Angel frowned slightly, looking down at her, before cracking a weak smile "I was sort of hoping maybe we were done fighting," he offered weakly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid," she muttered. "You know. Fight."

He blinked at her in surprised confusion. "What?"

She rolled her eyes, losing patience as she snapped, making an elaborate and incomprehensible circular motion with her hands, "Fight. TRAIN. Throw punches and kicks of various varieties at one another and hope no one gets killed. Whatever you're calling it these days."

He looked at her in disbelief before snorting doubtfully. "You think you're up for it?"

Her jaw dropped in outrage as she drew herself up to her full height. "Oh, I'm up for it."

He leveled her with a stare. "You're going to fight me in THAT?"

She looked down at her outfit and rolled her eyes. "Oh PLEASE. You know I've fought in worse."

He snorted once more. "I will admit you're the only slayer I've ever seen fight in a miniskirt.

"You mean in style," she quipped dismissively, tossing her hair. "Besides, I only wore those stupid things because I knew they drove you crazy."

His jaw dropped slightly and an almost pained look that she didn't understand flitted across his face as he said flatly, "You're joking."

She arched an eyebrow playfully. "Okay, I'm joking," she shrugged.

His jaw dropped again and she almost laughed as he sputtered. "You're… NOT joking?"

She shrugged casually. "Beat me and maybe I'll tell you."

He stared at her intently. "We fight and I'm not going to hold back."

"I'd be offended if you did," she replied archly, bending her knees slightly in anticipation.

"Okay," he said with deceptive calm and her brow furrowed in confusion as she echoed the word.

"Okay?"

"Let's fight," he growled, launching forward so suddenly she had no time to brace herself as a firm roundhouse kick sent her crashing against the wall.

--

Within the first ten seconds Buffy had sacrificed her shoes and was diving for cover as a lamp shattered against the wall where her head would have been.

"Okay," she muttered under her breath as she tried to regroup, "Clearly buying pants a size too tight is no longer a good idea when you haven't trained in over a y-" then gasped as Angel pounced on her, slamming her to the ground. She instinctively took advantage of his momentary lack of balance as he tried to pin her down, bringing her elbow up sharply and slashing it against his chest before pressing her legs against him and using all her strength to reverse their positions, gasping as he shoved her off of him with both hands and leapt up. She took advantage of her position on the floor to kick his legs out from under him as she leapt up herself and grabbed for the nearest available weapon "A fork?" she muttered incredulously. "You must be KIDDING me!" before launching it at his rapidly approaching form, hoping it would buy her some time. He dived to avoid it and as it sliced cleanly into his shoulder he let out a cry of rage, picking up a CD player from where it was perched and launching it at her head, forcing her to dive over the table dramatically as it careened into the wall where her head would have been-

And both froze as it hit the floor with a thud and began to blare music loudly. Despite herself Buffy dropped her fighting stance as she stood, letting out a large giggle as she gasped, "You're KIDDING me. You listen to Britney Spears?"

"I do NOT-" he began with a scandalized look that only made her laugh harder before he abruptly growled "Harmony," looking at the offending object as though he wanted to smash it into a million pieces.

"Come again?" Buffy inquired blankly as Angel continued to rant,

"I tell her time and time again to-" before sighing in exasperation as the music drawled "Hit me baby one more-"

Buffy's eyes locked with Angel's and both gave barely perceptible nods indicating a brief truce as they united against the common enemy, both leaping forward and stomping on the CD player with all their strength, diving out of the way as it splintered around them before putting up their fists, circling each other uneasily.

"So you're working with Harmony?" Buffy demanded incredulously. "Well, that would explain your slower reflexes. I'm sure listening to her all day must really put a strain on-"

"I'm not the one here who's out of shape," he retorted roughly. "You've gained at least ten pounds since I last saw you and none of it's muscle."

"And yet, to the casual observer it might still appear that I'm kicking your ass," she quipped dryly before venturing a sharp kick, rewarded with his groan of pain even as he roughly grabbed the leg and used it to flip her onto her back before pinning her down again, this time grabbing her arms.

"And now it might appear to the casual observer that I've won," he said smugly.

"Well, that's the thing about casual observers," she chirped, forcing her body to relax even as she picked up one of her discarded shoes with her foot and maneuvered her leg to slam the pointed heel with all her strength into his back, rolling out from underneath him as he emitted a sharp cry of pain as she finished, "They're not watching very closely."

She violently kicked out, making contact with his chin and sending him sprawling backward as she continued, "Oh! And by the way!" kicking out again as he tried to stand, "NEVER tell a girl she's gained weight."

"I didn't say," he grunted, blocking her next hit with his arm as he leapt up, taking advantage of her momentary confusion to punch her brutally, "That the weight didn't look GOOD."

"Why do you think you still have your head?" she enquired nonchalantly as she ventured a blow at him which he easily deflected, just as casually deflecting a punch he threw her way.

"You ARE holding back," she said breathlessly as they began to circle one another once more, and he gave half a shrug.

"Out of shape or not, so are you."

"I'm not out of shape," she said flatly with a defiant lift of her chin and he smirked.

"Wanna prove it to me?"

"Dunno," she drawled. "You want me to?" Okay, I know it cannot be normal that that just sounded like foreplay-

"I'd say yes."

With a violent cry she launched toward him.

--

Ten minutes later both lay sprawled on their backs on separate sides of the room, gasping for breath.

"I don't suppose we could just say I win?" Buffy ventured in a small voice, slightly alarmed when he didn't say anything for a long moment and with an effort propping herself up with her elbows. "Angel?"

"I'd be willing to settle for 'truce'" he offered weakly and she sighed in relief, flopping backward.

"Just this once, I'll allow you to have your delusion that I wouldn't have won," she agreed, closing her eyes. "I think maybe we should meditate in place for a few minutes. Just for the spiritual experience. You understand."

"Definitely always up for some- very still- meditation," he agreed, sounding relieved.

Several minutes later Buffy pushed herself up, saying softly, "Okay, I think I can move now- I mean, I think maybe we should clean up now-"

"What you said the first time works," Angel stated, pushing himself up as well and she grimaced slightly as she looked at him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live. You?"

She nodded. "Definitely fine." She smiled wryly. "Pretty grateful for accelerated slayer healing, but fine." She flushed slightly. "That was-"

"Yeah," he nodded, eyes meeting hers intensely. "It was."

She said the words quickly, softly, knowing she would lose her nerve if she didn't. "I missed you, Angel."

He gulped, lowering his eyes. "Likewise."

She smiled weakly, tossing a throw pillow at him to be replaced on the couch, smile fading as he cringed when he reached to grab it.

"You're hurt," she said flatly, taking a concerned step toward him.

"Those shoes were pretty brutal," he grimaced with a shrug. "It was good to see you haven't lost your knack for improvisation, though-"

"You're bleeding?" she enquired incredulously as she got closer.

"Well, generally that is what happens when stiletto heels are-"

"Okay, enough with the witty," she snapped. "Take off your shirt."

He frowned slightly. "I don't think I-"

She rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "Angel, we're not children. You need to get cleaned up, it'll be faster if I help. Now take off. Your shirt."

"Buffy, I-"

"Oh come on," she said, rolling her eyes as she moved toward him. "If how you've been acting is any indication it's not like you could be perfectly happy today anyway and it's not like-"

And suddenly both froze as her words sunk in, though whether from the fact that the thing that had never been directly mentioned between them was now hanging there or because she had called its validity on this day into question Buffy wasn't sure.

"Um," she said slowly at his searching look, taking a halting step backward, mentally debating the pros and cons of asking the question funny that my rapidly approaching death seems like both the strongest argument for and against this before deciding that for better or worse she did have to know before blurting, "Could you?"

"Be happy?" he choked out, cringing as she nodded before contemplating for a long moment, willing himself not to be swayed by the fact that at this moment she was more beautiful than she had ever been, eyes wide, hair disheveled, heart beating rapidly enough that he could see the swift pulsing of her throat, the gentle rise of her bosom, tan, flat stomach exposed thanks to the rip he had made in her shirt as he'd pulled her toward him in the heat of battle- and then suddenly the reality of it all hit him like a ton of bricks, the fact that the apocalypse was tonight, that his Shanshu was gone, that he was going to die and never see his son again- never see her again-

"No," he said heavily. "I really couldn't."

"You- couldn't" she echoed flatly, feeling her knees giving out from underneath her as she tried to process this, tried decide what to do about it you know what to do about it now, after all this time, when she was about to be killed so he could Shanshu, suddenly knowing she couldn't move if her life depended on it. "That's-" she choked out, "Nice."

He nodded, looking as stunned and uncertain as she felt. "Nice," he echoed.

"I think," she murmured, hating the sexual tone that had crept into her voice seemingly from nowhere, and she cleared her throat awkwardly in an only half successful attempt to remove it, "I mean- I should go."

He nodded again. "That would be- smart."

She nodded vehemently but didn't trust her legs to move for a long moment as she gulped. "It was- REALLY nice to see you," she blurted, forcing one foot in front of the other slowly.

He nodded, still looking shell-shocked. "You too."

Her legs were shaking and she tripped suddenly over some debris from their fight, causing him to leap forward and catch her before she fell to the ground, pulling her toward himself in an effort to help her regain her footing, shuddering at the familiar electricity that by all rights should have vanished years ago-

She knew the second his skin made contact with hers that it was all over and she shivered against him as he pulled her closer. Some things just couldn't be stopped. Some things were never meant to be- "Angel," she whimpered, feeling like she should say something even as his lips descended to roughly capture her own.

--

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