Last Kiss
by Guenivere

Angel walked down the dimly lit street to Buffy’s apartment building. ‘ This address couldn’t be right. She actually lives in this part of town?’ He quickened his pace and bent his head against the wind. He was less than a mile away from her place when he felt a light splattering of rain on the back of his neck. Before long the whole sky opened up with a torrential downpour of rain. By the time he reached her doorstep not an inch of him remained dry. He paused for a moment and attempted to wring some of the water out of his charcoal grey sweater before knocking on her door. To his surprise a girl he did not know answered the door. She was an inch or two taller than Buffy, with dark brown hair that swept her slender shoulders.

" Hi. May I help you?"

" I’m looking for Buffy Summers... she ... she gave me this address."

" You must be Angel. Come in. Buffy told me you were coming by tonight. I’m Amanda."

She stepped back and allowed Angel to enter the room then shut the door behind him.

"Can I get you something to drink? Or maybe a towel?"

Before Angel could reply, Buffy emerged from her bedroom wearing a fluffy white robe and holding a towel. She obviously had just gotten out of the shower. Her hair hung in damp ringlets down her back. She handed Angel the towel.

"Here. I need to get dressed. I’ll be out in a few minutes." She disappeared back into her bedroom.

Amanda turned to Angel and said, " That towel won’t help much. My boyfriend sometimes spends the night and he’s about your size. Let me see if I can find something of his for you to change into and I’ll put your clothes in the dryer." She left the room and returned a few minutes later with a pair of navy blue sweat pants and a white long sleeved tee shirt. " Here you can change in the bathroom."

"Thanks." Angel walked into the bathroom and shut the door. When he emerged a few minutes later he was surprised to find that Buffy still had not come out of her room. He wandered over to the well-worn sofa and sat down next to Amanda.

Amanda gave him a sly grin and said ", So you’re the reason why Buffy won't look at any of the college boys...and for a while I thought she might have been gay." A strange look passed over Angel’s face then he began to chuckle softly. Emerging from her room, Buffy could not believe what she was seeing, " What did you say to the Prozac poster child to make him laugh, Amanda?" She asked.

Amanda gave her an innocent look "Oh... nothing. I’ll leave the two of you alone. Jude and I were planning on going out tonight anyway. I’ll just go over to his place a little early. I’ll see you tomorrow, Buffy. It was nice to meet you, Angel hope to see you again soon." She grabbed her purse and keys and headed out the door.

Angel turned to Buffy and looked at her for the first time since she had emerged from her room. Her blonde hair was swept up into a messy French twist secured by a black clip and she wore a long sleeved crimson satin pajama top and nothing else as far as Angel could tell, although he wasn’t sure. Buffy walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Angel.

"So..." she said.

" So... uh..." Angel was having a hard time keeping his mind focused on the reason he was at her place. ‘You’re here to talk with her...Damn she looks good! ... No No NO! Gotta focus... Talk... but she looks so good...’ He began to squirm obviously uncomfortable. Visions of their one night together played through his mind as he sat beside Buffy.

Suddenly Buffy stood and walked across the room to a small desk along the wall. She pulled out the drawer, reached in and drew out a box of fireplace matches. Pulling one out she proceeded to strike it on the end of the box. Angel’s gaze followed her as she promenaded around the room lighting the candles that were scattered about. Finally she came to the last set of candles, right in front of Angel on the glass top coffee table. She bent down giving Angel an eyeful of her cleavage, which caused him to squirm even more. After taking the used match to the kitchen and throwing it away she walked back over to where Angel was sitting on the couch. As she sat once more beside him her shirt rose up causing Angel to groan softly.

" Why are you doing this to me?" he asked softly.

" Doing what?" Buffy replied with fake innocence.

" You know damn well what I’m talking about. Quit playing games with me, Buffy!"

" Games? I don’t know what you’re talking about."

" Yes you do. Who told you?"

" Who told me what?"

"Obviously someone told you that there no longer is a happiness clause to the curse. Now who was it? Cordelia? Willow? Doyle?"

" What does it matter how I found out? Its not like you cared enough to tell me. Just how long have you known?"

" Since a week before the mayor’s ascension," he admitted softly. " But I was already leaving so it really didn’t make a difference at that time. At least I didn’t think it did. Right then I just wanted you to have a shot at a normal life. And that was something that never would have happened with me around especially after all that had happened."

" Bullshit! If you had really cared you would have told me and let me decide for myself. Besides what if your plan had worked and I’d built a "normal life" for myself. Then what? Would you have come back? Can you honestly tell me that you would have watched me build a life with someone new and not done a thing about it?"

" Honestly?"

" Yeah"

"I don’t know."

" Sure you do. Suppose I was married with a child and another on the way. Would you have come back and broken up my marriage? Face it Angel you can’t stand the thought of another man touching me."

"I would have broken up the marriage before children were an issue."

" What if I told you I didn’t want you in my life?" With that she rose from the sofa and disappeared into the kitchen. When she returned a few minutes later she held a pair of red and clear crystal brandy snifters in one hand and a matching decanter of brandy in the other. " Care for a glass of brandy? To toast our new ‘relationship’," she asked as she set the delicate glassware on the table.

" What year?"

"1917. Very good year, don’t you think? You should know after all, you were there." She didn’t wait for an answer but instead proceeded to pour the two of them generous servings of the dark red liquid. " You still haven’t answered my question, Angel. What if I told you I didn’t want you in my life?" Buffy walked around the table and handed a glass to Angel her thigh brushing against his she sat down next to him.

Angel took a swallow of the dark liquid, the alcohol burning his throat as it went down. "Am I too late? I don't want to lose you...I ...I know I probably don't deserve this second chance, but I promise this I will do whatever I can in my power to make you happy."

Abruptly Buffy stood, nearly spilling her drink. " Damnit Angel! I’d like to try again but we don’t seem to have a very good track record do we? How can I be sure you won’t just leave me again? I’m sorry Angel but at this point words don’t mean a damn thing." She retreated across the room to stand by the fireplace.

Angel was quickly becoming frustrated. He jumped up, knocking his glass to the floor, clearly upset. "Damnit, Buffy! What do you want me to do? Beg?"

"It would be a start."

Angel stalked over to where Buffy stood facing the wall and grabbed her hand. He pulled her around to face him as he knelt on the floor. " Look I know I don’t deserve anything from you except for hate after everything I did to you but, I am begging you for a second chance. Please?"

Buffy nodded slowly, tears welling in her eyes and threatening to spill over, as she said, "Okay but, you have a lot of time to make up for. I expect flowers every day." A smile slowly spread across her face.

Angel stared deep into her eyes for several minutes before standing, still holding her hand. " I think I can manage that," he said with a grin as he scooped her up gently into his arms and carried her to her room.

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