I own none of the characters of Angel

He knew that one day his children would learn about his evil past but he was hoping that they would be older and able to understand, but not now, they were too young.

"Chase listen to me." Angel slowly walked over to his son.

"DON'T EAT ME." He screamed and ran to his mother.

If he had a heart it would have broken when those words came out of his mouth. His baby boy was terrified of him.

"Chase sweetheart daddy would never eat you. Daddy is a good man."

"Jacob told us that daddy is a very bad man." Catherine explained as she walked up and took Angel's hand. "He said that he eats people."

Angel and Cordy looked at each other. She could see the anguish in his eyes. She knew that Chase being scared of him was destroying him.

"Come on guys, we need to talk." Cordy said as she carried Chase into the living room followed by Catherine and Angel. Once they were settled Cordy took a deep breath and attempted to explain who their father used to be.

"Do you guys know what a demon is?" Cordy asked them

"Yeah, a very bad ugly thing that hurts people." Catherine said

"No always. Is Uncle Lorne something that hurts people?"

"No. He is nice. He always gives me cookies." Chase said

"That's right Chase. Uncle Lorne is a demon and he would never hurt anyone. Do you know who else is a demon?" The kids shook their heads. "I am demon."

"No you're not." Catherine said

"Yes I am. Watch this." Cordy made herself glow and she lifted her children in the air, smiling as she heard them giggling. "See I'm a demon and so are you."

"Not huh."

"Yes huh. Because I'm your mommy that makes a part of you a demon too."

"Wow." Catherine said

"So you see not every demon is bad. There are good and bad demons and all of us in here are good demons." The kids didn't respond. "You guys know that daddy is a vampire right?' The kids nodded. "Chase baby do you know what a vampire is?"

"No."

"A vampire is a very bad person that likes to hurt people."

"Do they really eat people like Jacob said?" Catherine asked and now Angel took over.

"Vampires don't really eat people." He began slowly. "Vampires have very sharp teeth that they use to bite people and drink their blood."

"Ewww." Catherine said and then she placed her hands on his face, opened his mouth and began to inspect it. "You don't have sharp teeth."

"I do just not all of the time. They stay hidden."

"I wanna see." Angel looked helplessly at Cordy.

"Sweetheart, it might scare you." Cordy said.

"I wanna see." Cordy nodded at Angel and he vamped.

"That is so cool." Catherine said surprising both of her parents. Chase on the other hand began whimpering. Catherine reached up and ran her fingers over his vamped forehead with obvious fascination. Her hands went to his mouth and she touched his teeth. "Oww. Your teeth are sharp."

"Yeah they are baby."

"Chase look at daddy's face. It's really cool." His face was buried in his mother's chest. He shook his head. "Come on Chase. Don't be a baby."

"Catherine be nice." Angel scolded.

"But he really should look. It's really awesome." Angel laughed and turned back to his normal handsome face.

"Chase your daddy is a good vampire. Just like me and Uncle Lorne are good demons, your daddy is a good vampire."

"But…but…he eats people." He whispered

"Yes I did son but it was a very long time ago. I was a very bad vampire but I had something very special put inside me that made me a good vampire and now I don't hurt anyone anymore. I help people."

"But…Jacob said."

"Jacob was a very bad demon Sport and he was just trying to scare you. I would never ever hurt you." He whispered softly. Chase looked up at his father with tears shining in his brown eyes.

"You won't eat me?" Angel slowly walked over to his son and knelt down in front of him.

"Never ever Chase. You are my big boy and I love you very much. I would never hurt you. Okay?"

"Okay daddy."

"Can I have a hug now?" Chase slowly climbed off of his mother's lap and wrapped his arms around Angel's neck.

"I'm sorry I kicked you." Angel laughed.

"It's okay sport. I love you."

"I love you too daddy. I'm glad you aren't dead anymore."

"Me too Chase. Me too."

After Angel read the kids their story their parents tucked them in bed and they headed to the living room to finally talk.

"Do you want something to drink? I don't have any blood but I can get you something else." She asked

"No I'm okay."

"Well, I definitely need a beer." She said as she headed to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with tow beers. She handed one to him and he raised his eyebrows. "What? I don't like to drink alone." She sat herself on the opposite end of the couch from where he was sitting. He desperately wanted to kiss her but he held back. He figured that she wasn't ready for anything intimate yet. He had been dead for over a year and he knew that she needed time to process that he was alive. At least he could smell her.

"So…" He said

"So…" She repeated.

"Tell me about the last year and half."

"Let's see you died, I moved on like you suggested, our children got kidnapped by the man with whom I moved on with and then you came back and I killed him."

"I didn't know that was going to happen.."

"I only started dating him because you wanted me to move on."

"Cor…I'm sorry. I only wanted you to be happy."

"You should have known that I could only be happy with you."

"So you weren't happy at all when I was gone?"

"You say it like you were out of town or something. You were dead Angel. The love of my life was dead. "

"I…I…"

"After you came to see me I got my ass back in gear and tried to get on with my life. I tried to stay and work at the hotel but I couldn't do it. My heart wasn't in it anymore. Everything reminded me of you and what I lost. I bought a new house and got a new job, I tried to get as far away from our memories as possible but it never worked. You were always there."

"What kind of job did you get?"

"Acting. I have a small part on a soap opera."

"I'm proud of you Cordy."

"For what? All I did was run away from everything that was us but no matter how far I ran it was never far enough because every time I looked at our children I saw you."

"How were they?"

"How do you think they were? They lost their dad. Catherine withdrew from us. She wasn't the happy carefree little girl anymore. She was angry and was always picking fights with me, Chase and kids at school, and poor Chase. He wouldn't leave my side for weeks. He was terrified that I was going to die. Getting him back in school was a nightmare. He screamed and cried. It broke my heart to send him back and truthfully I liked having him around. Ever since you have died he has become a permanent fixture on my hip."

"Is Catherine still picking fights?"

"No. It took about a year before she finally got back to her sweet beautiful self."

"I hate that all of you had to go through all of that."

"When you came to me you said that you have been watching." He nodded. "Have you been watching us this whole time?"

"No. After I was sent back they offered me a few days to watch but it hurt too much to see my family on earth hurting so I was just sent straight to hell."

"You were in hell?" She whispered

"Of course I was in hell. I don't deserve heaven."

"After you died Chase colored you a picture and asked if you could see it from heaven. I figured that you weren't in heaven but I didn't want to tell my baby that so I told him that you could see it from heaven as long as he hung it on the fridge. It's still there."

"Thank you for telling him that."

"Was it bad?"

"Hell?" She nodded. "Yeah it was bad. It was real bad. I thought the pain after I almost burst into flames on Catherine's birthday party was bad, but it was nothing compared to the pain I experienced during my stay in hell."

"Angel…I'm sorry."

"Don't be. After all of the pain and hurt that I caused during my life as Angelus it was the least that I deserve."

"Fire?"

"Oh yeah, lots of fire. When they pulled me out and told me that I had only been there for a year, I was shocked. It felt like I had been there for a hundred years and the only thing that I could think of while I was burning was my family." Cordy looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"You said earlier that you defeated Angelus?"

"Yeah. The Powers wanted me to come back to earth to save the kids but I couldn't be the same. Because I signed away my humanity to The Circle of The Black Thorn they couldn't send me back as human. They found a loophole that would allow them to send me back with a permanent soul. But of course nothing is ever that easy. For me to get a permanent soul I had to defeat Angelus. So the sent me to some other hell dimension for six months to fight against demons as a way of training for my fight."

"How was that hell dimension?"

"It was nasty but I survived. When my training time was up I was taken back to what have come to fondly refer to as the holding dimension. They gave me a few days to gather my strength and then they painfully sucked Angelus from my body. After hours of battling back and forth I finally defeated him."

"How weird." Cordy said and Angel grinned.

"Tell me about it. The worst thing about fighting yourself if your opponent knows all of your moves, sometimes even before I did. Angelus was without a doubt the hardest thing that I had ever fought."

"Did you ever think that you weren't going to win?'

"I went into the fight with every intention of kicking Angelus's ass but yes there was one point that I thought that he would take me."

"What happened?"

"I got over confident and he kicked me in the…you know." Cordy grinned and Angel continued. "He had me pinned on my back and the stake was actually touching my skin above my heart but then he started talking shit about the kids and I lost it. I grabbed his hand that was holding the stake and broke it then I quickly ended it."

"If he would have won would he have been sent back here?"

"No, he would have been sent to hell and then Catherine and Chase…they would have… God, I came so damn close to not saving them." He said tearfully. Cordy scooted next to him and took his hand.

"But you did. You always come through and save your family and this time was no different."

"I failed you guys Cor."

"What the hell are you talking about? Our babies are sleeping safe and sound in their rooms."

"I died and left you guys all alone." He pulled her to his chest and rested his head on hers.

"Angel you didn't plan on dying that night. You did what you had to do to save the world. You didn't fail us. You saved all of our lives that night."

"I'm so sorry that I left you. I didn't want to leave." Cordy felt his body shake with sobs. From her position she hugged his body tightly.

"I know baby…I know." He cried for close to an hour. He cried for the pain that he caused his family, he cried for the year and a half that he lost, he cried because he missed them so damn much and he cried because he was glad to be home.

"I'm sorry." He sniffed.

"Don't be. It's a total normal reaction for someone who was dead and was brought back to life." Angel burst out laughing.

"There is nothing normal about being brought back to life a year after it happened."

"Since when are we normal?"

"Good point." They both stopped talking and just looked at each other for a few minutes. She placed her hand on his face.

"I can't believe that you are really here. That you are back in my life." He covered her hand with his own.

"It's a miracle that we have more time together."

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you Cordelia." They slowly leaned towards each other and their lips met in a gentle kiss. The gentleness quickly turned deep then it was filled with passion. He gently pushed her back onto the couch as their tongues met. Her hands were running through his hair and his hands cupped her face. They only broke apart for seconds at a time when she needed to breathe and during those few seconds that their lips were not touching their eyes never left each other. Finally after an hour of wonderful kissing they finally broke apart and just held each other.

"I never thought that we would be able to do that again." She whispered softly.

"Besides my dreaming of it while I was in hell, no I never thought I would ever be able to touch your lips again." They were silent for a few minutes.

"In case I didn't mention it earlier, I have a permanent soul."

"I do recall you mentioning that."

"So we can now have sex any time that we want without the fear of Angelus. I can finally give you what you have always wanted."

"Sweet Angel. I already have everything that I have always wanted. You are what I have always wanted and now I have you back."

"So you don't want to have sex?" She hit him upside his head.

"Are you crazy? Of course I want to have sex with you but what I want more is for you to know that you were all that I ever wanted."

"I know that Cor."

"Good."

"So let's do it."

"Not tonight. The kids will be up in a few hours. I want to make loud passionate love to you ALL NIGHT without the fear of interruption from our children."

"Well when you put it like that I guess that I can wait until tomorrow."

"Make no plans for tomorrow or actually tonight because it's all about me and you babe."

"I'm looking forward to it." He leaned towards her and he gently kissed her again.

"Hmmmmm." She whispered when he pulled away from her.

" I second that."

"I almost forgot. I have something for you." She said as she pulled herself into a sitting position.

"For me?" She nodded and slipped her hand down her shirt.

"Cordelia." He said with a grin. "I thought you wanted to wait."

"Not that you perv." She said with a smile of her own. She pulled out a long chain and unhooked it from around her neck. Attached to the chain was three rings. She pulled off the first ring and placed it in his hand.

"My wedding ring."

"It was the only thing that was left of you when you were dusted. I put it on a chain so I could always have a part of you close to my heart. A year after you were gone I took my mine off and added it to the chain so we would always be together."

"So since I'm back does that mean that we are still married?"

"Do you want to still be married?"

"More than anything. Do you?" She nodded. He reached over and took her engagement and wedding rings out of her hand and placed them back on her left hand where they belonged. She took his ring out of his hand and placed it back on his ring finger of his left hand.

"I love you so much Angel." She whispered with tears streaming down her cheeks. He gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"Hey no more tears." He whispered softly. "Everything is going to be okay again."

"Promise?"

"I promise." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I love you my sweet Cordy. I love you so much."

Not over yet. The long awaited reunion next then a chapter or two to finalize everything.