***
All righty, folks, here's chapter 5a.
IMPORTANT: bear with me here, this might get wordy...please be aware that this chapter is part of the non-B/A ending (which if you've been reading you have an idea of who Buffy is paired with). I'm completely aware that the very idea of B/Oz will not appeal to everybody and is squick-worthy. I know not everyone will like it. But really, the B/O ending is meant to be more of an ending that conveys a message versus ~who~ Buffy moved on with.
To those who read this ending, even if you absolutely hate the idea of B/O together, keep this in mind: the two endings are COMPLETELY different. There's very little between them that is the same. Everything from what happens in the chapters, to the recounting of what happened to Buffy in the 5 years after she ran off is different. So if you hate this chapter and the B/O ending in general, you'll probably like the B/A one. I just don't want people to discount the B/A ending because you think it might be very similar to the B/O one.
Ok, that's all. Sorry for the rambling, I just wanted to address some concerns that had come up.
Thank you to everyone who sent feedback on part 4. I've been so overwhelmed by the response to this fic, and I can't say thanks enough for the wonderful emails.
~Isis
***
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
Part 5a – non-B/A version
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"Hey" Oz greeted Buffy as he walked out onto the back porch of their house.
"You're back," Buffy turned over on the lounge chair she was reclining on and faced her husband.
"Yeah. Here, picked up one of those mocha things for you," he handed her the cup held in his right hand.
"Thanks. Just what I needed," she smiled and pushed herself up further in the chair. "Did you get Jared settled in at your parents' house?"
"Yup. He was excited to spend the night with them," Oz took a seat on the chair by Buffy's feet.
"Why am I not surprised?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "They love spoiling him."
"And he loves being spoiled," chuckled Oz while pulling Buffy's feet onto his lap. "You okay?"
"I guess," she answered noncommittally, sipping from her mocha.
"You knew you wouldn't be able to hide from them forever," he pointed out.
"I know. Doesn't mean I didn't wish I could," her shoulders shrugged slightly. "And I wasn't hiding necessarily."
"No, you just didn't tell anybody where you were," Oz clarified with a raised eyebrow.
"Why should I have?" Buffy snapped at him and then regretted her harshness. "Sorry, I'm not angry with you."
"No worries." He picked up one of her hands and gave it a light squeeze.
"They gave me no reason to tell them anything," she continued, old hurt resurfacing once again. "How can I let people into my life who don't trust me?"
Oz said nothing in response. He knew Buffy needed to just talk and get all of it out of her system. The story was already familiar to him having lived through part of it and hearing about the rest, but he would happily sit and listen to her if it helped Buffy work through what she was feeling.
"I mean, first there's Angel. He dumped me, in a sewer of all places, out of the blue on prom night. I'm not saying I don't understand his reasons or agree with them, but he made a life altering decision for the both of us on his own. That's hardly fair." The last part came out in a slight growl. She took a deep breath before going on. "Then there's the day he was human and took back, again making a decision involving the both of us without talking to me."
"He doesn't know you know about that, right?" Oz interrupted the frustrated rant of his wife.
"No. You're the only person I told." No one else knew about the memory that came back with her when she returned from Heaven. Things had been so messed up back then that the last thing she wanted to do was talk to one of her friends about something dealing with Angel, and then later it never seemed appropriate. So she held it in and kept it to herself.
"And again," Buffy kept going. "I can at least understand his choice, but it should have been made by both of us."
"Agreed," he offered his support.
"But how could he turn human for good," a stray tear fell across her cheek. "And not tell me?"
"To be fair, you never gave him a chance to tell you why." He hated saying that, but it was the truth.
"No, I didn't," Buffy conceded. "But it doesn't matter what his reasons were. He should have told me. Period. He owed it to me regardless of whether or not there was someone else in his life."
"If he had told me then I wouldn't have still hoped..." she didn't finish the rest of her line of thinking. "Or maybe things would have been different. He just...he should have told me.
"Not gonna disagree with ya there." When Buffy had first told him about all that happened back in LA he'd been shocked. He would have thought Angel would go running to Buffy after becoming human.
"But worst of all...he slept with me...made me think that everything we always wanted we were finally going to get, and then...then." She couldn't hold it in any more as soft sobs began to shake through her body.
Hating to see Buffy so upset, Oz scooted up the chair and pulled his wife into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and cried as he stroked her hair. It made her feel weak to cry over something that had happened years ago. But the pain and hurt from that horrible morning would always be there. It didn't matter what her life was like now, she would never forget Angel's rejection or Willow's lies.
"Maybe you should talk to him," he spoke softly, smoothing a hand down her back.
"Why?" she questioned after sniffling.
"Find out why he did it. Might help you put it behind you," he explained gently though he wasn't quite sure it was the best thing for any of them.
"Maybe," Buffy mumbled uncertainly. "I don't know if I want to, though. And then there's Willow."
"What about Willow?" Oz stiffened slightly at the redhead's name.
"I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about her." Buffy knew that mentioning Willow was as weird for him as mentioning Angel was to her. It was bad enough they had to run into one of them, but seeing both of them at once was overwhelming.
"No. It's fine." Well, it wasn't fine, but they couldn't avoid subjects. It wouldn't solve anything to brush the past under the proverbial rug.
"Honestly," she tilted her head to look up at Oz. "I have no desire to talk to her."
"Understandable." He really couldn't blame her for not wanting to talk to Willow given all that went down between them.
"I just..." she sighed, gathering her thoughts. "I just don't have it in me any more to trust her. She never really understood about Angel. She pushed me toward Riley even though it should have been obvious I wasn't ready. It still hurts that she supported everyone when they kicked me out of my own house."
Buffy reached up to wipe away her fresh tears. "And she knew...she knew about Angel...that he became human. And she knew about him getting...married. She didn't tell me. She was my best friend and she didn't tell me."
"Shh," Oz tried to comfort, placing a kiss on her forehead and holding her as she cried for trust lost.
"How could she do that to me?" Her voice was a mere whisper as she spoke.
"I don't know," he answered softly, brushing the hair off her face. "Maybe she just wanted you to be happy."
"How was she supposed to know what would make me happy?" she yawned, exhaustion sweeping over her body.
The question was hypothetical and Oz knew that. He didn't answer, just continued to hold and comfort his wife, wishing she didn't have to deal with so much. Within minutes, he felt her breathing even out and knew she had fallen asleep. Opting not to wake her, he just pulled her tighter into his arms and stared up at the stars wondering how all of this was going to work out.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"Willow," Angel groaned in exasperation and grabbed the bottle of gin before it tipped over and fell to the floor.
The redhead was totally wasted. After seeing Buffy walk off arm and arm with Oz from the toy store, Willow disappeared. One minute she'd been standing right next to him and the next she was gone. He searched for her for two hours before deciding to return to the hotel. When he knocked on the door to her room Angel was surprised to see her answer holding a half empty bottle of vodka and eyes red from crying
The vodka was long gone now, replaced by gin. He honestly had no idea how Willow was still standing upright. One thing for sure, she was going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning and would most likely be puking her guts out at some point. He knew he should stop her, and had actually tried to, but when he'd taken away the second bottle of vodka she reached into a bag and pulled out the gin. So he figured if he couldn't stop her from drinking he could at least make sure she didn't hurt herself.
"Here," she slammed an expensive crystal glass down on the counter in front of him. "Hava drink."
"No thank you," he pushed the glass away.
"Yer reeeally a mood killer ya know that?" she glared at him, her voice noticeably slurred.
"And you're drunk." Angel tried once again to grab the bottle but Willow clutched it tightly to her chest.
"Uh huh," Willow giggled uncontrollably for a moment before bursting into tears and falling to her knees. The bottle of gin fell carelessly to the ground, spilling onto the floor. "Oh Gods."
Angel quickly scrambled off the stool he'd been sitting on and ran to the bathroom to get some towels. Willow was still sobbing drunkenly on the ground when he returned. Sighing, he began cleaning up the spilled liquor. Once the spill was mostly dried he went and threw the drenched towels into the sink of the small kitchenette. Before returning to his friend, he stopped to pour her a glass of water
Her sobs had mostly ceased by the time he got back and not knowing what else to do he simply sat down on the ground and leaned back against the couch. He didn't blame Willow for drowning her sorrows in booze. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he could understand it. If he thought it would dull the pain he would do the same. But in the end it wouldn't solve anything.
Willow hiccupped and took the glass of water from Angel. She drank nearly the whole glass in one gulp and set it down next to her. The throbbing in her head was starting to make the room spin so she clumsily laid down on the floor, pressing the side of her face onto the soft carpet.
"T-tell me is n-not true," her broken words came out barely audible.
"I can't." Angel lowered his eyes and looked at Willow.
"B-but....but they...they," she choked back a sob. "They can't b-be...m-married."
He wanted to tell her it wasn't true. He would give anything to be able to tell her that, but he couldn't. Sure he didn't have confirmation that Buffy and Oz really were married, but even he couldn't deny the obvious signs. They were out together, a child was with them, and they were both wearing wedding rings. There really wasn't any other conclusion that could be drawn from that information.
Willow's extreme reaction to the news was a bit shocking to him. She and Oz had long been separated. He didn't know all of what happened between them in Sunnydale years ago, but he did know she had been in more than one serious relationship since he left and had been happy. Her drunken pleas made him wonder if she still had feelings for the quiet musician despite how long they'd been apart. He supposed her situation with Oz wasn't really all that different than what was between him and Buffy. In that case, he had no trouble understanding why she was so upset.
"We don't know for sure," he tried to ease her pain, knowing his words were as close to a lie as they could be.
"They are and you know it!" she practically snarled, shooting up from her spot on the floor. The quick movement made her groan and nearly fall back down.
Rolling his head around in an attempt to loosen his muscles, Angel thought for a minute before speaking. "It's her life, Willow. She can do whatever she wants."
"But...b-but why Oz?" Willow buried her head in the cradle of her arms.
"She deserves to be happy," Angel answered quietly. He really did mean his words, but it hurt more than he could describe to think about her with someone else. "Maybe he makes her...happy. If so then who are we to complain?"
Willow frowned at the rational statement. How could he be so calm about everything? She knew he'd spent years regretting what happened between him and Buffy in LA. She would have thought he'd be just as upset as she was right now. Then again, Angel was the master of hiding his emotions. It was entirely possible he was just as torn up as she was. If so, then he was doing a damn good job at keeping them in.
Her mind couldn't seem to wrap itself around the concept of Buffy and Oz...together. Sure they'd been friends back in high school, but really they hardly ever talked. She just couldn't picture them as a couple. But that was obviously what they were. She never admitted it to anyone, but Oz still held a large piece of her heart even after all these years. So seeing him with Buffy threw her quite a bit.
The two sat in silence after Angel last spoke, neither knowing what else to say. After a few minutes passed, Angel thought he heard something so he looked up and found Willow sound asleep on the floor where she'd been sitting. Shaking his head, he pushed himself up off the ground and bent over to pick Willow up. She never even stirred as he carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. Thankfully, she was already in what looked to be pajamas because he had no intention of changing her.
Returning to the living room, he contemplated going next door to the room he'd rented but he didn't like the idea of leaving Willow alone after she'd consumed so much alcohol. Instead he looked dejectedly at the fairly small couch and sighed. He kicked off his shoes laid down on the short sofa, his legs hanging off the end. Within minutes he was sound asleep, the exhaustion of the day's events taking over his system.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
A shrill ringing sound awoke Angel late the next morning. His sleep addled brain tried to ignore the noise, but eventually he rolled over and opened his eyes. It took a moment to acclimate himself to his surroundings before he realized that the ringing was coming from the cell phone in his pocket. Digging around in his pants he managed to pull the device out and clicked the talk button.
"Hello?" he answered, his voice slightly groggy.
"Angel?" an all to familiar female spoke on the other end.
"B-Buffy?" Angel leapt from the couch the second he realized who had called him.
"Hi," she said tentatively.
"How'd you get my number?" he asked in shock, then kicked himself for saying something so stupid.
"I...I called Giles. He gave it to me." She didn't even want to get into the conversation she'd had with her former Watcher whom she hadn't spoken to in almost five years. Seemed she was having to confront all of the ghosts from her past at once.
"Oh, okay...," he trailed off. He had no idea what to say. Buffy calling him was something he had not in the least expected.
"I, um...I called because I guess we should...talk," she stated awkwardly. Honestly, she still wasn't convinced this was the right thing to do.
"Buffy-."
"Angel...just....listen to me for a second." Her sigh could be heard through the phone. "I think we need to talk. Not that I really want to, but it would be best for both of us. You don't have to if you don't want to, but I called to give you my address if you decide you do want to. Talk, I mean."
"Uh...okay. Sure," he mumbled, feeling a bit stunned.
"Okay." She gave him her address and then paused for a second. "Are you going to come?"
"I don't...maybe," he stumbled over his words. Her proposal to talk caught him by surprise and he didn't really know what he wanted to do.
"Fine. I'll be home the rest of the day if you decide you want to come. Bye." She hung up before he could say anything else.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"What'd he say?" Oz asked as he walked back into the living room in his and Buffy's house.
"Not much." Buffy ran a hand through her long hair and leaned back against the couch.
"Is he gonna come?" He took a seat next to her.
"Don't know," she shrugged, leaning her head on his shoulder. "He didn't say."
"You sure you don't want me to stay here?" He'd offered to be there when she talked to Angel, but she told him it was probably better if he wasn't there. She was mostly likely right. It worried him, though.
"Yeah. I'm sure," she repeated what she told him earlier. "Plus you have stuff to do down at the shop."
"I can miss it. No big deal if I do," Oz reminded her again.
"No, then you'll be behind for the rest of the week." Buffy was somewhat torn on if she wanted Oz to stay for her confrontation with Angel. On one hand, she wanted his support, but on the other she knew it was best for her to talk to Angel alone.
"Okay. Call me if you need me though," he told her, standing up from the couch.
"I will," she promised him.
"Good luck," he bent down and kissed her cheek.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
TBC!!
All righty, folks, here's chapter 5a.
IMPORTANT: bear with me here, this might get wordy...please be aware that this chapter is part of the non-B/A ending (which if you've been reading you have an idea of who Buffy is paired with). I'm completely aware that the very idea of B/Oz will not appeal to everybody and is squick-worthy. I know not everyone will like it. But really, the B/O ending is meant to be more of an ending that conveys a message versus ~who~ Buffy moved on with.
To those who read this ending, even if you absolutely hate the idea of B/O together, keep this in mind: the two endings are COMPLETELY different. There's very little between them that is the same. Everything from what happens in the chapters, to the recounting of what happened to Buffy in the 5 years after she ran off is different. So if you hate this chapter and the B/O ending in general, you'll probably like the B/A one. I just don't want people to discount the B/A ending because you think it might be very similar to the B/O one.
Ok, that's all. Sorry for the rambling, I just wanted to address some concerns that had come up.
Thank you to everyone who sent feedback on part 4. I've been so overwhelmed by the response to this fic, and I can't say thanks enough for the wonderful emails.
~Isis
***
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
Part 5a – non-B/A version
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"Hey" Oz greeted Buffy as he walked out onto the back porch of their house.
"You're back," Buffy turned over on the lounge chair she was reclining on and faced her husband.
"Yeah. Here, picked up one of those mocha things for you," he handed her the cup held in his right hand.
"Thanks. Just what I needed," she smiled and pushed herself up further in the chair. "Did you get Jared settled in at your parents' house?"
"Yup. He was excited to spend the night with them," Oz took a seat on the chair by Buffy's feet.
"Why am I not surprised?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "They love spoiling him."
"And he loves being spoiled," chuckled Oz while pulling Buffy's feet onto his lap. "You okay?"
"I guess," she answered noncommittally, sipping from her mocha.
"You knew you wouldn't be able to hide from them forever," he pointed out.
"I know. Doesn't mean I didn't wish I could," her shoulders shrugged slightly. "And I wasn't hiding necessarily."
"No, you just didn't tell anybody where you were," Oz clarified with a raised eyebrow.
"Why should I have?" Buffy snapped at him and then regretted her harshness. "Sorry, I'm not angry with you."
"No worries." He picked up one of her hands and gave it a light squeeze.
"They gave me no reason to tell them anything," she continued, old hurt resurfacing once again. "How can I let people into my life who don't trust me?"
Oz said nothing in response. He knew Buffy needed to just talk and get all of it out of her system. The story was already familiar to him having lived through part of it and hearing about the rest, but he would happily sit and listen to her if it helped Buffy work through what she was feeling.
"I mean, first there's Angel. He dumped me, in a sewer of all places, out of the blue on prom night. I'm not saying I don't understand his reasons or agree with them, but he made a life altering decision for the both of us on his own. That's hardly fair." The last part came out in a slight growl. She took a deep breath before going on. "Then there's the day he was human and took back, again making a decision involving the both of us without talking to me."
"He doesn't know you know about that, right?" Oz interrupted the frustrated rant of his wife.
"No. You're the only person I told." No one else knew about the memory that came back with her when she returned from Heaven. Things had been so messed up back then that the last thing she wanted to do was talk to one of her friends about something dealing with Angel, and then later it never seemed appropriate. So she held it in and kept it to herself.
"And again," Buffy kept going. "I can at least understand his choice, but it should have been made by both of us."
"Agreed," he offered his support.
"But how could he turn human for good," a stray tear fell across her cheek. "And not tell me?"
"To be fair, you never gave him a chance to tell you why." He hated saying that, but it was the truth.
"No, I didn't," Buffy conceded. "But it doesn't matter what his reasons were. He should have told me. Period. He owed it to me regardless of whether or not there was someone else in his life."
"If he had told me then I wouldn't have still hoped..." she didn't finish the rest of her line of thinking. "Or maybe things would have been different. He just...he should have told me.
"Not gonna disagree with ya there." When Buffy had first told him about all that happened back in LA he'd been shocked. He would have thought Angel would go running to Buffy after becoming human.
"But worst of all...he slept with me...made me think that everything we always wanted we were finally going to get, and then...then." She couldn't hold it in any more as soft sobs began to shake through her body.
Hating to see Buffy so upset, Oz scooted up the chair and pulled his wife into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and cried as he stroked her hair. It made her feel weak to cry over something that had happened years ago. But the pain and hurt from that horrible morning would always be there. It didn't matter what her life was like now, she would never forget Angel's rejection or Willow's lies.
"Maybe you should talk to him," he spoke softly, smoothing a hand down her back.
"Why?" she questioned after sniffling.
"Find out why he did it. Might help you put it behind you," he explained gently though he wasn't quite sure it was the best thing for any of them.
"Maybe," Buffy mumbled uncertainly. "I don't know if I want to, though. And then there's Willow."
"What about Willow?" Oz stiffened slightly at the redhead's name.
"I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about her." Buffy knew that mentioning Willow was as weird for him as mentioning Angel was to her. It was bad enough they had to run into one of them, but seeing both of them at once was overwhelming.
"No. It's fine." Well, it wasn't fine, but they couldn't avoid subjects. It wouldn't solve anything to brush the past under the proverbial rug.
"Honestly," she tilted her head to look up at Oz. "I have no desire to talk to her."
"Understandable." He really couldn't blame her for not wanting to talk to Willow given all that went down between them.
"I just..." she sighed, gathering her thoughts. "I just don't have it in me any more to trust her. She never really understood about Angel. She pushed me toward Riley even though it should have been obvious I wasn't ready. It still hurts that she supported everyone when they kicked me out of my own house."
Buffy reached up to wipe away her fresh tears. "And she knew...she knew about Angel...that he became human. And she knew about him getting...married. She didn't tell me. She was my best friend and she didn't tell me."
"Shh," Oz tried to comfort, placing a kiss on her forehead and holding her as she cried for trust lost.
"How could she do that to me?" Her voice was a mere whisper as she spoke.
"I don't know," he answered softly, brushing the hair off her face. "Maybe she just wanted you to be happy."
"How was she supposed to know what would make me happy?" she yawned, exhaustion sweeping over her body.
The question was hypothetical and Oz knew that. He didn't answer, just continued to hold and comfort his wife, wishing she didn't have to deal with so much. Within minutes, he felt her breathing even out and knew she had fallen asleep. Opting not to wake her, he just pulled her tighter into his arms and stared up at the stars wondering how all of this was going to work out.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"Willow," Angel groaned in exasperation and grabbed the bottle of gin before it tipped over and fell to the floor.
The redhead was totally wasted. After seeing Buffy walk off arm and arm with Oz from the toy store, Willow disappeared. One minute she'd been standing right next to him and the next she was gone. He searched for her for two hours before deciding to return to the hotel. When he knocked on the door to her room Angel was surprised to see her answer holding a half empty bottle of vodka and eyes red from crying
The vodka was long gone now, replaced by gin. He honestly had no idea how Willow was still standing upright. One thing for sure, she was going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning and would most likely be puking her guts out at some point. He knew he should stop her, and had actually tried to, but when he'd taken away the second bottle of vodka she reached into a bag and pulled out the gin. So he figured if he couldn't stop her from drinking he could at least make sure she didn't hurt herself.
"Here," she slammed an expensive crystal glass down on the counter in front of him. "Hava drink."
"No thank you," he pushed the glass away.
"Yer reeeally a mood killer ya know that?" she glared at him, her voice noticeably slurred.
"And you're drunk." Angel tried once again to grab the bottle but Willow clutched it tightly to her chest.
"Uh huh," Willow giggled uncontrollably for a moment before bursting into tears and falling to her knees. The bottle of gin fell carelessly to the ground, spilling onto the floor. "Oh Gods."
Angel quickly scrambled off the stool he'd been sitting on and ran to the bathroom to get some towels. Willow was still sobbing drunkenly on the ground when he returned. Sighing, he began cleaning up the spilled liquor. Once the spill was mostly dried he went and threw the drenched towels into the sink of the small kitchenette. Before returning to his friend, he stopped to pour her a glass of water
Her sobs had mostly ceased by the time he got back and not knowing what else to do he simply sat down on the ground and leaned back against the couch. He didn't blame Willow for drowning her sorrows in booze. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he could understand it. If he thought it would dull the pain he would do the same. But in the end it wouldn't solve anything.
Willow hiccupped and took the glass of water from Angel. She drank nearly the whole glass in one gulp and set it down next to her. The throbbing in her head was starting to make the room spin so she clumsily laid down on the floor, pressing the side of her face onto the soft carpet.
"T-tell me is n-not true," her broken words came out barely audible.
"I can't." Angel lowered his eyes and looked at Willow.
"B-but....but they...they," she choked back a sob. "They can't b-be...m-married."
He wanted to tell her it wasn't true. He would give anything to be able to tell her that, but he couldn't. Sure he didn't have confirmation that Buffy and Oz really were married, but even he couldn't deny the obvious signs. They were out together, a child was with them, and they were both wearing wedding rings. There really wasn't any other conclusion that could be drawn from that information.
Willow's extreme reaction to the news was a bit shocking to him. She and Oz had long been separated. He didn't know all of what happened between them in Sunnydale years ago, but he did know she had been in more than one serious relationship since he left and had been happy. Her drunken pleas made him wonder if she still had feelings for the quiet musician despite how long they'd been apart. He supposed her situation with Oz wasn't really all that different than what was between him and Buffy. In that case, he had no trouble understanding why she was so upset.
"We don't know for sure," he tried to ease her pain, knowing his words were as close to a lie as they could be.
"They are and you know it!" she practically snarled, shooting up from her spot on the floor. The quick movement made her groan and nearly fall back down.
Rolling his head around in an attempt to loosen his muscles, Angel thought for a minute before speaking. "It's her life, Willow. She can do whatever she wants."
"But...b-but why Oz?" Willow buried her head in the cradle of her arms.
"She deserves to be happy," Angel answered quietly. He really did mean his words, but it hurt more than he could describe to think about her with someone else. "Maybe he makes her...happy. If so then who are we to complain?"
Willow frowned at the rational statement. How could he be so calm about everything? She knew he'd spent years regretting what happened between him and Buffy in LA. She would have thought he'd be just as upset as she was right now. Then again, Angel was the master of hiding his emotions. It was entirely possible he was just as torn up as she was. If so, then he was doing a damn good job at keeping them in.
Her mind couldn't seem to wrap itself around the concept of Buffy and Oz...together. Sure they'd been friends back in high school, but really they hardly ever talked. She just couldn't picture them as a couple. But that was obviously what they were. She never admitted it to anyone, but Oz still held a large piece of her heart even after all these years. So seeing him with Buffy threw her quite a bit.
The two sat in silence after Angel last spoke, neither knowing what else to say. After a few minutes passed, Angel thought he heard something so he looked up and found Willow sound asleep on the floor where she'd been sitting. Shaking his head, he pushed himself up off the ground and bent over to pick Willow up. She never even stirred as he carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. Thankfully, she was already in what looked to be pajamas because he had no intention of changing her.
Returning to the living room, he contemplated going next door to the room he'd rented but he didn't like the idea of leaving Willow alone after she'd consumed so much alcohol. Instead he looked dejectedly at the fairly small couch and sighed. He kicked off his shoes laid down on the short sofa, his legs hanging off the end. Within minutes he was sound asleep, the exhaustion of the day's events taking over his system.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
A shrill ringing sound awoke Angel late the next morning. His sleep addled brain tried to ignore the noise, but eventually he rolled over and opened his eyes. It took a moment to acclimate himself to his surroundings before he realized that the ringing was coming from the cell phone in his pocket. Digging around in his pants he managed to pull the device out and clicked the talk button.
"Hello?" he answered, his voice slightly groggy.
"Angel?" an all to familiar female spoke on the other end.
"B-Buffy?" Angel leapt from the couch the second he realized who had called him.
"Hi," she said tentatively.
"How'd you get my number?" he asked in shock, then kicked himself for saying something so stupid.
"I...I called Giles. He gave it to me." She didn't even want to get into the conversation she'd had with her former Watcher whom she hadn't spoken to in almost five years. Seemed she was having to confront all of the ghosts from her past at once.
"Oh, okay...," he trailed off. He had no idea what to say. Buffy calling him was something he had not in the least expected.
"I, um...I called because I guess we should...talk," she stated awkwardly. Honestly, she still wasn't convinced this was the right thing to do.
"Buffy-."
"Angel...just....listen to me for a second." Her sigh could be heard through the phone. "I think we need to talk. Not that I really want to, but it would be best for both of us. You don't have to if you don't want to, but I called to give you my address if you decide you do want to. Talk, I mean."
"Uh...okay. Sure," he mumbled, feeling a bit stunned.
"Okay." She gave him her address and then paused for a second. "Are you going to come?"
"I don't...maybe," he stumbled over his words. Her proposal to talk caught him by surprise and he didn't really know what he wanted to do.
"Fine. I'll be home the rest of the day if you decide you want to come. Bye." She hung up before he could say anything else.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
"What'd he say?" Oz asked as he walked back into the living room in his and Buffy's house.
"Not much." Buffy ran a hand through her long hair and leaned back against the couch.
"Is he gonna come?" He took a seat next to her.
"Don't know," she shrugged, leaning her head on his shoulder. "He didn't say."
"You sure you don't want me to stay here?" He'd offered to be there when she talked to Angel, but she told him it was probably better if he wasn't there. She was mostly likely right. It worried him, though.
"Yeah. I'm sure," she repeated what she told him earlier. "Plus you have stuff to do down at the shop."
"I can miss it. No big deal if I do," Oz reminded her again.
"No, then you'll be behind for the rest of the week." Buffy was somewhat torn on if she wanted Oz to stay for her confrontation with Angel. On one hand, she wanted his support, but on the other she knew it was best for her to talk to Angel alone.
"Okay. Call me if you need me though," he told her, standing up from the couch.
"I will," she promised him.
"Good luck," he bent down and kissed her cheek.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
TBC!!