Chapter Two: Buffy Got Baked?
"Okay, Angel, what's with the 'I was expecting you' face? It's giving me the wiggins," Buffy said looking at the handsome vampire with an appraising stare.
"I'm just waiting to hear what's up, Buffy."
Buffy looked into Angel's deep, pensive eyes and realized she was right. They were going to able to be friends. He was no longer in love with her, either- the look in his eyes was the same kind of look she might receive from Xander. She knew she had come to the right place. She burst into sobs, causing the vampire to wrap his arms around her, tenderly rocking her.
"Spike, huh?"
"How did you know?"
"I knew he didn't make it. I felt it in my heart. Maybe even in my soul. I knew you loved him, no matter what you said."
"Angel, I know it isn't fair to put this on you. It has to kind of give you an ookie feeling to hear me talk about another guy, because that is sure as Hell what it would do to me. It's just that, no one else even begins to understand. Angel, my heart is breaking. I have never hurt this badly before."
At the sound of that comment, Angel got even quieter and more somber than usual. "Never?" he asked in a shaky voice.
Suddenly Buffy heard her comment as Angel must have heard it. It wasn't exactly a lie. She had loved Angel in a deep, innocent way. She had loved him without any questions and with no worry. She had the hope of a young girl then and Angel had been this dark knight- a knight in search of redemption. What she had with Spike was a whole other spectrum of emotions. He laid himself at her feet, befriended her, argued with her, and listened to her. He never lost faith in her. The First had him tortured to bits and he had waited for her. Glory had beaten him until he was unrecognizable and he had stayed true to her.
"Angel, it's not that it didn't break my heart when you left me. It did. When you broke up with me, I remember crying on Willow's lap, trying to explain to her that I couldn't even breathe I was so destroyed. The thing is- okay, remember the cookie thing? It turns out that I was finished baking. If he were to come back to me right now, I'd say 'this is it. You and me. Let's call a realtor and have her find a two-bedroom crypt equipped for a nursery.' He was like my brown sugar or- Jesus, Angel, I don't know. What ever ingredient that keeps me from being a yummy batch of Snickerdoodles. That's what Spike is. Now that it's missing- I'll bake and I'll bake- Hell, I may even burn, but I'll never be done."
"Buffy, it's going to be okay. You just have to live your life. What are you going to do now that you aren't the only slayer?"
"Oh. Well, that is kinda the other reason why I'm here. I don't like being broke and I still want to fight evil. I don't know if this is the best idea, but Angel I really need a favor."
"Just say the word and it's done, Buffy."
"Angel. . . can I have a job?"
