Title: An Epiphany Shared
Author: Maeve Bran
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I own neither Angel the series or Bones. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little fun and will return them to their proper owners.
Summary: BtVS, Bones. After Man in the Law Firm, Angel and Booth have a conversation.
Notes: Written for the twistedshorts sports challenge. Set in a slightly AU season 5 Angelverse. (All of my Angel stories are intended to fit together).
Night had fallen, and for some reason Booth hadn't gone back to his hotel or out to dinner with his partner Dr. Temperance Brennan. Instead he had come back to Wolfram and Hart with Angel. It was a strange choice, but something about the 250 year old vampire intrigued Special Agent Seeley Booth. It wasn't just the fact that they appeared to share the same face, but something deeper.
They ended up in Angel's office, sitting on opposing couches. "So how does a Vampire end up working to save people?" Booth asked after a few minutes, genuinely interested in Angel's story.
"The short answer is that I was cursed by Gypsies and regained my soul," Angel said, with the air of a man giving a stock answer.
"That means precisely what?" Booth was somewhat confused. How does one regain a soul?
"When a person is made a vampire, they die and a demon takes over; the soul is gone. Well, after 150 years of ravaging and killing, I killed the wrong girl. Her Gypsy clan cursed me with the return of my soul. For about a hundred years I sat around and brooded with guilt over my actions," Angel expanded his explanation.
"Then what did you do?" The former Army sniper was curious if the vampire had ever found peace.
"I got involved in actively trying to redeem myself. That was when I met Buffy. She was the Slayer, the Chosen One to fight the vampires. I helped her in her fight and eventually fell in love with her. That complicated things."
"Women have a way of complicating things don't they?" Booth agreed, thinking of his own partner.
"That they do. Anyway, I ended up here in LA, running a detective agency that specialized in supernatural crimes. I fought this firm with a great passion until they up and gave it to me. I have no idea if that is part of the plan the Powers That Be have for me but I have got to try." Angel concluded his story. "What about you Agent Booth? How did you end up in the FBI?"
Booth thought a moment. This man would understand. He, too, was working for atonement. Not many people would understand so well. "I was an Army sniper in the First Gulf War. I did my share of killing," Booth said solemnly. "I'd like to catch as many murderers as people I killed. Sounds simple doesn't it?"
"If there is no great and glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do," Angel said with a slightly distant expression, as though he were reciting from memory. "'Cause that's all there is. What we do, now, today. I fought for so long. For redemption, for a reward, finally just to beat the other guy but I never got it 'til one day I realized that all I want to do is help. I want to help because I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world."
"What is that?" Booth asked, puzzled.
"Just an epiphany I had a few years ago. It sounded like you could use it yourself," Angel explained. "It is not easy to live with the past."
"No," Booth agreed wholeheartedly. "It's not."
(end)