Thanks for the Reviews!
Doing some cleaning on my laptop to free up some space I accidentally permanently deleted this (which was almost finished) and two other stories I was working on, I've managed to recover some files from all three stories but not all of it - worst mood possible at the moment. So please bare with me as i re-write as much as I can remember, updates will take longer to come now.
Sitting on her childhood bed she pulled her stuffed pig to her chest and closed her eyes, thankfully her mom and sister hadn't asked too many questions; they had shown that they cared but did not push the conversation and she was grateful.
It had been exhausting telling Angel what happened, it had to be done some time but she was glad she could tell someone other than Giles – although Joyce was always supportive she was unsure if now was the right time to let her know.
"Buffy" she opened her eyes to see her sister stand nervously at the door, Dawn smiled lightly before carefully making her way over to the bed, she sat down beside Buffy "I'm glad you're okay"
Buffy placed her hand on top of her sisters that rested on her lap, still feeling weak from all the talking she only smiled kindly. Dawn smiled back at her then pulled her into a tight hug "I've missed you, mom too… and I think Angel did, a lot… he was so worried"
Dawn nodded sharply "It must be nice, having him back in your life? I remember how upset you were, I'd never thought that you would become friends again" she tucked a stand of her sisters blond hair behind her ear "Angel's a good guy"
"Yeah, he is" Dawn gave her a squeeze then left her alone in the room, Buffy pulled her knees to her chest and rolled onto her side, wanting nothing more than to have a quick nap and hopefully feel better when she would wake up.
Oooooooooooooo
Not wanting to come across overbearing and annoying he let her be with her family and friends for a couple of days before he decided to go over to her house. It killed him to stay away; he wanted to be there for her but was unsure how she felt after that morning.
He knocked on the door and waited, her green eyes widened in surprise then her face flushed when she looked at the single flower he held in his hand "Angel" he tipped it towards her which she gratefully took and inhaled the delicate fragrance.
"I was wondering if you wanted to do something… that's if you weren't busy?" he could have kicked himself at the frozen look, of course she more than likely had plans, she had other people in her life besides him that she would spend time with.
Buffy cleared her throat "Uh that sounds good… what did you have in mind?" she stood back so he could enter the house. He followed her into the kitchen where she put the flower into a small vase with water.
Angel leaned his hip against the unit and shrugged, he wanted to do something with her but didn't have the capacity to come up with an idea before he arrived "Anything you want"
She toyed with the hem of her shirt in thought, she wanted to spend a day away from the house, since she'd been back she'd only been out once and that was only to take out the trash "well, I've not been to the bookstore in a while"
Buffy scrunched up her nose, she hadn't been to the bookstore in years, it was something that Riley said he would not go near, he had no interest in books unless it was a car magazine and even then it didn't count "…or whatever you want"
Angel shook his head and came over to her "No that sounds good… ready to go?" she gave him an eager smile as she grabbed her purse. He escorted her out to the car and set off for the large bookstore that was downtown.
When they came to stop at a red light he focused his gaze on her face, she was leaning towards the window letting the sun shine on her skin, a contented smile tugging at her lips; she was never more beautiful "Almost there"
She looked round to him slowly and nodded, although the drive to the store wasn't all that long, she had completely zoned out but in a good way. Just being in his company calmed her down; he de-stressed her and made her feel at ease.
Once they arrived he opened the car door for her like a gentleman then escorted her inside. He kept the conversation light, asking her how she'd been and what she was planning to do that weekend; at all costs he avoided her marriage and anything to do with a baby.
They walked up and down all the aisles before settling down with a coffee that the store sold, Buffy tucked her legs underneath her, forgetting that she wasn't at home; she blushed then sat properly on the sofa "Thank you"
Angel broke the piece of cake he had bought in half then handed her the bigger slice "It's no problem" he nodded at the plate for her to take the treat, she tried to be polite and refuse but it looked too good to pass up.
She picked at the cake greedily and licked her lips, Angel chuckled as he ate his own; he forgot how much of a sweet tooth she had, always denying herself the treats until it overwhelmed her – there were so many times that she ended up with chocolate smudged on her face when they were younger.
Buffy sat the plate down on the table then sipped at her coffee "Angel?" he looked over at her expectantly, she shifted in her seat to face him properly "I was wondering… I have an appointment with Giles next Thursday and…"
Giles had expressed multiple times that he would like her to bring a family member or a friend to one of her sessions, hopefully let her open up about her past and help her work through things. Due to the fact that he already knew some things, then he made the best sense.
Angel smiled kindly "Yes… I'll go with you, let me know what time and I'll clear my schedule"
Buffy shook her head "Oh I couldn't ask you to do that… only if you have some free time, you don't have to miss out on work for me" he raised his eyebrow at her, showing that she needn't worry, he'd do anything to help her.
Angel looked down to his watch and sighed "I'm sorry but I've got a meeting at five" time had flew past, he didn't realise how late in the day it was. When her face fell he wanted to call to cancel but knew that he couldn't do that.
They picked up their used dishes and sat them on the tray beside the cashier, Angel thrust his hands into his pockets as they walked back out to the car. The contented mood had been broken; he could see that she was trying to shut off from the outside world.
As the car pulled up outside of her house Angel switched the engine off then smiled "This meeting won't take long… if you want we can grab something to eat after it?" seeing her eyes glow brighter made him happy.
Buffy nodded "That would be nice" she felt her eyes dampen, so she blinked rapidly then let out a nervous chuckle "Sorry" her emotions were still over the place, she had came off of the medication that she was reliant on a few weeks ago but was still wound up.
Angel ran his thumb over her cheek lightly to calm her down "Its only for an hour… be ready just after six and I'll pick you up" Buffy closed her eyes as she leaned into his hand, what she wouldn't give to be in his arms again.
A look passed between them as they sat in silence, the side of his mouth came up into his trademark smirk that still could bring her to her knees. Buffy scrunched up her nose as she smiled then whispered 'bye' as she left the car.
Oooooooooooooo
For dinner they had opted to spend time at Angels and order from a fancy takeaway place, they had spent the night talking about his work then about the books that they had bought from the store, eventually Angel broke down and read from the book to cause her to snooze.
He hated that he'd have to wake her and take her home, her grumpy face told him this as well but they both knew it would make sense. He had walked her to the door and before he knew it he had placed a kiss on her cheek causing her to blush.
They had agreed to meet up early into the next week just to hang, it made him smile that she wanted to spend time with him and that she looked to be doing better than she had the week before.
It felt like they were teenagers again, constantly messaging each other then getting nerves as they went out on their 'dates', they had gone to the cinema and he even took her bowling – somewhere he hadn't actually been since he was a teenager.
If truth be told he was a little nervous about meeting Giles, he knew how important he was to Buffy; she had told him that she had grown to care for him in the months since she was admitted into the hospital and had helped her through some of the dark times.
He followed Buffy through the halls of the office then waited by the door as she went into his office, the older man smiled brightly as she shuffled into the office then shyly hugged his side "Buffy, so good to see you"
Giles looked down at her and hugged her tightly, his eyes then followed her to look at Angel who was standing by the door; he waved for him to enter and smiled kindly "Hello, you must be Angel, nice to finally meet you"
Angel shook his hand "Nice to meet you too Mr Giles" the older man chuckled then pulled his glasses off of his face to clean them before placing them back on "Oh just call me Giles, everyone else does… now how about we take a seat?"
They took a seat beside each other on the sofa but left a respectable foot of space in between them; Giles sat across from them on his own seat then flipped through his clipboard and made notes as he spoke to Buffy.
He could see that whenever he asked her a question that was coming from deep down her eyes would flicker around the room before landing on Angels warm gaze, she would take a moment then relax and answer him.
Not before long the pair and scooted closer to each other until their thighs were touching, Buffy had said more in this session than she had ever done before. Giles tapped his pen off of the paper "I know this will be difficult but can you answer this for me?"
Buffy chewed the inside of her lip, so far he had kept all his questions light and avoided some of the heavier aspects of her past; even when he originally had found things out he hadn't pushed; of course at that time she wasn't stable enough to answer them.
"That night… when Riley" he cleared his throat "Was that the night you decided that you would pursue a divorce?" he looked at the wash of emotion on her face then saw as she started to hyperventilate.
Feeling the change in her body language he immediately grabbed her hand and ran his thumb over the top of it in an attempt to calm her down – she had told him in as little words as she could about what happened before she was upset.
She looked down to her small shaking hand that was engulfed with his larger one, she'd never fully discussed what had happened that night, only telling the brief version; she'd yet to come to terms with what had happened.
"…It wasn't because he raped… me that I wanted the divorce, I mean that would have been the reason but no" she took a deep breath "I'd come to realise that he was controlling everything, what I ate, who I spoke to… I was a prisoner"
Buffy held back the tears, not wanting to shed anymore over her past life; she'd spent too long wallowing over what had happened "I already had the divorce papers ready, I knew I was having his baby but I didn't tell him… I didn't want him to use that to keep me"
Giles sat back in his seat and watched as she controlled her emotions and held her head high "I was going to wait till that night to give them to him but then he was mocking me for what he done the night before, laughing at me and I blurted it out"
Angel shifted so he was looking at her, truthfully he was expecting her to break down like she had the last time but her determined face let him know that she wasn't going to let this defeat her "We argued, he lost control of the car… and the next thing I know I was in an ambulance"
Buffy stretched her back to crack it "Even if the accident never happened, I would have filed those papers, moved out and made sure that he wouldn't control my life or my baby's life" her heart panged, she'd wanted nothing more than to become a mom.
She pulled her hand out from Angel's warm grasp and smiled at him "If you'll both excuse me, I'll be back in a few minutes" both men watched as she left the room.
Giles cleared his throat and addressed Angel "I want to thank you… even if you haven't physically done anything, you've been an integral part in her recovery; before you came into the picture she would struggle to answer anything and relied heavily on her meds"
Angel remained quiet, personally he had noticed the improvements in her overall being, of course he hadn't seen her at her worst "…She also told me about how you two were involved, not that it is any of my business but to let you know she still cares a lot for you, more than you probably know"
He looked over to the older man, he knew that they were comfortable with each other, heading towards a close friendship that they had before he had left but he would never have imagined that she would care deeply for him.
Buffy came back into the room and smiled at the pair suspiciously, Angel looked shocked and Giles looked like he was behind something "What you two talking about?" Giles smiled kindly as he looked from Angel to Buffy "Oh Nothing"
She sat down beside Angel and slowly took his hand and wrapped it around hers, his eyes drifted from their linked fingers back to her face and smiled. Her curious green eyes got wider as he stared; he squeezed her hand then looked back at Giles.
The older man gave him a knowing look then cleared his throat as he scanned the notes to where they left off. When she tugged his hand to get his attention he looked back at her and half shrugged as he smiled.
Buffy eyed him carefully then smiled back wondering what they were up to.