Chapter Two
Angel picked Buffy up later that evening in a beautiful black limousine. She gasped immediately when she saw it, though being driven around in a limo was perhaps something she should have been accustomed to by now. Angel refused to drive in Manhattan and would not even consider taking a cab everywhere as most people did. He preferred luxury, even if it came at a small price. He also liked to impress people and this was one of the many ways he was successful at it.
Buffy and Angel arrived at his parents' house right on time. The driver opened the door for them and Buffy stared up at the house in shock.
"It's huge!" she said.
"Are you impressed sweetie?" Angel asked as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Angel, it's amazing. I love it."
They walked up to the door and Angel rang the doorbell. He let go of Buffy's waist rather abruptly when the sound of the door being unlocked could be heard. Buffy almost gave him a strange look, but decided that she was probably just imagining things. The door opened and a man in a black suit stood in the doorway. He stood aside so Buffy and Angel could enter. Buffy immediately took notice of the huge hallway they were standing in. It was ornately adorned with exquisite Christmas decorations and sparkling lights, and in the background Buffy could hear the faint sound of instrumental Christmas music.
"Ah, Master Angelus. Shall I inform you parents of your arrival?" the man asked, seeming to take absolutely no notice of Buffy.
Angel nodded. Then he explained to Buffy that this man was their butler. His name was Wesley and he had been in their family for only a couple years. She wondered why the butler was such a serious person and if everyone in this household would be the same. But she soon put that thought aside as Wesley reentered the hallway.
"Your parents have asked that I show you to the dining room immediately as dinner is now being served," he said looking up at Angel and again, not giving Buffy a second glance.
She didn't like it. The way he ignored her made her feel so unwanted. She was already starting to regret this dinner and it had not even started. Little did she know things were about to get much, much worse.
The dining room was even more lovely than the hallway. The table was surprisingly small and had red and green candles burning on it. Buffy took a few seconds to notice how intricate the patterns were on the Christmas china before she met the faces of Angel's parents. They looked friendly enough.
"Good evening Angelus. You're late, " his father said seriously, but his expression softened as he noticed Buffy.
She immediately noted that he had a British accent.
"You must be Buffy," he then said.
"Yes sir," Buffy replied almost to quickly.
"Very nice. My name is Rupert Giles and this is my wife, Jenny. It is of course, a pleasure to meet you Buffy. You are just as lovely as Angelus said you would be. Please take a seat. You must be famished."
The rest of dinner went by extremely slowly for Buffy. Mr. Giles asked Buffy several boring questions, which she answered in the most polite way she could despite the fact that she was completely uninterested in their topics of conversation. Finally, when they had all finished their meals, Jenny decided it was time to hang ornaments on the Christmas tree. Buffy had been looking forward to this part, so she took her ornament out of her purse and handed it to Jenny, who gave Buffy a polite smile and told her how lovely it would look on their tree.
As she walked into the family room, Buffy couldn't help but think that there could not possibly be a part of this house that was not beautiful. It was large and filled with holiday decorations and in the middle of the room, right next to fireplace, was the grand Christmas tree. The first thing Buffy observed was how big it was. It didn't look out of place, though. In fact, it was just the right size for the room. The tree had no decorations and looked very plain, but still lovely. She imagined that it must look incredible when covered with lights and ornaments. Rupert told Buffy that the first thing they always did was put the star on the tree. And since she was going to be a new addition to the family, Jenny decided that it would be completely appropriate for her to put it on.
Buffy became instantly terrified after hearing this. She had always had a terrible fear of heights for as long as she could remember and now they were asking her to climb a ladder to put the star on the tree. Buffy looked up at Angel hoping he would somehow get her out of it, but he was too busy digging through a box of ornaments to even notice the worried expression on her face and Jenny was already handing her the star.
Buffy started up the ladder, gripping it as tightly as possible. She finally got to the last step, though it seemed to take forever. The ladder wobbled and Buffy's heart started beating faster and faster. She reached up to place the star on the tree, but she was having great difficulty reaching the top because she was a bit on the short side. She looked down, but no one seemed to notice her struggling. Finally, she let go of her fear enough to stand on her tiptoes and get the star into a perfect position on the tree and it was then that she lost her balance. She screamed as felt herself falling backwards and tried to find something to grab onto, but there was nothing. She closed her eyes expecting to feel the pain of her body smashing against the floor, but instead she fell into a pair of strong muscular arms--arms that did not belong to her fiancé. Buffy looked up and her eyes suddenly met the brightest and most intense blue eyes she had ever seen in her life followed by a distinct British accent.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?"