The Night Remembers - Part 11
By Jill
"Are the Slayer and her favorite vamp there already?" Xander asked, entering
Giles' apartment without knocking. On his heels was Anya and the watcher
noticed that she didn't wear her usual bored or annoyed expression, neither
did she try to smile, she looked plainly exhausted. Then Giles remembered
Xander's remark about his mother planning the marriage and he chuckled
inwardly.
"Good evening Xander," the watcher looked up at them. "Anya. You look tired,
my dear."
"I am tired," she replied, making a face. "As I said, this human custom of
joining is stupid. Why do people go through all this? Xander and I have sex
already, so why bother?" she shrugged a bit helplessly and found a spot on
the sofa, beside Tara, who seemed engrossed in a book.
Xander gave his friends an apologetic smile, "It's my mother. As much as I
like the idea of her actually noticing me, I'd prefer she noticed it after
the wedding. Has anyone of you ever seen a mother in a pre-wedding-hysteria?
Take my advice, avoid it, and run if you can." With a slight shake of his
head he turned towards the kitchenette, then opened the fridge, searching
for a drink.
He started slightly when he felt someone come up beside him. "Willow," he
put his hand over his heart, "don't do that."
"Sorry," she grabbed an apple.
"How'd did it go?" he whispered, referring to her visit at Angel's.
"Not the way I hoped. It seems I was wrong," she said, her face defeat.
"What do you mean?"
"The happiness clause is still intact. Angel... uh... that is, Angelus made
another appearance in L.A." When she saw his face, she shook her head
emphatically, "It's not what you think. There was a drug involved. I don't
want to go into details," she said glancing over her shoulder at Giles and
Dawn, "but it seems that in order to help him we would need to break the
curse, and then use the new one. The problem is, Angel refused to even
consider it."
"Hi everyone."
They all turned towards the door, where Cordelia was just entering the
apartment. "Where's Angel? " she asked, not seeing the vampire.
"He and Buffy are still out," Giles replied. "I'm afraid there is much more
work to do in Sunnydale at the moment. As I said in L.A. already, the
numbers of vampires are increasing. I don't like it, but I haven't found the
reason yet."
"I see," the brunette exchanged a quick glance with Willow, and then pulled
her cellular phone from the pocket. When she saw the others staring at her,
she grinned, "Just checking."
***
A smile playing on his lips, Angel slowly reached out and gently tucked a
strand that had loosened from her ponytail behind her ear, then let his
finger linger for a moment before he traced them over her cheek down to her
jaw, his thumb touching her slightly swollen lips. "I love you too," he
whispered hoarsely, and suddenly noticed she was swaying.
Immediately a concerned expression entered his eyes and his mouth tensed,
"Buffy!" One hand grabbed her shoulder to steady her. "Buffy, are you
alright?"
"I remembered," she whispered, "I remembered, Angel."
"You..." joy flooded him, but at the same time fear twisted his gut. He
licked his lips, "You remembered?"
"Yes," she nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. He caught it with his
thumb. She had the feeling she would burst any minute. So many emotions
whirled through her, so many images. "I remembered our first kiss," she
smiled, "when you vamped out... or at least I think it was our first kiss. I
looked pretty young then and had impossible hair," she rolled her eyes at
that and both laughed.
"And then I remembered kissing you at the ice rink and..." she suppressed a
sob that was threatening her, "When we were making love. God, this is
overwhelming me," she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment, tears
spilling over, emotions holding her in a tight grip. "I loved you so much
then," she opened her eyes again, "So very much. Oh, Angel."
With both hands she framed his face, "How could I ever forget your face,
these lips," she traced them with her fingers, "or those beautiful eyes,"
she stepped on her toes and breathed kisses over his eyelids, then lightly
stroked over his brows with her fingers.
Angel was mesmerized. He couldn't move. He wasn't able to think. His body
trembled and he would have sworn his heart pounded furiously - it just
couldn't be, but it felt a lot like that. God, how he loved this woman,
because she was a woman now, not the little girl he fell in love with at
first sight. Love was radiating from her eyes too, there was no fear, no
pain, just love and he knew instantly she had only remembered the good
times, those innocent times, when he had tried to lie to himself.
That thought brought him back to earth faster than anything else. For a last
time he pulled her too him, held her tightly, then let go and stepped back.
"That's only one part of the story," he said, hoping his voice sounded
somewhat normal.
She looked at him through huge eyes, seemingly a bit startled from his
sudden retreat. "I... I know," she managed to breathe. "Willow already told
me... I mean, I can guess there was more. We wouldn't be separated if there
wasn't."
He frowned for a moment, and seemed as if he was trying to find the right
words, when suddenly his phone rang. Both looked startled for a moment, then
Angel swore under his breath, while he yanked the phone from his pocket.
"Yes," he said sharply.
"There you are," came a well-known female voice from the other end. "So
you're still alive then."
"Cordelia," Angel slightly shook his head, while Buffy's eyes widened in
surprise. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that Cordelia was calling the
vampire or more the unusual image of Angel using something so modern as a
cell phone. At least she thought it wasn't familiar.
"Yes, of course, it's me," the brunette's voice sounded a little bit
annoyed, "where are you? Still dusting vampires or already enjoying the
night with Buffy?"
The last words were meant as a joke, but Angel had to swallow before he was
able to answer, "We were on our way. Why are you calling me?" he demanded.
"You knew we were on patrol."
"Sure," she replied, "but everyone is already at Giles' apartment, we're
only waiting for you and I thought I'd let you know. But of course if you're
still decimating the bloodsucking population of Sunnydale, then just
continue on. Only a dead vampire is a good vampire," she suddenly giggled,
"although that doesn't really fit, does it, with them being dead already.
So I should probably-"
"Cordelia," Angel hissed, "Was there an actual reason you called besides
annoying the hell out of me?"
"Oh - oh, you're angry now. Well, calm down. Oh! Another thing. Did you talk
to Buffy?"
"About what?" he asked, although he knew exactly what she was referring to.
And he had absolutely no intention discussing it now, with Buffy watching
him the whole time.
"You know what," she said, her voice sounding low.
"No, I haven't. And I won't. It's none of your business. Tell Giles, we'll
be there soon." With this he pressed the red button. Looking at the phone
for a moment, he shook his head, "She is the strangest girl..." he said
almost to himself and raised his head when he heard Buffy chuckle.
"How can you work with her and not scream all the time?" she asked. She
didn't remember Cordelia. And during the last weeks she'd only seen her from
time to time, but she seemed pretty close to the vampire, even closer than
the normal employee.
"Beats me," he joked. Then smiled. "Actually, she's alright. More like a
little sister. An annoying one sometimes, but..."
"You love her," she stated, smiling as well.
"Love?" his face wore an expression of mocked shock, and then it softened.
"Yeah, I guess it's not totally wrong." He took a deep breath, "They're
waiting for us," he told her, "Cordy said everyone is already at Giles'
apartment, so we should go."
His face was unreadable again. **Damn his self-control.** "But we... don't
you think we should... talk?"
"About what? Whatever we feel, it's not going to work. There is too much..."
he took another deep breath, "... we're too different. Besides, you remember
loving me. And you say you love me now. But," he held her with his eyes, his
dark orbs piercing into hers, "you know only half the story, or even less.
You can't say you love without knowing all, and-"
"Stop it," she shouted, suddenly angry. "Stop telling me what I feel. I
might have lost my memory, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I feel.
I'm in love with you, and I know it." Her chin came up stubbornly.
"You can't know it," he argued. "You can't even remember Riley. Maybe you're
still in love with him. You don't know that."
"We separated," she said as if it would explain everything.
"We did too."
"That's different. There was a reason why we couldn't be together. Riley was
human, so I doubt he would change into a demon as soon as we ... you know,"
she blushed slightly. What was the matter with this... this vampire? He was
the most stubborn man she'd ever met.
"We really should go now," he said and turned away, but a hand on his arm
held him back.
"Angel, why are you doing this?" her voice pleaded with him, "Just minutes
ago you said you loved me, and now... now you're behaving as if we're...
almost as if we're strangers. Don't do this, please."
"Don't you see, Buffy? There is no way, and even if there was, as long as
you're missing such an important part of your life," he shook his head, "You
can't make a decision as long as you don't know what you're deciding."
"I-"
"No," again he shook his head and pulled his arm from her grasp, "We need to
go now. They're waiting for us."
She watched him walk away, the grace of a dangerous animal in each of his
steps. He said her he loved her and she would hold on to that. And she would
show him that he couldn't just walk out of her life like this. She would
find a way. With this thought firmly in her mind, she headed after him.
... to be continued