A/N: I'm sorry that this took me so long to update. I didn't mean for it to
take this long but I have a lot going on in my life and I didn't have very much
time to write. A big thank you to anyone who sent me feedback on the first
chapterJ
20 minutes later Buffy sat in her stateroom running her fingers up and down
the cross that Angel had given her. 'I should probably try and get some sleep,'
she told herself but she didn't take any moves in that direction. Her stomach
still growled with hunger, but Buffy continued to ignore it as she studied the
cross.
"Why would he give it
to me unless he knew what line of work I was in?" she asked her empty
stateroom. Buffy frowned when she didn't get an answer even though she knew
that it was impossible to get one. "But how could he know?" she asked
again and was no closer to an answer than she had been the last time she had
asked the empty room a question.
Buffy sighed in frustration
and flopped down on her bed so that she was squinting at the ceiling. "Who
does he think he is anyway?" she snapped angrily. "All handsome and
thinking he's such a gentleman when in reality he isn't making any sense at
all."
Buffy glared at the perfect
cross that she was still holding tightly in her hand. Try as she might she
still couldn't quite get his deep brown eyes out of her head. "It probably
doesn't work anyway," she reasoned. "It's probably a fake
cross." Although, even if such a thing were possible she knew that this
was the real thing.
With a scowl she flung the
beautiful cross across the room. It hit the wall on the other side with a
rather large bang and made a little dent in the wall. "See, I knew that
this ship wasn't perfect! Take that Giles!"
"And now your talking
to yourself, Buffy. You do know that they lock people up for that right?"
Buffy slid off her bed and went over to the cross that was just as annoying as
its former owner. Of course, *it* hadn't been at all damaged in the fall. She
picked it up testing its weight in her hand. With a sigh Buffy placed it down
gently on the little table beside her bed and prepared to get ready for bed
even though she knew she wouldn't sleep at all that night. And that was all
Angel's fault, too.
"Damn you, Angel! Damn
you and your perfect mahogany soulful eyes!"
Buffy groaned loudly in
frustration as she slipped on her nightdress and got between the covers of her
bed. 'Soulful,' she thought as his eyes filled her mind once again. 'Why does
that sound like the perfect way to describe him?'
Thursday April 11, 1912
"So, Buffy, what were
you up to last night?" Joyce fixed her daughter with a piercing stare.
Buffy shifted uncomfortably
and stared very hard at the mashed potatoes on the plate in front of her,
"Nothing…."
Joyce frowned and took a
sip of coffee; "I don't appreciate you disappearing like that, Buffy. I
came down here last night to enjoy a nice quiet dinner with my daughter, who as
it turned out was not there. Who also didn't bother to check in with me at any
point during said evening."
Buffy gulped guiltily and
wished for not the first time that she could just tell her mother about her
sacred duty. "I'm sorry… it won't happen again."
"It certainly will
not," Joyce said disapprovingly.
"And we're having a
nice mother-daughter lunch right now, aren't we?"
Buffy's mother sighed,
"That isn't the point."
Buffy had no answer for
that. She closed her eyes and unconsciously fingered the cross that she was
wearing tucked under her shirt. She wasn't exactly sure what made her put it
own this morning. Buffy had decided last night that she didn't like the cross
and that she didn't like accepting gifts from strangers. Which was exactly who
Angel was, a stranger, someone she didn't know or care about.
'Then why do you keep
looking around the dinning hall for him?' some small part of her asked. 'I'm
not looking for him, I'm just merely glancing around admiring the beauty of the
place,' she reasoned. Except she knew that was a lie because she couldn't have
cared less about what the dining hall looked like. And she was wearing the
cross because it made her feel safer in this big unknown world.
Buffy sighed. She hated to
admit it, but she had fallen for this stranger. Hard. 'But that's crazy because
I've only had one conversation with him,' she admonished. 'Then why can't you
get him out of your head, Summers?'
"Buffy are you
listening to me?"
Buffy forced her mind back
to the conversation at hand, "Pardon?"
Her mother shook her head;
"I don't even know why I bother sometimes. If we're having lunch together
you could at least try and pay attention to me."
Buffy groaned. This was
going to be a *very* long meal.
Angel paced the dark closed
interior of his stateroom until he was dizzy in the head. He had to be more
careful. What was he thinking telling the slayer his name? It had been a risk.
Too big of a risk. If she told her watcher, he may recognize it, and that would
be the end of him.
Angel sat down on his bed
tapping his foot nervously. Seeing the girl last night had effected him more
than he thought it would. He remembered very clearly every slope of her body
and the way that her hair had shimmered in the moonlight. But most of all he
remembered looking into her eyes, she had made it seem as if she was freezing
time with those eyes.
This was getting dangerous.
Buffy was the slayer. Angel could not let himself get close to her. She was
above a creature like himself. And, yet, he couldn't help but feel like it was
too late, and that fate was already out of their hands.
Groaning half out of
frustration and half out of desire, Angel counted down the seconds until he
would be able to see her again.
"So, Buffy, anything that you need to share
with me?"
Buffy frowned and looked
into Giles's worried face, "Huh?"
Giles sighed,
"Anything happen while you were on patrol last night?"
Buffy shook her head and
tried to get her thoughts back to the present. She had dragged Giles out on the
promenade and they were currently hanging over the side of the boat watching
the water flash by. She had told him that she wanted to talk to him, but mostly
she had been daydreaming.
"Are you sure that
this is the best place to talk about this?" Buffy asked, glancing around
at the many people currently strolling the deck.
"I think that you're
avoiding my question, Buffy"
Buffy looked away from her
watcher and out at the vast sea. It looked so empty and peaceful. Buffy
wondered what it would be like to just float away with the current and
disappear. Leaving all her confusion behind forever.
"Have you ever been in
love?" Buffy questioned softly turning her head to look at Giles for his
reaction.
Giles did a double take. To
say that he hadn't been expecting the question would have been the
understatement of the year. "I…. yes… pardon?"
"Love, Giles,"
Buffy repeated. "You couldn't have been a watcher your whole life. Did you
ever fall in love?"
Giles pushed his glasses up
his nose and tried very hard to hide his surprise. "Yes, well, contrary to
what you may think, I was young once and I did on occasion do some
courting."
Buffy shook her head.
"That's not what I mean. Did you ever fall in love? Real love? Where your
whole world was suddenly shattered because someone that you truly cared about
was in it?"
Giles looked into Buffy's
eyes and he could suddenly see how important this was to her. Why, he didn't
know. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to.
"Once," he
answered trying not to let the pain show.
Buffy smiled
sympathetically, "Who was she? You don't have to tell me if it's too
personal."
"It's all right. Her
name was Jenny Calender. And she… she was everything that I could have asked
for in a woman. Smart, funny, charming, beautiful, I've never meant anyone
quite like her, and I don't think that I ever will again." Giles stopped
and with an expression of pain looked out at the expanse ocean remembering once
again how little he mattered in the space of all this greatness.
Buffy laid a comforting
hand on his arm, "What happened?"
Giles didn't look at her
and Buffy knew that he was somewhere else, reliving another time. "She
died. She was murdered by a vampire the day before I was supposed to take my
test to become a watcher. Jenny was supposed to be having dinner with me, but I
told her I needed the evening to myself for study. She was alone that day when
the vampire found her. I think about what I could have done to save her
everyday. If I had been there… it might have made the difference."
Buffy took a shaky breath,
"I'm sorry."
Giles managed to pull
himself together, but when he spoke, Buffy was pretty sure that his voice was a
little husky. "How did patrol go last night?"
Buffy was a little
surprised at the quick change of subject, but she figured that it must be
painful for Giles to recall those times. Her heart broke for the man that was a
father to her. She never knew that he had suffered so much pain. Buffy wondered
what else her watcher had gone through that he hadn't bothered on telling her.
"Pretty much
uneventful. No vampires. Although, I did run into a steward, I think I nearly
sent him into cardiac arrest." Buffy conveniently left out the part where
that dark handsome man entered the scene and changed her life with one
conversation.
Giles nodded, "That's
good. You'll get some much needed rest."
"Great," Buffy
muttered, "just what I need."
"Pardon?"
Buffy smiled and surprised
her baffled watcher by pulling him in for a quick hug. "Thank you," she
whispered before taking off.
Buffy looked around the
room in awe. To work off some of the tension that she felt in her muscles, she
had decided to try out the exercise room that she had heard so much about. She
was very impressed by the pool that was actually indoors. If inside the ship
counted as indoors that was….
As nice as the pool looked,
Buffy was more interested in the machines. She wasn't sure what they could do,
but they seemed like they might be able to provide her a nice workout. She looked
around for someone that could help her out. She was a little surprised when she
found Xander in a corner staring at her with wide eyes.
Buffy felt her face light
up a little. She was still a little embarrassed from the night before. Xander's
eyes, on the other hand, seemed to light up when she caught his eye. He waved
her over and Buffy reluctantly walked towards him.
"Hi," he greeted
a little breathlessly.
Buffy gave him her very
well practiced "who me?" smile. "Hi."
Xander gave her a goofy grin.
"So, what's a pretty girl like you doing here?"
"Actually I was
wondering if you could help me figure out how to use some of these
machines," Buffy answered.
"That's what I'm here
for," Xander said with a nod of his head. "Oh, I, uh, think you
dropped this last night. When you kind of attacked me."
Buffy suppressed a groan as
she accepted the stake that he was holding up for her. "Right…" Buffy
paused trying to think up some excuse, "Dangerous! Protection! Yeah, it's
dangerous for a girl like me without protection."
Xander looked at her
suspiciously, not believing her explanation for a minute. "So, what
machine would you like to try first?" he asked deciding it was best to
change the subject. For the time being, anyway.
Buffy sighed in relief.
"One that works?"
"Well, there's the
stationary bikes, and the rowing machines. Both of which are very
challenging."
Buffy shrugged, "Yes,
but what are they?"
Xander laughed and showed
her how to use them. He was impressed with how fast she caught on to the idea.
That was nothing compared to how surprised he was when she had the machines on
their highest setting and still hadn't broken into a sweat after an hour. He
had never seen anyone—granted he only had a day of experience—that strong.
A while later Buffy
finished off, gave Xander a smile, and walked away with Xander's eyes on her
the whole time. Xander blinked a couple of times. There was something different
about this girl. Something strange was going on and he intended on finding out.
Plus, Xander was afraid that he was falling in love.
Buffy paced the deck at sunset. To Giles's bewilderment she had insisted on
patrolling. Actually, she wasn't really patrolling, but more looking for a
particular handsome stranger. At the same time, she was trying to convince
herself that she hadn't done a thorough enough job last night.
"Ahh, Buffy!"
Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin as the strong, but familiar British voice
whispered through the air. She sighed in annoyance and turned to face her
*very* smug watcher.
"A slayer must always
be prepared for anything. She must be on her guard at all times not matter
what—"
"Yeah, yeah. I've
heard the lecture. Spare me, Giles," Buffy snapped. "What I want to
know is what your doing here, since before you pretty much called me crazy for
wanting to go on patrol."
"Actually, I looked
into that, and it seems that I had been a little forward in making that
assumption." Giles admitted.
Buffy closed her eyes. Was
she ever going to get to see Angel again? Apparently not. 'Not that you want to
see him,' Buffy reminded herself quickly. "Really? How exciting!"
Buffy said sarcastically.
Giles glared, "It
seems that I have found that I may have been incorrect."
"Incorrect?
Incorrect?? How???" Buffy yelled.
"It seems that a
vampire may have boarded this ship after all," Giles stuttered.
Buffy groaned. "This
is just wonderful," she mumbled.
"Pardon me?"
Buffy sighed,
"Nothing. Are you sure that there is a vampire on this ship? I mean,
before you seemed pretty sure that nothing that couldn't survive sunlight
boarded on last night."
Giles shrugged suddenly
looking fairly uncomfortable. "Ahh, well, everyone makes mistakes. One of
the stewards had their blood drowned late last night."
Buffy smacked her forehead,
"Now you tell me?"
"May I point out that
*you* were the one patrolling at this time last night and not I?"
"So," Buffy said
quickly, "where did you say this vampire was?"
"The officer was ahh,
drained, over near the steerage section of the ship. I think that it would be
wise to start looking there." Giles said.
Buffy raised her eyebrows,
"You have *no* idea where our little vampire is, do you?"
Giles made a stuttering
sound and seemed about to say something when he decided that it just wasn't
worth the effort. Without another word Giles turned around and began walking
toward what Buffy presumed was the steerage section of the ship.
Buffy bit her lip and after
thinking it over for a couple of seconds, took out her trusty stake and
followed her watcher. The chances of seeing Angel seemed to be getting slimmer
by the moment.
After Giles and Buffy had
disappeared from view, the steward that had been hiding behind one of the
lifeboats, finally dared to come out of hiding. His eyes went wide when he
thought about all the new information that he'd learned. Those people had to be
crazy.
"What the hell is
going on here???" Xander muttered before following the people he had just
thought of as crazy a minute before. Besides, saving Buffy from that weird
Giles-guy would make him look manly.
"GILES!"
"What?"
Buffy gave the vampire a
roundhouse kick and spared a quick glance at her watcher. "STAKE!"
"Right." Giles
reached into his pocket and after what seemed like hours tossed Buffy a nice
pointy piece of wood.
Without blinking Buffy took
the stake and plunged it into the vampire's heart. With a scowl she tried to
dust off her clothes, even though experience had taught her that vampire just
didn't come out.
Giles sighed.
"What's wrong
*now*?" Buffy demanded.
"That vampire took you
almost five minutes to kill. A slayer should only take a tenth of that time.
Who knows what other portent evil might be lurking in the darkness, ready to attack
at any moment—"
"Hey! Don't you get
points off for not being ready with that stake when I need you?" Buffy
whined.
Giles didn't even miss a
beat, "Yes, well, if you hadn't let that vampire take you by surprise your
first stake wouldn't have gone overboard."
"You were the one who
didn't know where fang guy was going to be! It wasn't my fault that he caught
me totally unprepared!"
"A slayer must be on
her guard at all times. You should be able to sense vampires before you see
them."
Buffy shrugged,
"Whatever. I came. I slayed. Can I go now?"
"Buffy, you don't seem
to understand. This wasn't some routine kill. This was on a great ship filled
with people. At any moment someone could have came upon you and that vampire.
Then what would you have done?"
"I guess we're about
to find out," Buffy said softly.
Giles blinked at her and
then frowned when he saw what she was looking at. Willow, and a boy that Giles
presumed must be Xander from the description Buffy had given him, were coming
towards slayer and watcher with wide eyes.
"Did," Willow
gulped, "did that guy just explode into a pile of dust?"
"Am I crazy?"
Xander asked in a high-pitched strangled voice.
Buffy sighed, "It's a long story."
"So vampires are real?" Xander exclaimed in disbelief.
"And Buffy has to fight them?" Willow asked
Giles nodded, "Yes."
"Wow," Willow and Xander said in unison.
"I can't believe that this is happening," Willow said.
"Tell me about it. This can't be real. Vampires *aren't* real."
Xander looked panicked.
Buffy closed her eyes. Giles and her had taken the two baffled friends into
the first class lounge to explain what had happened. According to Xander, he
had heard she and Giles talking and decided to follow, picking Willow up on the
way. They hadn't seen the whole fight, but they had seen enough to know that
the world didn't work the way that they believed it did.
Buffy groaned, she didn't want to have to deal with this. Her duty was
sacred. Sacred. At first, she had tried to pretend that what they had seen
hadn't really been a vampire, but they wouldn't have any of it. And now Xander
was denying it!
Buffy felt a pang of guilt. She remembered quite clearly how she had handle
being told that vampires were real and that *she* was chosen to fight them. She
knew that she had to be patient with them and make them understand that they
weren't to interfere with her job. Plus, Buffy couldn't totally ignore that
little part of her mind that was hoping that after knowing her secret they
would still want to continue being her friends. Buffy liked Willow and Xander.
A lot.
"Xander I know what you're going through because I went through it,
too. There is this great evil in the world that most people have no idea about
and I have to do everything in my power to protect them. And I really hate to
do this, but I have to go back out there. There could be more of them out there
on the ship, and I can't take the risk of anyone else getting killed."
Buffy got up and twirled a stake in her hand.
Xander got up, too. "You can't go out there alone."
Buffy smiled, a little annoyed, if not touched by his faithfulness to her.
"I've been doing this for over a year now, Xander, I know how to take care
of myself."
"Yeah, but you're just…you're just… just a…"
"Girl?" Buffy offered with false brightness.
Xander looked a little sheepish, "Yeah."
"I'm not just any girl. I'm the chosen one."
"But…"
"NO! Stay here with Giles. Talk to him if you have any questions,"
without another word Buffy turned away.
'Isn't it weird that things always happen when you least expect them?' Buffy
thought to herself. Barely a step out on the promenade and here she was in a
situation that she had given up all hope of ever happening.
"Hey." He said it in such a way that Buffy gave a little jump.
"Hey," she answered, surprised at her breathlessness.
He ran his eyes over her and Buffy suddenly felt he was reading her. He knew
everything about her from that one gaze. Her secrets. Her life. Her fantasies….
"What," Buffy gasped out fighting for control over her voice,
"what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Buffy stared at him, drinking in the sight of his well-chiseled face and
beautiful chest and arms. She took a deep shaky breath, wondering how a
stranger could have such a strong affect on her. 'What are you thinking? He
isn't a stranger. He's so much more than that.'
"That's a little weird cause you don't even know me. You don't know who
I am or what I do. You don't even know my name."
That was a lie. They both knew it. Buffy could practically feel how much he
knew about her. She wished that she could know that much about him.
He pierced her eyes with his heavy stare. "You'd be surprised."
Buffy backed up a couple of steps, she was afraid of what she would do if
she didn't. Like move closer to him. "No, I wouldn't"
He smiled at that, but it didn't reach his eyes and Buffy wondered what kind
of secrets he could have to make his eyes so dark and sad like that. She wished
that she could give him a smile that could reach his eyes.
"You're strong. Maybe the strongest slayer ever."
Buffy was right. She wasn't the least bit surprised that he knew what her
sacred duty was.
"Well, what's the cause for worry, then?"
He looked away from her. She watched his eyes travel to the railing and out
at the night. She wondered if he was thinking about disappearing over the edge
like she had been today.
"You're strong, but you're not immortal."
Buffy blinked. She could swear that he had said that with some worry in his
voice. But that was crazy. *This* was crazy. She didn't know anything about
this stranger and yet he seemed to know everything about her. Buffy was pretty
sure that she should be worried. She wasn't. She remembered how she had told
Willow yesterday about destiny and things feeling right. This felt like
destiny. This felt right.
At least it felt right to her. She found that this dark handsome man completely
impossible to read, and reading people had always came easy to Buffy. For all
she knew, he didn't care about her at all, and was just some friend of Giles.
But, somehow, Buffy was pretty sure he wasn't.
She took a deep breath, "Why do you care?"
She saw something go through his eyes then. She wasn't sure what it was, but
it was *something* and Buffy was thankful for that.
He looked at her intently and Buffy felt herself blush.
"Maybe I like you."
Buffy unconsciously wet her lips. She could feel her heart pounding and the
blood rushing through her veins. She wanted to scream that she liked him, too.
That she liked him *a lot.*
Of course, the vampire chose that moment to spring out of nowhere. Buffy was
surprised to find herself on the ground with the vampire looming over her with
his fangs near her neck. Before she could react, the vampire burst into dust.
Buffy blinked and the world slowly swung into focus again.
Angel reached out his hand to her and Buffy gratefully accepted it. He
looked at her with concern in his eyes and Buffy felt her heart skip a beat.
"Are you okay?" He asked in that silky voice of his that was
beginning to drive Buffy crazy.
Buffy could only nod.
"You have some dust in your hair," Angel reached over and brushed
his hand over the blonde locks. Buffy closed her eyes and shivered at the
contact.
Angel cupped her cheek in his big palm and Buffy could feel her knees start
to weaken. She hadn't known that it was possible to feel like this. She opened
her eyes and found herself looking into his big chocolate brown ones. Suddenly,
she wanted him to kiss her. Badly.
"I'm older than
you," Angel said, causing Buffy to jump a little.
"You can't be that
much older." Buffy was surprised that she had managed to say anything
considering it was pretty much the Sahara Desert in her mouth.
"You'd be
surprised," he said darkly.
Buffy barely heard him. All
she could think about was how near he was and how much closer she'd like him to
be. Without thinking, Buffy leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
Buffy felt Angel flinched
at first and she feared that she had made a huge mistake, but soon he deepened
the kiss and his tongue sought his way into her mouth. All coherent thought was
gone, and all Buffy could feel were his hands on her and his soft lips against
her own. She felt dizzy, like she might fall over, but she felt like she was
flying and would never fall to the ground.
Suddenly, he pulled
abruptly away. Buffy opened her eyes at the loss of contact to find the glowing
amber eyes of a vampire staring back at her.
Buffy screamed.
TBC
