Buffy's hazel green eyes, almost brown in the dull light, scanned the smooth stone floor as they walked down the narrow path. Angel followed a few steps behind her, his larger form making it harder for him to navigate the tunnel as swiftly as his petite wife could. "How much further do you think it is?" She asked as she paused, pulling a water bottle from the satchel across her shoulder and taking a swig before handing it off to her husband.
"Not sure," He responded after taking a long gulp, "we should reach the bottom soon, I can hear water." He slid the bottle back into her bag, and pulled out a sheathed dagger in its place.
Buffy nodded, her blond hair bobbing from its position secured high on her head in a tight ponytail. "Kay, let's go. This place is giving me the creeps."
"I know the feeling." He agreed as they continued on, her narrow flashlight beam illuminating their path deeper underground.
They had been moving slowly as to not slip on the slick, damp rock beneath their feet, now ten minutes later, Buffy began to hear the steady drone of running water and the occasional drip of condensation as it collected into droplets, gravity pulling it down to gather into puddles and steams.
"Did Giles happen to mention how big this monster was supposed to be? Cus it doesn't seem like it's got a lot of growing room." Buffy asked casually as they descended lower into the ground.
Her question was left unanswered as their footsteps began to echo as they exited into a large chamber.
"Never mind." She muttered, eyes wide as she looked around and pulled her flashlight up, waving it slowly from left to right so she could better judge the width of the cave, but the small light wasn't enough to penetrate the wall of darkness.
The cavern was too large.
Angel glided up behind her, his hand steady and soothing of her forearm. "Can you see the walls?" She asked him, wanting to make sure there was nothing waiting in the shadows to descend on them while they were facing another direction.
"Not really." He replied, squinting into the darkness, his night-vision straining against the pitch black. "It's big, maybe a couple hundred feet, give or take. Nothing is alive down here, nothing with a heartbeat at least."
She nodded but pulled a stake from the sheath hidden in her pants anyways, being prepared never hurt anyone, right?
"Yeah, too bad those aren't the ones we usually need to worry about." She commented as she inched into the darkness, chasing away as much as she could with her narrow beam of light.
Angel moved forwards, eyes scanning the patch of darkness off to her right.
"Sense something?" she started to ask but stopped as his hand rose to motion her to be silent, he was straining to hear a sound and couldn't quiet locate the direction. The stone cavern walls echoed all noises, making it difficult to distinguish the actual sound verses its echoing counterpart.
She flashed her light in his direction and was momentarily surprised when light reflected back. A second later her eyes adjusted and she acknowledged the second light was just her own beam reflecting off an underground lake situated deep in the cavern.
Angel scanned the inky water, eyes unable to penetrate the surface but ears picking up on something moving beneath.
Giving up, he turned back towards her. "I hear something moving, but I can't see it."
"Well whatever it is, I'm not jumping in to find out." She stated rather pointedly at her new leather boots.
Suddenly he turned back towards the water and stepped protectively in front of her, he answered, "I don't think you'll need to" as he inched them back from the waters edge.
Her eyes followed his and they both watched as the murky water being to ripple and turn, bubbles popping to the surface as something large moved upwards beneath the water.
Before either could even being to form an idea of what could be down there with them, a hulking shape erupted from the blackness of the lake and rose into the air, towering up from the water like a sunken ship rising from the depths.
Buffy felt water spray her clothes as the creature roared and shook its car sized form, ten twenty foot tentacles waved around and splashed droplets in every direction, like a giant ugly sprinkler.
"Oh, I hate when they're slimy." She muttered, shedding her bag and switching her stake for a knife from it before tossing it aside for better mobility. She wished they'd brought swords or axes or crossbows, but they had thought the fight would occur in the tunnel, not a huge underground cave.
Angel nodded a reply as he tossed the sheath to his dagger. "Yeah, makes them harder to grab."
"That too." She agreed, but had been thinking how much she didn't want her jeans ruined, they fit really nice, she could move quickly in them and they were in style…a rare combination.
Instantly a tentacle shot forward, stabbing towards Angel since he was the closer target.
He dodged quickly, the sharp knife blade in his hand taking the place his head was a moment before and slicing effortlessly into the fleshy limb.
A scream echoed around the cavern, momentarily deafening them as the creature pulled back the remains of its severed limb and sank back beneath the splashing lake waves.
"I think I made it mad." He commented, backing up and scanning for the next attack when it came.
"I'd rather make it dead." His wife replied, eyeing the blue trail of blood the freaky-octopus-wannabe left behind. She didn't want that on her clothes or skin or hair.
Silence fell in the cavern, but only for a moment.
The water bulged then parted as the creature burst out, it charged like a maddened bull towards Angel, golden bulbous eyes fixed on him with crazed anger.
Tentacles moved in rapid motion, pushing the octopus-like body in shape but the size of a minivan, out of the water and onto the smooth stone surrounding the lake. It moved alarmingly quick, seeming un-phased about being out of the water. Its spiked head tossed back and let out a shrill roar, revealing a razor sharp beak snapping towards its prey.
Angel yelped and jumped aside, barely avoiding getting his leg torn off in the attack.
Buffy wasted no time, as the beast charged past her for her husband, the dagger in her hand flashed out, slicing across the delicate flesh on the body and opening a large gaping hole.
Thick blood exploded out, covering the Slayer in a sudden wash of azure blue. She thought miserably for a moment she'd be spending the drive home looking like a damn Smurf.
The animal screamed and turned towards her, but the sudden blood-loss slowed its reflexes.
Wanting to end the fight quickly and also to be merciful, Buffy sank her dagger to the hilt into the creature's eye as it leaned in to bite her in two.
The golden ring popped with a burst of blue blooded ooze and the monster screamed one final time, falling forever silent.
Dead.
"You say the 'S' word, and I'm staking your ass." Buffy snapped before Angel's smirk could part for words to exit. She could just see the smurf image popping into his head.
Sometimes she missed the days before he started getting into pop culture.
"Man, does that thing reek." Angel groaned as he righted himself, brushing off dust from the stony cavern floor and slamming away any comments about how his wife looked before he had a pissed off Slayer trying to drown him...or worse.
Buffy swallowed a gag as she inhaled, the smell reminding her of spoiled fish. She was about to cover her mouth and nose with an arm, but realized the cotton of her once white shirt was just as soaked in the smell as the rest of her. She scowled and groaned, but didn't trust herself to speak without retching up the breakfast she ate a few hours ago.
Angel picked up the fallen flashlight and shinned it over the ruined monster's body, grimacing as he did. He looked back towards Buffy and nodded his head towards the way they'd come, the only exit they knew of.
"Yeah, I just need to wash some of this off." She managed to spit out and moved quickly to the now perfectly still water.
He was very careful not to move away from her, even if the smell covering her clothes and skin did make him envious of the time when he didn't need to breathe.
"Are you ok?" He asked as he glided up beside her, making sure her distress was purely skin deep.
Buffy nodded as she tried to breathe without inhaling.
"Next time, we'll send Spike and Faith." Angel suggested, moving to collect the dagger sheath and her bag.
A reply didn't come.
Her heartbeat had been pounding strong in his ears behind him a moment before, then suddenly it vanished.
He spun, his own heart clenching in his chest. "Buffy!?" He yelled, eyes scanning frantically for his wife but only finding empty space.
In the blackness he saw the ripples retreating off the surface of the water, where something had just been pulled under.
Without pausing, he took a deep breath and dove in, his knife still clutched in his hand as he swam deeper, deeper, scanning frantically for Buffy.
In the darkness he could see nothing.
Instead, he shut his eyes and listened.
…
Buffy struggled to unwrap the tentacle that had fastened itself on her arm a moment before. It had grabbed on to her so quickly as she leaned over the edge to scrub at the azure staining her skin that she hadn't had time to even yell, especially since she'd been practically in tears from straining to not inhale the horrid smell.
Nor had she time to draw a deep breath before finding herself underwater, which her lungs where making very apparent at the moment.
She dug her fingers into the squishy flesh and it loosened and vanished…only to reattach to her left leg and continue dragging her deeper.
The pressure was starting to grow in her ears.
Suddenly something else grabbed her from behind.
If she could have screamed she may have, but she really didn't have the oxygen to waste at the moment.
Her heart steadied a bit as she realized the thing that had just grabbed her was Angel, attempting to pull her back towards the surface, but the tight grip on her leg was making it a useless effort.
She grabbed his arm and pulled his hand down to her leg, so he could feel the tentacle he couldn't see in the darkness.
She felt the knife he carried press into her hand and then his comforting touch was gone.
Panic washed over her a second, but the burning in her lungs and squeezing pressure on her head and chest had to come before the fear in her heart.
With a quick slice, her leg was free and her arms and legs were fighting furiously to bring her back to the surface…except the need to breathe was becoming harder to bear, and the lack of oxygen was making her weak and dizzy.
Vertigo was threatening to settle when she felt Angel's arm slide around her waist and helped propel them both up towards the surface.
Her head burst from the water right before the reflex to breathe happened while still submerged. Instead of a heavy wall of water, light beautiful air poured into her screaming lungs, drowning the burning need for oxygen down to a dull roar.
She felt Angel swim her to the edge of the pool, mildly heard him asking if she was alright.
Buffy coughed and sucked in air, not yet having enough to spare for speech. She wasn't sure he'd be able to see her nod in the pitch black that descended as a result of the flashlight being suddenly dropped, but she wasn't thinking too hard about anything besides breathing.
The hard stone beneath her butt felt wonderful, it wasn't weightless water, it was solid and dry and so very perfect.
She felt him move them out of the water, and then heard a click as he must have found the flashlight and turned it back on.
The drenched slayer had just managed to open her eyes and focus on her husband's worried face when she watched helplessly as another tentacle wrapped around his neck from behind and dragged him backwards and into the lake.
"Angel!" She tried to scream, but ended up mostly coughing, her lungs still recovering.
She forced her lungs to expand as her eyes scanned frantically for him.
Just as she was about to dive back in to find him when she, more felt than saw, something hurled out of the water past her to impact the stone wall about thirty feet to her left.
She snatched up the fallen flashlight and aimed the beam towards whatever it was in time to watch Angel drop limply to the floor.
Jumping up, she ran towards him and away from the lake edge, grabbing her discarded bag along the way to pull out the stake she'd tossed back in favor for the now lost knife. She wanted a weapon on her if it attacked again.
Dropping beside him, she noticed immediately he wasn't breathing.
"Angel, breathe!" She yelled, slamming her fist down on his chest.
Instinctively he inhaled, body convulsing and coughing as it realized it was no longer being strangled underwater.
His slowing heartbeat thundered back to a rapid rhythm as oxygen flooded back in. A moment later his eyes blinked open as he tried to rise.
"Stay down." Buffy urged, keeping a hand on his chest to both keep him from sitting up and to reassure her he was still alive. The steady throbbing under her fingers kept her from panicking at the blood streaming from the gash he received on his forehead when he slammed into the wall a few moments before.
He groaned and shifted, still disorientated from both the impact and lack of oxygen.
His brain felt like jello at the moment.
"Careful." He managed to spit out, knowing the second creature was still lurking someplace close.
"I know, I will be. Just lay down, I'll be back in a minute." Standing, she glanced down at his panting form, then hardening her face, she headed towards the water's edge, fingers twitching for payback.
In return, another tentacle snaked out ready to grab her foot again, but this time she was ready. Her soggy booted foot stomped down on it, leaving a blue trial of blood at it scrapped the sharp rocks and vanished back under the black water.
With a roar, the second much larger Kraken-like beast rose from the depths, angry and glaring hatefully at her though one eye.
She realized Angel must have taken out the other eye either when he rescued her a few minutes ago or when it grabbed him and dragged him under before throwing him against the cavern wall.
Either way, having only one eye knocked its depth perception way off and she was going to use that to her advantage.
When it roared and charged for her, she was able to sidestep and let the creature rush past her, and into the rock wall right behind her.
It yelped and shook its monstrous horned head, stunned for just a moment, but long enough for her to sink her stake into the remaining eye.
The sea-creature screeched and pulled back, blue blood pouring down its ruined face as the tentacles lashed out frantically trying to wrap around her and rip her apart.
She flipped over a few, but caught a suction-cup to the cheek, pulling her off balance and yanking painfully at her skin.
Still holding her stake, she jammed it down into the jelly soft skin, making a sick sucking noise as she pulled it free as it did with the popped eye socket.
She breathed the stench from her nostrils and grabbed a hold of another squiggling arm, yanking it hard and hearing it rip free as she pulled harder.
The monstrous creature bellowed in pain and fell twitching to the stone floor, still as death.
Buffy breathed out a sigh of relief and turned back to check on her husband when several tentacles wrapped around her arms, pinning them to her side and dragging her into the air. "Son of a…" She started to mutter but stopped when the limbs tightened, forcing breath from her lungs and making it torturously hard to breathe.
The larger creature may be blind now, but it still could eat her.
In the dim light her dropped flashlight gave off at it reflected off the water, she watched helplessly as she was pulled closer to its razor sharp beak-like mouth.
'Damn it!' She thought as she struggled to free herself, realizing the stake to the eye hadn't been deep enough on this one to penetrate into the brain cavity and cause instant death like the other one.
And now she couldn't move.
"Chew on this." She heard from the side as a large rock hurled though the air and slammed into the snapping beak, cracking bone and causing a sea of blood blue to flood the gaping hole as the stone force it way into the throat.
Suddenly she dropped to the hard cavern floor as the tentacles holding her slackened; the creature flailing about as it chocked and retched on the rock lodged in its mouth.
A moment later it gurgled and slid boneless back into the water, the surface reflecting a dark blue at it bled.
Buffy gathered herself up off the floor, breathing deep and rubbed her backside where she fell, figuring she'd worry about bruises after they make it back to the surface.
"You…ok?" Angel asked as he limped towards her on unsteady feet.
"Better than you." She frowned, sliding an arm around his waist to help support him.
He leaned against her, still fighting the nausea and dizziness threatening to drag him unto the wonderful land of the unconscious. "I'm fine." He mumbled pathetically.
She walked him towards the light so she could look him in the eyes and see the damage for herself.
His eyes not dilating as she shone the flashlight beam at his face didn't reassure her of his statement, nor did the red coving half his face from the gash on his forehead.
"You're concussed." She stated, wrapping his right arm over her shoulder as she held him around the waist with her left.
"So?" He mumbled, doing his best to support his own weight, but noticeably pulling her closer to him. "Still got a hole in one."
She rolled her eyes at him, worried but seeing her wasn't too badly damaged.
"Can you stand on your own a moment? I need to get my bag." She wanted the water bottle and bandages she always packed, since inevitably they needed them.
He nodded, then seemed to rethink the motion. "Yeah." He replied instead, trying to ignore the throb in his skull.
Once she saw he was steady, she moved to collect their belongings.
"Buffy?" He said, realizing she was moving closer to the water.
"It's dead." She assured, feeling deep within her slayer senses that was true, and that there were no more to surprise them.
A few minutes later, Angel's head was bandaged and they were heading back towards the surface.
…
The assent was quicker than the descent had been, moving up may have been harder on the thighs but easier knowing they wouldn't slip on slick rocks and slide face first down a dark, unknown length of tunnel. They were nearing the top when Angel slowed, Buffy immediately noticed his breathing was growing steadily more labored. She doubted it was from the hike back to the cave entrance.
"Angel? What's wrong?" She asked, halting their motion so she could point the flashlight towards him.
His face was paler than it had been twenty minutes ago when she'd bandaged him, his response was hard pressed. "Hard…to…b-breathe."
"This is hardly a strenuous walk." She frowned, not liking how pale he looked, nor now stiffly he was moving. She knew he'd been slammed against the wall, but his movements didn't look pained so much as forced.
He would have responded, but a wave of nausea stole control of his mouth as he turned and voided his stomach on the rough tunnel wall beside him.
Buffy grabbed him as he began to drop after finishing emptying his stomach, his legs failing to hold him up.
He heard Buffy yelling his name, but couldn't find the breath to reply. It took everything he had just to keep getting enough air to stay conscious.
It felt like invisible tentacles were squeezing him around his chest, tighter and tighter with every exhale, much like how a python suffocates its prey.
'What the hell, am I being strangled by that giant calamari ghost?' The thought passed around his mind for a moment or two.
He heard Buffy's voice growing more panicked, he tried to respond again, to say her name, but he just couldn't find the breath to spare.
Everything was going numb, he couldn't move no matter how hard he tried.
A few seconds later he barely noticed the darkness washing over him, covering him like a soft, warm blanket.
This darkness had nothing to do with eyesight.
Buffy screamed when she felt Angel's body just stop.
No more convulsions, no more muscles spasms, no more labored breaths.
In fact, no breaths at all.
…
Wet streaks were still running down her cheeks when Buffy realized she needed to move.
Angel had stopped breathing almost thirty minutes ago and she rationally knew he wasn't going to just start up again.
CPR had done nothing.
He was dead.
The thought made another wave of tears wash down her cheeks, but she ignored them as she stood, carefully moving herself from the clinging position she'd been in for the last half hour.
With numb fingers, she bent and lifted his shoulders, and began dragging him towards the cave entrance.
…
She hadn't kept track of time, she had no idea how long it had taken to drag Angel back to the truck. A few minutes? A few hours? It didn't matter, he was dead.
It was growing dark as she exited the cave, twilight pushing the day aside to make way for night.
Even in the darkness she could see Angel's too pale face.
The sight brought fresh waves of salt to her eyes, but she wouldn't allow herself to cry again, not tonight.
Working with a grim determination, she carried him into the truck. With the back two rows of seats folded down, she had room to lay him out flat. She couldn't just ball him up and the back.
She sat beside him a few moments, looking down at him with watery eyes. 'How did this happen? Why so sudden?' The thoughts repeated over and over.
'How could he be fine one minute than gone the next?'
With the dome light shinning brightly above her, she began to quickly examine her husband's body.
It didn't take long to find a reddened welt on his upper thigh, something that looked like it could have been a bite.
'He was bitten.' She rationalized, 'Those beasts were poisonous….and one must have bit him during the fight.' She felt a sudden eruption of anger towards the creatures' well inside her. She cursed that they were already dead because in that moment she wanted to kill them again; slowly, painfully for taking the love of her life away from her and their family.
Pain in her heart kept her from screaming in grief fueled rage; instead she bent and placed a final kiss upon his brow. "I love you."
A minute later she was behind the wheel of the SUV, her mind pleasantly numb as her eyes focused on the road disappearing past the windows.
…
"Cass?"
Cassidy looked up from her paperwork and glanced out of her office at her wet blond boss.
"Wow Buffy, what happened to you?" She asked with a grin, wondering what kind of mayhem this last call had brought her two favorite (and only) bosses.
Buffy didn't answer, just stated in an eerie calm, "I need a gurney."
"A gurney?" Cass asked while grabbing her coat, "For who?"
"Angel" The word fell from Buffy's lips as she turned and exited the Med-Ward, heading back towards the parking lot.
The way Buffy said his name so passively sent a shiver up Cassidy's spine. In all the years she'd known Buffy and Angel, Buffy had never spoken so hollowly about Angel, and never been so calm if he were injured enough to need a gurney.
With a tight knot of dread in her gut, she grabbed the item being requested along with her medical bag and rushed to catch up to the oldest of the Slayers.
A few minutes later she was standing beside the SUV, looking down at the cold, pale body of Angel.
"Oh fuck." The words slipped out before she realized her mouth had opened; her heavy medical bag useless in her hands.
…
Giles was pacing.
Buffy hadn't so much as spoken since the initial outpouring of what had happened in the cave.
She sat deathly still in a chair in the waiting room, not crying, not screaming not even laughing hysterically.
All those he would have welcomed compared to the horrible stillness, it was as if she had forgotten she wasn't the one who died.
Willow looked around distraught, Oz was off with his band for the next few nights, Xander was with Amy at a 'Magic Users Anonymous' meeting and Dawn was over at Buffy and Angel's house watching the kids.
She had no idea what to begin to say to Buffy, the last ten minutes hadn't produced so much as a 'sigh' and the red headed witch was beside herself on how to reach her best-friend.
The near coma-like condition reminded her of when Glory took Dawn, how Buffy had closed up and shut down completely.
Calling Dawn popped into her mind, but Willow couldn't bear the thought of having to tell her that the father of her niece and nephew had died. Dawn didn't need a huge distraction that knowledge would be, not while she was babysitting his kids.
She couldn't even think about Connor right now. The witch was extremely glad he was away at college for this.
Willow tried talking to Buffy again, and was about as successful as talking to a rock. Her words only traveled in one direction.
"Giles, is…is Buffy going to be ok? She's kinda…all zombie-like at the moment….is that healthy?" The Wicca asked as the British, former librarian, paced by her.
"Most assuredly not." He replied, removing his glasses and running his hand hard over his face. "I fear she's suffering some form of shock. I'll have DrCassidy look in on her."
Willow nodded and sat in the chair across from Buffy to watch over her prone friend as Giles when to speak with Cass.
If medicine didn't work, she would suggest trying to use magic next.
…
Angel's bare body was laid out on a steel medical table when Giles entered the back room, which acted as the Morgue in the Med-Ward.
The image of his son-in-law's pale, breathless body sent a shiver of remembrance up his spine. He had accepted Angel fully as his daughter's husband, and the father of his grandchildren, but the image of the soulless monster he had been once would never leave him.
Jenny's murderer would never fade.
Cassidy was bent over the former vampire, examining the wounds he'd received during the fight. Mostly scrapes on his arms from hitting the wall, a laceration on his forehead, both of which had closed before death had taken him. The bite to his thigh had bruised as blood pooled beneath the skin, but that too had been closed.
Giles cleared his throat to alert her he was standing there.
Looking up, Cass noticed her audience and quickly covered Angel with a sheet when she saw Giles gazing mournfully at his deceased son-in-law.
"Sorry to disturb you , but I'm afraid Buffy's condition hasn't improved." The watcher informed the doctor.
Cass shook her head, "For the hundredth time Rupert," She said his first name with emphasis, "call me Cass, no one but you calls me ."
"Yes, of course, Cassidy." He nodded, but they both knew he'd revert the next time he addressed her.
"I'll come talk to Buffy, I'm pretty sure I narrowed down what…ahh…'happened' to Angel." She informed him.
Giles perked up, "Oh?" He inquired.
Cass slipped the latex gloves from her fingers and dropped them into the barrel as she moved to the door with Giles, "As Buffy guessed, he had a bite mark on his upper left thigh, the marking are similar, abet larger, to what I've found in text dealing with octopus bites, which are often painless, leading many victims to not realize they have been envenomated until respiratory depression and paralysis start to set in. Many species have venom containing tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin that is also found in pufferfish and some poison dart frogs which is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of exposure, leading to cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands of the octopus." Cassidy explained in near perfect Wikipedia fashion.
Giles nodded sadly but followed along with ease. One thing Cassidy enjoyed about him was he, and Angel, had been two of only a few who could keep up when she switched to textbook mode.
"Yes." He agreed, "Buffy informed us of his symptoms. She had thought he was suffering from merely a concussion, which would have accounted for the dizziness, nausea and poor coordination."
The red headed doctor nodded and glanced over at Angel and felt the pain of sympathy well in her heart.
"Ok, well let's treat the living first, Angel…he isn't going anywhere." She slipped a sedative into her pocket for Buffy and shut the lights, leaving the body alone in the cool dark room.
…
Several hours later, Cassidy trudged back into the Morgue feeling tired and depressed.
Buffy hadn't exactly cooperated with being sedated, but after a minor fight, the distraught Slayer was resting comfortably.
Cass donned her latex gloves and resumed her exam on her recently deceased friend.
It was hard looking down at someone she'd spent the last few years putting back together, the man who fathered the two babies she cared for and delivered, but it was part of her job. Being a doctor meant a long and intimate relationship with death.
Putting on her professional mask, she forced herself to pull back from seeing Angel, a friend, and only seeing her patient.
She toyed with the idea of an autopsy, but couldn't bring her 'professional mask' to pick up a knife and cut into him. She was already certain of the cause of death, an autopsy would be useless.
Nothing had been unusual until she went to move Angel's body, and found him more pliable than she expected. Cass was well aware that rigor mortis commences after about three to four hours, reaches maximum stiffness after 12 hours, and gradually dissipates until approximately 48 to 60 hours after death. Angel hadn't been deceased longer than 4-5 hours, thus he should be stiffer than that by now.
Curious, she picked up her pen light and re-examined his eyes. Just as before, his pupils remained fixed and dilated as she moved the light back and forth over the brown orbs. However she realized many factors weren't adding up.
A normal corpse decays in a certain predicable manner. 30 minutes to 4 hours after death, lividity sets in, which is when blood begins to pool in the lowest point on the body since it is no longer pressurized and flowing, causing a blackish-purple stain on the skin. The fingernails turn white and the hands and feet turn blue. The eyes start to sink into the skull.
None of those indicators were present, Angel looked as if he could be sleeping.
She pulled her stethoscope out and placed it over his heart, listening carefully just to double check.
No beating heart.
Leaning down, she placed her ear over his mouth and nose, and of course felt no breath exhale onto her skin.
'Hmm, maybe being a former vampire afforded him an upgrade from the normal messy business that was death.'Cass knew he was dead, there were no signs of life, but the signs of decomposition were pretty missing. Shrugging, she figured his demon side had been present long enough within his system to block usual deterioration, since vampires by nature never rotted as a normal human corpse would.
With her exam finished for the night, she gathered her notes to write her report later at home.
The doctor spread a sheet over him again and wheeled the body up against the wall. The Morgue had a few refrigerated storage units but they were currently occupying deceased demons she needed to examine and locate potential weaknesses for the slayers to learn about.
"Good night." She said quietly to him before shutting off the lights and closing the door behind her.
…
Cold.
Weightless, scentless, tasteless, soundless, formless…but the feeling was everywhere.
Agonizingly slowly, senses returned.
Awareness.
The feeling of cold was strong, chilling.
It was the only feeling.
Body numb.
Can't move, can't open eyes, and can't even breathe.
Trapped.
Terror doesn't even begin to cover it.
Worse part, you can't even scream.
Darkness welcomes you back, lets you forget the fear, escape the cold.
Even if only for a little while.
…
Buffy awoke screaming.
…
"Buffy!" Willow jumped out of her seat as her best friend gasped awake and starting yelling.
She tried to comfort her, but ended up with a bloody nose for getting too close to a panicked super human.
After a few minutes, Buffy's breathing slowed and she calmed enough to acknowledge she wasn't alone. "Angel?"
"Sorry, it's just me." Willow replied sadly, wishing she could just give her friend the person she wanted.
Buffy's shoulders slouched, memory returning and realizing she would never again wake to find Angel sitting beside her. She pushed back the tears that threatened to blur her vision and focused on the stream of red the witch sitting a few feet from her was sopping off her lip.
"Oh Will, did I do that? I'm so sorry." The slayer apologized, realizing she's struck her friend in her thrashing a moment ago.
"No, no, I'm fine, already stopped. See." She demonstrated by removing the tissue. Her button nose was stained a little pink from the blood she's wiped, but it wasn't broken. "It's not your fault, I should have learned by now not to try to grab you when you're having a nightmare."
The blond nodded but still repeated an apology. After a silent moment she muttered, "I think I'm still in the nightmare. I just want to open my eyes and have Angel ask me what's wrong."
"Buffy." Willow sympathized, coming over to sit on the bed with her and wrap the slightly shaking slayer in a hug. There was nothing she could say.
"I…I need to go see him Will." Buffy said as she looked into her friend's green eyes, "I have to."
The red head winced but nodded, she knew no force on this Earth could say no to Buffy right now.
...
After a long shower and Willow forcing her to eat something, even a piece of toast, they were walking down the hall towards the Med-Ward.
"Are you sure about this?" The Wicca asked, still hoping her friend wouldn't put herself thought this.
The sun was just touching the horizon, bringing with it a new day. A whole 12 hours since Angel's death in a dark cave tunnel.
Buffy only nodded and moved forward.
In less than five minutes, Buffy was standing in the back room, almost having to force Willow to stand in the hall so she could be alone with her husband.
The sight of the Angel shaped white sheet covered gurney hit her like a bus, but she kept her feet under her and the toast in her belly where it belonged.
"Hey Lover." The greeting glided from her lips; she knew he liked when she called him that.
She walked closer and stood beside the steel table, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the AC pumping cold air into the room.
With a shaky hand, she lifted and pulled the sheet back, revealing his too pale face.
The hollows under his eyes were dark and nearly purple; his once pink lips were a light blue; the deep tan he'd accumulated over the summer was stolen by death.
A sob escaped her throat, but her hand pushed down over her mouth before another could erupt.
She squeezed her eyes shut a moment, took a deep breath. When her hazel green eyes opened again, she was composed enough to run her fingers along the too cool skin of his temple.
"I miss you already." She spoke softly to him, "I know it hasn't even been a full day yet, but….it hurts so much." She had to stop again, her voice cracking.
After another steadying breath, "It's funny. I'm some ways; I can still feel you, inside, like you never left. I keep expecting you to just open your eyes and tell me you're ok….but I know you're not. You died in my arms and I still can't believe it."
She pulled Cassidy's chair over and sat beside him, her fingers reaching under the sheet and twined around his.
"I don't want to let you go." After a moment, she sniffed back the run her tears triggered in her nose, "I don't think I can."
Buffy's eyes snapped open in utter shock, she knew she couldn't have just felt Angel's fingers twitch….but she also knew with absolute certainty, they had.
"Angel?" She called, a desperate, possibly mad, hope filling her heart. "Angel, can you hear me?"
The thought his demon could re-possess the body ran suddenly ramped in her mind. Cassidy had been very convincing that Angel couldn't revert to a full vampire again, but feeling those slight movements in his hand a moment ago pushed the impossibility to a deep corner in her mind.
She studied his face again, could detect no trace of demon in his features, but the nagging sensation he wasn't gone wouldn't go away.
She pulled herself out of the grieving widow role for a moment and really looked at him. Buffy had seen more than her fair share of corpses and not just the ones trying to kill her.
Angel looked dead, but he didn't look like a corpse, not one that had been dead for 12 hours.
Something wasn't right, her grief couldn't suppress that feeling, and when it came to her gut, she was rarely wrong.
…
"Buffy, Angel is dead. He has no pulse, no breathing, no responses, his pupils are fixed…there is only one diagnosis and that's D.E.A.D." Cassidy insisted after Buffy explained her concerns.
"I felt his fingers twitch." The blond defended.
"Post-mortem muscle spasms happen. So can groaning, passing gas, defecation, erections, urination, and technically skin cells can still grown and the bacteria in your stomach keeps on munching your last meal, but none of those are voluntary actions, just a reaction to death." The Doctor denied again, putting her foot down on the matter.
"But Angel's different, his demon could…"
Cassidy cut her off, "Angel was a human with a supporting demon , the vampire in him was no longer able to maintain an undead form. You said it yourself, the soul and the demon merged, when the soul leaves the body in death, it takes the vampire too. There is no way his demon could remain in a deceased body without the soul. And by some odd occurrence it did happen, the poison that made him human to begin with would only attack and kill the demon. We witnessed Angel with only his soul and no demon, it nearly killed him because his body no longer has an immune system...there is no way Buffy, I'm Sorry. Angel is gone, he isn't coming back no matter how badly we wish it could happen."
Buffy refused to believe her. "I can still feel him." She turned to Giles, "I told you before, I can sense Angel's soul, I can still feel it now. It's…more distant, but it's still here, he's not gone, not completely."
"You think perhaps his spirit has not yet cross over?" He asked, raking his brain for anything he may have read about the subject.
"Angel's not a ghost." Both Buffy and Cass denied. At least they could agree on something…
Giles paced a moment, cleaned his glasses, then stood still, hand on his chin. "I've examined Angel myself, regretfully I admit I agree with Dr Cassidy, Angel shows no signs of life."
"His body isn't decomposing; corpses do that, don't they?" Buffy injected.
Both looked to the red headed doctor, "Usually, yes. But in this case, we probably can blame Angel's demon side for that. The hormones or proteins or whatever it is specifically the vampire's body produces to offset decomposition would still be present in his body when he was alive, thus activating in death. However, a vampiric trait or two doesn't mean the body is living, just that it returned to the suspended physical state of recent death it once maintained as a demon." Cass looked to Buffy, "Perhaps your senses pick up trace amount of demon left in the body, or maybe even the bond you shared left a small remnant of him within you? He has consumed your blood, perhaps that is what you feel now?"
Buffy shook her head, "No." Short, firm, denial.
Cassidy looked to Giles, the later sent a pained look to his once charge. "Her argument is very convincing Buffy, perhaps she's right?"
Buffy's eyes hardened.
Meeting her icy gaze he continued, "I'm not saying that I don't believe you Buffy, you've proven time and again you're remarkably astute. I'm merely suggesting, that perhaps in this situation, you're grief could be blinding you to the facts."
She couldn't believe she was hearing this. "I'm not blind Giles, I can see just fine." She shot, getting worked into a nice little rage as her emotions cascaded wildly. "Angel died in my arms, I don't deny that…but, something isn't right."
Buffy really wished Willow hadn't been called out to help with a demon possession half an hour ago, she could use her friend's support right about now.
Giles nodded, understanding her pain was still too raw to be dealt with rationally. "I can make the arrangements for you; you won't have to do anything."
She shook her head, "No! Giles, Angel's not gone, I can't let you bury him!"
He looked over at Cassidy, wondering if she was also thinking they'd have to sedate Buffy again if they were going to be able to prepare Angel's body for burial.
"Alright." He said aloud, "There is no rush, we'll wait until you are ready, yes?" He asked his daughter in all but blood.
Slowly Buffy nodded, unsure if he was serious or just telling her what she needed to hear.
After, all three went their separate ways.
Buffy went to sit with Angel's body as Cassidy and Giles went to work on a plan on what to do about Buffy.
…
Cold.
It's everywhere.
Inside, outside, all around.
Want to shiver, can't move.
Want to scream, can't speak.
Want to give in, can't let go.
The light calls, can't answer.
Won't answer.
The pull is strong.
Her's is stronger.
…
Buffy startled awake and looked at the pale figure laying on the steel table her head had been pillowed on.
No changes were visible on the former vampire's body, positive or negative.
However she still couldn't shake the feeling he was still here with her.
Confusion clouded her brain, grasping at every strand of hope it could find and holing fast to it.
She knew she should go home, Dawn had been with the kids for almost a whole 24 hours now and was beginning to suspect something was wrong. Buffy had spoken to her sister briefly the night before, explaining they would be back later than expected and to hang tight for another day. She knew Willow had stopped over her house, but was certain the witch hadn't revealed the real reason they hadn't come home yet, or the reason why Angel never would.
The thought of Katie and Liam growing up fatherless brought fresh streams of tears down her cheeks, long after she thought the ducts had dried out.
She leaned over, salty tears dropping onto his ivory flesh, and brushed her lips over his temple, with her eyes closed, she missed his foot twitch.
…
Xander shook his head, "Oh man, poor Buff."
Willow sat beside her oldest friend in the cafe, having just filled him in on what had happen on Buffy and Angel's last assignment.
"So he's really dead? Like for good this time?" The dark hair young man asked.
"Xander!" The redhead gasped at him.
"I didn't mean it like that! Angel's cool, in an 'I'll always hate him just a little bit' sort of way. I just mean, you know, how his history with death goes." He defended himself.
Willow let her sudden anger at him go and realized what he'd meant; he was being Xander, not spiteful. "Yeah, Angel's really gone this time. Just…Buffy isn't really accepting it very well."
"So what are we doing to help her?" He asked, wanting to be available for his friend when she needed people the most.
"Let's go find out." The witch smile, not quiet reaching her eyes, but exited the cafe with Xander following close behind and headed down to the Med-Ward where Giles and Cassidy were collaborating in her office.
…
"You think that's a good idea?" Cass asked quietly.
She and Giles were well down the hall from the Morgue where they knew Buffy was holed up, but spoke quietly just in case.
"Truthfully? No, it's a horrible plan, but I've not been able to surmise a better one." He stood from his chair and paced, a common practice over the past few hours.
"Buffy will hate you...us…and being on her bad side isn't exactly a healthy place to be." The doctor inserted, mildly afraid what the oldest and most powerful slayer to exist would do to them after everything was said and done.
Giles sighed, knowing what she said was true but also knowing something had to be done. "She can't just lock herself in with Angel's body, it's unhealthy for her. If sedating her and removing him from the premises is what must be done for her to come to her senses, then so be it."
Cassidy nodded, slowly. "I've got a tranquilizer gun, if needed."
The watcher gave a short nod, "Have it loaded, just in case."
…
Willow and Xander walked off the elevator and into a war zone.
Giles and Cass were in a heated debate with Buffy, who looked ready to punch them both.
"Whoa, hey!" Xander yelled, "What's with the yelling and scary looks? We are all friends here, right?"
"They want to take Angel and refuse to tell me where." Buffy snapped towards her friends, looking for backup. Although a small part in her head was calculating how to take all four of them out if they tried to get past her and into the Morgue.
"No, we're just saying you should go rest while we clean him up." Cassidy insisted, not wanting to risk getting staked.
"He's clean." Buffy stated angrily, having spent a few hours washing his body earlier that day.
"Well then don't you think a proper burial should be planned?" Giles asked, also looking for backup from the new arrivals.
Willow looked back and forth between her best friend and a man she considered like a father to her, unsure which side to take.
"What's the big deal, he's dead. Bury him." Xander picked a side tactlessly as usual when it came to Angel related decisions.
"He's not!" Buffy yelled, feeling like the walls were closing in on her.
"Wait, what?" Confused, Xander then turned to Willow, "You said Angel died, didn't you?"
"I thought so…" she added suddenly unsure.
"He is dead." Cass informed them.
The four looked to Buffy.
The blond explain again. "I feel him still…I know he died…but something isn't right…he's not gone." After a second, "Sometimes…he moves."
Willow and Xander exchanged a look that Buffy couldn't quiet catch since they turned their faces away, but by their body language she figured they thought she was as crazy as the Hatter like Cass and Giles did.
"I examined Angel when he was brought in, no heartbeat, not breathing, unresponsive to sound, pain, crosses…trust me, I'm a doctor, Angel's dead."
Suddenly the door to the morgue whipped open, and standing just inside, was the dead man they were all talking about.
"Well, I certainly didn't see that coming." Xander quipped sarcastically.