CHAPTER NINE - 'Reunion'

Buffy knew from the looks she'd been getting all morning that as soon as lunch time came Willow would have her cornered in the canteen wanting to know what happened to get Buffy and Angel together. So as soon the clock on the wall indicated that it was midday Buffy went to find her new friend.

Willow saw Buffy approaching and wandered over not wanting to waste any precious story telling time.

"Hey how's your morning been?" Buffy asked.

"Good I'm settling in well." Willow answered.

"So I guess you wanna know the rest." Buffy teased letting the red head know that she wasn't going to make her wait any longer.

"Damn straight I do missy!" Willow joked.

"Ok, ok I'm going to tell you so calm down."

The pair sat at a table and started to each their lunch while Buffy began to tell the remainder of the story, "So I haven't seen Spike, Cordy, Angel or any of the other for about a year and then one day out of the blue I bump into Angel and Lindsey."

~~~ FLASHBACK ~~~

Buffy and Anya were walking over to Sunnydale park for some girl time. The past couple of months had been hard on their friendship with Buffy living her life on the edge of disaster.

"Oh for God's sake!" Anya shouted just as they sat down.

Buffy looked at her friend, "What?"

"So much for the intervention!" Anya said out load but actually meaning to say it to her self.

Buffy looked around not understanding what was going on with Anya and then she saw them, Angel and Lindsey. Out of pure habit her eyes searched the surrounding area for her blond but he wasn't with them.

"Hi Buffy and Anya isn't it?" Angel said greeting them both.

"Yes I'm Anya. Is HE with you?" She snapped.

"He?" Angel questioned.

"Spike." Anya spat.

"No I haven't seen him in months he's got himself some job as a roadie he's barely ever here in Sunnydale anymore." Angel explained as he watched Anya's features soften with the news that Spike wasn't around

"Well in that case sit down." She said with a bright smile.

"Hi Buffy." Angel repeated because she hadn't yet spoken.

"Hi how are you?" Buffy asked feeling extremely freaked out at the situation.

"I'm good, what about you?" He replied.

Buffy smiled her brightest cheerleader smile and prepared to put on her best front, "I'm great you know playing the field enjoying life."

"That's good."

Buffy and Angel spent a lot of time catching up talking about what everyone was doing now and how there lives were going the conversation flew well and Buffy felt completely comfortable for the first time in ages. And all the time they spoke Buffy didn't notice how Angel was looking at her.

"You know Buffy I never did get chance to thank you properly for telling me about Cordy, it means a lot to me that you stuck up for me." Angel said taking the opportunity to give the small blond a hug.

"I'm just sorry that you had to find out from me."

"Well I always knew deep down that Cordy was nothing more than a cheap bitch I just ended up having it proved to me!"

~~~ END FLASHBACK ~~~

Willow listened intently as Buffy re-told the story, "It must have been hard for you to have to tell Angel about Cordy."

A weary, tired smile formed on Buffy's face, "Yeah it was but I couldn't let her do that to him all he'd ever done was love her and treat her right. She was just taking the piss out of him by the end."

"So then do you and angel get together now then?" Willow asked picking up her tuna sandwich.

~~~ FLASHBACK ~~~

Anya and Lindsey were deep in conversation as Buffy and Angel discussed old times and what they'd both been up to over the past year.

"So are you with anyone?" Buffy asked.

"No there hasn't been anyone since Cordy." Angel explained, "What about you has there been anyone since Spike?"

Buffy couldn't stop herself from grinning yes there had been someone since spike in fact there had been quite a few. "Oh a couple of different guys have been on the scene but they never went far. There was one guy that I liked a lot but it never came to much."

Angel watched the girl that he had missed so much over the past year talk, he knew her too well, he knew that despite the care free front she was putting up that life had handed out more than a few knocks since he'd seen her last. Still he couldn't help but think that she was even more beautiful now than she had been then.

"I missed our little chats." Buffy added with a smile.

"Yeah me too."

~~~ END FLASHBACK ~~~

Buffy started to laugh to herself, "I can't believe that I was stupid enough to not see what was right in front of me."

"Well it does kinda sound like it was staring you right in the face Buff!" Willow said, "So then what?"

Another smile came to Buffy's face one that was far more real and conveyed real happiness, "He shocked me and then I shocked myself even more!"

TBC.