Invasion Of Privacy
It ended up taking Willow the better part of a month before she’d managed to find and refine a spell to accomplish their goal. Max had a difficult time around Giles. Trying to pretend that nothing was remiss. She didn’t want to possibly tip him off to their suspicions. And as the trio decided to keep this suspicion to themselves for the time being, none of the others were aware of their struggle to retain a façade of normalcy.
Max was able to use her pregnancy as an excuse a few times before she believed he would realize something was up. But there were certain times that she had to go and defuse the situation. She discovered that Buffy had found out from Whistler all about Max and Angel’s impending parenthood and was pestering Giles about it. It wasn’t that she was upset about their having a child, to a certain extent. But more along the lines of ‘when was it her turn’. To which Giles didn’t have a clue. Yet it didn’t keep her from asking. Finally Max suggested that Giles tell her to ask her boyfriend instead of him. Surely it was Spike’s job, not his. Giles had sputtered, of course, but finally used that tactic and it seemed Buffy backed off.
When Willow’s call came, Angel was ready. An entire month of watching every dark shadow, wondering when the attack would come, worrying over Max, had the Vampire on edge. There was only one good thing going for them. Max was over her morning sickness. She had more energy, which relieved Angel to no end. For although he was unhappy with the thought of her being in danger, he knew she could fight if she had to. He just wanted to prevent that from becoming a possibility.
*****
"That was strange," Willow commented as they made their way down to his apartment. The witch’s insatiable curiosity was burning to know exactly what Angel had ‘overheard’.
"Very strange," Angel mused. He let Willow in, following behind. He moved straight to the bedroom, wondering if Max had returned yet. He’d suggested, as casually as he could, that Cordy was feeling lonely and that perhaps Max should visit her. When she’d looked suspiciously at him, he informed her that Gunn and Wesley were going along to watch over her. He would have gone as well, but it was daylight. Without protest, she’d gone. And she wasn’t back yet. Angel debated calling Cordelia’s. It was probably a good idea, to know exactly where Max was. He just had the feeling that she wouldn’t react well to their course of action.
"So?" Willow smiled as she took a seat. "We know it was Giles. But what was Giles thinking about?"
"Max," he answered simply. For that was the bulk of his thoughts. Max, in relation to Jenny. Max, his daughter, or was she? How to handle that revelation? Max, in comparison to Buffy. That hadn’t really surprised Angel. Everyone knew of the affection between Slayer and Watcher. He was mildly surprised to discover that Max hadn’t been kidding when she said that Giles wanted to kill him a little. And it wasn’t for the previous reasons as many as there were. All valid reasons. No, Giles was centered on the fact that Angel had the audacity of knocking up his little girl, and here the surprise, not offering to marry her. Angel wondered many times how he was going to deal with that one.
Honestly, did he want to sit Giles down and explain that he considered their lust filled night of sex an official mating? Or did he just want to placate the man with a wedding before the justice of the peace? Or maybe both? A sly smile crossed his face that had Willow wondering.
"What?" she demanded, smiling herself. If it made Angel smile, then it had to be something hilarious.
"I don’t think I should share," he grinned, then sobered. "Seriously Willow, we talked about this before. Did you really feel comfortable around Buffy when she knew your innermost thoughts?" The witch hung her head.
"Not really," she admitted. She’d actually been more worried about where she would figure into her relationship with Oz if Buffy were able to understand him better than his own girlfriend. And she could see Angel’s point. Although they’d done this out of necessity, that did not give her the right to assume she had a right to the knowledge Angel now kept. "Okay, well, I’m going to head out then." She let herself out as the phone rang. Angel hurried to pick up. Cordy was on the other end, informing him that Gunn and Wes were bringing Max home. Angel thanked her and hung the phone up.
It was only minutes later as Max silently let herself into their apartment. Angel smiled in welcome, but she stalked by him. He mentally groaned. He should have known better. He should have known that all his scheming was for naught. Max would know. And by the looks of it, she wasn’t happy at all. He trailed after her to the bedroom, were she was changing.
"Max, baby," he began, but was cut short.
"Save it Angel," she growled. He winced. She wouldn’t even look at him.
"Look, I know you’re mad-!"
"Damn straight!"
"I was doing it for you," he defended himself quickly. She dropped her glance to the jacket she’d just removed, then to him.
"I know that," she replied softly. He stared at her. This was different. He was used to being yelled at when he had done wrong. Especially by women. She sighed. "Angel, do you even know precisely why I’m mad?"
"Because Willow and I invaded Giles’ privacy by using a spell on him to hear his thoughts," he shrugged. Max tilted her head to the side.
"So that’s what you were up to?" she mused. "I didn’t know what exactly. Just knew something was off." Angel grinned a little. She didn’t seem as angry now. "But that’s not why I’m mad."
"Why are you mad then?"
She stared at him incredulously. "Do you really not see it?" she demanded. "What you did to me?"
Angel had a strong sense of déjà vu. He’d done to Max exactly what Buffy accused him of. He’d made a decision and didn’t bother to talk to Max about it at all. He’d been too busy trying to protect her that he’d blown right by that part of their relationship. He said so and she nodded.
"I have to tell you Angel, I’ve had this problem in the past," she admitted candidly. "I’ve had problems communicating things. For very obvious reasons. When you have to keep a secret, it becomes second nature to keep everything a secret. And I’ve been trying to tell you, not keep things from you now. But you haven’t tried, from what I can see." Max abruptly shut her mouth. It was strange to her now that she was taking this stance. Before she’d always believed in a person’s right to his or her own counsel. But after her experience with Logan, when he’d not considered her feelings on certain matters, she’d decided that she didn’t like being on the receiving end of it.
"I understand that," Angel conceded. "And I think I’m coming from a similar place that you are. I’d lived so long by myself, that sharing didn’t come easily. Then assuming the role of leader, where I had to make decisions. I learned how to share information. But when someone I care deeply for, someone I love, is in trouble, I seem to fall back on the same old habits."
"So how do we fix this?" Max demanded. "This isn’t a little bad habit that I’m blowing out of proportion. I don’t care if you know I’m going to disagree. You still need to keep me informed."
"So basically you’re saying that my actions don’t matter?" Angel tried to clarify what he was hearing from her. "As long as I tell you what’s going on, I can do whatever it is I need to?" Max blinked slowly.
"Yeah," she breathed softly. "I think that is what I’m saying. I respect your right to take action where you believe it’s needed." She frowned a little. "But I think it only fair that you give me the same concession."
"You want me to just sit back and let you get yourself into potentially dangerous situations?" it was the first thing in his mind.
"If I honestly believed it was the right course of action, yes," she offered seriously. "But I doubt it would come to that. I’m not going to sit you down and imperiously hand out mandates that my way is the only way. I do know how to listen. Believe it or not, I even know how to take orders when it really matters."
"Okay," Angel sighed. It would take some getting used to, but he knew the end result would be more than worth it. He’d had love with Buffy. But they’d lacked communication skills, vital for being together in life. A Vampire could not live on love alone. "Just one more question."
"What?"
"Can we get to the make-up sex now?"
"Oh hell yeah!"
*****
After the incredibly enjoyable make-up sex, Angel had filled her in on most of the details of what had occurred with Giles. She was relieved to know that the Giles they all knew so well hadn’t been hurt or replaced in any way. But she was feeling let down that she still didn’t have an enemy to face and rid herself of. The days of wondering had left a mark on them. And she knew that it couldn’t go on for too long. It added stress that they really didn’t need. So they made the decision to let the others in on the problem. The more people they had working on it, the quicker they’d get their answers.
Max resolved to talk to Giles in the morning. By her way of thinking, he was in just as much danger as she was. He was the most obvious weak link were she was concerned. Just because Sandeman hadn’t done what she’d suspected, it was still a possibility. And there was no way that she was going to let any one person, her friends and what was rapidly becoming her family, be vulnerable. So as soon as she woke the next morning, she hurried off to Giles’.
He beamed as usual when he saw her. But her obviously worried look let him know that something was up immediately.
"What is it?" he demanded. "Is it Angel?"
"Angel? No," Max answered slowly. "Why would you think that?"
"Ah, you know that he came to see me yesterday? Him and Willow?"
"Yeah, but I didn’t find out until after the fact," she informed him a little huffily. He nodded and led her to the sofa. She took a seat and waited for him to do so as well.
"They were asking a lot of questions," Giles mentioned, waiting for her to explain. So she did. She launched into Whistler’s visit, their concerns and Willow and Angel’s plan.
"As much as I abhor their method," Giles was strangely calm; "I do understand why they did so. I would have done the same."
"So you’re not angry with them?" Max asked quickly.
"As a gut reaction, I am a little," he admitted slowly. "But I will get over it. This threat to you is more important than the sensitivity I may have over the issue of privacy."
They talked a little more about the implications of what had occurred. Max mused a little on how mature everybody was acting. It didn’t seem like so long ago when all she had to worry about was her own self. And now there were so many more people and instead of the bickering back and forth she had expected, there was reason, listening and acceptance. She wondered briefly if she’d finally joined the dreaded world of the grown-up. With a smile, she knew she had. Physically, she’d come into responsibility at a very early age. But now she had the mentality to go with it.
She and Giles worked most of the morning, coming up with ideas to prevent Giles being used as a pawn when Sandeman did appear. Max suggested that she teach Giles some Manticore methods to survive interrogation. It sickened her just a little to learn that he’d already been trained by the Watcher’s council and had in fact been forced to employ it during the course of his work. He didn’t elaborate and she didn’t ask. But it was another bond between them. As she made ready to leave, she impulsively hugged the older man, bringing the smile back to his face.
"Would you do me a favor?" he asked shyly as he helped he with her jacket.
"Sure thing," she grinned.
"Do be sure to tell Angel that I was serious," he instructed. "Dead serious."
"About what?"
"Believe me, he’ll know."
"All right, will do. See you… dad."
"See you… daughter."
The Labor
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