Notice: I do not own these characters, except for the ones that I make up.

Author's Note: Hello, everyone. It's nice to meet you, guys. Am I being too friendly? Fabulous. Well, anyway, I've been following this website for a while now and I love it. I sort of love it, anyway. I am going to let you guys know that I except all reviews but I do not except flames that have no explanation behind them. I toss those reviews into the garbage where they belong. I'm not trying to be mean but flames without explanation is kind of lame.

Summary: This takes place after season seven of Buffy. Buffy goes back to LA to find Angel and they soon reunite their love and end up in small town Cedar, Colorado with three daughters. This is a little AU because Connor never came to be (he's a very bad boy), Spike and Anya are alive, and well, I think that is it.

CHAPTER 1

            It was a dark Friday night, moon the only light. Buffy walked through the woods of Cedar, Colorado, a long, baseball bat-like stake in her hand. The quiet gave Buffy time to wonder off into her own thoughts.

          Cedar, as small and quiet as a town ever was, even more so than Sunnydale, which was never quiet. Buffy often compared sweet Cedar to hell on earth Sunnydale. Cedar just seemed like the more pleasant place to think about. A vampire jumping out of the darkness knocked Buffy to the ground and away from her thoughts.

          The slayer leapt up and immediately began exchanging blows with the creature of the night. On Buffy's third punch to his face the vampire took hold of her hand and swung her into one of the many nearby trees. Buffy got back to her feet quickly, kicked the vampire in the stomach, and stabbed him in the chest with her stake when he was on the ground.

          All of a sudden another vampire came crashing out of the bushes, falling on its back. Buffy just shrugged and stabbed it quickly. Angel walked out of the bushes then and up to her.

"Hey," he greeted. "And here I thought I was getting too old for this."

Buffy turned to him, resting the pointed end of the stake on the ground. "Sort of but you hide it well."

"I try," Angel shrugged. He put his arm around her waist and they began to walk. "Fun night, huh?"

"Better, I guess." Buffy stared closely at her stake. "I swear how many apocalypses do we have to have before all of the vamps are gone?"

Angel pulled her in more closely as he replied, "Two, three maybe?" Buffy sighed, looking down at the ground. "You'll always be the slayer, Buff."

"A slayer," Buffy corrected. "There are, well, lots now, all over the world."

"Even so you're the only one this town has."

Buffy stopped walking and turned to him with a soft smile. "And you're the only shanshu having, sex, broody, vampire champion it has."

"Ain't it the truth?" Angel smirked. He leaned in and gave her a gentle peck on the lips. "Come on." They began to walk again. "Let's get back to the girls."

Buffy sighed. "I just hope they're in bed."

          Six-year-old Vanessa Angel jumped around the house in the living room, growling as she did. The young girl was playing one of her usual vampire games. She was bouncing up and down on the couch when Buffy and Angel entered.

          Neither one of them liked the sight they saw. Some of Vanessa's toy were tossed randomly around the living room, there were juice stains over the carpet, and Vanessa was jumping on the couch with her shoes still on.

"I don't think they're asleep," Angel said to Buffy.

"Gee, you think?" Buffy said in her usual sarcastic way. She watched Vanessa as she kept jumping. "You gonna handle that?"

"Yeah, sure," Angel replied, looking down at her. "Why don't you go check on Chelsea and Stacey?"

"Can do," Buffy sighed, heading towards the kitchen.

Angel entered the living room then. "Hey!" he shouted, causing Vanessa to shriek a little and sit down on the couch inconspicuously.

"Hi, Daddy," she smiled innocently, batting her little eyelashes.

Angel slipped off his long coat. "So what part of be in bed by the time we get back didn't you understand?" he asked, tossing the coat into a chair.

"I couldn't go to sleep," Vanessa said, still with the smile on her face. "You have to tuck me in."

Angel raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, I'll tuck you in all right."

          Vanessa shrieked again and dashed towards the entrance of the room, attempting to get away from her dad. Angel easily took hold of her before she could step one foot out of the living room. He took her over to the couch and began tickling her stomach.

"Stop!" Vanessa squealed in amusement, kicking her little feet.

"Nope," Angel said as he continued to tickle her.

          Buffy walked into the kitchen, seeing Chelsea, she and Angel's fourteen-year-old daughter, chatting away on the phone and twisting her shoulder length blonde hair around with her finger. Buffy walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hold on," Chelsea said into the phone then looked up at her mother. "What?"

"How long have you been on that?" Buffy asked, gesturing towards the phone.

Chelsea glanced at the walk clock. "Like three hours." She turned back into the phone. "OK. Where was I?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and glanced around. "Where's Stacey?"

"Somewhere," Chelsea shrugged then went back to her conversation.

          Buffy sighed deeply and made a mental note to talk to Chelsea later about her excessive phone use. She went upstairs and headed in the direction of the bedroom door that had low, pop music coming from it. Buffy knocked on the door softly.

"Stacey!" She called, knocking a little louder. "Hey, Stace!"

A tall, red haired girl with brown eyes appeared at the door then. "What?" she asked crossly, one hand on her hip.

"Stacey, in case you hadn't noticed, the living room is a mess and Chelsea's been on the phone forever."

Stacey shrugged her shoulders. "So...?"

"So?" Buffy echoed, surprised at her impudence. "Well, we sort of left you in charge. Why'd you let this happen?"

"Teenage insanity," Stacey replied, her arms crossed. "Sometimes we just snap and the craziest things happen. This week the living room is a mess. Next week..." Stacey glanced around suspiciously and said in a low voice, "The cops could show up at our door."

Buffy glared at her. "Not with the funny."

"Look if you don't mind I'm in the middle of something." Stacey shut her door before Buffy could say anything and turned the music up louder.

          Angel continued to tickle a squirming Vanessa down in the living room. The chestnut brown haired girl kicked wildly but kept a smile on her face.

"Daddy, stop!" Vanessa giggled. "I'll be good!"

"Great." Angel stopped tickling her and stood her up in his lap. "Now what were you doing that made this mess?"

"Playing," Vanessa replied simply.

"Playing what?" Angel asked suspiciously. Vanessa looked away sheepishly. "You were playing vampire again."

"Yeah, but it's not like last time," Vanessa tried to explain herself. "This time I didn't bite Chelsea."

Angel hid a smile at that memory. "That doesn't matter. I've told you not to play that. Being a vampire isn't a game, you got that?"

Vanessa nodded slowly. "Yes, Daddy..." she answered him lowly.

"Good." Angel pulled her in and kissed her forehead. "Time for you to go to bed." He picked her up gently and carried her up to her bedroom.

          Angel tucked Vanessa into bed snuggly then left out the door, bumping into a grumpy Chelsea in the hall.

"What's wrong?" Angel asked her, matching his brown eyes with hers.

"Daddy, Mom is so unfair," Chelsea stated. "Chrissy was just about to tell me who had my name scribbled all over his notebook."

Angel crossed his arms a little angrily. "A teenaged boy has your name on his notebook?"

Chelsea squirmed sheepishly. "Yeah, well... it's just a rumor." Angel raised an eyebrow. "I'll go to bed now." She rushed into her bedroom.

          Angel sighed and wondered into his bedroom. Buffy soon entered after him, looking tired from both patrolling and dealing with the girls.

"I repeat, fun night, huh?" said Angel, climbing into bed.

"Yeah, big fun," Buffy agreed sarcastically, getting into the bed on the opposite side. "I'm worried about Stacey."

Angel rolled around to his side and looked at her. "We all are. She hasn't been the same since Rick died."

"I can't exactly blame her." Buffy looked into his eyes. "I know what it's like to lose a boyfriend... literally."

Angel reached out and stroked her blonde curls. "Then have that boyfriend get shot down to hell?"

Buffy snuggled up to him. "Please. I don't feel like a guilt trip tonight."

Angel smiled and kept playing with her hair. "Sorry. Good night."

Buffy closed her eyes and said, "When does the good part come in?"

Second Author's Note: What do you think of the first chapter? I hope you like it and I will update soon. But you have to actually review me first otherwise there is no use in updating. You get what I mean? Good.