The view of the fireworks was perfect from the overlook Angelus had brought his mate to. She wore her hair back, exposing her neck to him yet refused to let him feed until the fireworks were over.

It was a good thing he had more control than most, because being this close to her would be enough to drive most mad. He had to admit the fireworks were not as lame as he thought they might be. He noticed with his mate around things never seemed as dull as he imagined. He was surprised about an hour into them when she slid her body in front of his, leaning her back against his chest. Her hands betrayed their strength as she squeezed his lower thighs, almost as if she needed to remind herself that they were not here as a couple.

Instinctively, his arms went around her as if to protect her. He had avoided contact with her since he had relinquished control to Soul Boy earlier in the day afraid that it would happen again, for good. He would rather walk into the sun than live his life as Soul Boy had lived it the past hundred years. He was a pathetic excuse for a vampire even one with a soul. It was only when the Slayer, his mate, came into the picture that Soul Boy had started doing something worthwhile even if it was on the wrong side of the good versus evil game.

He heard her give a contented sigh and felt her hands relax followed by the rest of her body. He gave a soft groan as her head rested against his shoulder and the scents of her shampoo, perfume and a scent that was just her were potent in the still night air. Who needed aphrodisiacs when he had a mate that smelled this good?

Perhaps it was due to his still feeling out of sorts after what had happened earlier that day, perhaps it was the way she looked with the night's sky full of various colored fireworks as a backdrop, or perhaps he just wanted to have her, Angelus would never know. His resolve was all but gone as it was when she inched closer against him, wiggling her tight ass against his cock. As was so often the case where his mate was concerned, without conscious thought his game face fell into place and his fangs were imbedded in her neck.

Distantly, as if she was on the other side of the world instead of right in front of him, he heard her cry out, felt her body bow away from his and then collapse against him as if she resolved herself to this fate. One of his hands supported her neck while the other slid underneath the white peasant top she wore, cupping a bare breast. He rolled a nipple between his thumb and forefinger, pinching it, which caused her to cry out again.

"Angelus," she cried out, and it took him a moment to realize she sincerely wanted him to retract his fangs from her succulent flesh. He stopped feeding, but did not move away from her. He could not just then. "Pull out."

She tried to pull away from him, but he held her tight. He growled in response, still unwilling to retract his fangs from her neck.

"I want to face you." She sounded breathless and more than a little aroused. She reached behind her with one hand, finding the crotch of his leather pants and gave his cock a squeeze. "I want you in me."

He did not need to have that offer repeated twice; his fangs were out of her neck as quickly as he could without causing her too much pain, the less he hurt her when he fed from her the more apt she was to let him again. A quick swipe or two with his tongue to stop the bleeding and he was more than ready for her to turn around, lift the skirt she wore and impale herself on his hardened cock. It had been weeks since he had gratified himself, so he was more than ready for her.

She must have needed him as badly as he needed her because she did exactly what he had pictured her doing. She unfastened his leather pants, pushed them down around his hips as low as necessary to gain access to his cock. She gave his tip a squeeze before stroking his shaft a few times and he had had enough of the teasing. "Buff," he said hoarsely.

She stood, lifted her skirt up and started to pull the pair of panties she wore down, but he stopped her. He placed one hand at her hip, using the nails of his other hand to rip the crotch of the panties so she did not need to bother with removing them. He drew her down then, guiding her above his cock while she placed her hands on his shoulders.

She tilted her head to one side, sweeping her hair out of the way. "Now," she whispered. How she had the willpower to wait he did not know, but she waited to take his length inside of her until his fangs broke the skin on her neck. She clutched his shoulders as she adjusted to having him inside of her again. He could feel her inner walls pulsating against him and her blood pumping faster into his mouth as her excitement and arousal grew. If he had not before this moment, he would from this point forward appreciate his mate's muscles.

He had never had her like this, on top of him, riding him and he found it exciting as hell despite knowing in the recesses of his mind that his being inside of her in this position might not be wise in her current condition. Her stamina was amazing, there were days he worried about her because all she seemed to do was sleep and yawn when she was awake. There was no evidence of her being tired here and now, Angelus imagined she might just be able to go all night. Thankfully, he had enough stamina to last a good amount of time.

He stopped feeding after a while knowing he had taken too much as it was, though it did not seem to slow her down. He lost track of how many times she had gotten herself off, and it was her doing all of the work so he could not - as much as he would have liked to - take credit for sating her so thoroughly.

"Love you," she said in an exhale of breath as she came again. Apparently, she had decided she was done, because she nuzzled his neck like a contented cat. He placed his hands against her hips and thrust inside of her so that he could have his turn at coming. Her muscles were still working well, clenching and unclenching against his length as he moved in and out of her.

"Mine," he gritted out through clenched teeth as he came inside of his mate. It was not the "I love you" she probably wanted back, but when it got down to it, her being his was as base and primal as love could get. He lowered her to the ground next to him, she had moved very little since her last orgasm had ripped through her. "It looks like the fireworks finale is getting started," when he looked at the sky.

"Hmm," she said as she rolled onto her side, a position she favored at the moment due to her pregnancy.

"The fireworks you begged me to take you to see, you've missed the last part of them."

"Sorry," she mumbled without opening her eyes.

He carried her back to the mansion where he placed her on his bed, undressed and joined her there since he did not need to feed.

{Wake up.}

Angelus opened his eyes, irritated as hell at Soul Boy.

{Can't you hear her?}

"What the hell are you talking about? She would have woken me if something was wrong."

{Listen to her, asshole.}

Angelus listened to her in the bathroom, only to hear nothing. He slid off the bed and padded to the bathroom door. "Buff," he whispered. No response beyond a whimper. "Christ, I knew that had not been a good idea."

{But you did it anyway. That's you, thinking with everything but your head.}

"Shut up, Soul Boy."

"Angelus?"

"Yes, Buff, what's wrong?"

"I think the baby's coming."

"What?" he roared. He did not know much about babies, but he knew it was early.

She cried out, a cry having nothing to do with pleasure. "They're close, too."

"Shit."

"I need your help on this, Angelus. You need to get me to the hospital."

"Buff, it's close to sunrise."

"Then call Giles, he'd do it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she said right before crying out again. "Get him here, now."

Angelus was not stupid enough to ask her again or to ask anything else. He had tortured people in the past, had ripped one finger off at a time or whatever form of punishment appealed to him, and never had a scream affected him so deeply.

"Shut up," he hissed before Soul Boy could make some witty comment.

"Hello?" came his mate's Watcher's voice over the phone.

"You need to come get your Slayer."

"What have you done to her?"

"Nothing, but she's in labor and it's almost sunrise."

"And you are just calling me now?"

"If I had known about it sooner, Giles, I would have taken her to the hospital myself and bypassed informing anyone else."

"You would do that, too, wouldn't you? Do you realize how worried we've been about her?"

"Are you going to stay on the line and lecture me about how irresponsible and negligent I've been? Or are you going to come get your Slayer?"

"Tell me how to get to her."

Angelus gave him directions to the mansion and hung up the phone, returning to the bathroom door. The door was ajar, but like the first time he had approached her he did not go in without an invitation. "Buff?"

"What?"

"Giles is coming, I need to bring you upstairs and get you dressed."

"Why? I'm just going to take them off again there."

"Buff," he said, not wanting to point out that her clothes would clearly reflect that she had engaged in some sort of vigorous activity.

"Just leave me alone."

"No, Buff, I'm not going to leave you alone. You wanted me to get Giles here to get you to the hospital. You're the Slayer, damn it."

"Oh, so that means I can't feel pain?"

"I didn't say that, obviously you can. I'll carry you upstairs."

"Why, so you can dump me on a couch somewhere until Giles gets here?"

He had thought of that, but now that she said it aloud it did sound rather callous, even for him. "No, I'll stay with you until he gets here."

"He's so going to want to kick your ass," she hissed while she tried to stand.

"Yeah, well, let him try, Buff, I think he'll deem getting you to the hospital more important."

She clutched onto his arm, squeezing tightly but made no sound, so Angelus was not sure if it was another contraction or what. "Come on, Lover. Let's get you upstairs and presentable for your Watcher." He took her into his arms carefully and brought her upstairs to the living room with the least amount of windows.

"He should be here any minute, are you sure you don't want me to get you some different clothes?"

"Some new underwear maybe," she said without even a stutter or a blush. Apparently, labor got her over her embarrassment.

"Done," he said and retreated from the room as another scream of pain tore from his mate's lips.

Angelus had just finished helping his mate into fresh clothes when the pounding at the front door started. He knew it was Giles and was tempted to be a prick and make him wait, but when another contraction came causing Buffy to grab onto his hand with every ounce of her slayer strength, Angelus knew now was not the time to play games. He walked to the front door, which he opened mindful to stay out of the sunlight. "She's in here."

"You've been here all of this time?"

"That's none of your concern. She's here now and needs to get to a hospital."

"What would you have done if I hadn't been home? What has her doctor said about her giving birth?"

"Not much, like any delivery it could be easy or not."

"I'm glad you recommended such a specialist then."

Buffy stood from the couch before Angelus could stop her and walked toward them, placing a hand on Angelus' forearm. "Stop it. Both of you. Giles, the sun is out and I need a ride to the hospital. Can you do that or not?"

"What are you doing up," Angelus and Giles asked simultaneously. Angelus asked the question because her grip on his arm was hard enough to cut off a human's circulation. Good thing he did not have any.

"Good to see you both can agree on something. Now, if the man who does not want me on my feet can take me to the hospital we'll be set."

"I don't know how you can be so calm about this, Buffy. You weren't meant to be having babies, neither was Angelus."

"Giles, I'm about to have a baby. I don't care what I am or am not supposed to be able to do. I was supposed to die, but that didn't happen either. Just get me to the hospital. Please."

"Yes, yes, of course, Buffy, I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you wait. Do you have everything you need then?"

Angelus turned his back to his mate when he saw tears in her eyes. She knew with the end of her pregnancy she would go back home to her mother and Angelus planned on leaving Sunnydale. He did not need her to see his eyes at that particular moment, because despite no longer having a soul she seemed to be able to read him better than anyone sometimes. She would know he was having doubts about leaving. How many chances would he have to become a father? It defied logic and any scientific know-how he was aware of that he was about to become one to begin with.

"Yeah, I guess," she answered finally. Angelus could see her reflected clearly in the mirror he stood before, she had given him a chance to say something, anything, but he remained quiet. It was for the best, for both of them. He was not a vampire that could be domesticated. The taste of her blood was like none other he had tasted before, but it was not enough incentive to live like an obedient puppy. "Angelus?"

"Good bye, Buff," he said simply, his voice devoid of any emotion.

The tears were falling rapidly when she turned away from him. Giles' look of scorn was not missed by Angelus either. As if he cared. "Take care of her," he said to the empty room as soon as his mate and her watcher had gone. He would never forget the look of longing and heartbreak in her eyes at that moment, and strangely instead of making him feel elated he felt like a heel.

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com