Angel woke at dawn, but thought better of calling Buffy that early. The Buffy he remembered had not been a morning person. He wondered
if that had changed, but not enough to risk her wrath if it hadn't.
He'd slept well, really well. Better than he'd slept in a good twenty years. Better than he'd slept when he and Buffy were together back in Sunnydale. Back then, there had always been too much standing
in the way of them being together. This had given him too many reasons
to worry, and therefore he'd never been able to sleep well.
Now, however ... well now, the only things standing in the way of them being together were whatever remaining obstacles they had to work through
in order for her to trust him completely again. But this didn't bother him enough to cause him to lose sleep about it. He had hope that they would
work through the obstacles and have the 'happy ever after' ending he'd once
thought was reserved for fairy tales.
So he showered and dressed, in black jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt, and went downstairs. He walked into his office, then settled in his chair. *I am going to get some paperwork done, like a good private investigator. I am going to keep my mind busy with more _productive_ things, until Buffy wakes up and calls me. Until then, I am not going to daydream about Buffy. I'm not going to think about her....* Yeah right," he said out loud
with a sigh, as he sat down with the file from his latest case.
************
Angel gave up on looking at the file from his latest case, after reading the first sentence. Over and over again for an hour. *It's hopeless,
all I can think about is Buffy.* So he put the file down and went out of his
office.
He walked downstairs to his basement. He had, easily, a hundred boxes there, which held old paperwork from Angel Investigations. Whenever the filing cabinet upstairs in the office got too full, Cordelia would order him to do something about it. So he would put the older files in boxes and bring them down here. He'd been doing that for twenty years. Not a brilliant plan, he knew at the time, but he'd told himself that he'd come up with a better idea before long. He never had. After a couple of years the amount
of boxes downstairs became too hopeless to do anything about, yet he
continued to add to them. And after twenty years, half the basement had
been taken over, with boxes stacked about three feet high.
"Well, this is something to do. Clean out the basement. It'll at least keep me busy until Buffy decides to wake up," he said with a shrug.
************
Buffy woke and stretched. She looked over at the clock and couldn't believe it. "NOON?" she said, sitting up in bed suddenly. "Geez, Buffy, sleep the day away." *Why didn't Angel call me to wake me up before now?* She knew the answer immediately. *He's just being typical sweet Angel, soconsiderate.* She smiled and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
She had slept very soundly. She was in a rather calm but happy mood now. That surprised her, given what had happened the previous night. She had let Angel kiss her, and not only that, but she'd kissed him back. And even though she realized he was more than willing to respect her need to take this slow, their romantic relationship was definitely moving forward. And given their two earlier failed attempts at a romantic relationship, she should have been rethinking this whole thing.
But she wasn't rethinking it. This wouldn't be like the other times.
Circumstances were different. Angel had found his redemption. As a reward for all the fighting he'd done for The Cause, he'd been given
a real life again. She had to believe that they could be together, really
together, finally. After everything that they'd been through would
life really tear them apart again? *Fate has to have a little sympathy
for all we've been through. Go torture some other couple now.*
She finished showering and dried quickly. She hunted through her closet for about ten minutes before she decided on what to wear. She pulled
on a pair of blue jeans and a white short-sleeved blouse. After pulling her
hair up in a pony tail, she picked up the phone.
Angel ran for the phone when he heard it ringing upstairs. "Don't hang up!" he yelled. After five rings he picked it up, "Angel Investigations."
"Running a marathon?"
Angel smiled when he heard Buffy's voice. "I was downstairs," he replied. "No phone."
"Ah. So, um, if you're not busy, I need you to come get me, at least to take me back to my car. Can you--"
"I'll be there in ten minutes," Angel cut her off. He realized how eager he'd sounded when she laughed. "Yeah, that wasn't pathetic at all," he added with a sigh.
"Not pathetic," Buffy assured him. "Well, if it was, I didn't notice,
because I want to see you, too."
Angel was glad she couldn't see the grin on his face as a result of that admission. He was sure he looked like an idiot. "Good. So I'll be there in ten?"
"That's fine, see you then," Buffy replied. "Bye."
"Bye."
Buffy sat down on her bed after she hung up, and waited impatiently for Angel to arrive.
*************