Chapter Thirty-One

Buffy opened her eyes and looked around Angel's room. The morning sun was filtering through the open window and allowing a warm summer breeze to blow. Buffy looked beside her and noticed the indentation in the bed where Angel's body had been earlier.

Last night had been emotionally exhausting. After her spastic explosion, and then Janet and Xander's acceptance of her renewed relationship with Angel, Buffy was just plum tired. She remembered Angel placing her in his car, but after that things became fuzzy. She was still mostly clothed; her bra and underwear were still on, but the rest lay neatly folded on the lounge chair.

Buffy looked around for any sign of Angel, but found none. She was not sure if he had left for work or not, but Buffy knew that she needed to finish taking care of Brian's affairs. Buffy stood from the bed, and tiptoed towards the bathroom. She showered and dressed quickly. She put on her shoes, and looked for a writing tablet. She walked over the desk that stood beside the window. Searching the drawers for a pen, Buffy found a small box.

She sat down on the chair, and looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Hearing no one, she examined the box. It was small and was covered with a deep blue velvet. She opened it, and found a silver ring that brought tears to the widow's eyes. It was Angel's Claddagh ring. Buffy covered her mouth, stifling sobs, as she looked at the intricate silver hands holding the crowned heart.

A part of her still felt guilty about having moved on from Brian so quickly. She knew that she needed to finish what she had started when she had married Brian five years ago. And if that meant playing a grieving widow for a little bit longer, then that was what she needed to do.

Buffy closed the box, and set it back in the drawer and grabbed the pad that lay beside it. Wiping her eyes, she grabbed a pen, and wrote Angel a quick note:

"Have gone to Brian's office to finish taking care of Brian's personal effects. Meet me there if you want. All my love, Buffy."

Buffy placed the pen back in the drawer and placed the torn note on the desk, before leaving Angel's apartment.

Angel walked through the doors of his apartment carrying several paper sacks. He kicked the door closed with his foot as he called out, " Buffy! I'm home!" Angel set the sacks down on the kitchen counter and walked towards the bedroom.

"Hey Buffy! I ran out to grab some food. I thought maybe we could have a breakfast feast."
When all he received in answer was silence, Angel became concerned. He reached behind his back for a stake, as he quietly pushed the bedroom door back. Seeing the empty bed, he whipped out the stake defensively. He carefully stalked into the bathroom, and found it empty.

He stood in the middle of his room, the summer breeze blowing the curtains he had hanging over the French doors. He knew that Buffy must be dressed, her clothes were missing form the lounge chair. Then the wind blew harder, making the note Buffy had left on his desk whip. Hearing the sound, Angel turned his head, to see a piece of paper lying under a orb shaped glass, he used as a paperweight.

Placing the stake back in the small of his back, and walked over to his desk. He gently removed the glass orb, and read Buffy's writing. He smiled and placed the note in his drawer, and headed out of the bedroom.

Buffy walked through the glass doors of Brian's office for the last time. Strangely, Buffy could remember some of her happiest memories of Brian in this office. Her eyes welled as she entered, and saw Brian's empty leather office chair. The sun reflected off the glass desktop, which still held a few of the projects Brian had been working on, before his death. Death, dead, died. All words that Buffy never actually thought she would hear herself thinking, let out saying out loud.

It was all still just too raw to take in. Buffy thought she had done a really good job of remaining strong while Brian was dying of cancer, but the thought that something as violent as Vampires killing him, just shook her to the core. After all her hard work of trying to keep Brian away from her past life, it instead came back to bite her, literally.

Buffy sat down in the soft, brown leather chair. She sat there for a minute, hands delicately sitting in her lap, as her mind wondered to places in the past when Brian was alive. Smiling sadly, Buffy stood up and grabbed a package of office boxes, and put one together. Then, she grabbed the stack of newspapers she had asked Edith to collect for her to use as packing.

Carefully, she picked up a brass statue, and began to wrap it in newspaper. Softly, she placed the statue in the box, and repeated the process.

Several hours, and a couple dozen boxes later, Buffy had packed the obvious knick knacks from the office. Every now and then, Edith would come in with a refill of coffee, and even helped to pack a few things, before she lost control, and had to leave the room. Buffy felt for poor Edith. She had been a wonderful secretary, and had become almost a member of the family.

Along with Brian's family, several clients, past and present, attended the funeral services, and Edith was among them.

Buffy had opened one of the drawers and pulled out several files, when she heard the door to the office open.

"It's okay Edith," Buffy said as she turned and placed the files in the box . "I don't need a refill yet, but thank you."
Buffy felt a familiar chill in her spine as she set another stack down on the desk. Slowly, looking up, she saw a familiar face. The afternoon sun behind her, illuminating his smile.

"I see you got my note," Buffy said, a smile forming on her face.

"Yup," Angel replied, his hands inside the pockets of his long black duster.

"Worried I would be a mass of tears?"
"Nope." Was the reply.

"Good. Cause I have been doing pretty good boxing all this stuff."
"Yep."
"Okay," Buffy said as she placed another set of files in the box. "Your one word sentences are a little too cryptic for me."
"Sorry," answered Angel as he shrugged his shoulders.

Buffy tapped a set of files on the glass, tilting her head, looking at Angel.

Angel only smiled as Buffy placed the files in the box.

"Need any help?" Angel offered as Buffy opened a new drawer.

"Nope," Buffy said as she grabbed a large stack of files, "I got it."

As if on cue, the stack fell, and Angel rushed over to help Buffy.

"You were saying," he smirked as he helped Buffy pick up the pile of spilled papers, and files.

"Yeah, well," Buffy placed the disheveled stack on the desk, "I was a little distracted." Buffy smiled as she looked at Angel. Angel returned the smile as Buffy began to sort the papers back into their respective files.

"Looks like I get to stay here longer," Buffy said as she sifted through papers.

"I can help," Angel offered.

"I would appreciate it."
"No problem." Angel picked up a file, and Buffy handed him a stack of papers to sort. After a few minutes, Angel handed her the file.
"There's one."
"Thanks", Buffy said as Angel grabbed another file.

"Uh, Angel," Buffy said after some time had passed.

"Yeah," Angel said, lifting his head. He saw the color begin to drain from Buffy's face. "What is it?" Angel placed his file down on the table, and walked over to stand beside Buffy.

"Take a look at this." Buffy was holding the finalized plans for the new Sunnydale City Hall. It was a beautiful reconstruction of the original, with some modern detailing. Angel had thought that the drawing had caused Buffy to relapse. But Angel quickly realized that was not the problem.

"Look at who ordered the construction." Buffy pointed to a name under Brian's, that sent chills down both Angel and Buffy's spines. Buffy remembered a conversation she had stepped into the day Brian realized he was sick. Brain was talking to Billy, about possible plans for a school. And now, reading his name, Buffy wished she had known then, that things were about to get a whole lot worse than just Brian's diagnosis.

"I wonder what he's up to," Angel said reading the name.

Under Brian's signature was the name William Jasper Deauxville.

"I don't know," said Buffy, searching the papers for more information. "But we better find out what it is, and fast."

End Chapter.

OK, I'm a little early on my update, But I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would finish this chap before I started my day early. Hope you all have a Happy New Year, and thank you for your prayers about my sis. She is back home now, and doing SOO much better! As always, READ & REVIEW! Your reviews are what keep me going! See ya next year! LOL