Authors Note: Hello everyone! Well this chapter took me a long time to write, so hopefully everyone will enjoy it. I used a line from "Surprise" in my chapter so I am letting ya'll know it wasn't written by me, and I do not own that part.
Chapter 3
Buffy took a deep breath before knocking on the door of Angel's apartment. She knew she had said she needed some space to think, but she knew what her heart was telling her to do. Who knew if she was ever going to feel like this again? Right now all she wanted to focus on was being with Angel, completely.
Angel opened the door moments later; he immediately smiled when he saw Buffy. He knew he would have to accept her wanting space, but he knew it would be hard and it was something he really didn't want to do. "Hey, you're back," he said, standing aside to let her in.
"Ya, well you know that thing I said earlier about needing space? Well I kinda changed my mind. Angel, I know what my heart is telling me do, it's just my head that's getting in the way. My heart knows and wants so bad to be with you, but my head is yelling at me saying 'don't do it.' Until now I didn't know which one I should listen to, but someone very special to me reminded me of a certain phrase, carpe diem, seize the day," she looked deep in his eyes before getting the courage to say what she so desperately wanted to say. "I want to be with you Angel in every way possible."
Angel wasn't sure if he had heard right, had Buffy just said that she was ready? He had been sure that she wouldn't be ready for months, possibly even years. He looked into her eyes trying to see if she was truly ready, or if she felt pushed by him. "Buffy you know we don't have to do this, I can wait as long as you need. I want this to be special for you, and for it to be special you need to be truly ready," Angel said rubbing his hands up and down her arm slowly.
Buffy gulped quietly she couldn't explain all the feelings she was feeling at the moment, but looking into Angel's eyes she knew this was right. She was standing in front of the man she loved, even though he had never said it in words his eyes had said it many times before. She shook her head a couple of times before placing it onto his chest. She was scared, but she was also excited.
"Then we're going to do this right, I'm going to take you to the most expensive restaurant tonight, and then only if you still think you're ready then I will make love to you," he said wrapping her body in a hug.
Buffy smiled at his words, "Angel you really don't have to go all out and take me out. Just being with you is enough, I don't need a fancy dinner. I just want this night to be with you," she said as she took a seat on his bed. She couldn't help but let her mind wander to what they would be doing on it in just a few hours. She ran a finger over his red comforter.
Angel sat down next to her and held her hand "I am going to make this night as special as I can. I don't want you to worry about anything okay?" he said, kissing her hand.
Buffy finally gave in, she could see how badly Angel wanted to make this special for her. "Okay Angel, what time should I meet you there?" she asked smiling reassuringly at him.
"What if I picked you up? Is your mom going to be home tonight?" he said, hoping she wouldn't. He didn't want to have Buffy lie to her to sneak out with him.
"If you wanted you could pick me up, mom is out of town for the weekend so it is just going to be me," she said standing back up and heading towards the door.
"Okay be ready around seven then," he said to her, wrapping his hands around her waist.
Buffy looked up at him and placed her lips upon his softly at first, but as the seconds went by hands started to roam again. She could feel his hand going from her waist to her butt. She couldn't help but groan into his mouth; Angel grinned and made a mental note that she liked that for later tonight. She opened her mouth to allow his tongue access.
He could feel his last bit of restraint slipping away as he started kissing her neck. He needed to stop this; he reminded himself that he would soon have her in every way possible. He took a step back and saw her lust filled eyes looking questioningly up at him; he smiled before kissing on her cheek. "See you tonight Buffy."
Buffy smiled at him before leaving his apartment She didn't know what she would do with herself until seven. It only took her maybe 3 hours to get ready, and it was only twelve pm at the moment. She went by the Espresso Pump and saw Willow and Xander. She walked over to them; she really felt like she was flying from what was going to happen with Angel, but knew she had to get a grip on herself.
"Hey guys what's up?" she said grinning from ear to ear, Willow gave her a curious look, but Buffy just ignored it.
"Nothing much, how is the Buffster? You seem rather peppy today, did someone have too much coffee this morning? Tsk, Tsk what did I tell you about that Buffy?" he joked shaking a finger at her. Buffy swatted the finger away from her before sitting down.
"Can't a girl just be happy?" Buffy asked, looking down at her Mocha that the waiter had brought her.
"Yes a girl can just be happy, but not you. Now give, what's up?" Xander pressed. Buffy looked at Willow to cover for her.
"I think it's because, she thinks she did really well on the history test right Buffy?" Willow cut in, winking very noticeably at her.
Being the very unobservant Xander he is, he didn't catch the wink between his two friends. "At least somebody thinks they did well, I'm not going to even get into how bad I sucked again," Xander said taking a sip of his mocha.
Buffy mouthed a thank you to Willow before standing up, she was about to say her goodbyes when Xander piped up again, "so what time shall I meet my best gals for some dancing tonight at the Bronze?" Xander asked giving them his best goofy grin.
"Actually I can't Xand, sorry," Buffy said.
Xander looked at her questioningly, and for a moment she wondered if he knew what she up to. When he smiled again she let out a sigh of relief. "Alright at least I'll have my other boogy partner there, or do you have some super secret plan too?"
"Nope, I'm all done with dancing my booty off tonight," Willow said. Buffy glanced down at her watch and gasped when she saw she only had 2 hours to get ready now. She quickly said her goodbyes before running the rest of the way to her house.
Opening the door to her house, she smelled something wonderful, she immediately became frightened at the thought of her mom coming home early. "Mom, I thought you had the buisne…" she trailed off when she saw a man in her kitchen, standing over pots and wearing a pink apron. She then let a giggle out when the man turned around, he was obviously alarmed at the sound of her voice. "Angel sorry to say this, but you just don't pull off the pink apron thing," he glanced down at himself and immediately took it off. She swore if he were alive his face would be a bright shade of red at the moment.
"Buffy, I wasn't expecting you home so soon, I saw you talking to Xander and Willow when I was trying to make reservations at that restaurant," Angel came over to her slowly and put his hands on her hips. She swore she felt her whole body tremble at the feel of his touch.
"So I take it no luck with the reservations?" she said, secretly glad that he wasn't able to get them. She really just didn't want make all of this a big deal.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I tried and tried, but apparently this business party booked the whole damn restaurant," he said, frowning at the thought of his conversation with the waiter.
Buffy gave him a small smile and quickly kissed him on the cheek before walking over to the stove to smell the deliciousness he was making. "It's alright Angel, I'd rather just spend our night here, and whatever you are cooking, it smells fantastic."
Angel smiled, before carrying her out of the kitchen. "Stay ou,t the surprise of dinner is already ruined, at least what I'm making will be a surprise," Angel said, laughing at her pouting face.
"Fine, I don't need to know. I'll just go upstairs and get ready," she said before running up the stairs into her room. She leaned on her closed door and let out the breath she was never able to take since she had seen him. He was wearing a black silk shirt with black pants. He had done something different with his hair, which she noticed. The new change brought out his deep brown eyes, which she knew was the entrance to his soul. Finally able to breathe normally again she went to her closet to find something that would take Angel's breath away, or at least metaphorically.
Finally deciding on a red satin dress with black heels, she was satisfied. She quickly fixed her makeup, making sure she wasn't over doing it or under doing it. With spraying a speck of jasmine spice at herself she went down the stairs. Angel was at the bottom waiting for her.
She looked so beautiful to him, the dress brought out her natural curves that would drive any man wild. He had to take control himself if he wanted to get through supper. "Buffy, you're beautiful," he finally said, taking her hand, and leading her in the dinning room.
She gasped at all of the work Angel must have put into this dinner, "Angel, you really didn't need to do all of this," she said, sitting down into the chair he had pulled out for her.
"You have it wrong, this isn't enough, I wish I could have done more, but well, this is one of the only things I know how to make," he said, taking his own seat.
Buffy started to cut up her steak; she really didn't know what to say to him. He had done so much, she couldn't have asked for anything else. "Angel, you don't know how much all of this means to me, you're making this night so special."
Angel smiled and took hold of her hand; he hoped he could make the rest of the night just as special for her. Once finished with supper, Buffy was sent into the living room to watch TV while Angel did the dishes. She protested but again was carried to the other room.
A while later Angel came out, and stood in the doorway waiting for Buffy to take notice of him. When she did, she had a huge smile on her face. In his hands was a vase of what looked like 2 dozen red roses. "Oh my god Angel, they're beautiful!" She squealed with joy, smelling the flowers. She stared into his eyes, she wanted so bad just to say those three words that she had been dying to say to him for the past month. The only thing that was holding her back from saying them was the fear of him not saying them back to her. She was sick of holding in her true feelings though, she needed to know if he loved her. She had to hear it to just shut up that annoying voice in the back of her mind that kept telling her he that he didn't. When she opened up her mouth ready to say those word,s he silenced her with his finger that was placed on her lips.
Angel knew what she was about to say to him but he didn't want to hear it, not yet at least. He needed to do something first. "Can we go upstairs? I have something for you," he asked, staring into her emerald eyes pleading to her just to let him speak.
Buffy could feel her heart start to beat faster at the thought of them back in her bedroom. She couldn't muster up the courage to speak the words so she simply nodded yes. She felt him take hold of her hand, and she couldn't help but let a smile come to her lips. He opened the door opened for her, and she stepped inside the room, she looked around aimlessly before turning around and looking at Angel again.
"Angel I…" he interrupted her again with "shhh not yet, baby." He slowly crossed her room and reached under her bed where he took out a black velvet case.
Buffy could feel her eyes widen with excitement, "Angel what is it?" she asked sitting down on the bed next to him.
"Open it," he said smiling at her slightly. She slowly took it from him, he watched as she gently when a finger over the top of the box. His heart was pounding hoping she would like what was inside of the box; he watched every single movement she made.
When she finally opened her box she stared at the beautiful ring that lay inside of it. "Angel it's beautiful," she said simply, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
He let out a sigh of relief, so ecstatic she liked it. "My people, before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship; the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this." Angel explained slipping the ring onto her finger.
She didn't try to hold back the tears anymore. She looked up at him and smiled. He then took a ring that he had, and held it in his palm. "I want to belong with you Buffy, now and forever. You are the most amazing woman I have ever met in my entire life, and I know that this feeling won't go away, I don't want it to go away," he took an unneeded breath before going on. "I love you Buffy, and I try not to but," this time she cut him off and scooted closer to him so they were just inches apart.
"I know Angel, I tried not to, but this feeling it's not going away, and I have no desire of wanting it to. Angel I want to make love to you," she said kissing his hand.
He looked into her eyes, trying to see if he could find one doubt, any doubt, but he couldn't. All he saw was the love she had for him. He slowly brought his lips to hers in the most sensual kiss.
She could feel her heart melting at the very first touch of him; she fell into the kiss immediately, letting her heart lead the way. She opened her mouth to allow him to make the kiss deeper, and as he was doing so she felt herself being laid on the bed with him on top of her. She let a groan escape her lips as she felt his hands unzip the zipper of her dress.
Leaving her lips he had to make sure she was ready for this, and she wanted this. "Are you sure Buffy?"
"Yes, Angel I have never been more sure," she said as she pulled his head to meet her lips.
TBC! Please review!
