Closing Chapters
Part Seven
Angel woke up to the sound of the doorbell. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he perceived in the darkness was his wife covering her head with a pillow. He smiled. "Heard that too?"
"Hmmm..."
"Who's gonna answer it?"
She lifted the pillow just enough for him to see her eyes and gave him her best ever puppy look.
He smiled.
She moved from his chest so that he could get out of the bed.
"Who can it be in this hour anyway?" she inquired sleepily as he was pulling his pants on.
"Someone who's forgotten nights were meant for sleeping," he yawned.
"You think it could be vamps?" there was a slight anxiety in her tone.
"I don't think they'd bother to ring the bell," he stepped to the bed and kissed her lips. "I'll be right back," he whispered.
Buffy traced a finger over his chest. "Put a shirt on. I don't want anybody to be staring at my husband's perfect body," she beamed.
Angel smiled. "I only have eyes for you, dear," he kissed her again and went to open the door.
Buffy giggled at his choice of words. The quote was from a fifties' song she and Angel danced to a few nights ago when he took her to a restaurant. Angel told her that the first time he heard that song, which actually was in the fifties, he thought of how it would be like dancing to it with his true love. They bought a CD with it the next day, making it officially 'their song'. Buffy loved it too. It had an idyllic and romantic melody and lyrics. Buffy burrowed back into bed, with the soft music resounding in her ears.
Angel rubbed his drowsy eyes and unlocked the door. He stared with consternation at the woman outside. He gulped, casting down his eyes. "Joyce," he acknowledged silently.
"Angel," she hissed. Unlike him, who was staring at the floor, she was scrutinizing him angrily. "May I come in?" she asked icily.
He moved away to let her in and closed the door.
"You know, don't you?" he asked, as she entered the house.
"I know all there is to know from what Mr. Giles has told me. Since none of you has even bothered to let me know that my own daughter is alive!" she snapped at him.
"I'm sorry. We should have notified you first. It's just that..."
"I'm not interested in your excuses."
He looked at her. "It's just that we were in Sunnydale only a week ago, and it went horrible with Buffy's friends there, and we..." he mulled over his words for a moment. "She was too frustrated to talk to anyone. So, we went right back home. Then, two days later, they came here, apologized, and they made up," he smiled slightly at that. "We were going to tell you. I swear, we just...we needed to find the best time to let you know, and..."
"You kept her away from me." It was a sheer and glacial proclamation.
Angel shook his head. "No, Joyce, I...I would never..."
"You took her away from me," she wasn't going to let him finish, "how could you?"
"Joyce, I didn't. It was Buffy's decision to wait and I supported and support it. She would have done it once she would be ready," he took a deep breath. "Do you...do you want to talk to her? You can talk to her now, if you want."
"If I want? IF I WANT?!" she glowered at him and he had to look away again. "I'll tell you what I want. What I want is for you to have never been born! What I want is for my daughter to have never been the Slayer! What I want is for my daughter TO HAVE NEVER MET YOU!"
Angel took a deep breath to keep his feelings in control. "You don't know what you're talking about, Joyce. You can't blame the fact that you and Buffy have a bad relationship on me or the slaying." *Why on earth did I have to say that?!* But it was too late to take it back.
Joyce scowled at him, and before he could even utter his apology, slapped his face. The ring on her finger slashed his skin, leaving a bloody streak on his cheek. At that moment, she resembled an enraged bull. "How dare you?" she seethed. "How dare you, to even talk about my relationship with my daughter, when all you have ever done was to take her away from me? Do you know what it's like to raise a child, your own flesh and blood, for sixteen years, and then start feeling that this person is slipping through your fingers faster than you can follow?! Do you know what it's like to one day find and read your errant daughter's diaries, and learn that the reason for her distance was that she simply didn't need you? And why didn't she need me? Because apparently, she had had a whole relationship, with a demon who's two hundred and twenty three years older than she, behind my back, and instead of telling me everything, and coming to me when she needed someone, she had you. You took my place!"
Angel only looked away.
"And if that isn't enough, after she had ran away, and I haven't heard from her in months, what do I find out? That this demon married her, impregnated her, and took her away from me for good! Do you possess even the slightest compunction in you? How could you do that? How? I had the right to at least see her, at least know she's okay, and you stole it from me! I am her mother, damn you! I didn't ask for my daughter to be the Slayer! I didn't ask for her to ever meet you! But I've had to deal with it all nonetheless..."
Angel abruptly started seeing no reason to be civilized with that woman. "You've dealt? How exactly have you dealt, if when she told you the truth about her life, you kicked her out?" he didn't seem to be able to restrain his emotions anymore. "You say you have the right, but you don't. You lost that right, the second you threw her out of her own house, when she most needed you, so don't talk to me about compunction, because I assure you, you won't like what I have to answer back!" He closed his eyes for a moment and turned away. When he looked back at her, he continued a little more calmly. "I am far older than you'll ever get. The only respect I owe you, is because you are my wife's mother, and I will never do anything to upset the woman I LOVE. But it DOESN'T mean I will let you stand here, and trash everything between Buffy and I just because YOU don't like it! No one has kept you away from your daughter, and if you want to look for reasons to why she refused to have any contact with you, start with yourself, and not others! It wasn't my fault Buffy has chosen me over you, and if you want the truth, in a way I'm even happy about it, because it shows she trusts me! I DIDN'T take her away. If you want to know why your relationship isn't working, take a look at what YOU have done wrong!"
"Angel?" he turned around to the sound of Buffy's voice coming from the stairs.
She approached him and her mother, swathing her robe around her pregnant belly.
"Mom," her voice was reluctant, as she slid under Angel's arm, obviously seeking for protection she knew she'd always find there. He embraced her tightly. "I see you've met," but then she reminisced of their previous encounter and added a quiet "again." Then her eyes suddenly lay on the blood trail on Angel's sanguine cheek. "Angel, what happened?" she gently touched it with her thumb, and frowned at her mother. "Did you do that?" she demanded, her tone postulating an answer.
"Yes," Joyce's voice was meant to sound game, but it didn't.
Buffy tenderly wiped the blood from Angel's face. "Don't you EVER, but EVER, touch him again," she hissed, glaring at her mother.
"This isn't how I wanted to finally meet my daughter."
Buffy smirked, folding her arms on her chest. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't have come here and slapped her husband."
Angel faced Buffy. "Sweetheart, maybe now it's not a good time to talk," he glanced at Joyce, "we're all upset now, and it's not gonna do any good anyway."
Buffy took a deep breath. "You're right."
"No, he's wrong," Joyce stepped in, "I think that SOMEONE here wouldn't die if I had a while alone with my daughter, after a year and a half of thinking she's dead."
"It's kinda late for a reunion, mom, don't you think?" Buffy's voice disclosed she also wasn't equipped for one. "Can't we talk tomorrow?"
"I think we can't. We have waited more than a year, I'd say it's enough. The least you can do now is to explain why."
Buffy saw she had no choice. She showed Joyce into the living room and took a seat on a sofa, with Angel next to her. "Well, now since we're all awake in the middle of the night, ask ahead," she prompted.
"Can't we even talk alone, Buffy? Is he your shadow or something?" she peered at Angel and he sighed irritably but kept quiet.
Buffy squeezed his hand reassuringly. "He's my husband," she smirked, "and that's just something you're gonna have to learn to accept."
"Buffy, maybe you really should talk alone," he suggested, inwardly eager to do anything but put up with Joyce's presence at the moment. "I'll wait for you in the bedroom."
Buffy looked affronted due to his will to leave. "Honey, you don't have to go," she said softly, stroking his cheek.
Angel smiled and kissed her hand. "But I still should," he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "hold on," then kissed her lips gently and left.
Buffy simpered at her mother. "Thank you very much. Now, what was it that you so obviously couldn't tell me in front of Angel?"
Joyce took a deep breath. "I missed you, honey," she said honestly.
Buffy's ice seemed to be melting. "I missed you too, mom, but it wasn't Angel's fault I left, just as it wasn't his fault that I stayed away, and the way you treated him...mom, you had no right. He hasn't done anything to you. Ever."
"Buffy, how do you expect me to react when I find out that my eighteen-year-old only daughter is married to a two-hundred-and-forty-three-year-old murderer? AND pregnant with his child?"
Buffy glared at her. Her fists clasped tightly.
Joyce deluded she hadn't perceived her daughter's hostility. "I can't leave you married to that...thing," she uttered the word with an utmost loathing.
"I don't EVER wanna hear you calling him names, mom. Do you understand? His name is Angel, and you better learn how to pronounce that word. You can call him 'your husband', you can call him 'my son in law', but if I ever hear you call him 'thing' or 'murderer', or anything else from that category, that'll be the last time you'll see your daughter."
Joyce took another deep breath. "I'm not letting you stay here, whether you want it or not. I'll take it to court if I have to," the graveness in her voice frightened Buffy for a moment. "I WON'T let you stay married to him. No way, Buffy. You are MY daughter, and I'm taking you home. Now." She stood up with resolve, clearly awaiting for Buffy to do the same, but she remained sitting.
"No," Buffy answered simply.
"What?!"
"No. A very simple two-lettered word, I think. No. I'm not going anywhere. This is my home now, mom, and frankly, you can do nothing about it," she grinned, "and Angel is my husband, and the father of my child, and there really is no way you can separate us."
"Maybe I can't, but the judge unquestionably can. I'm not leaving you here," Joyce retorted.
"Oh, really? And how exactly will they do that?" she ridiculed. "You forget something very important, mom. I'm over eighteen. I'm legally responsible for myself now. You CAN'T tell me what to do anymore. I'm not the little girl you threw away two summers ago. Believe it or not, mom, but I'm grown up now. And thanks to you, I had to grow up the hard way. But guess what? It's not like that anymore. Now, I have the man I love back, and I'm happily married to him, and I finally feel I'm living the life I have always wanted to live, because thanks to him, I can consummate ALL of my dreams. Now, I'm not alone like I was after you disowned me. I have someone who takes care of me, who's there for me, and who loves me. And you know something else? HE will NEVER throw me out, no matter what he finds out I am," she shoved it right in her mother's face, her green eyes boring into hers.
Joyce couldn't hide her bewilderment. She was vividly caught off guard.
"Got nothing to say, MOM? It's a strange feeling, isn't it? To find out there's so much more to life you know nothing about? That your little innocent high school girl is a part of it, and knows more than you'll ever know? That she has done something with her life, on her own, and you couldn't stop her?"
"I can stop you. I won't let you ruin your life more than you already have."
"No. Correction. I won't let YOU ruin my life more than you already have. What can you do, mom? What lawyer can you hire to take me out of this marriage?" she chuckled. "Don't you get it? You CAN'T pop up here, and claim me like I'm some sort of a property. I choose what I do, and where I go. Do you actually even listen to me? And I say I stay here. With my husband, who I LOVE. And besides, if you wanna hear the truth, if I'm gonna have to choose who to be with, guess who'll come first," she smiled triumphantly at her mother's astounded face.
"You can't mean that," was all that Joyce could say.
"I don't want you out of my life, mom. But you leave me no other choice. If it's Angel, or you, it's Angel. I don't even have to reflect on it."
"He indoctrinated you!"
Buffy laughed. "Indoctrinated me? That's the best you could come up with? Is it that hard for you to accept I might actually have my own opinions about it? That I might actually WANT it?"
"Is that your final word then?"
"The final word is yours. Can you take both of us, or not?"
Joyce deliberated for a second. "I had over a year to adjust to the possibility my daughter's dead," she said flatly, "now, I see it's a fact."
She slammed the door behind her as she stormed out.
Buffy remained standing there. Her eyes were dry. Her lips were curved in a surprising smile. "I guess it is," she whispered nonchalantly, and turned to walk up to her room. Instead, she found herself face to face with Angel.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
She grinned. "No need. If she can live with that, so can I."
"Can you?" he gently removed some stray locks from her face.
Buffy nodded. "Just kiss me," she requested.
He embraced her lovingly and met her lips in a gentle kiss.
"Promise me you won't throw me out," she whispered, while she was still in his strong arms, her forehead touching his and her eyes closed, inhaling his mellow scent.
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "I promise. I love you, Buffy."
"Me too, my love," she stroked his cheek.
"You know you're my girl, don't you?"
Buffy beamed, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Always," she whispered, before their lips met again.
END.