Weeks went by with us trying to help the hopeless. Angel soon realized that I was not ordinary girl, I had strength that rivaled the slayer, the tactical experience that put his own to shame, and a knowledge of weapons that rivaled his. He was shocked. He and I quickly became training partners, and it became a thorn in his side that whenever we sparred he couldn't beat me. I found his boyish attitude about it all to be so endearing, if I didn't love him before I sure as hell did now.
Finally, after about two months of us trying to find out where Darla was being kept, we found something. She was being kept in an apartment near the Wolfram and Hart office building. The security surprising enough wasn't that tight. We figured that they thought we didn't know it was her and that we didn't know where they kept her. Well we seemed to have misjudged the time that it would take her to recover because when it came time to face her, it was all Angel and I could do to kill her. It was a hell of a fight, I don't think I have ever been so sore in all of my life. Angel spent weeks trying to recover.
*****
Before we went into this battle he and I sat down and had a talk, we had become close friends in the two months time that I had been there. He told me about Buffy and about his past with her. We were sitting in my apartment, since Angel's was shared with Gunn and Wesley my apartment has become as much his sanctuary as it was my own. I didn't mind having him there, in fact it made it seem more like home when he was there. I gave him my guestroom where he slept during the day if he didn't want to go back to his place, and I always kept some blood for him in the fridge. But back to the point, I always seem to get lost somewhere. So we were sitting there talking like we had done so often. I would listen to him talk about Buffy and I would tell him about the nameless man that had taken my heart. He shared something with me that night. He told me that he was in love with the Buffy of the past and he didn't even really know the Buffy that was there now. He finally decided that it was time to move on, even though getting really close to a woman wasn't something he could do because of his curse. The thing that he didn't know was that I had all of his answers. I knew that I could protect his soul, and that if he was with me it would be okay, but I couldn't tell him any of this, because it had to be his choice to come to me and this was not the right time.
That night after he got finished telling me about his decision to put Buffy in the past, I went into my room and opened a drawer. In that draw was the sketch that I had found that he did of her. I felt that it was time that he had that back. I pulled it out of its place gently and walked back out to him. He was sitting there and he watched me as approached. I didn't say a word as I placed his sketch in his hand, and I didn't look at him as he asked where I had gotten it. I just sat there quietly, while he waited patiently for me to answer his questions.
One thing I have learned is that patience has been one of his acquired virtues. I think that it comes from immortality, and knowing that you have all the time in the world. I looked up at him, and said, "You left that when you left for Sunnydale. I kept it for you, because I knew that someday I would be able to give it back." He just held it gently, alternately looked from it to me and back again. Then he said in a very quiet voice barely above a whisper, "Thank you" I nodded a 'you're welcome' and then said, "You can stay but I am going to go to bed." I took one last look at him and walked into my bedroom. I locked the door and sat in my window seat with the window open thinking. The lights of LA are almost as therapeutic as the lights in Paris. I decided that night that after we defeated Darla that I would go and spend some time in Paris, even if just for a little while. It was far too painful to continue, for me to continue to fight by his side and know that it was Buffy and then later some random girl in his heart.
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