The song is 'Every rose has its thorns' by Poison. I love this song, and if you haven't heard it, you should. If you have heard it, go listen again!
We both lie silent still,
In the dead of the night.
Though we both lie close together,
We are miles apart inside.
All through the night, neither one of them slept, not comfortable with being both this close together, and that far apart. What had been said that evening was weighing heavy on both of their hearts, and Angel wasn't sure how to fix it. He didn't even really know what 'it' was.
Was it something I did or something I said?
Did my words not come out right?
Though I try not to hurt you,
Though I try.
But I guess that's why they say
She didn't mean to say it all quite like that, it had just come out a bit wrong. She would always need him, and she needed him to realise that, before it was too late, again. They had both tried to protect each other, and that's when everything had gone horribly wrong.
I guess every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings a sad sad song
Every rose has its thorn
Yeah it does …
Every relationship has its ups and downs – after 240+ years, he should know. After being turned, he may not have had that many relationships, but he had watched the mindless humans fret over theirs. It was the same old story: something goes wrong, and the girl gets mad, the guy tries to make her see sense, but it doesn't work too well, they split up for a while, and then see how much they need each other and get back together. They weren't like that – they had already had too many wrongs, too much sadness. It wasn't meant to be like this; they both knew how much they needed the other to survive! They were meant to be forever.
Buffy left that morning. She gave Angel a small kiss, and, seeing that he had finally dropped off, wrote a short note to him and placed in on her pillow. She collected stuff together with stealth only a slayer possessed, and went to collect dawn from Cordy's.
When Doyle answered the door, dressed in a robe that looked suspiciously ripped in several key places, she didn't bat an eye, but asked him to tell dawn that they were leaving, and went back down to the car park, where her mother's car was waiting, with the radio plying softly in the background.
I listen to her favourite song
Playing on the radio.
Yeah the DJ says loves a game of
Easy come and easy go.
Everyone else thinks that love is so easy. If two people love each other, them what else could go wrong? You have each other for support and love, and what else could you ever need. Love isn't like that. It's … beautiful and terrible, wonderful and frightening, everything and nothing.
But I wonder does he know?
Has it ever felt like this?
And I know that you'd be here right now,
If I could have let you know somehow
If they couldn't work this out now, it would keep just dragging them down again and again. But, she had left because she didn't want to try and work it out any more. She needed him to realise that he really was the most important thing in her life, not seeing that she was guilty of not realising that the opposite was also true.
I guess every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings a sad sad song
Every rose has its thorn
When he woke up to find her gone, he was scared witless. When he read the note, it almost get worse. He couldn't try to live without her again – it had been hard enough all those other times, but they had had a good thing going for them, and there was no logical reason for it to be calling it to an emergency stop, not now, not ever. Every couple had their share of ups and downs, and it was up to them to get through them, to rise above them, and to become closer because of it.
Though it's been a while now,
I can still feel so much pain
Like the knife that cuts you,
The wound heals but the scar,
Yes the scar will remain.
There was silence all the way to Sunnydale, Buffy too busy glowering to say anything, and Dawn slightly afraid that she would set Buffy off. She knew her sister wouldn't hurt her, but she really didn't want her to get even more upset than she obviously already was.
At least she had got Cordy and Doyle together, although she really didn't want to know what they were doing right now, now that they'd got the impressionable young girl out of the way.
She wondered what had happened between Buffy and Angel to make her feel the need to leave so early, and not talk at all. She hadnt even come in to Cordy's place, instead just going to wait int eh car. It wasn't normal Buffy behavoir, and she didn't know what was causing it. She just hoped she souldnt have to play matchmaker for them again – it was hard enough last time to arrange everything. Now, it would be even harder, because it would all have to be done on purpose, and not just the occasional shove in the right direction.
I know I could have saved our love that night if I'd known what to say
And instead of making love we both made our severed ways
And now I hear you've met someone new and that I never meant that much to you
And to see you cuts me like a knife
He didn't know whether to jump in his car as soon as it was dark enough and drive to Sunnydale, or whether to give her the space she obviously needed. He didn't know whether she meant that she didn't need him, and he didn't know if she understood how much he needed her.
If he didn't go after her, she might take it as them being over, and find a new love. A nice, normal guy who could give her everything she wanted. He knew he could never see her in the arms of another without breaking said arms. If that happened, he would still go and check on her, just to make sure she and Dawnie were okay, but he knew it would kill a little bit more of him each time he did. He didn't know whether he had the strength to do that, but then, he didn't think he had the strength to leave her in the first place.
I guess every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings a sad sad song
Every rose has its thorn
When Buffy and dawn got back to Sunnydale, it was about mid-morning, and Giles was waiting for them in the hallway of the house. Buffy always asked him to check by at night when there was no one there, just in case of some nasties creeping around without her to kill them. She took one look at his face and asked dawn to take both of their stuff upstairs – she would explain later.
By the time he had made up his mind to give her some space, Doyle had come charging in with new s of another decision – about some club somewhere. Great, the powers obviously didn't want him to follow her.
Some of you are a bit confused by the skipped around. I shall try to explain.
In order of chapters:
Chapter 21 - Friday before she gets to LA
Chapter 22 - Sunday after getting back from LA
Chapters 23-25 - Friday in LA
Chaper 26 - Saturday in LA
Chapter 27 (this one) - Sunday morning/early afternoon. Going home from LA
Is that a bit easier to understand now?