Family
Authors Note: Contains references to the episodes "I Will Remember You," “Something Blue” and “Hero.”
“So you were exposed to the Mohra demon’s blood and it regenerated your human body, killing the vampire demon in the process?”
The group of them had gathered in Giles’s house to hear exactly what had happened to Angel that he was human again. He and Buffy had told the story together. Their audience was more than a bit stunned.
“Yeah, that sums it up,” Angel replied. Buffy wondered if he had noticed that he was creating habits exactly the opposite of old ones. On arrival at Giles’s he had purposely sat in the brightest spot in the room. The shaft of sunlight from the window reminded everyone that he was human now, at the same time giving him a somewhat unreal appearance.
“Well, that’s quite a story,” Giles said finally. “And this is a permanent state of affairs?”
“So the oracles say,” Angel replied with a nod.
“Yes, and…” he took off his glasses and wiped them before continuing his question, “the curse is no longer a concern?”
Buffy felt herself blushing furiously. “No worries, Giles,” she said softly, blushing furiously. “He’s not cursed anymore.”
“Okay, I did not want to know that!” Xander exclaimed.
Angel was blushing as well – another newly acquired human trait.
“Uh . . .” Giles said uncomfortably, “well . . ..”
Xander wasn’t finished. “The very idea that you guys slept together after everything that happened last time!” he yelled.
Finally another occupant of the house had enough. “If you don’t mind,” came the British accented voice from the other room, “I’m trying to sleep!”
The room fell silent. Angel got a very odd look on his face. “Was that . . .?”
Giles sighed wearily. “Yes. Spike.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Well, it seems he can’t kill anymore, so he’s supposed to be helping us in return for our help.”
Angel choked on a laugh. “Spike can’t kill anymore?”
Buffy nodded. “Yeah. Or even really hit someone. Nothing to harm anyone else.”
Angel got serious again. “What happened to him?”
“Seems we’ve got another group of demon hunters around here, except they don’t just kill demons, they capture them and take them to some underground lab for experiments. Spike was there. He escaped.”
“And I take it he’d supposed to tell you about this lab?”
“Yeah, but all we seem to get from him is ‘I don’t remember.’”
Giles looked thoughtfully at Angel. “I don’t suppose you’d try and talk to him?”
“Me?” Angel asked with a laugh.
“Well, you did make him,” Giles explained.
“Giles, we didn’t get along when we were on the same side.”
Buffy nodded in agreement. She’d seen some of their verbal swordplay since then. “They’re the ultimate dysfunctional family.”
Giles sighed. “Would it hurt to try? Everyone else has.”
Angel nodded and Buffy led him to the bathroom where Spike was chained up. As usual, he was in the bathtub. His eyes were closed and though he was awake he didn’t open them as Buffy entered the bathroom.
“You know, Slayer,” he said, “vampires are nocturnal. We like to sleep when the sun is up.”
“Sorry,” Buffy replied, not at all apologetic, “but everyone else here is a daylight sort of person. Until you learn to give straight answers you’re just going to have to deal.”
Spike still did not open his eyes, trying to go back to sleep. When Buffy didn’t go anywhere, he said, “If you’re not going to leave me alone, you could introduce me to the new bloke you brought with you.”
“You already know me,” Angel replied.
Opening his eyes finally in surprise, Spike looked at the older . . . man. He laughed shortly. “You the one causing all that ruckus?” he asked. “I thought you left town for good. Can’t get enough of Sunnyhell?”
“Neither can you, apparently,” Angel replied at the same time as Buffy said, “He’s just visiting.”
Spike looked back and forth between the two of them and grinned evilly. Buffy dreaded the next words he spoke. “So, Slayer, why exactly did we call off the engagement?”
Angel gave Buffy an odd look, and Buffy glared at the vampire. “I don’t know, maybe because the spell was reversed?” She glanced at Angel for a second. “Glenda the good witch had some problems with her magic wand.”
None of them said anything for a moment. Finally Angel remembered why he was there. “I heard you’re giving everyone a hard time, not being cooperative.”
“Would you be?” Spike asked, holding up his manacled hands.
“Well, you did come to them for help,” Angel said. “I’m wondering what you were thinking your reception was going to be.”
“At the time, I think I was just trying to avoid spontaneous combustion. I didn’t think they’d chain me up,” Spike explained. He looked at Angel oddly. “Speaking of, how’d you get here? You weren’t here last night, and it’s rather sunny now.”
“We’re not talking about me, Spike, we’re talking about you,” Angel said, coming further into the room.
Spike looked up at him in shock. “Bloody hell!” he yelled. “You’re human!”
“Spike-"
“No! I’m not talking about me right now, and I’m not going to talk to you about the lab,” Spike said angrily. “I mean, you’re human! I smelled it on you, but I thought it was just because you’ve spent so much time with the Slayer. I thought the whole soul-having thing was bad, but this? I’m going to be the laughing stock of the vampire community!”
Angel laughed slightly in response. “As if you weren’t already? Spike, you’re a vampire that can’t bite. You really think vampires still think highly of you?”
“But . . . you’re my bloody sire!”
“Boys!” Buffy interrupted them, “We’re getting off topic here!”
“I’m sticking to this topic, Slayer,” Spike stated. “I want to know what’s going on here.”
“Well, you’re not going to. Come on, Angel, looks like Spike won’t tell you anything, either.”
“So then Willow apparently said something to Xander like ‘why doesn’t she marry Spike’,” Buffy was saying, “so then he proposed to me. Meanwhile, Giles went blind and Xander was being chased by all these demons. And you remember Anya? Well, apparently the demon that gave her her powers decided Willow would be a good replacement and tried to recruit her.” Leaning back against Angel, Buffy sighed. “Fortunately, she said no, he sent her back, and she reversed the spell.”
Sitting on Buffy’s bed in her dorm room, Angel listened as Buffy explained what had happened to her in the last week. “So, you were engaged to Spike?” he asked.
Buffy blushed, embarrassed. “Yeah. It was a nightmare. And we were still all mean to each other – nothing changed. I am so glad that’s over.”
Angel smiled. “So am I,” he said.
Buffy looked up at Angel seriously. “So that was my week. How are you doing?”
Angel’s smile disappeared. “I’ve been better,” he said softly.
“Yeah,” Buffy replied. “When’s the funeral?”
“Tomorrow night,” Angel said. “Harry – that’s Doyle’s ex-wife – is arranging it. Seems a lot more people cared about Doyle than I ever realized.”
“Speaking of, how’s Cordelia taking this?”
Angel sighed. “Not too well. She and Doyle were just getting along when . . .. She’s with Harry right now.”
“Ah,” Buffy said softly. She was silent for a long moment. Closing his eyes, Angel took comfort in her closeness. “It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it?” Buffy said finally.
“It has,” Angel agreed.
Comforted, comfortable, Angel was lulled by Buffy’s presence. He wasn’t aware that both of them had fallen asleep until Buffy pulled away from him in surprise, waking him up in the process. Angel made a sleepy sound of protest, but Buffy wasn’t paying attention to him.
“Mom!”
“Buffy.” Mrs. Summers stood in the doorway of her daughter’s room, staring not at Buffy, but at Angel, blinking sleepily in her bed.
Angel was highly embarrassed to be caught here. “Joyce,” he said nervously.
She looked at him coldly. “Angel.”
“Mom, I can explain,” Buffy said quickly.
“I should hope so,” Mrs. Summers said, “but it’s not you I want an explanation from.” She glared at Angel. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Angel was at a complete loss for words. “Mrs. Summers-“
“Don’t ‘Mrs. Summers’ me, Angel. Just tell me what you’re doing with Buffy.”
“Mom,” Buffy interrupted.
“No, Buffy,” Mrs. Summers said. She did not pull her attention away from Angel. “I thought we had an understanding,” she said to him.
“Mom!” Buffy yelled this time. “Stop . . . grilling him! I’m trying to tell you something!”
Joyce Summers changed her gaze to her daughter. “Alright,” she said, “answer a question for me first. Are the two of you together again?”
“Yes.”
Angel tightened his arms around Buffy briefly.
“Why?” Mrs. Summers asked. When Buffy looked at her in shock for a moment, she continued. “You’ve cried again and again over him. Now you’re back together? Why?”
"He's human now!" Buffy blurted.
Oddly, Mrs. Summers did not blink at that. She glanced briefly at Angel, then continued. "That suddenly makes it right? All the pain he's caused you is suddenly forgiven?"
“I love him!” Buffy cried.
Mrs. Summers was put back a bit at that, and Angel climbed out of Buffy’s bed. “Joyce,” he said softly, “about two weeks ago a friend of mine had a vision that Buffy was in danger.” Calmly, he told the story of all that had happened to them a week past. He’d told the story already today to Giles and Buffy’s friends, but where that telling was filled with the newfound wonder of humanity, this telling was filled with remembered confusion and deep thoughts on their relationship. He told of avoiding Buffy on his trip to Sunnydale so she could go on with her life without him. Then, Buffy following him back to L.A. and their confrontation where they vowed to go their separate ways again. Next, Angel’s transformation and their original, if short lived decision to take things slow, not jump back into a relationship. Their following vow to make things work.
Then, the hardest part, Angel told of his decision to give up his own humanity when he found that he could no longer help Buffy, that his own return to humanity could mean Buffy’s early death. He had not spoken to Giles about that part at all. “I would never let Buffy get hurt,” Angel said emphatically. “I couldn’t be with her if it meant she could be hurt . . . or killed. But then the Oracles returned my strength instead.”
Mrs. Summers was silent for a moment after his explanation. She looked at him seriously, considering. “Physical pain is one thing, Angel,” she said calmly, “but what about emotional? Can you avoid that as easily?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe not. But I would never hurt her intentionally. Are you asking if I knew I was causing emotional pain, if my presence was doing more harm than good, would I leave? If she asked me to, would I go away? In a heartbeat.”
Another moment of silence stretched on as Joyce looked at Angel seriously. Then she smiled, very slightly. “I’ll hold you to that,” she said.
There was no response to be made to that.
Buffy looked at her mother curiously. “Mom, why are you here?” she asked finally.
“Actually,” Joyce replied, “I have something for you from your father.” She tossed a large envelope onto the bed next to Buffy.
Buffy looked at it for a moment, and then opened it. Inside were several photographs. Buffy smiled when she saw them, then passed them to Angel.
They were from last weekend. Mr. Summers had taken a number of photographs of the two of them at the beach. In one picture they were being silly, splashing water at each other after being surprised by an errant wave. In another they simply stood together, smiling, Angel’s arms around Buffy’s waist. Their happiness was evident for everyone to see. Angel smiled.
Buffy, however, had an odd expression on her face. “You knew?” she asked her mother. “I mean . . . you’d seen the photos . . . and still . . .?”
Joyce nodded. “I always wanted a normal life for you, Buffy. When I found out it wasn’t, I just wanted it to be as normal as possible. At least a normal guy. But when your father sent me these pictures . . . I had to know if normal is enough.”
“And is it?” Buffy asked softly.
Looking at Angel, Mrs. Summers smiled. “I think normal is going to work out fine.”
What a day. Buffy smiled as she held Angel close. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For a wonderful weekend. For being human. For being you.”
Angel smiled and kissed her softly in return. “Thank you. I love you.”
“Mmm, I love you, too.”
They lay together in contented silence for a moment. Then Angel chuckled lightly. “Can I ask you one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“There’s no one we’re forgetting about, is there? No one else to explain everything to?” He sounded weary of retelling his story.
“No one I know of,” Buffy replied. She laughed slightly as well. “You wanted to be here to tell them. I could have told them for you.”
Angel shook his head. “No, it was good that I told them. They’re . . ..”
“Friends. Family.”
“Family.”
Together, they drifted off to sleep.
read next story, Wasted Potential