PLEASE READ: Hey guys! Wanna know why I've been on hiatus YET AGAIN? I've been trying to revise this fic a bit. Don't worry, I didn't change it… that much. I edited it a little, I added some stuff, and I just tried to make it better. Let's just say if I was doing plastic surgery to this fic I would've given it some botox, collagen, and a boob augmentation, haha. Anyways, I would read the previous parts, it may not look like I did anything to the chapters, but trust me I did (Well not to chapter 1?. I added the link below, so I hope you enjoy my revision. Oh and I wasn't too sure about this chapter, so if I get more negative feedback than positive, I'm revising again!

Lynn

"Mahal"
By: Lynn
DISCLAIMERS: Making it short...NOT MINE!
SUMMARY: AU; Just another story where everybody's human and Angel, Oz, and Xander are the new students in school.
DISTRIBUTION: Are you kidding me! I NEED someone to host my fics. Just e-mail me if you want them. Previous Parts found at: http/
E-MAIL:
BETA READER: Ashley Russo (last parts un-beta¡¦ed)

Part 20

'Okay, you can do this,' Angel silently encouraged himself when Oz's van stopped in front of Mr. Summers' bookstore. His heart pounded with nervousness and he fidgeted in the front seat.

"Well, are you gonna go in or not," his sister questioned him. She was sitting between the two front seats, the Dingoes' equipment taking most of the room in the back.

He looked at one sibling to another and nodded. "I'm going in, I just need to calm myself first so I don't look like a spaz when I talk to her."

"Don't worry," Oz encouraged him, "You'll be fine."

When Angel didn't budge a few minutes later, Jessica let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh my God Angel! Just go in!"

"Well, what if-"

"Go in or I'll tell Mom about how you and that one girl had sex on her bed!"

Angel furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "I never had sex on with anyone on Mom's bed."

Jessica frowned. "You didn't," Angel shook his head and she looked at both of her brothers with curiosity. "Who was it then?" She focused on Oz and looked him up and down, "Was it you?"

He also shook his head negatively and answered his sister's question. "That was Xander and Faith."

"Oh," she wrinkled her nose and shuddered in disgust, "Ew. Well, then, I'll just tell Mom that it was you anyway so leave. Now."

"You better go, bro," Oz said, "I don't think she's bluffing."

"Fine," Angel grumbled. Jessica handed him a big shopping bag and he finally stepped out of the van. When he reached the door, he turned his head to look back at his two siblings. Jessica gave him a cheesy grin and two thumbs up for encouragement and then Oz sped off to the Bronze before Angel could chicken out and run back to the van.

He took a deep breath and entered the store. The bell above the door chimed, alerting his presence. He quickly scanned the room from where he was standing and didn't see his girlfriend anywhere. Even though he didn't see her, he knew she was there because the sounds of her favorite radio station filled the air.

Suddenly, he heard her sweet voice call from the stacks, "We're closed." He purposely kept silent to lure her out. When he finally heard her footsteps approaching, he took another deep breath to help mentally prepare himself.

She finally came into sight while saying, "I'm sorry, but we're-"

Buffy stopped a few feet in front of him and Angel stared deeply into her eyes.

"Hey," he said.

Buffy started to fiddle with her fingers and stared down at her feet. "Hey," she repeated.

"We should talk."

"Yeah, I guess we should."

"Um, I wanted to… apologize for earlier," Angel started to explain after a bout of uncomfortable silence. He took one step closer to her, "Look, Buffy, what I said didn't come out the way I intended it to. What I meant was that Jessica should be used to the fact that I've had sex before. She's never even heard… I never brought those girls home. During that time, I didn't even care about there feelings. I even went so far as to make them believe I did care so I could get them to sleep with me and then dump them horribly just for my enjoyment." At Buffy's shocked expression, he quickly reassured her. "That's not what I intended to do to you. You mean everything to me and I didn't mean to hurt you. I am so sorry."

She sighed and spoke up, "No, Angel." Angel was afraid that she wasn't going to accept his apology and kick him out on his ass. She finally looked up into his eyes and also took another step closer, "I'm should be the one doing the apologizing," she said much to Angel's surprise and relief. "You were right, I was overreacting. Well…you already know it was my first time and all," Angel nodded in understanding, "and what you said, it reminded me that it wasn't your first time, and I kinda freaked. Well, really freaked. You're more experienced than me, and I guess I acted that way because I didn't think I… measured up to your standards."

Angel frowned at her confession and finally closed the gap between them. He grasped both of her hands in his and made sure that her eyes stared into his. "Buffy, being with you… It was like it was my first time all over again." Buffy furrowed her eyebrows, not quite understanding what he meant. He let out a sigh and released one of his hands to run it through her hair. "What I mean is that I love you so much that it wasn't just sex for me. It went way beyond that. See, with you, I feel these powerful emotions that I've never felt with any other girl I've been with. So Buffy, you shouldn't be afraid that you don't meet my standards, I'm more afraid that I don't measure up to yours."

Buffy's hazel eyes filled with tears and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him to her tightly.

"I love you," Angel heard her say. Her voice was slightly muffled due to her face being buried in his neck.

He pressed a kiss to her head and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. "I love you, too," he responded.

As a slow song came on the radio, Angel gently loosened her grip on him and held her face in his hands. He wiped the few stray tears that leaked from her eyes and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Dance with me," he whispered and Buffy nodded her head. She snuggled close to his chest and swayed with him to the soothing rhythm of the song.

Looking at the floor, Buffy suddenly noticed the big brown shopping bag lying by Angel's feet.

"Hey Angel, what's that," she asked him gesturing to the bag.

"Oh, um," he reluctantly left her arms to retrieve the bag, "I got some stuff for you."

"Aww… You didn't have to."

"I know, but I wanted to." He reached into the bag and pulled out five long stemmed roses tied together by a white string. They were each a different color: red, pink, coral, purple, and yellow. "I didn't remember which color you liked," he confessed, "Plus the florist told me that each of these colors have a meaning. The coral one is desire, the yellow one is friendship and joy, the purple is love at first sight, the pink is perfect happiness, and red is love and passion. I thought all of them applied to the way I feel about you."

"You're such a sappy romantic under all that manly exterior aren't you, Roarke," she teased him and he rolled his eyes.

"The price I pay for being raised by only a woman," he joked back, drawing out a giggle from Buffy.

"I, uh, also got you this." He pulled out a house shaped box from the bag and handed it to her. "You better like it, 'cause I went through Hell getting it."

Buffy smiled at him lead him to a table so she could open the oddly shaped box. She placed it at her feet when she sat down and handed Angel the flowers. She bent over to open up the box and gasped when she pulled out the item it held.

"Aw, Angel, it's so cute." In her hands, she held a dark brown bear that was dressed exactly the way Angel did the first day that he met her. It had the open black shirt with rolled up sleeves over a white tank top and tiny dark, blue jeans. It even had small black boots and the black leather cuff on its right wrist just like Angel did.

"You went to Build-A-Bear Workshop," she giggled and gave the bear a hug. To her surprise, Angel's voice saying, "Forever, that's the whole point," rang from the bear.

Angel blushed while looking down at the flowers. He pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head.

"Jessica made me go in there. She insisted that you would love it. I think she just did it to laugh at my embarrassment. There was this REALLY chipper lady who insisted I do these weird things to a tiny stuff heart. She told me to shake it in my hands and turn around in a circle and then make a wish on it." He glared at Buffy when she started to laugh hysterically at his story. "She even made me pretend to bathe the bear in this stupid bath tub with no water. It was humiliating. Jessica taped the whole thing with her digital camera which she just so conveniently happened to have."

"Aw, poor baby," she said while making a mental note to ask Jessica for that video. "Thank you for my gifts. I love them."

After she kissed him, Angel said, "There's one more."

"Angel-," she started to protest.

"No. This one is important." She nodded and allowed him to proceed. He handed her back her roses and reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet pouch. He opened it to draw out a small silver ring. He took her left hand and slipped it on her ring finger.

"It's beautiful," Buffy stated.

As Angel rubbed his thumb over the intricate design of the ring he began to tell her the significance of the object.

"My dad, before he died, he gave each of us a ring like this one and a matching one to go with it." Buffy then remembered seeing this type of ring on the fingers of each Roarke. She always wondered why they all wore it, and now she knew. "It's called a Claddagh ring. My dad was from Ireland, and he told us that they would use these as a sign of devotion. The hands represent friendship, the crown is loyalty, and the heart is, well, love. When you wear it with the heart pointed towards you, it means you belong to someone. Like this," he showed his own ring on his left hand with the heart pointing inwards. "He told us that when we're older and we've found the one person that we want to be with, we give the matching ring to that individual."

Again, Buffy's eyes welled up with tears when Angel's eyes connected with hers. They both leaned forward, and as soon as their lips made a passionate connection, Angel's cell phone started to ring, effectively ruining the moment.

"What," he barked into the phone. "I'm at Giles' bookstore with Buffy… That's none of your business… If we go there will you stop bugging me… Well would you at least stop bugging me for the night… Fine, I'll see you in ten… Bye."

"That was Xander," Angel told his girlfriend, "They wanted us to meet them at the Bronze."

Buffy nodded and rose from her chair with her new belongings, "Alright. I just have to lock up first."

After they exited the store and Buffy locked the door, she suddenly whipped around and laid a passionate kiss on Angel's lips.

"Thank you, Angel. For everything. For loving me."

Angel smiled down at her, "Anytime, baby, anytime."

As they walked hand in hand to the Bronze, which was just a block away, Buffy suddenly asked, "How much do you think Jessica heard last night?"

TBC…