Dawn had wanted to travel to Cleveland via magic but the others had been dead set against the idea especially Giles. They simply had too many things to transport and the trip would have been hell on the merely human in their group. The school bus peeled away from the Hyperion amidst a chorus of calls, hooting and hollering from the two groups.
Xander slumped back in his seat. "Man, I'm gonna miss that place. That swimming pool was even larger than the one we had back in the old Sunnydale High."
Buffy twisted in her seat and stared back at Xander where he sat behind her. "When did you go swimming?"
"When the rest of you were asleep. Deadboy didn't provide any swim things in his Clothing-Palooza and the idea of swimming in my dirty grungy clothes was too shudder-worthy. So I had to go in commando style."
"You were swimming naked? Ooh, I would have liked to have seen that." Dawn licked her lips in appreciation while Buffy and Willow traded secretive glances.
"I thought the red Speedo was kinda hot," Willow murmured and the teenager's head swiveled to look at the blond and redhead seated in front of her.
"Speedo? What Speedo? What are you talking about?" she demanded.
Buffy told her, "Oh, it was at the old Sunnydale High school. Xander was posing as a member of the swim team so he could find out what was turning the swim team members into Creatures of the Black Lagoon."
"Cordelia was so impressed because she was dating a member of the Sunnydale swim team, I thought she would cream her panties right there," the redhead finished.
"Willow! That's hardly appropriate talk for sensitive ears," Buffy chided.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I've heard much worse than that from Anya."
"I was talking about my ears actually," Buffy responded.
Xander perked up at Willow's offhanded comment. "Cordelia was impressed, was she? Wish I'd known about that. Maybe I could have strutted my manly stuff and gotten more out of her than closet smoochies."
It had been a short trip to the airport. By mutual consent, they all decided it would be simply too long a trip by a bus with no decent shock absorbers. That had been a week ago and they felt as if they were finally settling in to their satisfaction.
At first it had been a hassle getting into school in Cleveland given the lack of I.D. and proper school records. Then Giles had managed to get in touch with the few remaining members of the Watchers Council. Strings were pulled, obstacles were overcome and decent school manuscripts were rustled up as if by magic. When Willow and Buffy demanded to know how it had been done, Giles merely smiled and told them he had his ways.
Dawn had slid back into the swim of things at her new school with amazing ease. It seemed the hardship of the Sunnydale Hellmouth had forced her to mature quickly; homework was undertaken with minimum fuss. She was even starting to make friends although Buffy and Giles ruthlessly screened any new boyfriends.
As things turned out, Angel's generous offer wasn't needed. There were far more Watchers left in the world than Giles had hoped and they had pooled their resources. The many centuries the Watchers Council had been in existence had allowed them to acquire much in the way of monetary wealth. Their private resources proved to be a marvelous boon in helping him set up headquarters in Cleveland. A building previously used for storage was found and, with the help of a construction team Xander put together, it was being converted into a passable structure for learning, studying and sparring practice.
Buffy, however, refused to take another penny from Giles. She wanted to earn her own way and she was already deeply in Giles's debt in more ways than one. She had managed to land a job as a martial arts and street fighting instructor. Her years of slaying made her more than capable in this respect.
She'd finally managed to track down her father. Hank Summers had heard about the destruction of Sunnydale; it had made national news. Nothing drew media attention like the total annihilation of a town, it seemed. He'd been frantic to learn what had happened to his little girls. Finding out they were alive and well had caused a storm of belated but welcome parental feeling and responsibility. Wrangling monthly financial support for Dawn had proven child's play.
She kept in touch with Angel. She'd been worried the long distance would make it impossible for them to maintain a relationship. But the first time he'd appeared in the magic circle Willow had set up in the new Council basement dispelled any such doubts. They had smiled at each other and then he'd swept her into his arms for a melting kiss.
The others had discreetly withdrawn as their passion spiraled higher. Dawn had agreed to sleep over with one of her new friends for the weekend; she had stated there was no way she was staying in the apartment while Buffy and Angel kept her up all night with their screaming.
He'd wanted to talk to her about his nights. He'd wanted to discuss her life and the lives of her friends. Somehow seeing her standing there had driven all such thoughts out of his head.
She had agonized for hours over what to wear and finally picked out the dress she'd worn to the prom. Frantic alterations had shortened the hem until it hung just above her dimpled knees and tightened the waist enough to accentuate her petite breasts. Angel didn't know about any of that; all he knew was that the most beautiful woman in the world was standing before him.
He kissed her, dwelling only on her sweet lips for the moment. Arousal drifted up to his nose and he rumbled deep in his chest at the scent of it. At moments like these, he was glad he wasn't human. He would have missed the sound of her quickening heartbeat and the powerful aroma of her lust along with the other signs of her desire that only non-human creatures like he could have known.
His pants got tighter and she knew it at once. She wriggled against him and the action made him even stiffer. He was in danger of screwing her right there and that was not what he had planned. Reluctantly he drew away from her, noting the changes in her body. The pouting lips were kiss-swollen and she breathed hard from the brief contact. He lingered on the heaving breasts before he dragged his eyes away.
He remembered the bouquet he was holding. "These are for you," he whispered.
"Huh? Oh, thank you. These are nice. They're so yellow and very pretty," she babbled. She stuck her nose in the bunch of yellow roses and baby's breath he'd brought for her and sniffed dutifully. "They're very aromy, too."
"I was hoping we could go out on a date tonight. Unless you're busy."
"Hmmm. Let me check my calendar," she responded teasingly. "Yep. It looks like I'm free for the evening."
"Good." He wound his arm around her, drawing her close. "You know any good places to dine in Cleveland?"
There were lots of choice spots in Cleveland. She had taken time out to find them because she wanted to show him the city whenever he came to visit. She had been tireless in tracking down the special places that might cater to humans and one of, ahem, his kind. To her surprise there were quite a few restaurants off the beaten track that specialized in vampire dining. So eating out with Angel hadn't been a problem.
They set up an established routine, trading off visits back and forth. Dawn had insisted on coming with Buffy once on the Magic Express. The journey had made her violently sick and she swore there was no way she was doing that again except for dire emergencies. Willow had also come back to Los Angeles to catch up on things with Fred. Naturally, the redhead weathered the journey much better than anyone else besides Buffy and Angel.
On Angel's latest trip, they spent the day in bed, pausing only to take showers or eat. They talked about everything that was happening on their respective fronts.
Willow had her magic firmly under control. Because of that, Giles offered a position in the new Watchers Council. They had often used sorcerers to help with the arcane and mystical; he said someone of her power and expertise would be a great asset. The paycheck he held out was a pretty good incentive, too. She spent a lot of time with him and the new trainees they were carefully grooming for their roles as future Watchers. Buffy thought that a new romance was developing between Willow and Clarissa, a blonde grad student from Poughkeepsie. But Buffy hadn't said a thing to either of them about it yet. She was content to let things progress on their own—and then surprise Willow one day by asking for the details. [That'll teach Willow to think I'm clueless.]
The Slayers under Gunn's training and Wesley's tutelage had turned into a very capable fighting force. Angel had started up the A.I. business again and used the money plus the funds originally set aside for Connor's future to send them all back to school. Fred had started up a relationship with David Nabbitt, a development that surprised no one. Lorne abandoned the idea of opening a new club; he wasn't exactly optimistic that any new venue of entertainment would last given his association with the good guys. He contented himself with listening to A.I. clients sing and lamented the lack of truly decent singing voices for the side of good.
In spite of Buffy's worry, the former vampire had stayed away from her. However, Spike was having trouble adjusting to being human. He insisted on putting himself in the line of fire and groused endlessly whenever he was laid up from his wounds. He was all too depressingly human without an ounce of strength nor leftover vampire stamina. He also found to his dismay that, seeing how much he loved human food, he now required extra exercise to keep down his weight. Buffy laughed when Angel recounted how he had caught Spike weighing himself on a bathroom scale and crying out in shock to see that he'd gained ten pounds.
Angel heard occasionally from Faith. She had managed to take things with Robin Wood into a solid love affair, much to her own surprise. She was offhand and breezy about it but he could hear the tenderness underneath her tough-girl act whenever she spoke about the former principal. The dark-haired ex-convict had come a long way and no one was prouder of it than Angel.
He was conspicuous in his lack of mentioning Connor and Buffy hesitated to ask. She realized that the teenager's history was one of nothing but badness. So she asked Angel what he had been like as a baby. A kind and gentle love entered her lover's eyes, such as she'd never seen before, as he spoke of the darling bundle of joy that had been his baby boy. He rhapsodized about his son's blue eyes and sweet-smelling body. He told Buffy how the boy had been unafraid of his demon face, breaking out into babyish giggling whenever he saw it.
Buffy heard the ache and longing in Angel's voice and wondered if she'd made a mistake getting him to talk about it. But after he went over the wonderful first days of the baby's life, he thanked her for her insistence. He knew he might never get another chance at a family and it eased his heart to have someone know just how much his baby had meant to him.
"It wasn't the future I'd envisioned for him, Buffy. But what parent ever has their child turn out exactly how they want? If your kid winds up happy, that's the most any parent can ask for and that's what I got."
"So you're finally getting it, huh?"
What was she talking about now? "Getting what?"
Her face was smug and sad at the same time as she unknowingly went over Willow's theme when the redhead had confronted him over Cordelia's comatose body. "You had this idea for me about a normal life with the husband, 2.3 kids and the garage with two cars. You had all these plans for Connor that never came true—at least not the way you wanted. Life is what happens when you're making other plans. If you'd only seen that, then we could have avoided years of heartbreak."
"Maybe. But think about what other things in our lives wouldn't have happened. If I'd stayed with you in Sunnydale, Cordelia would be vampire food. Wesley might still be struggling along trying to make a name for himself as a demon hunter. I wouldn't have rescued Fred and we certainly wouldn't have saved the humans in Pylea from slavery."
She leaned up on one elbow and looked down at him. "Or we might have gone to Pylea together to escape Glory. I'm not saying we should have run away together to live in blissful coziness. I'm just saying we could have found a way to be together and still fought evil. Slayer and souled vampire. Buffy and Angel."
His eyes were stricken as he recalled her fate against Glory. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I should have been…"
"No, that's not what I meant. You might have been with me and I still could have died. We'll never know. I never blamed you for not being with me. If anything, I should have called you when things got rough. Who knows, you might have helped. I was just too stubborn to ask."
A sigh came from the vampire as he embraced her and stroked her silken hair. "Then there's no point in dwelling on what might have been, Buffy. That's no better than making extravagant plans for a future that might not come true," he pointed out.
The man had a point. And she didn't want to make it sound as if she was still angry with him for leaving her. She cuddled closer to him and sighed plaintively. "So I guess by that logic we should just live for the present."
"There's nothing wrong with making plans. We just have to be flexible about them, that's all."
"Uh huh. Speaking of plans, what do you want to do when I come to visit you next time?"
"Let's let that be a surprise, shall we?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and she got wet at the thought of what exactly he might have planned. His nose twitched as her excitement caught his attention and gold flickered in his eyes. When his hand moved to cup her breast, he was rewarded by her female moan, the yielding mound swelling into his palm.
The heat from their recent lovemaking bout had cooled and she was itching for more action. However, he peered out the window and frowned. It was almost nightfall; soon he would have to leave her. "I hate to cut this short, Buffy. But I have to get back soon."
Buffy gave a pout, hoping to change his mind, but his mind was made up. "Most lovers have to clear out at daybreak. You've got to be one of the few who have to take off at night."
He pulled away with a sad smile of regret. "I guess so. Wesley read about this prophecy almost three years ago and he's very sure about it."
"And Wesley's never wrong, is he?" she muttered.
He didn't miss the sarcastic note. But he had questioned Wesley about this and the Watcher had been adamant. He came across it when he was reading the Aberjian scrolls. The Beast of Amalfi was due to rise in Reseda in 2003. "He's cross-referenced, checked and double checked and even called on Giles. He's dead sure about this and so am I. I trust him."
She sighed and sat up, reaching for her clothes. "I'm beginning to wish I'd talked Faith into staying in Cleveland with me. I could have left her as backup and come with you."
"I have my team and whole army of Slayers with me, Buffy. I'll be all right." He knew she was unhappy about this and darted a swift kiss to her nose to pacify her. She wrinkled it and smiled back at him.
"Okay. It's just Wesley called this thing the Harpoon of Death and that sounds kinda scary."
"That's Harbinger of Death, love. And these things are always coming up with pretentious names for themselves. Don't forget I was once called the Scourge of Europe."
"Yeah, but you deserved the title."
He grinned but made no attempt to refute her odd praise. He shucked on the last of his clothes and took her by the hand.
There were lingering slow, deep kisses between her apartment and the new Council headquarters. Because of that, they cut things a little too close for his liking. Angel stood in the circle of green sand and waved goodbye to her. She reluctantly let him go and watched as the light flared, leaving an empty circle where her lover had stood.
TBC
