I woke up the next morning and got ready for school quickly. Taking the stairs two at a time, I made my way downstairs in record time, eager to talk to my mother. What I found in the kitchen, however, was Angel... Dad... with his arms around Mom's waist, kissing her neck tenderly from behind. They were both in robes.
"There are children in the house," I announced as I entered the kitchen and grabbed a chair.
They both had the grace to blush.
"Did he stay here the night?" I asked casually. It didn't exactly bother me if Mom was sleeping with him. I was obviously a product of that, anyway. And I was happy that she was happy. Mom hadn't dated anyone for as long as I could remember. What I did find strange was that just last night Mom had seemed extremely angry at Dad and now they seemed all... lovey-dovey.
Mom nodded. "Yeah, he did," she said and left it at that. "I made pancakes for break-feast."
"Thanks," I answered and started to eat. There was an uncomfortable silence between all of us for several moments until I could no longer stand it.
"What happened?" I said. As Mom and Dad both looked up at me from their food, I realized they had misinterpreted my question. "I meant," I hurried to amend, "did you guys work things out? Mom seemed kinda angry last night."
I looked pointedly at Mom as I took a bite of my food. "We talked," she said simply.
"We worked things out," Dad added.
When neither one chose to say anything else, I sighed. "Care to share?" I said. "Look, if we're gonna be anything remotely close to a family, I wanna know why the father I never knew I even had suddenly shows up and is all 'googly' with my mother. And why he looks too young to be my dad."
"Lynn!" Mom scolded me. "I will not tolerate..."
Dad put his arm on Mom's hand and she trailed off. "It's okay, Buffy," he said. "She's right." He turned to look at me. "You're right. But I don't think we have time for questions now. You have school."
I looked from Mom to Dad and back again. With a grim face, I grabbed my jacket and bag and left the house through the kitchen door. I don't really know why I suddenly got angry, but I just did.
******
"Hey, Lynn," Daniel said as he caught up to me that day.
I ignored him as I opened my locker. "Earth to Lynn?" he said, almost afraid.
I sighed. "Sorry, Dan," I apologized. "Hard night."
"Did that vamp give you trouble?" he asked me.
"Sorta," I replied.
"How can he sorta give you trouble? Either he did or he didn't..."
"Look," I interrupted. "I'm sorry, I'm in a bad mood. See ya later."
I slammed my locker shut, my strength making it resonate over all the other lockers, and stalked off. Daniel, along with everyone else there, was left to stare after me.
I remember thinking that I didn't really want to take it out on my friends. And that's why I almost turned the other way when I saw Jade headed my way. Almost.
"Hey, Lynn," she said when she reached me. "What's up?"
I took a deep breath and reminded myself to apologize to Daniel later. "Hey, Jade."
"Did you take out the vamp that was giving you trouble?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"So why are you so sad?" she asked me.
I stopped walking and turned to face her. "You remember that strange guy at the Bronze yesterday?" I said.
Jade nodded. "Duh," she answered. "How could you forget a face like that?"
I smiled a little and we started walking again. "You'll never guess what about him.
"Is he a relative of yours or something?" she joked.
I turned to face her with a serious expression. "Yeah."
She let out a small squeal. "You have to introduce me to him."
I raised an eyebrow. "He's my father, Jade."
******
Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she shook her head. "Where am I?" Jade asked.
"Library," I answered, then turned to the stacks. "Giles, she's up!"
Several seconds passed before Rupert Giles, my mother's watcher, appeared from the stacks. Even after about seventeen years, he still worked as librarian of the school. Some things never change, my mother said every time she stopped by.
"Oh, good," he answered as he came down the stairs. "How are you feeling, Jade?"
"What exactly happened?" she asked.
"You fainted when I told you the hot guy at the Bronze was my dad," I said with a smile. "You've only been out for..." I glanced at my watch, "ten minutes."
Giles sat down next to me. "This um, 'hot guy,' as you so kindly phrase it... what is his name?"
I turned to look at him and was just about to answer when another voice interrupted me.
"Angel."