Title: Closing Time
Author: AngelSummers

Disclaimer: If Only...

Author's Note: Well it's been a great ride my friends but I'm sad to say this is it. It's kind of abrupt but hey, I think that adds to the appeal. Thanks to all the reviewers good or bad (though if it was bad, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL READING THIS?). Anyway, it's has been fun.

Chapter 12: Dusk and Summer

Xander found her sitting on the hood of Angel's car; her head cast down against her palms.

"Hey."

Buffy looked up from her seat on Angel's car. "Hi."

Xander sat down beside her and tried to find something to say. He had walked slowly out of Angel and Cordy's apartment building, to calm himself down. Angel's speech ran through his head. Don't let her slip through your fingers. He had to fix this.

"Look Buffy…I…you and Angel," Xander paused and sighed, "This would be so much easier if I had that power of persuasion I was so keen about in 7th grade."

"Don't do that Xander."

"Do what?"

"Try to pass everything off with a joke. It can't be fixed……I won't fix it and you'll never accept that," Buffy whispered back.

With that she stood up and walked away, leaving a shocked Xander to stare at her retreating form for what he knew was the last time.

Angel was waiting for her as she entered his apartment. She let him take her in his arm's. She allowed herself to be comforted. So much had changed since high school yet his arms were still her comfort zone. The only place she had always felt protected.

"Did you talk to Xander?" Angel asked softly.

She nodded her head against his shoulder.

"Went that well, huh?" Angel pulled her face back and wiped the soft trails of tears away from her face.

Angel pulled her close to him once again and nestled into her hair, whispering, "You'll be okay, baby. Everything is going to be okay."

"We're finally getting it Angel." Buffy whispered hoarsely after a moment.

"What?"

Buffy smiled against his shoulder and replied, "Our happy ending."

3 months later

The divorces had gone through with little more then a hitch. Riley had tried relentlessly for a few weeks to somehow convince Buffy that they were meant for each other but gave up after an, um, encounter with Angel.

Buffy moved in a few weeks after her divorce was final. Angel had already been divorced for month. They quickly grew accustomed to waking up whenever they wanted to. A week after Buffy moved in, Angel asked her to marry him. She of course said yes and told him that if he ever cheated on her, she would rip his dick off.

Cordy had cried a little when Angel threw the divorce papers and a pen on the kitchen table. She asked only one thing of him: to have one last first date.

Although he knew it was just an attempt to keep him, Angel had agreed. He didn't tell Buffy.

Angel walked briskly down the dank, deserted alley. The news his ex-wife had told him, running through his head. She was pregnant. Or she had been.

"At least the abortion went through nicely," Angel sneered to himself.

As Angel neared the end, he heard a soft scuffling from behind him. Someone was following him. He turned around quickly and stared into the shadows. Seeing nothing he turned back around. His imagination was playing tricks on him again. As he started walking, faint sobs reached his ears and he once again turned around and looked into the darkness. This time he could see the slightest portion of a blonde head.

Angel's first thoughts were that Buffy had followed him and seen him and Cordy together. Rationality set in slightly though as he drew closer to the small figure huddled on the ground. Buffy wasn't the type to break down in public. Then again, it was a dark, deserted alley. Not necessarily public.

"Buffy?"

The sobbing ceased slightly and the figure moved towards Angel. Angel, in turn, drew closer, cautiously. It was to dark to see anything and he wasn't certain it was Buffy. He reached forward, trying to make-out the person's face in the dark. As he reached the person, the moon revealed itself out from behind the cloudy sky and shed a streak of light onto Angel and the figure. As a volcanic pain erupted in his throat and the soft sucking noises floated around his weakening form, Angel knew it wasn't Buffy.

As Angel's eyes were fluttering closed, the blonde pulled back and stroked the side of his face whispering softly, "Don't worry my dear boy. I'm going to show you the world."

He found her on the bathroom floor, an empty pill bottle lying next to her head. He had come to show her his new world. He came to give her new life. In the end, he was only the pile of ash that lay over her skin when Willow found her dead body.

End.