Chapter 25
Angel moved very slowly getting out of the cab. It was almost six in the morning, the bar owner had kicked him out a little while ago, right after a cab came for him. Angel was barely able to give the driver an address. His head was spinning and he saw close to three houses, maybe two and half, as he reached the front door. His keys seemed to jump away from his fingers and he shook them to make them behave.
Once inside, he dropped his coat on the floor. The hall closet was two feet away, much farther than Angel thought he get in one piece. Instead, he carefully walked towards the stairwell, vaguely aware he was walking in a zigzag pattern at times. His feet seemed to go one way while the rest of him went another, but he got up the steps. He stumbled down the hallway and fell through the doorway to his room. He almost got his shoes off.
Staring at the floor that was a lot closer than it had been a moment previously, he wondered at how he got on the floor in the first place. It took a lot of effort to get to his knees and then to crawl into bed. He fell into a drunken sleep before he remembered that he only had one shoe off.
Buffy sat up, startled. She had dozed on the bed in a guest room, but had never gotten below the covers. She listened as someone, who she surmised must be Angel, stumbled down the hall and made a big production of getting inside his room. She was on her feet before her brain had really comprehended the situation.
She stared at him. He was drunk. More than drunk, she thought. Her exhausted mind couldn't find a word for his condition. She took off the one shoe still on his foot and shoved him onto his back. He didn't stir. Sighing, she undid his belt and pulled his pants and socks off. The shirt was more difficult, because his arms didn't exactly cooperate with her.
When she finally had him undressed, she fought with the covers for a while until they were situated on top of him. With painstaking silence, she climbed in next to him. Trying her best not to disturb him, she fell asleep with her hand gently resting over his.