Authors note: Do you know how hard it is to write longer chaps? Well now I
realised how hard it actually is!! Anyway this is way longer than my normal
chaps so I hope you enjoy the length of it!!!
Here goes.
Chap 2
A thin layer of sweat glistens across my body as I sit, curled amongst my bed sheets. There he was again, the rotten face of Angel staring at me in fear. Why was I dreaming this?
Deciding that I would no longer sleep, I rose from my bed and made my way slowly down the staircase to the numerous phone books piled up near the phone. Don't ask me how we had a directory for LA, just something to do with Giles no doubt.
Slowly I flick through the hotel sections till finally I find what I have been looking for.
THE HYPERION - Angel Investigations. We help the helpless!
I stared blankly at the page. Angel? Angel investigations? As in my Angel? As in vampire with a soul Angel?
I take a look at the clock beside the phone; it's 5 in the morning. I look back at the book and slowly take in the number to this hotel. How stupid am I? I can't just ring up Angel! What am I going to say if he picks up the phone? 'Oh hi Angel, just had a dream that you were in mortal danger, just checking your OK because my insano head thinks your stuck in the ocean!' Damn he'll think I've gone nuts.
I pick up the phone anyway and start dialling in the numbers 0 - 2. Nope I can't do it! I can't ring him. I haven't spoken to him in a long time other than when I went to see him after my death, which wasn't exactly a good moment.
So I replace the handset.
An hour passes and I must have picked up and replaced the handset over a dozen times. My hands were tense, my finger begged to push the numbers and ring Angel. Finally my head gave in and let my heart take over.
I pick up the phone and dial the number advertised. One look at the clock and it's 6 in the morning, hope their up early.
"Hello?" A faint female voice answers the phone. "Uh Angel investigations how can I help you?" Also very sleepy it seems.
"Uh, is Angel there?"
There's a pause. A really long pause.
"N-No sorry, he uh, he can't talk right now.
"Oh, ok. Do you know when he will be available?"
"No sorry." Her voice falls quite, almost to a whisper. "To be honest he's missing." She listens to the gasp at the other end of the phone. "Uh not to worry though, I'm sure he'll be back. No doubt he's out saving another soul and hasn't told us." Was that panic I can hear in her voice? Is there doubt mixed in with fear?
"Ok, Bye." I need to get to LA. Something was wrong and Angel wouldn't have just disappeared without telling anyone or there being a good reason.
I paced the house until 7 not really wanting to wake Willow out of her deep slumber. But finally I could not take it any longer and I had to tell my best friend my plans and that she needed to look after Dawn while I was gone.
"Will?" I knock and enter the room.
"What?" Came a groggy answer.
"I have to go away to LA"
"WHAT!" That had her awake. "Why? How? It's Angel right?"
"Pretty much yeah." Was all I could say.
"Don't worry about Dawn, you go." Concern flowed over her face which I am sure reflected my own feelings.
******
I take another look at the map. Yes here I was The Hyperion. I step out of the car and slowly make my way up the driveway. What am I going to say? I open the front door and walk in.
"Hello?" I call out into the vast lobby.
"Well, hello" A short African American walks towards me from behind that desk. The curved one from my dream.
"Uh hi." I repeat
"How may I help you." He looks me up and down with a satisfied smile.
"Is Angel around?" I ask praying that he says yes.
Panic enters his eyes. "What ever the problem is, I'm sure I can help you miss - eh?"
"Buffy." I smile. "I need to see Angel."
"Buffy? As in Buffy the slayer gal?"
"The one and only. Kinda."
"How can you be the slayer your so - small?" He walks up to me and regards my appearance once more.
He said I was small. He is sooo going to pay for that.
With one movement I have him pinned to the ground face down, one arm held against his back.
"That good enough proof for you?" I ask with a smile.
"Yeah! Now get your hands off of me lady!" Instantly I let him go and he stands, holding his head high as if I've damaged his male pride for life.
"Anyway, who are you?"
"Charles Gunn. You can call me just Gunn."
"Like to tell me where Angel is now, or am I going to have to pin you down again?"
"Whoa there, there's going to be no pinning." He holds his hands up submissively. "As for Angel, we really don't know where he is."
I look back questionably.
He continues: "About a month back he completely disappeared, said he was going out to see Cordelia next thing we know Poof! The two of them disappear out of no where."
Panic surges through my body as I think about my dreams. He really was in danger.
"Where's Wes?" I receive an evil glare.
"We don't say that name anymore." His voice was harsh and bitter.
I look back at him. "Listen Gunn, I've driven all the way from Sunnydale to make sure Angel is Ok cause I've been dreaming some weird things lately. I need to see Wesley Ok?"
"He's at his apartment probably." He turns his back and reaches over the desk to pick up his address.
"Thank you." I nod and smile, turning away from him and making my way out of the building.
******
*Knock Knock*
I wait patiently as I hear someone shuffling around inside the room.
"What?" An impatient voice swung open the door.
I stare in disbelief of the man stood in front of me. I could hardly recognise him.
"Buffy?" He instantly recognises me, I probably haven't changed much though.
"You look like - "
"Shit? I know." He answers stepping away from the door to let me in.
There's a long awkward silence that just begs me to scream into it.
"What brings you to LA?" I can tell he isn't really that interested but at least he is trying.
"Angel."
"Typical." He mumbles under his breath.
"I've been dreaming Wes, I think I know where he might be."
"I think I already know." He sounds a little more interested.
"Ocean? Big steel like crate?" I pray I can help.
"My thoughts exactly." He answers with a small smile.
******
As we drive he fills me in, tells me how he has been searching for Angel since he had gone, how he found someone who told him where he was. Then he recalled to me how he had searched the sea for the steel crate, but so far he has been unable to obtain it.
"Wes?"
"Yes?"
"Why is Gunn so mad at you?"
Instantly he falls silent and clams up like a big giant clam. "Just a disagreement."
"Over what?"
"Nothing." Well that nothing sounds like something to me. But I chose to let it drop. And anyway, I can now see the dockside coming into view.
Moments later we have started yet another search across the vast blue water. For the first few hours there is nothing, not a single thing but then there it was. A huge steel crate rising from the depths of the ocean, could this be Angel's icy grave?
Slowly I watch in anticipation as the crate is hoisted onto the deck. Seaweed sticks to it like glue and there are patches of rust appearing on the metal due to the salt water.
I step back and lean against the side of the boat. Somehow I find myself wishing and praying that Angel isn't inside, that he somehow is back on land, safe.
But then there's the other part of me that is hoping that he is inside, praying that he is ok, that nothing bad has happened.
My mouth dries out as I watch Wesley approach the crate. He looks at me and nods his head slightly. Very slightly.
I lunge forward, throwing my hands onto the side of the crate and peering into the glass front. There he is, lying inside babbling to himself. Shit it doesn't look good.
Everything moves slowly as I watch Wes open up the crate and reach inside to help Angel out. He doesn't even realise what's going on. Then he looks at me, sending chills through my body.
******
Why are they doing this to me? Why do they give me such images and false hope? So I'm dreaming again, but this dream is different from the others - It feels so much more real.
Wes is helping me out of the crate, which for one thing I know is going to be false after the way I have treated him, almost tried to kill him. Then Buffy is there, looking at me with those green eyes and it hurts more than I can ever imagine.
I cry out in anguish as I wish for these images to stop, wish for this nightmare to be over. Reaching my hand out I grab the nearest throat and squeeze, squeezing the life out of these stupid hallucinations.
******
Wes starts to turn a bad shade of red. Instantly I shout at Angel to let him go but I receive no response. So I place my hand on his arm and make him look at me.
"No." I whisper as if he was a toddler that had hold of a hamster in his fist.
He releases Wesley and with one last look at me he passes out, unconscious, hitting the deck with an earth-shattering thud.
"Thank.You." Wes manages to get out between heavy breaths.
"That's ok." I smile. "What do we do next?"
"Get him some blood I suppose, he hasn't eaten in a long time." I look down at his face once more and can see the rotten flesh for real. It shudders me to think that I had been dreaming about this for weeks, thinking it was just a stupid dream but all along he had been suffering, deep down in his watery grave.
We go below deck, supporting Angel between the two of us. It's amazing how heavy a man can weigh, even for a slayer. Wes clears a table, placing Angel across it and walks over to a small fridge in the corner, taking out a jar of blood.
"This will have to do for now." And slowly I watch as Wes feds my Angel.
******
I watch him stir on the table and instantly I am at his side, my hand reaching for his.
"Buffy?"
"Angel." I answer, smiling down at him as I realise he recognises me.
"Your not real." Sudden disappointment enters his eyes.
"Yes I am Angel, I am real."
"No your not!" His voice rises above mine and he refuses to look at me.
"Angel look at me!" I grab hold of him and he looks into my eyes.
"I AM REAL." One tear starts to make its way down my cheek.
I hear Wesley enter and I turn to look at him. "He needs human blood." Wesley's voice sounds tired. "Pass me that knife, he can have some of mine."
"No, I'll do it." I bend over Angel and look into his eyes. "Come on baby, just take a little"
******
She is offering me her blood. What kind of hallucination is this? I brush a piece of hair away from her face and realise this isn't a dream, this is real. I am no longer touching glass.
"No." I whisper.
"Take it." Her voice is stern; I know she won't back down.
So slowly I allow the demon out however much it hurts me to do so. Why am I so tired? Oh yeah no food for about a billon years.
I bite down on her warm soft flesh, re-opening the scar that was there from before. Her blood tastes sweet and unique, so full of strength and power. Soon I find myself gaining her strength and I bite harder and harder, taking in great mouthfuls of the rich slayer blood.
"Angel." Her voice is so quieting so meek. Instantly I realise why, I am taking too much.
I release her and luckily Wes catches her as she falls, weak from the amount of blood loss. "Buffy!" I attempt to get up in a panic.
"No Angel, lie down, she's fine." Wesley places a hand on my shoulder, but still I cannot help feeling guilty.
I close my eyes and think back to that day, the day I was going to meet Cordelia and tell her that I love her. Now I know I cannot love Cordelia. All that time in that box, I have realised that Buffy is my only love and having her here with me, proves to me how much I need her, how much I still love her.
*~* Please read and review!!!! *~*
Here goes.
Chap 2
A thin layer of sweat glistens across my body as I sit, curled amongst my bed sheets. There he was again, the rotten face of Angel staring at me in fear. Why was I dreaming this?
Deciding that I would no longer sleep, I rose from my bed and made my way slowly down the staircase to the numerous phone books piled up near the phone. Don't ask me how we had a directory for LA, just something to do with Giles no doubt.
Slowly I flick through the hotel sections till finally I find what I have been looking for.
THE HYPERION - Angel Investigations. We help the helpless!
I stared blankly at the page. Angel? Angel investigations? As in my Angel? As in vampire with a soul Angel?
I take a look at the clock beside the phone; it's 5 in the morning. I look back at the book and slowly take in the number to this hotel. How stupid am I? I can't just ring up Angel! What am I going to say if he picks up the phone? 'Oh hi Angel, just had a dream that you were in mortal danger, just checking your OK because my insano head thinks your stuck in the ocean!' Damn he'll think I've gone nuts.
I pick up the phone anyway and start dialling in the numbers 0 - 2. Nope I can't do it! I can't ring him. I haven't spoken to him in a long time other than when I went to see him after my death, which wasn't exactly a good moment.
So I replace the handset.
An hour passes and I must have picked up and replaced the handset over a dozen times. My hands were tense, my finger begged to push the numbers and ring Angel. Finally my head gave in and let my heart take over.
I pick up the phone and dial the number advertised. One look at the clock and it's 6 in the morning, hope their up early.
"Hello?" A faint female voice answers the phone. "Uh Angel investigations how can I help you?" Also very sleepy it seems.
"Uh, is Angel there?"
There's a pause. A really long pause.
"N-No sorry, he uh, he can't talk right now.
"Oh, ok. Do you know when he will be available?"
"No sorry." Her voice falls quite, almost to a whisper. "To be honest he's missing." She listens to the gasp at the other end of the phone. "Uh not to worry though, I'm sure he'll be back. No doubt he's out saving another soul and hasn't told us." Was that panic I can hear in her voice? Is there doubt mixed in with fear?
"Ok, Bye." I need to get to LA. Something was wrong and Angel wouldn't have just disappeared without telling anyone or there being a good reason.
I paced the house until 7 not really wanting to wake Willow out of her deep slumber. But finally I could not take it any longer and I had to tell my best friend my plans and that she needed to look after Dawn while I was gone.
"Will?" I knock and enter the room.
"What?" Came a groggy answer.
"I have to go away to LA"
"WHAT!" That had her awake. "Why? How? It's Angel right?"
"Pretty much yeah." Was all I could say.
"Don't worry about Dawn, you go." Concern flowed over her face which I am sure reflected my own feelings.
******
I take another look at the map. Yes here I was The Hyperion. I step out of the car and slowly make my way up the driveway. What am I going to say? I open the front door and walk in.
"Hello?" I call out into the vast lobby.
"Well, hello" A short African American walks towards me from behind that desk. The curved one from my dream.
"Uh hi." I repeat
"How may I help you." He looks me up and down with a satisfied smile.
"Is Angel around?" I ask praying that he says yes.
Panic enters his eyes. "What ever the problem is, I'm sure I can help you miss - eh?"
"Buffy." I smile. "I need to see Angel."
"Buffy? As in Buffy the slayer gal?"
"The one and only. Kinda."
"How can you be the slayer your so - small?" He walks up to me and regards my appearance once more.
He said I was small. He is sooo going to pay for that.
With one movement I have him pinned to the ground face down, one arm held against his back.
"That good enough proof for you?" I ask with a smile.
"Yeah! Now get your hands off of me lady!" Instantly I let him go and he stands, holding his head high as if I've damaged his male pride for life.
"Anyway, who are you?"
"Charles Gunn. You can call me just Gunn."
"Like to tell me where Angel is now, or am I going to have to pin you down again?"
"Whoa there, there's going to be no pinning." He holds his hands up submissively. "As for Angel, we really don't know where he is."
I look back questionably.
He continues: "About a month back he completely disappeared, said he was going out to see Cordelia next thing we know Poof! The two of them disappear out of no where."
Panic surges through my body as I think about my dreams. He really was in danger.
"Where's Wes?" I receive an evil glare.
"We don't say that name anymore." His voice was harsh and bitter.
I look back at him. "Listen Gunn, I've driven all the way from Sunnydale to make sure Angel is Ok cause I've been dreaming some weird things lately. I need to see Wesley Ok?"
"He's at his apartment probably." He turns his back and reaches over the desk to pick up his address.
"Thank you." I nod and smile, turning away from him and making my way out of the building.
******
*Knock Knock*
I wait patiently as I hear someone shuffling around inside the room.
"What?" An impatient voice swung open the door.
I stare in disbelief of the man stood in front of me. I could hardly recognise him.
"Buffy?" He instantly recognises me, I probably haven't changed much though.
"You look like - "
"Shit? I know." He answers stepping away from the door to let me in.
There's a long awkward silence that just begs me to scream into it.
"What brings you to LA?" I can tell he isn't really that interested but at least he is trying.
"Angel."
"Typical." He mumbles under his breath.
"I've been dreaming Wes, I think I know where he might be."
"I think I already know." He sounds a little more interested.
"Ocean? Big steel like crate?" I pray I can help.
"My thoughts exactly." He answers with a small smile.
******
As we drive he fills me in, tells me how he has been searching for Angel since he had gone, how he found someone who told him where he was. Then he recalled to me how he had searched the sea for the steel crate, but so far he has been unable to obtain it.
"Wes?"
"Yes?"
"Why is Gunn so mad at you?"
Instantly he falls silent and clams up like a big giant clam. "Just a disagreement."
"Over what?"
"Nothing." Well that nothing sounds like something to me. But I chose to let it drop. And anyway, I can now see the dockside coming into view.
Moments later we have started yet another search across the vast blue water. For the first few hours there is nothing, not a single thing but then there it was. A huge steel crate rising from the depths of the ocean, could this be Angel's icy grave?
Slowly I watch in anticipation as the crate is hoisted onto the deck. Seaweed sticks to it like glue and there are patches of rust appearing on the metal due to the salt water.
I step back and lean against the side of the boat. Somehow I find myself wishing and praying that Angel isn't inside, that he somehow is back on land, safe.
But then there's the other part of me that is hoping that he is inside, praying that he is ok, that nothing bad has happened.
My mouth dries out as I watch Wesley approach the crate. He looks at me and nods his head slightly. Very slightly.
I lunge forward, throwing my hands onto the side of the crate and peering into the glass front. There he is, lying inside babbling to himself. Shit it doesn't look good.
Everything moves slowly as I watch Wes open up the crate and reach inside to help Angel out. He doesn't even realise what's going on. Then he looks at me, sending chills through my body.
******
Why are they doing this to me? Why do they give me such images and false hope? So I'm dreaming again, but this dream is different from the others - It feels so much more real.
Wes is helping me out of the crate, which for one thing I know is going to be false after the way I have treated him, almost tried to kill him. Then Buffy is there, looking at me with those green eyes and it hurts more than I can ever imagine.
I cry out in anguish as I wish for these images to stop, wish for this nightmare to be over. Reaching my hand out I grab the nearest throat and squeeze, squeezing the life out of these stupid hallucinations.
******
Wes starts to turn a bad shade of red. Instantly I shout at Angel to let him go but I receive no response. So I place my hand on his arm and make him look at me.
"No." I whisper as if he was a toddler that had hold of a hamster in his fist.
He releases Wesley and with one last look at me he passes out, unconscious, hitting the deck with an earth-shattering thud.
"Thank.You." Wes manages to get out between heavy breaths.
"That's ok." I smile. "What do we do next?"
"Get him some blood I suppose, he hasn't eaten in a long time." I look down at his face once more and can see the rotten flesh for real. It shudders me to think that I had been dreaming about this for weeks, thinking it was just a stupid dream but all along he had been suffering, deep down in his watery grave.
We go below deck, supporting Angel between the two of us. It's amazing how heavy a man can weigh, even for a slayer. Wes clears a table, placing Angel across it and walks over to a small fridge in the corner, taking out a jar of blood.
"This will have to do for now." And slowly I watch as Wes feds my Angel.
******
I watch him stir on the table and instantly I am at his side, my hand reaching for his.
"Buffy?"
"Angel." I answer, smiling down at him as I realise he recognises me.
"Your not real." Sudden disappointment enters his eyes.
"Yes I am Angel, I am real."
"No your not!" His voice rises above mine and he refuses to look at me.
"Angel look at me!" I grab hold of him and he looks into my eyes.
"I AM REAL." One tear starts to make its way down my cheek.
I hear Wesley enter and I turn to look at him. "He needs human blood." Wesley's voice sounds tired. "Pass me that knife, he can have some of mine."
"No, I'll do it." I bend over Angel and look into his eyes. "Come on baby, just take a little"
******
She is offering me her blood. What kind of hallucination is this? I brush a piece of hair away from her face and realise this isn't a dream, this is real. I am no longer touching glass.
"No." I whisper.
"Take it." Her voice is stern; I know she won't back down.
So slowly I allow the demon out however much it hurts me to do so. Why am I so tired? Oh yeah no food for about a billon years.
I bite down on her warm soft flesh, re-opening the scar that was there from before. Her blood tastes sweet and unique, so full of strength and power. Soon I find myself gaining her strength and I bite harder and harder, taking in great mouthfuls of the rich slayer blood.
"Angel." Her voice is so quieting so meek. Instantly I realise why, I am taking too much.
I release her and luckily Wes catches her as she falls, weak from the amount of blood loss. "Buffy!" I attempt to get up in a panic.
"No Angel, lie down, she's fine." Wesley places a hand on my shoulder, but still I cannot help feeling guilty.
I close my eyes and think back to that day, the day I was going to meet Cordelia and tell her that I love her. Now I know I cannot love Cordelia. All that time in that box, I have realised that Buffy is my only love and having her here with me, proves to me how much I need her, how much I still love her.
*~* Please read and review!!!! *~*
