Chapter 11

"Angel"

"Angel!" Giles shook the vampires shoulder and knocked him out of his daze. "Angel, let me take you home. You're hurt. You need to get cleaned up."

The vampire sat and looked at the watcher like he was insane. "I'm not leaving her."

"Angel, Buffy's in surgery right now. The doctors said it would be a few hours before we knew anything. Let's get you home so you can rest and as soon as we hear something, I'll drive you back here."

Angel stubbornly shook his head. "No. I can't..." he screwed his eyes shut as a wave of pain came over him.

Giles looked at him with pity. They had been in the Sunnydale emergency room for hours now. Angel had refused any help from the doctors around them, yelling at them to go help Buffy and not worry about him. They finally gave up. Now, he just sat in one of those orange plastic chairs, his arms crossed protectively around his chest, starring off into the distance. In the beginning Giles tried to keep him talking, fearing that he'd go into shock, but it was to no avail. The vampire just sat there lost in thought, covered in his own blood.

Giles had already noticed that he had stopped is customary breathing habits. Figuring it probably hurt too much to breathe, he let it drop. The nurses kept coming in to check on him. Everyone one in the hospital was amazed at their story. They all obviously saw that he cared for the young girl they brought in very much. But they also noticed that he seemed to be in worse shape then her. His shirt was soaked through from the large hole in his stomach, he had several bruises and cuts on his body, and for the past hour he had been coughing up blood. Despite all this though, no one could get near him.

"Angel," Giles coxed "you need to get home so we can take care of your wounds." Giles was surprised he hadn't passed out already.

"Giles," Angel whispered brokenly "I can't lose her."

"And you're not going to. You won't hurt her if you leave for a few hours."

"But what if she wakes up and I'm not there... or what if she...."

"Do you really think Buffy would want you to suffer like this? In her last lucid minutes, all she could think about was you."

Angel finally looked into the watchers eyes. "I'm not leaving."

Giles sighed. There was no way they were going to be able to get him out of here. Not while he was still conscious at least.

Angel sat there lost in thought. She couldn't die. The things he had said to her... he made her believe that he regretted coming back to her, when in fact, if he had the choice, he would do it all over again, just so he could be with her one last time. "No!' he thought, 'there'll be plenty of other times. She'll make it through this'

Every nerve in Angel's body felt like it was on fire. He couldn't even move without wincing in pain. At some point during the fight he must have punctured one of his lungs because he could feel the blood bubbling up into his mouth. If Buffy could see him now she would definitely kill him for not going home. But how could he when the love of his life lay in the other room dying? She thought that he didn't love her; she was going to die thinking that he didn't care for her at all. He couldn't let that happen.

Slowly Angel stood up. He felt the room spin around him but he knew that he had to fight through this pain. He had to do something. Clutching his side he walked out of the hospital ignoring the calls of his friends behind him.

The sky was weeping when he went outside. The heavens seemed to know what was happening to there strongest warrior. Limping along the sidewalk all Angel could think about was how much of Buffy's life was spent in pain. Every night she would go out and be forced to kill demon after demon putting her life on the line, never being able to tell anyone who she really was. She had to lead a double life, and she never got a single thanks from the outside world for doing what she did. If... when she woke up, Angel would make sure that no matter what happened, she'd never be alone like that again. Every day for the rest of his life, he would spend helping her wage the war between good and evil, even if it killed him in the end.

Rounding the corner Angel came to an old broken down warehouse. Stumbling inside he looked around searching out for something. He didn't know what though. While waiting in that room something had just come over him. He knew he had to do something to help Buffy but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. When he stood up to leave he didn't have the faintest idea of where he was going, he just let his feet take him to his final destination.

"Hello?" He whispered to the dusty room.

"Hello." Angel turned around trying to find the voice. A girl, no more then ten, hid somewhere in the dank shadows, making sure not to show even a silhouette of her form. Something about this girl's voice though was familiar.

"Where are you?" Angel peered into the shadows of the warehouse but he couldn't find where this voice was coming from.

"All around you." The voice answered.

"Show yourself."

"That is not really the issue we need to be discussing vampire. You came here for a different reason then to see my face."

A wave of nausea came over Angel. He tried to focus on the voice and not on passing out. "I did."

"Then I suggest you get on with it and stop wasting my time."

"My friend, she's lying in a hospital dying. The doctors are trying everything they can think of to save her, but... I don't think she's going to make it." Clutching his stomach he spit some of his own blood on the ground. The viscous fluid was filling his mouth much to rapidly.

"The person you speak of is the slayer." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes." He answered, even though he knew it was rhetorical.

"Do you love her?"

"I love her more then anything in this world."

"And you will have her live just because you love her?"

"She doesn't deserve to die. She's too young."

"What if she wants to die? What if she's been waiting for a fight where a demon would best her? How do you know she even wants to live in this world anymore? She is a slayer after all and all slayers lives are hard. Most of them welcome the darkness."

Angel's brow knitted in confusion as he noticed how the girl's voice was one of a sweet lilting Irish tongue. Pushing this information aside he quickly shook his head, trying to clear it enough to focus on the subject at hand. "No, Buffy's not like that!" Angel cried out. "She's full of light. She would never want to just give up on life like that."

"How do you know vampire?"

"Because..." He trailed off.

"Because what? You haven't even seen this girl in five years. You don't know what her life has been like, the pain that she has gone through. If you ask me, you're being selfish. You want her to live for you, not for herself."

Angel dropped to the floor; the pain was almost becoming unbearable now. "No. I... She has to live. I need her. She needs me. Please you have to save her."

There was a long silence; Angel was starting to think that the voice had left him to die on the cold hard floor when it came back to him more quietly then before. "I can't."

"Why?" He looked around, still searching for the body that belonged to the voice.

"Because she doesn't want to come back."

"You don't know that!"

"I do though."

Angel got to his feet shakily and yelled into the darkness. "I don't believe you! Buffy would never say that. She loves her life and the people who are in it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Now fix her!"

"I cannot fix somebody who has no will left to live!"

"Don't feed me that bullshit!"

"Fine. I didn't want to do this but I see no other choice. See for yourself vampire that my words ring true."

In a flash of light Buffy stood before him. Clad in a long white flowing gown Angel couldn't help but thnk that she was more beautiful then ever. Walking over to him she smiled, placing her hand on his cheek. It was cold to the touch.

"Buffy." He whispered brokenly. Small shivers ran up and down his spine, he couldn't even remember the last time he had felt this cold.

"Shh... It's okay Angel. Everything is going to be okay."

"I don't want you to die."

Buffy caught the tear that slid down his cheek with the edge of her thumb. "It doesn't matter Angel. I'm going to. I want to."

He pulled away from her. "No."

"Yes." She said quietly, taking his hand in hers. "This world is to harsh Angel. It's too cold. I don't want to live in it anymore."

"But what about you friends? What are we supposed to do without you?"

"Live. You all knew that sooner or later I was going to die. All slayers come with an expiration date. Today is mine."

"No. I don't accept that. I'm not going to let you die Buffy. You don't know what you're talking about. You're just confused right now. Don't do this. You don't want to die, not yet."

"Yes I do baby. I've wanted to ever since you left me."

Tears were clouding his vision. She was standing here, right here in front of him, telling him that he was the reason that she wanted to die. Because he left her, she no longer wanted to go on in life. "But, I'm back, I'm right here. I'll never leave you again Buffy, I swear."

"That's not enough. Please Angel, just let go." She squeezed his hand tighter.

Angel felt like he was going to throw up. The world was still spinning, and now his love was telling him she wanted to die. "Buffy, I love you."

She smiled sweetly. "Sometimes that's not enough." Looking up at the ceiling she smiled. "I have to go now Angel."

"Buffy no..."

Buffy pressed a finger to his lip to quiet him. "You can't stop this Angel. I'm leaving." She leaned in and kissed him sweetly on the lips, running her fingers through his hair.

Tears ran down Angels face as her lips met his. Desperately he tried to remember the feel of it all. The way she gave those soft breathy sighs as he entered her mouth. Or the curve and the feel of her soft sweet lips on his as they shared the heart breaking kiss. Feeling her pull back he opened his eyes wanting to remember her face along with everything else. But she was already gone.

Authors Note: Please reveiw and let me know if I should continue this story. Also, if you have any suggestions on how to make it better go ahead and tell me. Thank you