Buffy was swamped with papers and forms. Being gone that week and a half had put her behind schedule. Ever since the school board decided to combine the middle school and high school a few years ago, Buffy was inundated with more students than she could handle alone. That didn't mean she hated her job, in fact she loved it. She loved working with the kids. When Giles approached her with the job opportunity when she graduated college, she immediately took it. Despite the heavy workload increasing over the years, it had been worth it. And now with Liam in sixth grade, she could more easily keep an eye on him.

Buffy was taken out of her thoughts, when someone knocked on her office. Without looking up from her papers, she invited the person in.

"Geeze Buff, you could at least tell me that your glad to see me," Angel smirked as he leaned against the door frame to Buffy's office.

"Angel," Buffy greeted, slightly annoyed. One day of no interruptions is all she needed which seemed to evade her. "If you can't tell, I'm working which is something you should probably be out doing. Speaking of which, why are you still here?"

Angel twisted his Claddagh ring that matched with the blonde sitting across the room. "I took off an extra week," He shrugged. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Buffy looked away from her work for a moment curious to see what he was talking about and took a sip of her coffee. "I'm leaving Saturday and I was hoping I could take Liam with me back to LA, for the weekend."

Buffy practically choked on her coffee, causing her to spill it on her skirt. "Shit," she cursed setting her cup down and reaching for her napkin. "I'm sorry, I thought I heard that you wanted to take my son out of town for the weekend."

Angel moved into the room and sat across from Buffy. "Look, Buff, I know I messed up. Big time. And spending time with him this past weekend made me realize how much I've missed out. I don't want to miss any more time with him. Please, let me take him for the weekend," he pleaded.

"Twelve years is a lot to make up for..."

"His birthday was last month, right?" Angel didn't need Buffy's confirmation, but she gave it anyway. He marked Liam's birthdate on his calendar every year. "We could say it's his birthday present."

"You already sent him a one."

"Which we both know he has no idea about." The confused faces shared by Riley and Liam on Saturday was evident and did not go unnoticed when he handed Buffy his child support payment. Angel surmised that Liam didn't even know that he sent him a check for his birthday and Christmas.

"All that money, including the ones you've been sending each month, has been put in Liam's bank account for a college fund. Riley didn't even know where the money came from until this last weekend."

"Damn it, Buffy." Angel massaged his temples. Dealing with her had always been a source of his stress. "Aside from birthdays and Christmas, that money was supposed to be used to support you guys, help with the expenses."

"I didn't need it." That was a lie. When Angel started sending the checks, she needed the money but refused to use it out of spite. Since marrying Riley and getting a stable job, there was less of a need to use it. Liam was a smart kid, she figured a college fund would be nice to have for when the time came.

"Fine, do what you want with the money," Angel relented. As long as the money would be used for Liam, it didn't matter where it went. "Just let me have this weekend."

If Angel wanted to spend time with Liam, who was she to stop him. Liam had enjoyed his time spent with Angel and had asked yesterday when he could hang out. "Okay."

He was in disbelief. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, I'll have to make sure it's okay with Liam, but if he wants to, then I won't stop you. His happiness means more to me than anything."

Before Angel could say "thank you", Buffy's secretary, Harmony, had knocked on the door, interrupting the two. "Oh, Buffy, I didn't realize you had company," Harmony said. She was an aloof secretary, but the only one who applied for the position. "Especially one this cute. Hi Angel."

"Hi Harmony," Angel greeted. He remembered Harmony from high school. She was the same age as Buffy and incredibly annoying. But that didn't seem to bother him when he hooked up with her.

"Harmony, was there something you wanted?" Buffy asked. Rarely did Harmony ever come into her office with something that was actually worth her time. More often than not, she had come to ask for more vacation days.

"Oh, that. Giles wants to see you in his office," Harmony explained before leaving the room and blowing Angel a kiss.

Buffy stood up from her desk and left her office with Angel in tow. "Why are you following me?" Buffy questioned.

"Do I need an excuse to see my dad?" Angel retorted as Buffy led the way.

Buffy opened the door and froze at the sight before her. "Buffy," Giles began. He then noticed his son behind her, quite a shock. "and Angel. I'm glad you both could make it, please sit."

Buffy sat down next to another student and his parents and Liam. Angel chose to stand in the back, not entirely sure what was happening. "Can someone please explain to me what is going on here?" Buffy asked calmly. Liam never got in trouble, so seeing him in the principal's office was a surprise to say the least.

"Your son punched mine in the face," the disgruntled mother next to Buffy said.

"What?!" Buffy asked incredulously. She looked over and there he was, a boy, about the same age as Liam, holding a bloody rag to his nose. Buffy turned back to face her son who cowered into the chair he sat at. "What did you do?"

"He was teasing me," Liam admitted quietly, sinking back into the chair.

"So? That does not give you the right to punch someone whenever they say something mean about you," Buffy scolded. Words could not describe her disappointment in her son. She turned her attention back to the parents and boy who were affected by Liam's actions. "I am so sorry. He typically isn't like this. Liam's such a shy kid. I don't even know why he would do this. He was raised much better than this, I assure you."

"I highly doubt it," the father grumbled.

Buffy's eyes bugged out of her head. Was he questioning her parenting style? "Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said." The man stood up with his son and his wife and guided them to the door. "I would expect this behavior from a bastard like him."

"What did you call him?" Angel asked, making his presence well known to the room. He had stayed quiet during the exchange trying to understand why Liam would punch this kid in the face. Despite Liam's actions, that did not give this grown man the right to call his son a bastard.

"I'm just calling 'em how I see 'em," the man said, sizing Angel up. He wasn't as nearly as tall as Angel or as built as him, which he realized when Angel closed the gap between them. Angel crossed his arms trying to hide his balled fists. The man took notice of this. "He probably learned his behavior from a deadbeat like yourself." Angel took deep breaths to calm himself down, so he wouldn't accidentally throw this guy into the wall. "The whole town knows your dirty little secret, it's no wonder that your son's so screwed up."

"You asshole," Angel gritted out between his teeth just as he right-hooked the guy. He hadn't done anything like that since high school. Buffy and the other woman gasped. Liam was wide-eyed. And Giles hid his displeasure by cleaning his glasses.

The man massaged his jaw and stared directly at Giles. "I want him," the man said pointing at Liam, "suspended!" He then turned back to Angel who was try to shake off his hand injury. "As for you, I will be pressing charges." The man grabbed his wife and son and stormed out of the building.

Angel was unfazed. He was a lawyer at one of the most prestigious law firms in the state. This guy had nothing on him. He closed the office door to the pissed off looks of his father and Buffy. "What? The guy deserved it! He's a prick and I wouldn't put it past the kid to be the same way. Like father like son."

"Most definitely," Giles commented, eyeing both Liam and Angel. Angel realized the error of his words. He was no different than that jerk. He did exactly what Liam had done. "Usually in a case like this, I suspend the student for a week, but seeing as this is Liam's first offense, I'm giving him detention for the entire week. I think that's only fair."

Liam had to agree. He did the crime and now he had to pay the time.

"What did he even say to you?" Buffy inquired to her son. It had to be something pretty bad for Liam to resort to violence. "Because I have a hard time believing that you would beat someone up for teasing you."

"He wasn't saying anything about me that I couldn't handle," Liam began. This past week he heard kids call him many things and he tried to not let it get to him. "But then he called you a slut and I reacted."

Buffy's hard features softened. She was dreading this moment, when kids would start saying things about her in front of Liam. She just hoped he wouldn't have to hear it. "Liam, I know you were trying to protect me, but what you did was wrong."

Liam was prepared to say "I know", but Angel beat him to the punch. "Buffy, Liam did nothing wrong. The kid was asking for it," Angel argued.

"You are not helping," Buffy fired back at Angel who had now sat down in the empty chair next to her.

"He did exactly what I would have done and in fact I have done that. Don't you remember all the horrible things people called you, when you found out you were pregnant?" Buffy tried not to think of it often. The students were cruel to her and said awful things. Willow, Xander, and Cordelia tried their best to protect her from it, but ultimately they couldn't protect her from everything.

"Yes, but it stopped. I just had to wait it out."

"That's only because Spike and I beat up anyone who said anything bad about you," Angel revealed. Sure he didn't want no one to know he got Buffy pregnant, but he didn't want her to get bullied about it. Buffy was none of those things people said. He was her first and only at the time.

"And I didn't ask you to!" Buffy yelled. She was tired and stressed out. She couldn't deal with fighting with Angel any more. "I'm going to call Riley and he's taking Liam home for the day. When I get home, expect no video games for a week. I'll be right back."

When Buffy excused herself, she left the three generation of Giles men. The patriarch was speechless. It was only Monday and the week was already off to a bad start.

"Did you really beat those kids up?" Liam asked. Even though his mom disapproved of his actions, in some twisted way Angel was proud. He defended himself and his mother. The kid had more of Angel's personality than he thought.

"Every single one of them."