Angel walked into the Summer's house and marveled at how little it had
changed.
The furniture was a little bit different, but he knew that various fights
in Buffy's house had caused a lot of it to break, so that was no surprise.
In fact, he had once hoped to make the house fall down on top of the slayer
as she slept. But that hadn't really been him. It had been the demon inside
of him. Angel couldn't believe the Buffy still wanted him in her life.
After all of the pain that he had caused her, all the tears she cried
because of him, she still loved him. And that meant more to Angel than
anything.
He looked over at the slayer and took in her appearance. Even though she
had been fighting vampires and had various dark-colored bruises that her
clothes didn't cover, Angel thought she looked beautiful. Her hands were
tightened into nervous fists, and Angel remembered what it had been like to
feel those hands on him, to know that he wouldn't sleep alone, to smell her
and taste her. Then he shook himself firmly and turned away from Buffy.
That could never happen again.
With resolve, he turned around to face her again.
"I can't stay her Buffy. Not in this house. Not knowing that you're asleep
upstairs...I just can't."
Buffy looked at him with wide eyes. Her body tensed visibly, and she raised
her chin.
"Don't make this any harder than it has to be, Angel. We know that that
line can't ever be crossed again. Both of us know it. And we can make it
work. If you don't stay here, you'd have to stay in a crypt somewhere,
because hotels might have open windows, and you know what that will do to
your vampire complexion."
Angel looked at his feet.
"Fine" He said, "But I'm sleeping in the basement."
"Ok." Buffy said softly. "I'll get you some blankets."
She walked upstairs to the closet, and Angel couldn't help but watch her as
she walked. He sighed deeply. *It's gonna be a long night.* He thought.
