Buffy cherished the sound of Angel’s laughter, filling the vaulted room with joy. It was such a rare sound, and always had been. When she’d known him in that time and place long past, a melancholy solitude was far more commonplace. When she’d found him again in this time, a total silence had fallen over his existence. Smiles, laughter, joy...these were new developments. In fact, they had only entered his life after they’d learned of the permanence of his soul and his continued transformation had revealed itself to be something far better than expected. There was a new freedom to him, especially when they were alone, and Buffy loved it.
Angel made a face as he tried to stifle his laughter. “Stop it!” he scolded, still amused.
“Stop what, darling,” Buffy replied, trying not to laugh and taking a mock provocative pose.
Laughter continued to sparkle in his eyes. “If you don’t hold still...” he said, pointing at her with his pencil.
“What?” Buffy asked. “You don’t like your women so forward? ‘You’re welcome at my place...anytime.”
Angel groaned – in embarrassment, Buffy hoped. “Buffy....”
“You seemed to like it enough earlier,” Buffy teased. Earlier, when a demoness just barely kept her paws – claws? – off of him. And with Buffy standing right there, yet!
Really, she wasn’t jealous. Really.
Angel put down his pencil, giving up on drawing Buffy for now. He smiled at her, reassuring, with love glowing clearly in his eyes. “You know it’s you or no one,” he said. “I love you.”
Buffy grinned. “I love you too, but you’re not getting out of this that easily.” She leaned forward. “Really, you didn’t...like it at all?”
He looked thoughtful. “It was flattering, yes,” he said. He chuckled then, not so joyous, and spoke with a touch of old bitterness resurfacing. “At least she didn’t run screaming.”
Buffy sighed. Would they ever get past this? “You’re a very handsome man, Angel.”
He shot her a look.
“Vampire, whatever,” Buffy corrected herself. “I know you can’t see yourself,” she said, “so I don’t know how aware you are of your own changes. Recent changes. Angel...it’s not so hard for you to blend in anymore.”
He looked at her in surprise. A hint of smile glimmered on his face again, a hint of fang showing. “You mean that?”
“God, yes,” Buffy said emphatically. “Besides, if she saw even a fragment of what I see in you, then she saw someone absolutely stunning. It’s no wonder she was hitting on you.”
Angel chuckled. “You don’t mind?”
“Well,” Buffy laughed, “so long as you don’t start taking random women up on their offers....” She got up from her seat and plopped down in Angel’s lap before he could protest. He grunted in surprise, then put down his paper with Buffy’s started sketch on it. She smiled at him, genuine and loving.
“What?” he asked gently.
“Nothing,” she replied. “I was just amazed at how far we’ve come.”
He gave her a questioning look.
“I mean, come on,” she said. “When I first found you here, you were doing your best impression of...a sewer monster or something. And a mute one at that.”
Angel looked embarrassed. “Sorry...”
“Don’t apologize,” Buffy said. “I understand, I think. At least a little bit. And it makes now in contrast all the more special.”
Angel smiled. “I guess it does.”
Buffy leaned into Angel’s chest, exceedingly happy at that moment to be exactly where she was. “I didn’t mean just that, though,” she said softly.
“What did you mean?”
“Angel...how long has it been?” she asked. A touch of sadness rose, and Buffy suppressed it quickly. Here, now...this was important. “We could never have this...all of this, us, together...before. And even if we could...we always made things much more complicated than they had to be.”
“Things were complicated,” Angel protested. “I remember that much.”
“Yeah,” Buffy sighed. “Yeah, they were complicated. For one, no one was happy. You couldn’t be, which helped make me miserable, and all of our friends nervous that you just might somehow be happy again.” She paused, silent for a moment. “I...a long time after you left, I realized...you were probably right in leaving. It...made things easier, even if it didn’t make me happier. And...well, I don’t even want to think about how hard everyone else was making every moment you were in Sunnydale for you.”
There was another moment of silence that stretched between them. “Your friends...” Angel began after a moment.
“Don’t,” Buffy interrupted. “I don’t want to dwell on the past right now. I want to rejoice in the present, in everything we have now.”
“But...”
“No lectures,” she said. “I know I have to deal with the past. I have to face it or I’ll keep having nightmares. But right now...right now, I just want to be here, with you.” She smiled, content with what she did have, and pulled away just enough to look Angel in the eye. “I want to rejoice in everything I can have now that I couldn’t have then. I want to love you.”
Angel’s eyes shone with love and contentment. Ever so gently, he lowered his head and kissed her. Buffy returned it eagerly. For a moment the kiss deepened, and Buffy felt the slight sharpness of his fangs before he pulled away. “Me too,” he said at last, sounding a touch breathless.
Buffy chuckled very slightly and leaned into his chest once again. “Just hold me,” she whispered. It seemed to echo softly through the room like a prayer.
Angel wrapped his arms around her, and held her close.
It was never completely silent in the forgotten train station Angel had transformed into his home, but this was as close as it got. His hearing could still pick out the many layers of life that dwelled above them, a constant background hum, but it was quiet. The moment was calm, and content. Angel smiled, letting that contentment and easy relaxation drown out everything else.
Buffy was still asleep, her living heat curled against his side. Everything about her screamed love and trust, something that never failed to warm his dead heart. It was a beautiful gift, one that he was sure he’d never be worthy of. But right now, this moment, it didn’t matter if he was deserving of it or not. He had it, and that was enough.
And still, the changes came. Ever since Buffy had made her reappearance in his life, Angel had stopped dreading that simple fact. Like right now, when he ached ever so slightly upon awakening, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he might – just might – be a little closer to human come tomorrow.
Buffy sighed, and wrapped her arms around his chest. Ever so careful not to wake her, Angel ran his hand lightly over her hair. He brushed it back from her face, loving how it shone in the faintest light. He kept his touch feather light, wanting the moment to last forever. Later, when they were both awake, there would likely be questions he could not answer, and pain for them to get through together. Right now, though, was absolutely perfect.
Her cheek twitched. “That tickles,” she said, half asleep.
“Sorry,” Angel whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Buffy groaned and shifted in the bed. “Mmm,” she muttered. “Not awake.”
Angel chuckled under his breath. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered, and placed a light kiss on the top of her head.
Buffy blinked at him, more awake than before. “Don’t want to. I might miss something.”
“Miss something?”
Buffy nodded slightly. “Like another kiss,” she suggested.
Angel chuckled out loud this time. Buffy propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, and he took advantage of that shift to kiss her again, on the lips this time. It was still gentle, not going any further.
Buffy was grinning when he pulled away. “What was that for?” she asked in surprise.
“Just doing as you requested,” Angel teased.
Her smile was warm and open, and incredibly pleased. She looked a bit like a child with a new, delightful toy, and Angel tried not to laugh. “Anything I request?” she asked.
Angel laughed.
Buffy’s eyes went wide. “Okay, now I know something’s going on.”
Angel shook his head lightly. “No,” he said, reaching to run his hand over her hair once again. “I just...feel good.”
Buffy was still looking at him oddly. “That’s all? Well...it’s good that you feel good.”
“I love you,” he said abruptly.
She smiled, and touched his cheek lightly. “I love you, too.”
Angel froze abruptly, his joyous mood put aside as something distracted him. A noise.... Someone aside from the two of them in the vicinity. “Buffy....”
“What is it?”
“Someone’s here,” Angel whispered.
Buffy rolled so that she was no longer touching him, the blanket clasped across her breasts. Her entire being spoke of her anxiety. Angel listened in the darkness, to the muffled sounds coming closer.
Abruptly, Buffy chuckled. “Silly,” she said, even as she reached for some clothes. “It’s just Richard with the blood for the next two weeks. Remember?”
Angel reached for his clothes as well, but his sense of unease didn’t go away. He said nothing and listened.
Buffy was teasing him. “You know, if you had a telephone or whatever passes for communication nowadays we wouldn’t have been...caught with our pants down.”
Angel nearly chuckled at her choice of phrasing. “You’re lucky there’s even plumbing, let alone a phone,” he pointed out, pulling on his jumpsuit.
“Well, yeah, there is that,” Buffy agreed.
Another sound. “Ssh,” Angel whispered. And there it came again. “There’s more than one person.”
A hesitant pause from Buffy. “Maybe he brought company?” she suggested, but it was halfhearted.
“Buffy...”
“Yeah, I know. I’m going to get the light.”
She never got more than a couple of feet from the bed before the door to the tunnels opened with a crash. Angel heard Buffy cry out in surprise. He was already in fighting mode. Barefoot, he ran towards the intruders.
Weapons. Where are my weapons?
The invaders had the element of surprise. They also carried lights. The sudden changes in illumination blinded and disoriented Angel. It was worse for Buffy – her eyes didn’t adjust as fast. He vaguely saw her go down under one of the attackers.
“Buffy!”
Another figure swung for Angel. Enraged, he shoved them aside with one blow. Then came another, and another.... Angel vaguely saw a black-clad figure illuminated in the darkness before something struck him from the side.
There was a flash of sharp pain. Then Angel was enveloped in a darkness of a completely different kind.
Richard was glad he had carried his own light with him. The tunnels were incredibly dark. ‘How in the world do they see where they’re going down here?’
Of course, Richard recognized that he was dealing with two people who were more than a bit supernatural. He was well acquainted with the supernatural, having a good-and-neutral-demon friendly bar. He’d never really learned what all those demonic differences were, though. He just knew enough to recognize common good demons from common bad ones, and how to keep himself out of trouble.
Keeping himself out of trouble usually didn’t entail going into strange places he’d never been before where he couldn’t see beyond a foot in front of his face. He kept the flashlight steady in front of him, scanning the dark, damp tunnels. ‘What did this used to be? Some sort of industrial complex?’ It was old, that was certain. Though maybe not quite as old as the vampire Richard was looking for.
The edge of the flashlight’s beam caught something...different up ahead. Instead of the smooth, metallic lines of the walls and wiring, this was off. Broken, jumbled... ‘That can’t be good.’
Closer, the fractured metal revealed itself to be a gaping hole, like a great tear in the wall of the tunnel. Closer still revealed that broken hole was actually the remains of a door, the very door Richard had been instructed to look for.
“Slayer? Angel?” Richard called, cautiously approaching that opening.
No one answered. A peek around that door showed the clear evidence of a recent struggle. In the massive, dark room, weapons of various types lay discarded and further damage was shown right inside the door.
Richard blinked in a moment of incomprehension. Then a dawning realization...
‘Oh, man, whoever did this is going to pay. If the Slayer didn’t hurt them, we will.’
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