CHAPTER 15

"If I could touch you, again with my fingers so gently

If I could feel you, breathing in time next to me"

-Donna Lewis, "Silent World"

"So you think Angel's breathing because he fed off me, but you don't know why?"

Buffy sat up cross-legged and wrapped in a blanket on Angel's couch with Giles, Willow, and Xander around her. They had woken her up and tried to explain their present situation to her, leaving her baffled.

"Yes, that's about it." Giles nodded. "The only thing we can't figure is why? Vampires have fed on slayers before, but none of them starting breathing."

"Yeah, but did they feed on them or just drain them?" Buffy asked curiously, holding the blanket tighter around herself. She still wasn't feeling completely better, but the little bit of time she spent sleeping had helped.

"Hmm. I didn't think of that. I'll have to consult my books."

Giles thought this idea over in his head and Willow looked at Xander triumphantly. Her idea to wake Buffy in case she could be of any help to them was already paying off.

Yawning, Buffy nodded, and Giles took that as a sign that they should leave. He had work to do, anyway.

"We should be going," he announced, standing up. "Come on, children." He received angry looks from both Willow and Xander at the word 'children.' "We'll come by to check on you and Angel tomorrow, Buffy, after school. I'll make sure the office knows you're still feeling a little bit under the weather."

"Thanks." Buffy stood, still holding the blanket around herself, and followed them to the door. "Thanks a lot for everything, guys."

"No problem, Buff," Xander told her, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. He might as well let things happen the way they would instead of trying to interfere.

Willow stopped to give her friend a hug. "Good luck," she whispered into her ear.

Buffy smiled weakly and watched as the trio left the apartment and headed back up the stairs. Closing the door, she turned and moved over to stand at Angel's bedside. She watched silently as his chest rose and fell with each breath, signaling some type of life, whether it be vampire or human.

He looked so peaceful, she wished she could stop time and keep it that way forever. Giles was right, he had clearly improved, and looked almost normal. Memories flooded back to her suddenly of lying with him in that bed, oblivious to the rest of the world, content that they had each other...

Shaking her head, Buffy wished those memories away and tried to focus on the issue at hand. Angel was breathing and possibly alive. The thing she had been dreaming about for the past year could finally be coming true. It was almost too much to believe, but she knew better than to question the fates. What would happen would, and there was no way she or anyone else could control it.

Dropping the blanket onto the chair beside her, she silently climbed under the covers and into bed with Angel. Wrapping her arms around him, she closed her eyes and carefully lay her head down on his chest. She could feel each breath he took and hear every time his heart beat inside it. That was the sound that slowly lulled her back to sleep...