Angel coughed into the dust that hung heavy in the air. He blinked, but the total darkness for the cave was hard for even his vision to penetrate. Waiting for his sight to adjust and the dust to settle, he climbed slowly back to his feet.
“Buffy?” he called softly into the darkness.
“Over here,” came Buffy’s pained voice.
Still unable to see little more than the basic shape of the cave, Angel followed the sound of her voice. As the dust cleared he also smelled her blood. For a moment Angel felt his heart pound in renewed fear, but there wasn’t a lot of blood and aside from that everything he sensed from Buffy was fine. Still, he moved as swiftly as he could across the uneven floor to reach her side.
He found her leg caught under a couple of the fallen rocks. Saying nothing, he started to free her from the rubble. Buffy hissed in pain as he was moving the last rock.
“Sorry,” Angel whispered.
“No problem,” Buffy said, sounding slightly sarcastic. “Just get me out of here, honey.”
Angel grinned at her use of that name even as he continued to free her. “I’m working on it, dear.”
Buffy chuckled, and then the last rock was gone. She sighed at relief from the release of pressure and started to sit up, but Angel held her arm firmly. “You’ve got a bad cut,” he explained, examining her leg by touch. Suddenly Buffy flinched and bit her lip. “And I think you’ve got a broken leg.”
Buffy lay back down where she was with a sigh. “Well, it had to happen sooner or later,” she said wearily. “So, what happened? We getting out of here?”
The dust had cleared enough for Angel to really see the cavern, and he shook his head. Realizing she couldn’t see that he said, “The cave-in completely sealed off the way we came. We’re not getting out of here without a lot of work.”
“I thought these caves were supposed to be safe,” Buffy said after a moment. “You know, except for the monsters.”
“They are,” Angel agreed. “I think something set that cave-in deliberately. We’re pretty effectively trapped here.”
“Just what I always wanted,” Buffy muttered. “To be a sitting duck.”
Angel stood up from Buffy’s side. “I’ll get us out of here,” he assured her, and began the long, tiring task of moving rocks.
So instead of worrying about the Slayer’s love life, they were researching cave dwelling demons. After all, they had no clue what they were up against. Buffy should have been back by now if all they were doing was trying to figure out what the demon was and what it was up to. But there was nothing her waiting friends to do but scour the old books and be patient.
Not that they were having much luck. Especially when they didn’t know what exactly they were looking for. All they had was a cave, an ocean, and the vague description of a couple of terrified teenagers. Not exactly much to go on.
It was Willow who eventually found something, though tiredly she did not even see what it was at first. With a yawn, she said, “Another one. Ad it to the pile…cave demon…traps…” She yawned again.
Giles perked up slightly. “Traps?”
“Yeah,” Willow acknowledged. “A smart demon, I guess.”
Giles seemed to snap alert and took the book from her hand. He scanned the text quickly. “Well, it fits the physical description we have,” he said distractedly. He began to read out loud. “’Prefers to lure and trap its prey as opposed to hunting it. Known to cause cave-ins and wait until its victims are weak before feeding at their leisure.”
“Glad we’re not up against that,” Anya replied.
With the exception of Anya, the group of them exchanged worried looks. In unison they stood, gathering their things and hurrying from the apartment. For a moment Anya sat alone in the room. “What?!” she called after them.
No one answered. They were already heading down the street.
Finally the rock came free of where it was lodged so suddenly Angel stumbled backwards. It didn’t do much good; another portion of the cave’s ceiling just proceeded to collapse, a shower of smaller rocks and dust filling up the passage again. Angel coughed and blinked as it settled.
“Angel,” Buffy said after a moment. He didn’t reply for a moment. “Angel!” she called again.
Angel cleared his throat of dust before he answered. “Yes?”
Buffy sighed in relief. “It’s no good,” she said after a moment. “Come…sit with me. Please?”
Angel crossed the cave floor easily, coming to sit on the floor next to her. He leaned against the wall as well. Buffy inched closer, leaning into his shoulder, and shivered slightly. Angel put his arm around her shoulder and she smiled slightly into the darkness.
“Thanks,” she whispered. “You know, if we weren’t trapped in this cave this would almost be nice.”
Angel chuckled weakly.
“So what do we do now?” Buffy asked after a moment.
“Everyone’s sure to notice how long we’ve been gone,” Angel assured her.
“So, we wait?”
“We wait.”
“And if the demon comes back?” Buffy asked, biting her lip slightly.
Angel knew she hated feeling helpless, and with her broken leg that’s exactly what she was. “Then I’ll fight it,” he said doing his best to reassure her.
Buffy smiled weakly, and they sat together in the silent darkness, trying to be reassured by each other’s presence.
Xander stopped short just as they reached the beach. “Uh…what exactly are we doing?”
“We’re…rushing to the rescue,” Willow replied after a moment.
“Do we have a plan for this wonderful rushing to the rescue? Because being plan-less is sort of what got Buffy and Angel in trouble in the first place.”
Giles seemed to blink at that, startled. “Well…um…”
“You know, he does have a point,” Anya pointed out helpfully.
Giles glared at her, but it was only half hearted.
“Yes, so, um…plan?” Tara tried helpfully.
“Of course, well… First we’d best find out if we are indeed dealing with the demon I think we are,” Giles said.
“And how are we going to do that?” Anya asked.
“Well, we could go into the cave and see if they’re in there…see if they’re actually trapped,” Willow suggested.
“Yes, and if I wanted to walk straight into a demon’s trap, that would be first on my list,” Xander replied sarcastically.
“Wait,” Tara said so softly they barely heard her, “we don’t have to go in to find out if they’re in there.”
“How then?” Giles asked as the entire group turned their attention to the witch.
She shifted uncomfortably but continued anyway. She looked at Willow to avoid everyone’s gazes. “We can track our own magic. I mean…Angel does have the crystal with him, right?”
Willow nodded. “I assume so. I mean, I don’t think he’d have left it anywhere…if he had anywhere to leave it. But, I don’t see…”
Tara smiled at her reassuringly. “We can try, right?”
The longer they went with neither demon nor escape in sight, the more Angel became worried. Mostly, he worried for Buffy. She had spoken little since Angel had come to sit with her, and the smell of her blood was strong to him. He was afraid that the cut on her leg was worse than he thought, and he couldn’t do anything about it when he could barely see it. Even if he did find a way of getting them both out of here, carrying Buffy out while she couldn’t walk would be a problem.
Angel moved carefully from her side, meaning to take one last look about the small room of a cave they had become trapped in. Perhaps there was a back way out that he hadn’t found. As soon as he moved though, Buffy grabbed his arm with considerable strength.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Just stay right here, with me. Help will come, right?”
Settling back beside her, Angel tried to comfort her. “Shh,” he whispered, “don’t talk now.”
She didn’t question him, but curled up as bet she could against his side. Angel sighed slightly. One more concern, one he never would have even thought about a day ago… If he was the demon that had trapped them, if he had truly wanted to weaken them…why not just wait until they ran out of air? Angel had never given much thought to death by suffocation.
He gave it thought now.
“Are you sure?” Giles asked urgently.
Tara nodded. “Both still alive, and they haven’t moved, so I guess you’re right. They are trapped.”
“Alright, then,” Giles said, and faced the entire group of them seriously. “The two of you, stay here. Keep an eye out for the demon. Anya, run back towards town and find a phone. Call 911 and tell them that there’s people trapped in the caves near the beach. Xander…you and I will try and find another way into the cave.” For a moment no one moved. “Well, come on then!”
“Slayerettes to the rescue!” Xander called enthusiastically as he rushed towards the beach.
It was enough to lighten everyone’s mood a bit.
Buffy shifted against Angel’s side. She sighed, making Angel more alert.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Oh, just my luck,” she said, sounding tired as well.
“We’ll be fine, you’ll see,” he said, assuring her as much as he was assuring himself.
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed half-heartedly. She shifted again, pulling away slightly. Angel got the impression that she was trying to look him in the eye, but that was near impossible in the total darkness. “But Angel…how long has it been since we got back together? 18 hours, maybe? And already we’re in a life-or-death situation. Why can’t we ever catch a break?”
“Maybe tomorrow we will,” Angel said, semi-seriously.
Buffy chuckled. “Yeah, maybe tomorrow.”
Angel couldn’t help but laugh with her. Sure, it was forced, but it was needed. Didn’t they say laughter is good for the soul?
After a moment Angel stopped laughing suddenly. “What is it?” Buffy asked.
“Shh,” Angel said softly. “I thought I heard something.”
“Is it the demon?” Buffy asked, her worry clear even in the total dark of the cave.
“I don’t know,” Angel whispered, then Buffy followed his cue and fell silent.
Only Angel’s vampire hearing had enabled him to hear anything, and even then it was too faint to be made out. Slowly, though, it sounded like…voices? Angel stayed as still as he could, trying to hear what it was.
“Hello?” it came again, faint with distance and echoing so that it wasn’t clear where it was coming from. Male as well, and definitely not the demon. Buffy started slightly when she finally heard it. They waiting tensely for the voice to become clearer, not wanting to possibly alert the demon lurking somewhere still.
“Buffy? Angel?” the voice came again. Both of them relaxed in relief, and Buffy chuckled again.
“We’re here!” Angel called very loudly into the echoing cave.
“Angel?!” the first voice called – Xander’s, apparently.
It was joined by a second voice, slightly accented even through the echoes. Giles. “Are you alright? Is Buffy okay?”
“We’re okay!” Buffy called, and Angel could hear the smile in her voice. “We’d like to get out of here.”
“Xander and I are trying to find a way to get to you,” Giles’s voice called back.
“Buffy’s hurt,” Angel said quickly. “We’re going to need some help getting out of here.” Next to him, Buffy sighed in frustration.
“Anya’s calling 911,” Xander called, his voice still muffled by the rock but no longer echoing as badly. They must have been close. “There should be someone here soon.”
“Just…sit tight, alright?” Giles added.
“Not really a problem,” Buffy muttered.
Willow and Tara stood next to the entrance to the cave, watching them carry a surprisingly alert and happy Buffy to the waiting ambulance. Angel walked beside her, blinking a bit uncomfortably in the early morning sun. Both of them looked a bit worse for the wear, but they were more or less alright. Not counting Buffy’s broken leg, of course.
The paramedics carefully loaded Buffy into the ambulance, but started to stop angel when he went to follow her. After all, he was completely uninjured, and Buffy had a nasty leg injury. Buffy clasped his hand firmly when they tried to push him away. “I want him with me!” she said quickly.
“I’m sorry,” one of them replied, “but he’ll have to follow us.”
Buffy looked panicked, and Willow remembered how much she hated hospitals. She looked at Angel wildly, trying to come up with a way to get him in the ambulance with her. “He…he’s my husband!” she blurted after a moment.
The paramedic looked doubtful and Angel looked stricken. Everyone else was stunned by what she’d decided for an excuse. “Buffy…” Angel replied in a shocked whisper.
A mischievous twinkle entered Buffy’s eye that was visible even from where Willow stood. “What?” she said, grinning. “You did give me a ring an all. And maybe it does mean all the things you said it means, and now they’re just given as, like, serious friendship rings, but someone once told me it’s also a traditional wedding ring, that particular ring.” She smiled even wider. “They don’t come much more traditional than you, Angel.”
Angel was simply gaping at her, completely shocked to speechlessness.
Buffy chuckled at the look on his face. “Of course, I’d still like a real wedding. You know, with a wedding dress and big party and all that.” She seemed to falter for a moment, loosing some of her bravado. “That is, I mean…if you’d…”
Angel started to chuckle at the same time as the paramedics stood aside to let him into the ambulance as well. “Why, are you proposing marriage to me?”
Buffy smiled back easily. “What can I say, I was never one to be traditional. If I waited for you to ask me who knows when you’d get the nerve up to ask!” She squeezed his hand as he sat next to her. “So, Angel, will you marry me?”
“That’s it, you’re delirious,” Angel teased her lightly.
As the doors closed on them both, Willow faintly heard Buffy’s annoyed reply. “Angel!”
Then the doors were shut and the ambulance was headed towards the sunrise, leaving a number of highly amused – or confused – friends behind them. Walking back towards the town, Willow looked at Tara. Silently laughing, both in the relief of finding their friends alright and amusement at the final scene Buffy and Angel had put on, the Slayerettes looked forward to a hopefully demon and disaster free new day.
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