Angel and Xander just stared in horror
at Buffy. She tried to speak but couldn't get much more out than a raspy
cough.
"Go get a doctor." Angel instructed
Xander, his gaze fixed on Buffy.
Xander stood and ran from the room.
Angel rose shakily to his feet and approached the furious Slayer in trepidation.
"Buffy, I don't know if you remember
what happened but you're in the hospital."
Buffy tried again to speak but was
having great difficulty forming words with her dry and bruised vocal chords.
She seemed to get more agitated with every attempt.
Angel hastened to calm her.
"It's okay. Don't try and talk. The doctor—"
"Im-por-tant." She was able
to manage a word. Buffy relaxed slightly against the pillow, relieved
that she was still capable of speech.
Angel stood by the side of the bed
and took her hand. "Important? You have something important to tell
me?" He leaned in close, straining to hear.
Slowly, laboring for every syllable,
Buffy choked out a few words. "You...sh-should've...stayed in H-hell."
Buffy managed to pull her hand away from Angel's and she closed her eyes, shutting
him out.
A team of medical personnel breezed
into the room, Xander trailing behind them. The doctor went to examine
Buffy, chattering happily. Xander took one look at the shattered expression
on Angel's face and knew that something had transpired while he was out of the
room. He quietly walked across the room, careful to avoid the staff running
in and out, and took Angel's hand.
"Let's go, Angel."
Angel remained silent, withdrawn.
Xander tugged gently at his hand and Angel looked over at him. Xander
felt something inside him begin to ache as he looked in Angel's eyes.
They seemed so lost and sad. Xander tugged at Angel's hand again.
"We should get out of the way. Let's go call everyone."
Angel followed Xander out of the
room. As he crossed the threshold, he felt Buffy's eyes on him.
He moved to glance back at her and Xander pulled him sharply into the hallway.
The two men walked down the corridor
in silence. Finally, Angel asked him, "Why did you do that? Pull
me out of the room?"
Xander stopped and shook his head.
"I thought you of all people would know better than that."
"What?"
"You never look back."
With that, Xander turned on his
heel and strode out of the hospital.
* *
* * *
A shell-shocked Angel walked down
the stairs behind Xander into the basement. Xander had left the hospital and
retrieved Angel's car. He carefully managed to transport him through the
very sunny town without any body parts bursting into flame.
Xander led him over to the bed and
took his coat. He called Giles and Willow and then puttered around the
apartment. He'd had Willow drop off some blood earlier and now he heated
it, encouraging Angel to feed. He wandered around the basement, straightening
the room and generally fussing over the vampire.
Angel's thick fog of guilt and despair
was slowly being lifted by the soothing normalcy of it all. As his mind
cleared, he reached out to halt Xander's progress as the young man walked past
him. "Are you okay?"
Xander seemed confused by the question
as he sat down next to Angel. "I'm fine. I'm not the one who looks
like someone ran over my puppy and then backed over it again."
Angel shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"She hates me. It was clear. I can't blame her. But I never
meant for her—"
"I know. I know. You
never meant for her to find out about us."
It happened so fast that Xander
wasn't even aware of Angel's movements until he found himself on his back, pressed
into the mattress beneath a very agitated Angel.
"That's not what I meant!"
Rule Number One: Don't anger the
emotionally unstable vampire, Xander thought. "Ah...okay."
Angel realized that he was making
Xander more than a little anxious. He deliberately softened his expression.
His hand reached up to caress Xander's temple. "I would have told her.
I just didn't want her to find out like that way. I can't imagine a more
painful way than this."
Relieved, Xander slid a hand along
Angel's back, softly tracing the contours hidden by his shirt. "She could
have walked in on us having sex. That would have been worse." He
supplied helpfully.
Angel dropped his head against Xander's
shoulder, burying his face in Xander's neck. His body was trembling.
Xander started to soothe him and then he realized, "You're laughing!"
Angel only laughed harder and Xander soon followed.
As their laughter subsided, they
lay quietly together for a moment. Angel rolled onto his back, pulling
Xander with him. He pressed his lips to the top of Xander's head.
"I would have told her, you know."
"I know."
Angel placed his hand under Xander's
chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. "I would have told her."
Xander was shocked by the Angel's
obvious sincerity. He couldn't recall anyone every looking at him that
way. So serious. He realized that Angel meant what he was saying.
He would have told Buffy the truth, pointy sticks and crossbows be damned.
"I believe you. But the way you looked—"
"She told me I should have stayed
in Hell." Angel replied softly.
Xander's response was venomous.
"That fucking bitch!"
"She's hurt, Xander. And you
know how Buffy handles emotional anguish--"
"She pummels things," Xander finished.
He grinned at Angel. "I guess we're lucky she was in a hospital bed when she
found out, huh?"
They both fell silent, grimacing
at the notion of what a fully operational Slayer's reaction might have been.
Then, Xander asked the question that had been plaguing his thoughts. "What
now?"
"Sun'll be down in a few hours."
Angel ventured.
"Yeah."
"Nice night for a drive south."
"LA? You want me to come back
to LA with you?" Xander's face lit up and then fell a split second later as
he remembered. "My car. I need to drive back with you to get my
car."
Puzzled, Angel frowned at him.
"Well, yes, but I thought you might want to stay a while. I know things
in Sunnydale haven't been that great for you lately. Maybe you could give
my town a try and see if you like it any better."
"You want me to come back to LA
with you?" Xander repeated.
Angel was a little unnerved by Xander's
reaction. This wasn't the reaction he was hoping for. He stumbled
over his words as he babbled. "It would be a lot easier to figure out
what's between us if there's wasn't a three hour drive in the way. And
I could use your help in the office. Cordelia keeps trying to turn me
into this superhero. She says it'll drum up business. If she mentions
the word tights one more time—"
"So you want me to be like the Robin
to your Batman routine? Oh wait, you already have Wesley. He's your
Robin."
"No. Wesley is Alfred."
Angel replied emphatically.
"I gotta tell you it's going to
be a hardship giving up my budding career in the food services industry to go
play action figure...but I'm thinking there are perks to the job."
Angel leaned down and kissed Xander
softly. "I'm sure we can come up with an adequate benefits package."
Xander rolled more fully atop Angel
and nuzzled at his neck. "We've a got a few more hours until we can leave."
Angel smiled wickedly. "Any
idea how we can kill the time?"
"Yep! You can help me pack."
Xander hopped off the bed and started hunting around for boxes, leaving a thoroughly
frustrated vampire lying on the bed. He glanced up as Angel called out
to him.
"Hey, Xander. Remember how I said
there were moments that I wanted to wring your neck?"
"Yeah?"
"This is one of those moments."