New Beginnings
Story Two in Series: New Lives, Destined Loves
Author: EvilWillow - lcaspell@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Distribution: If you ask, and provide me with the URL to your site,
I'll always say yes. It will be at my site when I get a moment to
post it. (www.crosswinds.net/~evilwillow/index.html)
Disclaimer: The Buffy and Angel characters are owned by Joss Whedon,
the WB, FOX, and a bunch of other people much luckier than me. I'll
return the characters when I'm done with them, if they want to go
back, that is. ;-)
Category: Story/Adventure/Romance/Angst/Humor
Keywords: Alternate Timeline (S4)
Couples: Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz, Anya/Xander, Cordelia/Doyle,
Spike/Dru
Summary: This fic takes place two months after my story "The End".
The gang is in the process of picking up the pieces and beginning
again. They've had two months of relative peace, but now it looks
like Adam is ready to make life interesting for them all.
Author's Notes: You MUST read my earlier fic "The End" to be able to
understand this one. Just email me if you haven't read it, I'll be
glad to get it to you.
* * = thoughts; _ _ = words emphasized.
Part One:
&&&&&&&&&
Saturday, 12 pm
Buffy awoke, and looked around, disoriented. *Oh,* she smiled. *That's
right, it was Angel's place this weekend.* After succeeding in
saving him from being Angelus, in more ways than she could have
dreamed, she and Angel had agreed to start over. They were trying to
make their relationship work this time. It did help that Angel had
been made human again, thus getting rid of the happiness clause.
However, human or not, he wasn't ready to leave his job in L.A yet,
and Giles would have hunted her down if she'd decided to leave
Sunnydale. So they didn't get to see each other until the weekends.
And although they did manage to spend every weekend together, the
where was always a last minute decision.
She rolled over to look at the clock he kept next to the bed. *Almost
noon* she sighed. *But it is understandable, after my 'quick patrol'
with Charlie ended up lasting until midnight. I'm just glad that
Giles agreed Charlie could handle things on the Hellmouth the rest of
this weekend. But after finally getting away from his questions and
driving the two hours to Angel's apartment I was exhausted. Poor
Angel.* She smiled. *I was just awake enough to say hi and goodnight
before passing out cold. Oh, well. I'll make it up to him later.*
She dragged herself out of bed, and wished for about the hundredth
time that she could convince Angel to invest in a few mirrors. *Geez,
for someone as gorgeous as he is, he sure has a complex about himself
still.*
Sighing, she walked to the corner of the room where she'd thrown her
overnight bag, and found her compact mirror. "Yick! Major bedhead,"
she said, realizing that the mirror had not been a good idea after
all.
"I think you look beautiful as always," Angel said from behind her,
startling her.
"I think you need an eye exam," Buffy said sarcastically. She looked
over at him though, and couldn't help smiling at the sight he
presented. *So cute leaning up against that doorpost*. She got up and
walked over to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him
and then said, "You really should've woken me up before now."
"Looked to me like you needed that extra sleep," Angel replied,
stroking her hair. He was alarmed, as he had been the previous night,
by the dark circles under her eyes. "How much sleep _have_ you been
getting?" he asked with concern.
"As much sleep as the big bad demons let me get," Buffy said. "They've
been worse than usual in the last couple of weeks. Especially last
night," she added under her breath, and turned back to her bag.
"What do you mean, especially last night?" Angel questioned, and
grabbed her shoulder to turn her back to face him. She couldn't
stifle a whimper as he grabbed her. "You're hurt!" Angel realized, a
despairing look on his face. "Buffy, why didn't you TELL me?!"
"I'm fine, Angel," Buffy tried to reassure him. Sighing, she
unbuttoned her shirt slightly and pulled back the bandage to show him
the stab wound to her left shoulder. "I just didn't want to worry you
last night. I was going to tell you today."
"God, Buffy, so close to your heart," Angel gasped, tears in his eyes,
as he saw the wound. He pulled her to him and held her so tight
she could barely breathe. He'd come so close to losing her, he hadn't
even known. He couldn't stand the thought.
"Angel, he missed, I'm okay," she gasped. "If it makes you feel any
better, Charlotte made sure the stupid vampire knew he'd messed with
the wrong Slayer, before she dusted him. She's good, Angel," she
managed to release herself slightly from his hold, enough to look up
at him. "That isn't the first time she's saved me. Although I've done
the same thing for her at times, she doesn't seem to be the desired
dead Slayer right now."
"I'm sure Giles has a theory as to why that is?" Angel asked.
"Giles thinks that Adam's going to make his move soon, but he wants at
least one Slayer at less than perfect health first, if not dead.
Obviously, he wants that one to be me. He is smart, I gotta give him
that much. As good as Charlie is, I am still the stronger and more
experienced of the two.
"But, last night was a Buffy-stupid moment," Buffy said, obviously
irritated with herself that a vampire had been able to take her
down. "I wasn't thinking clearly, and I fell for one of the oldest
and most over-used tricks in the book. Charlotte and I were rushed by
vampires, in one of the cemeteries. I had one on the run. Or so I
thought. I followed him right into a crypt, and needless to say he
had friends waiting.
"I survived thanks to Charlie, but it was close. It freaked Giles out
in a big way that I was so tired I was being that careless. So he
almost jumped at the idea of me going to L.A. for the weekend. I
think he would've packed my bags for me if I'd asked," she joked.
Buffy frowned as Angel didn't even crack a smile. "Tough room," she
sighed. "Look, I know you're worried, Angel," she stroked his face,
trying to smooth away the worry she saw there, "but I'm okay now. A
couple of days with you and I'll be ready for anything the Hellmouth
has to throw at me." She grinned, and pulled his head down to hers
for a kiss.
She giggled as she pulled away, and Angel said, "What's so funny?" a
puzzled look on his face.
"Oh, it's just a nice perk of you being human, is that I actually
_can_ take your breath away now," she laughed.
"Oh, I think that goes both ways," Angel growled and picked her up
effortlessly, adding, "Feel like testing out that theory?" with a
smile. She captured his lips with hers in a kiss, and he took that
for a yes.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale
12 pm
Cordelia pulled up to Doyle's apartment in Angel's car. *And I only
had to nag him for two hours.* she remembered with a smile. *I think
it was when I pointed out that he wouldn't be leaving his downstairs
apartment for the entire weekend that he finally threw the keys at me
in utter embarrassment that I could say such a thing. He should know
me better by now. Anyway, I'm not leaving him car-less. Buffy's got
one.*
She looked up at the apartment and nodded, pleased with Doyle's change
in living arrangements. *I'm so glad that Doyle finally rented an
apartment for himself and Charlie. It will give us a little more
privacy than we had when he was sleeping on Giles' couch, with
Charlie in a sleeping bag on the floor.*
She pulled three bags out of the trunk, and managed to drag them up to
the door. "Hi, Cordy," Charlotte said with a smile as she opened the
door. She giggled and helped Cordelia bring her bags inside. She had
been shocked at Cordelia's packing habits her first weekend visit, but
that was two months ago. Today she was surprised that Cordelia had
managed to keep the bag amount to three. *That's gotta be a Cordelia
Chase record* she thought with a grin.
"Hi, Charlotte," Cordelia replied, "Doyle here?"
"Of course," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "He's been in hyperdrive ever
since you called from L.A. this morn--"
"Hey, Princess," Doyle interrupted her.
"Doyle!" Cordelia squealed, and ran past Charlie into Doyle's arms.
Doyle kissed her, passionately, and they stumbled over to the couch,
oblivious to Charlie.
Charlotte muttered, "Never mind, I think the hyperdrive is mutual."
She quickly left the two lovers to their privacy, and went outside.
She knew from experience by now that being in the same apartment with
them for the first few hours that Cordy was back was an embarrassing
thing. If not for them, then for her.
She decided to stop in at Giles', to see if he, Willow and Wesley had
gotten anywhere with their recent Adam research this morning. "Oh, hi
Oz," she smiled as she saw the young man approaching from across the
street. "Looks like I was right, research started early this morning?"
"Yeah," Oz said, and they walked to Giles' apartment in silence.
Charlotte smiled to herself, after two months she'd finally gotten
somewhat used to Oz' un-talkative personality.
They knocked on Giles' door, and Wesley answered it. Wesley had been
staying with Giles, his knowledge of demons had been helpful to
everyone in narrowing down the different demons that were integrated
into the creature Adam.
"Charlotte, Oz, come in. We were just discussing how best you should
go about patrolling tonight, Charlotte. You'll need backup, just in
case there's trouble. We were hoping that you would come along,
Oz, and I think Doyle will tag along as well. Giles, Willow and I will
continue the research here."
"I thought we decided that Buffy was probably the target of the
demons. So I'll be okay on my own," Charlotte said, bewildered.
"We might be wrong," Giles replied, lifting his head from the book he
was reading. He removed his glasses to wipe them clean with the hem of
his shirt, a nervous habit that Charlotte smiled at. "What if Adam's
true intention _was_ to split up the two of you?" he added. "I think
we played right into his hands if that was the case."
"I think you worry too much," Willow sighed, from her spot at a table
nearby. "But I could be wrong because my brain's fuzzy," She rubbed
her eyes, tiredly, and Oz silently moved behind her to massage her
shoulders. "Thanks," she said.
"None of you slept last night, did you," Charlotte accused the three.
"That's not helpful, Giles. Buffy got careless from exhaustion last
night, we don't need the same thing happening to any of you. Whatever
Adam's plan is, we need your minds at full strength when it comes to
the final confrontation."
"Too late, no full strength here," Willow mumbled. "I'm looking at the
words in front of me but I think they turned into another language
when I blinked a few minutes ago." She frowned, looking at the book in
confusion.
Oz chuckled, and said, "That's just your eyes telling you they need to
be shut for a few hours, Sweetie."
"Oh, really?" Willow looked up at him hopefully. "Good, glad that's
all it is."
"Giles, I should take Willow back to her house. She should be safer
there than at the dorm, since Buffy's gone." Oz said. "She's beyond
any form of coherence and --"
"Hey! I think....I'd resent that if I remembered what it was you just
said," she finished with a shrug.
"See what I mean?" Oz said to the Watcher and ex-Rogue Demon Hunter.
"I'd yell at you, but I think Charlotte will do that for me. Come on,
Willow. I'll walk you."
"Walk? I don't wanna," Willow whined. "Willow sleep now. No walk." She
tried to lay her head down on the table, but Oz pulled her up off the
chair ignoring her whimper of protest.
"You can borrow my car, Oz," Giles offered kindly.
"Thanks," Oz said, taking the keys from him. "I'll bring it back, and
then we'll talk about patrolling tonight."
Ten minutes later, he was practically carrying her to her room. She
was walking but there was definitely nobody home. She flopped on the
bed, and he took her shoes off for her. "Oz?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, Baby," he sat down beside her, pushing a stray lock of hair out
of her face.
"Don't leave me," she whispered, still half asleep.
"Not planning on it," Oz replied tenderly.
"Good, because I couldn't stand it if you left too," Willow sighed and
rolled over on her stomach.
Oz waited to see if she was really asleep, and was reassured of that
by her breathing slowing and getting deeper. He sat for a moment,
watching her. *Willow, why can't you be honest about how you feel
when you're not sleep-talking. We all saw how devastated you were
when Xander left. Instead of letting me, or any of your friends help
you, though, you pretend you are okay. You say you are fine, but
don't you know we all noticed that the light in your eyes disappeared
when he did?
*I hate that he hurt you like that. But I'm not jealous. I've
realized that whatever really is between you two, neither of you want
to contemplate it past friendship. Maybe I'm selfish, but I'm not
going to try to clue you in on it either. I'm just going to try to
make you happy, keep trying to deserve you. Maybe if I'm lucky you
you can learn to smile again. And if I'm really lucky maybe you can
love me again.*
He pressed a kiss to her cheek, as he assured himself she wasn't
waking up again. Then he left to return to Giles' house.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Holiday Inn
Far from Sunnydale
3 pm
"Xander," Anya said, nudging him. "Hello, it's time to wake up."
"Mgph," Xander replied, or something to that effect.
"Come on," she insisted, shaking him gently. "You said we could get
out of this vampire-infested town this morning, remember?"
"_Where_ are we again?" Xander asked sleepily, still refusing to open
his eyes.
"Uh..." Anya reached over him to retrieve their map. "Let's see. We
were in Little Rock last week, now we're in....oh, yeah. Louisiana.
New Orleans to be exact. I tried to tell you that vampires love this
city, but you just wouldn't listen," Anya said for about the fiftieth
time in two days.
Xander groaned, and opened his eyes then. "I know, I know. I just
thought.... I don't know what I thought. Just wanted to check it out,
that's all. Yes, we'll leave. Just let me take a shower first, okay?"
"Okay, sorry for being so rude," Anya apologized and kissed him
tenderly.
"It's okay, you've put up with a lot from me in the past two months.
If you're getting sick of me, I can't say I blame you," Xander said,
stroking her hair.
"Sick of you? Not likely," Anya smiled. "Just starting to wonder if
all this traveling is eventually going to take us back to Sunnydale,"
she added, and laid her head on his chest.
"Oh," Xander replied, surprised that she'd asked the question and even
more surprised she'd waited a whole two months before asking at all.
Absentmindedly, he trailed his hand up and down Anya's back, and she
sighed contentedly. He smiled, pressed a kiss to the top of her head,
and tried to come up with an answer to the question.
*The past few nights I _have_ actually been able to sleep without
waking up in terror from a nightmare. I can joke around with Anya
again. Maybe that means I'm starting to get over what happened
with...Him, but the only way to know that for sure is to go back to
Sunnydale. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. A part of me does
want to go back, I missBuffy and Willow. Heck, I even miss Giles, now
how weird is that.*
"I don't know, Anya. I'll tell you when I do, though," Xander said
with a sigh. "Now, for that shower and then we'll get out of here."
"Where next?" Anya asked.
"I'll know when we get there," Xander shrugged.
&&&&&&&&&&&
End of part one
Story Two in Series: New Lives, Destined Loves
Author: EvilWillow - lcaspell@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Distribution: If you ask, and provide me with the URL to your site,
I'll always say yes. It will be at my site when I get a moment to
post it. (www.crosswinds.net/~evilwillow/index.html)
Disclaimer: The Buffy and Angel characters are owned by Joss Whedon,
the WB, FOX, and a bunch of other people much luckier than me. I'll
return the characters when I'm done with them, if they want to go
back, that is. ;-)
Category: Story/Adventure/Romance/Angst/Humor
Keywords: Alternate Timeline (S4)
Couples: Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz, Anya/Xander, Cordelia/Doyle,
Spike/Dru
Summary: This fic takes place two months after my story "The End".
The gang is in the process of picking up the pieces and beginning
again. They've had two months of relative peace, but now it looks
like Adam is ready to make life interesting for them all.
Author's Notes: You MUST read my earlier fic "The End" to be able to
understand this one. Just email me if you haven't read it, I'll be
glad to get it to you.
* * = thoughts; _ _ = words emphasized.
Part One:
&&&&&&&&&
Saturday, 12 pm
Buffy awoke, and looked around, disoriented. *Oh,* she smiled. *That's
right, it was Angel's place this weekend.* After succeeding in
saving him from being Angelus, in more ways than she could have
dreamed, she and Angel had agreed to start over. They were trying to
make their relationship work this time. It did help that Angel had
been made human again, thus getting rid of the happiness clause.
However, human or not, he wasn't ready to leave his job in L.A yet,
and Giles would have hunted her down if she'd decided to leave
Sunnydale. So they didn't get to see each other until the weekends.
And although they did manage to spend every weekend together, the
where was always a last minute decision.
She rolled over to look at the clock he kept next to the bed. *Almost
noon* she sighed. *But it is understandable, after my 'quick patrol'
with Charlie ended up lasting until midnight. I'm just glad that
Giles agreed Charlie could handle things on the Hellmouth the rest of
this weekend. But after finally getting away from his questions and
driving the two hours to Angel's apartment I was exhausted. Poor
Angel.* She smiled. *I was just awake enough to say hi and goodnight
before passing out cold. Oh, well. I'll make it up to him later.*
She dragged herself out of bed, and wished for about the hundredth
time that she could convince Angel to invest in a few mirrors. *Geez,
for someone as gorgeous as he is, he sure has a complex about himself
still.*
Sighing, she walked to the corner of the room where she'd thrown her
overnight bag, and found her compact mirror. "Yick! Major bedhead,"
she said, realizing that the mirror had not been a good idea after
all.
"I think you look beautiful as always," Angel said from behind her,
startling her.
"I think you need an eye exam," Buffy said sarcastically. She looked
over at him though, and couldn't help smiling at the sight he
presented. *So cute leaning up against that doorpost*. She got up and
walked over to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him
and then said, "You really should've woken me up before now."
"Looked to me like you needed that extra sleep," Angel replied,
stroking her hair. He was alarmed, as he had been the previous night,
by the dark circles under her eyes. "How much sleep _have_ you been
getting?" he asked with concern.
"As much sleep as the big bad demons let me get," Buffy said. "They've
been worse than usual in the last couple of weeks. Especially last
night," she added under her breath, and turned back to her bag.
"What do you mean, especially last night?" Angel questioned, and
grabbed her shoulder to turn her back to face him. She couldn't
stifle a whimper as he grabbed her. "You're hurt!" Angel realized, a
despairing look on his face. "Buffy, why didn't you TELL me?!"
"I'm fine, Angel," Buffy tried to reassure him. Sighing, she
unbuttoned her shirt slightly and pulled back the bandage to show him
the stab wound to her left shoulder. "I just didn't want to worry you
last night. I was going to tell you today."
"God, Buffy, so close to your heart," Angel gasped, tears in his eyes,
as he saw the wound. He pulled her to him and held her so tight
she could barely breathe. He'd come so close to losing her, he hadn't
even known. He couldn't stand the thought.
"Angel, he missed, I'm okay," she gasped. "If it makes you feel any
better, Charlotte made sure the stupid vampire knew he'd messed with
the wrong Slayer, before she dusted him. She's good, Angel," she
managed to release herself slightly from his hold, enough to look up
at him. "That isn't the first time she's saved me. Although I've done
the same thing for her at times, she doesn't seem to be the desired
dead Slayer right now."
"I'm sure Giles has a theory as to why that is?" Angel asked.
"Giles thinks that Adam's going to make his move soon, but he wants at
least one Slayer at less than perfect health first, if not dead.
Obviously, he wants that one to be me. He is smart, I gotta give him
that much. As good as Charlie is, I am still the stronger and more
experienced of the two.
"But, last night was a Buffy-stupid moment," Buffy said, obviously
irritated with herself that a vampire had been able to take her
down. "I wasn't thinking clearly, and I fell for one of the oldest
and most over-used tricks in the book. Charlotte and I were rushed by
vampires, in one of the cemeteries. I had one on the run. Or so I
thought. I followed him right into a crypt, and needless to say he
had friends waiting.
"I survived thanks to Charlie, but it was close. It freaked Giles out
in a big way that I was so tired I was being that careless. So he
almost jumped at the idea of me going to L.A. for the weekend. I
think he would've packed my bags for me if I'd asked," she joked.
Buffy frowned as Angel didn't even crack a smile. "Tough room," she
sighed. "Look, I know you're worried, Angel," she stroked his face,
trying to smooth away the worry she saw there, "but I'm okay now. A
couple of days with you and I'll be ready for anything the Hellmouth
has to throw at me." She grinned, and pulled his head down to hers
for a kiss.
She giggled as she pulled away, and Angel said, "What's so funny?" a
puzzled look on his face.
"Oh, it's just a nice perk of you being human, is that I actually
_can_ take your breath away now," she laughed.
"Oh, I think that goes both ways," Angel growled and picked her up
effortlessly, adding, "Feel like testing out that theory?" with a
smile. She captured his lips with hers in a kiss, and he took that
for a yes.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Sunnydale
12 pm
Cordelia pulled up to Doyle's apartment in Angel's car. *And I only
had to nag him for two hours.* she remembered with a smile. *I think
it was when I pointed out that he wouldn't be leaving his downstairs
apartment for the entire weekend that he finally threw the keys at me
in utter embarrassment that I could say such a thing. He should know
me better by now. Anyway, I'm not leaving him car-less. Buffy's got
one.*
She looked up at the apartment and nodded, pleased with Doyle's change
in living arrangements. *I'm so glad that Doyle finally rented an
apartment for himself and Charlie. It will give us a little more
privacy than we had when he was sleeping on Giles' couch, with
Charlie in a sleeping bag on the floor.*
She pulled three bags out of the trunk, and managed to drag them up to
the door. "Hi, Cordy," Charlotte said with a smile as she opened the
door. She giggled and helped Cordelia bring her bags inside. She had
been shocked at Cordelia's packing habits her first weekend visit, but
that was two months ago. Today she was surprised that Cordelia had
managed to keep the bag amount to three. *That's gotta be a Cordelia
Chase record* she thought with a grin.
"Hi, Charlotte," Cordelia replied, "Doyle here?"
"Of course," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "He's been in hyperdrive ever
since you called from L.A. this morn--"
"Hey, Princess," Doyle interrupted her.
"Doyle!" Cordelia squealed, and ran past Charlie into Doyle's arms.
Doyle kissed her, passionately, and they stumbled over to the couch,
oblivious to Charlie.
Charlotte muttered, "Never mind, I think the hyperdrive is mutual."
She quickly left the two lovers to their privacy, and went outside.
She knew from experience by now that being in the same apartment with
them for the first few hours that Cordy was back was an embarrassing
thing. If not for them, then for her.
She decided to stop in at Giles', to see if he, Willow and Wesley had
gotten anywhere with their recent Adam research this morning. "Oh, hi
Oz," she smiled as she saw the young man approaching from across the
street. "Looks like I was right, research started early this morning?"
"Yeah," Oz said, and they walked to Giles' apartment in silence.
Charlotte smiled to herself, after two months she'd finally gotten
somewhat used to Oz' un-talkative personality.
They knocked on Giles' door, and Wesley answered it. Wesley had been
staying with Giles, his knowledge of demons had been helpful to
everyone in narrowing down the different demons that were integrated
into the creature Adam.
"Charlotte, Oz, come in. We were just discussing how best you should
go about patrolling tonight, Charlotte. You'll need backup, just in
case there's trouble. We were hoping that you would come along,
Oz, and I think Doyle will tag along as well. Giles, Willow and I will
continue the research here."
"I thought we decided that Buffy was probably the target of the
demons. So I'll be okay on my own," Charlotte said, bewildered.
"We might be wrong," Giles replied, lifting his head from the book he
was reading. He removed his glasses to wipe them clean with the hem of
his shirt, a nervous habit that Charlotte smiled at. "What if Adam's
true intention _was_ to split up the two of you?" he added. "I think
we played right into his hands if that was the case."
"I think you worry too much," Willow sighed, from her spot at a table
nearby. "But I could be wrong because my brain's fuzzy," She rubbed
her eyes, tiredly, and Oz silently moved behind her to massage her
shoulders. "Thanks," she said.
"None of you slept last night, did you," Charlotte accused the three.
"That's not helpful, Giles. Buffy got careless from exhaustion last
night, we don't need the same thing happening to any of you. Whatever
Adam's plan is, we need your minds at full strength when it comes to
the final confrontation."
"Too late, no full strength here," Willow mumbled. "I'm looking at the
words in front of me but I think they turned into another language
when I blinked a few minutes ago." She frowned, looking at the book in
confusion.
Oz chuckled, and said, "That's just your eyes telling you they need to
be shut for a few hours, Sweetie."
"Oh, really?" Willow looked up at him hopefully. "Good, glad that's
all it is."
"Giles, I should take Willow back to her house. She should be safer
there than at the dorm, since Buffy's gone." Oz said. "She's beyond
any form of coherence and --"
"Hey! I think....I'd resent that if I remembered what it was you just
said," she finished with a shrug.
"See what I mean?" Oz said to the Watcher and ex-Rogue Demon Hunter.
"I'd yell at you, but I think Charlotte will do that for me. Come on,
Willow. I'll walk you."
"Walk? I don't wanna," Willow whined. "Willow sleep now. No walk." She
tried to lay her head down on the table, but Oz pulled her up off the
chair ignoring her whimper of protest.
"You can borrow my car, Oz," Giles offered kindly.
"Thanks," Oz said, taking the keys from him. "I'll bring it back, and
then we'll talk about patrolling tonight."
Ten minutes later, he was practically carrying her to her room. She
was walking but there was definitely nobody home. She flopped on the
bed, and he took her shoes off for her. "Oz?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, Baby," he sat down beside her, pushing a stray lock of hair out
of her face.
"Don't leave me," she whispered, still half asleep.
"Not planning on it," Oz replied tenderly.
"Good, because I couldn't stand it if you left too," Willow sighed and
rolled over on her stomach.
Oz waited to see if she was really asleep, and was reassured of that
by her breathing slowing and getting deeper. He sat for a moment,
watching her. *Willow, why can't you be honest about how you feel
when you're not sleep-talking. We all saw how devastated you were
when Xander left. Instead of letting me, or any of your friends help
you, though, you pretend you are okay. You say you are fine, but
don't you know we all noticed that the light in your eyes disappeared
when he did?
*I hate that he hurt you like that. But I'm not jealous. I've
realized that whatever really is between you two, neither of you want
to contemplate it past friendship. Maybe I'm selfish, but I'm not
going to try to clue you in on it either. I'm just going to try to
make you happy, keep trying to deserve you. Maybe if I'm lucky you
you can learn to smile again. And if I'm really lucky maybe you can
love me again.*
He pressed a kiss to her cheek, as he assured himself she wasn't
waking up again. Then he left to return to Giles' house.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Holiday Inn
Far from Sunnydale
3 pm
"Xander," Anya said, nudging him. "Hello, it's time to wake up."
"Mgph," Xander replied, or something to that effect.
"Come on," she insisted, shaking him gently. "You said we could get
out of this vampire-infested town this morning, remember?"
"_Where_ are we again?" Xander asked sleepily, still refusing to open
his eyes.
"Uh..." Anya reached over him to retrieve their map. "Let's see. We
were in Little Rock last week, now we're in....oh, yeah. Louisiana.
New Orleans to be exact. I tried to tell you that vampires love this
city, but you just wouldn't listen," Anya said for about the fiftieth
time in two days.
Xander groaned, and opened his eyes then. "I know, I know. I just
thought.... I don't know what I thought. Just wanted to check it out,
that's all. Yes, we'll leave. Just let me take a shower first, okay?"
"Okay, sorry for being so rude," Anya apologized and kissed him
tenderly.
"It's okay, you've put up with a lot from me in the past two months.
If you're getting sick of me, I can't say I blame you," Xander said,
stroking her hair.
"Sick of you? Not likely," Anya smiled. "Just starting to wonder if
all this traveling is eventually going to take us back to Sunnydale,"
she added, and laid her head on his chest.
"Oh," Xander replied, surprised that she'd asked the question and even
more surprised she'd waited a whole two months before asking at all.
Absentmindedly, he trailed his hand up and down Anya's back, and she
sighed contentedly. He smiled, pressed a kiss to the top of her head,
and tried to come up with an answer to the question.
*The past few nights I _have_ actually been able to sleep without
waking up in terror from a nightmare. I can joke around with Anya
again. Maybe that means I'm starting to get over what happened
with...Him, but the only way to know that for sure is to go back to
Sunnydale. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. A part of me does
want to go back, I missBuffy and Willow. Heck, I even miss Giles, now
how weird is that.*
"I don't know, Anya. I'll tell you when I do, though," Xander said
with a sigh. "Now, for that shower and then we'll get out of here."
"Where next?" Anya asked.
"I'll know when we get there," Xander shrugged.
&&&&&&&&&&&
End of part one