The Way Things Should Be
For Disclaimer, Distrubution, Rating, Spoilers, and the challenge that started it all, please visit Part One.
Part Four
Buffy, Angel, and Anala walked back to Giles house to meet the rest of the gang.
When they arrived, Buffy opened the door and led the other two in.
She noted that Cordelia and Wesley had arrived, and that Tara was gone. Xander, Anya, Willow, and Giles were still there.
Buffy spoke at once, " Giles, everyone This is Anala. She's a really powerful Witch who for some reason wants to help us."
"I want to help because you fight for the same things I do. I am also here for another matter, but that can wait until this problem with Adam is settled."
Giles looked at Buffy, "How do you know she's really who she says?"
"Because she showed me and Angel her powers. And I got the feeling she was way holding back on us. I've got the feeling she's stronger than Willow, maybe even stronger than Amy or Tara."
"May I see for sure?" Willow asked Anala.
Anala glanced at her a moment, closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded her head.
"What I have done is lowered my shielding to allow your magick to touch me. I still have all my mental shields, so you will not be able to enter my mind, only feel the power in my body." Anala told her.
Willow nodded and murmured in Latin, "Now is the time, Now is the hour, Show me her magick, Show me her power."
A white glow began to form around Willow as she added more to the chant, and then the glow formed around Anala as well.
Willow suddenly stopped chanting, her eyes wide open in shock.
"She....Wow! Most of her magick isn't learned, it's natural. She's in almost total alignment with the elements, and with that power she can do anything. Highlights would include reading minds, telekinesis, astral projection, clairvoyance, and discernment. Possibly more. And those are on top of all the normal powers any Witch can develop, which she has developed almost fully."
"In short, we're lucky she's on our side." Xander quipped.
"Exactly."
"If I may ask, how did you become so strong?" Giles questioned.
"Through my bloodlines. My whole family is spellcasters, witches, pagans, etc... Many were rather powerful. Some weren't at all. The power seemed to travel at random. My sister had only a little, she was more a researcher and such. I have more than anyone in my family ever. I'm told it's my calling. As Buffy is called to be Slayer, I've been called to use my magick for good. The Powers That Be have given me what they have for a specific reason." Anala recited like it was a speech.
"You know of The Powers?" Angel looked shocked.
"Yes, I know them and their oracles very well. But anyway..."
The oracles? Buffy wondered why that sounded familiar. She had a sudden flash-- Angel telling her that he went to the oracles and asked them to turn back the day. That they only had another minute. She remembered crying, and suddenly had her head on his chest. She heard his heart beating. That sensation shocked Buffy out of her memories. She suddenly looked at Angel with a start.
He noticed her look and came slowly to her. Anala continued to talk to Giles and the others, but the lovers no longer heard her.
"Buffy? What's wrong?"
"The things Anala said I'd remember in time? I'm remembering more and more. Like certain things people say remind me of them, and they come back in flashes. But it makes no sense....I...." Buffy told him.
Just then, Anala finished her story and Giles interrupted Buffy's words.
"Buffy?"
"Yeah? What?"
"Why don't you and Angel continue to patrol? It's still a few hours till sunrise. Then you can return home, don't worry about coming here. With Anala to help this should go much faster. We'll let you know if we find anything." Giles told his Slayer.
"Sounds good. I never was much in the book department."
With that, her and Angel turned to leave again.
As they left, they heard Anala mention to Giles the title of a book she was looking for. She said it didn't have to do with Adam, but was part of the other reason she came.
"Why, yes. I do have that. It was Jenny's, but she said everything in it was too hard for her to do, that she didn't have the power. "
"But I do." Anala replied.
Buffy and Angel walked another graveyard, still deep in conversation. She had been trying for the better part of hour, in-between stakings, to get him to tell her what happened, and still he refused.
"Anala said you'd remember in time, that no one could tell you. I was told no one but me was ever supposed to remember, but that's obviously changed somehow. I'm afraid if I tell you it will upset the oracles or the Powers themselves. If you're meant to remember, you will."
Buffy had told him parts of what she remembered, and while he had verified them, he wouldn't elaborate at all. He wouldn't even help her put them in order. And he must have said those last statements at least five times.
Angel knew Buffy probably thought he was being so mean, but he just couldn't tell her. His head wished she had never started to remember, so that he alone would have to suffer with the memory of that day. The other part of him, the "heart," if you would, was so happy that she had remembered. Even though they could never be together again, the memory of that day had already gotten him through many sleepless, aching nights. He knew it would be the same for her.
"I remember that somehow you were human. And that you gave it all up for me, I think. I remember us making love, I remember eating and sleeping with you. I just can't remember how it happened or why it ended. But I..." She said slowly.
Riley choose just that moment to walk into the conversation.
Buffy, still hanging with the old bloodsucker? I thought you said you two were over."
"Riley, we were having a private conversation."
"Buffy, you can't have both him and me. You can't expect me to still be there after knowing you hung out with him all night. Especially after all the shit he's pulled on you. You have to choose between him and me."
Angel, though he wisely choose to stay out of the conversation, smirked as the man said this. Angel knew what a huge mistake he had just made.
"Choose? CHOOSE? There's no choice to make. There never was or will be. I love Angel." Buffy yelled.
"Buffy, you loved me enough to break me out of the Initiative, and suddenly you go all bitchy on me. Suddenly you love him?!?! A Slayer loves a Vampire!!! Do you know how stupid you sound? I can't do this anymore. You don't even have the decency to explain things to me. You just expect me to accept..." Riley was really pissed.
Buffy turned on him, "I don't need to explain anything to you! You're not the boss of me! Get out of my life!"
"You can't mean that. After all we've been through. I lo..."
"DON'T. Don't even say it. I really don't care how you feel. You attack Angel, you call him names, you ridicule me for hanging out with him...." Buffy looked like she might kill Riley.
"Buffy, I...."
"And do you know what the worst part is? The worst part is that you were actually a nice guy. I cared about you. I liked you. You were so nice to me. You could accept everything about my crazy life and still see me as a normal girl. You were fun and silly, and sometimes so corny it was funny. I thought you were exactly the kind of guy I needed. But now I realize you're the exact opposite of what I need. I guess now I see your true colors. You're controlling and mean, and all you care about is your ego. You can't see that I'm happy. Hell, you can't even acknowledge that I need Angel to help me defeat Adam because you and I couldn't. He's so much better than you, Riley, and any idiot could see that. God, I must have been rebounding like a ping-pong ball in a rubber room to consider you even his equal."
Riley is beginning to cry.
Buffy stops her tirade and delivers the final punch, her voice so calm and controlled she can barely be heard. "And you never knew me at all. Not my heart or soul. If you had, you would have known the difference between Faith and I in an instant.
With that, she turned on her heel and rapidly began to walk away.
Angel looked at her for a second in pure admiration at her spunk, then turned and followed her.
" So long, commando. "
At Angel's taunt, Riley's rage at being dumped like that exploded and he charged the vampire.
Not the brightest thing to do. Angel turned in a second, pinning Riley to the ground by twisting his arm behind him. He punched him in the face a few times for good measure.
"Buffy!!!" Riley yelled in panic.
Buffy spoke without turning, "Angel, don't kill him. He doesn't deserve to die."
Angel twisted the arm a little harder, breaking the bone, "That's for touching my girl."
With that, he let go of Riley and walked away after his love.
Riley, left in a heap on the ground, cursed them both as he cried bitterly.
Buffy slowly put the key into the lock and opened the door to 1630 Revello Drive. She let Angel in, and then closed the door behind him.
"Mom's in Illinois with one of my aunts, so there's no one here. And with all that's going on, I'd just prefer not to be on campus. At least here I know no one can disturb us. No one will even find us." Buffy told him.
Angel looked slowly around, noting how the house had not changed since he had last been in it.
She looked at him, and then indicated that he should follow. The went up the stairs and into her room, exactly the way they had 3 years ago.
When they reached her room, she looked around and grinned, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Two of us, one bed. That doesn't work."
Instead of lightening the atmosphere, her comment made it worse. The tension jumped sky-high.
He looked at her, every ounce of him burning for her. He should have made himself ignore those impulses, but he couldn't. He wanted her so badly. And after the way she had defended him and shown how much she loved him, he couldn't resist anymore.
"It doesn't?" Angel asked softly.
He took a step closer to her, reaching out to stroke her face. As soon as he touched her, he lost all control. Like a dam breaking, all his emotions spilled out and he took her into his arms.
Buffy cried out softly as she went into Angel's arms. She put her head against his chest remembering what it was like to feel his heart beating there. She pulled away just enough to kiss him softly on the lips.
The soft kiss soon turned into much more, each of them kissing the other hungrily. Their tongues roved into each other's mouth and their hands were all over the other. They kissed as they had never kissed before, as if the kiss was all that gave them life. As if they lived only for this moment in time.
Their rational minds told them what would happen, but neither of them was listening to their minds. They were totally following their hearts. Still kissing, they fell back unto Buffy's bed.
Buffy tried to pull away from him then, whispering, "Angel, no, we can't. Angelus will..."
But her words lacked conviction. As much as she knew they had to stop, she wanted to continue.
"I can't live without you anymore. I'd rather be with you one last time and then have you kill me."
Buffy looked at him, "But Adam, the Initiative..."
She spoke between kisses, for even as she tried to rationalize this she couldn't keep her hands off him.
"I'm sorry, but I don't care." Angel said softly.
And as Buffy looked at him, she realized that, at the moment, she didn't care either. Not in the slightest. She didn't care about Adam, Riley, the world, or even her friends. She just needed him.
"I love you."
Angel looked into her eyes, "I love you too."
Buffy looked at him and echoed the words she had spoken the first time they made love, "Just kiss me."
He did so, and as they kissed they began pulling off each others clothes. They were going to be together one more time, even if it killed one or both of them. Their love could not be denied.
When Buffy woke up hours later, it took her a moment to remember where she was. Then she remembered that she was in her old room. She snuggled deeper into the arms that surrounded her and turned slowly to face him.
When she saw Angel's face, everything came back to her in a rush.
She jumped out of her bed and reached for her nightstand, grasping a stake.
Her sudden movement caused him to wake, and he looked at her sharply, "Buffy!"
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