Angel woke slowly, sore and still exhausted, but for the first morning in months he awoke content. He had absolutely no desire to move. One of his arms was draped over the shoulder of a beautiful blond, and unlike when she had first arrived in his apartment a month and a half ago he knew exactly how he’d met her and just how much he loved her. His night had been haunted by visions from his past, and for the first time ever he welcomed them. As many regrets as his past might hold, he never wanted to loose sight of it again.
Several minutes after Angel had awoken, Buffy began to stir as well. She yawned. “Morning,” she murmured.
“Morning,” Angel agreed. He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. “Well, just barely.”
“It was a long night,” she explained.
“Speaking of, how are you feeling?”
“Better,” she said. She grinned up at him and let her hand wander across his chest. She traced the scar she found there with her fingers. The image of a bird, its wings spread in flight. “Great, in fact. How about you?”
Angel let out a lone sigh. “I’m…very good. Well, except for having more bruises than I can count and sore muscles I didn’t know existed.”
Buffy chuckled. “I’ll bet,” she agreed. “That was quite a battle last night. You’re lucky you don’t have more than bruises to show for it.”
“Mmm,” Angel acknowledged. He let his mind wander to the strangeness of the night before. Strange to think that twenty-four hours age he’d lived in ignorance of his own past, let alone things of darkness and his own strange possible future. It was a lot to process.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Buffy asked, obviously concerned.
“I was just thinking,” he evaded.
Buffy looked at him in understanding. “It’s about what that weird lady said last night, isn’t it?”
“Jadwiga,” Angel said, still slightly distracted.
“Whatever,” Buffy said dismissively. She shifted, making herself comfortable against his chest. “It’s bothering you, isn’t it? All that stuff she said about destiny and power and the Phoenix or whatever?”
Angel did not look at her, but nodded. “Yes, it’s bothering me. It’s bothering me that her words felt true, yet I have no idea this morning what they mean.”
Buffy was silent for a long moment. “I’m sure it will be clear eventually,” she assured him, though she didn’t sound so sure of it herself.
“Yeah,” Angel agreed softly. He gave her a gentle squeeze around her shoulders. “And, if what she said was true, she’ll be back.”
Buffy shifted uneasily. “Angel…”
“What?”
She pulled away from him slightly, leaning against his chest so she could look him in the eyes. “I don’t trust her,” she said strongly.
“I do,” Angel replied, certain of that at least. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
For a moment Buffy looked like she was going to retort. Then she sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll find out eventually,” she said. “I only hope it’s not the hard way.”
Angel was about to reply to that when he heard footfalls on the stairs. He made a quick shushing motion at Buffy and sat up with her still against his chest.
“Hello? Are you guys decent?”
Both of them chuckled and slid out of bed. “It’s safe, Cordelia,” Angel called even as he reached for his robe. He glanced over at Buffy and smiled.
Cordelia was at the bottom of the stairs when Angel emerged from the bedroom. She looked at him a bit oddly at seeing him in his bathrobe, but that was nothing compared to the look on her face when Buffy emerged. “Nice outfit,” she teased.
Buffy pulled somewhat awkwardly on the bottom of Angel’s huge shirt that she wore to sleep in. “So I didn’t bring an overnight bag,” she muttered.
“Speaking of,” Cordelia said, looking amused, “you know that guy you’re staying with this summer?”
“Dad!” Buffy blurted in shock. “I didn’t return home last night! I have to call him. He’s got to be worried sick!”
“That he is,” Cordelia replied smugly.
“Huh?”
“He’s waiting for you upstairs.”
Buffy let out an ‘eep’ and dashed back into the bedroom. Both Cordelia and Angel couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction. Cordelia looked at Angel with a smirk.
“What are you laughing at?” Cordelia teased him.
Angel looked at her curiously.
“You don’t think Mr. Summers is going to want to meet you? The man corrupting his little girl?”
“I’m not corrupting her,” Angel defended himself.
Cordelia just laughed. “Go get dressed,” she said.
Angel dashed back into his
bedroom. He could hear Cordelia’s laughter all the way up the stairs.
Buffy’s steps were very slow as she made her way up the
stairs. She really was not looking forward to confronting her father. Not
having seen her father much in the last couple of years, in had been nice
to spend the summer with him. She hoped that whatever good standing she
had with him hadn’t completely disappeared when she hadn’t gone back to
his apartment last night.
She nearly jumped when Angel placed his hand in the small of her back. “Hey,” he said gently. “I’m right here with you.”
Buffy smiled at Angel gratefully, and they walked into the office side by side.
Mr. Summers jumped out of his seat as soon as they made their appearance upstairs. “Buffy!” He rushed over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “What happened? Are you okay?”
Buffy smiled slightly. “I’m okay, Dad.”
He looked at her a bit doubtfully. “Are you sure?”
Suddenly Buffy realized how she must look. She hadn’t had any choice but to wear the same outfit she’s been wearing last night. It was smoke stained and disheveled. The bruise on the side of her face from when she’d been knocked out had faded significantly, but Angel sported quite a large, colorful bruise on his jaw. They looked quite the beaten up pair. “Um, really, we’re fine now,” Buffy protested weakly, running her hands over her once nice outfit.
“What happened?”
Buffy just looked at him for a second, unable to come up with a good excuse. “Um, we were mugged?”
Mr. Summers’ expression became even more doubtful.
“Buffy,” Angel said gently.
Buffy jumped, and felt rather silly for doing so. “Oh,” she said sheepishly. “Dad, this is Angel.”
The two men shook hands briefly. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Angel said pleasantly.
“And you,” Mr. Summers replied, but he wouldn’t be distracted from his question. “So what happened to the two of you, really?”
Still, Buffy was flustered. “It’s…kind of a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
Buffy looked at Angel, silently pleading with him to come up with a good excuse. He shook his head slightly. “I think you’d better tell him. Everything.”
“Everything? Angel…”
“Your mom knows,” Angel pointed out.
“Yes, but my mom’s first reaction was to kick me out of the house,” Buffy retorted.
Both Angel and Mr. Summers looked at her in shock. “You never told me that,” Angel said softly.
Buffy shrugged. “Well, there are a couple of months of time that you and I don’t talk about at all.” She tried to cover up the darker emotions that lurked right under the surface of that statement, but Angel could see it in her posture and hear it in her tone of voice.
“Buffy,” Angel said gently. His eyes were pained.
Mr. Summers cleared his throat loudly. “Not that this hasn’t been fascinating, but you haven’t answered my questions.” Both Buffy and Angel looked at him in surprise, having been so caught up in old miseries that they’d forgotten his presence. “No, wait,” he said suddenly. “New question first. Are the two of you…together?”
Buffy and Angel looked at
each other and exchanged identical uncertain looks. “I don’t know,” she
said.
“How do you think he took it?” Buffy asked herself hours
later. She was back in Angel’s apartment, sitting at the kitchen table.
Angel leaned against the kitchen counter. “It looked like he took it rather well.”
Buffy looked up at him in surprise, as if she had forgotten he was there. “Sure,” she said after a moment, “he seems to be taking it well. Just wait. The real reaction will come when I go back to his apartment tonight.”
Angel tried not to let the disappointment on his face, but once Buffy turned her attention to him she did not miss a thing. Standing, she walked over to him and looked up at him in concern. “Angel? What is it?”
He shrugged. “It’s…I don’t like to think of you leaving, even for a day. I’ve missed you.”
Buffy smiled tolerantly, brought out of her worries over her father by Angel’s simple statement. “Angel,” she said calmly, “I’ve been here for nearly two months now. How could you have missed me?”
“Before that, I hadn’t seen you except for once…twice…in an entire year,” he reminded her. “These two months…I didn’t know how much I’d missed you until today. I’m making up for lost time.”
Buffy grinned at him. “I missed you, too,” she replied. Looking him in the eye, her grin faded as quickly as it had appeared. “About what my dad said…”
“What?” Angel asked, not quite sure which part of the afternoon’s conversation she was referring to.
Turning her back on Angel, she paced the kitchen for a moment. “Are…are we together, Angel?”
Angel looked down and sighed. Things had been moving so fast in the last twenty-four hours that they hadn’t really gotten the chance to work such things out. “Buffy,” he whispered. He waited for her to turn before he spoke again. Letting his emotions show clearly, his hope and his love, he reached out his hand to her. “What do you want?” he asked gently.
Buffy hesitated only a moment. “I love you,” she said by way of an answer.
“And I you,” Angel said easily. He smiled at her, and she stepped towards him again until they were merely a hair’s breadth apart.
“But,” Buffy faltered hesitantly. “I have to go back to Sunnydale for class in just a week.”
“Yeah,” Angel whispered back. “And I have things to do here. Plus…”
“A new destiny to figure out,” Buffy finished for him. Tilting her head up to look him in the eyes, she could feel his breath on her face. “So…” she breathed.
“So…”
“We try again?” Buffy asked hopefully. “Long distance? One day at a time?”
Angel tilted his head towards
hers and caught her lips in a brief but searing kiss. “One day at a time.”
On to Part Two
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