Summary: It's 1968 and Angel has found a moment of perfect happiness. Just what it means for Buffy remains to be seen. Not happy with the title, so this may change. Will take place at the beginning of Buffy/Season 2, but will deviate from original story line. Almost totally AU. Buffy/Angelus
Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment
The solitary figure stood in the shadows. Waiting, watching. The cigarette between his lips forgotten as it burned down to the filter, he tossed it to the ground. Finally a car pulled up, the driver well known to him. The passenger, he lifted his nose to the air, familiar somehow.
Well, well, well he thought. The great ponce had a little bit of fluff with him. After another good look at the girl, it came to him who she was. The slayer. The latest slayer. He'd heard all kind of things about her, things not so good for his kind. And the two of them didn't seem all that unfriendly towards each other. What was the great poof playing at? He knew it was risky, but he had to see what they were up to. Hopefully with all the demons in Sunnyhell,Angelus wouldn't be able to distinguish who was outside his door.
Spike quietly stole up to the window and hid behind an azalea bush, honing his hearing, hoping to catch something. Bloody thick walls!
Angelus paused. "Probably should warn you, we have an audience."
Buffy stood, unsure of what to do. Her first instinct was to go outside and confront whatever it was, hopefully a demon she could pound on, maybe even kill. That would make her feel so much better, so much more in control. But Angelus got to her first and pulled her into an embrace.
"Don't worry, it's just Spike. Never very good in the stealth department. Dru probably sensed I was in town and sent her little puppy out to snoop." He nuzzled her neck as he spoke sending shivers of excitement down her spine.
She moaned. "Please Angel, don't."
"Oh, but Buff, I please so much better when I do." He growled.
"You said you needed to talk to me, so talk."
He gave a deep, throaty laugh and whispered in her ear. "You have no idea how hard this is for me slayer."
Now it was her turn to laugh. "Well, yeah, I think I do. You're holding me pretty close Angel, I can feel how hard it is for you." Oh my god, what was up with her? She never teased about sex-type stuff and here she was teasing a centuries old master demon. Pretty ballsy, but he made her feel that way.
He looked down at her, trying to read her intention. Her eyes were sparkling with unreleased amusement and confidence. Buffy was playing with him! He threw his head back and laughed. Angelus felt happy, an emotion he hadn't felt in over a century or two – the soul's moments didn't count – this one was his. He wasn't sure how to take this. But she was here with him, unafraid and smiling, so he decided not to fight it.
Hearing his unrestrained laughter, Buffy couldn't stop herself from joining him as he swung her around in his arms and held her close to him.
Spike had been unable to hear their conversation, but confusion hit him when he saw the two of them laughing and sharing what could only be referred to as a 'Kodak moment'. Drusilla was going to be in a gruesome state if he told her about this. His only choice was not to tell her. He could keep this and the fact that he had found her sire to himself for a little while. In the meantime he could figure out what game Angelus was playing at. He quietly backed out of the bushes and made his way back to the warehouse district and to his dark princess.
As Angelus set Buffy down, she quickly recovered and stepped back from him, confusion clouding her eyes.
Not wanting to scare her, he backed off. "Let's go into the kitchen and talk. It'll give Spike time to recover and report back to Dru."
"I could just go out there and kill him Angel. We don't want him telling Drusilla that we're…" she was at a loss for a description for the two of them… "that we're whatever."
"If we kill Spike now it'll just force Dru's hand. She'll panic and who knows what the bitch'll do. No, we have time. Otherwise Spike wouldn't come looking for me, no matter what Dru wanted."
He turned and walked towards the kitchen, "Coming?"
"I'm coming." She followed the vampire into what was a very well equipped gourmet kitchen. "Wow! This is an awesome room, my mom would kill for a kitchen like this."
"I had it remodeled before I moved in." He opened a bag of blood, poured it into a mug and set in the microwave for 30 seconds. "I don't eat a lot, but I do like to cook."
Sitting on a stool and leaning forward on her elbows, Buffy looked at his wide shoulders flex beneath his shirt. "That's great, because I don't really cook, but I like to eat.A lot."
He laughed and put down a plate of cheese, crackers and fruit as well as a diet coke. He then turned to retrieve his mug.
"So," she said, nibbling on a cracker, "there's something you wanted to tell me?"
He took an unnecessary deep breath, "I need to tell you a story. A story about a vampire, a very accomplished vampire…
Buffy listened. And Angelus kept talking, looking over at the slayer, trying to determine how she was taking his life story. He left nothing out. Not his turning, notthe power, not the carnage, not the perversion, and not the death and blood. And he didn't omit the Romany gypsies, the curse or the soul.
"But I don't get it. The soul wasn't the one who killed the girl. It was Darla and you. Liam died, his soul left his body when Darla turned him right? And the demon, you took over. Why make the soul suffer? It just doesn't seem right, fair."
"Thank you very much. I never understood that one myself. But when one wants revenge one doesn't always think it through. I mean, when the bloodlust hits, watch out." He led them back to the main room, Buffy grabbing her unfinished drink.
Angelus continued his story, finally coming to Annie and Conner.
"Did you fall in love with her? Or I guess I mean did Angel fall in love with her?"
"No, he cared for her, but he really loved the little whelp. He's the one who sent Angel onto his final resting place, probably. I mean, Liam wasn't the best man one could be. He was a hedonist and a wastrel, so he may have taken a few detours on his way to the happy hunting ground."
"So did you kill Annie and Connor?" She asked the question, not really wanting to know the answer.
"No. Well, they did set me free so I guess owed them something and the need just didn't overcome me. And to be honest, they did leave before I took over and the search just didn't seem worth the trouble. Actually, the killer instinct just hasn't been the same these past thirty years. I was never really the same. Thought I'd be just as blood thirsty, but with the world changing so much, I don't know. And America, please. People on the whole are just so jaded. What with the Jeffrey Dahmers and the John Wayne Gacys, well, fierce competition there. And the thrill was gone what with no small villages to terrorize. CNN and cable put an end to innocence."
"So, what have you been doing the past thirty years then?"
Angelus shrugged, "Spent ten years studying at a dojo in San Francisco, actually liked the master who trained me, first real indication my reign an a scourge was ending. Invested well, bought property." He ran his thumb over Buffy's lower lip."But mostly, looks like I've been waiting for you."
She shifted in her seat at his action. "The Scourge of Europe? Why am I not surprised? The man who is courting me, well at least trying to get into my pants, was the Scourge of Europe. Giles really will pop that vein, won't he?"
"I'm sure he will. As for getting into your pants, you know you want to get intomy leather onesjust as badly." He gave her that knowing half smile that set her juices flowing.
Yeah, those leather pants were pretty hot. "How totally weird is this, Angel. Or do you want me to call you Angelus? Anyway, we've known each other days, hours really, and I feel as if I am going to spend the rest of my life with you. And you are, were?" she said hopefully, "this totally evil demon. I don't know what it means." She was so confused. She wanted him, needed him, but she realized that he was a barely contained killing machine. And the worst of it was, she didn't care. After all he had told her about the past 200 years, she just didn't care. She was the slayer and she was going to spend the rest of her life with a demon. It all somehow just made sense to her.
He turned to her and took her in his arms. And she let him. "It is what it is Buff. The gods seem to have decreed we be together and I have no problem with that. But slayer, I am what I am. I'm not noble, I'm not heroic. All I do, I do for you. You're the chosen one and saving the world is your gig. I'll come along for the ride, because of you. To protect you. But know why I do it, don't romanticize me." He pulled back from her so she could see his face clearly. "Do you see me for what I am?"
Buffy nodded as she brought his face close to hers. "I do."
"And?"
"And I accept you in spite of, or maybe because of what you are. I can't help it, you're right, seems we are meant to be. It feels like I found my other half." She let herself be pulled further into his arms.
With his chin on the top of her head, he smiled the smile of a man who had just accepted victory. He had her, but Angelus also acknowledged the fact that she had him as well. "We're opposite sides to the same coin Buff, you have found your other half. And I've found mine."