Chapter 11

Buffy laid in Dawn's bed and stared at the ceiling. She had a poster above her bed of a really good band called Lacuna Coil. They were from Italy and Dawn had become obsessed with their music. But it wasn't the poster Buffy focused on. It was the bright sunlight streaming in Dawn's window. The girl loved the light where as Buffy loved the dark. That's why Buffy had given Angel her room, so he wouldn't fry.

Now Buffy couldn't sleep because that damn light was shining all over the room. Sighing, she slipped out of bed and headed into the living room, pulling the shades closed and laying down on the couch. She curled up and tried to sleep, but the living room was still too bright. The only room in the house that was dark was her room and she couldn't go in there. Grunting in frustration, she sat up and stared angrily at the window. As if the Powers were spiting her, or urging her into her room with Angel, the clouds shifted away from the sun and the room got brighter.

Buffy growled a curse at the sun and turned away from the window. She decided to make some hot tea to soothe her enough so that maybe she would fall asleep. She was standing in the kitchen waiting for the water to heat up when she heard a noise behind her. She turned to see Angel emerging from her room. He spotted her and walked to the kitchen entrance. "Hey." He said.

"Hey."

"You look exhausted."

Buffy shrugged. "I'll deal."

"What's wrong?" She shook her head. "I noticed your room's a lot darker than I remember. Is the light keeping you up?"

"No."

"Buffy, go ahead and sleep in your room. It's dark enough out here."

"Are you sure?"

"Come on." Angel walked over to her and lifted her into his arms.

"Angel…."

"Shh. It's ok." He carried her into her room and laid her in her bed. She was asleep before her head touched the pillow. Angel covered her up and then walked over to the corner of the room and sat down in the overstuffed recliner there. For some reason, he felt much better if he could watch over her. Even if Willow had sent that dream, he didn't want to take any chances.


When Buffy woke up, she found Angel asleep in the recliner across the room. She smiled fondly and then stopped herself. The clock said she'd been out almost ten hours. She sighed and threw the covers off of her. Quietly, she slipped out of the room and into the darkening living room. The sun was already starting to set outside. Buffy decided not to call Dawn since the little brat and Willow had planned this. Instead, she headed into the kitchen to get something to eat. Which was when she realized that she didn't have a lot of food and the food she did have wasn't something she wanted at the moment.

With another sigh, she headed over to the closet by the door and grabbed her jacket. She checked her clothes, jeans and a small T-shirt with the happy bunny saying 'Make the stupid people shut up'. Good enough. Buffy grabbed a pair of black ankle boots and was slipping them on when Angel came out of her room. "Buffy?" He saw her putting her shoes on. "Where are you going?"

"Grocery shopping. I'm hungry and there's nothing I want to eat."

"I'm going with you."

"Angel..."

"I don't care if it was Willow or not. I just want to be safe."

"What about the sun?"

"By the time you brush your hair and I get a little less wrinkled, it'll be low enough."

"I wasn't planning on brushing my hair." To make her point, she slipped a hair-tie off her wrist and pulled her long hair into a messy bun.

"Oh."

Buffy shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "If you want, I can wait."

"Are you sure?"

She shrugged. "Yeah."


Buffy sat on the other side of the counter watching Angel move about in the kitchen. He had decided to cook her dinner. Angel had never cooked for her before. It was…. Different. A nice and welcome change from having to make sure she and Dawn were fed every night. He hurried around the kitchen, keeping the pasta from over-cooking and the sauce from burning. There was fresh bread heating in the oven and shrimp sauteeing on a back burner.

"Need help?" Buffy asked.

Angel paused to look at her. "No, I'm ok. I've got this covered."

Buffy glanced at the bare, two-seater table. "I could set the table for us. Or would you like to cover that too?"

"Uh, no. You can knock yourself out on that one."

"Cool." Buffy hopped down from the counter and dodged Angel, collecting a couple of plates, some silverware, and two wineglasses. She arranged them on the table and brought out the nice napkins. After a minute, she decided the table still needed something. Glancing around the room, Buffy saw the one, silver candlestick she had managed to save of her mother's. It held a thin, vanilla scented candle on the fireplace mantle. She grabbed it and put it in the center of the table.

Just as she was lighting the wick, Angel came up behind her and grabbed the plates off the table. "It looks nice." He said as he headed back into the kitchen.

"Thanks." Buffy shook her head and went to the little wine refrigerator under the counter. She grabbed the wine she had come to love, Aldo Conterno, and opened up a new bottle of it, setting it on the table.

Angel walked out carrying two plates and balancing a basket of bread on his forearm. Buffy rushed over and grabbed the bread. "Thanks."

"I wasn't doing it to help you. I was saving the bread."

"Gee, thanks. I appreciate it."

"Your welcome."

Angel noticed the bottle of wine. "Planning on getting me drunk?"

"Nah. I just love this stuff."

"Booze-hound." Buffy just shrugged. "Well, here you are, signora." Angel held out her chair for her and allowed her to sit before he pushed it back in.

"Thank you. This looks really good."

"When in Rome..." Angel sat down and waited for Buffy to pick up her fork.

She didn't. "You've never cooked for me before."

"No."
"Why?"

"I don't know. I guess the opportunity never came up. And then what happened with Angelus and afterwards... We just couldn't be together like that anymore. It would lead somewhere dangerous."

"And now?"

Angel shrugged. "I had an urge to cook." He smirked. "I make a mean breakfast."

"Not funny, Angel."

"Buffy, I'm trying to keep the mood light."

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared that this could lead to THAT and that would be a very bad thing."

"I know that. But I don't want to walk around here and mope. We're together. Can't we just be happy about that?"

"I wish we could, but one of us could accidentally drop our guard and then..." Buffy stopped herself and looked out the window at Rome.

Angel stood up and moved over to her. He took her hand and pulled her up out of her seat and into his arms. "Buffy, I'm not going to let my guard drop. I promise you I'm going to protect you, no matter what."

Buffy tried to pry herself from his arms, but she just couldn't do it. "Angel..." She sighed, breathing in his scent. She closed her eyes and allowed herself a few moments of bliss before he let her go and helped her back into her seat. The rest of dinner was quiet and afterwards, Angel suggested they go for a stroll through Rome.

They were about ten blocks away from the caza before Angel broke the silence. "So, do you like it here?"

"I love it here." Buffy answered. "I love the history. Besides, this place got a lot more interesting after I read Angels and Demons. I seriously thought it was a book about angels and demons that I could study and, you know, learn about new demons." She shrugged. "I was wrong."
"It was a good book, though."

"You read it?"

Angel shrugged. "I liked The Da Vinci Code."

"Weren't you around when Da Vinci was?"

"No! He was around in the 1400s and 1500s!"

"I know. I just love getting a reaction out of you about your age. You'd think after 253 years of being a vampire with no reflection, you wouldn't be so vain."

"I'm not vain."

"You're vain. I bet if you had a mirror you were able to look in right now, you'd be trying to fix your hair."

Angel's hands flew to his hair. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

Buffy laughed. "See. Vain." She shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with it. It's fine."

He patted it a few times before deciding it was indeed ok. Angel looked up to discover that they had doubled back to Buffy's caza. He held the door for her and they headed back inside. After each of them slipped into lounge clothes, they settled on the seat of the bay window and looked out over the city. "So, what's your favorite part about Rome?" Angel asked.

Buffy smiled. "The Coliseum."

"I figured."

"Why?"

"Bloody battles, lots of ghosts... And you liked that movie Gladiator."

"Yeah, Russell Crowe was hot in that." Buffy sighed. "What's your favorite part about Rome?"

"Surprisingly, the Sistine Chapel."

"Why surprisingly?"

"It's a church."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. You have a thing for churches and nuns and things."

Angel shrugged. "Yeah."

"Angel…. Are you ok? I mean really…. How are you doing?"

Angel looked down at her, stopping in his tracks. His eyes darkened and seemed to become overly sad. "I'm…. It's hard." He looked away. "Most of the time I can't bring myself to get out of bed. I shouldn't have asked them to go through with it."

Buffy took his hand. "Angel, they wouldn't have let you go through with it alone. I wanted to be there, but... It was too dangerous. You know how we can get in those high-violence, extreme-danger situations. I have to confess... I didn't trust you to handle it on your own. I left because I was scared that we wouldn't make it to the big fight on the right side."
"I know. I wanted you there so bad, but I knew that if you had been there... I would have spent my last free day with you."

"Your last free day?"

"I gave everyone the day off to spend however they liked since it would probably be their last."

Buffy squeezed his hand. "How did you spend your day?"
Angel smiled faintly. "I spent about two hours sitting by the phone debating on whether to call you or not. Then I decided not to and I went and spent the rest of the day with my son."

"How is Connor?"

"He's... Connor. You know, he's unique. It's hard..."

"I know." Buffy patted his hand. "My mom could never quite describe me or Dawn, either."

Angel scooted closer. "Buffy…."

"Angel, don't…."

"Shut up." Angel grabbed her neck and pulled her lips to his. She didn't resist. She couldn't. After a long, slow, and deep kiss, Angel pulled away and looked at Buffy's still closed eyes. "That was…."

Buffy grabbed Angel tightly and buried herself in his arms, kissing him passionately. "I missed you so much!" She said between kisses.

Angel held her tightly to him, returning every kiss. "I missed you too. God, Buffy…. You feel…."

"We can't."

"I know." It didn't stop Angel from running his fingers gently across the small of her back. The contact sent shivers up her spine and then tremors through her body as his hand lightly moved up her back with feather touches.

"Angel..."

"Shh, I'm not going to lose control." He whispered in her ear. He just wanted this moment with her, touching her, holding her, loving and protecting her. He'd waited over a year to see her again.

Tears started streaming down Buffy's face as she clung to Angel. "I'm sorry about everything. I should've come when your friends died. I shouldn't have left you all alone. I just... I didn't know what would happen. I still don't, but I don't care anymore. All I know is I want you here with me. We'll find a way to make it work, right?" She looked at him. "Right?"

Angel nodded as his eyes misted over. "Yeah, baby, we'll make it work. I don't know how we will, but we will."

"The thought of you going back to LA by yourself..." Buffy shook her head. "You won't leave, will you?"

"No. I'll stay with you. Don't worry, Buffy."

She hugged him tightly and kissed the side of his face. "I love you."

"I love you." He kissed the scar on her neck... His scar... and pulled her tighter to him. She stayed on his lap, eventually falling asleep. Angel watched the city below them lighten with the coming dawn as he held Buffy in his arms. When he knew the sun would be too much for his vampiric skin to take, he gently picked Buffy up and carried her into her darkened room, placing her on the bed. She whimpered at the loss of contact. Angel smiled and walked around to the other side of the bed and slid down behind her, wrapping her in his arms. He didn't know how they were going to make it work. It was going to be hard and frustrating, but he wasn't afraid to try. In his heart and soul he knew that he and Buffy were meant for each other. His eyes drifted shut as he began to imagine the coming months... Even years.