Mental Questions

She's so perfect...

"You're turning into a sap, Angelus..." Angel whispered.

They were sitting in a rocking chair, cradling Cat, ever so gently. Angel couldn't take his eyes from his tiny baby girl...

She's one of the best things that has ever happened to us...Angelus mused.

A soft sigh alerted them to Buffy's presence. She was standing in the doorway, watching them with tender eyes.

It was so blatantly obvious to her, how thankful both the soul and the demon were to have their daughter. Over the year that they had all been together, her Angels had become very protective of her, even from each other, and now, their baby.

Catriona Aileen Ryan, better known to her family as 'Cat' or 'Kitten'. Angel had started calling her Cat after the first week, and naturally, Angelus had to do something different...

He called her Kitten...

Buffy, unable to show favoritism to either name, and thus one of her Angels, called her Mommy's darling, when she didn't call her Catriona.

It was just so wondrous to see all of them together. Buffy had never dared to dream that she would tame the great Angelus, causing Angel to be able to openly be with her.

She had never dreamed that she would ever have their child...

Catriona...

Buffy loved her daughter so much. She loved the men in her life just as much...

She cast her eyes on his beloved, angelic face. Two men, technically. Angel and Angelus, soul and demon. Two side of the same being, they were just more obvious about it.

Buffy didn't dare consider the day that she and Catriona would no longer exist, couldn't bear the thought of what her lovers would go through...would do...

Ask her, Angel.

Angelus' thought broke into hers.

"What, Angel? What's wrong?" came Buffy's concerned voice.

Angel's gaze strayed from his daughter to his lover. His eyes revealed his uncertainty.

"Buffy, umm...I don't want to sound ungrateful, because, God knows, I am...grateful, I mean...but...how...umm...Cat..."

Buffy finished his question, "How was Catriona possible?"

Angel's gaze was attached to the floor. "Yeah..."

Buffy looked at him with a wondrous half-smile. "I really don't know, Angel. I just slay, the Scooby Gang does the rest."

Their eyes widened at that precise moment, "Oh my God! We haven't told them about the baby!" they exclaimed in unison.

And you two think I'M the thoughtless one...Angelus laughed incredulously.

Buffy raised her eyebrows, "And why didn't you remind us about telling them...?"

Angelus grunted, Like I would...

"I rest my case..." Buffy smirked.

It didn't take a genius to guess their reaction...

Willow had been reserved, not knowing what to make of the situation.

Giles had been flummoxed, to use his term, but had promised to find the cause of the anomaly.

Neither Angel nor Angelus appreciated their daughter being described as an anomaly...

Oz hadn't really had an opinion. He usually kept of the domestic of being friends with the Slayer, unless it concerned Willow...

Cordelia, of course, was very vocal about her opinions, not that she couldn't understand Buffy's whole thing with her hunky vamp boyfriend, Angel, but why would she want to ruin her figure???

Buffy had to sometimes wonder about Cordy...

Xander, predictably, was entirely against it. In fact, if the sudden increase in noise level on his end of the phonecall, he was violently against it.

Joyce and Faith had both known of the recent addition to the Ryan family. They had been regular visitors over the seven months after Buffy had had her pregnancy confirmed. They always came at least a week apart from each other just to make sure that Buffy could handle it with the added pregnancy.

One weekend, Joyce would visit and fuss over Buffy, and the next weekend, Faith would roll up, talking about whatever demons she had slain.

It was interesting to hear about how things had changed in Sunnydale...

Part 3

"Check it, B! There was this big, god damn ugly demon, right, and we were like...one with the hittin' an' the grabbin' and all that shit..."

Buffy wondered if Faith would ever tell her the truth. She could hear the other Slayer's thoughts as she described the glamorized events of her slaying duties.

Buffy cocked her head slightly, straining to sense something...it was her daughter, she was awake...

She excused herself, leaving Faith with her Angels so that she could check on her Catriona.

Faith had moved in with Joyce, taking over Buffy's room. Not that Buffy minded. She was glad that her mother had Faith to look after her and Buffy had her family.

Buffy heard Angelus' Can we shut her up, already? as she left the room...

Catriona was up and about. Buffy's little miracle was crawling around the playpen, throwing around a few of her toys. A familiar face was the infant's constant companion...

Mr. Gordo...Buffy's stuffed pig.

Angelus had been the one to suggest that his Kitten should have it. Angelus was extremely gentle with his daughter. When Buffy and Angel would sleep together, Angelus would surface, immediately ready for some two on one action with his favorite mind-reading Slayer, would take the time for a satisfying romp, then head for the nursery as soon as Buffy fell asleep.

Or when he thought Buffy was asleep...

Often, Buffy would pretend she was asleep, preferring to watch him interact with his Kitten...

Sometimes, Angelus would just stand or sit by the cot, watching her sleep. Buffy would often hear Angel, so she assumed that Angelus spoke to him directly. Angel would always be agreeing with thoughts that Buffy couldn't hear, but she could tell by Angel's words and tone that they were talking about their daughter...

Other times, when Catriona was awake, happily sucking on a chew-toy or smacking around the mobile of Pointed-Tooth Fairies, he would pick her up and cuddle her, or talk to her in baby talk, or even just sit in the rocking chair with their precious baby girl lying on his naked chest.

At least he had the decency to pull on a pair of boxers before he visited the nursery...

Before Catriona was born, he had always walked around naked when he first got out of bed. He said that it saved time after breakfast when he had a raging hard-on...

He always made sure that he had breakfast before Buffy awoke.

What Buffy had found astounding was that after awhile, Angel began to do the same thing whenever he was in control of his body.

Buffy hadn't had to ask why he had started imitating Angelus...

Buffy pretended to still be asleep. She knew that Angel preferred to eat before she woke up. She knew Angel was back in control by Angelus' "I'm hungry, Soulboy..."

What surprised Buffy was that Angel didn't immediately put on a pair of boxers. Previously, he would never leave the bedroom in his birthday suit when he was in control, whereas Angelus loved to parade himself...

Buffy heard Angelus mock Angel, "What? No boxers? Don't tell me Soulboy's gonna leave the bedroom naked as a jaybird...?"

She heard Angel pause as Angelus continued his taunting..."Aww, come on, Angel! You're not gonna shock Buff's delicate sensibilities! She always goes for an early morning romp! Come to think of it, she likes it before and after lunch, too...he chuckled.

Buffy knew Angel well enough to know that he was frowning, wrestling with his good, catholic breeding. She decided to let him know that she really didn't mind a naked Angel around the house...

Buffy giggled at the memory as she picked up her daughter to change her diaper.

She could remember crawling across the bed quietly to where Angel stood beside the bed. He had been facing away from her. She had placed her hands on his hips, sliding them around to the front, stroking his smooth skin...

"Go have breakfast," she had murmured, her voice husky from sleep, then she playfully bit his butt cheek.

He had faced her, then grinned wickedly, before heading to the kitchen... still naked.

Mmm...I'm SO glad he's mine...Buffy recalled thinking.

And I still do...she thought to herself. Angel...Angelus...they had both given her so much. Their love, their support...their child.

She had no idea what she would do without them...Buffy held her daughter close to her chest, it wasn't often that she got to spend time alone with her daughter, her Angels were there with her most of the time. Anyone would think that she were a visitor and not the mother...

The ring of the phone broke through Buffy's musings.

She knew instinctively that it was Giles...

Part 4

Everything's in the first part...

It was the phone that finally shut Faith up. It wasn't that Angel wasn't interested in what demons no longer walked the earth, but he was sick of Angelus' whining.

Speak for yourself, Soulboy! I don't want to know about which one of my childer she's killed off recently...

Funny, Angelus...

"Anyway, this weird looking thing with a strange hair thing goin' for it..."

The ring of the telephone interrupted Faith's story...

"Excuse us for a second, okay, Faith?" Angel stood to answer the phone.

It's about bloody time! Angelus accused.

Oh, shut the fuck up, Angelus! Angel growled inwardly, picking up the ringing telephone.

"Hello?"

"Umm...Angel?" It was Giles. Angelus was quiet for once. He also wanted to hear what Giles had to say.

"Giles...did you find something?" Angel asked harshly. He was still more that a little pissed at the way Giles had described his sweet daughter, Cat.

Her name's Kitten...!

Angel chose to ignore the demon for a while.

"Uh...yes...I believe I have...Willow and I, I mean. Is there any possibility that Angelus feels the same affection for Buffy that you carry?"

He's got you there, Soulboy! Ya gonna tell the man the truth??? Angelus laughed.

They hadn't told anyone but Faith and Joyce about their bond with Angelus. The others had assumed that he and Buffy had just found a way around the curse, not that Angelus surfaced on an average of three times a day...

It's closer to four, you ass! Now that I think about it, when you add up the amount of times I pop up each day, as well as those other times while I'm around, we see some action, boy! Angelus chuckled easily. He was one vampire who took the number of notched on the bedpost seriously, even if it was only with Buffy...

Hey! Don't knock my Buff!

How many times do I have to say that I'm not knocking Buffy?!?! I love her, for crying out loud!

Angelus was quiet.

"Angel? Angel??" Giles was trying to get his attention.

"Uh...yeah, I'm here." Angel tried to focus on what Giles was saying. "I think he does lover her, Giles."

Damn right I do!

Buffy's former Watcher stammered, "Yes, well, it seems that if the soul and the demon are in accordance, procreating is a very slim possibility, but coupled with the fact that the mother is a Slayer...anyway, the soul and the demon create a whole being, not just part, which reactivates a small percentage of the body's reproductive organs and possibly other organs eventually, depending on the extent and the strength between the soul and the demon..."

Giles continued his explanation in more technical terms, but Angel understood the gist of it. If Giles believed that his daughter could be created simply by similar taste in the women they loved, then exactly which organs would begin working again and how well, with the extent of how much he and Angelus were in sync with each other...

In the nursery, Buffy stood with her daughter in her arms, waiting for Angel to come in and explain everything to her. Angelus thoughts were making no sense, the demon was near hysteria...

Angel wandered into the nursery. Buffy could still hear Angelus rambling nicely. Buffy frowned as a headache began to form.

Angelus stopped when Angel began to speak. "Buffy, that was Giles..."

"I know"

"Oh...umm, well it seems that my bond with Angels cases my reproductive organs to function again...Cat really is our daughter. In time, other organs would also function...

Buffy's eyes widened as she heard Angelus say, His heart!

"Does that mean that you'll be alive? No more crispy-critter, sun-dried Angel?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"What about me, Buff? What happens to me when Soulboy, here, returns to the land of the living... came Angelus' hopeless thought...

"Angelus," Buffy sobbed into her Angels chest.

She didn't want to lose any member of her family...

Epilogue

Catriona began to cry, sensing that something was very wrong in her usually happy home...

Her mommy was crying and her daddy was sad, but her other daddy was very quiet. She could hear her them all, just like Mommy, but they didn't know...

She had been born with her mother's abilities as well as both her parents' genetic make-up: Vampire and Slayer...Catriona had also been born with the knowledge of every vampire and Slayer that had come before her. She didn't know why. She wanted to tell her family that it would all be fine, because she knew what was happening, but she couldn't talk...it was one of the drawbacks to being less than a year old...

She wanted to tell her mommy that she didn't have to cry, because her other daddy wasn't going to go away and she wanted to tell both of her daddies that she and Mommy would never leave them.

She so wished that she could tell them everything that she knew...

Everything happens for a reason...Kendra's voice broke into the baby's musings.

I know, Slayer Kendra. Mommy had to be like that demon so that she could bring my two daddies together...Baby Catriona's mind whispered.

It's more than that, Pet. Without you...her Uncle William's soul said to her.

Without you, not to mention your parents, this world would have become Hell's playground, her Aunt Dru's soul finished for him.

Look inside yourself, child. You will find the answer to your dilemma, came Watcher Merrick's reminder.

On the outside, Catriona stopped crying. Buffy pulled herself from Angel's comforting embrace and picked up her daughter. The baby looked deep into her mother's eyes and patted her cheek.

Buffy watched in fascination as her daughter closed her eyes in concentration. Buffy heard an unfamiliar voice inside her head.

Don't worry, Mommy. Everything will work out...

Buffy gasped in both shock and amazement.

Catriona opened her eyes and flashed her mother a brilliant, albeit toothless, grin and blew raspberries at her...

Buffy laughed joyously and hugged her daughter close to her chest, realizing that her daughter knew a lot of somethings that she didn't...

Angel and Angelus watched the scene unfold, wondering if perhaps Buffy had snapped again...not that they really believed it.

Or did they... (hehehe)