AN: This story was originally a random idea for my 'The Journey, Not the Destination' series, but I figured it wouldn't fit.
The idea was formed in my mind from two things:
Reading 'Nephilim' by Agrove, I really loved the Angel/Buffy moments with his wings.
And the song from the BONES CD 'Angel' by Sinead O'Connor.
I'll recommend both but neither are necessary to read this fic.
You're an Angel
*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*. ..*
NOW:
Buffy stood staring down at the freshly filled grave, her heart numb. Not feeling the tears as they slid down her cheeks to fall from her face and seep into the dark rich earth that had so recently been disturbed to accommodate the final resting place of her beloved.
In under a day, she was given the most wonderful gift she could ever imagine, and had to lose it almost as fast as she gained it.
Angel had been human, given back his long lost mortality as a reward for his heroism.
Buffy had been skeptical at first, but once she'd felt his heart beating, strong and steady in his chest, she'd quickly shed her misgivings and opened her heart to him again.
They'd spent hours together, sitting in a small café or walking hand in hand in the park. Both enjoying the beautiful sunny summer day.
Words had flowed easily between them, catching up on so much uncommunicative time.
A whole year of her life was already being planned in her mind; slow re-introductions, coffee dates, dinners and movies. Casual dating follow by more serious romance. Moving in together, being intimate without risking the world as they know it...and all of that wouldn't have to go in that exact order.
First off however, came introducing him to food.
Eager to herald Angel into the wonderful world that was junk food, she'd left his side for only a few minutes to get them coffee and doughnuts.
That was all it took.
THEN:
Buffy smiled at the coffee shop attendant as he handed her the drink tray and the bag of doughnuts.
'I can't wait for Angel to finally try a doughnut!'
The eager blond turned and was about to head for the door when a screech and bang echoed throughout the building. The sound echoed through her very soul. She stood frozen for a moment, she could feel the bullet as it lodged into her chest, but she knew it hadn't hit her.
It hadn't actually been a bullet as all, it had been a truck.
'Angel' She didn't know how she knew, she just did.
Her heart twisted as she lost control over the purchases in her hand. Raining coffee and pastries onto the white speckled floor as her feet moved swiftly out the door. It only took seconds for her to run to the spot she had left her human love.
Quickly, with tears steaming down her face, she pushed gawking onlookers from the crowd aside and cleared a path to her Angel. "Call an ambulance." She ordered to a guy trying to take a picture with his phone.
Once free of the mass, her eyes were left to focus on the scene. Tears welled in her eyes as they fell on Angel, lying sprawled on his back in the street, a dark red liquid pooling beneath him.
A Forest green Ford pickup truck with a shattered windshield and dented fender was smoking slightly off to the side. The cracked glass spotted with red.
Only a few more steps and she was kneeling beside him, her hand slowly reaching out to touch his already bruising cheek.
His closed eyes fluttered then opened at the gentle touch.
A grief filled smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she saw the bloodshot left iris. "Angel?" she called to him.
It took a moment for his glassy eyes to focus on hers, a weak smile slowly spread across his mouth. She would have thought the smile to be beautiful, had it not been tinted with fresh blood.
His blood.
"Buffy" he crocked, voice weak and hoarse from pain of a shattered rib-cage.
Her fingers slid over his lips, "Shh, don't talk. Just…just hang on Ok? The ambulance will be here soon. Just…don't leave me again," She whispered thought unrestrained tears.
Her eyes drifted to his chest, even though his t-shirt, which had been a light grey but was now a deep crimson, she could see the concave dent that had not been present earlier. He gasped in pain as she tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding and quickly removed her digits.
"I'm sorry" she whispered for causing him pain. Her heart lurched as she acknowledged the mortal wound.
His dark eyes focused up at her, eyes filling with tears as well. "Sokay Buffy" he whispered to her, she had to lean closer to hear him. His words were weak, but the blow was strong. "I'm ready."
She shook her head furiously, "No, no your not. You can't be…I just got you back." She cried to him, not even trying to fight the wall of tears threatening to drown her. 'This can't be happening, it can't be!' The voice in her mind screamed.
He reached a hand out to touch her cheek; she had to help guide his numbing fingers. As she held his hand against her face, she felt his thumb run along her skin. "I'm not afraid." He mumbled through the haze of pain and disorientation.
"I am." She countered, squeezing his palm tightly.
"I'm sorry. If I'd known…" he paused as pain silenced him, after a moment he continued, "…never wanted to…hurt you again." He felt terrible, not because he was dying, but because once again he'd given her hope for a future together, just to have it snatched away. His only comfort was she didn't remember the first time it had happened.
"Shh, please don't. You're going to be ok." Her mind told her he wasn't, but her heart refused reality.
He shook his head, "I under…stan now. This is…my redemption." Blood slipping over his lips added to the puddle under him.
"No, no living is your redemption! Dying isn't redemption, Angel! It's just death!" She yelled in frustration, begging the steadily growing drone of the rescue truck to arrive quicker, but knowing it would be too late.
His words were growing fainter as his life fluid soaked into the cracked asphalt, she had to bend closer and stain hard to hear anything over the roar of the sirens. "As a demon…I…I could never be…redeemed. As a man…my soul…is clean."
"Angel Please!" She begged him, but he couldn't hear her words anymore.
The bright afternoon sun did little to warm her as she sat in a cold silence while looking down at his still form. The first responders worked diligently on Angel's body, but they all knew it was now just a show now, the main attraction was already over.
Angel was beyond revival.
No amount of CPR or drugs or shocks would change that.
His rib-cage had been crushed by the front fender of the truck, his body sailing over the smooth green metal to smash against the Plexiglas windshield. The screaming brakes had launched him off the vehicle to impact the unforgiving road, somewhere in between, his spine and limbs retching in unnatural angles.
The reason this all happened stood looking wide eyed at his rescuer from the arms of his mother, the three year old unable to process the complexities of life and death, but on a basic level, knew he'd been in trouble and a nice man had saved him.
Little Jack had run out in front of the Ford now sitting in idle on the middle of the crowded street, his young eyes had only seen the pigeon he'd been chasing as his mother stopped to buy them a hotdog from a vendor.
Angel had seen the danger, and acted automatically.
Unfortunately he'd lacked the vampire reflexes he'd grown accustomed to.
He'd pushed the boy to safety, but hadn't been able to move fast enough himself.
The boy walked away unscathed, the pigeon flew away unnoticed.
Angel hadn't.
Back to Now:
For six months, Buffy slowly fought back the waves of depression that had threatened to drown her since Angel's death.
It was like coming back from Heaven all over again.
Her dreams of late had been her only shelter from the grief-storm.
Angel, alive and human, spending a whole day with him in a way they'd never been able. The dream was so real sometimes, she honestly thought it could be a memory.
'Cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream, crunchy peanut butter on chocolate wafers...how both tasted on Angel's tongue.'
She knew those dreams couldn't be real, Angel had indeed been human, but for less than a week. Her time with him had been cruelly short, lasted only hours before death stole him back from the safety of her arms.
Slaying was what kept her going, the need to stop demons from picking off the naive populous of LA.
'The city of Angels, minus the Angel that had been it's protector.'
Even since the city lost its vampire guardian, she'd taken to filling the hole.
…
Her first nightly stop was finished.
Leaving his grave behind, she continued on with the rest of the night's routine.
On autopilot, she slipped the stake from its sheath beneath her coat and rounded the corner to where she knew a vampire was lurking.
There was no witty banter, no prelude.
Stake, heart, dust.
She moved on to the next block, sacred duty keeping her moving.
...
The night was growing old, the pickings becoming less available as vampires prepared for sunrise.
Buffy continued on in search of more prey, needing to delay the tears a little longer by wearing the Slayer mask.
As the sky lightened, her heart fell with the realization there was nothing left to stake.
Disheartened, she turned and headed back towards home.
And emptiness.
And tears.
As she passed an alley, one still bathed in total darkness by the twin buildings on either side, she felt the prickle on her neck of a demon nearby.
Entering the barely two car wide passage, her hazel green eyes glanced around. "Finally, a challenge." She muttered half interested as half a dozen red spiky headed demon materialized from the shadows, each pointing their eerie glowing red eyes on her lithe form.
"Heard a Slayer was guarding this town, just like a little bitch." The closest spoke, long fangs dripping with saliva.
"Dog puns huh? Well in that case, say it again so I can put you down." She countered, silently playing out the battle in her mind and liking the math.
Out numbered 6 to 1, not bad odds in her opinion.
5 more demons filled into the alley behind her.
'Ok, now not so good.' She thought internally as her odds went way down, but the calm anticipation on her face didn't give away her feeling of dread.
"Can we get this over with, I have more important matter to attend to than a bunch of rude about to be corpses." Forced it's way from between her lips. On the inside, a part of her was wondering if this would be it, the fight that finally felled the infamous Buffy Summers. A small part kinda hoped it was.
Unending grief was getting old. Ever since Angel died, the light in her life had snuffed out with him. Spending years apart hadn't mattered. At least he'd been in this world still, fighting and making a difference. He didn't need to be near her for the presence of him to keep her going. Now that he was truly gone, that feeling was too.
She really was alone.
Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn, they were all still in her life…but a part of her soul had died that day, a part she knew she'd never get back.
"Oh there'll be a corpse all right, yours!" The demon responded in overly evil dramatics, dragging her thoughts back into reality, as his vile grinning mouth gave off a fowl odor through a mouthful of pointed teeth.
"How original." Buffy huffed as her stake lashed at the nearest demon as he tried to ambush her from behind.
All he got for his efforts was a hole where his right eye used to be. At least he didn't mind...you know, being dead an all.
As the first fell, three more rushed forwards.
Buffy was ready, swinging arms and legs out like heat seeking missiles, taking out heads and limbs.
A few minutes in and she thought the battle was going well, 4 down for good, two more dazed, only 5 to go.
Even after spending the last few months in relatively light slay conditions, her reflexes hadn't grown soft. However, the skills of the demons weren't typical, they were actually good.
So much in fact, one caught Buffy under the chin with a surprise backward kick, which brought her crashing to the ground. Two more were ready for her, grabbing her arms and yanking them apart, painfully rendering her immobile as the others regrouped and surrounded her.
Arms held in iron grips, she found she couldn't break their grasp, she had nothing to kick and no leverage to pull away.
She was trapped.
"So Bitch, what did you say about being put down?" The lead demon asked, a delightful gleam in his flaming eyes as he realized he would win this fight and be forever known as Hellgar, Killer of Slayers.
His claws itched to bury themselves in her flesh, to taste hot slayer blood as it ran down his throat, to eat the heart of the 'world's oldest and strongest slayer'.
Buffy narrowed her eyes, muscles straining however uselessly against her captors. She wouldn't die begging for mercy, not go out without a fight.
"Bite me." She spat.
"I plan to." He grinned, spittle already dripping from his fangs as he neared. His lackeys holding her tighter as she struggled.
She felt his hot drool drip onto her neck as Hellgar leaned in, breathing deep of her scent. She shuttered as his mouth grazed her skin, sending goosebumps up her limps and down her spine.
Buffy clammed her eyes shut, she wouldn't watch as that creature bit into her, wouldn't give it the satisfactions of seeing her fear.
"Good dogs don't bite."
The words came in right before the muzzle on her neck vanished, immediately followed by the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a pained yelp.
The vise-like grip on her right arm disappeared and her now free limb made short work of the other demon holding her left.
In under 10 seconds, she had all the demons dead and she was left standing in the empty alley looking bewildered.
'I could have sworn I'd heard Angel's voice.' She thought looking around and wiping the spittle off her neck, the words mirroring what he'd said the night The Three had captured her.
Figuring she really was losing it, she turned around to exit the alley.
She stopped short.
Her eyes widened and she took an automatic step back, hazel green eyes scanning over the being that stood in front of her, as solid and real looking as the boots on her feet.
"Angel?" Her voice escaped her throat in a tight whisper, the tube threatening to close down altogether.
"Buffy" He spoke as he took a step forward, a light smirk as his lips as he looked her over, greedily drinking in her appearance like a parched man downing water.
Paralysis broke, her foot moved a step backwards, away from him. "No, no you...you can't be...you're dead."
"You never minded." He replied lightly as he took another step closer.
Buffy shook her head, repeating her backwards retreat towards the alley mouth. "Angel was human when he died, you're not him."
"I came back from Hell, why not Heaven?" He paused his forward momentum, letting her pause her retreat.
Tears threatened to blind her, the being standing right in front of her so closely resembled the only man she'd ever truly loved. "It's not possible" The remark slipped from her tongue, desperately wanting it to be true, but knowing her lover was long since dead and buried.
"It is, Buffy." He assured, not moving forward but pleading for a chance with his deep brown eyes.
"How?" The question came quickly, desperately.
He grinned a little, "It's easier to just show you."
He stepped forward again, this time her feet refused to move her away.
In under a second he was close enough to touch.
Slowly, he bent forward.
She lifted her head, ready to accept a kiss, even if she were crazy.
His lips found her skin, but not on her mouth. A feather light touch brushed over each of her eyelids.
When his contact broke, she opened the eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed.
The tall dark haired man standing before her took a step back, and her eyes scanned over him, taking in his appearance. He looked the same; messy spiked hair, deep brown eyes, large muscled frame hidden beneath black dress pants and a silk deep crimson long sleeved button down. The black leather duster swayed around his long legs in the gentle breeze flowing into the alley.
Movement caught her attention, something appearing from behind him so suddenly she barely had time to blink.
Her eyes widened in awe, mouth nearly falling to the dirty asphalt road beneath her feet.
"Oh, my, God." She said quietly, barely able to take in the sight of the large pearl white wings that had opened out from Angel's back.
Taking an involuntary but completely necessary step forwards, her fingers brushed her lips as her hand hovered shocked over her mouth. "You...you're...an angel."
The corners of his mouth twitched, "Ironic huh?"
...
TBC...