Forever, Always, and Then SomeChapter Three
Angel proceeds to pace back and forth trying to come up with courage to continue. Buffy: Angel before I get old and gray, do you want to tell me why I am here? Angel: Well…… You heard that some people brought Darla back to life. Buffy: I heard about that from Spike. Druscilla was all excited about it. Actually I heard you tried to torch them both. Angel: I did…..not too successfully. Well I am not sure if you know why they brought Darla back. Buffy: Not really, don’t think I even heard who did it. Angel: Well it was this local attorney firm who work for the lowest of the low. Most the personnel have sold their sold to the devil himself. Well guess I thwarted one too many of their schemes and they decided to bring Darla back to either drive me nuts or turn me toward their side. Buffy: And… Angel: Well they pretty much succeeded on both parts. I went a bit insane and became obsessed with destroying them. I even went so far as to fire Cordy, Wesley and Gunn. I wanted them as far from my melt down as possible. I was man with a mission, a mission of self destruction. But I finally hit rock bottom. Buffy: What……did you kill someone? Angel: Actually you might have preferred I did. My bottom was when I found Darla in my room. After throwing her around the room a few times a threw her in bed. Angel pauses and looks at Buffy. Buffy: (stunned) You slept with Darla? Please tell me you did not sleep with Darla. Angel looks down and then back up into her eyes. Angel: I slept with Darla, but when I woke up it woke me up. I had an epiphany. I knew I had reached the bottom of the barrel. I tossed Darla out and told her if I ever saw her again I would kill her. And actually I thought I never would. Buffy is too hurt to speak. She remembers how Darla tried to gun her down. Willow: So why are talking about all this now. Is Darla back and after us? Angel: No. Darla did come back here eight and half months after I threw her out. But she did not come back alone. She was, she was, damn I can’t say it. Cordy: Angel, do you need help? Want me to take it from here? Angel: No I have to do this. Buffy deserves to hear this from me. Buffy looks at him and he appears ready to cry. Angel: Buffy. (swallows) Darla came back here because she was pregnant Very pregnant. Buffy: But that is impossible, you yourself told me vampires can not have children. Especially with another vampire. This is absurd. Angel: Well it was true. Darla was pregnant. Pregnant with my son. Buffy: A boy? A vampire? Angel: No a human boy. (Angel continues) But because her body was not designed for delivery, she went into labor but her body fought it and she started hemorrhaging which caused the child to go into distress. Not to mention all the fiends and foes trying to kidnap a pregnant vampire for their own reasons. We were unable to perform a c-section because Darla had discovered during the pregnancy that some powerful force was protecting the child and assuring it came to term. Buffy: Did he die? Angel: No, Darla realized that if he did not come out he would and because she had bonded with him and believed that she would stop loving him once he was outside her body and his soul had left her body, she would no longer care, she sacrificed herself. Buffy: What are you saying? Angel: Darla staked herself in order save the baby. She went up in dust and he remained behind. Buffy: So you brought me all the way to LA to tell me you have a kid? Angel: Not exactly. (swallows again) (looks at Cordy who nods) I brought you to LA to tell you we have a son. Buffy: Huh? Whoa! no way am I going to help you raise Darla’s kid. Angel: That is not what I am saying. We found out after Darla died that she was not his biological mother. My friend Lorne ( he nods to Lorne) is able to receive messages from the Powers That Be regarding a person’s destiny. He usually connects when he hears someone sing but not always. Well last week he caught me trying to hum a lullaby. He…. Well let him tell you. Lorne? Lorne: Well when I walked into the room I immediately knew that the baby’s mother was not dead, and that Angel needed to find her. Angel actually thought I had had a few too many. But I knew what I felt. Angel: Well it did sound crazy, but I told the others about it and they were as confused as I was. We had all seen a very pregnant Darla. But when you called and talked to Cordy about the dream, well it got Cordy and Fred convinced that somehow it had to do with the baby. Buffy: This group thinks just because had a dream, that suddenly I am the baby’s mother. Angel: Well uh no, we decided to do some tests. Willow: The tissue samples I sent you!!! Buffy: The ones for school? You lied to me? Willow: Actually they were suppose to be for a Wesley’s experiments on people with special abilities. Angel? Angel: We sent the samples along with mine and the baby’s to a lab for DNA for well……. Buffy: And the results? Wesley hands a folder to Angel. He tries to hand it to Buffy but she won’t take it so he hands it to Willow. Willow: Oh my lord. Xander grabs the folder and he and Anya look at it. Dawn goes and peers over there shoulder. Everyone looks at Buffy. Buffy stares at Angel. He wants to comfort her but is scared to get too close until he knows what she is thinking. Dawn takes the file to Buffy who takes it in her hands and slowly reads the results. Cordy: All we can figure is that when you and Angel slept together that on day, that you got pregnant and when Angel turned back the hands of time the child ended up in some limbo. Buffy: Cordy please shut up. Buffy looks from Angel, back to the paper in her hand and back to Angel. Buffy: (whispers)We have a son? Angel nods. Buffy: Where? Angel calls up to Fred. When Fred appears at the upstairs landing he tells her to get Liam. Fred turns to go back to the bedroom. Buffy: Fred NO!! Fred stops and Buffy turns to Angel. Buffy: He is upstairs? Take me to him. Angel escorts Buffy up the stairs. He signals for Fred to go down with the others. He leads her to his room and walks her up to the cradle. He reaches in and picks up the sleeping infant. Buffy takes his little hand in hers. She looks at Angel. Buffy: May I hold him? Angel: Of Course Angel hands the baby to Buffy. She sits down in an overstuffed arm chair. Buffy: You named him Liam? Angel: Yes, is that okay? Buffy: Can I be alone with him? Angel nods and quietly leaves the room. © 2005 Tara |