Ok, ok, I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted anything. But, I got my darling computer back... and that means: WRITER'S FEAST!!!!
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter (even if it's shorter than usual, sorry for the cliff-hanger.) as much as I enjoyed writing it. and better believe me, I enjoyed it A LOT. Gee, it's been so long since I *myself* wrote some B/A!!!!
I would like to hear your comments/suggestions. K&S Leni.
TITLE: High Mountains, Wide Rivers. 2
AUTHOR: Leni
DISCLAIMER: HEL.LO.O!!!! B/A rings any bells? Have you seen real love in the show lately???? Well, that settles everything, then.
DISTRIBUTION: After it's finished... we'll talk.
TIMELINE: I'll go three years into the future. Willow never resurrected Buffy after 'The Gift'. I'll even slip into denial and say 'Connor who?'. In one word? Right until the finale of S5/S2, completely AU after that.
SUMMARY: Buffy begins to settle down in her new life.
PAIRINGS: Buffy/Angel... I'm wondering if I should do a C/G or a C/W here...
both options are tempting... suggestions?
RATING: I've decided to take this to the R-level... not in this chapter, though.
DEDICATION: To Jaime and Sharon. Just for being good friends. *g*
AN: I don't know if everyone has noticed this or not but, technically speaking, the story begins with Buffy back in *her* world. The rest are just flashbacks.
FEEDBACK: You write it, I write this. I'm serious. dani_vasq@hotmail.com ,
a_d_v_v@yahoo.com.ar
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*Extract from last chapter*
Wesley turned to Buffy, who also seemed a little quieter and asked softly, "Tell us, do you believe in
vampires?"
Buffy just stared at him.
"Or in werewolves and demons and portals to the hellish dimensions?" Cordelia listed.
"W-what?" she stuttered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was only much, much later that she got to know what Angel had been doing in the meanwhile.
'Hunting' was what Wesley and Gunn called it. Cordelia had found another phrase: ''cooling off while decapitating some poor demons'. Of course, said demons stopped being 'poor' when Angel asked her to clean his sword...
On her part, Buffy had chosen a different wording, one which made Angel laugh -Oh God! If she stayed here... there would be no more Angel-laughs for her to enjoy! They were on a date in one of those expensive French restaurants when she finally told him: "Not brooding for the first time in the century." Trying to be quiet first, then laughing harder, they had attracted every patron's attention. Buffy blushed now. How could they have done *that* in a place as sophisticated as that one! After laughing it off, Angel had tenderly taken her hand in his and admitted that she had been completely right and that, as long as she stayed at his side, he would never have to brood anymore. "Not even if I spend everything in your bank-account?" she had deadpanned. "Which one?" he had answered swiftly. Another fit of laughter and several customers glaring at the unconventional couple in the corner were the outcome of that exchange.
Buffy frowned and clenched her eyes shut to stop a tear from falling. Angel would understand. Yes, he would understand that she was back home. He couldn't be serious about needing her to be happy, he couldn't be serious about loving her so much in so little time...
...not that he had always said so. At first it had been... difficult between both of them. Difficult and perplexing and sometimes just painful. The ghost of *the other* Buffy had been hard to put to rest; especially when she resembled *her* in so many ways. They had overcome all that... The last weeks with him had been--- heaven. Buffy sighed now. She wouldn't think of it or she would go crazy...
...maybe just as crazy as she had felt that first night...
Vampires? The evil undead? Supernatural beings? She laughed now at her past naivete, but then... she hadn't laughed, that was for sure.
On her part, while Angel was venting in the sewers, she was busy trying to cope with the reality of a world which *could not* be hers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The hard surface of the gravestone scratching against her back was the only thing keeping her awake. She just wanted to escape this place. That man exploding, the smile in her friends' faces as it did... it couldn't be real.
Vampires were not real.
But then, why had it exploded as the wood penetrated its body?
"Are you okay, Buffy?"
Strong hands grabbing hers. Worried brown eyes trying to glare into her.
Cordelia.
Cordelia, who had been the meanest bitch back in high-school...
...the same Cordelia who had just killed
Cordelia Chase, SH-Princess and snob airhead, the one who wouldn't move a finger to save a friend's skin.
Cordelia who had not flinched once that ... that creature lunged at her, the one who had protected Wesley's back as he finally staked that thing.
Who was the girl in front of her now?
Cordelia never worried about Buffy Summers. Not when said Buffy Summers wasn't 'snagging her guys away' without even trying.
'Who are you?' Buffy wanted to ask desperately the now never-know-at-all girl. The question that left her lips was a bit different.
"What was that?" A ting of fear and disbelief could be sensed in her voice.
The brunette sighed in apparent relief. "Oh good. You are still responsive. I believe you had slipped into shock or something. Maybe we shouldn't have brought you here so soon... but we had to or you wouldn't believe." She grabbed her hands as if comforting her. Buffy loosened her hands from hers. She still didn't trust the ex cheerleader. Cordelia just looked at her funnily and shrugged. "You are okay, I see. That's good. It wouldn't do for Angel to find you not okayish. Even if you aren't *her*... only that you also are..." She furrowed her brow looking confused. That was yet another facet for Cordelia, Buffy thought, the girl she used to know would *never* act confused. The SH-Princess was *always* sure about herself.
Just looking at this Cordelia, Buffy was ready to believe in those apparently-crazy parallel dimensions-theories. In her opinion, it was easier to understand Cordelia's change of heart if she was confronted daily with such abnormal situations. The brunette continued, unaware of Buffy's scrutiny. "Yes, you are *Buffy*... only not." She finally shrugged. "Angel just wouldn't like it, you know what I mean, don't you? he still flinches every time he sees a petite blonde from the back."
Buffy stared.
Someone coughed from behind her. She recognised Wesley's voice. "Ehem, Cordelia..." The brunette looked up at him. "I think Buffy asked something..." Cordelia had the grace to look sheepish.
"Oh yeah. What was that, you said?" Buffy nodded. "A vampire, of course. Didn't we tell you on our way here?" Buffy nodded again. "There you are." Then she sighed in exasperation. "I don't know why you had to ask if you already knew it," she sounded slightly annoyed.
"I think that this Buffy didn't believe it at first, Cordy. Remember that she is not the Slayer."
Buffy nodded.
"Oh." Cordelia's expression turned understanding. Buffy thought it was as bizarre as that man... ... exploded. There. She had thought it.
Cordelia continued. "I also didn't want to believe in vampires and evil hellish things at first. But, after living on a Hellmouth -and knowing the details about it- it becomes impossible to leave that life-style back. As unstylish as it can be and as had as I tried," she mumbled the last part. "I stillremember when you told me about Angel. *Then* I slipped into denial. I remember thinking.' No. Absolutely impossible. A hottie like that has no right to be undead.' Funny, isn't it? Especially now that I'm working for him."
Buffy's eyes widened. "Your Angel is... is---" She turned her gaze to the profaned tomb, just where she thought the ashes had fallen. "Oh," she just said, "Why haven't you k-killed him then? Didn't you just tell me they were all evil?
"Oh no!" Cordelia shook her head. "No! You're getting it wrong, Buffy!" Cordelia rushed to explain. "Angel had a soul. He is a good guy now." She stayed quiet for a second. "He had his evil ways a century ago, that's true." She looked at the unknowing girl in front of her. "Yeah, a long, long century ago." Wesley smiled. "Then he got coursed with a soul as has been your lovely Angel ever since."
"Mine?" Buffy blushed when she noticed Cordy's eyebrow arching as if saying 'You noticed that, didn't you?' She nearly sighed in relief when Wesley's intervention saved her from further examination.
"What Cordelia failed to tell you is that we won against an important enemy some months ago." He paused to emphasise his next words. "He became human. A reward and a need at the same time," he finished thoughtfully.
Buffy could hear Cordelia's "Reward? Ha!" huff. She wondered briefly about it but Wesley' distracted her with some new shocking news. "Seems only an human would stop the next Apocalypse."
"So the PTB 'humanised' their champion without asking him," Cordelia muttered annoyed "Thank God they let him retain his strength and some other abilities or he wouldn't have survived those hours at the Greich camp if not for his vampiric endurance."
"I don't understand," Buffy interrupted. And she really didn't. Cordelia spoke of that event with so much bitterness... "Shouldn't your friend's becoming human be a happy occasion?"
Cordelia ignored Wesley's hard gaze on her. "Not when he isn't happy about it." And it was the truth. "You saw his bedroom, Buffy," she continued even when the blonde's eyes had darkened. Oops, bad memory to bring on. "It is still as dark as when he first came to live at the hotel. That isn't healthy, I'm telling you. And *now* he must begin to care for his health. And not only to survive in order to stop the next Apocalypse." She looked at the young woman in front of her. Buffy had arrived just in time. In Cordelia's mind, the blonde girl was her last shot at having a decently happy friend at work. If Buffy stayed (and her guts where saying that the not-Slayer would) then the least she could do to pay for their hosting was to help her boss...
Of course, Buffy was keeping her own track of thoughts, none of them having the least to do with Angel, at least not in a personal way. Her brain was busily trying to absorb all the new information as fast as possible but... ...but one word had stopped the not-smooth-enough process. Since then, the word had been digested, assimilated and chewed again until the meaning lost importance and Buffy could gather the courage to ask. "Next *Apocalypse*?" She was lucky Cordelia and Wesley were silent in that precise moment -they had been whispering about Cordelia's unnecessary (in Wesley's opinion) confession- otherwise they wouldn't have heard her question. So low was her voice...
"Indeed," Wesley answered after throwing one last lecturing glance at Cordelia, "we still don't know when or where but it would be logical to think that it will take place during Angel's lifespan. But, as I said, we aren't sure of anything."
"Yeah," the brunette interrupted upsetly, "the PTB aren't exactly known for their openness towards 'lower beings'," she huffed.
"What's PTB?"
"We better go to the car first, don't you think?" Cordelia advised, noticing that goosebumps had covered her arms in the cold air.
Wesley offered his hand to Buffy. She took it and hauled herself form the hard ground in one swift movement. Wesley's eyebrows shot up but he didn't have time to comment as Cordelia was already answering Buffy's last question.
"The PTB? Well, they are to blame for my lifelong inscription to Painkillers Are Us."
"Cordy..." Wesley gently urged her.
She shot back an annoyed glance at him for not letting her whine even a little more. "Ok, ok." she gave up. "You see, the PTB are like gods..."
Buffy now knew better that to let *this* surprise her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cordelia had been right about the PTB being cryptic. The only answer Angel got from them was that her presence in that world was an unexpected event that 'would right everything and itself in its own time'. Had they referred to this, Buffy wondered now? Was her return home something they had planed from the first second she landed in Angel's bed?
Then why did they let her stay beside him for so much time? Why had they given enough time to solve everything between them just to shove her back into her world? Why would she stay in that L.A., become friends with the whole gang and enjoy Angel's caresses if she was meant to come back anyway as if nothing had ever happened?
Because *nothing* had happened here. Just as if the last months were just some wild dream.
She now looked around her room. Yes, it was exactly as she had left it all those months ago. Even her Physics book was lying on the floor next to her study table, just where she had dropped it when she agreed to take part in Willow's fool experiment. She didn't think it was a fool one anymore. The spell had really let her meet her soulmate.
Wasn't it funny how she had never believed in 'soulmates' until that sunset at the beach? Buffy's memories brought her back to that afternoon. Angel and she had just had THE big discussion the day before. All was right between them at last. Even Gunn - impermeable, hard, PDA-hater Gunn - had smiled seeing them. Angel had taken her to Santa Monica's pier and told her all about that days four years ago with the other Buffy (The peanut butter had proven to be as fantastic as he described it.) It was then, hearing him speak lovingly about a woman who was not her, that Buffy *knew* it. Yes, maybe she was a fool for falling completely in love with a man who was just telling her how much he loved another woman but... everything in his voice said how much he wanted to share everything with her, how much he wanted to make more memories just about both of them. Angel and Buffy. Together. Forever. How could she not fall in love?
She shut her eyes and clutched the tiny piece of paper in her hand.
Nothing of that had happened here.
It had been all just a one-night dream.
Her calendar said it was just the morning after. The radio and the TV said the same. She had been concocting some wild story to back up her six-month long disappearance when she had noticed the calendar hanging at Willow's bed. Only one page was torn.
She opened her eyes and looked at her right hand.
The bracelet was still there.
How could it be there when it was only the morning after? A girl didn't bring bracelets back from a dream.
A girl didn't leave her heart promised to one.
She threw the calendar paper away and lovingly traced the bracelet and its tiny cross charm. A smile formed slowly.
He had been blushing when he gave her this silver jewel. Second Month Anniversary had been it, the whole hotel at their disposition for a whole day (Cordelia's gift along with a teddy that even *now* could make her blush), a light comedy based in 'Romeo and Juliet' (He said it was appropriate for them. She had giggled at his comment), dinner at the beach ("I'm hungry." "This chicken tastes wonderfully, Angel, you're a god in the kitchen." "I'm not interested in food." Brown eyes appreciating her...) and a night made of stars and dreams in their room ("This... this is for you, Buffy." Silver glints in candle light. Blissful perfection. "Oh my God! It's lovely! Help me put it on?" Light caresses on her wrists. Whispers. "It will be a ring when you feel ready for it." She had wanted to answer. He shut her up with a tender kiss.) Now she felt tears on her cheeks. She had been crying that day too, she thought now, tears blurring the bracelet's image. Those were happy tears. But it had been so different.
So very different.
Buffy shook her head. She couldn't have dreamt that moment, nor Cordelia covered in purple slime AND all dishevelled. She couldn't have dreamt herself being attacked by a Greich and a Dorgh with their claws and sharp teeth.
Buffy stared at the bracelet.
Angel was a dream come true. but she hadn't dreamt him.
She couldn't have dreamt that she loved him---
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter (even if it's shorter than usual, sorry for the cliff-hanger.) as much as I enjoyed writing it. and better believe me, I enjoyed it A LOT. Gee, it's been so long since I *myself* wrote some B/A!!!!
I would like to hear your comments/suggestions. K&S Leni.
TITLE: High Mountains, Wide Rivers. 2
AUTHOR: Leni
DISCLAIMER: HEL.LO.O!!!! B/A rings any bells? Have you seen real love in the show lately???? Well, that settles everything, then.
DISTRIBUTION: After it's finished... we'll talk.
TIMELINE: I'll go three years into the future. Willow never resurrected Buffy after 'The Gift'. I'll even slip into denial and say 'Connor who?'. In one word? Right until the finale of S5/S2, completely AU after that.
SUMMARY: Buffy begins to settle down in her new life.
PAIRINGS: Buffy/Angel... I'm wondering if I should do a C/G or a C/W here...
both options are tempting... suggestions?
RATING: I've decided to take this to the R-level... not in this chapter, though.
DEDICATION: To Jaime and Sharon. Just for being good friends. *g*
AN: I don't know if everyone has noticed this or not but, technically speaking, the story begins with Buffy back in *her* world. The rest are just flashbacks.
FEEDBACK: You write it, I write this. I'm serious. dani_vasq@hotmail.com ,
a_d_v_v@yahoo.com.ar
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*Extract from last chapter*
Wesley turned to Buffy, who also seemed a little quieter and asked softly, "Tell us, do you believe in
vampires?"
Buffy just stared at him.
"Or in werewolves and demons and portals to the hellish dimensions?" Cordelia listed.
"W-what?" she stuttered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was only much, much later that she got to know what Angel had been doing in the meanwhile.
'Hunting' was what Wesley and Gunn called it. Cordelia had found another phrase: ''cooling off while decapitating some poor demons'. Of course, said demons stopped being 'poor' when Angel asked her to clean his sword...
On her part, Buffy had chosen a different wording, one which made Angel laugh -Oh God! If she stayed here... there would be no more Angel-laughs for her to enjoy! They were on a date in one of those expensive French restaurants when she finally told him: "Not brooding for the first time in the century." Trying to be quiet first, then laughing harder, they had attracted every patron's attention. Buffy blushed now. How could they have done *that* in a place as sophisticated as that one! After laughing it off, Angel had tenderly taken her hand in his and admitted that she had been completely right and that, as long as she stayed at his side, he would never have to brood anymore. "Not even if I spend everything in your bank-account?" she had deadpanned. "Which one?" he had answered swiftly. Another fit of laughter and several customers glaring at the unconventional couple in the corner were the outcome of that exchange.
Buffy frowned and clenched her eyes shut to stop a tear from falling. Angel would understand. Yes, he would understand that she was back home. He couldn't be serious about needing her to be happy, he couldn't be serious about loving her so much in so little time...
...not that he had always said so. At first it had been... difficult between both of them. Difficult and perplexing and sometimes just painful. The ghost of *the other* Buffy had been hard to put to rest; especially when she resembled *her* in so many ways. They had overcome all that... The last weeks with him had been--- heaven. Buffy sighed now. She wouldn't think of it or she would go crazy...
...maybe just as crazy as she had felt that first night...
Vampires? The evil undead? Supernatural beings? She laughed now at her past naivete, but then... she hadn't laughed, that was for sure.
On her part, while Angel was venting in the sewers, she was busy trying to cope with the reality of a world which *could not* be hers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The hard surface of the gravestone scratching against her back was the only thing keeping her awake. She just wanted to escape this place. That man exploding, the smile in her friends' faces as it did... it couldn't be real.
Vampires were not real.
But then, why had it exploded as the wood penetrated its body?
"Are you okay, Buffy?"
Strong hands grabbing hers. Worried brown eyes trying to glare into her.
Cordelia.
Cordelia, who had been the meanest bitch back in high-school...
...the same Cordelia who had just killed
Cordelia Chase, SH-Princess and snob airhead, the one who wouldn't move a finger to save a friend's skin.
Cordelia who had not flinched once that ... that creature lunged at her, the one who had protected Wesley's back as he finally staked that thing.
Who was the girl in front of her now?
Cordelia never worried about Buffy Summers. Not when said Buffy Summers wasn't 'snagging her guys away' without even trying.
'Who are you?' Buffy wanted to ask desperately the now never-know-at-all girl. The question that left her lips was a bit different.
"What was that?" A ting of fear and disbelief could be sensed in her voice.
The brunette sighed in apparent relief. "Oh good. You are still responsive. I believe you had slipped into shock or something. Maybe we shouldn't have brought you here so soon... but we had to or you wouldn't believe." She grabbed her hands as if comforting her. Buffy loosened her hands from hers. She still didn't trust the ex cheerleader. Cordelia just looked at her funnily and shrugged. "You are okay, I see. That's good. It wouldn't do for Angel to find you not okayish. Even if you aren't *her*... only that you also are..." She furrowed her brow looking confused. That was yet another facet for Cordelia, Buffy thought, the girl she used to know would *never* act confused. The SH-Princess was *always* sure about herself.
Just looking at this Cordelia, Buffy was ready to believe in those apparently-crazy parallel dimensions-theories. In her opinion, it was easier to understand Cordelia's change of heart if she was confronted daily with such abnormal situations. The brunette continued, unaware of Buffy's scrutiny. "Yes, you are *Buffy*... only not." She finally shrugged. "Angel just wouldn't like it, you know what I mean, don't you? he still flinches every time he sees a petite blonde from the back."
Buffy stared.
Someone coughed from behind her. She recognised Wesley's voice. "Ehem, Cordelia..." The brunette looked up at him. "I think Buffy asked something..." Cordelia had the grace to look sheepish.
"Oh yeah. What was that, you said?" Buffy nodded. "A vampire, of course. Didn't we tell you on our way here?" Buffy nodded again. "There you are." Then she sighed in exasperation. "I don't know why you had to ask if you already knew it," she sounded slightly annoyed.
"I think that this Buffy didn't believe it at first, Cordy. Remember that she is not the Slayer."
Buffy nodded.
"Oh." Cordelia's expression turned understanding. Buffy thought it was as bizarre as that man... ... exploded. There. She had thought it.
Cordelia continued. "I also didn't want to believe in vampires and evil hellish things at first. But, after living on a Hellmouth -and knowing the details about it- it becomes impossible to leave that life-style back. As unstylish as it can be and as had as I tried," she mumbled the last part. "I stillremember when you told me about Angel. *Then* I slipped into denial. I remember thinking.' No. Absolutely impossible. A hottie like that has no right to be undead.' Funny, isn't it? Especially now that I'm working for him."
Buffy's eyes widened. "Your Angel is... is---" She turned her gaze to the profaned tomb, just where she thought the ashes had fallen. "Oh," she just said, "Why haven't you k-killed him then? Didn't you just tell me they were all evil?
"Oh no!" Cordelia shook her head. "No! You're getting it wrong, Buffy!" Cordelia rushed to explain. "Angel had a soul. He is a good guy now." She stayed quiet for a second. "He had his evil ways a century ago, that's true." She looked at the unknowing girl in front of her. "Yeah, a long, long century ago." Wesley smiled. "Then he got coursed with a soul as has been your lovely Angel ever since."
"Mine?" Buffy blushed when she noticed Cordy's eyebrow arching as if saying 'You noticed that, didn't you?' She nearly sighed in relief when Wesley's intervention saved her from further examination.
"What Cordelia failed to tell you is that we won against an important enemy some months ago." He paused to emphasise his next words. "He became human. A reward and a need at the same time," he finished thoughtfully.
Buffy could hear Cordelia's "Reward? Ha!" huff. She wondered briefly about it but Wesley' distracted her with some new shocking news. "Seems only an human would stop the next Apocalypse."
"So the PTB 'humanised' their champion without asking him," Cordelia muttered annoyed "Thank God they let him retain his strength and some other abilities or he wouldn't have survived those hours at the Greich camp if not for his vampiric endurance."
"I don't understand," Buffy interrupted. And she really didn't. Cordelia spoke of that event with so much bitterness... "Shouldn't your friend's becoming human be a happy occasion?"
Cordelia ignored Wesley's hard gaze on her. "Not when he isn't happy about it." And it was the truth. "You saw his bedroom, Buffy," she continued even when the blonde's eyes had darkened. Oops, bad memory to bring on. "It is still as dark as when he first came to live at the hotel. That isn't healthy, I'm telling you. And *now* he must begin to care for his health. And not only to survive in order to stop the next Apocalypse." She looked at the young woman in front of her. Buffy had arrived just in time. In Cordelia's mind, the blonde girl was her last shot at having a decently happy friend at work. If Buffy stayed (and her guts where saying that the not-Slayer would) then the least she could do to pay for their hosting was to help her boss...
Of course, Buffy was keeping her own track of thoughts, none of them having the least to do with Angel, at least not in a personal way. Her brain was busily trying to absorb all the new information as fast as possible but... ...but one word had stopped the not-smooth-enough process. Since then, the word had been digested, assimilated and chewed again until the meaning lost importance and Buffy could gather the courage to ask. "Next *Apocalypse*?" She was lucky Cordelia and Wesley were silent in that precise moment -they had been whispering about Cordelia's unnecessary (in Wesley's opinion) confession- otherwise they wouldn't have heard her question. So low was her voice...
"Indeed," Wesley answered after throwing one last lecturing glance at Cordelia, "we still don't know when or where but it would be logical to think that it will take place during Angel's lifespan. But, as I said, we aren't sure of anything."
"Yeah," the brunette interrupted upsetly, "the PTB aren't exactly known for their openness towards 'lower beings'," she huffed.
"What's PTB?"
"We better go to the car first, don't you think?" Cordelia advised, noticing that goosebumps had covered her arms in the cold air.
Wesley offered his hand to Buffy. She took it and hauled herself form the hard ground in one swift movement. Wesley's eyebrows shot up but he didn't have time to comment as Cordelia was already answering Buffy's last question.
"The PTB? Well, they are to blame for my lifelong inscription to Painkillers Are Us."
"Cordy..." Wesley gently urged her.
She shot back an annoyed glance at him for not letting her whine even a little more. "Ok, ok." she gave up. "You see, the PTB are like gods..."
Buffy now knew better that to let *this* surprise her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cordelia had been right about the PTB being cryptic. The only answer Angel got from them was that her presence in that world was an unexpected event that 'would right everything and itself in its own time'. Had they referred to this, Buffy wondered now? Was her return home something they had planed from the first second she landed in Angel's bed?
Then why did they let her stay beside him for so much time? Why had they given enough time to solve everything between them just to shove her back into her world? Why would she stay in that L.A., become friends with the whole gang and enjoy Angel's caresses if she was meant to come back anyway as if nothing had ever happened?
Because *nothing* had happened here. Just as if the last months were just some wild dream.
She now looked around her room. Yes, it was exactly as she had left it all those months ago. Even her Physics book was lying on the floor next to her study table, just where she had dropped it when she agreed to take part in Willow's fool experiment. She didn't think it was a fool one anymore. The spell had really let her meet her soulmate.
Wasn't it funny how she had never believed in 'soulmates' until that sunset at the beach? Buffy's memories brought her back to that afternoon. Angel and she had just had THE big discussion the day before. All was right between them at last. Even Gunn - impermeable, hard, PDA-hater Gunn - had smiled seeing them. Angel had taken her to Santa Monica's pier and told her all about that days four years ago with the other Buffy (The peanut butter had proven to be as fantastic as he described it.) It was then, hearing him speak lovingly about a woman who was not her, that Buffy *knew* it. Yes, maybe she was a fool for falling completely in love with a man who was just telling her how much he loved another woman but... everything in his voice said how much he wanted to share everything with her, how much he wanted to make more memories just about both of them. Angel and Buffy. Together. Forever. How could she not fall in love?
She shut her eyes and clutched the tiny piece of paper in her hand.
Nothing of that had happened here.
It had been all just a one-night dream.
Her calendar said it was just the morning after. The radio and the TV said the same. She had been concocting some wild story to back up her six-month long disappearance when she had noticed the calendar hanging at Willow's bed. Only one page was torn.
She opened her eyes and looked at her right hand.
The bracelet was still there.
How could it be there when it was only the morning after? A girl didn't bring bracelets back from a dream.
A girl didn't leave her heart promised to one.
She threw the calendar paper away and lovingly traced the bracelet and its tiny cross charm. A smile formed slowly.
He had been blushing when he gave her this silver jewel. Second Month Anniversary had been it, the whole hotel at their disposition for a whole day (Cordelia's gift along with a teddy that even *now* could make her blush), a light comedy based in 'Romeo and Juliet' (He said it was appropriate for them. She had giggled at his comment), dinner at the beach ("I'm hungry." "This chicken tastes wonderfully, Angel, you're a god in the kitchen." "I'm not interested in food." Brown eyes appreciating her...) and a night made of stars and dreams in their room ("This... this is for you, Buffy." Silver glints in candle light. Blissful perfection. "Oh my God! It's lovely! Help me put it on?" Light caresses on her wrists. Whispers. "It will be a ring when you feel ready for it." She had wanted to answer. He shut her up with a tender kiss.) Now she felt tears on her cheeks. She had been crying that day too, she thought now, tears blurring the bracelet's image. Those were happy tears. But it had been so different.
So very different.
Buffy shook her head. She couldn't have dreamt that moment, nor Cordelia covered in purple slime AND all dishevelled. She couldn't have dreamt herself being attacked by a Greich and a Dorgh with their claws and sharp teeth.
Buffy stared at the bracelet.
Angel was a dream come true. but she hadn't dreamt him.
She couldn't have dreamt that she loved him---