Title: Beneath the Veil of Darkness
Chapter Title: Can't Be
Author: Baby Blues
E-mail: purely_blissful@hotmail.com
Rated: R
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, but the story is.
Summary: The LA Gang find out how and why Buffy is back. A round of guilt, disbelief, and utter sadness consumes Angel as well as the entire Bat Pack.
Dedication: To . . . Joss, 'cause he sucks ass. Angel and Cordelia? I can't take it. Seriously. I can't even watch that show anymore!
Excerpt:
~Wesley: Angel? . . . Did you hear what I said? Buffy denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here . . . to you . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wesley yawned tiredly as he cautiously made his way up the stairs of the Hyperion Hotel. It was early the next morning, and everything was quiet and still. Everyone had retired late last night going through piles and piles of books, reading prophecies and legends. Everyone was probably sleeping in today, but Wesley wanted to make an early start with the research.
He knocked softly on Angel's hotel room, knowing the en-souled vampire would be up by now. When he didn't hear a reply, he frowned and quietly opened the door, peering through the crack with curious and wide blue eyes.
The ex-Watcher smiled faintly when he saw the picture before him. Peacefully sleeping on the bed were two forms, holding each other so lovingly as though the entire world didn't exist except for the two of them.
With Buffy's small and petite body embraced tightly, but gently, within Angel's strong and protective arms, it looked as though they had never been apart. The look of contentment on their faces held a serene sense of comfort and wholeness. Just the way it was supposed to be.
This was what it was supposed to be. This was what the two warriors deserved more than anything else in the world . . . and that was each other.
But the sudden jolt of pain that crossed Buffy's face made Wesley frown.
Angel noticed it as well and was jerked into wakefulness at the swift change of emotions within the young woman he held in his arms. He gazed at Buffy's sleeping form intently as worry shadowed his face.
Her head shook as she began to struggle within Angel's embrace. Wesley opened the door wider as his eyes enlarged in shock. Buffy's lips began to tremble as tears began to slip from her closed eyes and down her soft cheeks.
"No . . . don't. Just let me go," she cried desperately, causing more alarm to both men who watched her.
Angel stared at Wesley with shock clearly written on his handsome face. "Get a glass of water. Hurry!" he demanded as he sat up and pushed a few strands of hair away from Buffy's face.
"Sweetheart," he whispered lightly, controlling his own emotions for the sake of the love of his life, "Wake up. Its only a dream."
"No!" she exclaimed, shaking her head more urgently as she tried to fight Angel off of her body. "Please! Don't! NOoooo!" she screamed, struggling with Angel's hold on her. "Good, God! Just let me go!" she begged, tears continuing to trek down her cheeks in unending streams.
Angel could only watch helplessly as he whispered comforting things to her. He didn't know what to think . . . what to believe. Something had happened to her wherever she was.
"NO!!" With that, she sat up in bed, her eyes wide, her blond hair in disarray, and her breathing heavy and labored as she stared wildly around the room, expecting danger to come jumping at her.
Angel quickly hugged her to him, embracing her frail and beaten body against his as she began to cry against the nape of his shoulder, her petite form shaking as she sobbed out her pain and sadness.
The vampire frowned, worry etching his face as he gently caressed her back and rocked her back and forth into comfort and quietness.
Wesley returned, holding a glass of water and a plate of toasts with an assortment of jam. "I thought she could be a bit hungry as well," he said sheepishly in a whisper. "I would've made something more grand but . . . I was short on time," he explained.
Angel only nodded and motioned towards the bedside table. The ex-Watcher tip-toed past the couple and placed it on the wood top before silently leaving the room to give the pair some 'alone' time. Which they obviously needed.
"Buffy, it's all right," Angel said softly in her ear, "I'm right here."
"A-A-Angel," she stuttered, "Oh, God . . . Angel."
He closed his eyes, tears gathering in them at the pitiful tone within the voice of his love. Something had broken her . . . Wherever she was before . . . before she appeared in the middle of the floor of the Hyperion Hotel, wherever that place was . . . it did something to her. And he was going to make sure he finds those who are guilty for what they had done to her both physically and emotionally, and make sure that they pay for the pain they had caused her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was hours later, by mid-afternoon, did Angel come bounding down the steps of the hotel and towards the offices, his face expressionless except for a hint of brooding in them.
Everyone of the Bat Pack looked up at him in question, all wanting to know the update on the progress with Buffy.
"She stable," he announced to everyone, who unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, "She's sleeping . . . and she ate a little," he said before throwing Wesley a gracious glance. "Did you guys find anything?"
Wesley stepped forward and nodded, his face a bit shocked and worried. "You won't like what you hear," he told the vampire softly, hesitantly.
Angel clenched his jaws in dismay and anger as he looked around at his friends who quickly looked away to stare at something else, not wanting to meet his eyes. Whatever they found, it wasn't good . . . and it surely wasn't going to make him happy either.
But he had already concluded that when he had a closer look at Buffy's body when he was giving her a nice warm bath. Every cut and every bruise looked as though she had been a fight . . . a fight for her life . . . or something else.
"Do you want to hear it?" Wesley asked, "Or do you just want to read it," he said, handing the book over to him.
Angel shook his head and walked over to one of the chairs. He sat down and gazed up at Wesley in silence, waiting for the older looking man to begin.
"Well . . . " he began, afraid of the upcoming reaction they would all soon witness when he began to explain what had possibly happened to the Slayer, "Buffy was in the aether . . . or heaven."
Angel frowned but still said nothing.
"It says here that it had never been possible for heaven bound souls to return to earth . . . "
"How about me? I was able to come back. Two times," Angel stated, his face still a mask of nothing.
"But you had a body to return to . . . still 'working' and still . . . well . . . presentable," Wesley explained with a small shrug, "But Buffy didn't. Hers was already rotting in her grave."
Angels hot him a dirty look, not wanting to hear Buffy's body being described in a carnal and disturbing way like that no matter how true it may be. He was close to snapping, and the ex-Watcher's clarification of his research wasn't giving him the answers he needed or truly wanted to hear.
Wesley gulped a took a few small steps away from the vampire.
"Then what are you saying?" the vampire asked, "That it's not possible for Buffy to have . . . come back?"
He shook his head in reply. "Oh . . . it definitely possible."
Angel's frown deepened.
"She denied the rules the aether proclaimed to return . . . "
"Which means?" Angel urged, getting sick and tired of Wesley's melodrama, his babbling, and his friends silence.
"She denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here," Wesley finally explained, "The wounds you see on her body . . . she fought off the-the Guardians that blocked the surroundings of the kingdom. They made sure that not one soul was able to leave."
Angel stared at him in shock.
"I have an inkling suspicion that she destroyed most of them," Wesley continue don, "Considering the fact that a lot of eerie things have been happening lately."
"Much more eerie things," Cordelia piped in for the first time since he came down the steps. She walked towards him and handed him a stack of papers. "A four year old from Florida has been having recollections about a man by the name of Billy Thompson Carter who died in Colorado in a skiing accident in Vail. The boy said that he was 38 when Billy died. The visions started last night. I checked it out," Cordelia said handing him another stack of papers, "Billy Thompson Carter died last year at the age of 38 in Vail from a skiing accident . . . There's more of those accounts."
"A few families all over the world has also reported that one of their family members who had died returned last night too," Gunn added his own two cents in, "A couple by the name of John and Nancy received a news that Nancy was pregnant . . . when she just lost a baby in a miscarriage two years before. The doctors said she wasn't able to become pregnant again after that. The kid's four months pregnant, the same amount of months old her baby had been before she lost it."
Wesley took the papers from the vampire and gave it to Cordelia to file. "We believe that since most of the Guardians have been destroyed, other souls were able to return . . . most of them succeeded . . . others didn't," Wesley explained. "There aren't any more news about such things happening since last night . . . so I think that the Guardians have been replaced once more."
The vampire still said nothing.
"Angel?" Wesley asked, beginning to worry, "Did you hear what I said? Buffy denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here . . . to you . . . "
He began shaking his head in denial. "No," he said, his voice hoarse from the news, "That's impossible. The soul . . . the soul . . . "
"Was basically tortured," Wesley finished for him.
"B-but Buffy," he stuttered, gazing up at the stairs with grief in his eyes. The things she must have gone through . . . and just because of him. She had surrendered her peace to return to an uncaring world . . . and to a man, no! A monster who couldn't possibly give her anything in return.
"The soul . . . HER soul was strong enough to defeat the Guardians . . . the SOLDIERS who made sure that no evil could slink its way within the aether, and she took them down!" Wesley told him.
Angel continued to shake his head . . . because if it wasn't true, then he wouldn't have to believe that Buffy suffered all that hurt to return to earth.
"Angel! Look at her!" Wesley shouted at the vampire in denial, "She's broken and beaten and . . . "
He couldn't listen to anymore. He got up from his chair and brushed past Wesley and the others to climb up the stairs.
He needed to be with Buffy, to hug her for her foolishness and kiss her for coming back to her. And that was when he stopped on his tracks as he gazed at the closed door of his room. Of course it mattered that Buffy defied heaven to be with him. But it has already been done and there was no way he was EVER going to return her there when she had just come back.
It was now or never.
No matter what had happened or no matter how she got here, it no longer mattered. They could only make up for it. She had returned to him . . . and they were given a second chance. And this time, he was going to take full advantage of that.
Continued . . .
(Check out my site for further updates!)
Chapter Title: Can't Be
Author: Baby Blues
E-mail: purely_blissful@hotmail.com
Rated: R
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, but the story is.
Summary: The LA Gang find out how and why Buffy is back. A round of guilt, disbelief, and utter sadness consumes Angel as well as the entire Bat Pack.
Dedication: To . . . Joss, 'cause he sucks ass. Angel and Cordelia? I can't take it. Seriously. I can't even watch that show anymore!
Excerpt:
~Wesley: Angel? . . . Did you hear what I said? Buffy denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here . . . to you . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wesley yawned tiredly as he cautiously made his way up the stairs of the Hyperion Hotel. It was early the next morning, and everything was quiet and still. Everyone had retired late last night going through piles and piles of books, reading prophecies and legends. Everyone was probably sleeping in today, but Wesley wanted to make an early start with the research.
He knocked softly on Angel's hotel room, knowing the en-souled vampire would be up by now. When he didn't hear a reply, he frowned and quietly opened the door, peering through the crack with curious and wide blue eyes.
The ex-Watcher smiled faintly when he saw the picture before him. Peacefully sleeping on the bed were two forms, holding each other so lovingly as though the entire world didn't exist except for the two of them.
With Buffy's small and petite body embraced tightly, but gently, within Angel's strong and protective arms, it looked as though they had never been apart. The look of contentment on their faces held a serene sense of comfort and wholeness. Just the way it was supposed to be.
This was what it was supposed to be. This was what the two warriors deserved more than anything else in the world . . . and that was each other.
But the sudden jolt of pain that crossed Buffy's face made Wesley frown.
Angel noticed it as well and was jerked into wakefulness at the swift change of emotions within the young woman he held in his arms. He gazed at Buffy's sleeping form intently as worry shadowed his face.
Her head shook as she began to struggle within Angel's embrace. Wesley opened the door wider as his eyes enlarged in shock. Buffy's lips began to tremble as tears began to slip from her closed eyes and down her soft cheeks.
"No . . . don't. Just let me go," she cried desperately, causing more alarm to both men who watched her.
Angel stared at Wesley with shock clearly written on his handsome face. "Get a glass of water. Hurry!" he demanded as he sat up and pushed a few strands of hair away from Buffy's face.
"Sweetheart," he whispered lightly, controlling his own emotions for the sake of the love of his life, "Wake up. Its only a dream."
"No!" she exclaimed, shaking her head more urgently as she tried to fight Angel off of her body. "Please! Don't! NOoooo!" she screamed, struggling with Angel's hold on her. "Good, God! Just let me go!" she begged, tears continuing to trek down her cheeks in unending streams.
Angel could only watch helplessly as he whispered comforting things to her. He didn't know what to think . . . what to believe. Something had happened to her wherever she was.
"NO!!" With that, she sat up in bed, her eyes wide, her blond hair in disarray, and her breathing heavy and labored as she stared wildly around the room, expecting danger to come jumping at her.
Angel quickly hugged her to him, embracing her frail and beaten body against his as she began to cry against the nape of his shoulder, her petite form shaking as she sobbed out her pain and sadness.
The vampire frowned, worry etching his face as he gently caressed her back and rocked her back and forth into comfort and quietness.
Wesley returned, holding a glass of water and a plate of toasts with an assortment of jam. "I thought she could be a bit hungry as well," he said sheepishly in a whisper. "I would've made something more grand but . . . I was short on time," he explained.
Angel only nodded and motioned towards the bedside table. The ex-Watcher tip-toed past the couple and placed it on the wood top before silently leaving the room to give the pair some 'alone' time. Which they obviously needed.
"Buffy, it's all right," Angel said softly in her ear, "I'm right here."
"A-A-Angel," she stuttered, "Oh, God . . . Angel."
He closed his eyes, tears gathering in them at the pitiful tone within the voice of his love. Something had broken her . . . Wherever she was before . . . before she appeared in the middle of the floor of the Hyperion Hotel, wherever that place was . . . it did something to her. And he was going to make sure he finds those who are guilty for what they had done to her both physically and emotionally, and make sure that they pay for the pain they had caused her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was hours later, by mid-afternoon, did Angel come bounding down the steps of the hotel and towards the offices, his face expressionless except for a hint of brooding in them.
Everyone of the Bat Pack looked up at him in question, all wanting to know the update on the progress with Buffy.
"She stable," he announced to everyone, who unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, "She's sleeping . . . and she ate a little," he said before throwing Wesley a gracious glance. "Did you guys find anything?"
Wesley stepped forward and nodded, his face a bit shocked and worried. "You won't like what you hear," he told the vampire softly, hesitantly.
Angel clenched his jaws in dismay and anger as he looked around at his friends who quickly looked away to stare at something else, not wanting to meet his eyes. Whatever they found, it wasn't good . . . and it surely wasn't going to make him happy either.
But he had already concluded that when he had a closer look at Buffy's body when he was giving her a nice warm bath. Every cut and every bruise looked as though she had been a fight . . . a fight for her life . . . or something else.
"Do you want to hear it?" Wesley asked, "Or do you just want to read it," he said, handing the book over to him.
Angel shook his head and walked over to one of the chairs. He sat down and gazed up at Wesley in silence, waiting for the older looking man to begin.
"Well . . . " he began, afraid of the upcoming reaction they would all soon witness when he began to explain what had possibly happened to the Slayer, "Buffy was in the aether . . . or heaven."
Angel frowned but still said nothing.
"It says here that it had never been possible for heaven bound souls to return to earth . . . "
"How about me? I was able to come back. Two times," Angel stated, his face still a mask of nothing.
"But you had a body to return to . . . still 'working' and still . . . well . . . presentable," Wesley explained with a small shrug, "But Buffy didn't. Hers was already rotting in her grave."
Angels hot him a dirty look, not wanting to hear Buffy's body being described in a carnal and disturbing way like that no matter how true it may be. He was close to snapping, and the ex-Watcher's clarification of his research wasn't giving him the answers he needed or truly wanted to hear.
Wesley gulped a took a few small steps away from the vampire.
"Then what are you saying?" the vampire asked, "That it's not possible for Buffy to have . . . come back?"
He shook his head in reply. "Oh . . . it definitely possible."
Angel's frown deepened.
"She denied the rules the aether proclaimed to return . . . "
"Which means?" Angel urged, getting sick and tired of Wesley's melodrama, his babbling, and his friends silence.
"She denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here," Wesley finally explained, "The wounds you see on her body . . . she fought off the-the Guardians that blocked the surroundings of the kingdom. They made sure that not one soul was able to leave."
Angel stared at him in shock.
"I have an inkling suspicion that she destroyed most of them," Wesley continue don, "Considering the fact that a lot of eerie things have been happening lately."
"Much more eerie things," Cordelia piped in for the first time since he came down the steps. She walked towards him and handed him a stack of papers. "A four year old from Florida has been having recollections about a man by the name of Billy Thompson Carter who died in Colorado in a skiing accident in Vail. The boy said that he was 38 when Billy died. The visions started last night. I checked it out," Cordelia said handing him another stack of papers, "Billy Thompson Carter died last year at the age of 38 in Vail from a skiing accident . . . There's more of those accounts."
"A few families all over the world has also reported that one of their family members who had died returned last night too," Gunn added his own two cents in, "A couple by the name of John and Nancy received a news that Nancy was pregnant . . . when she just lost a baby in a miscarriage two years before. The doctors said she wasn't able to become pregnant again after that. The kid's four months pregnant, the same amount of months old her baby had been before she lost it."
Wesley took the papers from the vampire and gave it to Cordelia to file. "We believe that since most of the Guardians have been destroyed, other souls were able to return . . . most of them succeeded . . . others didn't," Wesley explained. "There aren't any more news about such things happening since last night . . . so I think that the Guardians have been replaced once more."
The vampire still said nothing.
"Angel?" Wesley asked, beginning to worry, "Did you hear what I said? Buffy denied the will of heaven and battled them to return here . . . to you . . . "
He began shaking his head in denial. "No," he said, his voice hoarse from the news, "That's impossible. The soul . . . the soul . . . "
"Was basically tortured," Wesley finished for him.
"B-but Buffy," he stuttered, gazing up at the stairs with grief in his eyes. The things she must have gone through . . . and just because of him. She had surrendered her peace to return to an uncaring world . . . and to a man, no! A monster who couldn't possibly give her anything in return.
"The soul . . . HER soul was strong enough to defeat the Guardians . . . the SOLDIERS who made sure that no evil could slink its way within the aether, and she took them down!" Wesley told him.
Angel continued to shake his head . . . because if it wasn't true, then he wouldn't have to believe that Buffy suffered all that hurt to return to earth.
"Angel! Look at her!" Wesley shouted at the vampire in denial, "She's broken and beaten and . . . "
He couldn't listen to anymore. He got up from his chair and brushed past Wesley and the others to climb up the stairs.
He needed to be with Buffy, to hug her for her foolishness and kiss her for coming back to her. And that was when he stopped on his tracks as he gazed at the closed door of his room. Of course it mattered that Buffy defied heaven to be with him. But it has already been done and there was no way he was EVER going to return her there when she had just come back.
It was now or never.
No matter what had happened or no matter how she got here, it no longer mattered. They could only make up for it. She had returned to him . . . and they were given a second chance. And this time, he was going to take full advantage of that.
Continued . . .
(Check out my site for further updates!)