Quick Note:
Thank you! to all who have read this. If you also reviewed it then double thanks go out to you. I am just thankful to have completed this one. Obviously, if you look at original posted date, it took me a lot longer to complete than I ever thought it would. Thanks for seeing me to the end. This epilogue is going to be short and sweet. See you next story!
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Epilogue
Caught up the in afterglow of their lovemaking Buffy and Angel just lay snuggled in each other's arms.
"This is real. I can't believe we did it. Pinch me please, Angel," Buffy said as she turned in Angel's arms so she could face him and look him in the eye. "And you are still here beside me."
Angel took that line as his opening to get into the one matter Buffy had asked him about, but that he had not yet explained or, really, in this case…apologized for.
"Buffy," he started as looked into her eyes, "I am in love with you. I have been in love with you since I saw you walking down the steps of Hemry just hours before you were called. Our relationship has only grown and strengthened since I gave you that cross necklace. My love for you continues to deepen as I am continuously amazed that you love me back. That you chose me. No one, except the Romany, knew that there was a loophole to the curse. Angelus used that fact against you for the first encounter. He knew who you would be expecting and he knew how to hurt you. So he did. Just because he could. And because he hated you for making him feel human."
Angel stopped there knowing he had given a lot of information although he thought on some level that Buffy had figured it out years ago.
Buffy nodded, accepting his words and feeling relieved that what she had mostly figured out long ago was correct. Then she stayed silent as she sensed that Angel wasn't done just yet.
He began again, "If there had been no loophole in the curse then you would have awoken in my arms. I would have continued to watch you sleep for as long as I could. And when you finally woke up next to me it would have been in the same position we are laying in now. I would have kissed your nose and said good morning, and then I would have whispered in your ear how much I love you. And then I would have made love to you again before I even thought of letting you leave my bed. You were hot and passionate and very arousing that night on your 17th birthday, and Buffy I don't know how you do it but you are even hotter, more passionate, and more arousing now than you were then. Just being with you makes me happier than I ever thought I would be."
As he finished telling her everything he had been preparing to tell her for years now he felt a burden lift from his shoulders. Now, it didn't feel as though Angelus' words and deeds were hanging over his head so closely. Gently cupping Buffy's cheek he leaned in to kiss away the tears that had slid from her eyes during his little speech.
Swiftly, and confidently, Buffy angled her head so that Angel's next attempt to kiss away her tears landed on her lips. The second she was successful she kissed him deeply and pressed the full length of her body against his. No more words were needed between them. They had exposed some of their deepest wounds and now the wounds would heal more completely than time alone could ever have managed.