" He exclaimed, cutting her off. "You are part of one of the richest families in the area and you live in a homeless shelter."

"I own the homeless shelter!" She exclaimed. "Darla doesn't do anything with her money except shop and travel. I wanted to do something to help people. We don't take donations, I buy all the clothes, food and supplies this place needs. Most of the people that help here are on my payroll. The only ones I don't pay are the court ordered ones, Lindsey and you. Which is why I was surprised when I saw you. We didn't have anyone that was court ordered and the last person that walked through those doors that wasn't court ordered or personally hired by me was Ken."

Angelus looked at her with large eyes. He knew Buffy had a big heart, just from spending time with her, but he didn't know just how big. "Ken the killer?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at him, did he not hear anything she just said other than mentioning Ken?

"Okay, okay. I get it. You are doing this great thing by helping people." He whispered. "But why do you live here?"

Buffy shrugged. "Why not? Everyone I care about is here."

"What about boyfriends? Or lovers? How do they feel about you living in a homeless shelter?" He wondered.

"I don't… have any of those." She said softly. "I don't have time to date."

"Okay, so you don't have time to date." He nodded, she ran a whole homeless shelter, that had to take a lot of time. "But you must have lovers."

Buffy glanced down at her desk. Lovers wasn't something she spent a lot of time thinking about, not since she almost hooked up with Parker Abrams in college. Luckily, Willow had stepped in and stopped her from making a big mistake.

"Buffy, don't tell me…" He trailed off. "Are you a virgin?" Buffy didn't respond and he took that as a yes. It was odd, when Virginia Bryce had told him she was a virgin, he was completely turned off by it but at the thought of Buffy never being touched by another man, it made him happy. He wanted to be the only man she was ever with.

"You should leave." She whispered. Angelus looked up at her to see her on the verge of tears, which broke his heart. She was much too beautiful, on the inside and out to cry. "Now."

For the first time in his life, he didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay. He wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay.

When he didn't get up to leave, Buffy got up instead. He tried to stop her but she ran out the door and up the stairs. Before he knew it she was gone, and he had no idea which room was hers.

0o0o0

Lindsey jogged through his apartment at the sound of constant knocking. Whoever it was would have to hurry up, he was due at The Hyperion soon. Buffy wouldn't like it if he was late on Christmas Eve. He frowned when he opened the door and Angelus pushed past him. "What are you doing here, man? How did you even know where I live?"

"I'm out." Angelus paced back and forth in Lindsey's living room.

"Out?" The Texan asked. "Out of what?"

Angelus ran his fingers through his hair. "The bet. I'm done." He pulled a small black book out of his coat pocket and handed it to him.

Lindsey took the book, turning it over in his hand. "Are you sure? It's Christmas Eve, all you gotta do is show up at The Hyperion tomorrow and you're golden. You made it."

"I don't want it." Angelus looked towards the book in his fellow lawyer's hand.

Lindsey laughed. "You're screwing with me. You probably have every girl's name and number in this book memorized by now." He stopped to look at the serious expression on the dark haired man's face. "You aren't screwing with me." Lindsey paused for a moment before his mouth dropped open. "You have feelings for her. For Buffy."

Angelus looked Lindsey dead in the eye and nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"If you're serious, really serious about this… about her, then you won't care if I do this…" He walked over to his fireplace and tossed the book in. He watched it burn for a moment, then turned to Angelus. A smile slowly formed on the dark haired lawyer's face before he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tossed it into the fire too. "Oh, common! Now my whole apartment is going to stink!"

Angelus smiled even wider at the thought of all of his previous companions not being able to reach him. He didn't even know if Buffy would have him, but he didn't want anyone else.

0o0o0

Angelus walked into his penthouse and slammed the door behind him. He walked towards his bedroom, what does one wear to a Christmas dinner? He paused mid step when he saw his brother on his couch. Why did he give him a key again? "I should have known you would be here."

"Well, yeah." Doyle nodded. "It's kinda Christmas. Where did you go after you left mom's house?"

"Darla's." He called as he went into his room to look in his closet.

"For what?" Doyle called, not even attempting to move. "It's Christmas, you guys aren't like that."

"I ended it with her." He called back to his brother.

"But it's Christmas." Doyle repeated. Who would end a… they didn't have a relationship but whatever it was, who would end it on Christmas.

"Darla is Buffy's sister." Angelus came out of his room wearing a pair of black dress pants, while buttoning up his red shirt. "Buffy isn't homeless, she owns the shelter and it's just my luck that I fell for her."

"Fell for her?" Doyle asked, his brother doesn't fall for girls. They fall for him and never get anywhere.

"Yeah, and the crazy thing- I fell for her when I knew there was a possibility that she was homeless." Angelus pointed out. "Not just that, part of me didn't care! I kissed her and then she told me she lived at The Hyperion and it kinda freaked me out but afterwards, I came home and I was like who the hell cares!"

"Kissed her, huh?" Doyle smiled as he leaned forward.

Angelus nodded, walking back into his room to grab a pair of socks and shoes.

Doyle watched his brother walk back towards the door to leave. "Where are you going now?"

Angelus turned to look at his brother before walking out the door. "To see about a girl."

0o0o0

Buffy looked around the lobby of The Hyperion, everyone was happily eating and those that weren't eating were being served by her parents, Hank and Joyce Summers. The Summers family, except Darla, had all gotten together and purchased gifts for those staying at The Hyperion and bought a few extra just in case more people came in. Everyone was happy with their gifts and the children played happily with their toys until dinner time.

Lindsey kept his eye on the door, he was half expecting Angelus to show up and confess his undying love for Buffy and they would ride off into the sunset together. But unfortunately, his co-worker had let him down. Lindsey knew the absence of Angelus was hurting his best friend. She had gotten used to having him around but she wouldn't say anything. She never did. She was all about helping others, her feelings didn't matter. It was one of her flaws, if her only flaw.

"Another successful Christmas in the books, huh, Buffy?" Xander smiled at the blonde.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. Everyone seems happy, so I would call it a success."

"Everyone but you?" Xander frowned as Lindsey looked at him. One of the many things he liked about the goofy younger man was that he often spoke his mind.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her friends but gave them a smile. "What? I'm happy. Totally happy."

"You miss Angelus." Xander pointed out again. "He wooed you with that big ass tree and you spent every day since doing everything around this place with him."

"Xander." Joyce Summers scolded her daughter's friend. "Don't say ass on Christmas."

"Yes, Mrs. Summers." He mumbled. "Sorry, Mrs. Summers." He then looked at the young blonde again. "You love him."

Buffy laughed, shaking her head. "You, Xander Harris, are crazy."

"No." Lindsey shook his head. "I don't think he is. You definitely have feelings for the guy."

"He's an asshole." Buffy rolled her eyes.

Xander scowled at the blonde. "Don't say ass on Christmas."

"Can we please go back to enjoying Christmas?" Buffy asked as she turned around to talk to one of the regulars at The Hyperion.

Xander gasped and slapped Lindsey in the chest before pointing towards the door, the lawyer raised his eyebrows at the sight of his co-worker.

"My name is Liam Angelus." He smiled as Buffy and everyone around her looked up at him. All his attention was on Buffy. "I'm 34 years old, I have a brother named Doyle and a sister named Cordelia, who can be really annoying. I'm a criminal lawyer at Wolfram and Hart, and I'm damn good at it."

Hank Summers nodded his head with a smirk. He knew Liam Angelus and when it came to the best lawyers at the firm, Angelus and McDonald were the top runners.

"I'm not a morning person and I would rather stay up all night. I never knew how to dress down until I started coming here, now I would rather wear jeans and a tee-shirt. Some say I'm an asshole." He shrugged. "Some know I'm an asshole. And I'm in love with you, Buffy Summers."

Buffy's mouth dropped open in shock. She wasn't expecting that!

"And I would like to spend the rest of my life, learning how to be a better person." He whispered, walking towards Buffy. "If you will teach me."

"You are an asshole." She whispered, looking up at him.

He smiled down at her, as he pulled a small box out of his pants pocket. "But can I be your asshole?" He opened the small box and pulled out a ring.

Buffy gasped as she looked down at the ring in his hand. "We don't even know each other."

"I just told you pretty much everything you need to know." He said seriously, then smirked. "And you will find out everything else when that background check comes back."

Buffy laughed, lightly hitting him on the chest. "I didn't do a background check on you!"

"Oh, sweet Jesus!" Joyce mumbled. "Just answer him!"

Hank laughed at his wife. Angelus could be an asshole, but he also knew the lawyer hung around with Darla often and the two were toxic together. He could see Buffy making Angelus into a better man. A man that he wouldn't mind leaving the Law Firm in the hands of.

"Yes!" Buffy laughed. "You can be my asshole."

Angelus laughed as he took her in his arms and kissed her. "Thank God!" He whispered, slipping the ring on her finger.

0o0o0

Angelus moved into The Hyperion with Buffy and helped take care of the shelter when he wasn't working. They got married on the beach in May surrounded by all their friends, family and regulars from the shelter. By the time Christmas rolled around again Buffy was pregnant with their first child and the couple bought a house not far from the Hyperion so that they could raise their family.

Willow and her girlfriend, Tara moved into the shelter so that someone could be there if anyone ever needed anything. Xander had met Angelus' sister, Cordelia, at the wedding and they ended up hitting it off. Lindsey revealed to Buffy that he had a crush on Anne Steele, who also worked at The Hyperion and she made it her mission to get her two friends together.

Doyle started volunteering at the shelter, and it was there that he met his current wife, and Buffy's friend from college, Harriet.

Hank Summers told his family that he wanted to retire and was going to leave Wolfram and Hart in the capable hands of Angelus and Lindsey. Joyce was excited to be able to spend more time with her husband.

The End