Chapter 14: Sometimes You Just Need Someone To Talk To

The next day during Angel's lunch break he went to the food court to he meet up with Doyle, Gunn, Spike and a few of their other friends who were in different Units on the Army Base. He sat down next to Spike and opened his sub he got from Subway. "What's up with you, peaches?" Spike asked taking a big bite of his Whopper. Angel watched him chew with disgust. He didn't understand how Spike could eat so much junk.

Angel shook his head. "Nothing why?"

"Well, I'm now pretty sure I am right about you jerking off to anime" He smirked. Doyle looked at Spike with annoyance, Gunn and the other soldiers watched in amusement.

Angel glared at him. "I have never and will never jerk off to anime. I have no reason to jerk off."

"Yeah, Angelus could get anyone he wanted. He doesn't need to pretend." One of the soldiers named Sully, commented. Sully knew Angelus pretty well, he went to Basic Training with him but once they had graduated they weren't on to different AIT locations. Sully was a combat medic. He was tall, almost as tall as Angel, had black hair and green eyes.

Gunn nodded. "I agree. Last night, he must have had a girl over… That sounded way to clear for it to be porn."

Doyle put a fry in his mouth, chewing he said "I'm just glade Buffy wasn't home to hear that. I'm sure she has had sex before but I still like to think of her as innocent."

Angel looked at Doyle. "Buffy was home."

"No, she wasn't, man." Gunn said. "I checked her room when we didn't see her around. No one but you and your special friend were there."

"… Buffy is my 'special friend.'" Angel told them. "Buffy and I… are dating."

"What?" Doyle was shocked.

"Since when?" Gunn asked confused.

"Bloody hell! Why didn't I get a crack at her?" Spike shouted.

"Buffy, as in your room mate? Heard from Spike she's a real stiffler." The other soldier named Jeremy nodded his head. Jeremy was younger then the other guys at the table, being only 19. He had just gotten there from AIT 4 months earlier. His father is a general at Fort Marshall.

Angel gave Jeremy an annoyed look. He knew Buffy was hot but he didn't want other guys voicing it. "Monday. It just sort of happened."

"Monday. At least it happened a few days ago and not months later." Doyle smiled.

Gunn nodded in agreement with Doyle. "Where exactly were you two Monday?" Gunn asked taking a drink.

"The shooting range."

"Did you show her your bad ass shooting talents?" Sully asked.

"Yeah, but things were going well before I stepped up to the target." Angel smiled.

"So, you and Buffy huh?" Gunn asked.

"Yeah. Me and Buffy." Angel's smile got bigger.

"At least your happy." Doyle said. "Is she happy? I haven't really seen her for more then a few seconds."

"Yeah… or at least I hope she is. She was a little upset last night but this morning she seemed better." Angel said thinking about how he had accidentally made to much noise this morning when getting ready for work and woke her up. He had told her to go back to sleep because it was to early to get up, she had smiled at him and told him he was sweet but she needed to get up for work herself.

Gunn popped a few fries in his mouth. "Well she defiantly sounded happy last night."

"Yeah." Angel nodded still smiling, then his smile fell from his face. "Hey! Wait… shut up!"

"This must be serious. He has always been very open about who he has been with." Sully said to the other guys.

Gunn turned to Spike. "You okay man? You aren't talking much."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, you were even very open about shagging my sister."

"Sorry about that." Angel apologized to Spike.

Spike shrugged. "So… a serious question… you shagged Buffy. Tell me, ANY chance at all that there will be any lesbian action in our house what so ever? Does she show any signs?" Jeremy looked hopefully at Angel.

Angel let out a sigh. As much as he didn't want to talk about any of this he replied. "No." Jeremy and Spike let out a disappointed sigh while Sully shook his head at them.

"You know, Buffy was a little caught off guard when she first saw me in ACU's." Angel said looking at Doyle. "You didn't tell her?"

Doyle thought for a moment. "No. It must have slipped my mind."

"Some people don't want to live with a bunch of soldiers, you know. Buffy is one of them… well at least she used to be. She wasn't to fond of military personal before we got together." Angel said biting into his sub.

"She must have got over it since you two are together." Jeremy said.

"Yeah." Angel smiled. "I think I brought her around to it. So, Spike. How is that love life of yours going?"

Spike grunted. "I shag. That's good enough for me."

"Don't you want something with substance?" Sully asked finishing his food.

"Nope. What I got going on is perfect for me, mate."

"See, I would have agreed with you not to long ago… but since I met Buffy, I'm on Sully's side now." Angel said taking another bite.

"Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. Is she all we are going to talk about?" Spike said annoyed.

Gunn smiled. "Back when you thought you were going to see some lesbian action, Buffy was all you wanted to talk about."

"Yeah well now she's with Nancy Boy here!"

"Sully, how about you? Anyone special?" Angel asked with a smile.

"You guys know I have been with Cindy for a while now… I am thinking about asking her to marry me." He said a little unsure of how the guys would react.

"Your kidding!" Doyle said. "She wont even move here from Florida, she wont take a chance on you but you want to marry her? And then what? What happens when she wont move here once you are married? Or anywhere you are stationed for that matter. The only thing that will be different from right now is she will get health benefits and you will get paid more."

"Your just bitter because your marriage didn't work out." Jeremy said playing with his fries. Glancing up at Doyle who was glaring at him he added "What? I hear things. Your still married… you haven't filled for divorce yet because then she will lose the health benefits , you will lose the extra money and the BAH."

"You don't know anything about it, Sherwood so don't act like you do." Doyle stormed off.

Spike snickered and Gunn shared a knowing look with Sully.

Angel glanced over at Jeremy. "Its more about the health benefits for her then anything else. Doyle can live without the added dependent money and BAH… He just wants to make sure Harry is taken care of."

Angel got up from his seat and threw his food away. He wanted to go talk to Doyle to make sure he was okay, knowing what a sore spot Harry was but he also needed to get back to his Unit. He would talk to him tonight at home.

Buffy had just gotten back into the office from meeting with a client. Keith was going over some papers in his office for a case he was about to close- he just needed to meet with his client to go over his findings. Veronica had finished up her case yesterday and had said today she was going to take it easy and spend some much needed relaxation time with Logan but if a case came up and they needed her to call her but she would also stop in a little later.

Buffy walked into Keith's office, leaning her back against the door frame. "Hey Big Daddy." She joked.

"Hello Princess." Keith said using his nick name for Buffy, he had been calling her Princess all her life, He called Veronica, Ronnie because even though the two were so much alike Buffy was much more girly and Veronica was a huge tomboy. "How is your case gone?"

"Fine, I think this girl is a bit crazed if you ask me though. I mean she wants to fine this guy she knew for all of 2 months and his name is Tom Cruz. I hate Tom Cruise! He is a crappy actor and totally over rated."

"Your not looking for the actor though, your looking for a business man who some how slipped off the radar." He reasoned.

"Maybe he wanted to slip off the radar. Every think about that? Just maybe, Ms. Crazed was to clingy for him and he ran away for a reason." Buffy said sitting down in the chair across from Keith's desk.

"Something you want to talk about, Buffy?" Keith asked her looking down at his papers.

"No…" Buffy let out a dramatic sigh and kicked her left foot up causing Keith to look up at her. "If someone you were dating told you they were leaving in X amount of months when you JUST started dating a few days ago, what would you do?"

"Me, personally?" Keith didn't know if Buffy was talking about a case, a friend or herself. He didn't think she was dating anyone but then again, she is getting to the point where she doesn't tell him everything- comes with age.

"Hypothetically." Buffy supplied.

"Well, it would depend on how many months it was…if it was only one or two months, I would say have fun while you can… but depending on the relationship and the people, I could say the same thing about the person leaving in 9 or 10 months. It really depends. Are you dating someone Buffy?" Keith wanted to know. He really didn't know what to say to her because he didn't know the situation. He wanted Buffy to be happy, so if this was her that she was talking about, he would tell her to just have fun.

"Yeah… maybe…" She said hesitantly.

"… and he is leaving soon?" He asked trying to get more information out of her.

"Yeah…" Buffy said looking down at her shoes. "He's in the Army and in 11 months he is leaving. I guess after a certain amount of time the Army tells the soldiers they have to go somewhere else to live…"

"Where would he be going?"

"Don't know. He said they don't tell him where he is going until a few weeks before he leaves, a month tops." She replied sadly.

"You really like this guy?" Buffy nodded. "Okay, so 11 months. That's a lot of time. You should date, have fun with this guy for as long as you can. If you have a chance at love, Buffy- take it."

Buffy gave Keith a small smile. She really loved him. Between Giles and Keith, she had the best dad in the world. "But what if I get in to deep? What if it hurts to much to even think about him leaving?"

"Are you already in to deep, Princess?"

"I think so." Buffy said looking down at her hands in her lap.

Keith got up from his chair and walked around the desk leaning on his desk in front of Buffy. "If your already in to deep then what else is there to say? Do you love this guy?"

Buffy's eyes got huge as saucers. She had only known Angel for a few weeks, been with him for 4 days… wasn't it to soon to be thinking about the L word? And did she really want to tell Keith if she was thinking about the L word?

"… I… I think so…" Buffy said a little scared of what was actually coming out of her mouth.

Keith smiled. "This is a good thing Buffy. You never know what could come out of this." He said leaning in front of her. "Maybe this guy is THE ONE." He said referring to Buffy's dream when she was a little girl to find her one prince charming, but as she got older her views on love had changed. With her parents getting a divorce and then so many failed relationships Buffy didn't want to believe in The One anymore, she didn't want to get married and she didn't want to have kids because in the end someone would get hurt, a divorce would have to happen and then a child would be caught in the middle of that. She had been that child in the middle of a divorce before and she didn't want to think about a child of hers going threw that. When her parents got a divorce she often tried to be the strong one, shielding everything from Dawn but the weight of it all started to be to much for Buffy and she would cry herself to sleep every night, wondering if she was the reason her father was leaving. She loved her dad but when her mother had sat her down and asked her if she wanted to live with her or her father there was no contest, she would stay with her mother no matter what. Her dad was nice but he wasn't overly loving towards her and she never knew why… he was so much nicer to Dawn. Buffy thought maybe it was just because he had wanted his first born to be a boy. Then a few years later when her father drove to Sunnydale from LA and told her all those hurtful things, she knew she had made the right choice to stay with her mother.

"Do you really think The One is out there, Keith? After everything. Dad leaving. You and Leanne separating…is it really worth it?"

"Yeah, Buffy. It really is." He told her with a small smile. "You know, I didn't think I would every find love again. I was with this really great girl in College but things didn't work out, I was crushed. I had a brief moment of depression… and when I say brief I actually mean months. But then I met Leanne and it wasn't so bad. I fell in love with her and we got married. I got Veronica out of it and I wouldn't trade her for the world. So yeah, it is worth it Buffy. Love always is."

"This great girl in college… you really loved her?" She asked.

Keith nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"Did you every love Leanne like you loved her?" Buffy wanted to know.

"I loved Leanne in a different way. She is the mother of my child… and the love of a child- to love a child and know that child loves you. That's the greatest love of all." He told her. It was a little weird seeing Keith so sentimental when he was normally always joking around and making fun of well, mostly everything.

"So you think I should have babies and be loved by them and not by An… this guy..? Buffy asked a little confused.

"No. That's not what I am saying at all." He told her shaking his head. "Love this guy Buffy, love him with everything you have because he could be your "really great girl". I let her get away, if this guy is the one for you Buffy, don't let him get away. Spend as much time with him as you can while you still can. Maybe things will change and he wont have to leave, things like that change all the time in the military. Or maybe he will have to go but you will still know that you loved him, that you took that chance and even if it was for a short time, you were truly happy."

"Thanks Keith, your pretty awesome… you know that?

"Yeah, I do know that." He said with a straight face but she knew he was joking. "Now… tell me ALL about this guy. What his name?…." Buffy groaned.

After work Buffy had called Willow and asked her if she wanted to get together for a little while and catch up before Willow had to go meet Oz who was coming back from a gig a few towns over. Of course willow excepted eagerly. She wanted to see her best friend and also Buffy had yet to tell her about her date with Ben. They had seen each other but Buffy didn't mention Ben so she figured Buffy didn't want to talk about it in front of other people, she often didn't. Anya would always make some perverted comments, Xander would get all 'big brother' on her and Giles would take his glasses cleaning them a million times just to look busy. He really was a funny British man- but they loved him.

Ben had told Willow the date went amazing and that they were going to go out again soon. She couldn't wait to heard what Buffy had to say. She was so happy that things were working out and her best friend had a boyfriend again.

Buffy was going to suggest meeting at Willows house but since they were both just getting out of work Willow suggested the Expresso Pump since it was right in the middle of Sunnydale High and her house, it was more convenient for Buffy too since she worked right down the street.

Right after Buffy got off the phone with Willow she was going to head to the Expresso Pump but then she got sucked into a walk in who wanted to know if they could take on another case. She didn't want to be rude and since it was her job and all, she sat and talked to the woman for a little while. Getting some of the information she needed to open a case she jotted it all down and told the woman she would see about handing the case over to a co-worker who could take on the case full time. She would fill Veronica in on the details later. Before she ran out the door of Mars Investigations she told Keith about the case and said all the information was already in a folder and she would leave it on his desk incase Veronica came in.

Buffy ran into the Expresso Pump and saw Willow already waiting. "I'm so sorry, Wills! I was on my way out and the got caught up at work." She explained giving Willow a huge.

"That's fine, I know how it gets." Willow said with a wave of her hand. "So, how have you been?" She asked Buffy as they sat down at the table Willow had picked.

"I have been great! A few touch and go moments but all in all- good. How about you? Buffy asked.

"Oh. Me? Fine. Now, you! Tell me everything about your date with Ben!" She said excitedly.

"Yeah, Will… about that…You know what, I'm going to get a coffee." She chickened out, getting out of her chair to place her order.

When she came back Willow had her resolve face on. "Buffy, I know when you are avoiding something and you are avoiding something now."

"Me? No. I'm not." Buffy told her.

"Buffy. If whatever it is that is bothering you was the ice berg and you were the titanic, it never would have sank. Now spill." Willows resolve face was set.

"I don't want to hurt your feelings Will but… I really REALLY didn't like Ben and I'm really REALLY sorry." Buffy said quickly.

"What? What do you mean?" Now Willow was very confused. "Ben said it went great and you were going out again. He said you guys talked and you were only going to be seeing each other. Like he is your boyfriend now."

"Hubba hubba whatta?" Buffy was flabbergasted.

"Yeah, I talked to him the other night. What is going on? What happened?"

"Well… he was late, I sat there like a loser for a while… I thought the girl was suppose to be fashionably late. Then he didn't talk to me much at all. One word sentences Will, and then there was the frequent trips to the bathroom…"

"Well… maybe he got lost… on the way to The Bronze.. It could happen.. And he could have been shy because you are pretty and… he has a really small bladder…?" She guessed.

".. and then there is the fact that I am seeing someone… else." Buffy told her waiting to hear what she was going to say.

"You are? Since when?" Willow asked.

"Since Monday. It just kinda happened. I mean, I wanted him. Badly." She made sure to make that clear. "..and we were hanging out, just as friends and one thing let to another and we… ended up…"

"Did you have sex, Buffy!" Willow said shocked.

Buffy nodded. "Good sex. GREAT sex."

Willow got excited and started to do a little dance in her chair. "This is awesome! Who is he? Do I know him?"

"Kinda.. Do you remember meeting all the guys I moved in with?" She asked Willow.

"Yeah.. There was that really nice one… his name was Doyle.. Right?" Buffy nodded. "Then that blonde guy who you said was obsessed with you being a lesbian… and the black guy… and then that tall good looking man that didn't really talk much but he didn't seem overly nice either…. Is it Doyle? Because that would be so cute Buffy." Buffy shook her head in a negative. "Please don't let it be the blonde! I would not be happy about that!"

"NO!" Buffy shouted but shrunk down in her chair when other occupants in the Café looked at her.

"So it's the black guy? He seemed to talk to you a lot." Willow guessed.

"Nope. It would be the good looking not overly nice one that you forgot to mention." She told Willow. "but he IS nice, Will! I was surprised too because the way they were when I met them you would think Doyle would be the nicest one but Angel… he is SO sweet."

"Angel?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, that's his nickname. They are all soldiers and they have nick names. Angel is a nick name that some kids gave him when he was deployed." Buffy explained. "I like it. I asked him if I could call him that and he said yes… well he actually said 'you can call me anything you want.'"

"Wow. So you really like this guy? Here I thought you wouldn't date anyone Military since what happened with Riley but its good to see that you have come to your senses that just because there was one rotten egg that the whole bunch isn't ruined."

"More then like Will. The only problem is… he leaves in 11 months. His contract with the Army is up in 11 months and when he resigns he will have to move somewhere else.. But I talked to Keith and he said I should just go with it. Be happy while I can, kinda thing." Buffy told her.

"I agree with Keith but one question. Does he have to resign for the Army? Cant he just get out?" Willow wanted to know.

"He loves what he does. I don't want to get in the way of that… plus we haven't even been together very long. 4 days to be exact. He isn't going to give up his career for me, and I wouldn't make him." Buffy said looking like she was still upset about the fact he was leaving in 11 months.

Willow looked down at her coffee "But what if he loves you?"

"Its been 4 days, Will. He doesn't."

"But in 11 months he might love you." Willow encouraged.

"… I mean, I know he likes me. Other wise he wouldn't be so nice to me, but…" Buffy trailed off.

Willow scrunched up her face. " But? I don't like buts."

"There is also the fact that his dad wants him out of the Army. He wants him to go into the family business of Lawyer World, and Angel doesn't want that. I think he would stay in the Army just for that reason too." Buffy said playing with the spoon in her drink.

"So either way he wont get out of the Army, huh? This is one of those doomed to end things." Willow said sadly.

"Yeah, it is, Will. I really wish it wasn't. You have no idea how much I wish it wasn't." Buffy replied not making eye contact with Willow.

Willow hated seeing Buffy so sad when just moments ago she could see the light in Buffy's eyes. The light she hadn't seen in a long time… a man was finally making her happy and he was just going to leave her in a few short months… well it would be short for Buffy. She could already tell that her best friend had it bad for this guy.

"Do you love him Buffy? I know you said its only been 4 days and that he doesn't love you, but do you love him?" Will wondered.

Buffy was still playing with her spoon and finally looked up at Willow and said "Yeah, I do."