The little café was busy - not unusual for a Monday morning - most customers would hurry in grab a coffee to go, and just as quickly rejoin the frantic rush of people that kept the city going. Buffy and Angel, however, sat almost alone in the sitting area at the back of the café, not in any particular hurry, something Buffy was extremely thankful for after the last six months of hell that had been life in Sunnydale. She shifted a little on the plush leather seat, and sipped idly at her hot chocolate, all the while staring intently at Angel.
"What's up?" He asked, putting his cup down on the table in front of him.
Caught off guard for a second she shrugged absently in response. "Nothing."
He frowned at her. "No, you definitely have a 'something' face."
"Hey - isn't that my line?"
The two shared a smile before Angel looked at her expectantly. Not feeling brave enough to share what she'd been thinking, Buffy broke eye contact and stole a mouthful of Angel's coffee. Upon swallowing it she pulled a face.
"Isn't it a bit early for black coffee?"
"And its not too early to be eating that?" Angel teased referring to the nearly devoured donut sitting in front of Buffy.
"Mmmmm." She mumbled, finishing the remains and licking the sugar from her fingers, "Its never too early for sugar."
Despite the innocence in her actions something stirred within Angel, a reaction which didn't go unnoticed by Buffy who quickly pushed her plate to one side.
"So… shouldn't you be at work playing the hot shot lawyer or something by now? Leaving me to recreate my wardrobe?"
"Good thing about being the boss ," he grinned lopsidedly, "Can't get fired for deciding to take the morning off."
The shop was getting busier now, and a harassed waitress came and put the bill on their table before moving on without so much as a glance at either of them.
"Friendly." Buffy observed, while Angel placed two notes in the little black wallet, before sliding a credit card across to Buffy.
"Angel." She started sliding it back to him, "You know I can't accept this. I have money - accounts set up by Giles, and, behold the miracle, my father."
Angel smiled at her; he'd expected this reaction. "What about Dawn - her education, her future? This way you can save that money for her." Seeing her hesitation still, he opened her hand, placed the card in her palm and closed her fingers around it, before wrapping his own hand in hers.
"Buffy." He said in all seriousness. "This isn't charity money, or me expecting anything in return. Its me helping a friend - the least I can do after all you've done for me."
Buffy's features tightened a little hearing Angel refer to her as a 'friend', but then again, what had she really expected a few days after turning up on his doorstep? Angel seemed to misinterpret this for awkwardness over accepting the money, or at least pretended to; Buffy couldn't tell.
"Go out - get whatever you need."
Buffy opened her mouth to protest, but Angel stopped her before she had the chance to start.
"I mean it." He added firmly.
There was a moment of silence between them, which Angel took upon himself to break by saying;
"I could come with you if you want? Take the day off?"
Buffy gave a small smile. "I'm touched. Really. But I'll be fine. I know how much you enjoy shopping."
Angel gave a mock sigh of relief, "I was getting worried for a second there."
"Hey" she feigned insult. "My shopping trips are not that bad. You should try shopping with Cordelia." Buffy stopped herself quickly realizing her mistake.
Angel looked pained for a moment before saying "I'll get a car to come pick you up, drop you at the mall…"
"I can walk," she interrupted carefully only half amused at his protectiveness, " You know, I used to live in L.A."
"I know." he answered simply. "The guy'll wait for you and take you back to my apartment when you're done. Here." he said, handing her a key.
The next five minutes were spent in companionable silence, while Buffy and Angel waited for the car he had called two minutes before. Some time later - Buffy couldn't tell how long - Angel lead her outside where her driver was waiting.
"I'll see you later." He said softly, squeezing her hand.
Buffy nodded before climbing into the black Mercedes. As they pulled away she turned and watched from the back window as Angel slowly faded from view.
"Oh boy." She whispered banging her head slightly on the seat behind her - "What am I doing?"
Some hours later Buffy stood under the bright lights of Barney's shoe department inspecting her appearance in the full length mirror before her - namely the delicate pair of clementine sandals she now wore on her feet - her black boots tucked under the chair behind her.
"They look so cute on you." The shop girl next to Buffy enthused. "They'd go perfectly with that white and orange tank top." she continued, motioning to the vast pile of clothes on a chair to Buffy's right. "Or, you know if you wanted to dress them up we've got a great selection of Summer dresses on the third floor. Just in Thursday."
"Maybe." Buffy replied, turning to see the shoes from a slightly different angle. She jumped slightly as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket; she'd forgotten she'd put it there. "Sorry." She smiled apologetically to the girl as she took out her phone.
"Hello?"
"Buffy." A warm English voice greeted her.
"Giles, hi. How are you?"
"Very well thank you, and yourself?"
"I'm good. Could you err…hold on a minute?" Buffy turned her attention back to the shop assistant. "I'll take the shoes - if you could put them aside with the rest of the clothes for me. I'll go and have a look at the summer dresses as soon as I've finished this call." The girl nodded politely, and began to haul Buffy's array of clothes and shoes to the nearest counter.
"Giles?"
"Still here. You're shopping?"
She chuckled, hearing the exasperation in his voice. "Yeah. I figured I'd need a bit of stuff being as most of my clothes caved in with the town I used to live in."
"You managed to find Angel I take it?" Though Giles attempted to make his tone casual he didn't quite pull it off.
" Yeah…"
"And you're staying…?"
"In his apartment."
"I'm assuming then, that its Angel funding the shopping trip?"
Though Giles' tone was far from accusatory, Buffy felt awkward and blushed in spite of herself.
"He insisted." She replied limply.
"I see. So how long were you planning on staying…with Angel?"
"I don't know." she answered honestly before looking around and quickly saying "I know that you really want to try and get things going again Giles, the reformation of the Council and everything. But I need some time, some 'Buffy' time, away from slaying, even if its just for a couple of weeks. And okay, I realise that staying with Angel isn't what you'd typically call getting away from slaying but… I need this Giles."
"I understand that you need a break Buffy. But in the long term there are other things you're going to have to consider, especially in terms of Dawn and what will be best for her." Giles replied patiently.
" Look. Let me have a couple of weeks, sort things out with Angel and decide what to do from there."
If Giles replied Buffy didn't hear him, something across the store had caught her attention.
"Buffy? Buffy? Is everything ok?"
"What? Oh erm…Giles right. Yeah." Buffy, slightly unsettled took a minute to remember what she'd been saying as she forced her attention back to the phone call. "Everything's fine. I'll…erm…I'll speak to you later. I've got to go."
Buffy put her phone back in her pocket and looked over again, she was sure she'd seen him there just a minute ago. Anxiously she looked around the rest of the floor - he was nowhere to be seen.
"It was nothing." She reassured herself, but as she remembered the dreams that had been haunting her the last couple of nights doubt started to creep back into her mind. "It was nothing. Just the last couple of months taking their toll." She firmly told herself, but still glanced cautiously round one more time before making her way to the counter where the shop assistant was waiting.
A/N: I'm really sorry that this hasn't been updated in such a horribly long period of time. I've had a terrible year and not had the time or energy to do much with my writing. Hopefully all will be back to normal, and if there is still interest I will continue writing and posting this story as planned. A big thank you to all the people who have reviewed, and in answer to a couple of questions - there will be little overlap with what happens in season 5 of Angel - it ends up completely AU. I'm not overly pleased with this chapter - I feel kinda rusty I guess so if anyone has any suggestions or amendments please feel free - I can handle criticism (as long as its not harsh).