With You My Love: 3
by Neamh1
The next week seemed to fly by for all three of them, Liam and Angelus seemed to be getting along extremely well although Liam still didn’t feel comfortable leaving Buffy alone with him. Angelus had been back for various check ups to the hospital and the doctors had said they weren’t confident that he would regain his memory, it had been weeks now and nothing had come to him about his life prior to the accident. They had managed to get the last of the presents throughout the week and by lunch on the last Saturday of work all the scenes for the season had been finished. Terry thanked them all and said that he would see them after the holidays. Liam had invited a few of their close friends around that night to exchange gifts as he and Buffy wouldn’t see them for the remainder of the holidays. Buffy and Liam rushed home from work and whilst Liam prepared the food for the evening; Buffy wrapped presents and Angelus put up the Christmas decorations. Both of the men had agreed that they always got their presents wrapped at the mall because they could never get them looking as nice so Buffy had agreed to wrap all of them that weren’t for her. It was a team effort but they managed to pull it off and by 5:30 they were all ready and waiting for everyone to arrive. Buffy had even managed to pack hers and Liam suitcases which meant that they didn’t need to get up extra early in the morning to pack.
The doorbell sounded and Liam went to let in the first of their guests, it was Cordy and Doyle who arrived first with various gift bags. Liam took their coats from them and they went into the living room where Buffy and Angelus were admiring the tree.
“Hey Cordy, Merry Christmas!” exclaimed Buffy as she gave Cordy a hug. Angelus shook hands with Doyle and Liam took the gifts from them placing them by the tree. The plan was to get everyone together for food and dancing and then exchange gifts towards the end of the night.
It didn’t take long before Gunn and Jess arrived.
“Well that’s everyone honey, are you going to put some music on now?” Buffy asked as she got up from the sofa when Jess arrived.
“No, I’m just waiting for two more people and then we’ll do it.” He said smiling to her.
“Who else have you invited; I haven’t brought gifts for anyone else at work.” Buffy said worrying that there were going to be people left out.
“Don’t worry about it love.” Liam said pulling her to him for a quick kiss, the doorbell sounded again, “That must be them, won’t be a minute.” He said walking away from her towards the front door. Buffy followed him to see who had arrived, when he opened the door she saw Willow and Tara standing there with gift bags.
“Oh my god! Willow, Tara.” Buffy said running to the door and hugging her friends ferociously. “How did you get here, did Liam invite you?” she said wondering how her friends had managed to get over and who had arranged it.
“Yep, and he generously paid for our trip here, we’re going back tomorrow so we’re here for the night. Xander and Anya couldn’t make it though but he sends his love and gifts and says he can’t wait to see you at New Year.” Willow said smiling and stepping into the house followed closely by Tara.
Buffy turned around to Liam kissing him gratefully on the lips. “Did you know that you’re the best boyfriend ever?” She said to him.
“Of course I am.” He said laughing and they all went back into the living room. Whilst Buffy introduced everyone Liam switched on some music and showed everyone where the food was.

“Tonight has been so brilliant, I can’t believe that you did that for me, it was so sweet.” Buffy said whilst dancing in Liam’s arms, she had drunk a few glasses of wine and it was beginning to show.
“I like making you happy and anyway, this party was for both of us and I know how close you and Willow are so it was only right that she be here.” Liam replied. He and Buffy had gotten extremely close lately and he loved her more than he thought possible, it was hard to believe that a few months ago he had been in a long term relationship with Darla. He intended on showing her this Christmas just how much she really meant to him and when he did things he didn’t do them by halves.

As the night drew on and several yawns were sounded throughout the room Liam turned down the music and had everyone sit together around the centre of the room. The presents were distributed and everyone was allowed to open one gift from each person, the others had to be saved for Christmas day. Everyone began opening their presents and before long there was an array of multicoloured paper littering floor. Thank you’s were exchanged before the others left for the night and Liam and Buffy showed Willow and Tara to their room. Everyone turned in for the night, too tired to clean up the mess, they planned on quickly putting the left over’s in the trash the next morning.
In Liam’s spare room Willow climbed under the covers and curled up to Tara’s side. “Did you see Buffy dancing with Liam, she’s so happy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy before.” Willow said smiling thinking back at how her friends face had lit up when Liam had pulled her into his arms and began swaying gently to the music.
“They’re in love…” Tara said as an explanation for everything.
“I know, I’m so happy for her.” She replied sleepily drifting off as Tara kissed her forehead and snuggled closer.

The next morning everyone was up bright and early clearing away the mess from the night before, it didn’t take them long and soon they were all gathered in Liam’s car and on their way, everyone thought that Liam had purchased them train tickets to get them to get them back, it was true, he had purchased train tickets but not for all of them. When they reached the train station Liam helped Tara and Willow out with their over night bags and presents and they all headed for the platform. Buffy watched as her best friends waved goodbye through theirs window, she was sad to see them leave but she would be seeing them again soon in a weeks time. She had sent Tara and Willow home with presents for the gang and had arranged for her parents presents to be taken by courier to arrive two days before Christmas.
They slowly headed back to the car and Buffy walked around to the trunk ready to get out their suitcases. She stopped when she saw Liam smile to her and climb in the car behind the wheel. She gave a puzzled look to Angelus who returned it signalling that he had no idea what his brother was up too.
“Honey, what are you doing, we have to go and catch our train.” She said to Liam, his reply was to open her car door for her. She walked around and climbed in, Angelus followed suit and climbed in the back and Liam started the engine driving out of the car park and away from the station.
“Where are you going, we’re going to miss the train?” she asked
“Change of plans baby, don’t worry, we’ll make it there on time.” Liam said taking her hand in his. In the back seat Angelus grinned thinking that he might know what his brother was up to. It took them twenty minutes to get where they were going and when Liam pulled into the airport car park Buffy tried to gain his attention but he pretended that he was paying attention to the signs and didn’t look at her. He parked up the car in a reserved space and got out; a gentleman with a trolley came over to them and loaded the entire luggage onto the trolley then walked away thanking Liam for the generous tip.
“What are you up to?” Buffy asked suspiciously as Liam took her hand and lead them through the airport and down some steps which lead outside to where the planes would usually be loaded with luggage.
Continuing walking Liam turned to them both “We all had so much luggage and I didn’t really feel like being cooked up in a small carriage for so long so I thought I’d give you one present early, nothings good enough for us so…” he said as they reached the stair to the jet he had brought.
“Oh my god!” Was all that Buffy could say as he led her up the stairs and into the plane.
“You must be completely out of your mind; this must have cleared out your bank account!” Angelus replied equally stunned as they entered the carriage of the plane.
“Nothing’s too good for my lady. Besides…my moneys been building up for that long, now I have someone to spend it on and anyway, I can afford to splash out” Liam said.
“As they entered the carriage, there were two rows of first class seats which were to be sat in for taking off and landing, the remainder of the carriage was furnished with comfort and style in mind. There was a large black leather sofa, sheepskin rug in front of it and facing it was a large entertainment system. Buffy wandered through the door she could see opposite and found herself faced with two other doors, one lead to a beautifully decorated bathroom and the other lead to a bedroom complete with four poster bed.
“Do you like it?” Liam said wrapping his arms around her waist from behind her.
“Is this…is this ours?” she asked, still in shock over what he had done.
“It is, I’m hoping to be with you forever Buffy and I want to show you the world, this means that I can show you anywhere you want to see, I want to make you happy.” He said.
Turning in his arms Buffy looked into his eyes, “I don’t need a plane for that, you already make me more than happy.” She said and kissed him deeply, “But thank you, it’s gorgeous.” She said after, smiling.
“Hey you two, we’re about to take off, you have to come and sit down.” They heard Angelus shout to them. They made their way back to their seats and buckled up as the plane took off, as soon as they were at a steady height the pilot announced that they could now leave their seats. They went over to the couch and sat down, Buffy curling herself up on Liam’s lap and Angelus spreading himself out on the rug. Half way through the flight the attendant came out with a trolley full of various sandwiches and snack foods. Buffy and Liam both took sandwiches whilst Angelus said that he wasn’t hungry. A short time later the pilot announced that they were about to land and so they all got back into their seats. When the plane landed and the stairs were lowered there was a car waiting for them to drive to their parent’s house. They got in and their luggage was loaded into the trunk, Liam got behind the wheel and drove them out of the airport grounds and on the road which lead to their parent’s country home. He had hired the car for the week and they would be catching the plane back after Christmas and then they would head for Sunnydale airport to visit Buffy’s family. Angelus was going to stay at home with the family for New Year and then catch a train back later.

It was a short drive to his parent’s house and when he got there the driveway was full so he had to pull up and park in front of the house. The weather outside was freezing cold leading them to believe that it might well snow as they had hoped for. They grabbed as many of their bags as they could carry and walked up to the front door. Mel didn’t even give them time knock on before she swung open the door inviting them in. “Mom, dad, they’re here!” she shouted into the kitchen where her mother was making sandwiches for lunch.
“Okay honey, just show them to their rooms and I’ll be through when you get back down.” Liam’s mother shouted. Mr O’Connor came out from the living room and headed outside to grab some more of their bags for them whilst Mel headed upstairs with everyone following. There were plenty of rooms in the house because it was the first and only house his parents had ever lived in and they needed plenty of rooms for all the children they had planned on having.
Mel showed Liam which room they would be staying in and let them get settled in whilst she led Angelus down a bit further and went into another room. He placed his bags on the bed and turned back to look at her.
“This was your room when you lived here, mum and dad haven’t really changed much about it except for the bed, yours was smaller…How are you Angelus?” she asked softly, slightly afraid of his answer.
“I’m…good. Can’t remember anything but still, I seem to have people who care about me so that’s good, right?” he asked unsurely, he didn’t know what his relationship had been like with his family before the accident but he got the impression that something drastic had happened but no one could tell him for obvious reasons. Liam was the one who gave it away more than anyone and he seemed unwilling to leave Buffy alone with him for long.
“Oh Angelus, of course it’s good.” Mel said and went to him embracing him in a strong hug; he tenderly hugged her back but was tense. She could tell that he wasn’t relaxed in her presence and she was determined to put a stop to it, she had her brother back now and she wasn’t going to let him distance himself from her again.
When she showed no signs of letting go Angelus relaxed slightly and kissed her crown, “I’m sorry Mel, it’s just…everything’s still hard and I don’t know what sort of relationship I have with you all except that we’re blood related.” He said trying to make her understand.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing, we have the relationship of a very close brother and his little sister. That might have been put on hold whilst you were in prison but now I have you back we’re going to make up for it.” She said.
“I was in prison? What did I do wrong?” he asked, this was the first time someone had slipped up about his past life and he wondered what he could have done that was so bad that he would have to go to jail over it.
“Shit, I…it’s nothing really, it was a month ago when you came out, and I came to visit you whilst you were in there but it’s not the same as having you home. Listen, why don’t we go downstairs and have something to eat? Mom made us all some sandwiches for lunch.” She said trying to get out of the awkward situation and hoping that she hadn’t hurt him in any way by slipping up.
“It’s okay Mel. You go down and I’ll be down in a minute, I promise.” He said and when she smiled and nodded giving him a quick kiss on the cheek he watched her go and closed the door behind her.

Liam, Buffy and Mel had all been downstairs eating lunch with Mrs O’Connor for about fifteen minutes; Buffy couldn’t possibly eat anymore so she finished her glass of juice and placed her dishes in the dishwasher. Mel had told them that she had slipped up to Angelus and they were all worried that he still hadn’t come down yet.
“I’m going to go up and speak to him.” Buffy said and Liam’s head shot up, she headed for the stairs but he stopped her, both Liam’s mother and Mel kept quiet during the exchange.
“I’ll go, you sit.” Liam said to her but she shook her head.
“Liam, you can’t protect me from everyone and right now I don’t need protecting. You know I love you, please let me go, I promise I’ll be done in ten minutes.” She said, she didn’t make a move waiting for him to agree. He slowly nodded his head and she kissed him before walking up the stairs towards Angelus’ room.
When she reached his door she knocked on but got no answer. “Angelus, its Buffy…can I come in please?” she asked and heard a muffled ‘yeah’. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside to see Angelus staring out the window with her back to her. She walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, he started shaking his head, “Don’t say there’s nothing wrong when we both know there is. I’m here for you Angelus, I won’t judge you and I won’t repeat anything you tell me if you don’t want me too, but please let me know what’s wrong.” She pleaded with him.
Angelus took a deep breath and turned around to face her, he had tear streaks along his face and Buffy immediately got up to go to him but he held out his hand signalling that she should not get too close.
“Don’t, I don’t think Liam would be too pleased.” He spat out his words waiting for her to deny it.
“Your right, he wouldn’t.” she said shocking him and making him make eye contact with her. She sat back down on the bed and motioned for him to come and sit next to her. She couldn’t lie to Angelus and things needed to be sorted out before everything turned too ugly between him and Liam. She knew that she wasn’t suppose to say anything but she figured that she could still explain things without going into specifics. “Liam is very overprotective of me when it comes to you, well really it doesn’t matter who it is after what happened but he is worse when it comes to you. We’ve never been anything together, nor will we ever, but once you told me that you loved me.” She said not knowing where to go from there.
“I remember…” he said trailing off and it took Buffy several seconds to understand what he was saying, she looked at him and his face was covered in tears. “I’m so sorry Buffy, I don’t know why I did it, I remember everything I did but I don’t know why. When Mel told me about prison I started trying to remember why I had been in there and then it all just came back in rush. I can’t apologise to you enough for what I did and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but if you’ll let me I want to try and make things okay between us again.” He said with so much hope in his voice.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever forgive you, but I am willing to try Angelus. I’d like for us to be friends, not just for our sake but for Liam’s, I really think that he needs his brother back right now, but he’s too stubborn and cautious to make the first move.” She said hoping that maybe Angelus and Liam wouldn’t go back to being enemies after he found out about this.
“I don’t blame him, if I were him I wouldn’t have even let you come up here.” He said and Buffy smiled slightly at how alike they could both be sometimes.
“Well, this is not the way to start a family vacation, we’ll be okay but I’m not too sure about you and Liam. You need to speak with him today Angelus, okay?” she said standing up from the bed. Angelus slowly nodded his head and she held out her hand to him, pulling him with her towards the bedroom door. As they reached the door she felt him pull back slightly and she turned around to look him in the eye.
“Listen to me; think of how great things have been going lately since you got out of hospital. We made a fresh start for all three of us and it’s been brilliant. You’ve said you’re sorry and that you would never do that again so let’s just forget the whole thing and carry on as we were. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t tell everyone because they have a right to know, I’m just saying that this doesn’t mean anything. So you remember, so what? We remembered and we’ve still taken care of you and treated you fairly. Now…let’s get this over with?” she said, Angelus straightened his back and nodded confidently to her.
As they reached the bottom of the stairs everyone from the kitchen came to greet them and when Liam saw that they were holding hands Buffy held her other hand up to silence him before he started ranting and raving which she knew was about to come. “Everyone, Angelus has something to tell you, but I think you had all better sit down first.” She said and they all headed into the living room taking their seats. Buffy pushed Angelus in front of herself giving his hand a reassuring squeeze before taking a seat next to Liam on the sofa.
“The reason I didn’t come down before was because of something that Mel said, she …triggered my memory and I began remembering things.” He paused looking at Buffy and she nodded for him to continue. “I remembered a lot of what’s happened, everything I think. I’m not sure why I did the things I did and I can’t say how sorry I am for what I put you through. I don’t know what was going through my head and I think that’s what is so frustrating. I’m so grateful to you both for looking after me especially after what happened and I want to try and make things better between us if you’ll let me. Buffy has already said that we can try and be friends and I just want to reassure you that I promise I’ll never, ever do anything like that again, I’ll never look at her in that way again. She belongs to you and I respect that and I’m asking you as a brother to give me one more chance…?” Angelus said being well prepared for Liam to simply punch him in the face. Everyone kept quiet and Liam didn’t do anything for a while, he didn’t know if he could trust his brother again but Angelus seemed sincere and Liam really did want to try and make things work. The past couple of weeks had left him feeling complete again and he wanted to hold onto that feeling. Finally Liam held his hand out to his brother and smiled, Angelus took the offered hand, shaking it firmly and smiling back. All three women in the room breathed a sigh of relief and then Mrs O’Connor stood up from the sofa. “Well, now that you two are sorted out you can both go and get the groceries for me.” She said and both Angelus and Liam groaned remembering that their mothers list always had complicated ingredients on that they could never find in the supermarket.
“Are you coming baby?” Liam asked Buffy, pulling her up from the sofa and wrapping his arms around her waist, his mother interrupted him before Buffy could give her answer.
“No she’s not, Buffy and Mel are going to get the Christmas decorations out of the shed and bring them into the house, and then when your bother and his family arrive this afternoon we can all decorate the house together. Your fathers already gone to pick out a tree so you can scoot and help me get everything ready.” Liam’s mother then sauntered off into the kitchen to get her shopping list, leaving them all alone.
Mel smiled to her brother, “Mothers so subtle, she wants you and Angelus to have some quality bonding time, she’s a genius!” she said laughing and both Liam and Angelus grabbed her and began tickling her, Buffy stood back watching and laughing as Mel collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter. Liam turned quickly grabbing Buffy and tickling her as punishment for laughing at Mel. Buffy soon joined her on the floor; luckily they were saved when their mom came back in with the shopping list.
“Leave them alone, honestly you two, you’re like five year olds.” She said laughing at her twin sons, this was the way things should be and it made her heart soar to her the cries of laughter and to see her children so happy together once again. She gave Angelus the list and then pushed them both out of the house with their coats. Buffy and Mel got up off the floor and grabbed their coats and Mel led Buffy to the shed at the back of the garden to begin getting out the decorations.

By the time Liam and Angelus got back with the groceries their other brother Greg had arrived with his wife Lisa and their two children Scott who was seven and Elizabeth, Liza as everyone called her, who was four.
Buffy and Mel had put all the decorations in the middle of the living room and set everything out neatly into groups of decorations. Some had been set out for the hallway, others had been put aside for the living room and then tree decorations had been placed in one large pile a small distance away. They had put the box of outdoor decorations in the garage to be put up later.
Mr O’Connor had returned with a large Christmas tree and was attempting, with Greg’s help, to make it stand straight in the pot. The house was buzzing with activity and Liam forgot how much he had missed it, being home with all the family together and happy, it truly was something to be treasured. Angelus was helping their mother put away the groceries and so Liam sat down on the sofa and watched as Buffy and Mel played with Liza and Scott on the rug. He must have been in a world of his own; he hadn’t even noticed that his sister in law had joined him until she spoke.
“I didn’t really have chance to get to know her better at your dad’s birthday party but I intend to this time She’s lovely Liam. We were talking whilst you were out and she’s completely in love with you, and I can tell by the look on your face a moment ago that you feel the same for her.” Lisa said.
“I do.” He replied with a smile as Buffy turned to look at him, returning his smile with one of her own. “She means a lot to me, and I plan on showing her how much.” He said.
“Well, good for you, you deserve some happiness. How’s things between you and Angelus?” she asked.
“Strained, but we’ve agreed to try and work things out between us. We talked a lot whilst we were out shopping, he explained that he felt really bad about what happened and said that he can’t understand what was going on in his head to have done what he did. I asked him how he felt about Buffy…I just needed to know if he had any lingering feelings for her. He said that he thought she was a lovely beautiful woman but that’s as far as his feelings went. He thinks that deep down he wanted to be cared for the way she cares for me and in some twisted way he thought that because we looked the same, she would learn to love him the same way. I can understand on some level how he must have felt, I mean, he separated himself from the family a while ago when he got into all of this and then when he was sent to prison it was like the final straw. I think he was trying to find a connection, he just chose the wrong way to go about it. But we’re trying to put all of it behind us now and focus on the future, mending what was broken.” Liam finished, Lisa had been quiet letting him talk. Watching intently how Liam kept casting his gaze to check Buffy was okay.
“Don’t worry, things will work themselves out and everything will be fine.” She smiled, “I’m going to go and see if your mum needs any help, you’ll be okay?” Liam nodded and she got up and went into the kitchen. Lisa and Greg had been together for ever, they met in high school and dated a few times but when they hit University, that’s when they both got serious. They moved in together and spent all their spare time with each other, the family was so happy when they announced their engagement when they had both finished University and the wedding had been perfect. A couple of years later they came home to give the news that they were having their first child and three years later they announced their second child was on the way. Liam had been so jealous of his brother and he was sure that his parents thought that he would never settle down but after he brought Darla home one weekend they had been happy that he was beginning to calm down. That weekend had been a disaster, Darla and his sister had fought like cat and dog and continually put him in the middle of their arguments. Choosing between his girlfriend and sister was driving him crazy but he knew that his family would always come first. Liam had finally left the two arguing and gone out to get drunk. His father had gone out after him and the two had shared a drink. Liam remembered his father telling him that if he was happy with Darla then Mel would have to put aside her differences for his sake. Liam thought long and hard about that, he came to the conclusion that she might not be the one for him but at the time he was happy with her. Liam spoke to his sister when he returned that night and she agreed to try and be civilised for him, after that things between the two were quiet, they avoided speaking with each other when possible and things seem to calm down enough for him to relax slightly if not completely. Looking at his sister and Buffy playing with the children he knew that he wouldn’t have any problems with Buffy and Mel fighting and he was glad that everyone liked her because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to choose between Buffy and his sister if it came down to that.
Liam’s mother snapped him from his thoughts as she entered the room with Angelus and Lisa in tow. “Okay everyone, let’s get this house decorated. If I remember correctly it’s the men’s turn to decorate the garden and hallway and the girls are doing the living room and tree. No groaning please Angelus, get your coats, it’s freezing outside.” She said. The men slowly made their way and got their coats then headed to the garage to get the box full of outside decorations, Greg helped Scott with his coat and the little boy ran outside to help get the Santa signs and lights out of the boxes.
“So Liam, you’re still with Buffy, you think she’s the one?” asked Greg as they began hammering the signs into front lawn.
“Could be…” he replied evadingly.
“That’s no answer, we want to know some details, you two are living together right?” Greg said and Liam nodded his answer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell his brother all about his life with Buffy and how happy she made him; it was just that if he talked too much about how happy he was with her he might give something away that he wanted to be a surprise. “How’s that been going, sometimes it’s really hard living with someone when you’ve been alone for so long.” Said Greg, remembering how he and Lisa had argued when they moved in together for the first month. It was the only time they had ever had a real fight and it had worried Greg that they weren’t going to make it.
“It’s great having her so close. Makes the house feel like a home you know? Coming home and having company and someone to care for, puts some meaning in your life other than just your career.” Liam said rationalising.
“Wait till you come home and there’s kids charging at you when you walk through the door, you’ll wish for the quiet days then.” Greg said laughing and his father joining in obviously reminiscing from when they were all younger and lived at home.
“Okay, if we put up any more signs then Santa won’t be able to get through the door.” Liam said.
“Santa doesn’t come through the door silly, he comes down the chimney.” Scott piped up.
“Oh really, how silly of me.” Liam replied with a devious smile and then chased Scott back inside the house.
“All right, you two put up the lights around the doorway and I’ll go inside and help Liam start putting up the hall decorations.” Said Mr O’Connor as he headed inside and left Angelus and Greg to finish up in the cold.
When they finally got inside the hall decorations had just been finished and the girls had managed to decorate the living room and the tree. Buffy and Mrs O’Connor had made everyone a cup of cocoa and put some marshmallows on a plate, everyone took a seat where they could and had there drinks whilst watching some game show on the TV. The rest of the afternoon was peaceful, they decided to get take out that evening after all the hard work they had done throughout the day. Everyone was tired and most of them had headed for bed by nine o’clock, Buffy and Liam included.
“You okay?” she asked as she came out of the bathroom dressed in her silk PJ’s, Liam was sitting on the bed starring at the wall which made her slightly worried.
“Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking.” He said turning towards her and smiling softly. She joined him on the edge of the bed holding his hand. Liam brought her hand to his mouth to place a gentle kiss against it.
“What were you thinking about?” she asked.
“You…us. I was just thinking how much I owe you and how much I love you.”
“So why so glum, I thought loving me would be a good thing, something to smile about. You aren’t changing your mind about us are you, you’re not going to leave me?” she asked, panicking that he had decided to end their relationship because of what had happened with Angelus earlier.
Liam looked at her, he felt like he was rediscovering every part of her face again. His hand came up to smooth out the wrinkles of her forehead which had formed in her moment of blind panic. “Of course not, I love you Buffy and I’m not going anywhere, ever. You mean the world to me, love. I was just thinking about what happened with Angelus and what I would have done if he had gotten you out of the country, I might not have found you or seen you ever again.” He said, stroking her cheek.
“Yes you would have, you wouldn’t have given up, that’s not the type of person you are; you don’t know the meaning of failure or quitting. I trust you with my life Liam, I know you’d never let anyone hurt me.”
“I’d die before I let anyone take you away from me again, I’d die protecting you. I love you so much.”
“Then show me.” She replied, Liam moved closer pulling her body to straddle his waist as his lips explored her own. Their touches were tender and sweet, fulll of love and happiness as they spent hours making love to each other before finally drifting off to sleep in each others arms.

The next morning they were woke by someone knocking on the bedroom door. “Who’s there?” Liam asked groggily, “Don’t come in!” he added as a second thought after he remembered that they were not at home.
“Don’t worry; I can just imagine already what I’d find. Listen, are you two getting up at all today? It’s already 10:35, me, Riley and Angelus are going out and wanted to know if you were going to come with?” He heard Mel shout through the closed door.
“You go on ahead Mel, we aren’t even out of bed yet, we’ll see you later.” He replied and after a grumble.
“Are we getting up now?” Buffy said turning in his embrace to face him.
“If you want to, what would you like to do today?” he asked, not having any plans they had three days to spend doing whatever they wanted, Christmas day was on Thursday and then at the weekend they would be flying to Sunnydale to spend the week with Buffy parents.
“Not sure, can we just go out for a walk and for lunch, then we’ll have to come back and get some of these presents wrapped.” She said indicating all the boxes and bags they had scattered on the floor around the room. “I’ll go take a shower first, unless you want to join me?” she asked smiling wickedly.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, besides, we’ll be saving water this way.” He said, getting out of bed and pulling her with him.
After taking a shower and getting dressed they headed down stairs and said that they would skip breakfast and make up for it at lunch whilst they were out.
They took the car and headed for the mall where they we going to grab something to eat, Liam led them through the small centre to the food court and they ordered some sandwiches and cakes and took them to a vacant table.
“This is really nice; it’s been so long since we’ve had a real vacation away from home. I think I needed to get away.” Buffy said as the sat down and began sorting through the food.
“You’re right, it is. Maybe we could go on a real holiday soon? We’ll have to speak with Terry and work around the shooting schedule of course but maybe we could go away somewhere nice and tropical.” Liam suggested.
“Really? That would be great, I haven’t been abroad since I was little and I can only vaguely remember that trip. Where would you like to go?” she asked, getting excited about going away with him. It was nice to be away from L.A. for Christmas and New Year and she couldn’t wait to see her family but she really needed some one on one time with Liam away from work and friends and family. Some time just for themselves so she could devote herself entirely to him and not have to worry about anything.
“Anywhere tropical, I really am not fussed as long as it’s away from everyone we know and I can have you to myself.”
“Mmm, sounds promising. We should go somewhere in the Caribbean, there are hundreds of islands, I’m sure we could loose ourselves on one of those.” She replied whilst rubbing her foot up and down his leg. Liam smiled deviously to her and leaned closer for a kiss. The idea of this holiday was beginning to sound irresistible; he would definitely have to make some arrangements.
They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the surrounding streets of the mall together, it was quiet and relaxing and both were glad to be spending the time alone. At three Buffy decided they had better return to the house so that she could wrap presents before dinner. Liam’s mother had said she would cook for everyone that night and then they would all go out for Christmas Eve to one of their favourite restaurant.
When they got home Riley, Angelus and Mel were still out somewhere and Greg and Lisa had taken the kids out for a while as well. The house was quiet and it gave Liam the opportunity to discreetly contact some people without having eavesdroppers. When he had finished on the phone he was extremely pleased with himself, he couldn’t wait to tell Buffy on Christmas day. He went upstairs to see how she was getting along with the present wrapping. Before going into the bedroom he knocked on the door and waited for her answer. She asked who it was and when he replied she said it was okay for him to go in.
“Just wondering how you were doing? Please say that you don’t need my help.” He said as he sat in one of the only vacant places on the corner of the bed. Buffy had placed the wrapped presents on the bed and the unwrapped ones along with paper, sticky tape, gifts bags and bows on the floor around her. Liam couldn’t have reached her without a snow plough.
She smiled to him as she taped down the last piece of wrapping paper for one of Mel’s presents. “Don’t worry; actually I’m making really good progress.” She said with a smile but Liam looked doubtful as he scanned the lack of floor space. “Hey! Look at all the one’s I’ve already wrapped!” she exclaimed to his doubtful mocking look.
“You’ve done a great job honey, I’m going to see what time dinner will be ready, would you like a drink?” he asked as he got up from the bed.
“Please, something hot, perhaps a coffee?” she asked and he nodded then left her to finish the gifts.

Dinner was served at 7:00pm, Mel, Angelus and Riley had arrived back at around six and Mel went to help Buffy finish wrapping the last of the gifts. After they were finished they both changed and washed up before dinner and then headed down to everyone else who was already waiting in the living room.
Buffy joined Liam on the love chair in the corner of the room, draping herself over his knee as he wrapped his arms securely in place around her waist. Mel did much the same with Riley; they were both exhausted from wrapping all the gifts, Buffy even more so because she’d been at it longer.
They didn’t have to wait long until Mrs O’Connor called everyone into the dinning room for dinner, she had made a lasagne with jacket potatoes and salad for everyone and the meal was most appreciated. Afterwards everyone who could stand to eat anymore had a slice of the rhubarb crumble she had made with custard. Mrs O’Connor had a stream of compliments for the meal from everyone and Lisa and Mel helped with the dishes. Snacks were brought through shortly after and everyone, except the children who were already asleep, sat down together to watch Pirates of the Caribbean.

Christmas Eve
Everyone woke that morning to pure white snow falling in sheets from the sky, it was perfect Christmas weather and Liza and Scott were the first to venture out. The adults were content to watch the children playing in the garden from the warmth of the house.
“Well, that’s going to put a stop the outfit I was going to wear tonight for the meal.” Mel stated, as they watched the children play.
“No it’s not, we’re driving there so you won’t spoil it or get it wet. Besides, I brought it for you so I get to say when you have to wear it and I say you’re wearing it tonight.” Buffy said and Mel playfully saluted her.
“Plus, everyone’s getting dressed up tonight, it’s Christmas Eve and all the family is together, that’s cause for celebration.” Liam said, making sure that no one had changed their minds about the attire for the night.
They had picked out the outfits when they went shopping together in L.A. Mel wasn’t used to wearing such expensive designer clothing but Buffy had insisted that she let her buy it for her. The outfit consisted of a gold top and skirt made from silk which were cut to enhance the body’s shape. When she had tried it on in the shop Buffy had hardly recognised her as she walked out of the changing rooms. She had looked so elegant and beautiful and couldn’t wait for the chance to wear the outfit.
Buffy had chosen a dress from the same store in emerald green which sparkled, it was a halter dress with a low cut back and large spilt up the left side of the dress. Mel was sure that Liam wouldn’t be able to form a coherent sentence when he saw Buffy wear it for the first time.
They all had pancakes for breakfast made by Lisa and then everyone went about the day separately although most of them had decided to stay indoors where it was warm. Christmas presents were brought down later on in the afternoons and placed under the tree or as close to the tree as they could get. Liam drove to the garage that afternoon and picked up the people carrier that he had brought for his parents and stashed it in the garage warning everyone not to go in their or there would be hell to pay.

TBC

This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=18679