His Slayer had not returned to her room before the sun set, probably intentionally, and so Angelus left her room via the window. He was not going to sit there waiting for her like a lost puppy dog. If avoiding him made her feel better about what had happened that morning he was not going to fault her. He would certainly let her hear about it the next time he encountered her.

He walked in the direction of The Bronze, feeling up for a bite to eat. He rarely left the area around The Bronze needing more. It surprised him how many turned a blind eye to the happenings in their town, yet he was always able to find someone willing to be a repeat customer. He did not feed off of the same person twice unless he was unable to find anyone else willing.

"Hey Buffy," Willow's werewolf boyfriend called to Angelus' back.

Angelus turned around to face the boy after discarding the willing donor on the ground in a heap. She would wake up in a little while and be fine. He had not fed for as long as he normally would have, but long enough to render her unconscious. Normally, he enjoyed testing his control, pushing the limit and seeing just how far he could take the feeding without actually killing the person. "While I've been called worse, I've certainly never been mistaken for a woman before."

"Oh, Angel, hey" Oz said with a slight frown. "Buffy's not with you?"

Angel tried to get upset at Oz's use of Soul Boy's name, but for some reason found it difficult to do so. He was the only one of Buff's little group that Angelus could stomach. He would love to see Oz out in the open, running free on the next full moon instead of caged up in the school library. "Why in the world would I have her with me," he said, wiping his mouth clean from any remnants of his feeding that might still be there.

"I don't know," Oz said clearly puzzled. "You smell like her, I just assumed she was on a date or something. I didn't realize it was you." Angelus growled low at the date comment, taking Oz's words to mean the werewolf thought his Slayer would stand out in a darkened alley letting some boy stick his tongue into her mouth.

"Oh, that," Angelus said. "I was with her last night and most of the morning." He smiled wickedly at that, glad that one of her little friends shared Angelus' acute sense of smell and would know just what Angelus meant with that statement. There was no mistaking the scent of sex. Oz was perhaps not as keen to different smells as Angelus was given he was new to the preternatural world, but Angelus gave him credit for knowing at least that much.

Oz's surprise was apparent. "I was just looking for Willow really."

"She's not here either."

"You didn't," Oz said, apparently trying to be delicate which was amusing considering it was Oz. "They're both okay, right?"

"Last I checked, yes, they were both fine. I didn't touch your girlfriend if that's what you're asking me. No offense, but redheads have always tasted bad." Oz frowned at that, apparently not sure if Angelus was being sincere or not.

"And Buffy's okay?"

"Yes, what is it with you people? If I wanted her dead I'd have done it by now."

"From what Giles has told us you enjoy the torment leading up to the kill not the actual death of your subject so much."

"It all depends on the subject," Angelus said simply.

"Right, whatever, I can't wait until Buffy feels better so she can deal with you."

"And what makes you think she will deal with me?"

"She's not going to let you stay here and feed, you know it."

"She hasn't been able to stop me yet, wasn't able to even before she wasn't feeling well." Angelus stepped menacingly closer to Oz. "And you know damned well why I smell like her. She's not going to kill someone she's fucking because she wouldn't fuck me if she didn't still love me. So, I think I'm fairly safe from the tip of one of her little wooden stakes."

"Until you piss her off, or kill someone she actually cares about," Oz said taking a step back. Angelus was curious whether the boy had enough control over his shapeshifting to be able to do it at will without benefit of the full moon.

"But you see, Oz, I've got myself a little insurance policy."

"What's that?" Oz asked.

"The baby."

"What baby?"

"My baby, our baby. Oh, didn't my Slayer tell you that little detail? I knocked her up, so I don't think she'll be killing me anytime soon."

"Impossible."

"Apparently not, unless you're telling me she hopped into bed with someone else."

Oz shook his head at that. "I can't say whether she did or not."

"You would have known and you know it," Angelus said simply.

"I'm not exactly on your side in this, so I don't know that I'd tell you anyway."

"Oh, I think you would, Wolf Boy. But back to the freak of nature she's carrying," Angelus said with a wry smile. "I think she'd let me do whatever I damned well pleased if I promised not to hurt the baby." Angelus had every intention on doing as he told his Slayer and leaving once the baby was born and knew that his Slayer would be all right. There was no reason to let her friends know that, though.

"I think you're wrong. She loved Angel, not you."

"Then why did she let me into her pants, Wolfie? Why did she give it up so easily, let me feed off of her. You've tasted blood before, haven't you? You should try a Slayer's blood, it's intoxicatingly powerful stuff. You'll never want to go back to just plain ol' humanoid blood again."

"All right, you're trying to get a rise out of me, which is fine, but what Buffy does is Buffy's business, not mine. I can't say I approve of it and I know Giles wouldn't, but so long as it doesn't get Willow killed I just plan on staying out of it."

The girl he had fed off was starting to stir and Angelus decided perhaps now was a good time to go. "So long as your girlfriend doesn't interfere or try to stop me from having what is mine, she'll be fine."

"She doesn't belong to you," Oz said evenly.

"Is that right? Do you think it was just a fluke that she and Soul Boy could not resist and eventually gave into their feelings? She's mine, the baby is mine, and no one is going to keep me from them. Not you, Wolf Boy, not her Watcher, not your girlfriend and certainly not my Slayer's mother."

"I can't speak for the others, but I'm not stupid enough to try and keep you from her, Angel."

"Good doggie," Angelus said sarcastically. "I'll be seeing you, I'm sure," he said before jumping onto the top of the dumpster in a fluid motion. From there he made it to The Bronze's rooftop where he could escape and go about his business without Oz knowing where he was headed.

He would love to be a fly on the wall when Oz told Willow that Buffy was pregnant. "Sorry I spilled your secret, Lover, but it is about time they all know the truth."

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com