So close to being done. Mustn't succumb to Writer's Block.

Wesley didn't understand. He had no idea what it had been like. How close he had come to losing control completely and draining every last drop of blood from her body. How much part of him had enjoyed doing that to her. How many of the dark fantasies from when he had no soul had been fulfilled. How much better was he, really, than his soulless counterpart? Was there a difference? It wasn't the first time he had wondered. If Wesley knew he was wondering again, he'd probably still be here shouting at him.

Angel thought of Buffy, of all their time together, of the way she looked at him, and suddenly he had an answer. The difference was everything she had given him. Her acceptance, her love, her trust, her body, her blood—almost her life. Angelus had received none of them—had not, in fact, even received so much as a smile—and had failed to take any of them by force, but with his soul, Angel had been given them all freely and without reservation, and he was capable of giving of himself in return.

Was he too blinded by his past, by his literal demon, to see what she saw in him? Could it be that Buffy knew him better than he knew himself? That she knew what he had not: that no matter how difficult it was and how strong his perverse enjoyment, he would force himself to stop drinking before it was too late? Whether that was true or whether she was simply willing to die to save him, the implication was staggering.

He felt awed and humbled that someone so good and pure could think him worthy of such unconditional love. He remembered how she had been the white light that saved him from Hell in his dreams, and he couldn't fault the comparison. She truly was like sunlight, and she had chosen to shine on him. He decided right there that he would accept her gift and do everything in his power to live up to her faith in him, whether that meant fighting alongside her in Sunnydale or on his own in Los Angeles.

[o]

Buffy's mind was too full of the dream or subconscious encounter or whatever it had been with Faith for her sterile, unfamiliar surroundings to surprise her when she opened her eyes. Slowly, she got up and walked around the partition, then stopped beside the other bed. She took in the many bruises on Faith's face, then the reassuring rise and fall of her chest with each breath. The jumble of emotion she had been suppressing ever since Faith let herself fall backward off the roof seemed to drain away as she bent forward and gently kissed her fellow Slayer's forehead. Faith was still alive. She hadn't killed her after all.

With this knowledge, Buffy felt like an enormous load had been taken from her shoulders. She changed quickly out of her hospital gown and back into her regular clothes, her thoughts turning now to Angel. Something more than logic was telling her that he was all right, that her blood had cured him. It was almost as if he was right beside her. She wasn't sure where this was coming from, but it was immeasurably comforting.

When she walked out into the hall a minute later, she found a welcoming committee waiting for her.

"Buffy!" cried Willow, jumping up from her chair and stepping forward anxiously. The others looked around and immediately moved toward her too.

"Are you okay?" asked Xander, staring at her intently.

"How do you feel?" said Giles.

Buffy looked around, not really listening. "Is Angel here?" she said. She was surprised not to see him; she could have sworn that she…that she…felt him nearby. But no—she should have realized: he was at the mansion. She blinked. How did she know that?

"He had to go," said Oz. "Got kinda sunny."

Buffy nodded and forced herself to remain in the present. "Get him. Get everyone."

"What exactly is up?" said Xander warily.

"Buffy, are you sure you're all right?" asked Giles in some concern.

"I'm ready," said Buffy.

"Ready for what?" asked Willow, confused.

"War."

[o]

Back at the library, they were soon joined by Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia. When Buffy's eyes met Angel's, the wound on her neck tingled beneath the bandages, though not in an unpleasant way. It was the same feeling she'd had before, except that now it had intensified and localized. She was beginning to suspect that she knew what it meant. She longed for an opportunity to speak to him alone, and she didn't want to wait until after the battle. His expression told her he'd been doing a lot of brooding since he left the hospital. He also seemed like he wanted to look away in fear of what her reaction to seeing him might be, but couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes from her. She smiled, and could practically see the tension leave him before she began to tell the gang her plan.

It was a plan that required a lot of preparation, and they had very little time in which to do it, but everyone threw themselves into their tasks with great determination. By two-thirty in the afternoon, the library was emptied of Giles's collection and rigged with several vanloads of explosives. Buffy returned from Faith's apartment to see the final stages nearing completion. Every surface in Giles's office that had previously held his personal effects was now covered with weapons that were soon to be distributed to the members of the senior class. After glancing briefly at this arsenal, she looked down at the white bundle in her hands and unwrapped it slowly.

"That's mine."

"You're about to get it back."

She winced. The rather beautiful, now bloodstained blade might be a key part of her plan for keeping the Mayor's attention on herself, but the associations it had could hardly be less pleasant for him than they were for her.

"Did you get what you needed?"

Buffy dropped the knife onto the desk and spun around. Angel was standing in the doorway to the office. Not even pausing to read his expression, she went to him, wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face against his chest. After a second or two, he hesitantly returned the embrace, but then a shudder went through his whole body. His grip tightened fiercely, and she felt him press his lips to the top of her head. She inhaled slowly and deeply, savoring his scent, then let the breath out again in a contented sigh.

"For a little while there, I thought we'd never get to do this again."

"So did I," he said, an audible tremor in his voice.

Buffy pulled back far enough to look into his eyes, in which she could see the lingering fear of what might have been. "I'm okay, Angel." She smiled, but had to blink rapidly to clear her vision. "We both are."

"I was so afraid, Buffy. I came closer to killing you last night than I ever did without my soul."

"I'm sorry I had to put you through that. But you stopped in time. That's all that should matter."

He closed his eyes. "I know, but…I think it's going to be a while before I can see it that way."

They fell silent for a moment, arms still around each other, before Buffy plucked up the courage to tell him what she'd been wondering about for the past few hours. "Angel…I feel different." She looked up to find him looking back at her in confusion, and she tried to elaborate. "I—well, this morning at the hospital, after I woke up, I sort of just knew that you were okay. I thought you were nearby at first, it felt like it, but when they told me you'd left, I just had this feeling, and I knew you were at the mansion." She looked up into his eyes again and blushed, but went on, "And then when I saw you, I had the same feeling again, only…more, and here." She touched the bandage on her neck. He followed the movement, and his eyes widened.

"So…we're connected now, right?" she asked, but before he could answer, she was babbling. "'Cause, I mean, it was sort of like that after the Master bit me too, except that felt like a disease, but I knew where he was, and the hypnosis or whatever it was didn't work on me anymore. Thank God it wasn't this strong, and that it went away after I smashed his bones, or you and everyone else might still be dealing with Pod Buffy. Does that happen every time a human survives a vampire bite?"

"No," said Angel. He looked rather pained. "It mirrors the bond vampires have with those they sire. It depends on how old the vampire is and how close the human gets to death. The Master barely took any blood from you, but you died so soon afterward that it had the same effect." His grip on her had tightened possessively and there was a growling undertone to his voice while he explained her connection to the Master, and though he didn't seem to be conscious of either, Buffy certainly was. She doubted whether her knees would have been equal to supporting her weight if she hadn't still been leaning into him, and she felt more annoyed than ever that there wasn't more time until the Ascension.

"Are those the only, uh, factors that affect it?" she asked, trying to stay focused on the conversation.

Angel shook his head. "The force of the bite also matters, and how freely the blood is given." The pained expression returned briefly, but this time he brushed it aside. He seemed to be breathing rather hard for someone who didn't need the oxygen. "This is stronger than anything I've felt before."

"Then, you feel it too?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes," he whispered, leaning forward until their foreheads were touching.

She swallowed and tried in vain to control her breathing. "Anything else?"

"This is probably unprecedented, so I can't be sure, but I think it can also draw on love."

"A-and it won't go away?"

"No." He kissed her.

"Is the bite—," she kissed him back, "—going to leave a scar?"

"Probably."

"Good."

"I wish…there was more time…before graduation."

"Yeah."

By the time they stopped talking, they were already well on their way to a full-blown make-out session, but to their mutual displeasure, it was soon cut short by the sound of Giles's voice calling for everyone to get in place. The ceremony was about to begin.

Uh. Hmm. Okay, I think these last three chapters have officially put me in PG-13 land (for reasons that aren't violence, anyway). I'm going to have to have a few words with Buffy and Angel about this. Now then, about the connection thing. If it wasn't for the implied canonical precedent set by the way Buffy acted after the Master bit her (and then again with Dracula), I probably wouldn't have included that. It's always struck me as kind of hokey in fanfiction when Buffy and Angel have some kind of invisible connection simply because of how much they love each other. However, with this much evidence from canon, I will accept the possibility of a pseudo-sire bond that is stronger (and not creepy) because of that love.