AN: Hey pplz, I've been getting some feedback about this so I wanted to
clear some stuff up. Okay, first of all, it's not AU exactly. It just takes
place in the future, but the timeline stops not even halfway through the
fourth season of Buffy and the first of Angel, so that's why Gunn and Fred
and Lorne have not been in it. Also, it takes place in Sunnydale so far.
Cordelia and Wesley (or Doyle, I haven't decided yet) will be in it at some
point, but that hasn't been yet. Second this isn't anywhere near the end!
I'm just getting started baby! But thanks for all the feedback and I'm glad
you like it! Without further ado here's the fluffiest section yet. Don't
worry angst fans, troubles coming soon!!!
~Lissa
The Love of an Angel Chapter Three By Skitty
She wasn't sure why she'd kissed him, but she didn't really care all that much. He tasted good human, different, but still good. His lips and tongue were so much warmer, and still so cool, and the arms encircling her waist were a similar temperature. She wrapped her hands around his neck, tangling her hands in his hair. He pulled away to breath, and she was in awe that it had been him who'd needed to breathe this time.
"Fast," he breathed out. She nodded. "Too fast."
"And also? Not slow enough," she added, her breath a little shaky as well. Then he kissed her, sweeping her up and carrying her into the living room, settling onto the sofa, with her in his lap.
"We should go."
"Slowly, right," she agreed again. "Things are. different now. I have Emma and you have."
"Sometimes I think of Cordelia as a daughter," he smirked. She laughed lightly whacking his arm. "But seriously, you have a great relationship with her and I don't want to screw that up for you. She already had to deal with Riley coming and going and."
"And it would be bad to jump," she nodded. "Because even if she weren't. we still have history issues that would be bad to just ignore. So jumping is bad."
Angel only nodded, unsure of what to say, until she tilted her head to his. "I just. um, kiss me?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow smiled playfully at her friend. Buffy was sitting to her left in their psych seminar a few days after Giles was released from the hospital. It was Thursday, which meant that Angel had come to spend the second half of his week in Sunnydale only the night before. The glow in her friend's skin and gleaming smile in her eyes told Willow that Buffy had thoroughly enjoyed his return. While the professor droned on she scrawled out a note to Buffy.
'Hey Buff, have fun last night?'
Buffy rose an eyebrow at her friend, and her blush told everything she needed to know.
'My goodness Miss Rosenburg, what are you implying?'
'You had fun with Angel. You had fun with Angel.'
'It's hard not to have fun with Angel around. At least for me. But yes, it was fun. He took us home from the hospital, I put Emma to bed, and we talked. That's it. But we are going out tonight. I actually meant to ask you if you and Oz could baby-sit.'
'Of course. Emma's the cutest sittee.'
'I'm glad you like her so much. With Angel back in town you'll have her pretty often now.'
'Good. We missed watching her so much when you and Riley were together. Not that we miss Riley. Uh uh no sir, Riley was a poop head.'
'A poop head? First we're passing notes and now my ex husband's a poop head? Willow, did you secretly regress back to junior high.'
'Ooh, regress, big psych word.'
'Speaking of which, Professor Ryans might be boring as hell, but he's not an evil scientist out to destroy the world. I say we start paying attention.'
Willow smirked at that and turned back to the class, but she never did manage to pay any attention. She was awed by how much happier Buffy seemed in a matter of weeks. Being with Angel had changed her friend, again. Their first time around had showed Buffy what she was fighting for and made her see she was worth loving. The second time brought the first genuine smile Willow had seen on her face in. well, ever.
There were no barriers, no stops, nothing holding Buffy and Angel back, and Willow could tell. It was obvious in the way Buffy smiled, in the way she'd been carrying herself, even in her responsiveness to her classes. "Isn't he just scared?" Buffy was saying. Willow blinked, not knowing what they were talking about, but figuring it had to do with the home work assignment Professor Ryans had given last week. It had been some hypothetical situation that she hadn't bothered to read.
That had to be a first. Willow hadn't done her homework, and Buffy not only had, but had something to respond to it. "Care to elaborate?" the professor asked.
"He runs. He hides from everything and everyone he's ever loved, and he didn't even really do anything. He's just afraid to love them because he thinks they'll go away," Buffy explained. The professor nodded, moving on to explain the situation more fully, showing exactly how Buffy was right. When the class ended, classmates were congratulating Buffy as they walked out.
"Great comments today, Buffy," Professor Ryans called. "You've really impressed me. Your personal situation can't be easy."
"I've got help," Buffy smiled to Willow. "Besides, I love psychology."
"Have you considered where you want to go in the field?" He came closer to the two girls, as Buffy pulled her one shoulder bag on. "I have a TA position available. I don't know if teaching would be your quota or not, but I am offering it to you, if you'd like it."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"So then he asks me if I want to be a TA!" Buffy smiled at Angel across the romantic diner table he'd set up at his apartment. "Take that Principal Snyder!"
She waved her fork around violently for a minute before slipping it between her lips and eating the linguini he'd made. He laughed. "I'm sure from somewhere inside the blown up bits in the old high school he's cringing," Angel assured her. She laughed too.
"I guess it is kind of silly, but it's a big deal to me. I've never been any good at anything academic, and I'm at the top of his class. The top! As in the highest point! I'm his best student!" she smiled a huge smile that melted his heart. "I've never had that before."
"It's not silly at all," he promised. "And I'm proud of you."
"You are?" he knew she didn't need to seek his approval anymore. She'd been living her own life separate from him for years. But she wanted it, and that was enough to awe him.
"Of course I am," he smiled at her. "You were in a difficult situation, and you made it positive. You've been through a tough divorce, you're a single mother, and you're still on top of it all. Plus, you're doing amazingly well in school and I have a feeling psych isn't the only class you're acing."
She shook her head a little. "I can't help it. I love school now. It's like when I realized I could learn, I just decided I didn't want to stop," she said. "I know it sounds cheesy but. I really love psych. And I love that it's getting me closer to being able to help people in a way I've never really been able to. I love the idea that I can still do something; still make the world better, even if I'm not saving it anymore."
"You make the world better by being in it," Angel said sincerely, and Buffy blushed, looking away. "You made me better just by loving me."
"It would have been harder not to love you. I didn't really have a say in the matter," she reminded him, touching his cheek. "And you made me better too. I didn't. before you, I had a lot of bad boyfriends. I didn't think someone like you was out there. But you were. And you showed me I was worth something."
"Of course you're worth something," Angel smiled. "Everything, actually. It's why I left."
"I know that, now. But I was a lot younger then," Buffy admitted, sighing. "I'm not saying that I think my mom was right butting into my life and telling you to get out of it, but I don't think she realized what you meant. She should have let me make my own mistakes, but I know you. You were going to leave soon anyway. I could feel it. I just didn't want to believe it."
"I'm sorry," he said, moving to kneel beside her, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Not that I left, because I still believe it was right, but because it hurt you. Because in punishing a demon, the gypsies punished you too. And that wasn't fair."
Buffy bent to kiss him gently, and the past was quickly forgotten as their present and future took precedence.
~Lissa
The Love of an Angel Chapter Three By Skitty
She wasn't sure why she'd kissed him, but she didn't really care all that much. He tasted good human, different, but still good. His lips and tongue were so much warmer, and still so cool, and the arms encircling her waist were a similar temperature. She wrapped her hands around his neck, tangling her hands in his hair. He pulled away to breath, and she was in awe that it had been him who'd needed to breathe this time.
"Fast," he breathed out. She nodded. "Too fast."
"And also? Not slow enough," she added, her breath a little shaky as well. Then he kissed her, sweeping her up and carrying her into the living room, settling onto the sofa, with her in his lap.
"We should go."
"Slowly, right," she agreed again. "Things are. different now. I have Emma and you have."
"Sometimes I think of Cordelia as a daughter," he smirked. She laughed lightly whacking his arm. "But seriously, you have a great relationship with her and I don't want to screw that up for you. She already had to deal with Riley coming and going and."
"And it would be bad to jump," she nodded. "Because even if she weren't. we still have history issues that would be bad to just ignore. So jumping is bad."
Angel only nodded, unsure of what to say, until she tilted her head to his. "I just. um, kiss me?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow smiled playfully at her friend. Buffy was sitting to her left in their psych seminar a few days after Giles was released from the hospital. It was Thursday, which meant that Angel had come to spend the second half of his week in Sunnydale only the night before. The glow in her friend's skin and gleaming smile in her eyes told Willow that Buffy had thoroughly enjoyed his return. While the professor droned on she scrawled out a note to Buffy.
'Hey Buff, have fun last night?'
Buffy rose an eyebrow at her friend, and her blush told everything she needed to know.
'My goodness Miss Rosenburg, what are you implying?'
'You had fun with Angel. You had fun with Angel.'
'It's hard not to have fun with Angel around. At least for me. But yes, it was fun. He took us home from the hospital, I put Emma to bed, and we talked. That's it. But we are going out tonight. I actually meant to ask you if you and Oz could baby-sit.'
'Of course. Emma's the cutest sittee.'
'I'm glad you like her so much. With Angel back in town you'll have her pretty often now.'
'Good. We missed watching her so much when you and Riley were together. Not that we miss Riley. Uh uh no sir, Riley was a poop head.'
'A poop head? First we're passing notes and now my ex husband's a poop head? Willow, did you secretly regress back to junior high.'
'Ooh, regress, big psych word.'
'Speaking of which, Professor Ryans might be boring as hell, but he's not an evil scientist out to destroy the world. I say we start paying attention.'
Willow smirked at that and turned back to the class, but she never did manage to pay any attention. She was awed by how much happier Buffy seemed in a matter of weeks. Being with Angel had changed her friend, again. Their first time around had showed Buffy what she was fighting for and made her see she was worth loving. The second time brought the first genuine smile Willow had seen on her face in. well, ever.
There were no barriers, no stops, nothing holding Buffy and Angel back, and Willow could tell. It was obvious in the way Buffy smiled, in the way she'd been carrying herself, even in her responsiveness to her classes. "Isn't he just scared?" Buffy was saying. Willow blinked, not knowing what they were talking about, but figuring it had to do with the home work assignment Professor Ryans had given last week. It had been some hypothetical situation that she hadn't bothered to read.
That had to be a first. Willow hadn't done her homework, and Buffy not only had, but had something to respond to it. "Care to elaborate?" the professor asked.
"He runs. He hides from everything and everyone he's ever loved, and he didn't even really do anything. He's just afraid to love them because he thinks they'll go away," Buffy explained. The professor nodded, moving on to explain the situation more fully, showing exactly how Buffy was right. When the class ended, classmates were congratulating Buffy as they walked out.
"Great comments today, Buffy," Professor Ryans called. "You've really impressed me. Your personal situation can't be easy."
"I've got help," Buffy smiled to Willow. "Besides, I love psychology."
"Have you considered where you want to go in the field?" He came closer to the two girls, as Buffy pulled her one shoulder bag on. "I have a TA position available. I don't know if teaching would be your quota or not, but I am offering it to you, if you'd like it."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"So then he asks me if I want to be a TA!" Buffy smiled at Angel across the romantic diner table he'd set up at his apartment. "Take that Principal Snyder!"
She waved her fork around violently for a minute before slipping it between her lips and eating the linguini he'd made. He laughed. "I'm sure from somewhere inside the blown up bits in the old high school he's cringing," Angel assured her. She laughed too.
"I guess it is kind of silly, but it's a big deal to me. I've never been any good at anything academic, and I'm at the top of his class. The top! As in the highest point! I'm his best student!" she smiled a huge smile that melted his heart. "I've never had that before."
"It's not silly at all," he promised. "And I'm proud of you."
"You are?" he knew she didn't need to seek his approval anymore. She'd been living her own life separate from him for years. But she wanted it, and that was enough to awe him.
"Of course I am," he smiled at her. "You were in a difficult situation, and you made it positive. You've been through a tough divorce, you're a single mother, and you're still on top of it all. Plus, you're doing amazingly well in school and I have a feeling psych isn't the only class you're acing."
She shook her head a little. "I can't help it. I love school now. It's like when I realized I could learn, I just decided I didn't want to stop," she said. "I know it sounds cheesy but. I really love psych. And I love that it's getting me closer to being able to help people in a way I've never really been able to. I love the idea that I can still do something; still make the world better, even if I'm not saving it anymore."
"You make the world better by being in it," Angel said sincerely, and Buffy blushed, looking away. "You made me better just by loving me."
"It would have been harder not to love you. I didn't really have a say in the matter," she reminded him, touching his cheek. "And you made me better too. I didn't. before you, I had a lot of bad boyfriends. I didn't think someone like you was out there. But you were. And you showed me I was worth something."
"Of course you're worth something," Angel smiled. "Everything, actually. It's why I left."
"I know that, now. But I was a lot younger then," Buffy admitted, sighing. "I'm not saying that I think my mom was right butting into my life and telling you to get out of it, but I don't think she realized what you meant. She should have let me make my own mistakes, but I know you. You were going to leave soon anyway. I could feel it. I just didn't want to believe it."
"I'm sorry," he said, moving to kneel beside her, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Not that I left, because I still believe it was right, but because it hurt you. Because in punishing a demon, the gypsies punished you too. And that wasn't fair."
Buffy bent to kiss him gently, and the past was quickly forgotten as their present and future took precedence.
