"Hey, Everyone!" Willow and family had arrived before Angel could explain what he knew.

"Hi, Willow!" Jena leapt into her aunt's arms and hugged her tight.

"Hey, Sweetie!" She returned the "bear hug" and set the girl back down. Jena waited for Felicia and Andrew to finished saying their hellos as well to her parents to play with them.

Angel tipped Angel back to a right side position after hanging him upside down for fun and placed him on his feet.

Buffy leaned against his side as if he were a wall and rested her head on his shoulder. "Go play!" Buffy commanded, lightly tapping Jena's bottom with her foot in encouragement. The three giggled and ran off towards the backyard.

Buffy peered over to Angel and whispered in his ear. "We'll talk about this with the gang tonight after dinner, 'kay?" He gave her a wry smile and nodded. "Ok." With his answer, Buffy, again, playfully slapped his bum and hugged Willow.

"Hey, Will!" Moving to Oz. "Oz man!"

"Hello, Buffy." Oz's usual mellow greeting was presented.

"Shall we?" Willow hyped up her voice and gestured to the kitchen. The group had a tradition of cooking together when they were having dinner at one or the others houses. Now, Willow had her arm out for Buffy to take in order to escort her to the kitchen.

Hooking her arm with her friend's, Buffy plays along. "We shall!" They left the guys chuckling, and went to the kitchen.

"Hey, Everyone!" Xander announced as he and Anya stepped in. "What's happening?" He shook Angel's hand and nodded his "hello" to Oz. Phoebe wobbled in, holding her brother, Jake's, hand. She was a mere year old and yet her eyes seemed to make her look as if she were older; fearless.

"Where are the girls?" Anya asked, looking around the main room.

"Ah, kitchen." Oz pointed in the direction of which his and Angel's wife were located at.

"Thanks!" She nodded to Danielle and smiled. Then, turning to the three guys, she scrunched up her nose and looked back to Danielle. "No Feyrin tonight?"

"Oh, no. He said that he'd be late. Some business he had to take care of." She picked up Phoebe and took Jake's hand and made their way out to the backyard with the rest of the kids.

Anya turned to join the others in the kitchen when she noticed that the men were lagging. In fact, they were standing still. She turned back around to them and raised an eyebrow. "You coming?" It was more in a reminder sort of tone rather than a question of curiosity.

"Yeah, yeah!" in chorus the three "boys" nodded and spoke freely, rambling their way out of trouble, making it seem as if they were not trying to get out of something. They reluctantly walked in the kitchen and started helping out with dinner.

Once Angel had been recognized by Buffy, upon entering in on the "fun," he was kissed tenderly by his wife and, again, patted him on his behind. Angel knew that she was merely getting away with doing that in front of their friends was because she made it seem as if she were playing. But Angel knew that that was just her little, new, pet peeve that she HAD to do in order to hold herself off until they were alone.

The couples cooked together. Jobs weren't individual, but partnered. Husband and wife. When Angel saw it, he took every chance no matter the length of time, to caress her bare back. The blood wine halter top she wore was driving him absolutely insane. Angel was slightly intimidated by the amount of power she had over his body's response system. Hell, even the way she cooked gave him the aching feeling to haul her up onto the island in the middle of the kitchen and make love to her without limitations of other people being in the house, including children. But, thank The Powers That Be that he had control over those certain...urges.

"Hello!?" Feyrin's voice echoed from around the corner to the living room.

"In here!" Buffy tilted her head back to shout over everyone's ears. She had forgotten that Angel was taller than she and that even her head-tilt-act wouldn't help his sensitive ears.

Next Part

Feedback to BuffyNAngelWritr@aol.com!

Go here for more of Caela's stories.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page