This is how seasons 4-7 would have been if Angel hadn't left at the end of season 3. This story is part one, which is season 4. I will do a part two that will be season 5, and so on. I'm writing this because I hate how Angel ditched Buffy for her own good. I hate storylines like that, and I'm fixing this one. The beginning of this chapter is actually the last episode of season 3, when Angel leaves.
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If I did, the show would have gone more like this.
Buffy saw Angel going through some weapons in the library. She went up to him. "Hey."
He looked. "How do you feel?"
"Fine. I heal fast. Like you."
Angel hesitated a moment, then said "We're not going to say goodbye."
Buffy stared. "What?"
"After the battle. We're not going to say goodbye, I'm just going to leave."
Buffy looked away. "Fine. We won't say goodbye, then. If that's what you want. But you know, you keep saying you're leaving for me. You're leaving to make my life better. But you know what? I don't think my life is going to be much better if I'm miserable." Her voice wavered. "But miserable is what I'm going to be once you're gone. I love you." She walked away. Angel stared after her, growing more and more unsure of himself.
Buffy stopped outside the hallway and let out a sob. She didn't know what she was going to do once he was gone.
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After the Battle
Buffy and Xander walked through the mess of emergency vehicles. Buffy was looking around earnestly. Xander knew who she was looking for. "He made it through the battle." He said. Buffy looked at him. "I saw him. I guess he took off."
Buffy nodded. A few minutes later, Xander went off to talk to the others, and then Buffy saw Angel. He was standing a ways away, looking directly at her. She could feel her heart breaking at the thought of this being the last time she ever saw him. Tears came to her eyes, and she raised her hand and waved. Then she turned and started walking away.
Angel watched her walk away. He was crying too. He turned away to leave, heading in the opposite direction. "I love you too, Buffy." He whispered. "More than you know."
Things she had said kept running through his head. "Idon'tthinkmylifeisgoingtobemuchbetterifI'mmiserable.ButmiserableiswhatI'mgoingtobeonceyou'regone.Iloveyou." Other things ran through his head too, things she'd said ages ago. "Angel,whenIlookintothefuture,allIseeisyou." That was why he was leaving. She should have something better. But he wanted to stay. He stopped walking. He tried to make himself keep going, but he just couldn't. "Loveisn'tbrains." Spike had said that. Maybe he was right.
Suddenly he turned around and started running back to the remains of the school. He could see Buffy with Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia in the distance. "Buffy!" he yelled. She turned and her eyes landed on him.
She looked confused. "Angel? I thought you were leaving."
"I can't." Angel said. "I can't leave you. I love you too much." He kissed her. She kissed him back, and smiled happily when they pulled apart. In the background, her friends were smiling, even Xander.
"You'll stay?" Buffy whispered.
"I'll stay. Part of me says I really should leave…but I can't convince myself to go."
It had been a long time since he'd seen Buffy this happy. "We were going to go celebrate. Do you want to come?"
Angel smiled. "Why not?" he took Buffy's hand, and they headed off. Angel wasn't sure what would come in the future. All he knew was that as long as he was with Buffy, life wouldn't be complete hell.
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A few months later
Buffy, Angel, and Willow were all on patrol in the graveyard. Willow was going over Buffy's form for college. Buffy needed one more class.
"I don't know." Buffy sighed.
"You should take Psych. I'm taking it." Willow said. "The teacher, professor Walsh, is like, world renown."
"How do you become renowned?" Buffy asked randomly. "Do you have to become nowned first?"
Angel grinned. Willow said, "Yes, first there's the painful nowning process. So what do you think?"
Buffy looked at Angel. "Thoughts?"
"I agree with Willow, you should take Psych." Angel said.
"Ok." Buffy said. "Psych it is. There, now I'm done."
Angel sat down next to Willow, and Buffy sat in his lap. He kissed the top of her head. She smiled and kissed him back, on the lips. He kissed her harder, making her turn in his lap to face him.
"Ahem, guys." Willow coughed. They pulled apart, Buffy turning pink. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Uh, is this guy ever going to wake up?"
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A few days later
It was dark outside when someone knocked on the door of Buffy's new dorm. Buffy answered it and found Angel standing the doorway. "Hi." He said.
"Hi." Buffy said, smiling. "Come in. My roommate's out."
Angel came inside. "Nice place."
"Yeah, it's ok. What are you doing here?"
"What, I need an excuse to see you?" Angel asked, grinning. "I love you; I can come see you anytime I want. You know, as long as the sun is down. When the sun is up you have to visit me."
Buffy laughed and sat down on her bed. Angel sat next to her. "So how was your first day?" he asked.
Buffy sighed. "It was ok. It could have gone better…"
Angel looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry it wasn't great."
Buffy smiled. "You can make it better." She leaned forward and kissed him. He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer.
They were still kissing when Buffy's roommate, Kathy, walked in. "Oh my gosh." She said when she saw Buffy and Angel.
Buffy jumped away from Angel quickly. "Kathy!"
"Hi Buffy." Kathy said, eyeing Angel.
"Oh, Kathy, this is my boyfriend, Angel. Angel this is Kathy, my roommate."
"Hi." Angel said, standing up.
"Nice to meet you." Kathy said.
Angel turned to Buffy. "I should…go…"
"Right…see you tomorrow." Buffy said. They kissed, and Angel left.
After Angel had closed the door, Kathy turned to Buffy. "He's cute."
"He's mine." Buffy said fiercely. Kathy put her hands in the air in surrender.
A day or two later
Angel went to Buffy's dorm to go see her. He was surprised to find her door open, and to find Kathy standing with Oz and Willow. He was also surprised to see all of her stuff was gone. They didn't see him right away, they were busy talking.
"Buffy would never do this!" Willow was saying. "She doesn't do this…except for that one time she disappeared for several months and changed her name…but there were circumstances!"
"What's going on?" Angel asked, coming inside.
"Buffy's gone." Oz replied.
"What?" Angel asked, slightly afraid something had happened.
"There probably were circumstances!" Willow groaned. "We've been so caught up in our own lives that we didn't even notice-"
"But I just talked to her not that long ago." Angel interrupted. "She was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting, but she wasn't acting like she wanted to leave."
"It's a prank!" Xander suddenly came running in.
"Xander!" Willow cried, hugging him. "You're back!"
"Hey Willow, Oz, Angel." Xander said.
"What did you mean when you said it was a prank?" Angel asked.
"Yes!" Xander cried. "It's a prank, Buffy's stuff was taken by her friends." They all gave him confused looks. "You know, the ones who sleep all day and don't tan?"
"Oh, those friends." Angel said, understanding.
"Funny guys." Oz said.
"Yes." Xander said. "Now we need to go help her bring her stuff back, come on!" They all followed Xander out of the room. Angel came up next to him.
"Is she alright?" he asked.
"Yeah." Xander replied. "She was going to lay low and wait until we got there for backup." Angel nodded.
Xander led them to where he and Buffy had seen the vampires, only to find the roof caved in and a lot of noise coming from inside. "Oh no." Angel said, and ran to the door.
They opened the door just in time to see Buffy stake the last vamp. She twirled her stake and grinned at them. Angel breathed a sigh of relief. "You're ok."
"What, you thought I couldn't take them?" Buffy asked, frowning.
"No!" Angel said quickly. "I had complete faith in you."
"Sure you did." Buffy said, rolling her eyes.
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They all had boxes and were heading back to the school to put Buffy's things back when Giles came running over. "Buffy!" he called. "You were right. I want to help you, we'll fight the evil."
"Cool." Buffy said. "Come on."
"What, is the evil this way?" Giles asked, and Angel grinned.
"Nope, my dorm is this way." Buffy responded.
"Giles, could you take this top one?" Willow asked from behind her boxes. Angel went up to Buffy.
"Feel better now that you've beaten evil?" he asked. Buffy smiled.
"Yeah, I do. Maybe college won't be too bad." She said. Angel put one arm around her, balancing the boxes he was carrying on the other.
"That's my girl." He said.
Ok!Sowhatdoyouguysthink?Isitgood?Eachchapterwillbeanepisode,sotherewillbe22chaptersperstory.SomeofthechaptersIalreadyhavepre-written,someIhaven'tfinishedyet.I'mgoingtotrytoupdateasregularlyaspossible.I'lltrytodoonechapterperday,thoughIcan'tpromiseI'llactuallygetthemonthatfrequently.Pleasereview!