When Your Eyes Say It
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This story is set after "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb".
SPOILERS: If you haven't watched THE GIFT then there's a big spoiler here.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to Joss & Co.
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"Willow.... Willow, what's happened to Buffy?"
Willow sat still. She looked sombre and very pale. She couldn't open her lips. If she did, she would kill Angel with what she had to tell him.
"Willow.... Please, please, tell me what's happened to her" Angel begged and he sat down next to his friend. As he looked deep into her eyes, Angel could see sorrow. He could tell that she had been crying, because her eyes glistened.
"Angel" Willow whispered meekly, "Angel, Buffy's...." Willow started to cry again. Her eyes were closed tightly and she covered them with her hands, "She's dead" Willow managed to tell him through her tears, "She died a couple of days ago. She died to-" Willow paused as she could see that this was killing him. She could see his heart breaking by looking at his eyes. "She died to save her sister.... The world. She saved it again, Angel" Willow told him, "You should be proud of her".
Angel couldn't take this in. This was hurting his heart immensely. The pain was extremely strong.
Cordelia was surprised by the news too. Tears started to emerge on her face.
"Oh god" she whispered silently, "Buffy".
Wesley comforted Cordelia in a hushed hug as she cried out her sadness.
Fred and Gunn, who didn't even know Buffy, felt how upsetting the news was for everyone. They stood back as they watched the grief take over everyone's faces.
"BUFFY!" Angel screamed, "BUFFY!"
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The next few days were torture. Angel was getting paler and weaker everyday that passed.
"Do you want something to eat?" Cordelia asked Angel. She had tried to cheer him up on many occasions that one simple question meant nothing to Angel.
"No" Angel whispered in reply as he stood in a dark corner.
"Angel, you've got to stop this now. I'm upset about Buffy's death too, but we've got to move on.... We've ALL got to move on" Cordelia told him, but Angel didn't want to hear what Cordelia had to say.
"She may be dead, Cordelia, but she's as alive as ever to me" Angel spoke softly, "And if I believe that she's alive.... then she is"
Cordelia knew that she couldn't say or do anything to cheer up her friend, so she stepped out of the room.
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"Nothing?" Wesley asked her quietly.
"No improvement at all" Cordelia answered and she went back to her office. She thought that the best way to cope with all this was to keep herself busy.
"Can't we-"
"No" Cordelia interrupted Wesley's thought, "Nothing. We can't do anything. Angel's got to cope with this in his own way and time".
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"Hey" Gunn greeted Angel with a smile, "Look, I know how hard death is. I lost one of my men a couple of days ago too, remember?" Gunn reminded Angel, "And the best way to deal with it is to move on"
Angel's face frowned. His fists clenched.
"That's all the advice I get from all of you and I'm sick of hearing the same thing! Maybe I don't want to move on!" Angel cried angrily.
Gunn knew that this wasn't a good time to start anything, so he left Angel.
"Sorry" Gunn whispered as he left the room.
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Angel didn't mean to be like this. He didn't want to be, but how was he meant to act and feel when he's just lost his true love?
He tried to remember Buffy and the times that they shared together. He remembered the warmth that she gave him and the strength that he had when he was around her.
"God, I miss you" Angel whispered silently, "I miss your smile, the beauty of your heart, I miss.... you" Angel felt the tears climb out of his eyes and roll down his gentle face again. When were these tears going to stop? When was his heart going to stop aching? Never. With Buffy gone, he didn't have a life to live for.
Angel had always thought of her in every battle that he had and he always won them with the vision of her face with him and when Wesley told him that he was going to become human one day, Angel thought of the proper life that he could have with Buffy. He thought about the long walks in the summer sun that he could contain with her and the love that they could build up together, but it took two to do this.
In all the thoughts that Angel had, he never once thought that Buffy would die before him. He always thought that Buffy was the stronger halve and that she would live a longer life than him- even though he was a vampire. No, he was wrong, but then Angel remembered she had died before and she came back, but was it possible to get her back now?
Cordelia entered the room again.
"I know, I know, but don't tell me to go away. Listen to me, Angel. You have got to carry on with you life, because Buffy is not coming back-" Angel pushed past Cordelia, interrupting what she had to say.
"Let's see about that, shall we?" Angel said in a husky voice, "We'll see"....
TO BE CONTINUED....