The Future
Buffy: "Angel?"
She sits up in her bed.
Buffy: "I can feel you I know you're there."
She looks around and then under her breath she says.
"Please be there…"
Then a flash of lightening and thunder comes and it starts to rain. She gets up and looks out the window and shuts it. Then she crawls back in bed and glances at the clock.
She thinks: "I can't believe it's already two am. Its getting harder and harder to get to sleep after patrolling. The house is so quiet with Mom gone and Dawn at Willow's. The last time I asked to be alone like this was that last night with Riley. I wonder if he'll ever come back. Although I don't think that would change much. Maybe if I got a boyfriend people would stop asking me if I was ok and whispering about me. I don't think I could handle a boyfriend right now or ever…unless it was Angel. He's the only one who never expected anything out of me. With him I never had to be the perfect girlfriend, he always understood. But I've long past realized that we can't be together. I still love him, I always will. I wonder if the gang has realized that yet. Probably not. I can't sleep."
She gets up and staggers down the stairs then she finally reaches the bottom. Thunder and rain drops in the background. She looks at the couch.
She thinks: "That's where I found Mom… I wish she was still alive."
Then she lays down on the couch and pulls a blanket over her and grabs the remote from the coffee table and turns on the TV. There is a tap on the door.
Buffy: "Who's there?"
She gets up and looks out the door and sees a tall, dark, unrecognizable figure standing there. But she knows who it is. She quickly unlocks and opens the door. Then a flash of lightening shows his face, that face that had looked at her in so many different ways. She quickly pulls him in out of the rain and shuts the door. Buffy looks at him expectantly.
Angel: "Um… I just wanted to"
Not waiting for an explanation she grabs his neck and pulls his mouth to hers. He responds and takes her into his arms and her tongue explores his mouth and he returns the favor then she pulls his jacket off and throws to the floor. He pushes her away and they both gasp for air.
Angel: "We can't…"
Buffy just hugs him and cries.
Angel: "Sh shhh don't cry."
Angel takes her over to the couch and sits her down and sits beside her.
Angel: "Buffy, look at me!"
He makes her look at him.
Angel: "Tell me what's wrong."
Buffy: "Riley's gone, Mom's gone, Glory's going to kill me and Dawn and the whole world's going to Hell and it's all my fault!"
Angel: "Glory?"
Buffy: "She's a God. She's stronger than I am I can't fight her."
Angel: "But you will and you'll win."
Buffy starts drying up some.
Buffy: "What makes you so sure?"
Angel: "Because I know you, you're the strongest person I've ever met, you care to much to let your friends die."
She lays her head down on his shoulder.
Buffy: "I'm glad somebody believes in me."
Angel: "I always have."
A few minutes pass.
Angel: "Are you asleep?"
Buffy: "No. Just enjoying the silence."
Angel: "Can I ask you a question?"
Buffy: "Ok"
Angel: "Do you love me?"
Buffy sits up and stares at him for a minute.
Buffy: "Yes… I do."
She says quietly still a little shaken from his question.
Angel: "Then I need to tell you something."
Buffy: "What is it Angel?"
Angel: "I wasn't going to tell you because I wanted you to move on but…"
Buffy: "Tell me what?"
Angel: "I'm going to be human."
Buffy: "What did you just say?"
Angel: "About a year ago we found a scroll with a prophecy on it. About the vampire with a soul, me, and it said that once I had fulfilled my destiny I would become human."
Buffy: "Fulfilled your destiny?"
Angel: "Fought the battles I was meant to fight."
Buffy: "Why are you telling me this now!"
She's yelling at him with tears in her eyes.
Angel: "Because I had to."
Buffy: "What do you mean?"
Angel: "We're meant to be together, Buffy. I know it in my heart and I love you too much for that feeling to be wrong."
Buffy: "Oh, well oh my gosh Angel do you know what this means?"
Angel: "Now Buffy I only told you that because…"
She interrupts him excitedly.
Buffy: "You can stay here in Sunnydale and hey you can even live here and until you turn human our basement is completely dark during the day!"
Angel: "I can't stay here."
Buffy: "Maybe your right, could be a little too tempting, well you can stay in your old apartment until you turn human."
Angel: "No I mean in Sunnydale."
Buffy: "What?"
She says quietly with confusion.
Angel: "I can't stay here, this isn't where I'm needed."
Buffy: "I need you."
She has a look of hurt in her eyes and tears start to form.
Angel: "We were meant to help people. That's what we do and that's what my destiny is. That's what our destiny is, and it is worth the wait to know that it's right. I'm going back to LA."
She replies in a weak voice and tears begin to fall again.
Buffy: "I understand."
Angel: "Buffy don't cry, we'll be together, I promise you that. But now you have to promise me something."
Buffy: "Anything."
Angel: "Promise me that you'll be here when I turn human no matter how long away it is, promise me that you won't die."
Buffy was surprised at the seriousness in his voice and that word "die" seemed to repeat over and over in her head until she realized just how terrifying it was.
Buffy: "I can't promise that Angel, I can't even control that."
Tears start to form in his eyes. Just the thought of her dying ate him up from inside.
Angel: "Just promise me."
Buffy was also realizing the seriousness of it. If she died before they even had a chance, his redemption would be nothing and they were meant to be together and everyone knew it.
Buffy: "I promise."
Angel smiled and got up from the couch and put his jacket on that was still laying on the floor. Buffy also got up and walked over to him.
Angel: "I have to go now. I want to get back to LA before sunrise."
He cupped her face and gave her a kiss.
Angel: "I love you"
Buffy: "I love you too, be careful going home."
Angel: "I will, you be careful too."
They realized the deeper meaning of his last words as he opens the door and starts down the sidewalk to where his car is parked a few blocks down. She watches him drive away with more happiness then she had felt in months. As she shuts the door she smiles to herself as she thinks about her future for the first time without fearing that it will never come.