Brother Dearest
By Jyll (jgirl519(at)hotmail.com) and Juls (JulietMon2(at)aol.com)
Page 2 of 3
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the WB, mutant enemy, whatever. Except the ones I made up. Don't sue unless you want to get a bottle of hairgel and a magazine subscription.
Special Thanks: Special thanks to my co-author, Juls. Thanx also to Dana, Krystal, Lise, and Jenny for their insight, and of course Pamela, for her total lack of tact.
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Part 5
Angel sat down nervously. It had been three long years. What would he say to her? He didn't have to worry about that.
Buffy was eyeing him carefully, trying to look into his soul. She knew that he still had feelings for her. Angelus would probably be very possessive now that Angel was around. What she wouldn't give to see the two of them on Celebrity Death Match.
Angel cleared his throat gruffly, still trying to come to terms with the fact that the love of his life was married to his alter ego. "It's nice to see you again."
"Yeah, I'm really glad you guys were up in the area. I've missed everyone from Sunnyhell, err, Sunnydale," said Buffy. She would have to stop listening to Spike so much.
"Look, Angel, this is *very* awkward, that's a given. So let's just cut to the chase and stop with the small talk," said Buffy. She had a lot to say to Angel, quite a bit of work to do, two children to take care of, and a husband who hated to cook.
"Okay, that seems fair enough. I know it not really my place to ask this, but right now I'm so pissed off that--"
"Excuse me? *You're* pissed off? What right do you have to be 'pissed off'?!" shouted Buffy.
"Hmmm, lets think. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're f*king my evil twin, who, need I remind you, tormented you, killed your friends, hell, who killed half of the damn neighborhood! And here you are, *married* to the bastard, having his children, and acting like he's some kind of saint! Why do you think I'm so pissed off?"
"Look Angel, I know this is going to sound like déjà vu but could you contemplate getting over yourself for just a minute?! There is no 'us'. I'm sorry if I was supposed to wait for you. God knows I didn't know you were ever coming back, but guess what? I moved on! And, believe it or not, Angelus is like you, but with more sides and diversity. We can have kids, make love, fight like hell, and Angelus is everything you weren't and more. And he sure as hell won't admit it, but he has all of your traits too, so I get the best of both worlds. You don't even exist to me anymore, Mister 'the-world-revolves-around-me', and what the f*k did you expect me to do? Wait around for you to come back from the depths of hell? Sorry, I have a life.""
Angel felt like he'd been slapped in the face and had his heart torn out and stomped on. Angel thought for a minute and tried not to show Buffy how much that had hurt him.
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute! You didn't have to just take off! What about your friends? Your mother? Your watcher? Didn't you think about them? And what kind of person jumps town because their boyfriend dies?!" sputtered Angel. Buffy smiled up at him. Something she had learned from Angelus, to smile when going in for the kill.
"I sure as hell wasn't gonna pass up an opportunity like that."
"What're you talking about, slayer?"
"Oh please! Look, if you were a little kid and your mother said to you one morning 'Oh, sweetie, you look sick. Do you want to stay home from school today?', and you felt perfectly healthy, would you say 'No, Mom, I feel great!'."
Angel shook his head, even though he knew a response was not necessary, they both knew the answer. "Of course not, I'd have jumped at the opportunity to miss school. But what the hell's your point?"
"My point is, that this was my chance to get out of the hellmouth and I took it."
Angel frowned. She had used his death to her advantage? The thought upset him, but he had to give the woman credit. She was smarter than he had thought. *And Angelus is the one who gets to experience her intelligence*, he thought bitterly.
"Ang, you okay?" asked Buffy. Although she no longer had feelings for him, she did consider him a friend, and she was concerned.
Angel noticed the look on Buffy's face. She cared for him. Not as a boyfriend, but as a friend. He hated that thought, she was *his*. But he decided to work with it, to act like a friend in order to learn more about her, so that he could work his way back into her heart.>
"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, do you wanna just start over, as *friends*?" he asked.
Buffy smiled. Things were starting to look up. She stood up and hugged Angel. "Nice to have you back," she said. "Yeah, you to," he said.
They walked out of the office. Angelus looked up, searching each of their faces for any sign of what had went on in Buffy's office. On Buffy's face, he saw that she looked to Angel as a trusted friend, and that she loved him the way one loves a friend. On Angel's face, he saw love and lust. The same things that he, Angelus, felt for his wife.
Angelus walked over and kissed Buffy passionately, to stake his claim. Buffy responded to the kiss, knowing full well what her husband was doing, and loving every minute of it.
Buffy looked at the now wide awake Shawn and frowned at Angelus. He looked away, not wanting to be the victim of her angry look.
Buffy Kinney walked over and picked up Shawn, hoping to make him drowsy.
Angel felt jealousy swelter up inside of him. That should have been his baby Buffy was trying to get to go to sleep! She should have glared at *him* for allowing the infant to get so hyper. Damn that Angelus. Now he knew how Xander had felt.
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Part 6
Angelus leaned over Buffy and whispered in her ear. "I'm starved. If you want, we can ask Mrs. Jamison to watch the boys, and we can go out."
Buffy smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. We haven't been out for a while.
"You know honey, we have to invite them."
"Who?" Buffy said innocently thought she knew perfectly well who.
"You know who. Giles and Co."
Buffy shuddered at that thought. She has missed them but she really didn't want to waste a perfectly good evening with her mother and her ex, when she could be with her husband. It was bad enough that they stopped by without being invited.
Angelus saw the look on her face. "Don't worry, I promise that we'll make up for lost time when they leave," he whispered.
Buffy smiled seductively at Angelus and Angelus returned the look as well as a nod of his head in response. Even though he was a mortal demon, he was a typical male, which meant that he would do anything for sex. Buffy was a lot like that as well, always wanting to lock him in their room with her and stay their all day. Angelus and Buffy often used that to their advantage to get what they wanted.
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Forty-five minutes later
Cordelia smoothed her hair and sat down in the bleached pine chair that Spike had grabbed from another table for her. His eyes skimmed over Cordelia, who was clad in a short, rather tight, sun-dress. Only Drusilla noticed and smacked his arm playfully. Spike gave her the 'I'm-innocent' look and seated himself at the table.
Earlier in the evening Angelus had suggested that everyone go out for dinner. Rory and Shawn were with an elderly neighbor who often watched the boys when Spike and Dru weren't around. Buffy had chosen to eat at The Blackbird, an elegant restaurant in the heart of Chicago. Spike and Drusilla had planned on eating out that night anyway, and so they were dressed in evening wear. Angelus and Buffy hadn't had the time to change after getting back from work, so they were presentable as well. And the Scooby Gang had been traveling, so they too had on appropriate clothing for the restaurant.
Xander picked up his menu. He could barely read two-words on the damn thing, and what the hell did "bisque" mean anyway? Glancing around the table, he noticed that nobody else had any trouble with the menu at all, which made him feel even more stupid than usual. The waiter came.
"May I take your...Angelus! Buffy! So nice to see your faces again! What can I get for the two of you?" asked the waiter. Xander noticed how pleased the waiter looked to see Buffy and Angelus. Angel noticed how the waiter's eyes went over Buffy's slim figure and fixed themselves on her chest. Angelus noticed this too, and casually he slipped his arm around her shoulder.
"I'll have the salmon, Jonathan," said Buffy.
"Excellent choice. Would you like the soup or the salad?" asked the waiter.
"Neither. I think I need to cut back on my calorie intake."
If Angel lived to be one-hundred, okay, three-hundred, he would never understand women. Buffy had one of the slimmest waists he had ever laid eyes on. Actually, the slimmest waist he had ever laid. *And now Angelus gets to do that,* he thought bitterly. *Man when did I turn into Xander?*
The 11 of them sat in an uncomfortable silence, looking into each other's faces until the food was brought up; only then did any conversation start at all. The topic wasn't very pleasant, and was all about the past and how Buffy ruined all their lives by running away. Buffy tried hard to keep her temper, and Angelus was going to have red marks in his hand the next day from her nails digging into his skin. While trying not to make a scene and ruin her social reputation in Chicago, Buffy managed to swallow her anger and say "Now is not the time to be bringing this up, especially here," and then excused herself to freshen up.
Cordelia joined Buffy in the Ladies Room. The brunette leaned against the wall and watched as Buffy reapplied her make-up.
"So, Buffy, there's a lot of tension at the table. What're you gonna do about it?"
"Why do you care?"
"I don't. I just so do not want my first evening in a big, city ruined by some tired, angry slayer who isn't to blame for this mess."
Buffy looked over at Cordelia, startled by her previous statement. *Cordelia agreed with her! She was on her side!*
"Thanks, Cordelia. You have no idea of how much I needed to hear that. My mom hates me, hell, I never liked the bitch much anyway. But everyone else, do--"
"No they don't! It's been a long trip, Willow's PMSing and they're all so shocked to see you here that you're a perfect target for them to vent their anger," as Cordy interrupted Buffy.
"Fine, maybe. But what about Angel? I mean, did you see how hurt he looked when he heard about Angelus and I? There'll probably be a showdown between them!"
"So, what the hell is wrong with that? Haven't you ever had two guys fighting over you?"
Buffy nodded.
"Angel and Xander don't count!"
Buffy shook her head.
"Well, it's great. They both try to win you over with there affection, and you have immense power over both of them."
"Maybe I don't want that."
"Maybe you should."
Once again. Cordelia's total lack of tact, and rather selfish perspective drew Buffy in. *Why not see the glass as half full?*
Cordelia gave Buffy an encouraging smile. "Work it, girlfriend."
And with that they picked up their purses and made there way back to the table.
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