Prologue
"Buffy? Are you here?" Joyce Summers called from downstairs. She
hadn’t heard Buffy come in last night, even though she had gone to sleep
early. After Riley had left, Buffy had been a little down, like, being
extra emotional. Dawn Summers was sitting in the kitchen, eating
Honey Nut Cheerios.
"Yeah, mom, I’m here," Buffy Summers yelled back, her eyes still
closed. She rolled over and stuck her arm out over the other half of the
queen-sized bed. It looked like she was looking for someone, and when
she didn’t find them, her eyes flew open. She looked around her, only to
find that she was alone. She had thought Riley was sleeping next to her.
Her eyes teared up and she rubbed them casually, as if showing someone
that she wasn’t crying. Her eyes were already red from her crying
herself to sleep last night. All of her relationships that involved a
guy romantically had ended badly. First, her relationship with Angel had
taken a turn for the worst with her realizing that he was a vampire.
Then, he lost his soul and later, left for her own good. She still loved
him but since he said that he never wanted to be with her again and that
said he didn’t love her, she assumed that he had moved on. Like her
moving on with Riley, but she hadn’t really moved on. Though she hated
to admit it, at the beginning, when she had met Riley, he had only been
a way for her to keep her mind off Angel. Thinking about it made her
feel terrible. Riley was the Rebound Boy. That’s all there was to it.
Then, there were the in-betweens like, Parker, Owen, and Scott.
Buffy threw the covers off of her body and shivered when the cold,
morning air reached her from her open window. Wearing a tank top and
underwear only can do that to you. She crawled out of bed and headed for
her stash of dark blue towels she kept in her dresser. She grabbed one
and opened her bedroom door, heading for the bathroom down the hall.
When she reached it, she found it closed and knocked.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 1
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Dawn looked up from where she was brushing her hair and yelled, "Who
is it?"
"It’s me," Buffy replied from the outside, "let me in, I’ve gotta
take a shower." Ever since they had found out that Dawn was the key and
that Glory was looking for her, Buffy had tried to make Dawn’s life a
little more normal by treating her like a Slayer would treat her baby
sister.
"Who’s me?" Dawn said, smiling. She continued to brush her long,
brown hair when she heard Buffy cry at her mom across the hall. "Mom,
tell Dawn to get out of the bathroom! I need to take a shower and go
meet Giles!"
Joyce looked up from where she was choosing what she was going to
wear and shook her head. No matter how old they got, they would always
bicker like two year olds. "Dawn!" Joyce yelled from her room.
"Fine," Dawn said, unlocking the door. She opened it to find a very
cross Buffy. "Sorry," she said with a cruel smile. "I thought you could
handle your own problems. You are of course, the Slayer."
"Bug off, Dawn. I’m not in the mood," Buffy said. Before she had come
out, she had slipped some cotton sweat pants on, with the drawstrings
tied tightly around her waist. Her petite body could be a complete
nuisance sometimes.
"Whatever," Dawn said, wandering into her room. Buffy stepped into
the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She sighed loudly,
wondering when Dawn was ever going to grow up. She walked to the shower,
where she reached in to turn it on. When it was on, she felt the water
run down her arm while she adjusted the knob to the right temperature.
When it was where she desired it to be, she backed away from the
shower, pulling her shirt off in the process. She stepped out of her
pants and underwear, kicking them into a corner. She set her towel on
the counter next to the shower curtain. She then proceeded to the shower
where she stepped in and closed the curtain. She walked into the warm
water, letting it wet her face, her hair, her body. She stuck her face
into the water, letting it wash down the curves and crevices of her
face. She let her mind wander to the thought of what Angel was doing
right at that very moment.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 2
Angel sat at the desk that Wesley had had Cordelia set up for him. It
had been about a month since he had last asked to work for them. Darla
and Drusilla had long ago left and now, he was back to helping the
innocent.
Suddenly, he felt a pain go through him, a blinding pain. He closed
his eyes and prayed that it wasn’t what he thought it was. He fell to
the ground, causing a thud to echo through the living room.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Cordelia Chase entered the room when she heard the noise and assumed
that Angel was training. When she saw Angel on the floor, clutching his
body, she yelled, "Wesley!" She ran to Angel, sliding on the floor
halfway. When she reached Angel, she took his head in her hands, trying
to see what was causing this. When she saw his eyes closed, she tried
getting Angel to talk to her. "Angel!" she yelled. "Angel! What’s wrong?
Dammit, answer me!"
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce entered the room, walking with a cane. When he
heard Cordelia yell his name, he had dropped the book he was researching
and had limped as fast as he could. Before he had entered the room, he
could hear Cordelia yelling at Angel and he slowed. He knew that there
was some friction between the two of them, so he assumed that they were
arguing. He was surprised to see, instead of the two fighting, Angel on
the floor in pain and Cordelia trying to get him to talk.
"Cordelia, what’s going on?" Wesley cried, limping towards the spot
where Angel was on the floor and Cordelia was gripping his head.
"I don’t know. I heard a thud and I came out to see what it was, and
I saw Angel laying on the floor, clutching his body," she replied, still
sitting next to Angel.
Wesley looked back at Angel, realization coming upon his face.
"What?" Cordelia asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Angel was still on the
floor, his eyes closed tightly. That was when Angel fell limp, his body
looked like its strength was leaving and he wasn’t moving.
Except for his chest. Which was moving up and down.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"What big, bad honkin’ evil has arrived in Sunnydale to have its ass
kicked?" Buffy asked as she entered Giles’ apartment. She had her hair
pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was wearing a pair of blue hip
huggers jeans and tennis shoes. She had on a yellow t-shirt that had
monkeys dancing on the front. Today, she felt silly.
Rupert Giles looked up when he heard her voice and stood up to go
talk to her. He had been looking in a book, looking extremely stressed.
A few minutes before Buffy had come in, he had received a call from
Wesley in LA. He said something had happened to Angel and he was
breathing. Giles had been in complete shock when told this. Cordelia
then got on the phone and told him not to tell Buffy. Only to tell her
that something had happened to Angel. Cordelia hadn’t said why but he
assumed it was important. She told him to tell Buffy to come to LA. He
guessed it was a surprise.
"Hello, Buffy," Giles said, wondering if he should tell her.
Buffy could tell something was bothering him. "What’s the sitch,
Giles?" she asked, looking into his eyes, seeing if she could see what
was bothering him.
"Well, I just got a call from LA," he said, looking at her to see if
there was a change of attitude. Buffy’s eyes grew wide and she held back
a gasp. LA. He couldn’t possibly mean Angel.
"Did something happen to Angel?" Buffy asked, fear gripping her
voice. If anything happened to Angel, her life would be over. What would
be the point in living if she knew that Angel wasn’t somewhere on this
earth.
"Yes, but nothing bad. But they asked that I tell you to go to LA,"
Giles explained. He didn’t want to cause mass hysteria.
"Do you know what happened to him, Giles?" Buffy asked, using her
eyes to investigate his.
"Yes, I do. But they asked me not to tell you. They just want you to
go there," Giles replied.
"Fine, I’ll go right now. Hopefully I’ll be back by tonight," Buffy
said, heading for the door once more. If anything bad did really happen
to Angel, she wanted to be there for him.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 3
Buffy walked into Angel Investigations, looking to see if she could
see Angel. Or anybody. She had called Giles from her mom’s house and
told him to call Cordelia and tell her she was on her way. She had taken
her mom’s car because Joyce had car pooled with a few her co-workers.
They were throwing a party for one of their friends. Dawn was at school
and she was going to have Giles pick her up. And if Glory came, to call
her and get Spike.
"Hello?" Buffy called, heading towards the desk where Cordelia
usually sits.
"Buffy? Is that you?" she heard a feminine voice call back. Before
she had a chance to reply, she saw Cordelia come down the stairs,
wearing tight blue jeans, black sandals, and a long sleeved t-shirt
which she tied into a knot behind her back. Her hair was pulled back
with a bunch of clippies to keep the extra strands out of the way.
"Where’s Angel?" Buffy asked, running up the stairs to meet her half
way.
"Before I tell you anything, nothing bad happened. Actually, it was
of the good," Cordelia said, smiling. She heard Buffy sigh in relief.
"Me and Wesley thought Angel might want you to be here, even though he
hasn’t woken up yet."
"Hasn’t woken up yet? What happened?" Buffy asked, slowing her pace
down to meet Cordelia’s small strides.
"Well, I was sitting at my desk when I heard a thud, I came out of
the inner office and saw him on the floor, clutching his body. Than he
fell limp," Cordelia explained, a smile playing at her lips, not ready
to tell her the whole story.
"Since you said it was good, I’m going to assume that he didn’t
revert to Angelus," Buffy said, looking at Cordelia for confirmation.
"No, he isn’t evil again. Something a lot better," Cordelia said,
reaching the room where Angel was resting. She opened it and gestured
for Buffy to follow. When Buffy entered the room, she saw Angel asleep
in his bed, covered in blue, silk sheets.
And he was breathing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy gasped, not expecting this. Cordelia smiled and went to leave
the room. "I’ll leave you two alone. Hopefully, he’ll tell what happened
because we don’t know either." She left through the door and Buffy moved
towards the bed, inching her way. She hadn’t expected this. She had
expected Angel to have needed her help with something that had to with a
demon or something that wasn’t this, which would have been great, but
this was even better. Her Angel was alive.
Buffy stopped when she saw Angel stir. She was practically next to
his bed. He opened his eyes and looked at Buffy, directing his eyes
towards hers. For some reason, he wasn’t too surprised to see her,
standing there, looking happy.
"What?" he asked. For some reason he didn’t remember what had
happened. Then, it all rushed into his memory, as if a dam had been
broken inside his head. He was alive. He could breath, eat solid food,
go in the sunlight. Better yet, take Buffy out into the sunlight.
Buffy was just standing there, watching Angel with joy on her face
with a smile twisting her lips. The number of emotions that went across
his face were uncountable but she could tell his last thought made him
happy because he smiled. He looked up at Buffy and his smile grew into a
grin. He hopped out of bed and grabbed Buffy, swinging her around in a
circle, both of them laughing with joy. When Angel set her down, he bent
his head down to the perfect angle and kissed her lightly, but the love
was still there. Buffy returned the kiss, sneaking her tongue into his
mouth. He responded by picking Buffy up and laying her on the bed, not
breaking the kiss. For the rest of the day, they made love and were
content in each other’s arms just like they were made to be.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Epilogue
The Next Day
Buffy opened her eyes to find herself laying within the arms of her
one and only, Angel. She smiled, thinking about what she and Angel had
done yesterday. She propped her chin on top of Angel’s chest, looking to
see if he was awake. Which he was. He smiled when she saw her smiling.
"What?" he asked, looking into her eyes, the love and trust pouring
out.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about how much I love you," Buffy
replied, her smile growing wider.
He grinned, and hugged her to him. "I love you, Buffy Summers."
"I love you too, my Angel," she replied. This is what she had been
waiting for, this is where she was meant to be. This was home.
Patience really is a virtue. That is, when it comes to Angel.