Note: Well… I don't have anything to say actually… lol ;)
Just read, and tell me what you think!
Oh, wait, no, I do have something to say!! Thank you to all the reviewers, again!! You're the best, I love you guys!!
o o o o o o o
Buffy's POV
I wake up when the first rays of sunshine hit my face. I feel like I've slept a week, I'm rested, and ready to face the day… It takes me a while to really remember where I am, and what happened last night.
It was raining.
Angel came to my room.
We made love.
He remembers.
Oh my God… I open my eyes with a start, only to find the bed empty, the only sign of another presence the wrinkles on the pillow next to me. A wave of panic makes its way into my heart, for a second, I forget that he's human and can never revert back to Angelus. But there can be a lot of other reasons for his leaving… Maybe he couldn't stand the memories, and left to be alone… maybe he hates me now, for making him remember… maybe it was just a dream…
I'm so lost in my maybes that I don't realize immediately that I can hear some noise in the other part of the room. I get up quickly, and grab a sheet to cover myself before heading for the bathroom. I hesitate for a second… I don't know what to say. What to do… What if he regrets what happened?
I take a deep breath, and knock on the slightly open door. I hear no response.
"Angel?" I call out.
"Yeah… come in" he replies, and I silently sigh in relief.
When I step into the bathroom, I find him leaning on the sink, a bath towel around his waist, and staring at his reflection in the mirror. I hold back the smile that's tugging at my lips… He hasn't seen his own face in a mirror for two hundred and fifty years… It must be quite the experience.
"It feels strange" he says quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"What does?" I walk closer to him, and stand by his side. Our eyes meet in the mirror.
"Everything…"
I sigh, and turn my face towards him. "You don't feel strange to me…" I tell him.
He gives me a small smile, and I want nothing more than kissing it right now. "Well, I think you're a little biased" he says, and I chuckle. His face grows serious once again as he brushes a strand of hair away from my face and lets his fingers linger on my cheek. Our gazes lock, and I swear I can lose myself and all sense of reality in those orbs… I kiss his palm, and take his hand in mine. "I meant what I said last night, you know?" he says softly.
I frown in wonder. What did he say last night? Quite a lot of things, if I recall correctly…
"When I said that I love you…" he finishes.
Oh, that… A slow smile spreads on my face, and I walk closer to him. I shrug, jokingly pretending to be unaffected by his words. "Well, I kinda hope you do, you know? Because if you don't, then, the scene won't be pretty at all…" I tell him quickly before throwing my arms around his neck. The sheet falls down on the floor, and I revel in the feeling of his skin against mine. I search for his eyes, and find them looking back at me with so much tenderness in them that my breath catches in my throat.
"I love you too…" I tell him, before brushing his lips with mine. "I know it's not gonna be easy, and I know we have a lot of things to work out" I put a finger on his mouth when I see him start to talk "And I also know that I never, ever want to be without you again".
He runs one of his hands down my back, and I shiver at the touch… Our eyes meet again, and suddenly tenderness is being replaced with something more demanding, more carnal… passion, lust, desire… I know he can probably see the same in mine. "Same here" he says, his voice so low that I can barely hear it. I know his heart and soul still bear the scars of what happened last night, of the rush of memories coming back to him all at once, and I know there's nothing I can do to take away his pain.
But I also know that being with him will help. And it's a solution that's perfectly fine with me… Ever since that whole story started, when I saw that old woman in Bali, I've been waiting for this. For the day when he would be here, with me. Now that he is, there's no way I'm letting him go.
I stand on my tiptoes and his lips meet mine in a plundering, powerful kiss… Last night was all about longing, discovery, and memories…
Now, it's all about us.
I pull away, slightly out of breath, and take his hand in mine, leading him to the bathtub as I take the towel off his body. "How about a bath?"
Before I can even blink, he lifts me up and takes me in his arms, his face brushing against mine. "A bath would be too long to run… I was thinking more along the lines of going back to bed, right now" he whispers in my ear "shower later… what do you say?"
I can feel my whole being heating up in anticipation, and I lock my arms around his neck. "I say we have a deal".
And as he starts to carry me back into the room, I briefly wonder between kisses if we're even gonna make it to the bed. I hadn't noticed that room was so large… Suddenly, the carpet under his feet seems like a really good idea…
o o o o o o o
Angel's POV
It feels almost unreal… We spend the whole early morning rediscovering each other, talking, making love, surrendering to the desperate need that's been building up in us for what seems like forever. I guess it was just buried deep inside, during the past few years we spent apart. We tried to fill that void with others, even loved others, but it was neverthe same… It could never be the same. I wonder, sometimes, if I could have loved Cordy that way. With everything I am, with all my heart, and forget the past with her. Forget Buffy, forget the pain, and really move on. Love her more than I ever loved the woman who's currently sleeping with her head on my shoulder, and her leg thrown over mine… I guess I'll never know.
But the more I wonder, the less I find it possible. Loving somebody more than I love Buffy right now isn't even conceivable…
I know there's a lot of past I have to get over, and deal with. A lot of pain we inflicted to each other that we have to forgive… A connection to rebuild, even if that part is not really gonna be hard… The connection never really faded. And now, she knows pretty much everything there is to know about my life, and my past. I want to know about hers, when she's ready… About what she's done for the last two years, and before that, when I wasn't there to watch her steps… Her travels, the persons she met and loved, her missions…
But it's not that urgent… We have all the time in the world. Or at least, the time of a human life.
Human.
Now, that's something I have trouble wrapping my mind around. Even if I knew it was gonna happen, I did see my body in the hospital after all, I guess I hadn't really dared to believe.
And then, there was that time when I was amnesic. Not the funniest part of my life… My memories of those days are kinda fuzzy, ironically. I remember a blur of feelings, until yesterday evening when all my past came back in a rush between Buffy's arms. I still have trouble dealing with that… Those memories hurt. All the years as Angelus, and everything after I got my soul back, Buffy, L.A, Connor, Doyle, Cordy, Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Spike, Illyria… It's a little too much to handle at once.
The sound of a yawn next to my ear snaps me out of my thoughts. I look down, and find my sleep-rumpled love opening her eyes to look at me, her hair a mess, her make up completely gone… but I don't think she's ever been so beautiful.
"Hey" she says in a sleepy voice.
I smile at her, a sudden urge to kiss her overcoming me… And I do just that. She chuckles "Good morning to you too…" she whispers. I want that moment to last forever… but as I see her glance at the clock, I know we're gonna have to get out of bed.
She groans, and buries her face in the crook of my neck. "Ten am… I can't believe it. Faith and Will must be waiting for us" she says, her voice somehow muffled between my skin and the pillow. She pauses, and abruptly jerks her head up, gasping "They don't know you're back!" she realizes, and I hadn't even thought about that. Not that it really matters, but they're in for a surprise.
"We should get up now" I tell her regretfully.
She nods, and starts to roll over, but stops and gives me a mischievous smile. "Well…" she starts, putting a finger on my chest "We still have a shower to take, if I recall correctly"
I don't need to be told twice, really. In a matter of seconds, we're racing to the bathroom, and I catch her as she dissolves in a fit of giggles before even grabbing the door handle…
I think I'm gonna love my life.
o o o o o o o
Buffy's POV
I still don't really know how, but we managed to get dressed at some point. We look at each other, making sure we don't look too crumpled, and quietly slip out of the room. We try not to make any noise, and knock on Faith's and Willow's doors after Angel gets a clean sweater in his own closet.
There's no response, and given the hour, we suppose they're down at the bar. It's almost noon, after all.
We put on the glamours as we enter the elevators, and soon, we find ourselves in the lobby of the hotel. I spot them on a sofa in the corner, apparently deep in conversation. Faith and Willow… who would have thought?
We walk towards them, holding hands, and Angel gives them a bright smile as we finally sit down next to our friends. "It's good to see you two…" he says, and I try not to smile, imagining their reaction. Faith just quirks an eyebrow at him, but doesn't say anything. Willow frowns "You saw us yesterday, Angel… but… good to see you too" she tells him. I have trouble holding back a chuckle… I look at Faith's expression, and something tells me she knows more than we think.
He shrugs. "Well, actually, the last time I saw you, you were heading for Sunnydale together after saving my life". She stares at him, dumbfounded, until the light finally comes and the meaning of his words dawns on her. She opens her eyes wide "You… you remember? Oh my God, Buffy, he remembers" I just smile, and she stares at me, obviously surprised by my absence of reaction "You knew he did? How did you know? And how did that happen?" she asks in one breath.
And before I even have the time to blush at the idea of explaining, Faith lets out an impressively loud snort. "You sure we slept on the same floor last night, Red?" she asks, before raising her eyebrows and smirking at the expression on our faces. Willow frowns, not understanding immediately… "What? What do you mean?". Faith shakes her head "Well, let's just say… those two? Not much with the discretion" she replies.
My best friend's face turns a fantastic shade of red when she finally gets it. "Oh… Oh" she utters, nodding. "Well, that's…" she obviously searches for the right words, but when she turns her face towards me, a huge smile is spreading on her lips "That's great!!" she almost shouts. Then more quietly "Good thing I was wearing my earplugs because of the storm" she adds with a shudder.
We all chuckle, and Faith stands up to give Angel a bear hug that I swear doesn't even make me jealous. No, really… Not at all. Then, she pulls away, and leans in to talk to us. "Just an advice… the day you get an apartment… think about soundproofing". We both redden, and I have to smile at the sight of Angel blushing. I can't resist, and move closer to give him a quick kiss.
Willow literally beams at us and hugs Angel too, while Faith shakes her head, muttering about things she wishes she never knew about. "You have to tell me how that happened" the redhead says, then does a double take "I mean, not the details, that you can keep for yourselves, but I have to know how that sort of thing can possibly happen! It's fascinating, I mean, it's never been witnessed anywhere, I could develop a whole theory about this! I have to talk to Giles, and Laura at the coven, it's a first in history! That thing about bacherts and all, I'm sure it's linked to this, and…"
She keeps on babbling, and I get slightly worried at the idea of her talking about my sex life with my watcher, but those thoughts quickly disappear when I meet Angel's eyes. What I can read in them makes my heart beat faster, and for second, I tune the whole world out.
That is, until Faith nudges my elbow. "There are rooms for that sort of thing, you know?" she whispers in my ear. I just glare at her, and Angel lets out an amused chuckle. I think the room is the next part of the plan, actually…
But of course, my sister slayer has to kill the mood. "You know, Angie, I'm glad to see you and all, but… we kinda have a problem on our hands"
He nods. "Yeah… those guys" he starts, then sighs "I have no idea who they are, exactly."
I frown. "What do you mean, exactly?"
"I mean I'm pretty sure it's linked to what happened that last year in Wolfram and Hart… but how or why, I have no idea. I already thought about that when I was incorporeal…"
The moment he says 'incorporeal' I see Willow's face light up. Poor Angel will be in for a game of twenty hundred questions in the very near future…
Faith goes on with the conversation at hand. "Any clue as to how to figure it out?"
He shakes his head. "I think we'll discover it soon enough"
I had forgotten about them for a while, for a few blissful hours I wish would never end. But now, the worry and underlying panic comes back full force.
What if he gets killed?
He seems to guess what I'm thinking about, because he squeezes my hand and smiles at me.
Our gazes lock for a second, and I make a silent promise to myself.
I'll do anything in my power to protect him. Anything.
TBC
o o o o o o o
And that's it for today!! Still no BH, sorry, I know I said I would, but some involuntary circumstances made it really difficult for me to even manage to write that chapter… So, I thought I'd better update WOAS, BH can wait a little while longer.
I hope you enjoyed it, I thought a little bit of fluff wouldn't hurt… What did you think? ;)