As Angel went to grab at the door handle, he suddenly paused, faintly hearing voices on the other side. There was a soft crying slash sniffling sound mixed in with it all. Setting his small trash back down against the door, he peered out into the hallway and found the small group gathered over at the room across the hall from his.

He felt an all too familiar tug inside his chest as he looked at each of them, two adult daughters of the woman who had been living there, one was standing with her husband, and the youngest of the siblings, plus her one and only son. His landlord was also with the group, helping them as they finished going through their mothers' belongings, expressing sympathy. Angel was sure he'd probably helped them even carry out boxes or items out to their cars while he had still been asleep.

He hadn't known the elderly woman well, these days he did his best not to interact with anyone if it could be helped, but she had lived across from him for the past five years so their paths had certainly crossed enough times anyway in some form or another. She had recently been in the hospital but was deemed well enough to come home... a few days later emergency services were back up here and she hadn't returned since. Nearly a month passed with her having that final stay in the hospital and just the other day he had been informed she had died.

His heart had been heavy since every time he stepped out into the hallway and his eyes drifted in that direction, or when he would come home and thought of how he missed how she always played loud jazz music you could hear from probably a few floors away with her declining hearing. He'd found he missed the little things like that about people the most.

Not wanting to intrude any longer, he closed his eyes and pushed back away from the door, leaving the plastic bag there for a little longer while he went to go take a shower and maybe see about finding something to eat before he gave the day a much needed restart.

OoOoO

Angel had lived here for eight years now, three of those before Judy's arrival. In those three years no one had really stayed too long, none really stood out besides the old man who was calling this place home when he'd first arrived. He'd been both grumpy and in everyone's business all the time, Angel had nearly gotten out of his lease to avoid him but tragedy struck there too, he'd had a heart attack down in the lobby. After that there'd been a few men and women and even a couple at one point but none really made much of an impression.

Angel had another two years if he was lucky before he would need to leave, pack up everything and decide where to call home for the next decade. It hadn't been the nicest of places he'd called home in his long life, but it certainly went into the more enjoyable basket.

In his impossibly long life Angel had just about gone everywhere this planet had to offer. He had spent so much of his time traveling and seeing the world, always doing his best to not stick around anywhere too long. See, once upon a time he believed that things like witches and curses, goblins and demons, and all the things of the like, things of the supernatural world were only things that existed inside worlds of make believe. Those only came true in movies, in books, in grand storytelling... but six months after his twenty sixth birthday everything he knew found its way absolutely, utterly, on top of its head.

Time went on, year after year after year, decade after decade after decade, but Liam "Angel" Angelus never had aged another day.

Nothing else had stayed the same for him since. He had watched as every single one of his family members and his friends grow old, move on and make lives, and eventually pass away. Time and again, over and over... He was forever stuck in this cycle of loss. As time went on, people grew wiser, life around them evolved he'd learned to hide, to cover his tracks a little as questions came. Which, of course they did, and he had no believable answer to give anyone... so it became easier to stay somewhere long enough to feel a little more settled and not raise too many eyebrows and then be off to the next place to start over when the time came.

He'd gone through various stages and phases in his long life... trying to accept and deal with this fate but it wasn't always easy. He had tried to carry on as if nothing was out of the ordinary, living life to its best, he'd holed up as a damn near hermit of a person for a few decades at one point, he'd lived in the middle, on the outskirts... but no matter what it seemed to have the same effect in the end. It still hurt watching everyone else have normal lives. It hurt when they were gone.

He saw the world, he had gotten the chance to know some truly amazing people all around the world, he saw history unfold before his eyes time and again. He'd worked various careers, had studied just about anything that caught his interest at one time or another, could speak several languages, had memories of it all... but coming to terms of actually doing this... forever? It was a weight too heavy for him to bear more often than not.

OoOoO

Returning home about a week after the old lady's apartment was completely cleaned out and almost ready he was sure to go back on the market, he paused one foot in the door, his eyes scanning until he spotted the demon. "Whistler," Angel greeted, cautiously stepping the rest of the way inside his apartment.

"Long time, no see, Angelus."

"Nice place ya got here."

"Thanks? Though you know, it's typically common to wait for the owner to be home, maybe knock on the door, see if they want to invite you inside or not…"

Whistler smiled, patting both his knees before he got back up on his feet. "Where's the fun in that though, huh?"

"Is there something I can help you with, Whistler? I mean, what's it been? Seventy years, give or take, since we last saw one another? I have a feeling you didn't just drop in to say a quick hello…"

"It's been a minute," he agreed, stepping closer. "There's going to be a young lady who moves into your recently vacant apartment across the way. I need you to look after her, at least until she gets her powers."

OoOoO

Sure enough, the girl in question moved into the apartment not long after his unexpected visit from Whistler.

"Early twenties, long blonde hair, some pretty green eyes, full of attitude… just your type, too," Whistler had joked but the second Angel had laid eyes on her he knew he was in trouble. Whistler's description didn't even begin to cover a damn thing compared to actually seeing her in person.

He'd seen any number of beautiful women in his lifetime but there was something about this one that stirred his insides something funny. Of course Whistler had been his usual cryptic self when it came to giving him any sort of information, too. Why was he coming to him for the girl? Who was she? What powers were she supposed to be getting? Why was it important? Endless questions came to mind and he got next to nothing out of the demon as far as answers went, not that he was surprised. He'd only crossed paths with the "man" a handful of times and nothing about any of their interactions really made much sense when you really thought about it.

"Her safety is in your best interest, too, Angelus."

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" he'd asked, feeling annoyed, but Whistler had just shrugged his shoulders. "You know I don't exactly play well with others."

"Trust me, it's well documented."

OoOoO

Over the years his sense had become a little attuned to those who might be a little otherworldly, he knew a demon when he saw one, crossed paths with a fairy or two in his time, but he couldn't pick up a damn thing from this Buffy girl. Sure, Whistler had said she hadn't come into her powers yet, whatever they may be, but even so he wasn't used to dead silence from his inner radar.

He had no idea how he was supposed to "watch out" for her or who to be on watch from which helped nothing. Unsure of what he was even doing, he'd just awkwardly introduced himself to her one day and hoped for the best, easing into some sort of casual acquaintance type of relationship with the girl until little by little he was let inside. Their passing hellos started to become longer hallway chats, those chats turned into invitations to one another's apartments every now and then… until it was almost a daily occurrence, or going for a walk together around the neighborhood, or maybe meeting up for coffee and just hanging out for a bit.

And the closer he got to her, the more dangerous it felt to be near her. The last thing he needed was to go falling in love, or worse, having her fall for him and he knew it, he knew it with every fiber of his being and yet it was like a trainwreck you couldn't just look away from.

OoOoO

Little did he know, that had been the Powers That Be's plan all along.

THE END.

ButImBroken:

"Sparkle covers evilness, shimmer covers all the mess, glitter covers darkness…"