Title: Miles to Go
Author: talldarkandsexy
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters I use in this story. They belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, WB etc. (Believe me, if I owned these characters, it would be unlikely that I was posting them on )
Spoilers: End of Season 5, beginning of Season 6. And a little of the end of Season 2.
Pairings: Buffy/Angel
Rating: PG
Set: After the end of Season 6 episode "Flooded". Buffy receives a phone call from Angel at the end of that episode, and rushes off immediately.
Summary: After receiving a short phone call from Angel, Buffy gets on a bus to a small 24-hour café somewhere in between Sunnydale and L.A. She meets Angel to talk, but can she tell him about where she was? Or does everything that has happened between them make it too hard?
Authors Note: Although Buffy and Angel said they had to see each other in both the shows (BtVS & AtS), they never actually showed what happened, so I decided to write my version of it.
As the day quickly turned into night, there was still no sign of Angel. 'Maybe he had been held up?' she thought, 'Or maybe he had to go and fight some demon or something? Or maybe he didn't want to see me?'
The hours went by, and café started to empty, even though it was one of hose 24 hour places. Soon, it was just Buffy and another couple.
"Betcha thought I wasn't gonna turn up, huh?" said a voice from behind her. She knew that voice, and smiled, as she turned round.
"The thought had crossed my mind." she said standing up to face him.
Angel. He hadn't changed much. Still gorgeous and able to mesmerize her with his warm, brown eyes. He was standing there with his hands in his coat pocket, smiling at her.
"Hey Buffy. How are you doing?"
"Oh ... well ... you know. Been dead. Not a whole lot of fun."
"Yeah, I know." He identified strongly with Buffy, as he had also gone through the dying trauma and come back. From Hell. But he could see that Buffy was not OK. He knew that she was trying to be brave, but something was obviously bothering her and he could see it in her eyes.
"Well, we should go and sit down." said Buffy, motioning towards a table in the corner.
As she was going to sit down, Angel pulled her towards him for a hug. Although surprised, Buffy hugged him back, comforted in his warm embrace, something that she had not felt for a long time. It was his way of letting her know that he was happy that she was back and that he was there for her if she needed him. When he let go of her and sat down, she realized how much she missed him and how much she needed someone to talk to right now.
The two of them talked for hours. Everyone else in the cafe had gone home and there was only the odd person coming in for a quick cup of tea. Buffy told Angel of her latest crisis with bills and money and how she had no income to support Dawn. Angel told her what was happening at Angel Investigations and their trip to Pylea. They weren't really talking about anything in particular, just catching up on the latest issues and enjoying the company of each other. Buffy remembered how easy she had always found it to talk to Angel about her worries. And he would always listen.
After talking for ages, they both fell silent and were contented to sit there silently with each other.
"Buffy," said Angel quietly, "Are we going to talk about ... where you were?"
"I ... have no idea."
"'Cause you know you can talk to me, right? You can tell me anything and I'll still ... I won't care."
Feeling the tears form in her eyes, she said "It's – It's just ... hard."
"I realize that. I mean, I went through it too, remember?"
Buffy looked down as she remembered how she had killed Angel over 3 years ago. She had sacrificed Angel and everything that she loved to save the world. He had then been trapped in a Hell dimension for 100 years, suffering eternal torment, until he found his way back to earth. To Buffy. And he had returned as a vicious animal, only reverting to his former self when he met Buffy.
Realizing that now was not the time to bring the past back up, Angel said, "But anyway, I know it must have been hard trapped in a Hell ... wherever you were."
Buffy said, careful not to meet his eyes, "Yeah. It was difficult. But, you know, I got out. My friends pulled me out."
"And I'm sure they're very happy to have you back. But the important thing is that you're home and you can put that Hell dimension behind you. You can –"
"Forget?"
Placing his hand on top of hers, he said, "No, not forget. But move on. It's what I did."
"I – I can't ..." Buffy said, fighting not to cry.
"You can, Buffy. You've got a world of strength in your heart. You just have to find it again."
"I can't do this!" she cried, ripping her hand away from his. "I'm – I'm sorry, Angel."
She stood, tears streaming down her face and ran out of the café, leaving Angel behind.
How could she tell anyone that she had been in Heaven? And that they had ripped her out of there, placing her back in a world of suffering and pain?