"I think you have an admirer."

Buffy groaned. "If you mean the lady behind us burning holes into us, I don't think there's much admiration there. I'm actually pretty sure she's trying to figure out the best way to murder me on this flight and get away with it."

Angel raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was all about but he shook his head. "No," he said gently before nudging her a little for attention. Tipping his head some, he nodded toward the young, blonde boy who was with a man who Angel assumed was his father on the other side of the aisle.

Buffy's face gained a slow smile as she watched the young boy try to sneakily look back at her way several times, a blush staining his cheeks the last couple of times once he noticed she was on to him. She smiled bigger, waving her fingers at him and saying "Hi." He wasn't sure the boy even heard her, it sounded like a whisper even to him sitting directly beside her. He watched the two of them interact a few more times before his dad seemed to have figured out the issue with his headphones and got them situated back on the boy's head.

"Do you grant wishes for kids? I mean... I wouldn't assume so but..."

"Umm.. well, not typically, it's pretty rare... little kids like that don't generally know what they want out of life, at least not in the long run, not beyond the latest cool toy or video game or whatever, or do they typically have any idea as to what their happily ever after might consist of. Not usually something they're too worried about yet. Teenagers even aren't your usual age for a charge, at least not in this realm, but it happens... it's just anyone younger than that is few and far between. I've only had one, who that boy up there is probably the same age as. Kids also don't have the best hush hush record... his family decided I was an imaginary friend trying to make sense of what he was going on about."

"Do you know who you would go to next?"

Her head shook. "There's too many factors for that. Someone might not have wished yet, you never know how long one job may take, the seer only lets you know when he does and it's always been way too wide of a range there to have any sort of heads up about what's happening next. It's pretty much when he gets a vision and whatever message from it or along with it, then you know. I could be assigned the day our journey ends, a day later, a month later. There's not really much of a schedule there. At least not one I've figured out yet."

OoOoO

Buffy wasn't entirely sure she liked this new effect the alcohol had on her. She got the appeal, and right now was better than the previous attempts at drinking which only resulted in a lot of sickness, but she was scared at the lack of control she earned from it. It was like she was floating at times and was doing or saying things without really meaning to.

Especially after trying some again, she found herself touching him way more than she would assume appropriate... her fingertips seemed to have a mind of their own, always lightly wrapping around his wrist or arm, her head finding its way to lean against his shoulder, hell at one point she'd practically crawled into his lap, throwing her legs over him and cuddling up to him as they pretended to pay attention to whatever was playing on their screens.

And Angel was absolutely no help at all with keeping herself in check, he'd happily let her link their fingers together, or would move in closer to her, his hands would rest atop her legs... When she'd get lost in simply staring at him, it was like he pretended to ignore her at first every time, and then he would turn, eyes would lock and he'd look at her like he was almost daring her to do something.

Splashing some water on her face then drying off, she finished up in the tiny bathroom and started back for her seat. She wasn't sure she was going to survive this trip, let alone the flight to begin with. There was too much time together happening and too little space to flee to, way too much bonding between them as they found themselves sharing random stories or playing "Top Five" with one another, and way too little time and energy being put into the mission at hand.

Neither of them had even brought up his happily ever after wish since boarding. She'd meant to, many, many times over... but it was one of those things added to the list of words she held at the tip of her tongue but didn't dare speak out loud... wanting to hold on to this little bubble they were in for just a bit longer.

OoOoO

"You should draw me something," Buffy said as both her arms wrapped around his. She had basically given up even trying to keep her hands to herself at this point, for the flight anyways, at least that's what she kept telling herself. He was right they had a whole lot of days of togetherness ahead of them, and she was sure there would be plenty of opportunities to set him up with whichever cutie happened to cross their path. They deserved this little reprieve, or that's what the wine kept helping to convince her of.

"Or I could just draw you."

His fingertips danced along the inside of her thigh, which was halfway across his own to begin with, he never would have thought a full grown adult could manage to sit crisscross in an airline seat, yet here she was. Sometimes he forgot just how small she really was, the more they indulged in the unlimited drinks that came with first class, the bolder each of them became. He was still holding out though, and he knew it was starting to drive her wild. She'd almost kissed him again when they got into an argument over how to spell something during a game of hangman. Again, he'd froze, wanting her to make that first move, needing her to affirm the last of these swirling doubts his mind kept conjuring up.

If it were possible, her cheeks turned an ever deeper shade of pink, cutting her eyes, she gave him her best glare. "Mm," she lowered her voice, and once again he found himself holding his breath, forcing his body to stay still as her breath tickled his ear. "Careful now," she picked up one of the small plastic bottles of Moscato, "Another one of these little things and I might just let you."

His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, his eyes widened, and he was fairly certain that every drop of blood in his body abandoned his brain to rush South. Clearing his throat, he picked up his own cup and took a long sip of the whiskey he'd switched to, never really having had a taste for wine himself. Spotting the attendant out the corner of his eye, he flashed Buffy a quick smile as he grabbed the empty bottle from in front of her and held up in the air, silently signaling that they were in need of another.

Practically crawling in his lap, she all but scaled up his arm trying to snatch the bottle back from him. "Okay," she huffed, finally giving up, his arms were just long for his own good, and it he hadn't exactly played fair, what with wrapping his free hand around her to pin her against him either. "You win, but this is the last one," she glared, "For real this time." She clamped her teeth together a few times, "My teeth are starting to do that thing where I can't feel them, and last time that happened I ended up hugging the toilet, not exactly how I imagined this little flight of ours ending," she grimaced.

"Don't worry," he murmured softly, "I've got the perfect cure for that."

Motioning to the flight attendant one more time, his hold on her never lessened, if anything it grew a bit tighter, as he quickly ordered them another round of drinks as well as a couple more water bottles, and whatever snacks they had available.

She really should move, sit up, put some distance between them, and quite possibly take a nap. But be it the wine or their unspoken reprieve from reality they'd so obviously granted themselves she just couldn't bring herself too. Actually instead of moving away, her small fingers, all on their own it seemed, slipped beneath the bunched up fabric of his shirt to lightly scratch at the small hairs leading down from his belly button.

OoOoO

Well that last bottle of wine hadn't made her sick, but all of the alcohol seemed to finally catch up to her, and judging from the small amount of drool falling from the corner of her mouth, it wouldn't surprise him if she was out for the duration of the flight. Especially now that they had officially passed the halfway mark, all things considered he was pretty buzzed his damn self, but he still didn't want to fall asleep. He didn't want this little cocoon they had both silently built around themselves to disappear, and he feared that even though they would be on vacation together, once they touched land again it would all change.

Though no matter the drinks, the travel, or whatever they couldn't exactly just erase these hours from their minds either. Had he any question in regards to her feelings before, he didn't now, hell if he were being honest with himself he had felt more like a couple, more like her partner these last several hours than he had in the entirety of his last relationship.

Which he didn't even want to imagine what kind of problems that was going to cause when she started in on her whole dating process again. He'd only thought making it through her little setups were difficult before, now he couldn't even imagine entertaining the idea of holding another woman, of kissing one, of somehow developing feelings for anyone that wasn't her.

There was definitely a conversation to be had sooner rather than later he hoped, but he also wanted to be careful. He didn't want to scare her, or send her into some tailspin about how all of this was a mistake, or worse push her into up and leaving, but they couldn't just keep carrying on in this limbo either.

OoOoO

Snuggling deeper under the small blanket, she tried to fight off reality for a bit longer. It wasn't that she didn't know she was dreaming, she was completely aware, it was just that she didn't care. In her dreams nothing mattered, not her job, not her destiny. She didn't have charges or some crazy list of rules from the powers to follow. All that mattered was him, and how he felt beneath her palm.

It was kind of weird, she knew that she would never be this brave in real life, but again what happened in dreams didn't have to matter, she could be anything she wanted, she could do anything she wanted, she could touch him any way she wanted.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly, gripping him gently through his pants, her eyes staying locked on his very obvious arousal. She had to admit she found it kind of fascinating, the way it seemed to have a life all of its very own. Alternating between lightly squeezing him, and tracing the large outline with her finger, her eyes went wide when it seemed to move all by itself.

Angel's head rocked from side to side, terrified that if he made a sound she would stop, or all of this would disappear, or something. It all felt a bit hazy, almost like they were stuck in some sort of dream, but everything she was doing, every touch couldn't have felt more real. His hips arched into her palm when she tried to grip him again, some voice inside him wondering why as good as those former dreams were of the faceless form of this woman years back, or even the ones he'd had since her entering into his life properly why couldn't all of them feel exactly like this.

He fought against the edges of consciousness trying to gain control but eventually they won out, and with his awakening he found the answer to such a question apparent as he continued to feel the warmth of her hand against him. Eyes popping open, he looked down at his lap, seeing the small movements of her hand against him underneath their conjoined mess of blankets laying out atop them both.

A glance in her direction showed Buffy was still peacefully sleeping beside him. And he was sure the proper thing to do here was probably trying to ease her hand away or wake her up, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to any of that. His eyes rolled back into his head and he let out a long, choppy breath of air, just finding himself lost in the fact his dreams were more a reality in the moment.

Buffy found herself on the losing end of trying to keep from fully entering back into the real world but there was something about the strangled sound coming from beside her that tipped her over that edge. Blinking a few times, her face scrunched up at whatever was going on with Angel... but her mouth fell open in a perfect o shape, her eyes going wide as she realized what she was apparently doing in her state of sleep.

Green eyes quickly flipped down to where her fingers continued to explore some of the parts of his body she found herself most interested in, gathering she was acting pretty damn close to how she'd been off in the dream world, even as she realized just what she was doing.

Her eyes stayed trained on the little bumps that would move from under the blanket, thinking to herself that they sure hadn't been in the way in her damn dream.

Another one of those little sounds came from between Angel's lips, seemingly snapping her out of her little trance. Her face flushing, her hand jerked away from him quickly, as if he were a fire burning her, and she pushed her entire body as close to the window and wall of the plane, away from him. "S-sorry," she stumbled, clearing her throat. "I-I was dreaming..."

"About this?" he questioned, his voice far too low and husky and just the smallest hint of amusement hidden in there.

Feeling herself go from ghost pale to as bright as a tomato, she repeated how sorry she was but anything she planned to say or do after that point were cut short as Angel managed to untangle himself, reach over to grab her, lifting her up in the air as if she were nothing and pulling her right back to him.

Angel's name fell from her lips more like a gasp than the warning she had intended, and only a number of milliseconds seemed to pass before she felt the digging sensation in either hip, quickly dragging her as close as had to be possible in the moment. Another muffled moan came from her as she felt his twitching erection press so intimately against her as she straddled him, the upper part of Angel's body leaning forward enough to capture her lips, kissing her relentlessly until they were both gasping desperately for air.

Pulling back enough to be able to look at him, her hips continued to move on their own accord in small motions, the sensation taking over her right now was unlike anything she'd ever had to deal with before. Hell, even that morning together back in his bed didn't even come close to a comparison to what was happening right now. Angel's eyes were so dark staring at the rise and fall from her heavy breathing, and obviously she'd up and decided to lose her mind because before she could even put together anything that was happening, her head dipped back down to him, uncaring about any basic need their bodies may have for oxygen or not. Uncaring about anything at this point beyond how he tasted and how he felt up against her.

OoOoO

Angel barely even registered the flight attendant's attempts to get their attention, the few times she'd tried to clear her throat, or tried saying "excuse me sir" or "excuse me ma'am," how she tried to gently remind them that this was a "family friendly flight." He couldn't have cared any less where they were right now, who saw what, if it was deemed appropriate or not. All he knew was he was pretty sure heaven couldn't compare to what was happening in this seat and that he would happily give up a limb or two if that meant it didn't have to come to an end.

Unfortunately, it seemed the curly haired woman dead set on ruining the best moments of his entire life seemed to have broken through to Buffy however and she practically jumped away from him, nearly falling in the process. "Sorry," she muttered to the woman then again to him. Her hand flew up to her swollen lips, poking at them for a moment before excusing herself, heading back toward the bathrooms he assumed.

And hoped that was all.

Clearing his throat, he tried apologizing to her as well but she wound up just shrugging and made a few comments about how they weren't the first young couple in love and too hot and heavy in one another she'd had to deal with up here in the skies. "Just try and keep it together, we're in the home stretch here."

Nodding, he ran a hand down his face before glancing again in the direction Buffy had disappeared to. Letting out a sigh, he checked the time and muttered to himself that she hadn't been kidding about how close they had to be to the airport now. Leaning over, he peered out the window, wondering exactly what he had gotten himself into after all with this trip.

OoOoO

When she finally forced herself to stop hiding in the bathroom, she walked on still wobbly legs back to her seat, avoiding eye contact with Angel as he stood up to let her get past him, her body feeling hot all over again at their close contact.

"I think we can officially mark drinking off of any and all lists of things we should do together or in one another's presence ever again," she said, as even as she could force the words to come out as. Angel didn't reply, just continued to burn a hole in her.

The urge to throw herself off of this plane, or to already lose out on this little competition of no magic and snap herself back home, to hide in the bathroom until they landed - if not forever - sounded more and more like a good idea by the second. She couldn't believe she had acted out like that, that she hadn't put some sort of stop to his own bold actions, that instead she had basically encouraged them.

So lost in berating herself she nearly came out of her skin when Angel threaded his fingers with her own. She took a deep breath ready to go on one of her famous tangents as to why they needed to get a grip on themselves, but the words stuck on the tip of her tongue as she watched him raise their conjoined hands to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles.

"Can we please stop pretending that there's nothing going on between us?"

Her gaze fell, but she didn't pull away. He was right this whole game they were playing at just wasn't working, but she didn't see how admitting that was supposed to make any of this any easier. She'd never felt anything close to the way he made her feel, not just physically either, no one, not even Doyle had ever got her, had never seemed to understand all of her little quirks quite the way he did.

"Angel," she tried to warn, he shook his head, but she still tried to argue, "We've been over this a dozen times, you know it doesn't work this way."

"Tell me you don't want me to kiss you again."

That caught her off guard, "Wh-what?"

"Tell me you don't want me to kiss you again, tell me that you didn't feel whatever that was between us. Tell me," he smirked, "That you weren't dreaming of doing exactly what you woke up doing to me."

She could feel her chest rising and falling again, every breath seemingly heavier than the last. Swallowing hard she tried her best to shake the memories that his words were conjuring. "I can't," she finally admitted after a long pause. "But that still doesn't change anything," she added sadly.

"Come here," Angel whispered, then tugged her into his side when she refused to move. Not sure he could handle seeing her cry, he pressed his lips to the top of her hair, his thumb rubbing small circles against her side.

He was just as confused, if not more so as to where they should go from here. Difference was, there wasn't anything or anyone out there that scared him, that this hold over him the way these damn powers had over her. As far as he was concerned there wasn't anything he wouldn't risk to be with her, maybe he had it all wrong, maybe they wouldn't go riding off into the sunset and live happily ever after, maybe she wasn't his soul mate or whatever you wanted to call it, but what he did know was that they would never know if they didn't at least give whatever was brewing between them a fair chance.

Her ear pressed firmly against his chest, she listened to the sound of his heart beat so long that she was pretty sure they were breathing in sync. For once she didn't have an answer, didn't know what to say or do to fix the situation they'd found themselves in. She didn't know what love was, not really, the only love she had experienced had been through written notes on paper, little green check marks inside of boxes next to names on a list. She hadn't the first clue what it actually felt like, but if she had to guess she would imagine that at least a part of it felt like she had when she was pressed so intimately against, or they way her heart seemed to pound every time he kissed her, or looked at her with that fire behind his eyes, like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Logically she knew that she should walk away from this, hell logically she knew that she should fucking run in the other direction as fast as she could, snap her fingers, find Doyle, and demand he finish fulfilling Angel's wish. But she couldn't, and the reason wasn't only because she worried it may result in Angel having to forfeit his wish, no, the bigger reason she couldn't walk away was simply because she didn't want to. Because he was right, even before today, before the flight or the alcohol, in the back of her mind she'd done nothing but replay how he'd tasted, how he had felt against her, and how fucking badly she wanted to feel it all over again even if it cost her everything.

"I really don't know what would happen," she whispered so softly he hadn't been sure he'd heard anything at all for a second.

Nudging her head a little, he waited for her to look back at him. His heart thundered, he was so used to her shooting him down spouting off rules, listing this reason or that as to why anything ever happening between them was impossible, "What would happen?" he repeated slowly.

She nodded, unlocking her hand from his, she wiped at the few tears that gathered in the corner of her eyes. "There's been cases before, where people like me have developed what was deemed to be inappropriate relationships with their charge. Now I don't know if it's ever been anything like what we've been doing but that's what I'd imagine it was," a tiny blush crept over her cheeks, "Or more," she added quickly. "But whenever it happens, if we're found guilty, then from everything I've gathered we just disappear."

"Disappear?"

She nodded against him, and again his hold seemed to tighten, "I don't know what happens, no one does, at least not that I'm aware of. All I know is that their places are cleared out, all of their jobs are reassigned, after a while everyone just sort of forgets about them, and then eventually their names become more of a legend than anything really."

No wonder she was so damn terrified every time something happened between them. Yet again, Angel wondered if these so called powers were all they were cracked up to be, if she was really even working for the good guys. There wasn't a religion, not that he had ever heard of at least where the higher power seemed so damn spiteful. "I would never let anything happen to you Buffy, I swear. I don't care if I have to face Lucifer himself, no one's going to zap you from existence, as far as I'm concerned you can just stay with me from here on out. Screw these powers and whoever the hell else thinks they can control you, you deserve happiness and it fucking cuts me up inside to hear you say that you're too scared to experience it."

Her fingers had somehow managed to find their way back beneath his shirt to scratch at the small patch of hair on his stomach. "That's the point, this little journey isn't about my happiness, it's supposed to be about yours, remember?"

"Ya well," he sighed, "I'm pretty sure the universe has been trying to tell me for a long time now that it's you I belong with. The paintings, the dreams, can you honestly tell me it's all just some big coincidence?"

Shifting a little, she sat up a bit and turned so she could face him, she was standing on the edge of a cliff here, and she wished she knew jumping off of it would end in with breaking the surface of safe water below, coming up for air and laughing hysterically, just being so thankful she made the jump, took the risk... rather than taking that leap and winding up hitting every rock on the way down and winding up broken and bloody at the end.

She had told herself countless times now all the reasons they couldn't be more, she had told Angel many of them time and time again as well, even mentioning the unknowns surrounding what happened to those who dared to break such rules twice now even, and despite all of that... it wasn't as simple anymore. It wasn't as easy as saying "we can't do this because it's against the rules" and that being that, not anymore, at least not with him.

Angel was very sweet and brave in his declaration to make sure nothing happened but she also knew that if The Powers decided, and she was sure they would, that whatever was destined to happen to her would... and he would simply have all those memories of her wiped away and think none the wiser... and that would be that. If he didn't remember her... then there wouldn't be anything he could do, would even know to want to do.

"Angel, I don't know why any of that happened, or why everything feels so different with you than anyone else I have ever met," she admitted, "Maybe it is all some sort of test for me to sink or swim if put into a situation like this. Maybe someone somehow figured out how to put visions or whatever out there for you... for whatever reason or another. I am sure somewhere there is a reason for it all, I just have no idea what it might be. My friend who I have looking into it... I haven't even heard from him once since he went digging. And while that isn't exactly cause for ringing any alarms or anything with how well I know him and because of some of his other roles... I can't help but be a little concerned all the same if I get to thinking about it too much... I don't know if someone or something was trying to make sure our paths crossed or whatever, but at the end of the day... Angel, I'm here solely to help you get your wish granted, to find some happily ever after. And it would make absolutely no sense for that to be here with me."

"I would trade whatever idea I went into thinking was what I wanted to at least see what this between you and me could turn out to be, Buffy."

Giving him a small smile, "No refunds, no trades, no offering your wish to someone else later..." she rambled on for a moment, her heart feeling heavier by the passing second.

"I know the rules," he almost whispered back to her. "But it still stands. I think there's something bigger at play with you and me and I would rather explore that than anything else," he continued before leaning down closer to her, his heart racing when after a moment of internal debate seemed to be playing out inside that pretty little head of hers, she closed her eyes and met him the rest of the way, melting into him.

OoOoO

With a large sigh, Lorne sat down at the table across from Doyle, who did nothing but raise his dark eyebrows at the green demon. "How much do you know about what's going on with a certain little blonde we both know?"

Doyle slowly took a sip from his cup before sitting back. "She's not came to me about anything but... there's bits and pieces to gather some basics about her and this Angel fella of hers."

Lorne reached into his pocket for a moment before sliding the drawing Buffy had given him over to the seer. "He apparently had been having visions and dreams about her for years prior to her being assigned his case"

Doyle let out a breath slowly, letting that sink in. "Well, that's new." He thought back to what visions he had seen and how on edge Buffy had been the last few times their paths had crossed, he couldn't blame her much for being spooked. As far as he knew, anything even remotely close to what Lorne was describing was unheard of.

Lorne nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "And apparently, from all I have been able to gather, would be well beyond anything any of us around here would have been able to pull off."

Doyle agreed, starting to list off a few of the higher ups but Lorne shot each of them down, saying he'd already barked up all of those trees as far as he could. "Maybe it's something straight from the top?"

"Or close enough to the top that I doubt I could even get close enough to information about. I feel like everything was either dead ends, sending me off chasing my tail, or were just walls between me and it. I wish I had found at least something more concrete to bring back for her."

"Someone, whoever it may be, obviously wanted to put them together... the who, why, how may not be as clear but I think it's safe to assume this wasn't all some sort of fluke accident. And wherever all of this leads... it's bound to shake up everyone's world from what little I have seen and been putting together."

"Yeah... but for better or for worse? And what the hell is that supposed to mean for her?"

OoOoO

As their plane lowered closer and closer to the ground, preparing for landing at the new airport, Angel couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement but also dread, he couldn't seem to squash the anxiety swirling around that Buffy would take one step off of the plane, or that as soon as fresh air hit her, and she would shut down on him all over again, she'd be all business and that was that.

In absolutely no way did he want to scare her, or to get her in trouble with whoever all these higher ups were, but his feelings for her weren't going away either, this want to be around her, to be with her, it didn't come with some on and off switch. At the heart of it, he knew now more than ever that hers didn't either.

He knew she was sent to him only because of some magical drawing of names out of hats or whatever when he made that wish, but he couldn't help but feel like he was responsible for the unspoken one inside of her, too. The one to be seen, to have a real connection to someone, to feel what she got to watch everyone else experience over and over again.

ButImBroken:

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