Hello Readers :) SO this chapter I can tell not my bestest work but I hope you will enjoy it as much as the others. There were things I needed to cover because we might near and end soon, I don't know yet. Thank you for you patience and giving my stories a chance :)
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Hope that's neat... okay now, enjoy :) and pleade REVIEW!
Chapter 20
Isa and Liam hadn't even been aware that someone had practically sneaked up behind them until Buffy had looked past them with a pale expression on her face as she begun to look faint and next thing they knew…
Liam was calling her name… Isa yelled for Angel, approaching to find the lifeless body of his wife in his father's arms…
The fear that consumed him at the sight of her unmoving had almost been enough to make his knees buckle and yet… somehow he'd mustered strength to approach to take her into his arms as the rest of their guests came to find out what the commotion was. Isa hurried to the kitchen, to find something to bring her out of that state.
"Baby… Buffy, my love…" Angel called to her softly caressing her face. What the hell had happened, what had he missed? Which is when he heard Dawn practically yell in anger…
"What are you two doing here?" Dawn growled with barely controlled rage, "You see what you caused… you need to leave. No one wants you here…"
Xander approached from behind Dawn showing his support then glared at the couple…
"She's our daughter…" Hank said firmly trying to take a step to his daughter, but Angel's father stepped forward stopping him in his tracks, "we have a right to see her…"
"We've missed you…" Joyce said with way too much emotion, too heavy to be genuine… well that, and she had shown no emotion at Buffy's current predicament.
Angel was about to say something when he felt Buffy stir as his mother was holding something in cup up to her nose. Buffy thrashed her head to the sides not wanting to smell whatever the hell it was that was invading her nostrils… vaguely opening her eyes… Hank and Joyce approached…
Angel saw Buffy's eyes fill with tears but these weren't the ones that spoke of sadness, these were the one that said betrayal and anger… so he cradled her to his chest, settled his arms tightly around her picking her up and heading upstairs with no word to anyone…
/
When he settled her on their bed, Buffy's tears had stained his shirt and her hands were fisted, holding the material of his shirt. The moment he tried to remove himself she didn't let go… so he laid next to her on the bed, caressing her face while asking…
"Are you okay, how do you feel, should I be taking you to a doctor…?" Angel rambled concerned.
Buffy gave him a small smiled then said, "No… I'm fine, I'll be fine…" after seconds of collecting herself, she made a move to get out of bed and Angel stopped her…
"Where do you think you're going…?" his brows furrowed and eyes full of determination.
She sighed, "I have to go deal with them…"
"I don't think so…" Angel said definitely, "they showed up uninvited, from the shock made you faint, and knowing your history with them… I have a feeling it's not going to be just because all of a sudden they woke up and saw the light…"
"They're not going to leave…" she said reluctantly giving in… there were many things that Angel gave into in regards to her, but she knew from the look in his face, fighting him on this wasn't going to accomplish anything.
"Don't worry…" he kissed her lips, "I'll be right back…"
"But our friends…" Buffy said feeling embarrassed…
"They'll understand…" Angel said grinning at her before stepping out of the room.
/
Angel practically stormed down the stairs, ready to really cause some damage when he remembered the type of man he was and his status in society. Not only was he not the violent type, but there was a stupid image to maintain…
As he neared the door there was arguing going on coming from Dawn and his mother. Dawn yelling at them to leave as Isa tried to calm people down. It looked like Cordelia had taken the women back to the living room and the guys were standing around the door, barricading it so the couple couldn't enter… he would have laughed at the sight if he hadn't been so angry…
"Angelus…" His father called his tone serious with insinuation of 'you better handle this right.'
"I know father…" was all he said as he called the guys over to give them privacy, "Dawn…" Angel said softly, "why don't you go with my mother and check up on your sister… please…"
Dawn glared at him, but nodded just the same leaving…
Angel took a deep breath before gazing fiercely at the older couple… "You're not welcomed here…" he began simply stating the facts, "the next time you show up to my house without an invitation… I will have you arrested."
They both tried to slip in words, but he cut them off by pulling out a business card to his office…
"You can call my office and leave a message on what you want to discuss… should my wife decide to talk to you or meet with you, then we may arrange something, but if her answer is a definite no… I don't want to see you again. Around either of the girls…"
"You can't do that Angel, they are our daughters… we are just trying to make amends…" Joyce explained falsely.
"That's Mr. O'Donnell to you Mrs. Summers…" Angel glared with severity, "and my decision is final. It's not going to change…"
Hank chuckled, "You want to play hard ball kid… you don't know me or us…" he cocked his head to the side arrogantly.
"I know enough…" Angel smiled without humor taking a step towards them, pushing them out the door with his mere presence, "A piece of advice…" he whispered, "you don't want to get on my bad side…"
He reached for the door then…
"I'm assuming you know your way out…" he gestured into the darkness… and just like that… he closed the door on their faces. There would be some firing going on tomorrow as to how they got within the vicinity of their home and perhaps some more security enforcement.
Shortly after closing the door on them… he walked to their receiving room to gaze at their guests' bothered faces. Not that they were upset with him or Buffy, but that such people had had the audacity to show up uninvited to ruin their dinner and possibly gotten their hostess and close friend ill.
Not at all surprising what he found… it was only the men having a drink talking amongst themselves…
"I apologize for that…" Angel begun interrupting their conversation, "we were… obviously surprised. I think it might be best if we call it a night or you're more than welcome to stay and have dinner… we did go through all this preparation after all…"
"Why don't you check on Buffy first and then we can decide from there…" Riley told him.
"Yes… we don't want to impose…" Linds added.
"We can always reschedule…" Wes spoke as well, "It's not such a big deal. We'll understand…"
Xander was serving himself another glass of wine… too angry that they had shown up to make any sort of polite conversation. He'd experienced Buffy and Dawn's relationship with them, and knowing the whole story made him feel very over protective of both girls he considered his sisters.
"Thanks guys…" he said and began making his way upstairs…
"Son…?" Liam walked out from his son's study, "Is there anything I can…"
"No…" he smiled at him, "But thank you. Do you want to… keep the guys company?" he offered.
He shrugged, "Sure…" and Angel continued his way upstairs…
The closer he got to the door, the more he heard playful banter and joking… the girls were apparently trying to make her stay in bed and were not succeeding at it. He opened the door to see Buffy sitting up to the headboard in the middle of their bed as the girls sat around her, holding her in place gently…
They were still giggling…
Buffy looked up with such a brilliant smile that it quickly melted his heart and might have just actually forgotten that anything had gone wrong tonight…
"Ladies…" he grinned, "Can you give us a minute…?"
They all nodded hugging at Buffy while leaving the room. The last one to step out was Isa, Angel's mom, as she ran her hand over her son's shoulder comfortingly. Once the door closed behind him, he questioned…
"How you feeling sweet love…?" Angel approached sitting on the bed.
"I don't… want to talk about it…" she smiled softly, "why don't we head downstairs and have that delicious dinner I planned…"
"I don't think that's a good idea… I mean with the baby and the emotional shock I think…"
"I want to tell them…" Buffy pouted, "And so do you… So let's just pretend this whole fiasco didn't happen. Tomorrow we can discuss… you know…" there was a pause then she asked nervously, "Are they gone…?"
"Yes…" he said simply.
"Okay then…" she made a move to get up and Angel shook his head in disapproval… he took her arm and led them downstairs. The moment they made it down… their group was expecting them with a huge smile on their faces as they all said at the same time…
"Oh my God, YOU'RE PREGNANT!"
They stopped as Buffy giggled nodding her yes in excitement and Angel stared at them shocked…
"Alright… who blabbed…? Cordelia!" he looked for her in the crowd.
"Hey!" she came forward offended, "I said nothing…" she said crossing her arms.
They all moved out of place to reveal a fruit arrangement with blue and pink balloons that said Congratulations! Love, Jenny and Giles…
Great! Angel thought… so much for the surprise… They all decided to come forward then… trying to forget the small drama while congratulating their friends.
Liam had had hugged his son so tight, showing him how thrilled he was… his mother had tears in her eyes as she'd hugged them both elated with the news. It was just complete happiness all around and clearly somethings had started to make sense…
The first… Buffy's unscheduled return which was obvious as in reason why. Life had had other plans and they were nothing but slaves to its will.
/
Days later… Angel recalled the dinner of that night and thought for a moment there… it had all been ruined… but yet, it had still turned out great. No… it sure as hell hadn't gone as planned seeing as his own doctor had ruined the surprise by telling their friends and family with a gift, but what was new? Their plans hardly ever panned out as planned…
Buffy had hardly left their home in these few days as it seemed that with that now knowledge of her pregnancy… morning sickness was on full force, so she was spending most of her time in the bathroom. He'd actually called Giles today for a home visit… that he of course would only do for someone like them… close friends and family.
/
He smiled as the end of his day was finally here… he grabbed the stack of messages from Buffy's parents to take them to her. He knew they were going to have to talk about that while also revealing the news of her new personal assistant…
After much deliberation… he'd concluded that the perfect fit was going to be the girl by the name of Faith Lehane. She was a little sharp around the edges but great at her job. She had that drive and tough attitude… that he knew he couldn't have for his love. She would be great at perhaps pushing Buffy around a bit to do as told.
Angel was excited, but being that he had gone behind her back, sort of, and done this… he wasn't sure how she'd take it but seeing as she couldn't do anything with her constant pucking, and since such a person was suppose to do things for her… she might just be open to it, but he'd see.
/
Buffy turned on the TV to the channel were the dance company she use to be a part of… was on. She wasn't by any means complaining, but the truth was that she missed it, a lot. Her dancing… and how could it not, it had been her whole life for many years…
She'd recently tried to do some small warm up exercises and practice some dancing, but before she could get to any kind of boogying… when Mr. Barf-you're-not-invited would come and there went that idea. She rubbed her belly lovingly… two great loves of her life but her child was more important. It didn't take away from that little bit of desire that she could not do anything about.
And that's how Angel found her in their TV room… slightly misty at the eyes, while she rubbed her belly tenderly, as she watched some kind of group dancing on TV. When she noticed Angel's presence… she tried to discreetly dry her tears while putting a huge smile on her face…
"Hello my love, how was work…?" she questioned turning off the TV.
"Fine…" he smiled, "you ready for dinner…?" he eyed her speculative.
"Uh huh…" Buffy answered staring back at those familiar oak colored eyes of him.
Angel approached taking her in an embrace while kissing her… "Okay…" was all he said as he processed the look in her face. She was… was… sad… but that's not what bothered him. What bothered him was that she was trying to hide how she felt from him. Of all people… him… that didn't sit too well with him…