You Know The Drill
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Part Seventeen
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Later that evening after they had both woke up, Angel had gone to take a shower. When he came back to the room he noticed that Buffy had laid out a pair of clean clothes so he asked if she was going to take a shower too. After she got into the bathroom, it took her a few minutes to get undressed and into the shower on her own. When she got out, she had the same problem. Finally, she got tired of messing with it, so she walked back down the hall and into her room with nothing but her underwear and bra on. Angel turned when he heard her come in. When the scene finally hit him, his mouth dropped open and he was about to speak, but couldn’t before Buffy did.
“Don’t say a word! I’m pretty sure I can get my shirt on....but I know I’m going to need help with the pants, socks and shoes.” Buffy told him.
Angel didn’t move. He just stood there, looking at her stomach. Buffy noticed what he was looking at, so she looked down, then back up at him. She had already seen the very large and dark blue bruise across the lower part of her abdomen.
“You’re looking at this aren’t you?” Buffy asked, pointing to her stomach. “It’s okay really...” What she didn’t realize is that Angel hadn’t seen the damage until just now. He hadn’t even thought to ask if something like that had happened.
“My God....Buffy. Are you sure you’re okay? That looks really bad.” Angel said as he walked over to stand in front of her. “Come here...” he said as he wrapped his arms around her.
As he stood there helping her dress herself, he told her that her mother had come upstairs to check on them while she was in the shower.
“What did she say?” Buffy asked him.
“She said to tell you that as soon as you were done getting cleaned up....she uhhh...she uhhhh wants to talk to us in the kitchen. I.....”
“Yea....she warned me on the way home this morning......what time is it anyway?” She asked.
Looking at his watch, he answered her. “Almost 7:00. It’s almost dark outside....you ready to go down there?”
“Ready as I can be...I guess. There’s no telling what she’s got in mind for us.” Buffy said, rolling her eyes.
When they got down the stairs, Buffy saw her mother sitting at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, reading the paper, with a cup of coffee in hand. Casually, she turned to face the both of them as they joined her in the kitchen. She noticed that they’d walked in holding hands, standing close to each other. So close that it almost seemed as though they were joined at the hip. It made her think back to the first time she had even been in love. It was a long time ago she thought.
“You wanted to talk to us mom?” Buffy asked. She knew the answer already....but wasn’t sure of what to say and it had been the first thing that came to mind.
“As a matter of fact....you know very well what I want to talk to you about.” Joyce said looking at the two of them standing there. “Buffy....you and I, we’ve had this talk before....and I’m sure you’ve told Angel the horror story of you mother and the ‘mom-talk’ that we’ve had.”
“Yea mom....and guess what? It’s his fault you know about it in the first place.” The Slayer said jokingly. She realized, after looking at Angel, that she was the only one who found the comment remotely amusing. “Look, Angel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that, I...I.....just...I was trying to lighten the tension in here. It’s so thick you could cut it with a knife...and chew on it. Anyway, nevermind.”
“Ms. Summers...if I can explain...I mean, I can....I...we.....this was only the second time that we’ve slept together. To put it bluntly.” Angel started. Both Buffy and her mother knew he was struggling to keep from blushing of embarrassment. “That night, see...something happened between Buffy and everybody, so she ran to me...to talk. We were both comforting each other. Just......one thing led to another and, and well, that was two months ago. Nothing has happened since. I promise.”
“Yea...what he said.”
Joyce just stared at her daughter, then turned to glance at Angel. “Buffy, you’re growing up...and I’m having to deal with that. You’re not a baby anymore,” Joyce said looking down at the floor. “I have a feeling that you haven’t been for a few years now...” She mumbled to herself...but they both heard her say it. Then looking back up at her daughter... “I’m sorry you’ve had to grow up so fast. You have a lot of responsibilities that it must take a lot of courage to deal with, I’m sure...and I realize that there are certain things that come with adulthood. Just promise me that you’ll be more careful from now on. I don’t know if I can handle this again.”
When her mom finished, Buffy walked over and gave her a hug. She had come downstairs expecting to hear a long drawn out talk about how irresponsible they had both been. Although she was only seventeen, her mother thought, she was as much of an adult as she would ever be. Even though she hated to admit it...her daughter was truly in love.
“So...are you going to go stay at Angel’s for the week?” Joyce asked her daughter.
“If you’re sure it’s okay mom...I won’t go if you don’t want me too....”
“No...it’s okay, but you have to call, at least once a day...let me know if things are okay. Oh, and the doctor called while you were asleep. He said that he’d like for you to come down there at the end of the week, for a check-up. He wants to run a couple tests.” Joyce said. Seeing the look on her daughters face made her speak again. “It’s okay! It’s nothing major, I’m sure. It’s probably just so they can be sure that there wasn’t any permanent damage done.”
Buffy knew that her mother was only trying to reassure her that things were going to be okay, but she couldn’t help but worry. About what, she didn’t know, but up until now, her experiences with hospitals hadn’t been all that great.
“Anyway, I need to go call Willow...I promised I would. I’ll be right back.” She said standing on her toes to kiss Angel on the cheek. Slowly she made her way to the living room, leaving Angel and her mother in the kitchen alone. They could hear the girl in the other room, talking to her best friend on the phone. She wasn’t in there long.
“...okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Night Will.” They heard her say. “So...I need to go upstairs and get a few things before we can go anywhere.” She said as she made her way to the kitchen. “Angel, can you help me?” Buffy asked.
Angel supported most of her weight with one arm until they were out of her mothers sight. When they were, he surprised the Slayer by picking her up and carrying her up the stairs the rest of the way to her room. It sure made things alot easier on her. He had told her she shouldn’t be walking.
Before Buffy knew it, the week was over and it was already Sunday. She had had a doctors appointment earlier that morning. Her mother had gone with her because it had been during the day, making it impossible for Angel to be there with her. The doctor had told the Slayer that there had been no permanent damage done and that it wouldn’t keep her from being able to have children in the future. Buffy remembered thinking that, even though this wouldn’t...her destiny would.
Buffy spent the rest of the afternoon at her own house. Her mother wasn’t home from the Gallery yet, so as soon as nightfall came, she left the house and set out looking for Angel. She needed to talk to him about something important. At least, that was what she had told him when she had called him and asked him to meet her at the park. When she got there, she immediately found him sitting on a bench just under the street light.
“Hey...” Angel said as he stood up to greet her. He hugged her and placed a small kiss in the middle of her forehead. “So, what did the doctor say?”
“Well, to put it in his words...’Buffy, you’re gonna be fine. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t have any problems having lots of kids in the future!’ How’s that for an answer?” Buffy told him quietly. Angel had noticed the tone of sarcasm in her voice. “If he only knew...” She finished, rolling her eyes. It was when she looked down that he responded.
“Hey...look at me.” Angel gently tilted her head with both hands so they were looking each other in the eyes. She was crying. “It’s going to be okay. Do you hear me? Life...it’s never going to be fair with you. With you, or anyone else. And it’s going to be hard, but...I’m going to be there with you...every step of the way.” He paused a moment to look at her. “You fight...I’ll fight beside you. You cry...I’ll cry with you. When you’re happy....we’ll be happy together........do you understand what I’m saying? I’ll be there for you, whenever you need me.”
“Angel...I need to tell you something. I’ve needed to for a while, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know whether or not you would be mad at me. I just didn’t know....”
“Buffy...whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m not going to be mad at you.” Angel told her.
“Well...I...I knew. I knew and I was afraid. I didn’t know what to....”
“What?” Angel asked, sounding concerned. “What did you know?” She was getting worked up again. It was always easy to tell when she allowed herself to get upset.
“I swear...I didn’t know about the prophecy. I would have told you as soon as I found out, but I didn’t know what to do.”
As Angel realized what the girl was rambling about, he threw his head back, as if he were looking at the stars and rubbed both of his hands over his face. He wasn’t mad, he just didn’t know what to say. Buffy had mistaken his actions for anger and had moved from in front of him to sit on the bench behind him. When Angel finally looked back at where she had been standing, he saw that she was gone and immediately turned around. She was sitting on the bench with her head in her hands....crying softly he could tell. Kneeling down in front of her, he wrapped his arms around her, hoping it would calm her down.
“Buffy. Please...I’m not mad at you. I can’t be mad at you. You did what anyone would do in your situation. You panicked....But you...you were fighting that night. When those guys jumped Faith. You should have told me. You shouldn’t have been fighting.” Angel said.
He wasn’t mad at her, by no means....He couldn’t be. Angel just couldn’t help but think how scared she must have been. He had told her before not to worry because vampires couldn’t have children. He couldn’t begin to imagine what things must have been running through her mind. It occurred to him now, why she had been so quiet on their way to the Bronze that night. It explained the look on her face and her tone of voice when Faith had repeated what the guys had said....’The spawn of Hell’...having your child, the baby growing inside of you, referred to as ‘The spawn of Hell’...and just then realizing what that child was going to be.
Angel knew that he had to stop thinking about what she must have been going through. He was going to eat himself up feeling her pain. No once, while he sat there with the young Slayer shuddering in his arms, did she stop crying. All of her pent up worry, grief, sorrow and pain had all come out in one big rush of emotion. She had been keeping it all inside.
“God....Angel. I’m sorry. So sorry.” Buffy said.
“Shhh it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay...I promise.” Angel whispered.
They sat there for what seemed like hours...but it was really only a few minutes. Eventually, Buffy calmed down and her crying subsided. When she finally disentangled herself from Angel’s arms, she looked up at him just in time to see a single tear roll down his cheek. She wasn’t sure what he was upset about....maybe losing the child. At least...even though she had only known for a couple of days, they hadn’t had the time to get used to the idea, to get attached, then lose the child. By that time, they wouldn’t have had the power to stop what the prophecies had predicted. She would have been weakened at that point, at least, until she would have had the time to fully recover. That time wouldn’t have come soon enough.
“I love you so much...” Buffy said, looking Angel directly in the eyes.
“I love you too....” Angel whispered.
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