New Way of Life
NOTE: I do not own these Angel and Buffy characters, but if you see anyone whom you do not recognize, he/she belongs to me.
A/N: This story takes place after Chosen, but before Conviction, meaning it's the summer in between. To put down a recap, Spike burned up, everyone (minus Anya) escaped on the school bus, Buffy and her friends haven't split up yet, and Angel Inc is preparing to move into W&H. On with the story…
CHAPTER 7
Buffy pinched her nose a little as she waved a roller, which was covered in dark blue paint, all over a side wall of the living room in the house she and the others had decided to stay in. Dawn stood next to her, also rolling paint. Both sisters wore white coveralls that didn't seem too white anymore, as they had gotten splatters of blue all over themselves.
"First this house and its stupid odors then this paint smell," Dawn griped. "We might as well name this place Manor Funk."
"Come on, Dawnie," said Buffy. "At least this is the last painting we need to do."
"And after like two days of painting bliss, I couldn't be happier," Dawn sighed, dropping her roller down into the tray of paint.
"Hey, ladies," Xander greeted, coming into the room from the kitchen, eyeing what they were wearing. "Gee, you two look a little blue?"
"That's stopped being funny an hour ago," Dawn said, taking a seat on the floor.
"How goes the kitchen?" Buffy asked Xander, putting her hands to her hips.
"Our troubles are over," Xander said, dropping his toolbox down on the hardwood floor. "I got the sink up and running. Everything else is good."
"Great," Buffy sighed contentedly. "Paint job's done, repairs are done, now all we need is—"
"Stuff to sit on?" Dawn supplied from where she had taken up residence on the floor.
"Those furniture guys said they'd be here at seven," said Buffy. She glanced at the clock that had been set up on top of the fireplace. "It's almost eight now."
"Just got to love that speedy service," Xander commented.
"I'm going to go wait on the truck," Buffy said. "Dawn, why don't you clean up?"
"My pleasure," Dawn said, getting up and heading for the stairs.
Buffy dusted her hands on her coveralls before going outside. She walked down the first couple of steps leading from the house then took a seat, letting out a sigh.
"Relaxing out here, isn't it?"
"Hey," Buffy smiled at Angel. "You're still with the lurking?"
"Hard habit to break." He went to join her on the stairs. "I thought I'd wait on the delivery men."
"Join the club there. Next time we so need to call Empire."
Angel chuckled softly then glanced at her. "You feel like taking off for a while?"
"You want to be seen with me?" Buffy asked him serious. "I'm all paint-y."
He slowly reached out and put his hand on top of the painting cap she wore, removing it. Buffy's honey golden curls tumbled out from the cap, tumbling against her shoulders.
"You look beautiful to me," Angel said.
"Well, since you put it so corny…" Buffy stood and zipped down the coveralls, revealing that she wore a black top and dark blue jeans underneath. "Let's go."
Angel smiled a little and stood, following Buffy down the rest of the steps, going away from the house and down the block.
Meanwhile in LA, Fred lay in the bed of her bedroom at the hotel, snuggling a pillow. It had been a long researching night and Wesley and Lorne had managed to convince her to get some sleep. Fred felt the night air caress against her skin and she realized she had left the window cracked. Nudging herself awake, Fred climbed out of bed and went to the window, pulling it down.
"Thanks." Fred gasped and turned around to see Angelus standing in the dim light of the lamp she had left on. "I was feeling a draft."
"How did you get in here?" Fred demanded, backing away.
"Back door?" Angelus shrugged, approaching her. "Thought I'd come up and maybe take you up on that offer I made."
"What offer?" Fred asked, her voice shaking.
Angelus leaned in close to her, causing Fred to gasp again. "Rape," the vampire whispered into her ear lowly, but loud enough to send every chill in the world down her spine.
Fred turned and did a flip over her bed. "Get away from me!" she exclaimed, racing for the door. "Wesley! Lorne—"
Angelus shut the door audibly before Fred got a chance to even get it cracked. "Don't bother calling 'em, Fred. Not really in the mood for a foursome." He suddenly took a hold of her wrist pulling her in closer.
"What are you doing? Let me go!" Fred screamed at the top of her lungs.
The large vampire before her immediately put on his game face and knelt in towards her neck, taking a large bite, making Fred scream even louder than before.
A few seconds later Wesley and Lorne came charging into the room, opening the door abruptly. Angelus glanced up from biting Fred, who lay wilted in his arms. Wesley and Lorne stood in horror at the sight of crimson red blood dripping from Fred's neck, oozing down onto the top she had worn to bed.
"Guys, hey," Angelus greeted, going back to his human face. "Don't worry. We were just getting reacquainted." He tossed Fred in Wesley's direction, him immediately grabbing her in his arms. "I'll see you later." Angelus turned and took a flying leap out of Fred's window, shattering it to pieces.
Wesley's mind flooded all at once with memories of Lilah and they included Angelus sinking his fangs into her.
"We have to get her to a hospital," Lorne said panicked, getting Wesley's attention back.
The British man lifted Fred up into his arms and carried her downstairs wordlessly.
"Wesley, hurry. I'll stay here and work on a new sanctuary spell for when and I mean when fang boy comes back," Lorne called.
Angel spun Buffy a little, her arms wrapped around his neck as they moved rhythmically around the dance floor. They were at a club Willow and Kennedy had found when they and the others had first ventured into Rome. Buffy had decided to drag Angel there just for the fun of it.
"Hang on," Angel said, stopping abruptly.
"What is it?" Buffy asked worriedly. "Do you feel OK?"
"I'm fine," Angel assured her. "I just forgot what it's like to lose my breath."
Buffy laughed a little and led him away from the dance floor, taking a seat at a table. "Sorry. I'm used to the Angel that could actually keep up with me at the Bronze."
"I still can't believe it," said Angel, sitting across from her at the table. "Your house, the Bronze, everything…"
"Explode-y?" Buffy supplied. Angel nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm just upset that my summer wardrobe had to go down with it."
"Did anything survive the blast?" he asked.
"Just the vital stuff," Buffy replied. "Me, the guys, Andrew I guess." The man before her chuckled softly. "And my scythe."
"Right, the cool ax thing," Angel suddenly remembered. "You still have that right? I mean you didn't give it to Faith or one of the new Slayers?"
"You can play with it later," Buffy promised, already knowing what he was driving at.
"Thanks. So did you want to head home?"
Buffy's ears perked as the new song started up. "After one more dance."
"You got it." Angel stood and took Buffy's small, thin hand into his, taking her back out to the floor.
Wesley sat outside of Fred's hospital room, his hands cupped together as if to pray with a serious expression covering his face. He had been waiting ever since Fred was put down in her room and things didn't seem to be looking good.
"Psst." He looked up to see Lorne dressed in a trench coat, wearing a hat with a pair of dark shades. "I put down the spell before I left. I managed to get a little research down while I was doing it, too and there might be a way to stop Angelus." Lorne noticed that Wesley didn't seem to be paying attention to him, just staring into space. "Wes, what is it?" Lorne asked, sitting down. "Is Fred OK?"
"She…" Wesley blinked his eyes twice before continuing, attempting to cover all emotion. "She's lost a lot of blood. They're not sure if she's going to make it."
Lorne shook his head with disbelief. "You have to be kidding me here." Wesley turned to him, earnestness in his eyes. "You're really not, though, are you?"
"How do we stop him?" Wesley asked, returning to the Angelus issue.
Buffy's giggles could be heard as she and Angel re-entered the house later that evening. Angel clicked on the lights, both of them surprised at what they saw; the living room furniture had been set up. Dawn lay sleeping on the couch and Xander had taken up space on one of the loveseats.
Angel and Buffy tipped up the stairs so as not to disturb the sleepy dwellers of the living room. Buffy went into her bedroom immediately and turned on the light. Her vanity, pair of dressers, and other furniture, including her mattresses, lay scattered across the room. The Slayer sighed deeply, turning to the mattresses that leaned against the wall.
"Don't I love my considerate friends who are kind enough to set my things up for me?" she said, heavy sarcasm in her voice.
"Come on," Angel offered, stepping into the room. "We can fix it up now."
"I got the time," Buffy shrugged.
Angel went to push the dressers and vanity against the wall while Buffy lay the mattresses down on top of each other against the headboard. She made up the bed with flowery sheets and blankets she had picked out. Angel noticed that his job seemed to take longer with his lack of strength.
"That was fun," Buffy sighed, resting her last pillow at the head of the bed.
"Wasn't so bad," said Angel. "Made me… is tireder a word?"
"No, but neither is bootylicious technically." She added, "Destiny's Child," seeing the confused look he gave her.
"I think Gunn might have used that one," Angel thought.
"We better get some sleep I guess," Buffy said. "You're starting to get serious luggage under your eyes."
"I don't have bags."
Buffy smiled and reached up to touch under his eyes. "Yes, you do. Your eyes are doing this saggy thing."
"Hey," Angel said, smiling a little himself, trying to deflect her by touching her face in return.
Buffy laughed heartedly, but slowed a little, getting a really good look at his eyes. They were so deep and serious and looked like little drops of chocolate. Buffy had forgotten what it was like to look into those eyes.
"Buffy, what…?" Angel trailed off, wondering what she was staring at before noticing the familiar spark of bliss she had in her eyes. The beautiful hazel seemed to turn lighter with happiness.
"I'm sorry," Buffy suddenly apologized, realizing she had been gaping at him a little too much. "I just—" her words were cut off by his lips making contact with hers.
Throwing away any thought of pulling back or pushing him away, Buffy wrapped one arm around him tightly while using her other arm to run her fingers through his hair. Angel pushed her back a little, Buffy falling back on the bed, Angel on top of her.
Angel pulled away from the kiss long enough to ask, "Are you still tired?"
"Exhausted," Buffy replied as they went back to their kiss, going deeper and more passionate than before.
A/N: School's out for the summer. Whoop! Lets loose a barrage of balloons and streamers Yes! Oh, and please review!