The entire room froze in silence as the Slayer’s mother stood gaping in the doorway. Angel pulled away from Buffy, standing from where he sat on her bed. As he did so he backed up into a patch of sunlight that snuck through the blinds. If possible, Mrs. Summers eyes went even wider and she gasped slightly.
Buffy fought back a smile. “Sit down, Mom, before you faint.”
Mrs. Summers looked almost wildly at the room’s single chair, where up to moments before Angel had been sitting. Angel stepped back a bit further from Buffy’s side, giving her free access to the chair. She didn’t move at first, then haltingly stepped closer to Buffy’s bed. When she reached the chair, the sat down hard.
“Willow called me and told me you were hurt,” Mrs. Summers blurted. “I thought I could take you home… We could have a day together before you go back to the dorm.” She looked for a moment back and forth between Buffy and Angel, leaning slightly against the side of the bed. “What’s…” she began.
Buffy smiled at her mother uncertainly. “Can we talk about this…elsewhere? Home, maybe?”
Her mother looked even more uncertain as she replied, “Sure, I guess.” She glanced up at Angel again. “Both of you?” she asked, flustered.
Angel looked just as uncomfortable as the rest of them, and glanced at his feet. “Well…” he began.
“This came up rather suddenly,” Buffy spoke up for him. “We spent all of last night stuck in a cave, and you know Angel moved away so he doesn’t have anywhere to stay in town and…” She trailed off and looked up at Angel. She broke into a smile again. “I’m babbling, aren’t I?”
“You’re babbling,” Angel agreed, grinning back.
“Anyway,” Buffy said, looking at her mother again, “this is kind of a … two people needed for full explanation situation.”
Joyce was quiet for another moment or two. “Just tell me one thing,” she requested.
Buffy looked at her mother warily. “Okay,” she said with some reluctance.
“Did I hear you correctly when I walked in here?” she asked. She almost chocked on the final word. “Married?”
Buffy squirmed and grasped Angel’s hand. She swallowed. “Yeah, you heard us correctly.”
Joyce nodded slowly. “You know we’re going to have to talk about this.”
Both Buffy and Angel flinched.
“Yeah, Mom. I know.”
Buffy was signed out of the hospital rather quickly after that – even the doctor sensed the tensions between the threesome – and helped out to her mother’s car. She grumbled when the doctor insisted she allow them to take her in a wheel chair as far as her car. Angel could think of a couple of ways to make her feel better, but he didn’t think they would be appreciated in front of her mother.
It was close to noon by the time they were finally leaving, and Angel flinched slightly in the bright sunlight outside. It was much too bright for his comfort and gave him a sudden, sharp headache. It faded quickly, but still Angel’s good mood was dashed for the moment at the reminder of what he’d been and the demon that still dwelled within him. He said nothing of the doubts that sprang up once again within him and reached into his coat pocket for the sunglasses he had bought the day before.
Instead of the sunglasses, though, Angel’s hand met smooth crystal. It was warm, and Angel’s mood instantly lightened, a smile fighting its way to his lips. It was the spell crystal Willow had given him yesterday, the very center of the spell that bound him and Buffy together now. No matter what, nothing was breaking them apart again. No one either.
The car ride started silent and tense. Buffy sat in the passenger seat, shifting uncomfortably, unable to get comfortable with her injured leg. Angel sat in the back, hunkered down slightly bother from nervousness and to get out a much of the midday sun as he could. Joyce drove, and stared straight ahead to avoid looking at either of them.
Finally Buffy sighed. “Go on, Mom,” she said faintly, “You’re not going to be happy until you say something.”
Joyce swallowed audibly. For a moment she said nothing though. Then they reached a red light and she leaned back slightly as she brought the car to a stop. “I don’t know where to start,” she said at length. “There’s…too many questions.”
“Then pick one.”
“Does, ‘what the hell is going on’ work?” she asked, then chuckled slightly without humor. Buffy didn’t say anything at that. Joyce sighed. “Than I’ll start with Angel…” she glanced up slightly, looking in the rearview mirror, “who actually has a faint reflection now. And since vampires don’t have reflections – right? – and certainly don’t go out in the sunlight…” She left the question hanging and started the car forward once again.
“Well, you see…” Buffy began, then stopped and turned around slightly in her seat. “You have a reflection?” she asked in delight.
Angel shrugged, but couldn’t help grinning back. “I guess so. We didn’t think to check that yesterday.”
Buffy smiled. “Neat,” she said lightly, then turned around so that she was facing her mother once again. “How about I start at the beginning?” she said.
Joyce nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. “That works.”
Buffy sat back, trying to think of where to start. “A couple of days ago…there was this whole mess with a boy in my class. Basically he cast a spell so the whole reality revolved around him. Which, now that I think about it, is a pretty ridiculous concept. I don’t remember it really well, anymore…except that he, by making himself perfect, also created the opposite in this really disgusting monster. So we defeated the monster and that broke the spell.”
“What does this have to do with…” Joyce began, confused.
Angel was wondering that too.
“It does, believe me,” Buffy assured her. “See, when the spell was over, I was trying to hold onto the memories of that alternate reality…and kind of dredged up the memories of another one. And that’s an even longer story that I am so not going to tell you.”
Angel chuckled inwardly. He supposed there was some stuff that she definitely wouldn’t want to tell her mother.
“So, um, it brought up some stuff that I had to go talk to Angel about…which is why I borrowed the car and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I didn’t think you’d let me if I had told you the whole thing.”
Mrs. Summers nodded. That was probably a pretty fair assessment. “That still doesn’t explain why Angel’s here now, or in the sunlight and all, or you two getting…” She couldn’t get the word out.
“Married?” Buffy offered brightly.
“Yeah,” Joyce said in a strangled voice.
Angel wondered if Buffy was enjoying making her mother nervous.
“I was getting to that,” Buffy said finally. “You see, we…decided that we…wanted to at least stay in touch. We both missed each other…a lot. And while we were deciding that Willow was casting magic since she knew I ran off to see Angel.”
“Magic? Willow was…what did she do, exactly?” Maybe Joyce was wondering if they were under a love spell or something.
Buffy was silent for a moment and Angel took that as his cue to pick up the explanation. “Basically, she made me live again,” Angel said briefly.
“Are you…still a vampire?” Joyce asked slowly.
Angel thought about how to answer that for a second. “Sort of,” he said finally. “We’re still figuring that out. Half vampire, though.”
“Willow guesses,” Buffy added in.
Joyce was silent for another long moment. They were turning onto the street with her house. “And when did this all happen?” she asked.
Buffy looked at the clock. “A little over 30 hours ago,” she said. She yawned at the thought. Neither of them had slept more than briefly since then.
“And…when did you decide to get married?”
“About seven hours ago.”
Joyce didn’t say anything to that as she pulled the car into the driveway. She had a very pensive look on her face, as if she was trying to figure out which objection to make first. She didn’t make any immediately, though. Instead she got out of the car and walked around the side to help Buffy.
Angel beat her to it, though. He stood outside Buffy’s door, helping her out of the car and then supporting her until she got her balance on the crutches the hospital had given her. She smiled gratefully, then took a couple of experimental strides towards the house. When she seemed like she had the feel of it, she tried to continue at a faster pace. She only made it a couple of steps before she lost the coordination of the crutches and started to pitch forward. Angel was at her side quickly and caught her. Buffy sighed grumpily.
“I though being the Slayer meant I was supposed to be super-coordinated,” she muttered.
Angel chuckled sympathetically. “You’re just tired,” he said.
She nodded slightly, and leaned against Angel’s chest wearily. Angel smiled and picked her up. The crutches fell on the ground with a clatter and Buffy gasped in surprise. Then she chuckled and wrapped her arms around him as best she could. “I like this better,” she said finally.
“I thought you might,” Angel said with a smile, holding her tight. Remembering that they were not alone, he turned in the yard to look at Mrs. Summers a bit nervously.
She was watching the two of them, and Angel caught her smiling slightly. She came to stand next to them and picked up Buffy’s crutches before continuing past them to open the door. Angel followed her, carrying Buffy into the house.
Angel stood a bit tensely just inside the doorway. Mrs. Summers was watching him, and she caught his gaze for a moment. Buffy was nodding off already in his arms. Joyce smiled very slightly. “Take her upstairs,” she said. “It looks like Buffy could use some rest.”
“We both could,” Angel replied, softly so as not to disturb Buffy.
“Yes, well…I’d like to talk to you alone for a minute,” Joyce said just as softly. “Then…you’re welcome to rest here for as long as you like.”
That was unexpected, so Angel nodded thankfully before taking Buffy up the stairs to her bedroom. He was hoping to be tolerated; he certainly was expecting an extended welcome. Still, he wasn’t going to push his luck, so he knew he and Joyce would probably be having a long talk before he got any chance to rest.
Buffy stirred partially awake when Angel lay her down on her bed. She blinked t him sleepily and he kissed her lightly on the forehead before standing up again. “Where are you going?” she asked. “Stay with me.”
“Your mom wants to talk to me,” Angel said. “I’ll be back.”
Buffy made a face at him. “If you survive,” she muttered. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Angel shook his had. “Rest,” he said. “This is something I need to do alone, and you need to sleep.”
“So do you,” Buffy retorted.
“Yes, but I didn’t just get injured,” he shot back. He kissed her lightly again. “Sleep, love. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Buffy smiled slightly as she closed her eyes again. Angel stood and left the room.
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