A Distant Angel 6

Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews guys, and please, if you have any ideas drop me a line. I'll try and write your ideas into the story. :)

Buffy and Angel had spoke two hours ago about Angel's ordeal. She had asked permission to tell Giles and the others, and Angel has said yes. Now, they all stood in the kitchen as Buffy explained everything to them.

'Angel told me everything that he remembered from the alley that night.' Buffy began. Giles, Faith, Willow, Xander and Andrew looked on and listened intently to her words. They were as eager as Buffy to find out what had happened to Angel.

'Buffy, how did you get the information out of him? I thought you told me he wouldn't talk?' Giles enquired.

'Well, he talked.' Buffy replied. 'He told me about how he saw his friends die and how he couldn't stand to watch anymore. He backed into a corner and stayed there, surrounded by pieces of the building that had collapsed around him. As he was describing it, I could tell just how much the loss is chewing him up inside. We have to help him.'

'How exactly are we going to help him?' Xander piped up. 'I mean, what exactly can we do for him?'

'I don't know, but I think a good place to start would be talking with him. Possibly one-on-one or as a group.' Giles suggested. Buffy rolled her eyes.

'It's not therapy Giles, we're trying to help him get through an extremely tender issue here.' She explained.

'I understand Buffy, but if we can get him to open up to all of us then he'll feel comfortable and be more willing to let us help him.'

'Also, he'll be able to help us to help him.' Willow added. Buffy smiled when she realised just how supportive her friends were. They genuinely wanted to help.

'Hey B, d'you reckon I could have a word with Angel?' Faith asked. She hadn't had a decent conversation with him since he was found in Los Angeles. She had passed him in the hall a few times and smiled, waved and said "hi". But other than that, there was no connection with him. Buffy nodded and Faith left the group to find Angel in his room.

She tapped softly three times on the door. 'Who is it?' Came Angel's voice from inside.

'It's Faith.' Angel heard shuffling inside before Angel opened the door and they stood, standing and staring at each other.

'Hi. Come on in.' Angel stepped back and allowed Faith to enter. He wandered over to his bed and sat down. Faith closed the door behind her and leant against the wall, fiddling nervously.

'So, how've you been?' she asked uncomfortably. Usually she was so easily able to speak with Angel, but she too had seen his condition first-hand and she knew that he was sensitive. So she waited, until now.

'I've been good Faith, thanks for asking. You?' Angel responded.

'Yeah, I've been better I suppose. Just been keeping up with the demon fighting. Things seem to be getting back to normal now here, so it's a pretty good and easy life now.'

'How's the world outside?' Angel asked. 'I haven't been out in so long.'

'Yeah, it's been about two years now. How can anyone stay inside for that long?' Faith tried to crack a weak joke to lighten up the conversation, and Angel picked it up and smiled in response.

'I can.' He said. 'So, what's up?'

'Oh, nothing. Just came to see you. I mean, I've barely spoke to you since we found you.' Faith told him.

'Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I've just been kind of struggling and coming to terms with things. Did Buffy…?'

'Oh, yeah. She told us a little while ago. That's when I decided that now should be the time I come to visit. They're all planning some big group therapy thing for you, sounds like fun. You in?'

'I don't do crowds, you should know that Faith.' They both exchanged small humorous lines to try and keep things easy-going and flowing, and it seemed to make them both more relaxed.

'Yeah, right.' Faith recalled. 'Should've known.' She smiled and wandered over to the bed. She sat down next to Angel, turned sideways to face him and crossed her legs.

Angel turned to face her. 'I really appreciate you coming to see me Faith.' He told her.

'You know that you can trust me, right? I mean, if you need to spill anything off your chest I'm willing to be the open ears.'

'Thanks Faith, but I already told everything to Buffy. She's told you, so now I just want to have a rest. Vampire do sleep you know.'

'Oh right, sorry. Uh, I'll go join the others then.' Faith quickly got up and made her way to the door. Angel jumped up, realising he may have been too hasty to let her go just now.

'Faith.' He beat her to the door and blocked it so she couldn't get out. Realising his positioning, he stepped cautiously away from the door.

'Yeah?' Faith replied.

'Um, you can stay if you want. I mean, for a little while. If you really want to know what happened, I can tell you.'

'I don't want to intrude.' Faith told him.

'You're not intruding. Really, if you want to stay then you can. I won't make you leave; it's just that I'm having trouble re-adjusting to life again. Things are hard.' Angel wandered back over to his bed and stood looking at the painting of a woman standing in amongst assorted bushes and shrubs in a rainforest setting hanging over it.

'You know, I found life hard to adjust to when I came to you all those years ago. I wanted things to be simple, but they aren't. If there's one thing that you've taught me Angel, it's that life is not what you expect it to be like. There are things you don't like, things you find hard and then there are the things you're fighting for that seem so far away. But Angel, you also taught me to keep fighting, to keep moving on with life. I'm not saying that you need to move on, I'm just saying that maybe you shouldn't hold onto these memories so tightly. You need to let go of them, even just a little so you can get better.'

Angel smiled. 'I don't need to get better; there's nothing wrong with me. I just need to be able to live and not worry about Gunn and Spike and Illyria and Wesley and even Lorne, who's still out there somewhere. I need to be able to do things normally again, to be able to live like I did before this all happened.'

'That's not going to be easy.' Faith assured him regrettably.

'I know, but it's all I can do. I have to be able to at least try and support myself without people worrying about me so much.'

Faith tried to hide the fact that Angel was right. And Angel saw her expression change.

'Faith, come on. It's alright, really. I just need time to work through things.' Angel assured her.

'You wanna start by telling me what happened back there?' Faith suggested. Angel nodded, and began the explanation to Faith that he had given to Buffy a little over two hours earlier.

They spent the next half an hour talking and even laughing at the little things that bothered them. Then there was a knock at the door.

A/N: Can you guess who's at the door? Come on, one guess! I'll update soon. :)