Guardian Angel

Chapter 3

Part 1

Buffy returned to the upper realms and met with the Powers who gave her the original assignment. They were pleased with the way she had handled all of her tasks and saved the baby.

They offered her a reward.

At her discretion she could remain in the upper realms with them and continue as Connor's guardian, journeying to earth only when necessary to protect her charge or she could once again become mortal and live on earth as a human. They reminded her of their original conditions - if she decided to return to earth, she would still have all of her powers and she would still be Connor's guardian, but her angelic powers could be used only as needed to protect him.

Buffy was torn. Before giving the Powers an answer, she asked for time to consider her options before making a decision. The Powers were very understanding; they told her to take all the time she needed.

She then met with her mother and her grandmother to get their input before deciding upon a course of action. There would be no going back once she gave the Powers her decision. Together the three of them weighed the pros and cons of retaining her current immortal status versus the pros and cons of becoming human again. There was much to consider.

On one hand, she wanted to live on earth with Angel and Connor as her family, but she did not want to lose her mother again. She could protect Connor better if she could watch over him day and night, but then she would lose Angel. He deserved female companionship and she could not give him that if she remained immortal.

And what about the Shanshu prophecy? When he received his reward, he would want other children and she could not give him that either. Plus, it was not fair to him knowing that she could look down on him at any time and he could see her only when she came to visit his son.

On the other hand, if she became human, she and Angel still could not be together because of the happiness clause in the curse on his soul; but that didn't make any sense. Wouldn't the birth of his son have given him perfect happiness? She had never seen Angel so happy as when he was holding Connor.

More important than that, Connor was going to need protection during the daytime, when Angel could not go outside.

Could she forgo an intimate relationship with Angel for the sake of Connor's safety? Of course she could, but again Angel deserved female companionship and seeing him with someone else would tear her apart.

Then, her grandmother had a brain storm; there was another option that they had not considered. Why couldn't Buffy ask the Powers to make Angel human, in complete possession of his soul while retaining the positive physical characteristics of the demon? The Powers would still have their champion and together the two of them could keep Connor safe.

That was it then. That was the plan. Buffy hugged her grandmother and her mother and thanked them for their help and left to present her decision and her request to the Powers.

Part 2

Angel felt Buffy's presence when she entered Connor's bedroom later that night. The baby was sleeping comfortably with a slight smile on his face. When Angel entered the room, without turning around Buffy said, "He is such a sweet happy baby and with you for a father, he will grow up to be a fine man." She bent to kiss him on the forehead and Connor's smile grew bigger as if he too sensed her presence.

"He knows that you are here," Angel told her.

"Yes. He will always be able to tell when I'm near as long as I remain his guardian and he can call me at any time simply by saying my code name. No one else will be able to hear his words when he calls me."

"Come," Angel told Buffy as he led her to the visitor's lounge of his suite in the hotel. They sat facing each other on opposite ends of the comfortable leather sofa. There was so much that each wanted to say to the other and neither knew where to begin.

Angel waited patiently while Buffy worked things out in her mind. He did not know what she was thinking or what she wanted to discuss with him, but he could tell the very moment that she came to a decision. Her face lit up and he could see joy in her eyes.

When she finally spoke, she said, "Tell me, what are the things that you want most in the world, Angel?"

"That's easy. I want to be human so that I can marry you and you, Connor and I can be a family."

Buffy closed her eyes; when she opened them again, she was smiling. "You know me so well. That is exactly what I want, too; that is why I already asked my bosses to give you a gift in addition to the one they are giving me … and they agreed."

"W-What gift did you request for me, B-Buffy?" Angel could barely speak; all sorts of things were dancing through his mind and he was seeing a future filled with love and happiness, Buffy and Connor and other children.

Buffy watched the changing expressions on Angel's face; they were priceless. "You don't even know what I asked for and already you're making plans for the future?"

If Angel could've blushed, he would've had rosy cheeks right then.

"I don't know exactly when it will happen," Buffy told him; "all I know is that Connor will sleep through the night and when you wake up tomorrow morning, you will be human in complete possession of your soul and with the physical attributes that will allow you to remain a warrior for the Powers."

Angel was speechless and he had a look of disbelief on his face. After all this time he was going to be human. Then, it hit him, being human wouldn't mean much to him if he couldn't share it with her. "What gift did they give you, Buffy?"

"I'm being returned to earth as a mortal; I'm not sure when, but soon."

Angel couldn't believe it – all of his dreams seemed to be coming true at once. "Will you marry me, Buffy? When you're back, will you marry me?"

This time it was Buffy who forgot that only Connor could feel her physically. She seemed to be jet-propelled as she threw her arms around Angel's neck and wept tears of joy. As when she touched him earlier he could feel her warmth and love.

They shared a laugh when he asked, "Should I take that as a 'yes'?"

Now it was Buffy's turn to blush. "You should take that as a 'yes'."

They stayed together for most of the night, enjoying each other's company and getting reacquainted. Near the end of the night in the early pre-dawn, Buffy reluctantly rose and said, "Angel, there is something else that we need to discuss before we can face the future with a clean slate for both of us."

"What is it, Love? You know that you can tell me anything."

"Angel, you need to forgive Wesley for taking Connor."

Angel looked at her as if a stranger stood before him. He did not understand how she could possibly expect him to forgive someone who betrayed him the way Wesley had, someone that he had considered a friend. 'Wesley had just better be glad Buffy was able to save my son from Holtz. If that madman had taken Connor to Quor-Toth as he tried to do before Buffy showed up, then Wesley would be a dead man right now, because there is no way that I would've let him live.'

"I cannot believe you would even suggest such a thing."

"Regardless of his actions, his intentions were honorable, Angel. He was acting in the only way he thought he could to save Connor's life. It was never his intentions to turn your son over to Holtz; he was acting on false information found in a prophecy that he translated – a prophecy that said 'The father will kill the son.' He had no way of knowing that the prophecy was false. Then when the signs that the prophecy spoke about came true, he was terrified that the rest of the prophecy would come true as well if he didn't act, and act fast. He wasn't taking Connor to Holtz, he was taking him away from you for his safety."

"He should have known me better than that; he should have trusted me more than he did. Why didn't he speak to someone else about it? Didn't he trust anyone else here either?"

"I don't know, Angel, but knowing Wesley as you do, can you see why he acted the way he did?"

Angel stubbornly refused to answer her. Somewhere inside himself he knew that she was right, but he couldn't get over the hatred that he felt for Wesley at the moment. He looked up into her face. She truly was an angel; how could she still love someone like himself?

He saw her love for him in her eyes and his heart melted. He could not hold onto the hatred that he felt for Wesley and the love that he felt for Buffy with the same heart.

Buffy watched him closely. She saw his internal struggle with himself and she knew the exact moment that he let go of the hate in his heart and replaced it with forgiveness. It was as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and she could see the return of the peace in him that she had been enjoying all night.

"I love you." They both said at the same time and then both burst out laughing.

"Feel better?" She asked.

He smiled. "You always did have this effect on me."

They talked a while longer. She told him about the near-death attack Wesley had experienced was at Justine's hands and that Justine would be going to prison. "I hate to leave you, but there is one more stop that I have to make."

She kissed him goodbye and as she started to disappear he said playfully, "Ummm sweet angel kiss. I've never been kissed by an angel before."

"Better not," and her happy giggles were the last things he heard from her. He didn't know how long it would be before she returned to earth, but he would wait for her, no matter how long it took.

He looked in on Connor and saw him still sleeping peacefully. "Good night, son; when you wake up in the morning, your old man will be a living breathing human being." He returned to his bedroom, stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. 'My last night as a demon; thank you Powers in advance for giving me back my humanity and thank you for returning Buffy to me.'

It dawned on Angel then that this was probably the first prayer of thanks he had said in close to two hundred and fifty years.

End of Chapter 3