Special thanks to karin & SMGbest for the reviews and to everyone else who alerted and favorited this. It means the world to me!
Buffy found him wandering through a graveyard a couple of miles away, it felt weird to be here in the daytime. She followed at a distance and watched as he read the headstones and eventually sat down on a bench next to a large stone angel. She crept closer and startled when he spoke. "You need to work on your stealth, that'll hurt you some day."
Cover blown she walked over and sat down next to him on the bench. Deciding honesty would be the best policy she bluntly told him how she felt. "I don't know whether to trust you or not or how I'm supposed to help you."
He turned to face her and she felt her heart rate increase at his close proximity. "I'll make it easy for you. Don't trust me and don't help me. I appreciate everything you've done for me but it's your job to control the demon population down here, I'm only proving to be a distraction."
"But you obviously need help, your thoughts are all crazy and jumbled."
He allowed a smile, "Crazy and jumbled just about sums it up. How old are you Buffy?"
She frowned at the sudden change in topic. "Sixteen."
He nodded, "I'm sorry you were chosen, that you couldn't just lead a normal existence. I wouldn't wish your position on anyone."
"Some days I'm sorry too but others I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to. I don't resent the fact I was called."
He nodded again and slid his arm along the back of the bench and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankle. "Slayers live and die constantly, I've seen many rise and fall but you… I hope you prove to be the exception Buffy, that you live and thrive instead of die cold and alone."
Not knowing what to say and feeling insecure at his words she scooted slightly closer and relaxed into his embrace when he wrapped his arm around her and held her close. "It's strange, being here I mean. I don't know how humans live, it's rather mundane being here with no power, having to eat and sleep. I don't know how you all accomplish anything."
Buffy couldn't help the laugh that escaped her before she sobered. "From what Giles tells me you haven't been doing much eating and you've been doing way too much sleeping. Are you ok?"
He remained silent for so long that Buffy almost forgot her question, "I'm dying Buffy."
Her eyes widened and she turned quickly to face him, only pulling away slightly when she realized how close their faces were. "What?"
His voice was calm, "My body is shutting down. It won't last forever and I'll start to recover as soon as my wings start to grow back but until then I'll continue to waste away."
"Can't you eat and take care of yourself though?"
His shoulders lifted into a shrug, "Doesn't matter if I eat or drink I'll still continue to shut down." He sucked in a breath and stared up at the bright blue sky above them. "I need help but I'm afraid I have no one anymore. I'm actually surprised one my brothers hasn't tried to smite me. This would be the perfect opportunity."
She followed his gaze upward as if expecting an angel to suddenly appear. "Angel?"
"Hmm?"
"In the library, when you did your eye thing… your teeth turned into fangs. What was that exactly?" she asked with an air of unease.
His eyes lowered from the sky to look at the earth beneath his feet. "I'm afraid if I tell you I'll lose my only ally."
Not knowing what to say Buffy stayed silent for a few minutes, content to just sit beside the weakening angel as her thoughts drifted. Finally she sat up and looked at him. "You need to learn to relax and live a little."
He frowned thoughtfully, "The last time I relaxed and lived a little I got stabbed to death."
She cringed before rolling her eyes, "That was living too much you have to find a balance. It's Friday night, you should come to the Bronze with me and the gang."
"What's the Bronze?"
She shrugged, "A club. You dance, mingle and just have fun."
Angel began twirling pieces of Buffy's hair around his fingers, "I'm not very good at dancing or mingling and I'm pretty sure my definition of fun is much different than yours."
"At least it will be a change of pace."
He glanced around the cemetery again while his hand idly played with Buffy's hair, ignoring her pestering. He felt so relaxed, so calm and he knew it was because of this girl next to him and before he knew it he had fallen asleep.
Hearing soft breathing Buffy looked up and smiled at the sight of the sleeping angel. He looked so peaceful, all hardness gone from his face. Knowing she shouldn't but finding she couldn't resist she lifted her hand and softly caressed the side of his face. It was beyond upsetting to hear him say he was dying but hopefully it wouldn't last long. She didn't want anything to happen to him and while she wasn't sure yet if he could be trusted she knew she would do everything she could to help him.
Angel blinked awake and yawned widely glancing around and seeing he was alone. Seeing the sun had already begun set he figured he should head back to Giles' before who knows what came out of the woods next to the cemetery. He walked slowly and realized that without wings this was going to take a little while. Night fell quickly but it didn't concern him until he heard footsteps behind him. He waited until they were directly behind him before spinning and catching a vampire in a headlock.
"You're young and stupid and a disgusting abomination," he spat.
The vampire struggled in his grasp, "What are you? You don't smell like food."
Angel shook his head with a smirk, "Definitely not food and if you weren't so naïve you would know what I am. It's ingrained in you to fear me." Deciding he had wasted enough time he twisted the vampires head and stepped back to avoid the dust. When he turned on the sidewalk he was faced with two more vampires watching him wearily.
Angel could sense the one that stepped forward was older and would be a problem for his weakened form. "You killed my childe."
"He was stupid, you can thank me later."
The vampire continued to approach before the wind changed and he paused with eyes narrowed. He looked confused before he started to back up, "You're holy." He paused before smirking cruelly. "But not very. Somehow I don't think this is going to be a problem nephilim."
Angel's eyes blazed red instantly at the slur before he attacked the vampire, consequences be damned.
Buffy felt more than heard that Angel was in trouble. When he had fallen asleep she had returned to school knowing that he would be fine in the daylight but training had run late and she had lost track of time, hopefully Angel wouldn't pay the price for her mistake.
She was running faster than she ever had before and when she burst through the trees at the edge of the park she finally saw that Angel was still alive but losing the battle he was locked in with a vampire badly.
She watched as Angel struggled to get away as the vampire kicked him again and was alarmed that his eyes were wide and black and not red. He wasn't angry he was scared. Buffy ran as quickly as she could over to the pair but couldn't stop the vampire from delivering one last vicious kick to Angel's face which knocked him out cold.
"Angel!"
The vampire turned and grinned widely at her, "Slayer! I take it this belongs to you?"
Buffy was so mad she didn't even offer a quip or a pun just ran over and within minutes had the vampire disintegrating. She turned quickly to check on Angel who was trying to sit up and bleeding from a large gash on his cheekbone.
"Did he bite you? Are you ok?" she asked as she dropped down to her knees directly in front of him.
He nodded and spat out a mouthful of blood, "I'm fine, only my pride got injured."
She smiled and shook her head, "You're something else, come on let's go get you cleaned up." After helping him to his feet they walked to Giles' house and after patching up his cuts she settled on the couch with him in front of Giles' tv. He sat at the edge with Buffy's head on his leg as he combed his fingers through her soft blonde hair.
"Where's Giles?" Angel asked during a commercial.
"Still at the library probably. He needed to translate a few things and most of his books are there," Buffy answered.
He nodded absently, "I'm amazed he's allowing me to stay here, and be near you. For all you know I could be here to kill you."
The statement didn't scare her and when she spoke it was in a calm tone, "You're not here to kill me, if you wanted to do that you would have already." She pushed herself up slightly to see his face, "I don't trust you and neither does Giles but I don't think you're here to hurt me."
He met her eyes with a solemn expression, "I'd die before I hurt you." She smiled at his words and lay back down on his leg and began flipping through the channels. After finding something to watch she let the remote fall to the floor and began fiddling with the leg of Angel's black pants.
"Angel?"
"Yes?"
"What's heaven like?"
He shifted slightly and by his tone she could tell he was smiling. "Wonderful. Perfect. Picture your absolute perfect day and it's that times a thousand every single day. No pain, no sickness and if you can dream it you can have it."
She frowned, "But you said…"
"That's how your heaven will be, it's not like that for the angels. Someone has to do the dirty work to keep it so sparkly for everyone else." The pair lapsed into silence for a few minutes until Angel glanced at the clock. "You could still go out with your friends if you wanted to, it's not too late."
She shook her head and smiled as she snuggled closer to him, "I'm good here."
