The Night Remembers - Part 29
Kate felt her lids drop heavily when the afternoon arrived. Not even the
horrible pictures in the book in her lap, the upcoming danger or the
uncounted cups of coffee she'd consumed since she'd arrived in Sunnydale
could prevent that. She couldn't remember ever having been so tired before.
The room around her had fallen quiet as well. Gunn's ever bouncing friends
had left for a stroll around the town and given the size of Sunnydale would
be probably back soon. Cordelia had fallen asleep over her laptop, Gunn was
dozing in a corner and Wesley was constantly rubbing his eyes, trying to
keep himself from falling asleep.
The redhead, whose name was Willow and the other girl, her lover, were
sleeping in each others arms on the large leather sofa while the young man
they called Xander had left an hour ago and promised to be back in the
evening. The young girl, Dawn, was sleeping in a large seat, her form curled up,
her hands like a pillow beneath her head.
Giles, older than Wesley, hadn't been able to fight nature. His
head was rolled back, his glasses dangling askew from his nose, and a slight
snoring sound left his mouth with every inhaled breath.
Only Faith and Spike seemed to be under the influence of overflowing energy.
They'd slept a little in the morning, but were now somewhere in the building
sparring again. But then, Faith had been confined to jail for a long time
and Spike was a vampire. Kate read a lot about vampires but she'd never come
across information how much sleep they required.
She felt uneasy in the presence of Angel's grand-childe. Not that Spike
could hurt her. Giles had assured her that the chip worked perfectly, but
the police officer had a hard time accepting Angel, even with his soul, a
real human asset. Spike on the other hand was still an evil creature, only a
tiny bit of metal preventing him from killing humans. Although so far he
hadn't bothered her at all. And even if it was clearly visible that Angel
was not fond of the bleached blond vampire, he seemed to tolerate him, even
trust him up to a certain extent. And Kate had learned to trust Angel.
Thinking about him her eyelashes fluttered open. He and the little blond
slayer hadn't returned from behind the curtain so far. It had been quiet
there, only one or two moans had penetrated the velvety material. The people
in the hall had exchanged one or two amused glances at that, but nobody
commented on it and that, more than anything else, told Kate that they all
approved of the uncommon relationship. Because it was only too clear what
vampire and slayer had been doing in the bedroom.
Kate smiled when she saw Giles stir, blink and then fish for his glasses
that were about to fall. When his eyes met hers he smiled back. "It seems I
fell asleep." He stifled a yawn, and then rolled his head over his
shoulders.
"You deserve it," the blond officer whispered, not wanting to weak the ones
who'd been blessed with sleep. "You've been doing this longer than I have
and I can't remember having ever been so tired before."
He laughed slightly, a nice sound, Kate decided, "I severely doubt that," he
said. "You work with the police. I suppose long working hours, even working
all through nights are familiar to you."
She made a dismissive gesture, "Oh that. Yeah, we do one on occasion. But
this is so all consuming."
"Frightening," Giles amended for her. "To think it could be the end of the
world. I know I sound oddly rational about it, but then, I've faced these
situations before."
"And to think that all those people around us are so oblivious. They have no
idea what's really going on. I was one of them, until I met Angel. And even
then I didn't see what he was until..." she sighed, and shook his head.
"Waking up wasn't that nice."
"Angel told me that vampires killed your father. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," her smile was tight. "I almost lost it over that. I couldn't deal
with all the new, frightening information."
"Nobody could blame you," his smile was genuine. "How do you think I felt
when my father took me aside and told me about the darker side of life. I
was only ten." He saw her gasp and smiled again. "He was a watcher like I
am. My whole family was devoted to the cause. It was only logical for me to
become a watcher as well. Of course I had dream of becoming something else,
but somehow I couldn't."
"Yeah," she nodded understandingly. "My father was a police officer too. I
happened automatically with me."
They shared a moment of common silence, before Giles spoke again, "You and
Angel seem... close."
"Really?" she laughed shortly, almost disbelievingly, "Well, it's nice to
hear. But the truth is, we went a long way to get where we are now.
Friends," she explained. "And it's mostly his doing. He's amazingly
stubborn."
Giles smiled, thinking about a certain blond slayer, the many things she
shared with the dark-haired vampire, "I know what you mean," he said.
"Do you?" she raised a eyebrow, then sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you do. But
he's the best friend I ever had," another unhappy laugh, "or the only one,
thinking about it. I never had them really. Friends, I mean. I had a partner
for a while. Then buddies at the office. But they're all men and sometimes
incredibly rude." When she saw him look quizzically, she explained, "I'm
female and a blond. Being the center of all dumb and rude jokes is only
logical."
"Oh," he made, a little bit startled. This sort of behavior was completely
unfamiliar to Giles and again he realized how far away from the real world
he lived. "What about your private life?"
"Private life?" she echoed. "Police work and having a private life don't
really mix. If you don't come to your dates or have cancel them all the
time..." she shook her head and laughed again.
"Yeah," Giles nodded, his eyes shortly darting to the curtain. Maybe Buffy
wasn't as alone in her way of living than she thought.
"I suppose," Kate, said, tilting her head, "it must be the same for you.
Even more so as you can't go running around and telling people about what
you do."
"You have no idea," he agreed, smiling at Wesley who had put down his book
and was listening with interest. "Wouldn't you say, Wesley?"
"Oh sorry... yes, absolutely. Being a watcher is almost as lonely as being a
slayer," the younger man said with a nod. Then he added, "Or an ensouled
vampire. I think Angel tops all of us." He glanced towards the curtain and
amended, "Or did."
"Is Riley..." Kate began then cleared her throat, "I really don't want to
seem nosey, but quite frankly I am. What kind of person is he? He seems to
know most of the people here, but he seems..." she shrugged, searching for
the right word, and finally decided on, "non-fitting."
"He was Buffy's boyfriend for over a year," came Willow's sleepy voice from
the sofa. She blinked against the brightness of the light. "And for a while
he did belong to the group. But things happened," she said, a bit hesitant to
enfold the whole story, "Riley worked for this government organization,
called the Initiative."
"Doesn't he work for them now?" Kate asked, feeling a bit confused.
"Yes, he does," the redhead confirmed. "But when he first came here, his
boss, one of our professors, went nuts and used her knowledge to create some
sort of monster. She tried to kill Buffy. When Riley resisted he had to
leave and hide for a while. After things cooled down he just became a normal
student. But when he lost his strength..." she sighed, "things fell apart."
"His strength?" Kate was even more confused.
"Uh-huh," Willow said, "he was surgically altered and given drugs and stuff.
So he'd be stronger and fight better. But it caused severe medical problems.
They had to do surgery on him and afterwards he was just a normal Joe. He
had problems to deal with it."
The blond police officer raised a brow, "And that was the reason he and
Buffy split up?"
"It was a point, but not the reason," the witch admitted, "Riley realized
that she didn't love him. Not the way he wanted it. She couldn't get over
Angel," she added with a shrug.
A smile played around Kate's lips, "No kidding," she said. When she saw the
others look at her quizzically, she grinned, "Well, if given the choice
which one would you take?"
They all laughed. Still chuckling, Wesley said, "Really Kate. I thought you
and Angel are just friends."
"Oh, we are. But that doesn't mean I've closed my eyes. I mean, Riley isn't
bad," she looked at Willow now, with a very feminine expression, "Not bad at
all, actually, but Angel is... well, Angel."
"Definitely," Willow agreed.
Giles couldn't help but shake his head at this, "Leave it to women to be
only interested in men's bodies."
"Oh come on, Giles," came Cordelia's voice from behind them. She walked over
to the table and got herself another cup of coffee, then found a spot beside
Wesley. "You might be old," she began and seeing him casting her a nasty
look, she grinned, "well, you are older than I, but that doesn't mean you
stopped looking." She leaned back on the sofa and eyed him speculatively,
while she brought the cup to her lips, "Because I could swear you were quite
interested in Kate's assets when you first saw her yesterday."
****
"This really is fun," Faith panted, wiping the sweat from her brows. She was
grinning widely at Spike and reached for the water bottle, while the
vampire's gaze swept over her. "What?" she asked. "Do I have warts or
something?"
He slowly shook his head, "You like being in charge, don't you?"
"Oh yeah," she confirmed. "This is like a vacation for me. It's getting
mighty annoying always listening to orders in jail. It's no fun."
"Some vacation," he snorted. "You'll be glad to survive the night." And he
would be too, he realized. To many vampires already knew he was helping the
slayer and her friends. They wouldn't be too pleased to see him. If he was
lucky they would just kill him. If not...
"This isn't the first danger I'm coming across," she said after taking a
long gulp from the bottle, "lethal danger is part of the slayer job
description. I knew what I was getting into when I took the offer."
"Oh?" he raised a brow. "Took the offer, huh? As far as I know there isn't
actually a choice in this."
She shrugged, "No, not really. But for my part I was glad to be the one
doing the pummeling for a change. I was on the receiving end for too long."
"Yeah," he replied, nodding slowly. He knew what she meant. He was a real
loser while he was human. Full of dreams and hopes, but still a loser. Not
that this had really changed, he thought reminding himself of his chip. He
and Faith had been sparring for about an hour or rather Faith had sparred.
He'd just stood and defending her punches and blows. Yeah, definitely still
a loser.
Suddenly she tilted her head and gave him a glance, her eyes narrowed, "Why
did you kiss me last night?," she asked. She felt something stir inside of
her, something that had been buried for over a year, something she usually
didn't neglect for so long. She was the slayer, yes, but she was a woman
too.
"Because I wanted to," he answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"I see," she nodded, "Do you usually do this? Kiss strange women in
graveyards?"
Instantly a cocky grin appeared on his face, "Actually..." he started,
wiggling his brows. "Not really, no," he amended quickly seeing her frown.
"But you looked damn kissable to me."
"Did I now?" slowly she stepped closer to him. Surprised Spike backed away
to the wall until he couldn't go any further. "Afraid all of a sudden?" she
asked, licking her lips.
"Uh.." he was very aware of the fact that she was close now. Very close
actually.
"Ever thought about slayer stamina?"
Spike felt as if something had slammed into his gut, his male flesh reacting
instantly. She was disheveled, sweaty and thoroughly messy, but she was
attractive as hell, her body language was more than obvious. And it had been
damned long since he'd had a woman. The stupid bimbo called Harmony didn't
count. So his responding smile was all male, "I always wanted to know."
****
Angel woke slowly from his deep sleep. Shifting he felt a beloved weight on
his shoulder and smiling he bent down to kiss Buffy's forehead seeing her
blinking. "Hi," he said.
"Hi," she smiled back, snuggling into his chest, still hardly awake. "I like
seeing you first thing in the morning."
"It's afternoon," he replied with a grin. "But you said it before, do you
remember?"
"What? That I like to see you first thing in the morning?" she cocked her
head, "No, actually I don't. Remember, I mean. But I definitely like seeing
you."
"Well that's good. I like seeing you too."
Their lips met in a sweet kiss. "I slept well." There was surprise in her
voice. "Must be the company. Nothing like a vampire in bed. No snoring, no
disturbing noises. I hardly even noticed you're here, but on the other hand
I do." She frowned and looked at him, "Did that make any sense?"
"It did for me," he kissed the tip of her nose. "We need to get up, sweet."
"Do we have to?" she whined. "I'm so comfortable like this." She tightened
her arm that lay loosely around his waist. "Maybe we could just stay here
all day and pretend there isn't some evil vampire who likes to free all the
nasty masters down there."
He sighed, the light mood instantly forgotten. It was part of their fate.
They would never really have peace. Angel felt anger rising in him. He could
deal with this, he was a vampire, he deserved a hard life for all the things
that had happened in his past, but Buffy had done nothing. It just wasn't
fair. But then, the PTB weren't known for being fair.
"I'd give anything to make your wish come true," he said, stroking her hair,
"but unfortunately I can't."
"Yeah," she sighed too, "I know. Maybe this will be the last time we're
together in private before all hell breaks loose." She grimaced, "No pun
intended," she said. Another sigh escaped her mouth, "I want you to promise
that you'll do all you can to survive this. Promise."
Her gaze resting on him was intense. There was fear in her eyes, but
determination too. And the will to make her dreams come true. God, she was
beautiful and he wasn't sure if he'd ever loved her like this before. "I
promise," he said honestly. "But you need to promise too. Without you..."
his voice cracked and he had to blink. "Just promise."
"I do." She sat up in the bed and reached for him, holding his face between
her palms. "I love you, Angel. And I want more of this. Us."
"Me too," he replied, holding her face the same way. "We need to believe.
You taught me to believe in possibilities, did you know that?"
"No," she shook her head. "But I'm glad. I love you."
"I love you, too."
The kiss they shared was hard and urgent, full of promises and hopes and
filled with the will to overcome whatever was thrown their way. Together you
are strong. The words of the Morah rang in Angel's mind while he held her in
his arms. Yes, they were strong. And they would fight. And they would
survive.
Or die trying.
... to be continued
Kate felt her lids drop heavily when the afternoon arrived. Not even the
horrible pictures in the book in her lap, the upcoming danger or the
uncounted cups of coffee she'd consumed since she'd arrived in Sunnydale
could prevent that. She couldn't remember ever having been so tired before.
The room around her had fallen quiet as well. Gunn's ever bouncing friends
had left for a stroll around the town and given the size of Sunnydale would
be probably back soon. Cordelia had fallen asleep over her laptop, Gunn was
dozing in a corner and Wesley was constantly rubbing his eyes, trying to
keep himself from falling asleep.
The redhead, whose name was Willow and the other girl, her lover, were
sleeping in each others arms on the large leather sofa while the young man
they called Xander had left an hour ago and promised to be back in the
evening. The young girl, Dawn, was sleeping in a large seat, her form curled up,
her hands like a pillow beneath her head.
Giles, older than Wesley, hadn't been able to fight nature. His
head was rolled back, his glasses dangling askew from his nose, and a slight
snoring sound left his mouth with every inhaled breath.
Only Faith and Spike seemed to be under the influence of overflowing energy.
They'd slept a little in the morning, but were now somewhere in the building
sparring again. But then, Faith had been confined to jail for a long time
and Spike was a vampire. Kate read a lot about vampires but she'd never come
across information how much sleep they required.
She felt uneasy in the presence of Angel's grand-childe. Not that Spike
could hurt her. Giles had assured her that the chip worked perfectly, but
the police officer had a hard time accepting Angel, even with his soul, a
real human asset. Spike on the other hand was still an evil creature, only a
tiny bit of metal preventing him from killing humans. Although so far he
hadn't bothered her at all. And even if it was clearly visible that Angel
was not fond of the bleached blond vampire, he seemed to tolerate him, even
trust him up to a certain extent. And Kate had learned to trust Angel.
Thinking about him her eyelashes fluttered open. He and the little blond
slayer hadn't returned from behind the curtain so far. It had been quiet
there, only one or two moans had penetrated the velvety material. The people
in the hall had exchanged one or two amused glances at that, but nobody
commented on it and that, more than anything else, told Kate that they all
approved of the uncommon relationship. Because it was only too clear what
vampire and slayer had been doing in the bedroom.
Kate smiled when she saw Giles stir, blink and then fish for his glasses
that were about to fall. When his eyes met hers he smiled back. "It seems I
fell asleep." He stifled a yawn, and then rolled his head over his
shoulders.
"You deserve it," the blond officer whispered, not wanting to weak the ones
who'd been blessed with sleep. "You've been doing this longer than I have
and I can't remember having ever been so tired before."
He laughed slightly, a nice sound, Kate decided, "I severely doubt that," he
said. "You work with the police. I suppose long working hours, even working
all through nights are familiar to you."
She made a dismissive gesture, "Oh that. Yeah, we do one on occasion. But
this is so all consuming."
"Frightening," Giles amended for her. "To think it could be the end of the
world. I know I sound oddly rational about it, but then, I've faced these
situations before."
"And to think that all those people around us are so oblivious. They have no
idea what's really going on. I was one of them, until I met Angel. And even
then I didn't see what he was until..." she sighed, and shook his head.
"Waking up wasn't that nice."
"Angel told me that vampires killed your father. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," her smile was tight. "I almost lost it over that. I couldn't deal
with all the new, frightening information."
"Nobody could blame you," his smile was genuine. "How do you think I felt
when my father took me aside and told me about the darker side of life. I
was only ten." He saw her gasp and smiled again. "He was a watcher like I
am. My whole family was devoted to the cause. It was only logical for me to
become a watcher as well. Of course I had dream of becoming something else,
but somehow I couldn't."
"Yeah," she nodded understandingly. "My father was a police officer too. I
happened automatically with me."
They shared a moment of common silence, before Giles spoke again, "You and
Angel seem... close."
"Really?" she laughed shortly, almost disbelievingly, "Well, it's nice to
hear. But the truth is, we went a long way to get where we are now.
Friends," she explained. "And it's mostly his doing. He's amazingly
stubborn."
Giles smiled, thinking about a certain blond slayer, the many things she
shared with the dark-haired vampire, "I know what you mean," he said.
"Do you?" she raised a eyebrow, then sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you do. But
he's the best friend I ever had," another unhappy laugh, "or the only one,
thinking about it. I never had them really. Friends, I mean. I had a partner
for a while. Then buddies at the office. But they're all men and sometimes
incredibly rude." When she saw him look quizzically, she explained, "I'm
female and a blond. Being the center of all dumb and rude jokes is only
logical."
"Oh," he made, a little bit startled. This sort of behavior was completely
unfamiliar to Giles and again he realized how far away from the real world
he lived. "What about your private life?"
"Private life?" she echoed. "Police work and having a private life don't
really mix. If you don't come to your dates or have cancel them all the
time..." she shook her head and laughed again.
"Yeah," Giles nodded, his eyes shortly darting to the curtain. Maybe Buffy
wasn't as alone in her way of living than she thought.
"I suppose," Kate, said, tilting her head, "it must be the same for you.
Even more so as you can't go running around and telling people about what
you do."
"You have no idea," he agreed, smiling at Wesley who had put down his book
and was listening with interest. "Wouldn't you say, Wesley?"
"Oh sorry... yes, absolutely. Being a watcher is almost as lonely as being a
slayer," the younger man said with a nod. Then he added, "Or an ensouled
vampire. I think Angel tops all of us." He glanced towards the curtain and
amended, "Or did."
"Is Riley..." Kate began then cleared her throat, "I really don't want to
seem nosey, but quite frankly I am. What kind of person is he? He seems to
know most of the people here, but he seems..." she shrugged, searching for
the right word, and finally decided on, "non-fitting."
"He was Buffy's boyfriend for over a year," came Willow's sleepy voice from
the sofa. She blinked against the brightness of the light. "And for a while
he did belong to the group. But things happened," she said, a bit hesitant to
enfold the whole story, "Riley worked for this government organization,
called the Initiative."
"Doesn't he work for them now?" Kate asked, feeling a bit confused.
"Yes, he does," the redhead confirmed. "But when he first came here, his
boss, one of our professors, went nuts and used her knowledge to create some
sort of monster. She tried to kill Buffy. When Riley resisted he had to
leave and hide for a while. After things cooled down he just became a normal
student. But when he lost his strength..." she sighed, "things fell apart."
"His strength?" Kate was even more confused.
"Uh-huh," Willow said, "he was surgically altered and given drugs and stuff.
So he'd be stronger and fight better. But it caused severe medical problems.
They had to do surgery on him and afterwards he was just a normal Joe. He
had problems to deal with it."
The blond police officer raised a brow, "And that was the reason he and
Buffy split up?"
"It was a point, but not the reason," the witch admitted, "Riley realized
that she didn't love him. Not the way he wanted it. She couldn't get over
Angel," she added with a shrug.
A smile played around Kate's lips, "No kidding," she said. When she saw the
others look at her quizzically, she grinned, "Well, if given the choice
which one would you take?"
They all laughed. Still chuckling, Wesley said, "Really Kate. I thought you
and Angel are just friends."
"Oh, we are. But that doesn't mean I've closed my eyes. I mean, Riley isn't
bad," she looked at Willow now, with a very feminine expression, "Not bad at
all, actually, but Angel is... well, Angel."
"Definitely," Willow agreed.
Giles couldn't help but shake his head at this, "Leave it to women to be
only interested in men's bodies."
"Oh come on, Giles," came Cordelia's voice from behind them. She walked over
to the table and got herself another cup of coffee, then found a spot beside
Wesley. "You might be old," she began and seeing him casting her a nasty
look, she grinned, "well, you are older than I, but that doesn't mean you
stopped looking." She leaned back on the sofa and eyed him speculatively,
while she brought the cup to her lips, "Because I could swear you were quite
interested in Kate's assets when you first saw her yesterday."
****
"This really is fun," Faith panted, wiping the sweat from her brows. She was
grinning widely at Spike and reached for the water bottle, while the
vampire's gaze swept over her. "What?" she asked. "Do I have warts or
something?"
He slowly shook his head, "You like being in charge, don't you?"
"Oh yeah," she confirmed. "This is like a vacation for me. It's getting
mighty annoying always listening to orders in jail. It's no fun."
"Some vacation," he snorted. "You'll be glad to survive the night." And he
would be too, he realized. To many vampires already knew he was helping the
slayer and her friends. They wouldn't be too pleased to see him. If he was
lucky they would just kill him. If not...
"This isn't the first danger I'm coming across," she said after taking a
long gulp from the bottle, "lethal danger is part of the slayer job
description. I knew what I was getting into when I took the offer."
"Oh?" he raised a brow. "Took the offer, huh? As far as I know there isn't
actually a choice in this."
She shrugged, "No, not really. But for my part I was glad to be the one
doing the pummeling for a change. I was on the receiving end for too long."
"Yeah," he replied, nodding slowly. He knew what she meant. He was a real
loser while he was human. Full of dreams and hopes, but still a loser. Not
that this had really changed, he thought reminding himself of his chip. He
and Faith had been sparring for about an hour or rather Faith had sparred.
He'd just stood and defending her punches and blows. Yeah, definitely still
a loser.
Suddenly she tilted her head and gave him a glance, her eyes narrowed, "Why
did you kiss me last night?," she asked. She felt something stir inside of
her, something that had been buried for over a year, something she usually
didn't neglect for so long. She was the slayer, yes, but she was a woman
too.
"Because I wanted to," he answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"I see," she nodded, "Do you usually do this? Kiss strange women in
graveyards?"
Instantly a cocky grin appeared on his face, "Actually..." he started,
wiggling his brows. "Not really, no," he amended quickly seeing her frown.
"But you looked damn kissable to me."
"Did I now?" slowly she stepped closer to him. Surprised Spike backed away
to the wall until he couldn't go any further. "Afraid all of a sudden?" she
asked, licking her lips.
"Uh.." he was very aware of the fact that she was close now. Very close
actually.
"Ever thought about slayer stamina?"
Spike felt as if something had slammed into his gut, his male flesh reacting
instantly. She was disheveled, sweaty and thoroughly messy, but she was
attractive as hell, her body language was more than obvious. And it had been
damned long since he'd had a woman. The stupid bimbo called Harmony didn't
count. So his responding smile was all male, "I always wanted to know."
****
Angel woke slowly from his deep sleep. Shifting he felt a beloved weight on
his shoulder and smiling he bent down to kiss Buffy's forehead seeing her
blinking. "Hi," he said.
"Hi," she smiled back, snuggling into his chest, still hardly awake. "I like
seeing you first thing in the morning."
"It's afternoon," he replied with a grin. "But you said it before, do you
remember?"
"What? That I like to see you first thing in the morning?" she cocked her
head, "No, actually I don't. Remember, I mean. But I definitely like seeing
you."
"Well that's good. I like seeing you too."
Their lips met in a sweet kiss. "I slept well." There was surprise in her
voice. "Must be the company. Nothing like a vampire in bed. No snoring, no
disturbing noises. I hardly even noticed you're here, but on the other hand
I do." She frowned and looked at him, "Did that make any sense?"
"It did for me," he kissed the tip of her nose. "We need to get up, sweet."
"Do we have to?" she whined. "I'm so comfortable like this." She tightened
her arm that lay loosely around his waist. "Maybe we could just stay here
all day and pretend there isn't some evil vampire who likes to free all the
nasty masters down there."
He sighed, the light mood instantly forgotten. It was part of their fate.
They would never really have peace. Angel felt anger rising in him. He could
deal with this, he was a vampire, he deserved a hard life for all the things
that had happened in his past, but Buffy had done nothing. It just wasn't
fair. But then, the PTB weren't known for being fair.
"I'd give anything to make your wish come true," he said, stroking her hair,
"but unfortunately I can't."
"Yeah," she sighed too, "I know. Maybe this will be the last time we're
together in private before all hell breaks loose." She grimaced, "No pun
intended," she said. Another sigh escaped her mouth, "I want you to promise
that you'll do all you can to survive this. Promise."
Her gaze resting on him was intense. There was fear in her eyes, but
determination too. And the will to make her dreams come true. God, she was
beautiful and he wasn't sure if he'd ever loved her like this before. "I
promise," he said honestly. "But you need to promise too. Without you..."
his voice cracked and he had to blink. "Just promise."
"I do." She sat up in the bed and reached for him, holding his face between
her palms. "I love you, Angel. And I want more of this. Us."
"Me too," he replied, holding her face the same way. "We need to believe.
You taught me to believe in possibilities, did you know that?"
"No," she shook her head. "But I'm glad. I love you."
"I love you, too."
The kiss they shared was hard and urgent, full of promises and hopes and
filled with the will to overcome whatever was thrown their way. Together you
are strong. The words of the Morah rang in Angel's mind while he held her in
his arms. Yes, they were strong. And they would fight. And they would
survive.
Or die trying.
... to be continued