I don't own the song "My Immortal"

Chapter 14

As the words came out of this woman's mouth, standing in front of her, her whole world came crashing down around her. At first, she was in denial. Angelus wouldn't do that to her. While he hadn't said the words "I love you", there were definite feelings going on between them. This woman had to be crazy.

"Angelus wouldn't do that," she told this woman, who said her name was Cordelia.

Cordy still in the midst of being a bit drunk, said, "That's what you think, sweet cheeks. Angelus has never been a one woman man. The only woman that stays constant in his life is his sister, and that's only because she's the only woman he's ever loved."

Buffy shook her head, refusing to believe it. This had to be a joke! Some random woman coming up to tell her that Angelus had been unfaithful to her was ludicrous!

"How do you even know that Angelus has had other affairs while he's been with me?" she accused, ready to hear the woman's stutter or to see her crack.

Cordy looked down, sobering extremely quickly and said, "Because I was with him earlier today,"

"That's BULLSHIT!" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs. "He was out shopping for my present today! He couldn't have lied, since he gave me THIS," she exclaimed as she put the necklace in her hand and shoved it in the woman's well moisturized face.

Cordy took a sigh and told Buffy calmly that, "Then how do I know that you have blue cotton sheets in the back bedroom to the left? How do I know that Angelus has a tattoo on his right shoulder blade of a griffon? How do I know that you have a half tube of Herbal Essences Peach scented left in your bathroom?"

How would she know all that? But, it couldn't be! Angelus- he-he wouldn't cheat on her. Despite the faint smell of Corunna on this woman's breath, she had to be telling the truth. The only way she could have known about her shampoo or the sheets, was if- if- she couldn't bring herself to say it.

The weight of the world crushed down on Buffy as she looked down at the ground and let the tears come crashing down her face like an angry hurricane. How could he do that to her? On her birthday? How could she think that she loved him? She was going to tell him when she got back to his apartment. Suddenly when she looked up, to at least take some of her anger out on Cordelia, she found the other woman was gone. She looked all around her to find no one. She hadn't even heard her leave. Buffy looked down at her melted ice cream and thought, "What a waste of time," She dropped it off in their trash can outside their apartment and walked up the two flights of stairs to their door.

She looked at their bland door and looked at the number on the top of it. Number 2B. She didn't know how long she stared at that number before she composed herself and walked back in to the apartment to find it filled with candles lit, soft music playing in the background and rose petals all over the floor making a path to the bedroom.

If she hadn't just been notified of some lightening information, she would have melted at the sight, no questions asked. With recent news in mind, she only tried to fight the tears back harder. The wound was too fresh, the gentleness he was offering her. She wished that she could just go in there and pretend like she had never met Cordelia, and that the last twenty minutes had never took place. But- she couldn't. She never was one to forgive and forget. At least, not that easily.

As she moved in the apartment, she noticed the song that was playing on the stereo. It was their song. It was the first song they ever danced to, and ever since then, it was just their song. As she listened to the words, she felt a strange sense of dramatic irony.

I'm so tired of being here

Suppressed by all my childish fears

And if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

Your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears

And I've held your hand through all of these years

And you still have- all of me

You used to captivate me by your resonating light

Now I'm bound by the life you've left behind

Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

Your voice it chased away all of the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears

And I've held your hand through all of these years

And you still have- all of me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone

But though you're still with me

I've been alone all along

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears

And I've held your hand through all of these years

And you still have- all of me

As she slowly made her way into the back bedroom she made a decision that for right now, she wasn't going to led on that she knew of his infidelity. She didn't know why but a strange memory of Spike flashed through her mind of his offer. "If you change your mind, you know where I'll be," His haunting blue eyes flashed in her head and as quickly as she thought of them, they were pushed out of her mind.

She walked into their bedroom and she thought that as soon as she saw him she might fall deeper into his seductive web of lies, passion, lust, and sex. With his hypnotizing eyes and his magical hands, she wasn't sure she could stay strong. She'd always been weak and she feared most she always would be.

When she saw him laying on the bed, with her last present in hand, in a teeny tiny bag, which she could only guess what was in there, for the first time she didn't look at him and see her future. The only thing she could see of her future right now was the heartbreak she was going to face when everything finally sunk in.

He was smirking his most devilish smirk and she half smiled to him and as he waved her final present, the little black baggie, she walked over to him slowly and said, "You know Angelus, I appreciate everything you've done for me tonight, but I think I'm just gonna hit the sack. I'm kinda beat,"

With that, she kissed him on the cheek, went in the bathroom to get ready for bed and closed the bathroom door for privacy. Once she was changed a few minutes later, her long, blonde locks held captive in a hair tie in a pony tail in the back of her head, she climbed in bed, with a still confused looking Angelus.

She turned off the light and fell promptly asleep.

The next morning, bright and early, before Angelus had woken up, Buffy was awake and running out the door of their apartment, in just a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. If Angelus asked or called, she'd lie and say she went running. She was really going down to the police station or the Gunn's to try and find Spike and Faith. She needed to talk to one of them, preferably Spike.

She had gone down to the precinct and found that they were at Gunn's place. She said her thanks and was out the door again. She jogged to make better time as she saw that it was already close to ten o'clock and within the next fifteen to twenty minutes, she was expecting a phone call from Angelus wondering where in the hell she was.

She made her way down the familiar alley, and opened the side door to the club. The hot cool air, hitting her red face as she scanned the place and found Spike talking in the corner with Faith.

She made her way over quickly looking around to see if anyone had followed her. She looked at Spike and emotionlessly asked, "How can I help you with Angelus?"

TBC…