CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: WHITE

Christmas morning came with a fine sheen of white snow, something that Sunnydale hadn't seen for three years.  Not since the Christmas that Angel had tried to kill himself.

Stephen was completely in awe of the gentle snowflakes that had fallen and had sat in the falling snow for an hour with his wife in his arms, staring at the cloudy sky.

"I've never seen anything like this," he whispered quietly.

She leant into him further and let a tear slip from her cheeks.  She had cried more in the last four days that she had been back than she had in the four hundred years she had been in Quortoth.  But she could understand Stephen's complete awe-stricken view of this world.  Compared to the redness of the sky and the barrenness of the land, Sunnydale seemed like a paradise.

The moment was ruined by Dawn bounding down the porch stairs and yelling "Merry Christmas" at the top of her lungs, probably awakening the neighbourhood at the early hour of six thirty.  Buffy smiled indulgently and stood up, offering her hand to Stephen to help him.  Hand-in-hand with her husband and arm-in-arm with her sister, they retreated into the house to find Willow, Tara and Giles sitting in the living room.

Giles looked up and smiled as he saw his Slayer enter the room.  He had woken up many times during the night, fearing that the entire meeting with Buffy had been an incredibly vivid dream, but the journal that had laid under his pillow had assured him that his Slayer was back.  That she had survived, partly because of him.

Willow and Tara waved tiredly and motioned for the three of them to join them.  Stephen sat beside a shy Tara and Buffy took a seat on her husband's lap, Dawn seating herself on the floor.

"Can we open the presents yet?" she pleaded.

Buffy just rolled her eyes, glad that some things would never change.

"We still have to wait for the others to get here, remember?" she reminded her sister gently.

Dawn looked up at her sister and poked out her tongue.  "Spoilsport."

Dawn was perfectly happy, however, to let her sister ruin her fun.  As long as her sister was alive to do it, she would be thrilled no matter what the circumstance.  She still had yet to sit down with her sister and have a full-on talk with her, but she knew it could wait.  Things still needed to be settled down and until everything was back to normal, that particular conversation could wait.  That and Dawn really didn't know how to tell her sister 'thank you' for dying in her place. 

The door opened, Xander dragging in a complaining Anya who was loudly questioning why they had to be awake so early when they could have been in bed at home doing 'other…more fun things.  Like having orgasms.'  Stephen had turned bright red, only used to Buffy's teasing innuendos, rather than Anya's tactless and overt statements.

Spike walked in twenty minutes later, complaining that he had almost been caught in the sun because the snow fall was slowly clearing.  No one had been sympathetic to his cause however, and he had quickly abandoned his complaints. 

He rolled his eyes as he saw Buffy sitting on top of Stephen, but a quick glare from Giles had told him that he was to leave them alone.  And the vampire really couldn't blame the Watcher for the glare either.  Having Buffy back had seemed to make everything okay once more.  The group seemed to flow far better now, and everyone seemed to be smiling and relaxed.  That and having Buffy back was far better than anything he could have wanted for Christmas.

The door opened again and Spike was immediately on his feet a scowl on his face.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here Peaches?"

Angel had returned the scowl and had looked as though he was ready to stake his childe then and there.  Dawn had stood up and pulled Spike away from his sire, leading him back into the living room, a move that Angel hated seeing.  He sincerely hoped that Dawn would have learnt from her older sister's mistakes about vampires.

Angel followed them into the living room and Buffy immediately felt Stephen tense up beneath her.  She looked at him worriedly and followed his gaze, noticing Angel for the first time.  She looked at her ex-lover apologetically.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here Angel," she said gently.

Angel looked extremely hurt and he could feel the tears in his eyes.  He had thought that after driving them from LA to Sunnydale, things could begin to get better between them.  He had had to return to LA when Cordelia had received a vision that needed his attention, and though he had hated leaving when he desperately wanted to see his son, he knew that the Powers That Be wanted him away from Sunnydale.

Angel took in a deep unneeded breath and just nodded silently.  He turned to leave, all eyes on him.

Stephen looked at the young man who was his father.  He couldn't understand how this vampire had come to be his biological father, but he knew enough about fate and destiny that it hadn't been an accident.  And Buffy's explanations of the difference between Angel and Angelus had begun sinking in over the last few days.  Plus, his semi-camaraderie with Spike was making him see demons in a new light.

"Wait," he called.

Angel stopped, his undead heart catching in his throat.  He turned and saw his son shift Buffy off his lap so that he could stand.

The room went silent as father and son stared at each other uncomfortably.  Buffy put a comforting hand on Stephen's back, a small and non-intruding gesture that Stephen leant back into, silently thanking his wife for her support.

"You can stay," he offered, not daring to look at Angel.  "If you want to."

Angel could only nod and slowly joined the group in the living room.  Willow and Tara squished up, Willow sitting on Tara's lap as Stephen and Buffy sat down with Angel next to them.

Spike looked towards Dawn in confusion.

"What's the Poof got to do with anything?" he asked.

Dawn shrugged, and looked towards her sister.  Buffy had never explained why it had been Angel who had driven them from LA to Sunnydale. 

Buffy looked towards the room who was staring on in fascination, wondering why Angel was there and being almost calm about his ex-lover sitting on top of a man who had just told him that he was welcome to stay.

"Maybe we should explain a few things," Buffy said quietly.

Stephen squeezed her hand encouragingly and Buffy took in a deep breath.

"Stephen is Angel's son," Buffy said, about to go further in the explanations but all hell seemed to break lose in the room.

"Son?!"

"Good lord-"

"Fricken hell!"

"Oh my-"

A giggle had startled the group into silence and Willow went a bright shade of red under the groups close scrutiny.

"Sorry, it's just…when you think about it…Buffy is Angel's daughter-in-law."

The group had looked at her blankly and quickly burst into a round of laughter, except for Angel and Stephen who had twin looks of a combination of horror and amusement on their faces.

They managed to calm down and Dawn looked between the two men quizzically.

"Wouldn't we have known about a twenty year old son?  I mean, you didn't have a son last time you were in Sunnydale.  Did you?"

Angel swallowed nervously, hating having to explain the story of he and Darla.  Cordelia had blown up at him about it, and he was expecting much the same reaction from the Sunnydale Scoobies.

"There was a prophecy.  And technically, he was only born two months ago.  He was taken two weeks ago and he came back a few days ago.  Time moves differently in Quortoth," Angel explained.

"Yeah, Buffy mentioned that," Dawn said.

"Two weeks?" Tara asked quietly, looking at the young man beside her.  "Time must m-move very dif-differently there."

Willow looked towards her lover, stricken and quickly turned her eyes towards Buffy who looked at her panicked, shaking her head empathically.  Willow bit her lip but kept her suspicions to herself.  She would ask Buffy later when the others weren't around.

Buffy smiled as she realised that her friend would keep her secret.  She sighed happily and leant back in her husband's embrace.  Life couldn't have been more perfect.  She was surrounded by family and friends, she was in the arms of her husband and the father of her child and she was finally out of the hell dimension that had been her prison for so many years.  The conversations could wait for later, explanations and more tears could be put on hold.  All she wanted to do right now was let her sister dive under the tree and hand out the presents.  And Buffy would begin to erase the memories of Quortoth that plagued her mind.  Giving Stephen a gentle kiss, she knew that even though it would be hard, they would get through it.  Together.  Just like always.  And she could slowly forget that she'd ever even known the dullness of the colours of Quortoth.

THE END

(Well…it's finally finished.  Twenty-five chapters done.  Thank you sooo much for taking a chance with this fic.  I know that a lot of people don't like reading things that aren't to do with their favourite couples, cos…yeah…thanks for trying this one out!!  Mega thanks to Sarah my wonderful flatmate.  You may not have helped with this fic, but you've helped cos you were my chum!  And to Adam.  Just cos I love ya!  And to Rik, even though you and Adz will never EVER know about my whole writing fetish.  Please, have a look at my website!  Bloody Summers True Love  )