"I like him," Liam admitted to his parents during the car ride home.
They had just left the Giles' house and Buffy was surprised at how smoothly the night had went. Sure there were a few awkward moments, but no one had torn the others' heads off.
Riley, on the other hand, thought the night could not have gotten worse. Though there was no fighting,he hated the way Angel had tried to worm himself into their family with the ring and photos. And with Liam's recent admission, he knew adopting him would be harder than he thought.
"Really?" Buffy asked. There was no doubt Angel was on his best behavior, probably because Jenny threatened him, but she didn't expect him to actually try to bond with Liam. In the twelve years he's been alive, Angel made little to no attempts aside from holding him when he was born.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Liam smiled. "Do you think we could hang some of these pictures in my room?"
"Only if you want," Buffy said. She didn't want to force Liam to like Angel or develop a relationship with him. All she wanted was Liam to make the choice himself, and if Angel would cooperate like he did that night, then maybe this could work out.
"Yeah, I really want to." Liam looked through the pictures Angel had given him. Before tonight, he'd never seen those pictures before. It was a nice reminder that Angel did care about him.
"Mom?" Liam called out from his bedroom. When they got home, Liam rushed to his room to find a place for his pictures. He replaced his old pictures that were hanging by a string and some clips for the new ones with his favorite, coincidentally Angel's favorite, placed on his nightstand.
Buffy went straight to Liam's room. She had tried to talk to Riley about Liam and Angel, but Riley was not in the mood for it. She thought maybe if she gave him some time alone, he would be ready to talk later.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Do you think when Da-Angel goes back to LA we could visit him?" Liam wanted to call Angel his dad, but things were still pretty uncertain. Like if Angel would make any effort to hang out following that night. And how would Riley feel about it?
"I guess we could." Buffy climbed onto Liam's bed and held him in her arms. "But only if he wants us to." She made sure to leave the ball in Angel's court. Buffy didn't want to disappoint Liam or lie to him anymore.
"Okay." Liam leaned his back into his mom's chest as he fiddled with his new ring.
"Do you like it? Your ring." Buffy was not blind to the happiness the ring gave Liam. He had always admired hers since he was a baby and almost ate it once or twice. It was a thoughtful gift that had more meaning to their son than Angel knew.
"Yeah!" Liam grinned from ear to ear, before changing subjects. "Why didn't you tell me you were Irish?"
Buffy scrunched up her face. "Because I'm not."
Then Liam, wearing the same expression Buffy just had, looked down at his hand and his mom's. "Then why do you have one?"
Buffy had provided Liam a quick answer to the same question a couple hours ago in front of everybody. She had said it was a birthday present when she turned sixteen, but from who was a different story. "Remember how I said I got it for my sixteenth birthday?" Liam nodded. "Well, Angel gave it to me. He's Irish, not me."
"Is that why you had me? Because you loved him?" Liam remembered what Angel had said about the rings. The hands stood for friendship, the crown for loyalty, and the heart for love. And if you wore the heart towards you, it meant you belonged to somebody. Liam hoped that was the truth. After Angel had told him the story of how he and Buffy got together on her birthday, Liam tried to avoid the actual truth that was staring him right in the face. "Or was I an accident and that's why he left?"
Buffy's heart broke for her son, because as much as she wanted to tell Liam that wasn't true, she couldn't. There was some truth to his words. "I was sixteen when you were born. I wasn't ready for a baby. Even though Angel was older than me by a couple years, he wasn't ready either..." Buffy began.
"So I was an accident," Liam surmised. He knew it was true, but he had hoped at some point maybe his mom and real dad could have loved each other. It have would made his existence less sad.
"Unplanned, yes. Accident, no." Buffy let out a deep breath as Liam's eyes softened. "Look I gave you the talk a few months ago, so I'm not going to go into it again. The night you were conceived, I was slightly drunk, but I was fully aware of my actions. Angel had given me this ring as a birthday present when we went back to his house. He told me what the ring stood for and I kissed him. In that moment, I think we did love each other. So don't ever think less of yourself because you were made from that love. And while you were an unexpected surprise that took nine months for you to arrive, you were the best birthday present I'd ever gotten."
Liam was satisfied and comforted by his mother's answer. It was definitely not what he had expected, but it made him feel better. Deep down, his biggest fear was that his mother resented him for having him so young and not being a normal teenager. "Do you think if he hadn't left that we would be a family?"
"I'd like to think that." Buffy had pondered on the same question herself, but the proof was in the picture Liam had on his nightstand. She reached over and grabbed the photo for the two of them. "You see this picture? You couldn't fake this. The happiness we both had seeing your face for the first time. You know, Angel couldn't stop holding you."
Liam perked up. "Really?"
"Really really. Before he left the hospital to go back to LA, I think Grandma didn't even get to hold you once. Angel and I could not let you out of our sight." Buffy smiled at the memory. Those three hours Angel had stayed with her at the hospital from the delivery to after were some of her favorite memories. They were a family, even if it was for a short amount of time.
"Then why didn't he stay?"
"I don't know, baby. I just don't know." Buffy kissed Liam's head and held him for a few more minutes.
On the opposite side of Liam's door, Riley had stood there listening to the entire conversation. He loved Buffy and Liam and it pained him to see them this upset over the one person who walked out on their lives. There was more than one occasion that Riley had wanted to intervene, but chose to stay out of it. He had listened to his wife and her honesty with their son. Riley had wished Buffy would have been this truthful to him, but he wasn't Liam. Every since he knew Buffy, family was always a first priority. And when they wed, Riley thought that he would become a part of that. But no, he was always second to Buffy's son.