Chapter 7
Drew laid quietly in the bed and listened to the sound of his wife's breathing. It was a sound he'd loved from the very first moment he'd heard it. It was a sound he wouldn't hear again once this thing in his brain won the battle. He couldn't imagine what it would be like not to be here with her. Buffy assures him that heaven is a beautiful place where everything will be ok. But it doesn't stop him from being scared.
It doesn't stop him worrying about her.
Slipping quietly out of bed, Drew headed downstairs and got into his desk. He couldn't leave her alone. He wasn't ready to call it a day and say goodbye to the love of his life. He had to do something for her. He had to give himself a slight peace of mind that once he was gone, she would be ok.
Drew roamed the apartment for an hour trying to think of something to do for her. He finally stumbled on a box hidden in the corner of the coat closet. There were pictures in there from Buffy's life in Sunnydale. And there, right on top, was a picture of her as a sixteen year old girl with her vampire boyfriend she loved so much. Drew had to admit he was jealous of the guy. He'd gotten a large chunk of Buffy's heart that he wasn't giving back.
That's when it hit him. He knew what he had to do for her. Rushing back to his desk, he started laying out the plans of his ingenious idea.
Buffy was wearing a shimmering, black, long sleeved, high-necked L'Wren Scott mini dress with a pair of Christian Louboutin, Moro shoe boots. She loved them. They were the latest style from the famous shoe designer. They were white patent leather with black patent leather tips. On the outer side, there was faux button detailing and a zip fastening on the inner sides. The whole shoe was 5 ½ inches high with about one inch of concealed platform. The only jewelry she wore was a Fred Leighton white leather cuff with a gothic cross on it. Her hair was in messy, long, wavy blonde locks and her makeup was so subtle, it looked like she wasn't wearing anything.
Cal whistled at her as she walked down the stairs. "Check your bad self out."
Buffy smiled. "You don't look half bad yourself." He was wearing a maroon, button up shirt with the top three buttons undone to show off his chiseled chest, black dress slacks, and black men's Versace dress shoes.
"If I weren't gay and Drew wasn't my best friend, I'd be all over you."
That made Buffy laugh and she hugged Caleb tightly. "Let's go before I change my mind."
"I hope you don't mind, but I invited your sister, Xander, and Willow."
"Oh."
"They're going to meet us there. Is that ok?"
"Uh…. Sure."
"Are you positive? I can call them and make up an excuse."
"No. No, that's fine." She smiled bravely and allowed him to put her knee-length, white, Marc Jacobs babydoll peacoat on her.
The taxi pulled up to Marquee and Buffy saw Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Angel standing outside. Buffy inwardly cringed. She was a little nervous about how Cal would react to Angel. She was hoping to put it off until a lot later.
"Who's that?" Cal asked as he helped Buffy out of the cab.
"Who?" Buffy asked.
"Tall, dark, and handsome with the sexy eyes."
"Oh, that's Angel."
"Does he pitch for my team?"
"No."
Cal smiled wickedly at her. "Is that juice I smell?"
"What?"
"Juicy gossip. Do I smell it?"
Buffy looked away. "No."
Cal dodged around her and looked her directly in the eye as he paid the driver. "Hesitation."
"Shut up." Buffy shot back, a little hurt he would use Drew's word.
Before Cal could respond, Dawn wrapped her arms tightly around her older sister. "Buffy, you look amazing!" she squealed. "You have to let me raid your closet! Cal!" She jumped on Caleb, giving him a big hug as he carried her up to the group.
"It's good to see you too, Dawn." Cal said.
"So, is there a reason we're all going out tonight, or is it cause you're in town?" Xander asked, doing the manly hug of grasping hands with Cal and slapping each other on the back.
"We are celebrating tonight!" Cal announced.
"What are we celebrating?" Willow asked, hugging Cal tightly.
Cal looked over at Buffy standing near Angel. "I'll let Buffy tell it after she introduces me to her friend."
"Caleb, this is Angel. Angel, this is Drew's best friend Caleb."
Cal shook Angel's hand. "It's nice to meet you. Buffy's told me absolutely nothing about you."
"We're old friends from way back." Angel said.
"Let's go inside and I'll start talking." Buffy said, pushing through her friends and walking up to the bouncer.
"Hey Buffy. I see Cal's back in town." Bruce said, giving Buffy a hug.
"Yeah. Drew left him some stuff."
"Haven't seen you in a while. Of course, that's understandable. How're you doing?"
"I've been better."
"Well, you look great. And you look like you've got something to celebrate."
"Yeah."
"I'll stop by your table later and you can tell me. I go on break in 20." Bruce lifted the velvet rope and Buffy led her group in to serious protests from the people waiting in line. Buffy and Drew had come to Marquee a lot and Bruce had been a bouncer there for years. They'd always managed to stop and talk to Bruce whenever they were there. He really liked the couple. To see them not together was weird.
Once they got to their usual table, added chairs, and ordered drinks, everyone looked at Buffy expectantly. She was staring at the table sadly and thinking about Drew. He should be sitting where Angel was sitting now. It suddenly became a little too much for her and she didn't want to go on with the night.
Cal understood because he was feeling the sudden depression too. But he wasn't going to let it spoil the night. Drew wouldn't have wanted that. He grasped Buffy's hand and leaned in to say in her ear. "He's here with us, you just can't see him."
Buffy looked at him and squeezed his hand back. "Thanks."
"So, what are we celebrating?" Dawn asked, bouncing up and down as she sipped at her Cosmo. Buffy still couldn't believe her little sister was old enough to drink.
"I had a meeting with Edie today." Buffy started.
"You have those almost every day." Xander said.
"Shh!" Dawn said, slapping Xander's arm.
"Anyway, she told me that Chad the party consultant put in his month's notice today."
"You didn't like Chad?" Willow asked, wide eyed.
"No, I did, but that's not the point."
"Oh."
"The point is: I got his job."
"Wait…. You got Chad fired?" Xander asked.
"You got a promotion!" Dawn screamed, nearly knocking over her Cosmo. Buffy nodded. "Buffy!" She rushed over to hug her big sister tightly. "Congratulations!"
"That's awesome news, Buff!" Xander said, going over and hugging her.
"Buffy!" Willow moved Xander aside and hugged her best friend. "Congratulations."
"Thanks." Buffy said a little sadly.
"No congratulations?"
"It's not that I'm not excited…."
"It's ok, Buffy." Angel said, taking her hand and gripping it. "It's ok to be sad that he's not here to share this great news with. You're allowed to grieve."
Buffy smiled slightly and laid her head down on his shoulder. "Thanks."
"Anytime." Angel looked out at the dance floor below them. "Hey, would you…. Would you like to dance?"
Buffy looked up at him in confusion and shock. "What?"
"Please don't make me repeat it. I might not go through with it."
"Oh." She glanced out at the dance floor and thought about it. "Ok. Sure."
Angel helped Buffy out of her chair and led her out to the dance floor. Cal watched them closely and then turned to Willow. "So who is he?"
"Who?" Willow asked, looking around.
"Angel. Who is he?"
"He's Angel."
"I got that. How does he know Buffy and why is she so…. Comfortable with him?"
"Oh, uh…."
"He's Buffy's flame from way back when." Xander said.
"Flame?" Cal asked, glancing at the dance floor.
"The flame, actually. Before Drew. The one that all others were measured up to."
"What's he doing here?"
"Drew asked him to come." Dawn said simply, watching her sister and her ex-vampire ex-lover.
Cal sat back and looked out at Buffy and Angel again. They were talking about something and Buffy was laughing at whatever Angel had just said as they half swayed to the music. So he was the vampire that Drew had told him about. Drew hadn't liked Angel simply because he was Buffy's first love and like all men, he was threatened by him. Why would Drew ask him to come to New York? It didn't make sense. "Why?" Cal asked out loud, not meaning to.
"Why what?" Willow asked.
Cal looked at Dawn. "Why would Drew do that? He didn't like Angel."
Dawn shrugged. "Drew told me that he knew Angel could take care of Buffy like no one else. I guess cause Angel's lost a lot of people he's loved, so he knows a thing or two about how to grieve and move on."
"Move on to what exactly?"
On the dance floor, Buffy was laughing at Angel as he told her the story of Nina taking him out to dance on one of their dates. "Turns out that the hustle is no longer an acceptable dance in clubs." Angel finished.
Buffy took a breath. "What made you think of the hustle!?" She started laughing again.
"I panicked! You know I don't dance."
"You're dancing now."
"Well, I've had time to start learning."
"You've taken classes?"
"No. I've gone to clubs and observed. I'm still better at slow dancing, but I can sort of keep up with a crowd. Besides," Angel pointed to the drunk woman flailing around the middle of the dance floor. "There's always one of those around to make me look like Fred Astaire." Buffy took a few more minutes to quit laughing at Angel and then had to take a few deep breaths to ease the pain in her side from laughing so hard. They decided to hit the bar and get a couple of waters. "So, I never got to congratulate you on your promotion."
"No, you didn't."
Angel chuckled. "Congratulations, Buffy. I'm assuming you've earned it."
Buffy shrugged. "I've just been a really good assistant, I guess."
"It seems to me that you've been more than just an assistant. Assistants don't go from helping out to taking over a major part of a magazine."
"Well, Edie does like me and she doesn't like many people."
"So I've heard."
"What if I can't do this job? I'll let her down."
"Buffy, you can do this job."
"I'm not a writer."
"It doesn't matter. Edie obviously believes you can do this. And you'll have a month with the guy that's leaving to learn everything."
"Yeah, but Edie also said that they were revamping the whole thing."
"So, you'll get a chance to make it your own."
Buffy shrugged. "I guess."
"Don't beat yourself up, Buffy. You can do this. You've always been able to accomplish what you set your mind to."
"I wish you'd have told my teachers that back in high school."
"You were a little busy back then."
"Well, making out with you was a hell of a lot better than doing homework."
"Thanks."
"And then, oddly enough, saving the world from you was also better than doing homework."
Angel laughed. "Gee, thanks so much."
Buffy shrugged again. "I was never one for the book learning."
"I know. You're very much a here and now person. You don't live in books."
"Which makes me worried that I'm not going to be able to pull this job off. I don't read. Ok, I read magazines, but…."
"That's perfect. You read magazines. You know what Edie's looking for. Don't sell yourself short. You got this job because you've earned it."
"But…."
"No." Angel gripped her shoulders. "You earned this job and you will be good at it."
Buffy smiled. "Thank you."
"Anytime."
She looked up at Angel and stared into his eyes for a moment while she played with the buttons on his shirt. "You know, this human thing suits you."
Angel smiled and moved a little closer. Buffy felt the need to feel him around her, so she moved into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. His big arms came around her and she felt the warmth and safety that she alone could always feel in his arms. Despite everything, he still had a pull to him that only Buffy could feel. And she still felt the need to be near him. It had been an addiction that she thought she'd kicked, but it turned out it had just been on the backburner. Now that he was here and she could have him, she was finding it more and more difficult to keep that addiction on the backburner.
For the first time, Buffy thought that this could be the reason that Drew had asked Angel to deliver that first package. He wanted her to find love again in the only other person she'd ever allowed herself to fully love.
