What A Year!
Prologue
Human...he was...human. After two hundred forty six years, he was a human again. It was...there were no words for it. He looked up at the blessed sun and didn't burn. He took a deep breath and felt the air rush through his lungs. And laughed. Oh blessed God above! HE WAS HUMAN!
"Angel?"
He spun around when he heard that voice. The voice that he loved above all others. The person that he loved, above all others. He saw the wonder in her eyes, and felt his heart burst with joy. He reached his hand out to her.
"Buffy...look at me. I can stand in the sun...,"he said shakily. He looked up at that bright orb in the sky, the one that caused him so much pain, in his heart as well as his body, then smiled, with tears coming from his eyes."I can stand in the sun...I'm human Buffy! Human!"
Angel caught her as she leapt into his arms, and swung her around, hearing her laughter mingle with his. Feeling her happiness with his. If he had a choice, it would be like this forever. Instead of a year and a day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
First Day of Month One: Settling Down
Buffy smiled ruefully as she brought the dishes into the kitchen, with Willow and Cordelia helping. As much as she wanted to spent her whole time with Angel, it seemed that her family and friends had other plans for her.
"What's so funny, Buffy?" Willow asked as she entered the kitchen with a plate. Buffy looked at her best friend and smiled widely.
"Oh, nothing. Just laughing at how life is, Will," Buffy said as she shook her head. "Just look at us. Look what happened. We escaped from a town full of vamps, completed a ten-thousand year old curse, reunited Whistler with his wife, Angel was turned human, and now we're having brunch! And it's not even noon yet!"
"Just another morning on the Hellmouth!" Willow quipped as she placed the plate in the sink. Then she grabbed Buffy and hugged her friend fiercely. "I'm so *glad* that you're alive!"
"So am I, Will," Buffy whispered as she gave her a quick hug back. Cordelia then entered the kitchen grumbling.
“Does anyone care that I am on a diet and can’t eat certain foods,” Cordelia grumbled as she entered the kitchen with glasses. She looked at the two hugging girls and glared. “Oh, break it up you two. Like she hasn’t come back from the dead before.”
Teary eyed, Willow then let Buffy go and they both looked at Cordelia. She gave her token sigh and came over and hugged the two girls. Cordelia sniffed. ”I am not going to ruin my make up and cry that I’m happy to see you. But I’m glad that you’re alive. Now we all can go shopping.”
Buffy chuckled. Her friends wanted to spend as much time with her since they nearly lost her for a second time. To a ten thousand year old demon-woman that was trying to avenge her daughter's death by wiping out all the vampires in the world, and the human population with them. But, surprise! Turns out that she was Lilith's reincarnated daughter. While Lilith...even bigger surprise, was the wife of Whistler! Talk about weird soap opera!
"Hey, Will," Xander said as he came into the kitchen with a plate of French fries. He did a double take at the three hugging girls. "Am I interrupting a Moment here?"
"Great timing, Xand! We're having a group hug here," Willow said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Want in?”
"Great! Let me in!" Xand said as he went to hug Buffy himself. Buffy laughingly went into his embrace. "It's great that you're alive, Buff! I'm *really* glad that you're all right. But enough of this for now, it's really getting hairy out there, Buff. You gotta come back to the table. You're Mom's, like, giving your dad looks."
Her Mom. After turning into a watering pot, was doing o.k. But she was cool with that. Especially after knowing that Buffy was alive by recognizing the dead girl was wearing the wrong pair of shoes. Even she had to chuckle at that clue. "Why?"
"Because he's grilling Giles about his, a, presence here. Your dad thinks it was Giles that was rude to him on the phone and not Spike, so Giles is getting it," Xander said with a grin. Buffy burst out laughing. "And he's not looking too thrilled with your dad's grilling either."
Oz walked into the kitchen. "What is this? The Scooby convention in the Summers’ kitchen?"
"Looks that way, honey," Willow said as she gave her man a kiss. "Why are you here? Came to give Buffy a hug?"
"Oh, yeah, that too," Oz said as he gave Willow a quick hug. Then he turned to Buffy and gave her one. "But Buffy, man, you gotta get, like, out there."
"Is my father still grilling Mom and Giles?" Buffy laughed. Oz shook his head as Buffy’s mind wandered as she thought of Giles. Her Watcher was acting a bit strangely. Buffy knew that he was glad that she was alive. And he had told her so after speaking to her in the hall. But he was definitely looking a little harassed by Dad, who taking turns grilling Mom about who was the rude Englishman on the phone and her Watcher. And if she didn’t know better, he was acting a bit like a territorial guy and like Dad was the invading marauder.
"Nope, he's harassing Angel now," Oz said as he pulled Willow into his arms again. "He's giving Angel the 'Are you good enough for my little girl?' grilling to the nth degree. Man, I'm sure that it was Willow's dad that gave me that grilling. At least *I* got out with my teeth intact and skin still attached."
Buffy laughed as she walked back into the dining room. "I guess that I had better go rescue Angel before Dad scares him."
Buffy grew quiet as she made her way to the dining room. Dad...it was the most confusing for him. First finding out that his daughter was dead, then to find out that she wasn't...was, well....a bit confusing to say the least. He was still stuck with the emotions that his daughter wasn't dead, and that she was in love with a man. [ And to be told all that in one day…] Well, Dad was coping as best he could.
"So then, Angel, you didn't know that my daughter was declared dead when you decided to take her to visit your friends down by San Diego?" Buffy heard her father ask. She rolled her eyes, grilling mode definitely.
"No, sir. We were only aware that her jacket had been stolen, not that the thief was dead. Had we know, I would have made sure that Buffy would have called home sooner. "Angel replied calmly. "But since we were out of communication ourselves, we were not aware that Buffy was declared dead."
Buffy smiled as she heard Giles’s voice. "Mr. Summers, I can assure you that Angel would have notified us immediately had he been aware of what we-"
"Excuse me, 'We?' As in you and Joyce?" Buffy muffled a giggle when she heard her Dad’s frosted voice. He almost sounded a bit like Giles in a cold-stone-glare mode. “What were you and Joyce doing together?”
"Well, ah…" Buffy stifled a giggle as she heard Giles stumble.
"Not that it's any of your business, Hank, but what Rupert means is 'we', is all of us. Me, him and the children," her mom said calmly. "Now, do you want more food?"
"No thanks, Joyce. So, Angel, where were you with my daughter that you couldn't get in contact with her parents sooner?"
"We were in the small town hospital. I had a mild concussion and high fever after those thieves attacked us at the gas station, and Buffy had refused to leave my side." Buffy smiled at this explanation. It was as close to the truth as they were going to give her dad without telling him she was the Slayer.
"I see. So then what do you do?" Buffy heard her father ask. [O.K. time to stop the grilling.]
"Dad!" Buffy said in exasperation. Hank Summers stood up and gave his daughter an innocent smile and a huge grin.
"Hi, honey, we were just talking," he said as he gave her a quick kiss. Buffy hugged him back and then sat next to Angel. Taking Angel's reluctant hand into hers.
"You mean giving Giles and Angel the ninth degree," Buffy chided affectionately. "I heard it all. You scared my friends into the kitchen. Stop it."
His eyes not missing how his daughter was leaning close to Angel, Hank Summers simply shrugged as a pang went through him. "Can't you're my only little girl."
"I'm you're only grown-up girl, Dad," Buffy sighed. Angel tugged at Buffy's hand. When she looked at him, he gave her a quick kiss on the head. Buffy looked mildly shocked at his show of affection towards her. Especially in front of her father.
"It's okay, Buffy. I understand," Angel said. He looked at Buffy's father and gave him a slight smile. "I do all sorts of things. I'm an investor and an artist."
"An investor?" Buffy and her father echoed. Buffy cleared her throat when her father looked at her. “Of a lot of things. He invests in a whole lot of stuff. I really don’t pay attention when he starts talking about things like that.”
"An artist?" Buffy's mother echoed. Hank Summers looked at his ex-wife. She quickly amended her tone. "Of drawings and oils. That was how I met him first, he has a, um, unique style."
Angel nodded. Buffy's father looked at Angel shrewdly. "What kind of investor? Stock market?"
Angel nodded. "That and stores. Anything that catches my attention."
"I see," Hank Summers mused. At least his baby would be well provided for, but still, he wasn’t sure about this man."Well, then..."
"Well then, nothing Dad, "Buffy announced as she got up, pulling Angel with her. "It's enough of this grilling."
"But, honey," Hank Summers protested, then yawned. He shook his head and yawned again. "I-"
“See? You're tired, go to sleep and then you can grill us later," Buffy said as her eyes pleaded with her mother. Her mother communicated with her eyes that she wasn’t happy with what Buffy was asking. Buffy pleaded harder with her eyes again.
“Come on, Hank. I’ll show you where you can rest before you have to head off to LA,” sighed Joyce Summers as she took her ex-husband's hand to lead him to a guestroom. Giles frowned slightly as he saw Joyce’s small hand in Hank’s.
"Guess that I can use some rest," he said as he rose from his seat. Then he bent over to give his precious little girl a hug. She had grown up behind his back and now another man was going to take her away and take care of her. "By the way..."
"Yes, Dad?"
"I didn't know that you could read in another language," Hank said, his voice impressed. "That's pretty good, honey."
Buffy looked at him, puzzled. Hank then pointed at the various demonology texts that Giles had laid out on the coffee table. She froze when her dad picked up a really old-looking book. ”Is this in what language? And why are you reading this?”
"Oh...well, the language is in Old Gaelic," Buffy shrugged as she smiled. "I'm trying to learn. Mr. Giles and Angel brought them here for me. They're showing me how to read them..."
"Really? Is that how you and Angel-"
"Let's go, Hank," Joyce said as she pulled at his arm to lead him to the guest room. "You need some sleep after that flight from Thailand. I think you can ask them questions later. Buffy, I think you need to put your books away."
“Sure thing Mom,” Buffy called out. Then she sighed in relief, and started immediately picking up the books that Giles and the others had left out. Angel stooped down to help her.
When she stood, she looked at Angel who was grinning at her. "Been a long time since I was called to the carpet by a girl's father. Almost forgot the singular experience."
"Glad that you enjoyed yourself," Buffy said dryly as she stepped into Angel's arms and hugged him as best she could with an armload of ancient texts. She looked at Giles and gave him Angel’s and her load of books. "We're going out to enjoy the sun."
Distracted at watching Joyce and Hank leave the living room, hand in hand, Giles nodded as he took the books Buffy and Angel piled into his arms. Then he frowned when he realized what she said. "Buffy-"
"Is it clear yet?" Xander asked as he poked his head out into the living room. "Is there any bloodshed? Angel! Good Gosh Almighty! You're still alive!"
Angel gave out a snort as Buffy laughed. "Come on guys, it wasn't THAT bad!"
"Buffy, I love you dearly, but you dad...he is one Grill Master. If I ever have any daughters, I'm gonna take lessons from HIM," Xander said in mock seriousness as he approached her. "And I can't believe it! The G-man is still in one piece! Way to go, Giles!"
Giles rolled his eyes at the younger boy’s antics. "Thank you, Xander."
Following Xander, Oz looked at the Watcher. "So how'd it feel to be called on to the carpet by Mrs.S's ex?"
"It was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life," Joyce announced as she entered the living room. She glared at her angelic looking daughter and started to get some books out of his arms. "I am so sorry, Rupert. Hank does that sometimes. And Buffy, you know better."
“What’d I do?” Buffy said innocently as she glommed herself by Angel’s side. Joyce gave her a look, and Buffy sighed. “Okay, but Dad was giving Angel and Giles the grilling and we all need rest and those books are filled with dust and are making me itch.”
Joyce rolled her eyes as she took two more books and handed them to her again. “You don’t sneeze when sharpening stakes, but you itch when you carry musty old texts? And as for you father staying here, you know we can’t stay in the same place over three hours max without a protected to the hilt referee. And Rupert here is going to hurt himself with all these books-”
"It's all right, Joyce. Really, it is," Giles said red-faced as he tried to pull the books away from her. Buffy looked at her Watcher, then her mother, then at Giles again. Buffy’s eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him. Was there something going on? “Xander? Oz? Can you take these texts and put them in the study? And make sure that door locked.”
Xander and Oz hurried to take the books from Giles and Buffy’s mother. Then Angel shook her to grab her attention. When she looked at him, he gave her a hard kiss on the lips. Then Angel looked at her Watcher and announced. "We're going out, to see everything. To spend time in the sun together."
"Cool. Where are we going?" Xander said as he clapped his hands. Cordelia and Willow were right behind him. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"WE'RE going out somewhere else," Cordelia said through her teeth. Xander gave her a blank look. "As in beach! Right, Willow?"
"Sounds good to me," Willow said with a shrug. “Are you and Angel coming with?”
Buffy looked at her friends, then looked at Angel and smiled wickedly. "We'll come after a stop at the malls. Angel needs a swimsuit. And a way of getting to the beach and mall."
"Buffy..." Buffy looked at her mother innocently. "Can I have the car? We'll be back by sunset. And Giles can stay to keep you from choking Dad while we enjoy a free day at the beach."
"Buffy..." Buffy looked at Giles, pouting. "It's Angel's first day, Giles. Please?"
Giles closed his eyes in resignation. Angel hid a grin. "All right. Be back at sunset. We'll discuss the events..."
"When Buffy's father leaves," Willow said quickly. Giles gave her a frown, she added quickly, "Cause he still doesn't know that she's the-"
"Hey, Mr. Summers!" Cordelia called out and smiled brightly. "Looking for something?"
"Hey kids! I just wanted to get some stuff from my car. Looks like a secret meeting here," Hank Summers joked. "Gonna make plans and kill someone?"
"Not in the day time," Xander said casually. Then grabbed his head. "Ouch! Willow!"
Hank looked at his daughter's strange best friends. Buffy quickly kissed her father, then grabbed Angel's hand and ran out the door with him. "See you later, Dad! Get some rest, we'll talk at dinner! Let's go guys!"
After a chorus of good-byes from the youngsters, Hank Summers shook his head and looked at Joyce. "Were we *ever* that young and in love?"
Joyce Summers gave her ex-husband a smile as she remembered the days when she believed that she was wildly in love with him. "I remember being that young, but not that much energy. As for the love...I think it was there. Then. Come on, what do you need from the car?"
"I'll get it, Joyce. Have you been eating..."
In the living room, Giles looked at his Slayer's parents, then at the youngsters who had deserted him. And felt, not for the first time, alone. It was not an unusual feeling, one that came quite often and unexpectedly these days. But it was the first time that he had ever felt alone in the Summers house.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
First Night of the First Month: Still Reeling...
"I *can't* believe that you did that," Buffy said as she walked into the house. She turned around and glared at Angel, who glared back.
"It was nothing," Angel said. Buffy glared at him again. The others quietly entered the Summers house, not wanting to miss the fireworks.
"Uhh, Buffy? What's wrong?" Joyce asked as she came out of the kitchen. She was followed by Giles and her father, Hank Summers. Buffy pointed a quivering finger at Angel.
"HE punched a guy out on the beach! And THEN he took the blanket and covered me up with it, and kept me in Oz's van until it was time to go home!"
"He was LOOKING at you! Specifically down at your chest!" Angel defended. He looked at Buffy's mother for support. "With a leer! And DON'T tell me that the directions to the snack bar was on his mind when he asked you! Mrs. Summers, if a man came up to you and asked where he could find Delicious Sweetness was, wouldn't you punch him?"
"Uh...well," Joyce started, but Buffy interrupted her.
"Mom! Isn't the Delicious Sweetness a store on the beach? And that if a guys asked you where it was, it means *nothing*!"
"He was looking down your chest!" "He was not!"
"AND he was enjoying the view that you were giving him!"
"He was not!" Buffy shouted. She stood toe-to-toe with her recently turned human boyfriend. "He was only looking at me, no more than that group of girls staring at YOU! And that YOU were staring AT!"
"I was NOT staring at the girls!" Angel said furiously as he glared down at her. "I was trying to find a way to cover you up! WITHOUT you getting angry!"
Buffy glared up at him. "Yeah? Well, I think that-"
"Buffy! Angel!" Joyce Summers shouted. They both looked at her. "I think that it's time for dinner, and you all have to wash up. Before that though-"
She looked at Buffy in the eye. "You can change from that bikini that Angel has YET to get used to, since he was away from the beach for a long time. Remember? He's been away from you AND the sunshine scene for a long time. Understand me?"
Buffy sighed, getting her mother's hard driven point. "I'll go change."
As Buffy ran up the stairs, Joyce then looked at Angel. "And YOU can get used to her wearing the clothes she has. But let me warn you, that bathing suit was the *least* revealing one that she has. She has two others that are less than that one."
Angel's face paled, then he raced upstairs. "We'll see about that!"
“I am beginning to see a loud start for those two,” Giles sighed as he looked at Joyce. She shook her head at the noise coming from upstairs.
Hank looked at Angel race upstairs and heard furious pounding on the door. Then he looked at an angelic looking Joyce and smiled. "I think I like that boy. If he can get her to wear less skimpy clothing, then he's all right by me."
"Figures you'd like him because of that," Joyce muttered as she started for the kitchen. "You always were a bit of a prude. I remember a similar argument about my French black-one piece."
Hank shrugged as he followed her. "Hey, was it my fault that I hated men staring at you?"
“I doubt that any modern and open-minded man would even think to prevent Joyce from wearing what she wanted,” Giles said virtuously from the kitchen portal.
“What a sweet thing to say,” Joyce beamed as she looked at him. Giles smiled back at her. Then she winced when she heard the door bang open upstairs. “I hope I don’t have to get a new door.”
Giles, who had also winced at the sound, smiled apologetically and offered, “I can make sure that Angel pays for it.”
Hank glared at the Englishman. He was really getting on his nerves and what the hell was he doing hanging around Joyce? He wasn’t her lover or anything like that, but he sure had one hell of a close relationship with her. “So then you’re saying that only a wimp would let my girls wear what they wanted, letting all sorts of men ogle at them.”
“No, I’m saying that a reasonable man wouldn’t even think of preventing them from wearing what they wanted,” Giles said, affronted by the lout’s wording. Wimp, indeed! “He would simply do what Angel is doing right now, only with more subtlety.”
When he finally got what the other man was telling him, Hank narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re a sneaky limey.”
"Hmph! Try that and you’ll have a hard time doing anything," Joyce retorted as she started for the kitchen again. Then she remembered who else was with Buffy. She stopped and looked at Buffy's friends, who were listening raptly to the argument going on upstairs. "Girls, follow me upstairs to get cleaned up. Rupert, could you take the boys, downstairs?"
"With pleasure, Joyce," Giles said, relishing the quick frown on Hank Summers' face. "Boys, come dinner is on the table. Let us not tarry in cleaning up."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Angel looked at Buffy as she walked him down to his basement apartment. "[Think of something to say.] It's...chilly down here."
"Yeah, I guess it is," Buffy said noncommittally as she unlocked the door. Buffy turned on the lights and grimaced. It was still as messy as she left it. "Uhhh...sorry about the mess. I've been using the place to crash when I needed to be alone. I'll clean it up..."
Angel stopped her when she started to pick a dress up. "Leave it. It looks lived in."
"Oh, yeah. Well, it does, doesn't it?" Buffy said with a huff. She smiled as she remembered when she first moved in. "My mom said that she worries about me if I ever move out of the house. I mean, who'd pick up after me? And I can't even cook..."
Angel smiled faintly at that. "You don't have to know how to clean and cook to live alone. So you crashed here? After patrolling?"
Buffy nodded as she hung up her dress in the closet. "I didn't sleep in your bed...Ohmigod!"
With Angel following a step behind, Buffy ran to the bed and took something from under the covers, and hid it behind her back, and smiled brightly at him. Frowning, Angel tried to look at what it was. All he saw was a flash of something that was pale blue with black trimming. He looked at Buffy's nervous face. "What was that? What's behind your back?"
"Oh? What? Ahem, well,” Buffy coughed nervously as she balled the clothing behind her. "It was, well, my...nightwear."
"Your...nightwear," Angel repeated slowly. The pale blue and black flashed through his mind again. [Breathe, Angel. Breathe.] "Nightwear."
A blush crept up Buffy’s cheeks as she nodded furiously. "Yeah, it was my nightwear. Now go away while I put it away."
"All right," Angel said as he turned away, smiling. [She likes sleeping in my bed.] When he heard a dresser drawer close, he turned around to look at her. Her face was still pink from embarrassment. ”So what-“
"Um, I'm going to go home now," Buffy announced as she moved away from the bed. Angel stiffened at that.
"No," Angel said forcefully as Buffy looked at him curiously. He reached out his hand to her. "Please. Stay. I want to see you as the sun rises."
"Angel..."
"We don't have to do anything. We can talk, or play games," Angel said a little desperately. "We could dance."
"Dance? We've never danced before," Buffy said hesitantly. "But my Mom is..."
"Call her. Ask her if you could stay with me. Until sun rise," Angel asked quietly. He didn't know why it was important for her to stay, but he wanted her to. He wanted to see the sun rise with her, to prove that the day wasn't just a dream. He needed her to stay. To prove that it wasn’t a dream, that it was real. To know that she was with him when the new dawn came, and it was still real. "We'll dance until sunrise. Please..."
Buffy nodded slowly, and went to call her mother. Angel went to the window shades, and opened them wide. Then he went to the CD player, and played the familiar classical music of his youth. The soft strings of a waltz played when he heard Buffy behind him. He smiled, and pulled her into a dance around the small room. Both relishing at the warmth of each other, and the two hearts beating.