*********************************TRApPeD*********************************
Forty: Walk Away
By Annie
2003-06-17
**************************************************************************
Day Thirty-Six.
8.42 p.m.
Angel stumbled to the side from the fist connecting with his jaw. He took the second blow, averting it with one arm and then he retaliated by kicking his leg out, hitting the bleached blonde in the center of his torso and having him fly two yards back; almost crashing into the counter, but missing it by a mere inch.
Spike was on his feet the next instant, throwing himself forward and making Angel tumble backward as the formers shoulder connected with his ribs. For a minute or two they were simply pummeling each other on the floor; both taking hits to their faces and Angel beginning to bleed from a cut just below his hair line, Spike from a wound on his right cheek.
Angel suddenly laughed and they took a breather as Spike shoved him into the hard floor before getting off of him and to his feet.
"What's so bloody amusing?" he grumbled, Angel following his lead and standing as well; brushing the dirt off his black attire the older gave a shrug.
"You haven't changed," he then replied and Spike cocked an eyebrow. "In all the time I've known you, you've never changed. Are you saying now's any different?"
"Yeah, I bleeding well am," Spike stated; a tone of desperation in his voice which he couldn't cover up and Angel observed him for a moment, then said:
"She doesn't love you. You HAVE to know that. I do, Spike. I know HER and she would never..."
"Crossing a line," Spike warned with a glare of mixed emotions.
Rage, pain, disbelief and knowledge; knowledge of the fact that Angel DID know her, better than he did.
"You should walk away," Angel nodded, as though he knew what was stirring the others mind; then he added: "before something happens that'll make you hurt her."
"I could never..."
"Please," the former interrupted sarcastically. "Don't try this act on me, I taught it to you, for crying out loud! There's something you want from her, and I'll be damned if I sit back and let you destroy her life."
"No, mate," Spike shook his head, "that's what YOU do. Mind games and sick, twisted pranks have always been YOUR bloody calling card, NOT mine."
Angel looked away.
"I can't control Angelus," he murmured and Spike took a step forward, then said:
"And I can't deny how she makes me feel."
At that Angel turned his eyes back in the others.
"I don't think I'M the one crossing lines here," he then grumbled and Spike huffed.
"I'm not you," he stated. "I never was... no matter how I bloody tried," he added, voice rather lowered and Angel blinked. "All that's in the past," Spike continued. "All of it... I'm willing to put it all behind me."
"For her," Angel filled in and Spike straightened his posture slightly, as a confirmation. "You're a fool if you think you're what she needs," Angel grumbled. "A wolf in sheep's clothing." Spike gave him another glare, right before Angel added: "Over my dead body."
Moving forward he placed a perfect punch to Spike's right cheek, hitting the already soar wound and the younger let out a cry before clenching his own fingers into fists - and so the fight was once again on.
***
8.54 p.m.
Okay, stay cool, Buffy thought. Don't let him know how much you've... missed him. How... weird it was to sleep alone last night. How you've been pretty much thinking about him every two seconds since...
The sound of a brawl - furniture much likely being turned over as well as body parts being hit by other body parts - made her pause for a second, staring at the doors of his crypt which she was now facing, thinking that there was no way these sounds could be coming from where they were obviously coming from - behind those very doors, and then she moved forward. Pushing the first one open she raced through the other, coming to a sharp halt in the doorway as she stared at the scene before her.
The two delivering the punches didn't notice her presence and she practically gaped. Not only because someone whom she hadn't expected to see in a long time was fighting with her current... But because this current was seemingly furious over something. She hadn't seen either one of them this angry in forever and finally she stepped forward and rushed up to them yelling:
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"
Getting her arms between them and then pushing them harshly away from the other she looked first at Angel and then at Spike with a frown of dislike.
"Would you mind telling me exactly WHAT is going on?" she asked both of them, again looking from one to the other.
"Bloody hell!" Spike suddenly exclaimed and she almost jerked before she turned her head back to him questioningly. He took a step forward, reaching up his hands and gently brushing his fingers around the deep cut in her forehead. "What happened? Are you okay?"
She couldn't help but smile a little at his obvious concern, looking up at him she then nodded.
"I'm just great, apart from the massive head ache," she assured and he furrowed his brow.
"Did Adam do this?" he asked and she frowned again, wondering. Spike clenched his jaws together tight and stepped away from her. "I saw him earlier... he told me that he'd had a run-in with you... Had no bloody idea it was a heads-to-heads sodding run-in. If I had, I swear he wouldn't be standing right now!"
Angel suddenly smirked and when Spike saw it he glared at him.
"What is it now?" he demanded and the former once more shrugged nonchalantly.
"You've gotten better at this," he merely replied and Spike was about two tenths of a second from throwing himself over his grandsire again when Buffy slid her fingers cautiously over his wrist and further across the back of his hand, calmingly.
Spike looked down at her and then turned with a hardened expression on his face, though his fingers lightly graced hers as well before he walked a few steps away.
"So," she said, "what started this?"
"A bite from Drusilla?" Angel quipped and Spike turned back around.
"Buffy, I bloody SWEAR..." he began, the annoyance making his voice unsteady, but she shook her head.
"Have you got a better answer?" she then wondered and he gave Angel an icy look before he met Buffy's gaze.
"He was meddling," he replied. "And - I sodding hate the sight of him," he added, muttering, and Angel shook his head with a roll of his eyes.
"I didn't come here to pick a quarrel," he then assured and Spike's eyes once more grew tough as nails as he took a step forward.
"Watch it, love," he said, gaze still locked in the other vampire's though Buffy turned her head to look at the one speaking. "It's when he gets that soothe tone in his voice that you know you'd do best at watching your back."
"Yeah, I guess the years we spent on the road were a tough lesson, even though you DID learn it?" Angel grumbled, taking a slow step forward as well.
"I didn't spend those years with you, I spent them with that demon resting just below the surface," Spike shot.
"I think I remember just as well."
"I bet you do," Spike nodded. "So what makes you more deserving in life than me?" he then added and the meaning of those words had Angel stiffen before a cold smile graced his lips.
"Life? Now, there's a philosophy all in its own, isn't there? Do we live, or merely exist?"
"Us vampires?" Spike asked, reflecting the smile of the other and the latter nodded. "Do you wanna have one of those tedious discussions, mate? Bloody hell, let's give the Slayer a treat? Eh? Be like the good old times."
Buffy swallowed. The air was moving with the two creatures, rippling from their words.
"All I'm saying is - what defines us? Our actions, I'd say," the dark- haired stated and Spike tilted his head slightly to one side before he retorted:
"And you've had about a hundred years worth more experience than me in the field of 'existing'," making Angel smile again.
"But you forget," he replied, "that over the past one hundred I haven't killed a single human being."
"That makes us even, then," Spike nodded.
"Drop the act," Angel murmured. "Tell her."
Buffy frowned, deeply this time, turning her eyes on her lover. He gave her a glance and a dismissing head shake, but he could hear her heart beating hard in her chest now. He could have killed Angel right then and there; in that moment it was all he wanted to do. If there was any being on this planet that could crash whatever it was that was forming between him and this woman - it was his grandsire.
"Stop this," Spike tried, eyes still in Angel's.
"I'll leave once you've told her," the latter promised. "Tell her whatever it is that you're planning and I'll leave the staking to her."
"Is that how easily you say good-bye, brother?" Spike wondered, his voice all but surprised and Angel smiled again, this time bitterly.
"It's how much I know you're 'love' is worth," he then replied, adding a low: "Brother."
They stared at each other, the moment dragging its feet in the dust of the floor, and then they both moved forward again. This time Buffy was faster than either of them and once again she was in between them, pushing them away from each other. Both stumbled, Angel almost tumbling over a sarcophagus standing behind him, and Spike going back-first into the kitchen counter.
"Okay, that's enough!" she said, voice firm and they looked at her as she continued: "I see one more display of testosterone poisoning and I will personally put you BOTH in the hospital... Anybody think I'm exaggerating?" she finished, looking first at Spike and then at Angel.
They didn't respond and she took it as a sign that they had gotten the message.
Pausing for a moment to try and straighten out the situation she then walked up to Spike. He met her gaze and she drew a small breath, knowing that what she was about to ask of him was something that would be extremely difficult for him to tolerate.
"I need to speak with Angel for a minute," she finally got out and she could see the flicker of impatience in those two blue eyes digging into hers searchingly before he ground his teeth.
"Why?" he asked and she gave him a look.
"Spike, please," she murmured and he observed her for a few moments before his expression finally softened slightly.
"If that's what you want I bloody reckon I can't stop you anyways," he then muttered with a small shrug, about to turn away from her when she slid her hand into his and stopped him, catching his gaze again she held it steadily.
"Thank you," she said and he smiled a weak smile, pulling his hand away from hers and walking into the kitchen area.
Buffy turned her head to Angel and gave him a meaningful look to follow, and then she walked up to the doors leading out of the crypt. He did as she wanted and soon they faced each other in the cold light of the moon, the stars sprinkling the night with their everlasting beauty.
Had she not been in this predicament she might have actually enjoyed them. Now all she could focus on was the fact that this was probably ruining a part of her life she wasn't sure had even been truly formed yet, and that someone who meant the world to her was responsible for it. She didn't want to listen to what she suspected was going to come out of Angel's mouth, but knew that she had to.
"Exactly what was that - in there - going to prove? Huh?" she asked, the aggravation becoming clearer with every word, even to her.
Angel merely eyed her in silence and she shook her head at him, throwing her arms out to her sides before she began pacing before him.
"Fine, don't tell me. You don't have to, if you don't want to," she sighed, stopping and running her hands through her hair.
"You seemed torn up in L.A," Angel finally stated. "Like something was bugging you..."
"So, what - you thought you'd come here and de-bug me?" she asked and he smiled a little. "What made you think thrashing Spike would help me in that regard?" she added, leaning against the wall of the crypt and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, for starters, I'd have figured that to be the best part of YOUR day," he replied. "Up until now, that is."
She blinked, then sighed for the second time.
"Yeah," she grumbled.
"He's not good for you," Angel stated and she deterred from meeting his gaze. "You know he's not."
She didn't respond for a long minute and then she looked up and into his eyes as she replied:
"Not always."
"And that's why I came," Angel said.
She furrowed her brow, unfolding her arms and straightening her posture before she inquired:
"What gives you the right then, to tell me what to do?"
"I came because I was worried, I came 'cause I wanted to make things better..."
"This is NOT a good start," she muttered.
"You don't know him, Buffy," Angel tried and she shook her head again, disbelieving. "You don't know what he's done, what he's capable of..."
"Oh, I don't know?!" she practically exclaimed. "I've seen him do things that should have me hating him for the rest of my life! I know what he is, Angel..."
"But do you know WHO he is?" the vampire retorted. "Do you know how he used to get himself into pistol fights and duels simply for the fun of it? Has he told you about all the children? The families? The innocents, Buffy."
"YOU have killed, just like he has!" she said.
"Yes," Angel nodded. "And I know what it does to a person who can actually feel something to remember, to regret... to repent every single day... I swear to you, you can't trust him. He has no emotions in him. Whatever he's doing with you, he's doing it for himself."
She looked at him now, seemingly taking the words in and then she said:
"He's changed."
Angel stared at her, trepidation evident on his features before he took a step closer.
"I never would've thought he'd be able to get to you," he said and she blinked. "Do you have any idea how many women he has seduced? How many women he has TURNED? He's a master when it comes to this sort of play, and I promise you, you're nothing but a piece of whatever puzzle he's designing here!"
She looked away from him and he adopted an understanding expression as he added:
"This isn't a new concept, is it?"
At first she didn't know what to answer him, but then she met his gaze once more and said:
"I don't need you to save me from my own choices."
"I didn't say that you did," he shook his head. "But I wanted to help you make the right one now. I don't know why you've let your guard down... you just can't let it stay that way."
"I can't help the way I feel... when I'm with him," she mumbled and Angel's eyes widened slightly at this revelation.
"You have to help it," he said. "'Cause whatever he's showing you - it isn't real."
"Please..." she murmured. "Try to understand..."
"What is there to understand?!" he exclaimed and she almost jerked at the harsh sound of it. "He's set his mind at having you on your knees before him, and you practically ARE! I... I can't stand to see you like this."
"Like how?" she wondered.
"Haven't you heard what you've been saying? You're defending him, Buffy! How did it ever go this far?!"
"Angel, I know what you see is really different from what I see," she replied, surprised at how calm she was. "I've already been over everything you've just told me a number of times over the past month and every time I've gotten the same answer out of myself: there's no use to worry over not yet spilt milk. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. If the day comes that sees me face Spike in a not so friendly way, I'll be able to handle it," she finished and Angel looked at her for what felt like a very long time before he nodded.
"You really care about him, don't you?" he asked, voice lowered and she wasn't sure how to reply to that question, so she gave a small smile and the vampire returned it tentatively. "Yeah... I saw how you looked at him."
"Did you notice how HE looked at ME?" she inquired and at that his smile turned into a smirk before he grew serious.
"One word of advice," he said. "Don't trust him too well. He's brilliant at this."
She looked at him, then smiled before she asked:
"Wasn't that more like nine words of advice?"
"In two sentences," he nodded, smiling back before he added: "I'll see you."
She nodded.
"Yeah, you will."
They parted, Angel walking off into the cemetery and Buffy proceeding up to the door of the crypt. Pushing it open she walked inside and through the second one before she stepped onto the floor. Spike wasn't there and her heart began to sink.
What now?
**************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** ******************
Hey y'all! I'm annoyed. Our kitten stepped all over my laptop and now Windows is all WEIRD! And I don't know how to fix it. Great, huh? ;) Don't worry, it won't stop the next chapter. Hehe. Hope you liked this, though...
Special thanks to LizDarcy :), qattaca (glass of water?) ;), wol116 (no, not all the way to Chosen!) :), Erica *smile*, Mel (awww!) :), Pine *grin*, Andi :):), Dreamzone (well and *lol* and thank you!), Captain *hehe*, Dark Raven *smmmile*, Rachel *grin*, Maribel (hope this quenched your desire and thanks for the vote!) and Carol (great to hear from you and so happy you're still liking it, about posting on another site it IS hosted on vampires- kiss.net - an awesome site, go check it out there if you hit trouble with ff.net, k?) :) - thanks a LOT for ALL the wonderful comments and thoughts! Love to hear from you!
A.M.L, Annie.
Forty: Walk Away
By Annie
2003-06-17
**************************************************************************
Day Thirty-Six.
8.42 p.m.
Angel stumbled to the side from the fist connecting with his jaw. He took the second blow, averting it with one arm and then he retaliated by kicking his leg out, hitting the bleached blonde in the center of his torso and having him fly two yards back; almost crashing into the counter, but missing it by a mere inch.
Spike was on his feet the next instant, throwing himself forward and making Angel tumble backward as the formers shoulder connected with his ribs. For a minute or two they were simply pummeling each other on the floor; both taking hits to their faces and Angel beginning to bleed from a cut just below his hair line, Spike from a wound on his right cheek.
Angel suddenly laughed and they took a breather as Spike shoved him into the hard floor before getting off of him and to his feet.
"What's so bloody amusing?" he grumbled, Angel following his lead and standing as well; brushing the dirt off his black attire the older gave a shrug.
"You haven't changed," he then replied and Spike cocked an eyebrow. "In all the time I've known you, you've never changed. Are you saying now's any different?"
"Yeah, I bleeding well am," Spike stated; a tone of desperation in his voice which he couldn't cover up and Angel observed him for a moment, then said:
"She doesn't love you. You HAVE to know that. I do, Spike. I know HER and she would never..."
"Crossing a line," Spike warned with a glare of mixed emotions.
Rage, pain, disbelief and knowledge; knowledge of the fact that Angel DID know her, better than he did.
"You should walk away," Angel nodded, as though he knew what was stirring the others mind; then he added: "before something happens that'll make you hurt her."
"I could never..."
"Please," the former interrupted sarcastically. "Don't try this act on me, I taught it to you, for crying out loud! There's something you want from her, and I'll be damned if I sit back and let you destroy her life."
"No, mate," Spike shook his head, "that's what YOU do. Mind games and sick, twisted pranks have always been YOUR bloody calling card, NOT mine."
Angel looked away.
"I can't control Angelus," he murmured and Spike took a step forward, then said:
"And I can't deny how she makes me feel."
At that Angel turned his eyes back in the others.
"I don't think I'M the one crossing lines here," he then grumbled and Spike huffed.
"I'm not you," he stated. "I never was... no matter how I bloody tried," he added, voice rather lowered and Angel blinked. "All that's in the past," Spike continued. "All of it... I'm willing to put it all behind me."
"For her," Angel filled in and Spike straightened his posture slightly, as a confirmation. "You're a fool if you think you're what she needs," Angel grumbled. "A wolf in sheep's clothing." Spike gave him another glare, right before Angel added: "Over my dead body."
Moving forward he placed a perfect punch to Spike's right cheek, hitting the already soar wound and the younger let out a cry before clenching his own fingers into fists - and so the fight was once again on.
***
8.54 p.m.
Okay, stay cool, Buffy thought. Don't let him know how much you've... missed him. How... weird it was to sleep alone last night. How you've been pretty much thinking about him every two seconds since...
The sound of a brawl - furniture much likely being turned over as well as body parts being hit by other body parts - made her pause for a second, staring at the doors of his crypt which she was now facing, thinking that there was no way these sounds could be coming from where they were obviously coming from - behind those very doors, and then she moved forward. Pushing the first one open she raced through the other, coming to a sharp halt in the doorway as she stared at the scene before her.
The two delivering the punches didn't notice her presence and she practically gaped. Not only because someone whom she hadn't expected to see in a long time was fighting with her current... But because this current was seemingly furious over something. She hadn't seen either one of them this angry in forever and finally she stepped forward and rushed up to them yelling:
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"
Getting her arms between them and then pushing them harshly away from the other she looked first at Angel and then at Spike with a frown of dislike.
"Would you mind telling me exactly WHAT is going on?" she asked both of them, again looking from one to the other.
"Bloody hell!" Spike suddenly exclaimed and she almost jerked before she turned her head back to him questioningly. He took a step forward, reaching up his hands and gently brushing his fingers around the deep cut in her forehead. "What happened? Are you okay?"
She couldn't help but smile a little at his obvious concern, looking up at him she then nodded.
"I'm just great, apart from the massive head ache," she assured and he furrowed his brow.
"Did Adam do this?" he asked and she frowned again, wondering. Spike clenched his jaws together tight and stepped away from her. "I saw him earlier... he told me that he'd had a run-in with you... Had no bloody idea it was a heads-to-heads sodding run-in. If I had, I swear he wouldn't be standing right now!"
Angel suddenly smirked and when Spike saw it he glared at him.
"What is it now?" he demanded and the former once more shrugged nonchalantly.
"You've gotten better at this," he merely replied and Spike was about two tenths of a second from throwing himself over his grandsire again when Buffy slid her fingers cautiously over his wrist and further across the back of his hand, calmingly.
Spike looked down at her and then turned with a hardened expression on his face, though his fingers lightly graced hers as well before he walked a few steps away.
"So," she said, "what started this?"
"A bite from Drusilla?" Angel quipped and Spike turned back around.
"Buffy, I bloody SWEAR..." he began, the annoyance making his voice unsteady, but she shook her head.
"Have you got a better answer?" she then wondered and he gave Angel an icy look before he met Buffy's gaze.
"He was meddling," he replied. "And - I sodding hate the sight of him," he added, muttering, and Angel shook his head with a roll of his eyes.
"I didn't come here to pick a quarrel," he then assured and Spike's eyes once more grew tough as nails as he took a step forward.
"Watch it, love," he said, gaze still locked in the other vampire's though Buffy turned her head to look at the one speaking. "It's when he gets that soothe tone in his voice that you know you'd do best at watching your back."
"Yeah, I guess the years we spent on the road were a tough lesson, even though you DID learn it?" Angel grumbled, taking a slow step forward as well.
"I didn't spend those years with you, I spent them with that demon resting just below the surface," Spike shot.
"I think I remember just as well."
"I bet you do," Spike nodded. "So what makes you more deserving in life than me?" he then added and the meaning of those words had Angel stiffen before a cold smile graced his lips.
"Life? Now, there's a philosophy all in its own, isn't there? Do we live, or merely exist?"
"Us vampires?" Spike asked, reflecting the smile of the other and the latter nodded. "Do you wanna have one of those tedious discussions, mate? Bloody hell, let's give the Slayer a treat? Eh? Be like the good old times."
Buffy swallowed. The air was moving with the two creatures, rippling from their words.
"All I'm saying is - what defines us? Our actions, I'd say," the dark- haired stated and Spike tilted his head slightly to one side before he retorted:
"And you've had about a hundred years worth more experience than me in the field of 'existing'," making Angel smile again.
"But you forget," he replied, "that over the past one hundred I haven't killed a single human being."
"That makes us even, then," Spike nodded.
"Drop the act," Angel murmured. "Tell her."
Buffy frowned, deeply this time, turning her eyes on her lover. He gave her a glance and a dismissing head shake, but he could hear her heart beating hard in her chest now. He could have killed Angel right then and there; in that moment it was all he wanted to do. If there was any being on this planet that could crash whatever it was that was forming between him and this woman - it was his grandsire.
"Stop this," Spike tried, eyes still in Angel's.
"I'll leave once you've told her," the latter promised. "Tell her whatever it is that you're planning and I'll leave the staking to her."
"Is that how easily you say good-bye, brother?" Spike wondered, his voice all but surprised and Angel smiled again, this time bitterly.
"It's how much I know you're 'love' is worth," he then replied, adding a low: "Brother."
They stared at each other, the moment dragging its feet in the dust of the floor, and then they both moved forward again. This time Buffy was faster than either of them and once again she was in between them, pushing them away from each other. Both stumbled, Angel almost tumbling over a sarcophagus standing behind him, and Spike going back-first into the kitchen counter.
"Okay, that's enough!" she said, voice firm and they looked at her as she continued: "I see one more display of testosterone poisoning and I will personally put you BOTH in the hospital... Anybody think I'm exaggerating?" she finished, looking first at Spike and then at Angel.
They didn't respond and she took it as a sign that they had gotten the message.
Pausing for a moment to try and straighten out the situation she then walked up to Spike. He met her gaze and she drew a small breath, knowing that what she was about to ask of him was something that would be extremely difficult for him to tolerate.
"I need to speak with Angel for a minute," she finally got out and she could see the flicker of impatience in those two blue eyes digging into hers searchingly before he ground his teeth.
"Why?" he asked and she gave him a look.
"Spike, please," she murmured and he observed her for a few moments before his expression finally softened slightly.
"If that's what you want I bloody reckon I can't stop you anyways," he then muttered with a small shrug, about to turn away from her when she slid her hand into his and stopped him, catching his gaze again she held it steadily.
"Thank you," she said and he smiled a weak smile, pulling his hand away from hers and walking into the kitchen area.
Buffy turned her head to Angel and gave him a meaningful look to follow, and then she walked up to the doors leading out of the crypt. He did as she wanted and soon they faced each other in the cold light of the moon, the stars sprinkling the night with their everlasting beauty.
Had she not been in this predicament she might have actually enjoyed them. Now all she could focus on was the fact that this was probably ruining a part of her life she wasn't sure had even been truly formed yet, and that someone who meant the world to her was responsible for it. She didn't want to listen to what she suspected was going to come out of Angel's mouth, but knew that she had to.
"Exactly what was that - in there - going to prove? Huh?" she asked, the aggravation becoming clearer with every word, even to her.
Angel merely eyed her in silence and she shook her head at him, throwing her arms out to her sides before she began pacing before him.
"Fine, don't tell me. You don't have to, if you don't want to," she sighed, stopping and running her hands through her hair.
"You seemed torn up in L.A," Angel finally stated. "Like something was bugging you..."
"So, what - you thought you'd come here and de-bug me?" she asked and he smiled a little. "What made you think thrashing Spike would help me in that regard?" she added, leaning against the wall of the crypt and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, for starters, I'd have figured that to be the best part of YOUR day," he replied. "Up until now, that is."
She blinked, then sighed for the second time.
"Yeah," she grumbled.
"He's not good for you," Angel stated and she deterred from meeting his gaze. "You know he's not."
She didn't respond for a long minute and then she looked up and into his eyes as she replied:
"Not always."
"And that's why I came," Angel said.
She furrowed her brow, unfolding her arms and straightening her posture before she inquired:
"What gives you the right then, to tell me what to do?"
"I came because I was worried, I came 'cause I wanted to make things better..."
"This is NOT a good start," she muttered.
"You don't know him, Buffy," Angel tried and she shook her head again, disbelieving. "You don't know what he's done, what he's capable of..."
"Oh, I don't know?!" she practically exclaimed. "I've seen him do things that should have me hating him for the rest of my life! I know what he is, Angel..."
"But do you know WHO he is?" the vampire retorted. "Do you know how he used to get himself into pistol fights and duels simply for the fun of it? Has he told you about all the children? The families? The innocents, Buffy."
"YOU have killed, just like he has!" she said.
"Yes," Angel nodded. "And I know what it does to a person who can actually feel something to remember, to regret... to repent every single day... I swear to you, you can't trust him. He has no emotions in him. Whatever he's doing with you, he's doing it for himself."
She looked at him now, seemingly taking the words in and then she said:
"He's changed."
Angel stared at her, trepidation evident on his features before he took a step closer.
"I never would've thought he'd be able to get to you," he said and she blinked. "Do you have any idea how many women he has seduced? How many women he has TURNED? He's a master when it comes to this sort of play, and I promise you, you're nothing but a piece of whatever puzzle he's designing here!"
She looked away from him and he adopted an understanding expression as he added:
"This isn't a new concept, is it?"
At first she didn't know what to answer him, but then she met his gaze once more and said:
"I don't need you to save me from my own choices."
"I didn't say that you did," he shook his head. "But I wanted to help you make the right one now. I don't know why you've let your guard down... you just can't let it stay that way."
"I can't help the way I feel... when I'm with him," she mumbled and Angel's eyes widened slightly at this revelation.
"You have to help it," he said. "'Cause whatever he's showing you - it isn't real."
"Please..." she murmured. "Try to understand..."
"What is there to understand?!" he exclaimed and she almost jerked at the harsh sound of it. "He's set his mind at having you on your knees before him, and you practically ARE! I... I can't stand to see you like this."
"Like how?" she wondered.
"Haven't you heard what you've been saying? You're defending him, Buffy! How did it ever go this far?!"
"Angel, I know what you see is really different from what I see," she replied, surprised at how calm she was. "I've already been over everything you've just told me a number of times over the past month and every time I've gotten the same answer out of myself: there's no use to worry over not yet spilt milk. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. If the day comes that sees me face Spike in a not so friendly way, I'll be able to handle it," she finished and Angel looked at her for what felt like a very long time before he nodded.
"You really care about him, don't you?" he asked, voice lowered and she wasn't sure how to reply to that question, so she gave a small smile and the vampire returned it tentatively. "Yeah... I saw how you looked at him."
"Did you notice how HE looked at ME?" she inquired and at that his smile turned into a smirk before he grew serious.
"One word of advice," he said. "Don't trust him too well. He's brilliant at this."
She looked at him, then smiled before she asked:
"Wasn't that more like nine words of advice?"
"In two sentences," he nodded, smiling back before he added: "I'll see you."
She nodded.
"Yeah, you will."
They parted, Angel walking off into the cemetery and Buffy proceeding up to the door of the crypt. Pushing it open she walked inside and through the second one before she stepped onto the floor. Spike wasn't there and her heart began to sink.
What now?
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Hey y'all! I'm annoyed. Our kitten stepped all over my laptop and now Windows is all WEIRD! And I don't know how to fix it. Great, huh? ;) Don't worry, it won't stop the next chapter. Hehe. Hope you liked this, though...
Special thanks to LizDarcy :), qattaca (glass of water?) ;), wol116 (no, not all the way to Chosen!) :), Erica *smile*, Mel (awww!) :), Pine *grin*, Andi :):), Dreamzone (well and *lol* and thank you!), Captain *hehe*, Dark Raven *smmmile*, Rachel *grin*, Maribel (hope this quenched your desire and thanks for the vote!) and Carol (great to hear from you and so happy you're still liking it, about posting on another site it IS hosted on vampires- kiss.net - an awesome site, go check it out there if you hit trouble with ff.net, k?) :) - thanks a LOT for ALL the wonderful comments and thoughts! Love to hear from you!
A.M.L, Annie.