Holding Out For a Hero
Rating: PG-13
A/N: This story was inspired by the song "Holding out for a Hero". This story is set in a futuristic Buffy universe. Also, I am in favor of the way that the way the characters were written in Season 1-3 of Buffy (the way they were intended to be) so that is how I try to write them as much as possible. Finally, I didn't like either Dawn or Conner, so they don't exist in my story. Also for sanities sake and so that I don't have to come up with a way a restoring Angel's soul, just pick your favorite binding spell and do that, cause they are all pretty much the same anyhow.
A/N 2: There are two voices in Buffy's head during the story. To keep them straight the voice that is attributed to Angel will be represented in Bold And the voice of Spike will be Underlined
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, I don't intend to profit from this story in anyway, this is purely for fun. It was written for my amusement in writing it and hopefully your amusement in reading it.
"Get Down," I scream. Great, just great, we're… I'm surrounded. I say 'I'm' not because I'm by myself, but because if Eddie tried to fight he'd just get himself, and probably me killed. "Was it too much to ask to have even one vamp free evening?" I mutter, as I stake the two that rush my left side.
A voice in my head, with a cockney accent, chides me, You don't want a COMPLETELY vampire free night, do you, love? Just not THESE vamps.
Shut up, Spike. A soft Irish lilt answers, also in my head, Can't you see that she's trying to fight.
In no time at all I am brushing the vamp dust off out if my hair. There had been seven in all, not really hard, after Glory and the First Evil nothing is, just a nuisance. I find Eddie crouching behind a park bench. Can I pick'em or what? "Are you okay?" I ask.
"I'm fine," he stands up. "Are you alright?" Gently he caresses my face.
"Yeah." I take his hand and begin to walk, "Come on, we're late to meet the Scoobies."
Eddie and I walked into the night club and towards our usual table near the dance floor. As we approached the table, Xander called out, "Hey, Buffy and Boyfriend! It's about time you showed."
"Hey Xander! We ran into some unscheduled slayage. But, all is now well." Eddie sat down in the empty chair across from Xander. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards his lap. I hesitated for a moment, and then sat down; this is what I want, right? It's a little weird being the only one of the Scoobies with a significant other. After Anya died and Kennedy left, Xander and Willow just never seemed to be interested in dating.
"Can I get you something from the bar, a beer of a Diet Coke?" Edward asked me.
"Sure, a beer is fine." I reply. He couldn't have asked before we sat down. When he comes back, instead of handing me my drink he sets it down on the table and asks me if I want to dance. I want to say, 'no, drink, you just got it for me.' But I don't, I say, "Yeah," and let him lead me out onto the dance floor.
The music is slow as Edward leads me onto the dance floor. It brings back memories of a night, many years ago, at the Bronze. As we reach a semi-empty spot, I try to erase all thoughts of the past, of Angel and the happy and sad times we spent together. I let the music flow through me and try to loose myself in it. It obviously didn't work very well, because as the music ends Eddie looks down at me and says, "Is everything alright, dear."
"Yes," I tell him, "but the slaying must have taken more out of me than I realized. I'm just going to go home and call it an early night."
"Sure, sweetie. I'll walk you home."
"No," I reassure him, "I'll be fine. You stay hear and enjoy yourself."
That night my sleep was anything but peaceful. I tossed and turned in my bed, getting thoroughly tangled in my covers and breaking into a cold sweat, but to all these things I was unaware, for I was entirely focused on my dream.
I was in a dark alley, with only the partial moon as light. However the thick fog that lay on the ground did a great deal to obscure even that faint light. "No weapons," I muttered to myself when I realized that I hadn't been given a single thing with which to protect myself. I also noticed that I was wearing the same dress that I had worn on Halloween my junior year. "At least I still remember who I am," I told the darkness, "that's one thing in my favor." I hurried down the corridor in search of something I could use as a weapon; this wasn't the type of place that you'd want to be caught defenseless.
After a few moments,
I began to sense that there was someone chasing me, and that even
though I was running as fast as I could, whomever it was, was about
to catch up with me. Then, the worst thing that could possibly happen
happened; I tripped on my skirt and went sprawling to the ground. In
no time my pursuer was upon me. The best way to describe him is as a
real rogue. He was dressed all in black and seemed to glide instead
of walk; he was human, but at the moment, that thought brought me
little relief. He stalked towards me, dagger in hand. I tried to
stand up, to back away, to kick him, to do anything, but I was held
fast in place. There was a flash of light and suddenly my attacker
scurried off.
My savior was a knight, clad in full armor that seemed to reflect a light that wasn't there. He dismounted the white stallion that he had been riding, walked toward me, and extended a hand to help me up. Gladly I accepted his offer, and, after brushing myself off and making a vain attempt to straighten my dress and hair, I gave a deep curtsy and said, "Thank you, Sir Knight."
"My Lady," He bowed deep and kissed my hand. Then he did something totally unexpected, he removed his helmet, allowing me to see the man beneath, "Buffy," he said, though it was barely more than a whisper.
I could barely believe it; I was shocked, stunned, breathless, speechless. I finally managed to squeak out a response, "Angel!" I couldn't believe it, Angel, my Angel, here, he came back to me. He drew me close and held me in his arms. He was no longer wearing his knight's armor, but was once again in his token black duster. Then he kissed me. He kissed me like he did when he returned form hell, like right before I ran him through with a sword, like the night of my 17th Birthday.
Then I wake up, and I am alone again. Slowly, I get out of bed and make my way to the window of my room, so similar to the one that Angel had frequented. I open the window, peering out, hoping in vain that I might see the object of my affection.
Give it up, luv, the Great Puff left you, he doesn't love you anymore. The voice in my head, which I have attributed to Spike, cuts into my musings.
That's not true, my Angel roars, She is my mate, I will always love her.
Then why did you leave her? To that there was no response.
It is several hours before I am able to get back to sleep, what with thoughts of Spike and Angel running though my head. Two man who I loved in two very different ways. I wonder what they are up to now; the only thing I know is that they are together, in L.A. It must be driving them crazy. I even consider picking up the phone and calling L.A., but I completely wuss out. Imagine that me, the Slayer, afraid of a little phone call.
I am awoken early the next morning by a sharp ringing. I swat at the alarm clock on my nightstand. When the ringing continues, even after what I thought was the offensive object is demolished, I grudgingly sit up and answer the phone, silently swearing to hurt whoever was on the other end. "Hello," I rasped, sleep making my voice gruff and cracking.
"Good morning, darling. Are you feeling better this morning?"
"Ed?" He sounded way to chipper for this early in the morning, "Morning. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better, but I'm still real tired, I didn't sleep well last night."
"Oh, my poor baby, well I'll let you get back to sleep, I just wanted to make sure that we are still on for dinner."
Dinner? Oh, that's right, it's our anniversary. "Yeah, of course we are, have you made reservations or do I-"
"No, I've already made reservations at a romantic little Vietnamese bistro. I'll pick you up at 7:30. I love you honey. Have a good sleep."
"Right, 7:30. See you then." I hang up the phone.
I didn't think you liked Asian food, luv.
She doesn't, Spike, you moron. But he doesn't know that.
They're right of course. I really have no stomach for Asian food; I think it has to do with the soy and teriyaki sauce. Edward can't be expected to know that, I've never brought it up with him. Not like Angel had, knowing that I wouldn't like it before I had even tried it. I remember this new Mandarin restaurant opening up just outside of Sunnydale. I had never tried any Mandarin food, so I convinced Angel to take me. He said that I would like it, said that he could tell by my personality that I was more of a white sauce girl. He was right. But I can't expect Eddie to know that.
You can't assume that he'd know that once you wake up in the morning you can't fall back to sleep, either, can you luv?
"Shut up, Spike" I mumble as I get out of bed, "and stop calling me luv, you know I hate pet-names."
I follow the waitress to our table and Ed follows me. Edward pulls out my chair and the waitress hands me my menu. As I glance down, attempting to discern what I can stand to gag down before I go patrolling and grab a burger, I notice that the menu wasn't in English.
I sat trying still to figure out my order when the waitress comes back. I am about to ask her if she perhaps has a menu in English when Eddie does something quiet unexpected. He orders for me. After a few moments, where I sat in shocked silence, I ask, "Ed, what did you just order for me?"
"Don't worry about it, Sweetiepie. Just trust me, you'll like it."
Don't be so sure about that.
Shut up, Spike, you're being annoying. Again!
I don't know how you can stand it, you Great Poof, watching the woman whom you claim is your mate being courted by this excrement.
The verbal banter from the vampires in my head is brought to a halt by the man sitting across from me. "We've been seeing each other for two years now. Right, Snookums?"
"Yeah."
"Well," and here he grasps my hands and takes a deep breath, "I think we should take it to the next level. Dear heart, will you become 'Mrs. Edward Clough'?"
Ugh, how lame and unromantic is that proposal? He didn't even get down on one knee or anything. "Ed, wow, I'm really… honored that you would ask me that, but, I'm not…"
Done baking?
"… Ready for that type of commitment yet. I was really hoping we could keep our relationship at the level it's at for awhile."
"Oh, of course honey. Some people have commitment issues. Especial when they're the child of a divorce. I can wait until you're ready."
Gee, thanks for bringing up the fact that my parents are divorced. "Thanks. You know, I think I'm just gonna go home. I need to conference call Giles in England, and also to think about what you just ask me."
"Ok, dear. I'll talk to you later." With that, and a small kiss on the check, I left.
"Buffy this is unexpected," Giles voice came over the speakerphone. "It's only 8:30, have you already finished tonight's patrol?"
"No," I told him. "I haven't gone out yet. But I… I really needed to talk to you."
My surrogate father got mildly worried, "Of course, dear, you know can call me up whenever you need to talk. What is troubling you?"
"Actually, could you get Willow and Xander on the phone? This might be simpler if I told all three of you this at the same time."
"Of course." A few seconds later, we were greeted by fond hellos from first Willow then Xander. Once they were both on the phone Giles said, "Buffy has something very important that she needs to talk to us about.
"I was wondering about the emergency Scooby meeting." Willow said.
"Yeah," Xander agreed, "So what's up, Buff"
"It's about Eddie," I said taking a deep breath. "He asked me to marry him."
There was a great uproar at this. "He did what!" Xander yelled.
At the same time, Willow exclaimed, "Oh, Buffy! How wonderful."
Quietly in the background, Giles sighed, "Oh, dear."
"But, why?" Xander continued on.
"Yes, Xander," This made me quite mad. "Yes, why would anyone possibly want to marry me?"
"That's not what I… I mean-"
Willow interrupted him. "Xander, shut up. What did you say Buffy? Am I going to get to be a bridesmaid?"
"I promise, Willow, when I do get married, you will definitely be my maid-of-honor. But, I told Eddie that I needed to think about it, that I wasn't sure I was ready for that type of commitment.
"Oh," Willow seemed slightly disappointed, "but I thought that was what you wanted."
"I thought I did too. But, when he asked me my mind rebelled and I just couldn't say yes."
As it should be. Angel said in my mind. You are mine.
I hate when it rains. Especially when I have to go patrolling in it. I briefly considered staying in, but, you know, sacred duty and all. So, I'm out here, soaking wet, because plastic poncho's aren't' really conducive to slaying. Slaying here is so much harder than back in Sunny-D, mostly because the 3 graveyards here are so much more spread out, lots more foot work.
Currently, I'm about half-way thru the second cemetery. And there has not been a single vamp yet, so now I'm wet AND I'm bored and I have absolutely nothing to occupy my mind except for Eddie's proposal. Which the more I think about it the more preposterous it seems and the less I can believe he actually asked me. I mean, I like Ed enough and all, but to marry the guy, that I'm not so sure of.
I told Angel once that I wasn't ready for that type of committed relationship, which even if it was true at the time, I say 'even' because I'm no longer sure that I wasn't ready, but, even if it was it certainly isn't anymore. Sighing, I wish for and easier time. Like when I was 16 and all I could see when I looked into the future was Angel. Now, I don't see anything when I look into the future. Which I try to do as little as possible.
My slayer-sense starts to tingle and I get excited. Finally a diversion. I look around, and am surprised that there are still no vampires in sight. It is a very strong sense and I would expect it to mean that the vampire was practically on top of me. But there isn't one that I can see anywhere, and I have very good vision. I focus harder on the sense trying to figure out what made it so powerful if there wasn't one nearby. A very large nest could give the allusion of proximity, but no, it's only one. A male, I think. Yes, definitely an alpha male, and an old and powerful one at that. And he is close, just not as close as I thought. Somewhere in the graveyard. I'll have to go and look for him, this should be a good fight, I've only been killing fledgling recently; I can't wait.
Slowly, I strip off my wet clothes and step gingerly into the scalding water of my bath. I had a very unfruitful nights slaying, but that's the way it seems to go nowadays, no fruit for Buffy. That master vampire had potential, but I never ran into him. And after a few minutes I couldn't sense him anymore, so I have to assume he left, probably went in out of the rain.
It's probably for the best, are you sure you're ready for a fight with a master. When is the last time you trained even?
"Of course I'm read…" Maybe my Angel voice is right. All I've been slaying are fledglings, and I can't remember the last time I actually trained. What if I'm not ready to fight a master vampire? Now I'll have two thoughts to keep me up tonight.
I just arrived into town today, and the first thing I did was go looking for her. After hours of searching, of following her scent on the winds I found her. She was alone, patrolling a dark cemetery in the pouring rain. I snuck up closer to her, she's soaking wet, just like on the night of her 17th birthday; I wanted to dry her off and take her in my arms, to hold her and comfort her all night long. But I am not allowed; I'm not even sure that she wants that kind of attention from me anymore. That's what I'm here to find out. She started then, and I saw her slowly switch into battle stance. There weren't any other creatures of the night about, so I know that she must have sensed me. Damn, I got to close. Slowly I eased away, careful not to make any sound to alert her to my whereabouts. She is my mate, so she should be able to sense me at a much greater distance, but sadly I had to leave before I could full teach her the strength of our bond, but I will.
I followed her at a distance while she finished her patrol, silently protecting her, not that my Slayer needs to be protected. I waited outside until I saw a light turn on in an upstairs window. Luckily for me there is a tree right outside that window, like the one I use to climb to reach her bedroom, back when she was in High School. That's where I am now, hidden up in the branches of that tree. She went to bed an hour ago, but I can't bring myself to leave. She's tossing and turning, probably having a bad dream, I want to go hold her, to take her in my arms and sooth away all her fears, but I can't; I haven't been invited. There are a few more hours until the sun comes up, I'll just stay here until then; if I can't comfort her I can at least know that I am here protecting her.
What am I doing here? I'm in the gardens of the Mansion on Crawford Street; Angel's mansion. There is a soft mist covering the ground, and a gentle music drifts though the open doorway. Slowly I follow the music up the steps and into the house. I wander around the downstairs, not exactly sure what I'm looking for. There are candles lit everywhere. In the kitchen I find a bottle of champagne and two glasses and I take them with me as I continue my tour of the house. As I exit the kitchen there is a small voice that whispers to me "The bedroom." Of course! Quickly I make my way towards Angel's bedroom, anxious about what or whom I may find there.
As I reach for the door knob a tingling sensation creeps down my spine. I push the door open and gasp. The room is filled with candles giving a soft romantic glow and there, sitting on his king size bed is Angel. He is in his boxers, leaning again the head board reading a book. As I enter the room he puts the book aside on the night stand and smiles at me. "Buffy, there you are. I was starting to worry that you wouldn't be coming."
I smile and rush towards the bed "Angel!" But I never near the bed. In fact, the more that I run the farther away I am until eventually I can't see him anymore.
I wake up with a jolt. Angel. He's close, I can feel him. Or maybe I'm just hoping that he is, maybe the dream has thrown my sense off. No, he's definitely here. It's still dark outside, but my Slayer sense tells me that sunrise will be in about half an hour. The Window! I rush towards the window, but don't see anything. Scanning the ground I search for my love. Just as I'm about to give up, I spot him, hidden in the branches of my tree. Taking a deep breath, I open the window and say, "Angel."
He creeps towards the window, "Buffy."
"Come in, Angel," I say with a tiny smile and take a step back from the window. Angel glides in with the grace of a cat. "I thought your days of lurking outside my bedroom window were over."
"I wasn't sure that I would have been invited in."
Of course you would be invited in, ya Great Poof. "Of course I would invite you in, Angel. I love you… I mean…"
He puts his finger to my lips, "I love you too, Buffy. I've never stopped loving you."
"You don't know how much I've wanted to hear you say that." I start to sniffle and wipe the beginnings of tears from my eyes.
"I do know, Buffy, and I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you everyday, that is what you deserve. But I'm here now, if you still want me."
Oh this is ridiculous, you bloody wanker. How can you be this dense? Of course she still wants you, what do you think she has been whining about since you left? And you, Slayer, why haven't you said anything yet? Can't you see that my Great Poof of a Grand Sire is doing that whole tortured soul thing while he's waiting for you to answer him… not that I mind him bein tortured, just that I wanna be the one to do it. He is right I haven't said anything. He is also right about Angel starting to do his brooding thing.
I step in close and wrap my arms around Angel's neck. "How could you every doubt that I wanted you back?" Then standing up on my tip-toes I reach up and kiss him. Our first real kiss in so many years. Tentative at first, like we are scared that it might all be taken away, but gradually we seem to realize that this is real, and that the other person isn't going away. Then the kiss deepens, as we both fill it with the love and passion, the sorrow and loneliness, and every other emotion that we've been feeling since he left.
Oh please! Do I really have to be here for all of this mushy non-sense? And when are you two going to start screwing already?
Go away, Spike. I think at him with the small amount of by brain that isn't totally focused on Angel. We're getting to it and I really don't want your commentary.
Fine, Slayer, I'll leave. But I will be back. Good-bye, Spike.