Chapter 2: Boyfriends Bake Better

Buffy and Dawn stood outside Angel's house waiting for someone to open the door, or maybe no one to open the door like on Halloween. She always expected something to pop up when she walked down the sidewalk.

"Hey Baby." Angel opened the door to let the Summers girls in. "I thought I was picking you up."

"You were." She said giving him a quick kiss. "Dawn was to excited to wait. She really loves your parents."

"And what about me?" He joked.

Buffy laughed. "I think she see's enough of you."

"I love you." Dawn said in her small voice, hugging Angel's leg.

Angel knelled down to Dawn to hug her. "I love you too Dawnie."

"Do I have competition?" Buffy smiled.

Angel shook his head at took Buffy and Dawn by the hand, leading them into the kitchen.

"Well look at this! Our son is such a player!" Lydia smiled.

Jim laughed placing a bowl on the counter. "Before he couldn't even get one girl and now he has multiple. I feel like I am in the twilight zone."

"Haha, very funny." Angel said no laughed.

"What else are we supposed to think when you come in here holding hands with two beautiful girls?" Jim smiled.

Dawn ran over to Angel's dad and he picked her up. "How are you doing Sweetie?"

"Good." Dawn smiled.

"Are you ready to bake?" Lydia smiled tickling Dawn.

Dawn laughed. "Yeah! Can I make the Pumpkin pie? It's my favorite!"

"Of course you can!" Lydia said excitedly, looking over at Buffy who didn't look excited at all. "Why do I get the feeling not both Summers girls are excited to be here?"

"I'm always excited to be here." Buffy said leaning against Angel.

Jim laughed. "Different kind of excited."

"Why don't you go play, Dawn?" Lydia said as Jim set her down so she could run into the living room where some toys where waiting for her. "Are you okay, Buffy?"

"Sure. Just annoyed that my dad is coming." Buffy told her boyfriend parents.

Jim nodded. "Angel told us that you weren't overly thrilled about him coming."

Buffy sighed sitting down on the bar stool across from Lydia and Jim. "It's Dawn that I am worried about. She never met our dad. I know what kind of dick he is but Dawn has never been around that."

"Your parents separated when Dawn was really little?" Jim asked

Buffy looked down at the counter. "You could say that... my mom left my dad only a few hours before she found out she was pregnant. My dad cheated on my mom... A LOT. She finally got sick of it and left him and then when we were about to walk out the door the doctor called to tell mom."

"Wow." Lydia said surprised. "That must have been hard."

Buffy nodded. "I still remember the look on Moms face after she hung up the phone. I knew how my dad was so I promised her that I wouldn't let her deal with it alone. I told her I would help with the baby as much as I could."

"That is a lot to take on at such a young age." Lydia said walking around the counter to Buffy.

"I know. I just wanted to get my mom away from my dad. Me and my mom are all Dawn knows, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Buffy said trying not to cry. "I just worry about what is going to happen when collage starts."

"What do you mean?" Jim asked her.

"What would they do if I ever went to collage? My mom needs me to help with Dawn. I would feel so guilty if I left." Buffy said biting her lip.

Angel looked down at the floor. He had been feeling guilty about talking to Buffy about her going away to college with him ever since she told him that her dad wasn't around to help with Dawn.

"Buffy, if your mom ever needs help I am always here. It would be a lot of fun to watch Dawn, I miss have kids around." Lydia hugged Buffy.

"Yeah, she needs a kid to take care of until you two give us grand babies." Jim said putting his arm around Lydia.

"And on that note lets not talk about babies anymore." Angel said leaving the kitchen.

Buffy walked into the living room where Angel was playing Legos with Dawn. "Hey."

Angel looked up at Buffy. "Hey."

"Buffy! Angel is playing Legos with me!" Dawn said excited.

"I see. What are you making?" She smiled at her sister.

Dawn went back to her legos. "The biggest Castle ever!"

"Cool." Buffy sat down on the couch. "Angel, you okay?"

Angel nodded still sitting on the floor with his back towards Buffy. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you kind of just took off a second ago." She said.

Angel got up and sat next to Buffy on the couch. "I just feel bad that I have been talking about going away to college when you don't actually want to because then you will be leaving Dawn."

Buffy shrugged. "It's not like I can afford it anyway. Here I thought you freaked out because of the baby talk."

"Gah!" Angel said frustrated. "I can't believe they said that."

"Do you not want kids?" She asked him.

Angel out his arm around her on the back of the couch. "It's not that I don't want kids, I just don't want them right now. My mom is always talking about having kids around here. It's like she is pressuring me in to having kids. Do you... want kids?"

"Why would I want kids when I have Dawn?" Buffy joked.

Lydia walked in to the living room. "Are you two done having your little chat so we can bake now?"

"YEAH!" Dawn yelled running back in to the kitchen.

Buffy looked over at Angel. "Do you want to?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, lets go."

Buffy watched intently as Angel made perfect slits in the top of the pie crust. "I could never do that."

"Sure you could Buffy." Lydia said pealing apples. "Angel mentioned something about me teaching you how to bake."

Buffy nodded. "I have to admit, I suck in the kitchen."

"You will when I get done with you." Angel's mom smiled.

Buffy watched Angel finish the pie, it looked so perfect. Angel really could do everything. "Don't pull a Jim Levenstein." Buffy joked as Angel put the pie in the oven.

Angel narrowed his eyes at her but smiled at the same time.

"I love that American Pie movie." Jim laughed.

"Mmm, see that's just weird." Buffy joked. "If my mom ever watched that movie I don't know if I would be able to handle it."

"Try watching it with your parents." Angel frowned.

Buffy winced. "Oh god! Baby, I feel so bad for you!"

"Please do." He pouted.

Joyce came out of the kitchen when she heard the front door open. "Hey girls! Did you have fun today baking?"

Dawn jumped up and down. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And I ate cake!"

Buffy laughed while Dawn ran up to her room. "We made 4 pies, 2 Pineapple upside down cakes, a chocolate cake and a vanilla cake so I hope you are going to be hungry tomorrow."

"..and when you say we..." Joyce trailed off.

"They did most of it." Buffy shrugged. "and we already had dinner and desert so you have the night off."

"Oh good because I just spent the whole day cleaning." Joyce let out a sigh of relief. "This is the first time in your whole life that I don't have to cook Thanksgiving. I'm excited. What time should we go over tomorrow?"

"Lydia said anytime before noon. Angel said as soon as possible." Buffy smiled.

Joyce gave her daughter a knowing look. "I bet."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh. Mom." She ran upstairs.

"Do you still have your underwear on?" Joyce joked.

Dawn ran around the house at 6:00AM to wake up Buffy and her mom, she was so excited to get to the O'Connor's house. She loved them, they were all so nice to her. She was happy that Buffy was dating Angel, she was happy because Buffy was happy.

When they got to Angel's house Lydia already had the turkey in the oven. Buffy went straight to Angel's room, closing the door behind her and curling up in bed with him.

"Hey Baby." He mumbled pulling her closer to him. "What time is it?"

"7:00." She moaned. "Dawn woke us up at 6."

"Go back to sleep for a little while." He smiled against her hair.

Joyce sat at the table with Lydia and Jim drinking coffee. "Buffy spends a lot of time over here." Joyce commented.

"I think that's because we let them have sex." Jim laughed.

"I let them have sex too! As long as they are safe." Joyce smiled

"Do you check to make sure they have condoms before they get to heated?" Lydia joked.

Joyce laughed. "Maybe."

"Angel is responsible, he wouldn't forget to use protection. Buffy has a good head on her shoulders too." Jim told Joyce. "There is also the fact that Angel doesn't want kids for a while."

"Good." Joyce nodded. "Buffy has always wanted kids but I want her to go to college first."

"Believe me, we want Angel to have a education too." Lydia told her. "But if something were to happen we want them to know that we will be there for them."

"Angel knows this crazy woman would take care of his kids." Jim pointed to Lydia.

Lydia playfully slapped her husband. "I just love kids."

"Why did you only have Angel then?" Joyce wondered.

"We tried to have more but it just didn't happen." Lydia told her.

Joyce drank her coffee. "Are you still able to have kids?"

Jim nodded. "We went to the doctors, got all the test done. We are still able to have kids."

"Why don't you try again?" Joyce asked. "Then Dawn could have someone who is... kind of close to her age."

Lydia laughed. "Dawn is already 7."

"I know." Joyce laughed. "I just feel bad for her because she doesn't have someone to play with all the time. Maybe if I had her sooner it would have been better, but then I wouldn't have had Buffy to help me so much."

"Buffy is a good kid." Jim nodded.

"Yeah." Joyce nodded. "She really is."

They all watched the Thanksgiving Day parade together. Buffy and Angel thought it was so cute when Dawn got excited about Santa. After the parade Jim wanted to play football, he always threw the football around with Angel on Thanksgiving. Joyce told him she didn't want to play so Lydia refused to play too so that Joyce wasn't alone.

"Go easy on the girls!" Lydia shouted as Angel and his dad threw the football around with Buffy and Dawn.

"Buffy can take it!" Angel smiled.

"I can too!" Dawn laughed.

Buffy turned to her mother who was sitting near the house at the patio table. "Oh come on mom! You know you want to play! We can do three on three!"

"The Summers Vs. The O'Connors?" Lydia laughed.

"Um, excuse me. No." Angel said a little worried. "If this is going to get competitive then I want Buffy on my team."

"You got a taste of her competitive side then?" Joyce asked Angel.

Angel looked shocked and pointed at Buffy. "Scrabble! I thought she was going to kill me over a game of scrabble!"

"Then don't make up words." Buffy mocked.

Angel pointed to himself. "I wasn't the one making up words!"

"Well what was I supposed to do?" She stomped her food. "You were like 20 points ahead of me!"

Lydia smiled and whispered to Joyce. "They already argue like a married couple. You know, Joyce if you want to play I'm sure I have some clothes you could change in to."

Joyce thought about it for a second. "Okay, Sure. It could be fun."

"Three on three!" Lydia shouted as the woman got up to go inside to change.

Angel sat in a patio chair with Buffy sitting on his lap, waiting for their mothers to come back. "It's getting late, maybe your dad wont show."

"Don't tease me." Buffy said intertwining her fingers with his.

Angel smiled. "That wasn't teasing. Do you want me to tease you?"

Buffy laughed. "No, not until my mom and sister aren't in the same house."

"A little quickie in the woods behind my house never hurt anyone." Angel joked.

Buffy thought about it for a minute. "We would never get back before our moms."

"Fine, but after we eat. We will need to burn all those extra calories." He smiled.

Buffy laughed again. "You have never seen me after Thanksgiving! I eat so much I can hardly move! I lay on the couch looking like a beached whale!"

"I'm sure you are a sexy beached whale." Angel kissed her.

Buffy slapped Angel on the chest, laughing when their mothers came back out.

"I get Buffy and Dawnie!" Angel called.

"Really son?" Jim looked up from where he was playing tag with Dawn.

Angel nodded. "They are scrappy."

"I guess it's adults against the kids then." Jim told the two woman.

"We are going to wipe the floor with you!" Dawn yelled jumping up and down.

Joyce looked at her 7 year old daughter shocked while Angel's parents laughed. "Where did you hear that?"

"Buffy said it to Xander." Dawn said looking down at the ground afraid she had said something wrong.

Joyce laughed. "You kids!"

Angel chased Buffy and grabbed her around the waist lifting her up. "That's not fair! Your on my team!" Buffy laughed.

Dawn stopped running around. "Who's that?" She asked pointing towards the house.

Everyone stopped running around to look at what she was pointing too.

"The maid let me in." Hank Summers said pointing behind him.

Angel put Buffy down, they both stopped laughed. "Shoot me." Buffy mumbled.

"Can't do that, Babe." Angel said putting his arm around her shoulders.