I own none of the characters of Angel

Catherine's POV

"Catherine. Lobby. Now." My father's voice rang through my intercom on my office phone. Sometimes when we are at work and something big is about to go down he forgets how to be polite. Very seldom do I hear please or thank you. I made a mental note to talk to him about that.

"What's going on?" I asked walking into the lobby.

"I'm waiting on your brother." I looked around and saw that Uncle Wes, Aunt Fred, Chase and a bunch of slayers were all waiting so I figured that we were waiting on Connor.

"Where is he?" Chase asked

"On his way." Dad snapped. I knew whatever was going down was big because that was the only time that he ever snapped at my brothers or me at work. We all stood around in awkward silence until Connor arrived.

"Cordy just called me and there is a huge vampire nest at the abandoned Braten warehouse. She said she saw at least fifty vamps feeding on some college age kids. We need to move. We don't have much time to save them." We nodded and quickly grabbed our weapons.

As always the drive over was silent so we could concentrate on the job ahead. Chase, Connor and I always rode with dad and Uncle Wes and Aunt Fred always rode together with the slayers. Thanks to dad's crazy driving we quickly arrived at the warehouse.

"Be careful. I love you guys." Dad always said the same thing before we went in to battle. Even though he would never admit it, we all knew that he always worried about us whenever we fought. When Chase and I first started fighting he was practically useless because he was too busy being worried about us to do his job. The more we fought the more he relaxed but he still won't let us fight without him being present. It drove Chase crazy but I kinda liked having him around.

"Love you too." We all answered together.

Stakes and weapons in hand we all ran into the warehouse ready to fight. After all the vampires and demons that we have killed over the years, I was still amazed that these idiots continued to come to LA. The smarter vampires quickly scattered when we entered and the dumb ones stayed and tried to finish eating. We fought like a well-oiled machine. We had each other's back and we staked the hell out of these vampires.

I had just pulled myself off of the floor and staked the bastard that threw me there when I saw in the corner of the room a normal human guy trying desperately to escape the grip of a vampire. He was doing a pretty good job but I knew he wouldn't last. By the time I got to the corner the vampire just sunk his teeth into the poor guy's neck. I drew my hand back that held my stake but before I could plunge it into his heart he turned around, hit me in the face and sent me flying across the room. I landed with a hard thud against the wall and slid to the floor.

"Ow." I groaned as I stood back up.

"Catherine." Dad yelled.

"I'm fine." I responded as I returned, very pissed off, to that vampire.

"You like it rough little girl?" He sneered.

"I'll show you rough bastard." I spat. He reached out, grabbed my hand that had the stake with one of his hands and he placed his remaining hand around my neck. Thankfully, he was to dumb to realize that I still had a free hand so I was able to reach into my back pocket, grab my spare stake and plunge it into his chest without him knowing. As he turned to dust he lost his grip and I went crashing to the floor, again.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered; crawling over to the man I saved. I was in a lot of pain. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded. He was holding his neck wound but I could see the blood seeping through his fingers. I ripped part of his shirt off, removed his hand and placed the shirt there instead. "You need to keep pressure on this okay?" He nodded at me; his eyes were wide with fear. "The paramedics are on the way."

"Who are you?" He whispered hoarsely

"I'm Catherine."

"Catherine what?"

"Catherine Angel."

"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." I told his sweetly. "It's my job."

"You're job?" I knew that I should probably help with the last few vampires but I really didn't want to leave him. I glanced around and saw that everything seemed to be under control.

"My father runs Angel Investigations. We help people in unusual situations." I said nonchalantly

"I think this definitely qualifies as an unusual circumstance. What were those men?"

"They were vampires."

"I kinda figured that one out when I saw the teeth and he bit me." He said with a smile.

"Catherine are you okay?" Dad said rushing over to me, still in vamp mode. I saw the guy on the floor flinch when he saw my vampire father. I sent dad a look and he quickly lost his vampire features.

"Dad I'm fine." I said through gritted teeth as he pulled me to my feet. "But he needs help. His wound is deep."

"The paramedics just arrived. You need to be checked out."

"I told you I'm fine. Probably just a couple of broken ribs. No big deal."

"No big deal? Broken ribs are a big deal Come on." Dad pulled me away as the paramedics came over to the guy that I saved. He sent me a small wave, as I was being drug over to another paramedic

Since I refused to go the hospital to be checked out dad took me to the next best place. He took me home or to my old home where mom could take care of me even though I insisted that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

"Oh my God sweetheart." Mom reached out and gently touched my bruised neck.

"I'm fine mom."

"No she's not." Dad interjected. "She has some broken ribs and look at her neck. That bastard grabbed her around the neck."

"But who is dust?" I said proudly and mom giggled.

"Angel why don't you go back to work and let me take care of Catherine."

"No they can handle it without me. I'm staying."

"If you stay here you're just going to drive us crazy." They stood there staring each other down. Both of my parents were extremely stubborn but I knew that he would back down before mom would as he always did. He tried to act stubborn but we all knew mom could make him do whatever she wanted.

"Fine. I'll go back to work but I swear to God, if she gets worse…"

"I won't dad." He hesitated, looking at me and my mom until she shot him a glare." I'm going." He leaned forward and kissed her and then he walked over and hugged and kissed me.

"Oww. Ribs dad." I complained.

"I'm sorry honey. If you need anything call me."

"I will." He slowly walked out of the house. "Thank God." I sighed when he was finally gone.

"He just worries about you Catherine."

"I know but it's annoying." Mom laughed.

"Tell me about it." She helped me upstairs because I was in a little more pain then I was prepared to admit to anyone. She taped up my ribs for me, gave me a nice pain pill that she had gotten from Uncle Wes and helped me into my old bed. I was down for the count twenty minutes later.

I managed to stay at my parent's house for two days until my dad's constant hovering got the best of me. We argued for an hour when I told him I was going home. He told me that I couldn't take care of myself and I told him to open his eyes and realize that I'm an adult perfectly capable of taking care of myself. After we exhausted ourselves yelling at each other, he accepted the fact that I was leaving and he grudgingly took me home, complaining the entire time.

Since I was half vampire, a fourth demon and a fourth human I didn't heal as quickly as my dad did but I healed faster then a normal human. After two days at my parent's and two days at home I was ready to return to work. The bruise on my neck was only slightly visible and I could move around normally without any pain from my ribs. It was the sudden movements that caused me pain so I knew that there were would be no fighting in my future for a while.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dad asked me. Trying to avoid another argument I neglected to tell him that I was returning to work.

"What does it look like?"

"Don't get smart with me young lady. I am your boss."

"Then act like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're acting like a concerned father, not an employer."

"Fine then as your boss, I didn't release you to come back to work."

"I didn't know I needed your permission." I snapped.

"You can't work Catherine. You haven't healed."

"How do you know that? You haven't even asked me how I'm feeling. The only time my ribs hurt are if I make a sudden movement so I know that I won't be fighting for awhile but I perfectly capable of helping with research."

"I don't know."

"Look dad, I know you worry but this over-protective shit is getting really old. You let everyone else work in worse condition than I am in. You have to quit babying me. I am a grown woman that knows my limits. I know when I need to take time off to heal and I know when I'm ready to go back to work. I love my job, I love what we do but if you continue to treat me like a child then I don't know if I can continue to work here with you."

"What do you want from me Catherine?"

"I want you to treat me like you treat everyone else. I want you to respect me because of the job that I do, not because I'm your daughter." He sighed.

"Dammit Catherine, I'm always going to worry about you because I'm your dad. It's my job. I'm always going to worry more about you then normal because you have a very dangerous job."

"Worry is fine dad. I can live with a little worry. It's the constant worry, nagging and treating me like I'm ten years old again that drives me nuts."

"I'll work on it okay?" I raised my eyebrows. "I'll work really hard."

"That's all I'm asking."

"And for the record, I don't respect you just because you're my daughter. I respect you because you do a hell of a good job and you've earned that respect. Last week, even though you were hurt you kicked straight ass and I respect that Cath. I really do."

"Thanks boss." He rolled his eyes. "Now if you don't mind I would like to get back to work please."

"Okay. Yell if you need anything and if you get tired or anything just go on home."

"Dad." I warned.

"Sorry, sit in here and be miserable in pain if that's what you want."

"Thanks. I will." I grinned as he meekly retreated out of my office. He knew I was right and now maybe he would let me be a grown up.

I was getting ready to leave for the day when Ciara buzzed my office. Even after all these years she still ran the front office.

"Hey sweetie."

"Please don't ask me again. I'm fine."

"Actually, there is a young man here to see you."

"Who is it?"

"He said his name is David Alexander." I ran the name through my mind but it wasn't ringing any bells.

"Okay, I guess you can send him up."

"Okay, hang on a sec." She covered the mouthpiece and I heard her muffled reply. "He's on his way up. He is really cute and he has flowers."

"Flowers?"

"Oh yeah." I could hear her grinning through the phone.

"Don't tell them." She knew I was referring to my dad and brothers.

"You're secret is safe with me and besides, they all left already so I couldn't tell them even if I wanted to."

"Goodbye Ce." Just when I hung up the phone when I saw him walk into my office. I was so surprised to see the guy that I had saved from the vampire that I just sat there and stared at him until he spoke.

"Can I come in?" I shook my head, bringing me back to reality.

"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry. Please come in." I held out my hand to shake his. "I'm Catherine." He smiled and returned the handshake gesture. I observed that he had a strong handshake and a beautiful smile.

"I remember. I'm David." He awkwardly adjusted the flowers in his hands and handed the vase of roses to me.

"These are for you. Surprisingly the florist doesn't carry thanks for saving my life bouquets so I talked to my friend who said that roses are a woman's favorite flower so that's what I went with. I hope you like them." Roses are my least favorite flowers but there was no way I was going to tell him that.

"They're beautiful. Thank you."

"You hate them don't you?"

"No I don't hate them." I said lamely, wishing I was a good liar.

"Please tell me."

"Roses aren't my favorite but they are beautiful."

"I am so sorry." He said while I placed the vase on my desk.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's the thought that counts. I've never gotten flowers before for saving someone's life." I actually had never gotten flowers from any guy before except from my dad on a couple of significant birthdays but I wasn't going to admit how pathetic that I was.

"What are your favorite flowers?"

"Lavender Tulips." I told him shyly.

"I'll have to remember that." He flashed his gorgeous smile at me. "I've been worried about you because you really got hurt that night. Are you okay?"

"I'm great. Just a few broken ribs." He looked devastated. "Don't worry. I'm totally fine."

"I…uhhh…was…umm…would you like to grab some dinner with me?" My heart skipped a beat and I quickly answered him.

"I would like that a lot." His whole face lit up with happiness when he heard my answer, probably mirroring my own.

--

Two hours later we were sitting in a restaurant relaxing and enjoying our after dinner coffee. I was nervous that there was going to be a lot of awkward silence but there wasn't any. Conversation flowed very easily. I found that he was easy to talk to and he kind of reminded me of my dad. He was tall with dark hair and features like him and even his personality somewhat resembled that of my dad. My cell phone rudely interrupted us. As soon as I saw that it was my mom I remembered that Chase, Ali and I were supposed to be there for dinner.

"I'm sorry mom. I forgot." I said answering my phone.

"We'll wait for you. How soon can you be here?"

"I can't make it. Something came up."

"Something good or something bad?"

"Good."

"I'll cover for you and you better call me in the morning with details."

"Yes ma'am."

"Love you sweetheart."

"I know. I love you too." I closed my phone and looked at my date. "I'm sorry."

"Did you already have plans?"

"I was supposed to go to my parents and have dinner tonight with them, my brother and his girlfriend."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you away from your family."

"It's not a big deal. Mom isn't a big cook so she probably just ordered a pizza and I see my dad and brother every day at work so I'm really not missing much."

"Your family sounds close."

"We are very close."

"So I'm curious, how does your dad end up running a company that kills vampires?" I had to laugh.

"It's a crazy story unbelievable story. Are you sure that you want to hear it?"

"Before last week I never knew vampires even existed and since then I have done a lot of research and I found out some really crazy somewhat scary stuff so I think I can handle your story."

"Well you already discovered that my dad was vampire." He saw my dad in vamp mode at the warehouse.

"Which makes me question how do you exist because according to the information that I read, vampires can't have kids."

"You know, this may not be the best place to discuss this. Leggett Park is right across the street. Do you mind if we head over there to walk and talk?"

"That sounds perfect." He had already paid for our dinner so I grabbed my purse and we headed out the door and across the street to the park.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked him.

"Bring it on."

"My dad was turned into a vampire in the 1700's." David's eyes widened in surprise. "Yep my dad is over three hundred years old so when I say old man I mean it. So the first one hundred and fifty years that he was a vampire he was the worst vampire ever recorded. One of his first kills was his parents and younger sister. He really was an evil bastard. Between him and his sire they viciously killed thousands of people and they loved every minute of it. Finally my dad killed the wrong person, he killed a gypsy. To make him pay, her family cursed him with a soul so he could feel guilt for all of his sins and the only way to remove that curse was to experience a moment of perfect happiness. He said when it first happened the memories of every person he killed came rushing back to him and he remembered all of their names, if he knew it to begin with, and he remembered in vivid detail how they screamed and begged for his life. He couldn't sleep because every time he closed his eyes he saw their faces. Whenever he was awake he heard their screams in his head. He was miserable with guilt. He wandered aimlessly for the next hundred or so years, never feeding on another human."

"What did he eat?"

"A lot of rats." David made a face. "He probably still would be wandering around if he didn't meet some demon who told him that it was his job to help and protect a vampire slayer. He didn't want any human interaction because he was afraid of temptation but he finally gave in and ended up falling in love with the slayer."

"He fell in love with the person that was supposed to kill him?"

"He sure did and with her he experienced that moment of perfect happiness and when that happened he became evil again and tried to kill everyone. One of the slayers friends was a witch and she was working on returning his soul but things got so bad that she had no choice but to send him to hell. A second before he was sent to hell he got his soul back but she didn't know it."

"That sucks."

"It did. For some reason, he never told me, he was sent back from hell and given a second chance. He and the slayer knew that they couldn't be together and they ended their relationship and he moved to L.A. to start over."

"Wow."

"Once he was in L.A. he met a demon named Doyle who received visions from The Powers That Be. These visions told him when someone was in trouble. He would pass them along to my dad and he would save people. One of the first people he saved was my mom."

"Kinda sound familiar huh?" David said smirking and my heart skipped a beat.

"Actually he knew my mom prior to saving her. She went to high school with the slayer that he was involved with. My mom moved out here to try and become an actress but she wasn't having much luck. She needed a job so she basically asked my dad for a job and Angel Investigations was born. Their tag line was "We help the helpless" and the company became my dad's way to atone for his past sins. They worked together until Doyle died trying to save the world. It was the first time since he reintegrated with humans that he lost someone close to him and he was ready to shut everyone out completely and it was hard on mom too because her and Doyle were getting close. My dad begged The Powers or their cronies to bring Doyle back to him but they wouldn't do it. Dad even tried to tell them that Doyle was his sole contact to The Powers and without him he couldn't do his job. They told him when one door closed another would open and that door was my mom. Right before Doyle died he kissed my mom and passed his visions off to her and let me tell you, she was not happy about it. The visions were so painful, she said that she felt like her head was going to explode but she stuck them out and she became a stronger woman because of that."

"Wow that's an incredible story." David told me.

"Oh I'm not even close to done." I have never opened up about my crazy family history before but telling David just felt right.

"Please, tell me more."

"I've already told you some crazy stuff and I it gets even crazier. I'm giving you a free pass to run screaming." I told him, hoping that he would hang around.

"I'm not going anywhere." He whispered softly, reaching over and grabbing my hand. The second that our hands connected I felt a tingle run through my body.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review. Thanks