Chapter 2 - Just Breathe
...
May 20, 2004
Angelus screamed as the pain yanked him backwards off the bed and he slammed into the bedroom wall, writhing as wave after wave slammed him.
Buffy shot away from the demon the second her body was able to move. Her hand went to her neck, finding the wound to be the same spot Angel bit her on her graduation day. She tore her eyes away from Angelus long enough look in the mirror, the punctures barely bled, the twin wounds were shallow; he hadn't enough time to bite down hard.
'That was too close.' Relieved she wasn't badly injured she refocused her attention on the threat of Angelus.
Giles ran into the bedroom, having heard Angelus scream from his room. "Buffy, what is…?" he stopped when he saw her neck. "My god, did Angel…"
"Angelus" she simply said, not turning her head from the screaming vampire.
Giles eyes widened, "What? Don't tell me you two…?" She held her hand up to silence him. She reached into her slayer bag sitting on the bureau and pulled out two stakes, one she handed to Giles. "Just incase, now get out" He didn't protest, the tone of her voice scared it out of him.
She never took her eyes off the vampire, inching closer with each step, stake raised and ready. Angelus lay panting against the wall, hands wrapped tightly around his burning head.
She stood only two feet from him, her heart screaming at her not to kill the one person she had ever truly loved. Even if Angel's soul was lost, it was still his body she would be killing. And there would be no re-cursing him without said body.
"Your fault" Angelus growled as he blindly lunged at her, he was in too much pain for a proper attack. She easily sidestepped the clumsy attack. "no...No…NO!" he yelled at nothing while he grasped his chest. He screamed again, the vampire mask vanished, and he collapsed boneless to the ground. She cautiously approached, unknowing who she would be facing when he woke up.
Something wasn't right, she could feel it, a moment later she knelt by his body noticing the strange gasping. It took her a second to realize he was actually trying to breathe.
Confusion filled her mind, 'Why is he trying to breathe, he's dead?' Not knowing why, she placed her fingers on his neck; shock hit her like lightning when she felt a pulse. "Oh my god, you're…alive" she whispered.
Fear replaced the moment of joy as she felt his pulse weaken and slow. "What? No!" Understanding hit her when she noticed his lips turning blue, he wasn't breathing deeply enough, he was suffocating.
All thoughts of Angelus disappeared as she panicked, "Angel! Breathe!" she urged as she patted his face, "Come on…damn it…breathe!"
Instead, the gasping stopped, his chest stilled.
"GILES!" she screamed, a moment later the watcher rushed back into the room.
As fast as she could, she pinched Angel's nose shut, clamped her mouth over his, and blew the air from her lungs into his. Nothing. He didn't respond, so she repeated the steps, two, three, four times.
Giles didn't understand what Buffy was doing; based on her actions he picked up Angel's wrist, tentatively placed his fingers over the veins and was surprised to feel a weak pulse. "My god…his heart...it's beating?" It dawned on him, if Angel wasn't breathing, the heartbeat would stop…soon.
Buffy had tears streaming down her face, 'Breathe damn you, breathe!' her mind screamed, as she sent another lungful of air into him.
In response, he coughed and gasped, but it wasn't enough; she forced another lungful into him.
Several tries later he coughed and finally reflex kicked in and he began drawing in deep enough breathes on his own. Buffy glanced towards her watcher regarding Angel's pulse and he nodded, "Very nearly lost it, but it is strengthening now." She had no idea what to say or how to react; she just closed her eyes and sent a mental 'thank you' to who ever were responsible for this gift.
10:30pm
Together, Buffy and Giles placed Angel back onto bed, and she carefully checked for any injuries he may have sustained, but only found a few new bruises.
She sat next to him unwilling to leave his side, afraid he might stop breathing or his heart would fail.
Giles gave her a few minutes to compose herself, let the tears dry and get her emotions back under control. He then asked, "Buffy? What happened while I was researching?"
She pulled her eyes from Angel's rising and falling chest and met her watchers gaze. "Honestly, I don't know. One minute he was fine, then his…curse…just broke. I don't understand how, he certainly didn't look like he was experiencing perfect happiness."
"Perhaps something broke it for him." He injected, "Then what?" he asked.
"I didn't believe it was happening, I let my guard down. Then…Angelus…pinned me, said if he was going down, he was taking me too." She felt a wave of horror flow down her spine, remembering her 17th birthday and the following months.
Giles placed a compassionate hand on her shoulder, he could see the pain in her eyes, "I'm sorry you had to face him again. It must have been difficult to say the least."
"He would have killed me if it wasn't for the pain." She spoke, her voice hollow. "I almost killed him." She looked back down at Angel, breathing but unconscious.
"You may still have to." He cautioned.
She spun to face him, "What?" she demanded shocked and confused by his words.
"Well Buffy you must understand, if his curse is broken, his soul must no longer be present in the body. If Angelus attacked you, it is entirely possible Angelus is still in control."
"He's not." she stated.
"And how do you know this?" Giles questioned.
She looked into his eyes. "Because I can sense Angel's soul."
"Come again?" he asked, removing his spotless glasses and giving then an unnecessary wipe.
She sighed and leveled with him. "I don't know how, I've just always been able to…feel him, inside. Yeah sometimes he can sneak up on me, but when he's close, I just know it."
"You've had this ability since you met him? How do you know it's his soul you sense?" he asked.
She shrugged, "It only works with him, no others vamps, and I couldn't sense Angelus." 'And I sensed him the day he was human.' she thought to herself.
He nodded, taking in the new information. "So I take it, you can…feel…him now?" He questioned.
She nodded. "Yeah."
A moment passed. "Did you lose this sense when Angelus attacked you earlier?"
She cringed, knowing where he was going with this. "No, I don't know what happened. It was Angelus, but Angel's soul was still there. It just…wasn't in control I guess. Must be why I didn't react better."
"And you have no concerns of this happening again?" he demanded.
Angry she stood up and practically yelled down at her watcher, fear driving her words. "I don't have the answers Giles! I have no idea what's going on." She pointed to the unconscious man behind her. "All I do know is Angel is alive!"
Giles stood and took her hand, "Buffy, I understand you are protective of Angel, I'm merely stating you should be prepared if the worst comes to pass. There is a reasonably good chance Angel is no longer the dominant persona in the body. If that be the case…" he trailed off as she ripped her hand out of his and glared at him, her eyes practically saying, 'Go on Giles, tell me I have to kill the one person I've ever truly loved.'
Instead of vocalizing that, she said "Angelus said the heat was killing him, maybe he's gone. With the demon dead, maybe the body came back to life?" she questioned.
Giles thought about her words, finding some reasoning but shook his head, "I've never heard of such an occurrence, one would think if the demon died the body would dust as normal for their species. However, stranger things have happened. I'll check the shop again, consult the books; see if I can find anything useful." He turned and left her alone with the newly living Angel.
She let out a frustrated breath and sat back down to resumed her vigil. Moments later she was mesmerized by the gentle rise and fall of the once still chest.
11:30pm
An hour later, the previously unconscious man groaned. The heat was gone, the pain too, but he was tired and thirsty and hungry and sore and there was a thumping sound pulsing in his head, he wished it would go away.
"Angel?" he heard Buffy call his name.
He thought about not answering, but he slowly opened his eyes instead. Her hazel green eyes looked down at him, he could read fear and concern in them, and if he wasn't completely hallucinating, possibly love too.
"Angel?" she asked again tentatively, a stake gripped in her hand out of his line of sight, just incase.
"Buffy? What…is that sound?" he mumbled drowsily, shutting his eyes against the candle light.
She listened, but didn't hear anything, "What sound?" she asked, unsure if this was some kind of Angelus mind-game, or if Angel was still hallucinating from his earlier fever.
"Don't know" he replied, "Kind of a…thumping."
She smiled as she spoke and placed her hand over his heart, "That would be your heart, beating."
Angel's eyes were still closed, he nodded, "Oh." He mumbled.
Buffy waited for her words to sink in, and a moment later she was rewarded.
Angel's eyes shot open as he sat up. His hand went over his heart, a look mixed between bewilderment and wonder showing on his face. "What the…? What…happened? How?" he asked confused. He tried to remember what was going on, but his mind was too muddled.
She looked into his eyes and knew Angelus wasn't there; she let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and let the stake fall quietly from her hand.
Angel looked up at her and his eyes were drawn to the two small punctures on her neck, like lightning the memories of Angelus attacking her came rushing back. His eyes widened in alarm, "O god" he said as he flinched backwards, away from her. "I…I bit you…" he whispered in horror. 'Not again, oh please not again!'
"No" she quickly countered, closing the distance he was putting between them, "Angelus tried, but he's gone now." She cupped his cheek in her hand, "You're alive. He can't hurt me again."she stressed.
He looked into her eyes, and felt the truth of her words in his beating heart. She felt his hand move up towards her chest, she looked down as he gently picked up and held the small cross she had around her neck. A small grin spread across his face as he did, "It doesn't burn."he said in wonder.
"It wont," she reiterated, "You're human."
"Human?" he repeated back, trying the word on his lips. 'Human? I'm alive? Is it the Shanshu prophasy?' Suddenly his thoughts darkened, "But what about Wesley, and Gunn, and Fred and Cordy…they don't get to live and I do? How is this fair? I didn't save anyone, I don't deserve this.'
She wanted him to kiss her; to be like it was when he was last human. For a moment she thought he was going to, instead he turned away.
"Tired." He mumbled as he lay back down, his eyes closing.
"Then sleep." She said as she pulled the sheet up to his chest.
2am – May 21, 2004
Angel slowly awoke, he felt a pressure against his chest, something soft and warm pressing against him. When he opened his eyes he saw Buffy had fallen asleep, his chest as her pillow, her ear resting over his heart.
The corners of his mouth twitched in a faint smile, he loved to watch her sleep, he missed it.
Buffy stirred, then sleepily raised her head; she looked up to see Angel watching at her. She quickly panicked, embarrassed when she realized she had fallen asleep on him. "O, umm…sorry." She said quickly wiping the wet spot at the corner of her mouth. She glanced down, and then sheepishly wiped the matching drool spot off his chest, her cheeks were burning red hot.
He didn't mean to, but he chuckled at the scene. "I don't mind" he said honestly.
"Yeah, well I'd like to keep some of my dignity intact." She replied, then added sadly, "Although it might be a little late for that…"
He smiled, "Yeah, I've known you drool in your sleep for years now."
"Hey!" she yelled, mock offended and punched him gently in the arm.
He bit back a laugh.
She stood up after a moment and stretched, the bent position in the chair left her back sore and stiff. "Be right back, gunna make sure Giles made it back." She exited the room and quickly looked into the other bedroom, satisfied Giles was safely 'home' and peacefully sleeping, she reentered the bedroom.
When she got back, Angel was rummaging through the bureau drawers. "What are you doing?" she asked, curious.
"Looking…for…Ah huh!" he cheered as he pulled a black t-shirt from the drawer.
She raised an eyebrow.
"I can't walk around shirtless forever." Angel stated while shrugging on the shirt.
"Why not?" Buffy daydreamed, still partly asleep, then realizing she spoke aloud, quickly changed the subject, "So, I…umm…I think I need to go to bed…" she fumbled. "Do you want to go to bed?" she asked him, then realized how that came out when she saw his eyebrow raise. "Ah…I mean, are you tired? O' I am way to tried for words….that's it…I done with speech tonight."
Angel smiled at her, "I'll pass, not much of a night sleeper. Besides, I've slept a lot lately. Take the bed, get some rest."
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Actually, I think I'm going to find something to eat, I'm kinda starving." His stomach growled in responce. "See." he pointed to it. "It's already angry at me."
"Oh, that's right. Human now." She stated.
"I pulled a long shirt out for you if you don't want to sleep in your clothes. Get some sleep Buffy. Goodnight." He said then quickly exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Once he left, she quickly changed into the nightshirt and slid under the covers. She smiled when she breathed in, the sheets held Angel's scent. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
3am
Angel had been fumbling in the kitchen for almost an hour now, opening cabinets and reading food labels, opening containers and boxes and trying various foods. He'd found chips, crackers, cookies, popcorn and the best for last, chocolate.
Angel vividly remembered the perfect day that never was, his one day as a human. There was nothing about that day that he had forgotten, he could clearly see in his mind's eye the raid of the small office refrigerator, his hungry belly calling out and him appeasing it by stuffing anything and everything into his mouth.
Today was nearly identical, except it was a cabinet he was raiding instead. He may have only been human again for a few hours, but he could tell immediately anything currently in the apartment refrigerator, still without power, was defiantly not something he wanted to put in his mouth…and live anyways.
As he ate half a bag of smartfood popcorn, and an occasional piece of hershesy's chocolate, he was attempting to cook.
It was nothing special, a box of kraft macaroni and cheese, but he was still overly excited about it. He didn't have butter or milk to mix the cheese packet with, so he had to substitute for bottled water.
When the pasta was soft, he poured out most of the water into the sink then added the cheese, he mixed it and started eating it right from the pan.
Heaven.
He was on his sixth bite when he realized he could see his reflection in the metal of the pan. Upon seeing it, he smirked and ran into the bathroom to find a real mirror, still clutching his first actual meal.
With the power being off in the entire city, and it only being 3:30am, it was dark in the small bathroom.
He lit a candle and was taken aback by the eeriness of seeing his reflection cast in the flickering orange glow. 'Huh, no wonder people tend to run when they see me lurking in the shadows.' he thought briefly before he looked up to his hair.
He remembered that last time he saw his reflection was a few years ago in Pylea, Cordelia was a princess and giving him a hard time since he was obsessing with his spiky hair.
'Damn! Cordy was right. It really does always do this…' He made a half-assed attempt to pat down the wild spikes, but the brown locks didn't cooperate. 'Oh well, I've worn this look for…well since Whistler found me and I got a much needed haircut. No use fighting it now.'
A growl from within brought Angel's attention back to his stomach and he resumed appeasing the hunger with pasta.
He hung around the apartment for a while, feeling his pulse, consciously breathing in and out, even paging though an old bible, more for the novelty of being able to hold it without burning than actually being concerned about what was written.
When he got bored, he drifted outside to check out the carnage the city was left in after his fight with the very P'Oed Wolfram & Hart.
'Wonder what happened to Spike and Illyria?'
His eyes searched the area, it was familiar and he instantly knew he was in Santa Monica and at least 15 miles from where he first encountered the dragon near the Hyperion Hotel and was thus separated from his….'friends?'... his associates.
A knot suddenly twisted in his stomach.
He remembered Wesley and Gunn, both mortal men felled by his own godly ego.
'I shouldn't have dragged them into this. I shouldn't have tried to take on the senior partners. If it was just me, fine, but it wasn't. I killed them as assuredly as if I stabbed them myself.' He looked around the rubble, 'Look at what their deaths reaped…a ruined city, the deaths of countless innocence, and me, I get to live? How is that just?'
He sat heavily against a ruined wall. Newly beating heart no match for centuries of brooding experience.
Not really thinking about what he was doing, he hot-wired a car and climbed in. Speeding off as fast as he could go through the abandoned vehicle choked streets towards the last place he knew Wesley to be, the home of one Cyrus Vail.
A sigh escaped the former vampire's mouth, not a content sigh, but a depressed and heart-heavy one.
Vail Manor was gone, not just in pieces, but literally gone. A sinkhole had swallowed much of the block, including the house in which Angel had hoped to find Wesley's body.
"I'm so sorry Wes." He mumbled as he lost hope of giving his friend a proper burial. Gunn's body was lost in the fighting; now neither man would ever be laid to rest. "I'm sorry I filled your grieving mind full of false hope and lost causes…I know if you were here you would say you followed willingly, that you believed in my cause…but we both know why you really agreed, you wanted to a cut a chunk out of Wolfram & Hart just as much as I did. They took Fred from both of us…and we both just sat back and watched it happen. We were too wrapped up in our own paperwork to even notice until it was too late."
A bitter laugh forced its way from between his lips, "Bet you're laughing that English ass off right now, huh Wes? Seeing how far we've come from that little hole in the wall office, from 'Angel Investigations.' Someone forgot to tell us WE were the hopeless that needed help. Yeah we 'won' the fight…but did we win the war? Does it even matter? Would you be satisfied with what your sacrifice bought? My shiny new beating heart?"
He paused a moment, not really knowing where his hodgepodge eulogy was going, but just needing to vent his thoughts. After a few deep breaths he continued, "I guess what I really wanted to say to you was…Thank you. It was a long road, and we took some wrong turns, even lost the road entirely for a while…but in the end, we pulled though. You need to know Wes, I don't blame you anymore for what happened to my so… to Connor. You were only doing what you thought was right…what more can anyone ask for but a friend who is willing to do anything to help you? Yeah, turns out you were played, but your heart was in the right place. How's that saying go? It's the thought that counts?"
He took a deep breath, his own words sinking in deep to his own conscience, "This is for all of you actually; Gunn, Wesley, Fred, Cordy and even you Doyle. All of you sacrificed so much for me over the years; many literally gave your lives for me. Part of me is saying I should be brooding over this…but I think I finally learned the lesions you all have been trying to teach me since day one. It's time to stop living in the past, time to stop brooding over what I was and what had to happen to bring me to this point. I'm eternally grateful for what you've all given me, and I want to repay you all…I want to live. I want to experience the life you paid the ultimate price for me. I can't say I'll never worry about the past again, but I can promise the future comes first. From this point on, I'm living for you…for all of you."
He finished with tears in his eyes, shed for all those he lost along the way, either in death or in life. "Thank you" he said again as he turned back towards the car.
He sat in the driver's seat for a while, thinking and sending silent prayers to those he lost. When he finished he headed back to the apartment, back to…Buffy? 'Is she even an option?'
4:30am
He parked the car where he found it and got out, he inhaled deeply, smelling the approaching sunrise, 'Hmm, I can still do that?'
He made his way back to the apartment. He quietly opened the bedroom door to the room Buffy was in, he could tell she was still sleeping. He didn't want to wake her.
He left the apartment and headed up to the roof. He had seen the sunset while wearing the gem of Amara, and the two suns rise and fall in Pylea, but not on Earth had he seen the sun rise. He sat down on a ledge and eagerly awaited his first sunrise in over two hundred and fifty years.
'I wish Buffy was awake, I could have watched this with her.'
The sky slowly began to lighten, the dark comfort he had known of the night was giving way to the dawn. Colors began to rise over the horizon, colors that had once sent a stabbing cold-hard fear thought his very being.
Angel couldn't help but smile at the beauty as the brightening sky gave rise to the sun, he watched in silent wonder as the light raced along the city. He remembered a few times being caught out in the early morning, of having to outrun the rays of the sun as they raced for him and he raced away. He vividly remembered the burning pain when he was a little too slow.
Over two hundred years of fear told him to run now, but he stayed rooted to the spot, watching in almost frozen terror as the sun came for him. "I'm alive, it won't burn me, it won't burn me, it won't burn me…" he repeated to himself in a fearful mantra, trying to erase the century's long fear of the sun.
When the light reached him, his eyes closed, not only from the brightness, but for one single second he thought, 'It will burn me.'
He felt heat on his body, and panicked, 'It IS burning me!'
However the warmth did not intensify into a blinding pain, just a slight tingling on his skin.
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking and shading his eyes from the fiery yellow shine. A full-blown smile snaked its way across his lips. 'It's beautiful.'
Once the sun began to warm is skin, he realized how cold the dark night air had been. A shiver when though his body, he laughed at the idea that he had been cold. 'I spend over two hundred years without a body temperature, and now I shiver in the sun? Unbelievable.'
As a vampire, he could feel the difference between hot and cold, it was just the cold never bothered him, but he always did prefer to be warm if given the option.
'I want to spend the entire day in the sun' he thought as he sat in the morning light. For an hour he didn't move, just sat content with being outside while it was day and not having to worry about catching on fire and burning to cinders.
6am
Angel's eyes were closed when he heard the roof door shut. He jumped and spun around, awkward from his seated position on the rooftop. Giles stood behind him, hands in his pockets and quietly observing the former vampire.
Unbeknownst to Angel, Giles had been studying him for almost ten minutes, observing his behavior. The father in him towards Buffy needed to know this man was indeed Angel, and not his rather unpleasant alter ego Angelus.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." The British watcher apologized as he came to stand next to Angel. Angel stood; somewhat embarrassed he was snuck up on.
"Giles." He said as way of greeting. They were silent a moment, neither man having had the best experiences with the other in both past and current times.
"It's quiet remarkable." Giles broke the ice while looking over Angel, "May I?" he asked indicating wanting to touch Angel's wrist. The Irishman nodded and Giles took his wrist and felt his pulse. "I never would have thought it possible; an undead being coming back to life. This is an extraordinary transformation, never before documented in any Watcher's journals."
Angel smirked, thinking about the Morah demon that made him mortal before, and Darla's resurrection that brought her back as human. "Happens more often than you'd think." He said to the visibly older man.
Giles brow furrowed, "How so?"
Angel shook his head, "Long story, maybe I'll tell you about it someday." He said to duck out of the lengthy conversation that it would spark, not to mention painful memories too.
Giles nodded but made a mental note to discuss it another time.
They were silent again, neither man knowing what to say to one another. Angel shifted his weight uncomfortably then spoke, "I…umm…I'm sorry for…attacking you."He had remembered while sitting in the car he nearly strangled the watcher.
Giles nodded, "No apologies necessary, you were…well sick…I suppose would be a technical definition. No harm, no fowl, right?"
Angel slowly nodded, "Yeah, I guess." he said dejectedly.
Giles removed his glasses and began to clean them on his shirt, "I take it Buffy will be safe with you if I leave for the day?" the watcher asked.
Angel turned towards him, wondering if he was implying that he would harm her, "She's a slayer, she can take care of herself." He replied back.
Giles nodded, "Yes, she can. However, sometime her emotions can…lead her astray."
Angel though he knew where Giles was headed with this, "Listen Giles, Buffy and I…we haven't… I'm not going to take advantage of this…new situation. I won't hurt her again, I swear. If she wants me to leave, I'm gone."
Giles looked into the former demon's eyes a moment, seeing the truth in them he nodded and put his glasses back on, "Very good then Angel, I'm glad we agree." After a moment pause he added, "When Buffy wakes, could you let her know I'm heading to the occult shop across town, they're known to carry fairly rare texts. I will be returning sometime tomorrow evening."
Angel nodded and Giles left, neither man said goodbye.
When he finally decided to head back to the apartment, Angel realized he was still hungry. 'Hmm…breakfast food.' He looked thought the cabinets until he found something, a smirk lit his face and he got an idea.
7am
Buffy deeply inhaled the smell of something delicious, 'pancakes' her mind whispered.
Slowly her eyes opened, seeing the soft light filtering through the closed curtains, she guessed it was early morning. She sat up and stretched; only five hours had passed since she went to bed, but a slayer didn't need as much sleep as a normal human.
She jumped out of bed fully rested and rejuvenated, quickly checked her hair in the joined bathroom, then opened the bedroom door and walked into the kitchen, following the scent to a stack of pancakes sitting on the table.
Next to them was a note.
Buffy,
Have breakfast, and then meet me at Santa Monica beach.
I left a bag with swim suits and a chair.
See you soon,
~Angel
P.S. Giles said he was checking the occult shop across town, will be back tomorrow.
She was a little disappointed to be alone, but hunger decided to keep her company. She grabbed a fork and poured the syrup over the stack. As she ate she glanced through the bag of swim suits he had left on the table. She smiled as she found 'the one'.
Angel had raided a nearby store earlier in the morning, grabbing himself some clothes and necessities when he spotted the bathing suits and got the idea to go to the beach.
After finishing off the pancakes, she changed into the white bikini, put on the sundress and the flip-flops, slung the beach chair strap over her shoulder, and headed for the beach.
The Santa Monica beach was only a half mile away; a stones throw for someone like Buffy, who walked almost everywhere.
The city was empty, it made walking though it an ominous task, she felt like a survivor of one of those 'end of the world' movies. A short time later, her feet where sinking in the soft sand of the beach.
She easily spotted Angel's chair on the empty beach, which was a shock in itself thinking of the normally packed beach, and made her way to it.
Angel wasn't in sight. Buffy looked up and down the length of the beach but she couldn't spot Angel anywhere, panic began to flow up her spine, images of Angel being attacked or simply drowning in the ocean flooded her mind.
With a splash, Angel suddenly appeared, rising from the water; Buffy watched mesmerized, seeing in her mind a slow motion Baywatch-like scene as Angel's wet body rose from the sea, the sun shinning off the water droplets as they ran down his naked chest.
"You made it." He said as he walked up to her, he was completely unaware that she was almost drooling at the sight of him.
She shook herself and forced herself to focus, "Huh? Ahh, yeah, here is me."she said trying to stuff her hormones back down where they belonged.
He took her chair from her, unfolded it, and plopped it down next to his. He sat down in his chair and began to lather on a thick layer of 100 spf sunblock.
She sat down next to him and looked quizzically at him, "Uhh, even a former vampire doesn't need that much sunblock."
He smiled, "Being a former vampire has nothing to do with it, I was something far worse before I was changed." He said as he rubbed the lotion on his legs.
"What?" she asked.
He looked up, a twinkle in his eyes, "Irish."
She shook her head, not understanding what he meant.
"We Irish come in two shades, paper white and burnt red. We don't tan." he explained.
11am
They sat together on the beach for the entire morning, talking occasionally, listening to the sounds of the ocean, and just enjoying each others company.
To Buffy, this felt like some strange but wonderful dream. She never would have believed them if someone told her she would be sitting on a deserted beach in L.A. during the day with Angel. She glanced over at him and noticed threw his sunglasses she could see his eyes were closed; she smiled at the idea of him falling asleep in the sunlight. She let him sleep; she didn't have the heart to wake him up. She was determined to get him sleeping at night though, no more creature of the night routine.
She watched him sleep for awhile, taking in the sight of him, watching his chest move up and down with breath, the sound of his quiet snores, and she couldn't help but laugh to herself at his swim trunks. 'Man wears nothing but black' she thought shaking her head, 'I'll have to fix that too'.
Thoughts of what would come next played through her mind. She still loved him, always would, but he seemed different now. More distant, perhaps he had gotten over her like they said they should, moved on. She frowned at the thought.
Her mind kept pulling up the memory she should never have remembered, or in her opinion, never have lost. Angel walking out from the shadows, confidently striding up to her and kissing her at his very same beach. His warm lips on hers, his heart pounding in his chest as they pressed closer together. 'Calling that kiss well-above-average was way-understated.'
A half hour later he awoke with a start, sitting up in his chair then looking over at her. "Wow, I feel more tired now." he said yawning, a bewildered look on his face. 'Was that the first time I ever yawned?'
"Yeah, the sun makes you sleepy." She said, feeling the sun's rays sucking the energy from her too.
He stood and brushed sand off his black swim trunks, "Yeah, I guess so. Going for a dip, should wake me up. Care to join me?"
She looked over at the water; she never was much for the swimming part of the beach, more of a tanner. Not to mention that whole thing where she was drowned once.
"Why not?" she stated despite her hesitation, as she took his offered hand. 'Can't let drowning once spoil my love of the water forever.'
He quickly let her hand go once she was standing, then turned and walked to the ocean. She followed a step behind, enjoying the view of his behind.
Her toes touched the chilly water and she quickly stepped back, "Oh, it's cold!" she squeaked.
"That's what makes it so great" he said as he ran and dove into the blue water.
She half laughed, half cried as the cold water sprayed on her from his splash. 'Maybe he'll lose his swim trunks.' She looked out at the water, expecting him to come immediately back to the surface, he didn't. She called his name, and thinking he was playing an evil trick on her, was determined not to panic.
When he still didn't surface she began to worry, thinking about the sign posting a warning about the undertow, she slowly wadded into the cold water and called his name again.
She screamed as he erupted from the water behind her. "Angel!" she yelled, turning and slapped his chest.
"What?" he asked innocently, but couldn't hide the laugh. That is until the sting from her slap hit him, "Ow!" he said rubbing the reddening hand print. "Man, that smarts."
She rolled her eyes, "Serves you right."
Neither of them noticed a particularly large wave charging towards them, a moment later it bowled them over and pulled them both under the surface.
Buffy felt the sand bottom rub against her face, then the suction from the undertow. She fought the current, but her strength was powerless while she was weightless.
Angel bobbed back up first, being taller and heavier, he got his footing easier. He looked down into the water and panicked when he saw Buffy being dragged past him. He reached down and grabbed her, wrapping his arm protectively around her waist and pulling her head above the water.
She coughed and spit out water as he carried her in his arms back to the shore. She coughed up a salty mouthful of water, "What is it…with me…and drowning?" she coughed.
"You didn't drown." He soothed as he gently placed her on the sand and patted her back, helping her to cough up the water. 'There goes that not fearing the water thing…rats.' "I think I've had enough of the ocean for…like ever." She said as she got her breath back and he helped her up. She stood, facing him, and looked up into his eyes. "Thanks" she said sheepishly.
"For what?" he asked.
"Ahh…saving me." She clarified.
He shook his head, "You don't need to thank me for that. I'm sure you would have been fine. Besides I dragging you into the water to begin with, it's kind of my fault."
"Maybe it is." She said with a smile, "I know just the punishment."
A few minutes later they were walking back to the apartment, she was carrying her towel, and he had everything else. A few paces from the beach and Angel turned to her walking beside him. "Umm…can I have my shirt back now? I think my back is burning." he asked. She smiled and looked him over again, "Nope." She replied with a grin.
He sighed, giving up.
12pm
Buffy took a long, unfortunately not very hot, shower while he cooked them some lunch.
She exited the bedroom, dressed and toweling off her hair. "Man what I would give for a generator right now." She said, wishing for hot water to be running through the pipes, not to mention lights and refrigeration and air conditioning…and about a hundred other things modern life usually provided.
He set two plates of pasta with red sauce on the table as he talked, "You know how you took a hot bath in my human days? Heat up a pail of water over the fireplace and pour it over your head outside."
She openly cringed, "Eww, but how did you soap up?"
He shrugged, "Soap first, water next. If ya didn't like it, there was a lake down the road to jump in. Water was freezing though."
She sat at the table and picked up her fork, "Pour guy, how did you survive?" she asked as a joke.
"I didn't" he answered back truthfully. He seemed lost in thought a moment, but quickly shook off whatever he was thinking and dug into his bowl. "Mmm, I love food." He mumbled between bites.
"Mmm hmm, food is good." She agreed back.
After they ate, they sat in the living room, staring at the blank TV.
"Lets go exploring" Buffy said out of nowhere.
He looked over at her, and then shrugged, "My schedule's free."
A few minutes later they were walking down the road, looking into the ruined stores, seeing if they could find anything useful, any signs of people, or anything that needed its butt kicked.
"When do you think the people will be back?" she asked as they entered a ruined department store.
He shrugged, "Should be any day now. Can't even imagine what the news reports are saying happened here."
"I can guess" Buffy said, "In wake of earthquake, L.A. suffers massive gas leak, city evacuated for safety." She said in her best news reporter voice.
He shook his head, grinning at her antics.
"I swear, people will believe anything just to not believe in the supernatural." She complained.
"Yup" he agreed, knowing full well that even in game-face, some people just couldn't believe he had been a vampire.
After coming up empty, they were about to head back to the road when an aftershock hit. They both shook as unsteadily as the ground beneath them.
'CRACK' they heard from above as a section of the already damaged ceiling gave way.
Buffy heard Angel scream her name, and then darkness filled her vision.
...
To Be Continued... (I'm guessing you hate me right now.)