Part 2

 

20 minutes later Buffy sat in her stateroom running her fingers up and down the cross that Angel had given her. ‘I should probably try and get some sleep,’ she told herself but she didn’t take any moves in that direction. Her stomach still growled with hunger, but Buffy continued to ignore it as she studied the cross.

"Why would he give it to me unless he knew what line of work I was in?" she asked her empty stateroom. Buffy frowned when she didn’t get an answer even though she knew that it was impossible to get one. "But how could he know?" she asked again and was no closer to an answer than she had been the last time she had asked the empty room a question.

Buffy sighed in frustration and flopped down on her bed so that she was squinting at the ceiling. "Who does he think he is anyway?" she snapped angrily. "All handsome and thinking he’s such a gentleman when in reality he isn’t making any sense at all."

Buffy glared at the perfect cross that she was still holding tightly in her hand. Try as she might she still couldn’t quite get his deep brown eyes out of her head. "It probably doesn’t work anyway," she reasoned. "It’s probably a fake cross." Although, even if such a thing were possible she knew that this was the real thing.

With a scowl she flung the beautiful cross across the room. It hit the wall on the other side with a rather large bang and made a little dent in the wall. "See, I knew that this ship wasn’t perfect! Take that Giles!"

"And now your talking to yourself, Buffy. You do know that they lock people up for that right?" Buffy slid off her bed and went over to the cross that was just as annoying as its former owner. Of course, *it* hadn’t been at all damaged in the fall. She picked it up testing its weight in her hand. With a sigh Buffy placed it down gently on the little table beside her bed and prepared to get ready for bed even though she knew she wouldn’t sleep at all that night. And that was all Angel’s fault, too.

"Damn you, Angel! Damn you and your perfect mahogany soulful eyes!"

Buffy groaned loudly in frustration as she slipped on her nightdress and got between the covers of her bed. ‘Soulful,’ she thought as his eyes filled her mind once again. ‘Why does that sound like the perfect way to describe him?’


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Thursday April 11, 1912

"So, Buffy, what were you up to last night?" Joyce fixed her daughter with a piercing stare.

Buffy shifted uncomfortably and stared very hard at the mashed potatoes on the plate in front of her, "Nothing…."

Joyce frowned and took a sip of coffee; "I don’t appreciate you disappearing like that, Buffy. I came down here last night to enjoy a nice quiet dinner with my daughter, who as it turned out was not there. Who also didn’t bother to check in with me at any point during said evening."

Buffy gulped guiltily and wished for not the first time that she could just tell her mother about her sacred duty. "I’m sorry… it won’t happen again."

"It certainly will not," Joyce said disapprovingly.

"And we’re having a nice mother-daughter lunch right now, aren’t we?"

Buffy’s mother sighed, "That isn’t the point."

Buffy had no answer for that. She closed her eyes and unconsciously fingered the cross that she was wearing tucked under her shirt. She wasn’t exactly sure what made her put it own this morning. Buffy had decided last night that she didn’t like the cross and that she didn’t like accepting gifts from strangers. Which was exactly who Angel was, a stranger, someone she didn’t know or care about.

‘Then why do you keep looking around the dinning hall for him?’ some small part of her asked. ‘I’m not looking for him, I’m just merely glancing around admiring the beauty of the place,’ she reasoned. Except she knew that was a lie because she couldn’t have cared less about what the dining hall looked like. And she was wearing the cross because it made her feel safer in this big unknown world.

Buffy sighed. She hated to admit it, but she had fallen for this stranger. Hard. ‘But that’s crazy because I’ve only had one conversation with him,’ she admonished. ‘Then why can’t you get him out of your head, Summers?’

"Buffy are you listening to me?"

Buffy forced her mind back to the conversation at hand, "Pardon?"

Her mother shook her head; "I don’t even know why I bother sometimes. If we’re having lunch together you could at least try and pay attention to me."

Buffy groaned. This was going to be a *very* long meal.

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Angel paced the dark closed interior of his stateroom until he was dizzy in the head. He had to be more careful. What was he thinking telling the slayer his name? It had been a risk. Too big of a risk. If she told her watcher, he may recognize it, and that would be the end of him.

Angel sat down on his bed tapping his foot nervously. Seeing the girl last night had effected him more than he thought it would. He remembered very clearly every slope of her body and the way that her hair had shimmered in the moonlight. But most of all he remembered looking into her eyes, she had made it seem as if she was freezing time with those eyes.

This was getting dangerous. Buffy was the slayer. Angel could not let himself get close to her. She was above a creature like himself. And, yet, he couldn’t help but feel like it was too late, and that fate was already out of their hands.

Groaning half out of frustration and half out of desire, Angel counted down the seconds until he would be able to see her again.

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"So, Buffy, anything that you need to share with me?"

Buffy frowned and looked into Giles’s worried face, "Huh?"

Giles sighed, "Anything happen while you were on patrol last night?"

Buffy shook her head and tried to get her thoughts back to the present. She had dragged Giles out on the promenade and they were currently hanging over the side of the boat watching the water flash by. She had told him that she wanted to talk to him, but mostly she had been daydreaming.

"Are you sure that this is the best place to talk about this?" Buffy asked, glancing around at the many people currently strolling the deck.

"I think that you’re avoiding my question, Buffy"

Buffy looked away from her watcher and out at the vast sea. It looked so empty and peaceful. Buffy wondered what it would be like to just float away with the current and disappear. Leaving all her confusion behind forever.

"Have you ever been in love?" Buffy questioned softly turning her head to look at Giles for his reaction.

Giles did a double take. To say that he hadn’t been expecting the question would have been the understatement of the year. "I…. yes… pardon?"

"Love, Giles," Buffy repeated. "You couldn’t have been a watcher your whole life. Did you ever fall in love?"

Giles pushed his glasses up his nose and tried very hard to hide his surprise. "Yes, well, contrary to what you may think, I was young once and I did on occasion do some courting."

Buffy shook her head. "That’s not what I mean. Did you ever fall in love? Real love? Where your whole world was suddenly shattered because someone that you truly cared about was in it?"

Giles looked into Buffy’s eyes and he could suddenly see how important this was to her. Why, he didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to.

"Once," he answered trying not to let the pain show.

Buffy smiled sympathetically, "Who was she? You don’t have to tell me if it’s too personal."

"It’s all right. Her name was Jenny Calender. And she… she was everything that I could have asked for in a woman. Smart, funny, charming, beautiful, I’ve never meant anyone quite like her, and I don’t think that I ever will again." Giles stopped and with an expression of pain looked out at the expanse ocean remembering once again how little he mattered in the space of all this greatness.

Buffy laid a comforting hand on his arm, "What happened?"

Giles didn’t look at her and Buffy knew that he was somewhere else, reliving another time. "She died. She was murdered by a vampire the day before I was supposed to take my test to become a watcher. Jenny was supposed to be having dinner with me, but I told her I needed the evening to myself for study. She was alone that day when the vampire found her. I think about what I could have done to save her everyday. If I had been there… it might have made the difference."

Buffy took a shaky breath, "I’m sorry."

Giles managed to pull himself together, but when he spoke, Buffy was pretty sure that his voice was a little husky. "How did patrol go last night?"

Buffy was a little surprised at the quick change of subject, but she figured that it must be painful for Giles to recall those times. Her heart broke for the man that was a father to her. She never knew that he had suffered so much pain. Buffy wondered what else her watcher had gone through that he hadn’t bothered on telling her.

"Pretty much uneventful. No vampires. Although, I did run into a steward, I think I nearly sent him into cardiac arrest." Buffy conveniently left out the part where that dark handsome man entered the scene and changed her life with one conversation.

Giles nodded, "That’s good. You’ll get some much needed rest."

"Great," Buffy muttered, "just what I need."

"Pardon?"

Buffy smiled and surprised her baffled watcher by pulling him in for a quick hug. "Thank you," she whispered before taking off.


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Buffy looked around the room in awe. To work off some of the tension that she felt in her muscles, she had decided to try out the exercise room that she had heard so much about. She was very impressed by the pool that was actually indoors. If inside the ship counted as indoors that was….

As nice as the pool looked, Buffy was more interested in the machines. She wasn’t sure what they could do, but they seemed like they might be able to provide her a nice workout. She looked around for someone that could help her out. She was a little surprised when she found Xander in a corner staring at her with wide eyes.

Buffy felt her face light up a little. She was still a little embarrassed from the night before. Xander’s eyes, on the other hand, seemed to light up when she caught his eye. He waved her over and Buffy reluctantly walked towards him.

"Hi," he greeted a little breathlessly.

Buffy gave him her very well practiced "who me?" smile. "Hi."

Xander gave her a goofy grin. "So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing here?"

"Actually I was wondering if you could help me figure out how to use some of these machines," Buffy answered.

"That’s what I’m here for," Xander said with a nod of his head. "Oh, I, uh, think you dropped this last night. When you kind of attacked me."

Buffy suppressed a groan as she accepted the stake that he was holding up for her. "Right…" Buffy paused trying to think up some excuse, "Dangerous! Protection! Yeah, it’s dangerous for a girl like me without protection."

Xander looked at her suspiciously, not believing her explanation for a minute. "So, what machine would you like to try first?" he asked deciding it was best to change the subject. For the time being, anyway.

Buffy sighed in relief. "One that works?"

"Well, there’s the stationary bikes, and the rowing machines. Both of which are very challenging."

Buffy shrugged, "Yes, but what are they?"

Xander laughed and showed her how to use them. He was impressed with how fast she caught on to the idea. That was nothing compared to how surprised he was when she had the machines on their highest setting and still hadn’t broken into a sweat after an hour. He had never seen anyone—granted he only had a day of experience—that strong.

A while later Buffy finished off, gave Xander a smile, and walked away with Xander’s eyes on her the whole time. Xander blinked a couple of times. There was something different about this girl. Something strange was going on and he intended on finding out.

Plus, Xander was afraid that he was falling in love.


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Buffy paced the deck at sunset. To Giles’s bewilderment she had insisted on patrolling. Actually, she wasn’t really patrolling, but more looking for a particular handsome stranger. At the same time, she was trying to convince herself that she hadn’t done a thorough enough job last night.

"Ahh, Buffy!" Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin as the strong, but familiar British voice whispered through the air. She sighed in annoyance and turned to face her *very* smug watcher.

"A slayer must always be prepared for anything. She must be on her guard at all times not matter what—"

"Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard the lecture. Spare me, Giles," Buffy snapped. "What I want to know is what your doing here, since before you pretty much called me crazy for wanting to go on patrol."

"Actually, I looked into that, and it seems that I had been a little forward in making that assumption." Giles admitted.

Buffy closed her eyes. Was she ever going to get to see Angel again? Apparently not. ‘Not that you want to see him,’ Buffy reminded herself quickly. "Really? How exciting!" Buffy said sarcastically.

Giles glared, "It seems that I have found that I may have been incorrect."

"Incorrect? Incorrect?? How???" Buffy yelled.

"It seems that a vampire may have boarded this ship after all," Giles stuttered.

Buffy groaned. "This is just wonderful," she mumbled.

"Pardon me?"

Buffy sighed, "Nothing. Are you sure that there is a vampire on this ship? I mean, before you seemed pretty sure that nothing that couldn’t survive sunlight boarded on last night."

Giles shrugged suddenly looking fairly uncomfortable. "Ahh, well, everyone makes mistakes. One of the stewards had their blood drowned late last night."

Buffy smacked her forehead, "Now you tell me?"

"May I point out that *you* were the one patrolling at this time last night and not I?"

"So," Buffy said quickly, "where did you say this vampire was?"

"The officer was ahh, drained, over near the steerage section of the ship. I think that it would be wise to start looking there." Giles said.

Buffy raised her eyebrows, "You have *no* idea where our little vampire is, do you?"

Giles made a stuttering sound and seemed about to say something when he decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort. Without another word Giles turned around and began walking toward what Buffy presumed was the steerage section of the ship.

Buffy bit her lip and after thinking it over for a couple of seconds, took out her trusty stake and followed her watcher. The chances of seeing Angel seemed to be getting slimmer by the moment.

After Giles and Buffy had disappeared from view, the steward that had been hiding behind one of the lifeboats, finally dared to come out of hiding. His eyes went wide when he thought about all the new information that he’d learned. Those people had to be crazy.

"What the hell is going on here???" Xander muttered before following the people he had just thought of as crazy a minute before. Besides, saving Buffy from that weird Giles-guy would make him look manly.


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“GILES!"

"What?"

Buffy gave the vampire a roundhouse kick and spared a quick glance at her watcher. "STAKE!"

"Right." Giles reached into his pocket and after what seemed like hours tossed Buffy a nice pointy piece of wood.

Without blinking Buffy took the stake and plunged it into the vampire’s heart. With a scowl she tried to dust off her clothes, even though experience had taught her that vampire just didn’t come out.

Giles sighed.

"What’s wrong *now*?" Buffy demanded.

"That vampire took you almost five minutes to kill. A slayer should only take a tenth of that time. Who knows what other portent evil might be lurking in the darkness, ready to attack at any moment—"

"Hey! Don’t you get points off for not being ready with that stake when I need you?" Buffy whined.

Giles didn’t even miss a beat, "Yes, well, if you hadn’t let that vampire take you by surprise your first stake wouldn’t have gone overboard."

"You were the one who didn’t know where fang guy was going to be! It wasn’t my fault that he caught me totally unprepared!"

"A slayer must be on her guard at all times. You should be able to sense vampires before you see them."

Buffy shrugged, "Whatever. I came. I slayed. Can I go now?"

"Buffy, you don’t seem to understand. This wasn’t some routine kill. This was on a great ship filled with people. At any moment someone could have came upon you and that vampire. Then what would you have done?"

"I guess we’re about to find out," Buffy said softly.

Giles blinked at her and then frowned when he saw what she was looking at. Willow, and a boy that Giles presumed must be Xander from the description Buffy had given him, were coming towards slayer and watcher with wide eyes.

"Did," Willow gulped, "did that guy just explode into a pile of dust?"

"Am I crazy?" Xander asked in a high-pitched strangled voice.

Buffy sighed, "It’s a long story."


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"So vampires are real?" Xander exclaimed in disbelief.

"And Buffy has to fight them?" Willow asked

Giles nodded, "Yes."

"Wow," Willow and Xander said in unison.

"I can’t believe that this is happening," Willow said.

"Tell me about it. This can’t be real. Vampires *aren’t* real." Xander looked panicked.

Buffy closed her eyes. Giles and her had taken the two baffled friends into the first class lounge to explain what had happened. According to Xander, he had heard she and Giles talking and decided to follow, picking Willow up on the way. They hadn’t seen the whole fight, but they had seen enough to know that the world didn’t work the way that they believed it did.

Buffy groaned, she didn’t want to have to deal with this. Her duty was sacred. Sacred. At first, she had tried to pretend that what they had seen hadn’t really been a vampire, but they wouldn’t have any of it. And now Xander was denying it!

Buffy felt a pang of guilt. She remembered quite clearly how she had handle being told that vampires were real and that *she* was chosen to fight them. She knew that she had to be patient with them and make them understand that they weren’t to interfere with her job. Plus, Buffy couldn’t totally ignore that little part of her mind that was hoping that after knowing her secret they would still want to continue being her friends. Buffy liked Willow and Xander. A lot.

"Xander I know what you’re going through because I went through it, too. There is this great evil in the world that most people have no idea about and I have to do everything in my power to protect them. And I really hate to do this, but I have to go back out there. There could be more of them out there on the ship, and I can’t take the risk of anyone else getting killed." Buffy got up and twirled a stake in her hand.

Xander got up, too. "You can’t go out there alone."

Buffy smiled, a little annoyed, if not touched by his faithfulness to her. "I’ve been doing this for over a year now, Xander, I know how to take care of myself."

"Yeah, but you’re just…you’re just… just a…"

"Girl?" Buffy offered with false brightness.

Xander looked a little sheepish, "Yeah."

"I’m not just any girl. I’m the chosen one."

"But…"

"NO! Stay here with Giles. Talk to him if you have any questions," without another word Buffy turned away.


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‘Isn’t it weird that things always happen when you least expect them?’ Buffy thought to herself. Barely a step out on the promenade and here she was in a situation that she had given up all hope of ever happening.

"Hey." He said it in such a way that Buffy gave a little jump.

"Hey," she answered, surprised at her breathlessness.

He ran his eyes over her and Buffy suddenly felt he was reading her. He knew everything about her from that one gaze. Her secrets. Her life. Her fantasies….

"What," Buffy gasped out fighting for control over her voice, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Buffy stared at him, drinking in the sight of his well-chiseled face and beautiful chest and arms. She took a deep shaky breath, wondering how a stranger could have such a strong affect on her. ‘What are you thinking? He isn’t a stranger. He’s so much more than that.’

"That’s a little weird cause you don’t even know me. You don’t know who I am or what I do. You don’t even know my name."

That was a lie. They both knew it. Buffy could practically feel how much he knew about her. She wished that she could know that much about him.

He pierced her eyes with his heavy stare. "You’d be surprised."

Buffy backed up a couple of steps, she was afraid of what she would do if she didn’t. Like move closer to him. "No, I wouldn’t"

He smiled at that, but it didn’t reach his eyes and Buffy wondered what kind of secrets he could have to make his eyes so dark and sad like that. She wished that she could give him a smile that could reach his eyes.

"You’re strong. Maybe the strongest slayer ever."

Buffy was right. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that he knew what her sacred duty was.

"Well, what’s the cause for worry, then?"

He looked away from her. She watched his eyes travel to the railing and out at the night. She wondered if he was thinking about disappearing over the edge like she had been today.

"You’re strong, but you’re not immortal."

Buffy blinked. She could swear that he had said that with some worry in his voice. But that was crazy. *This* was crazy. She didn’t know anything about this stranger and yet he seemed to know everything about her. Buffy was pretty sure that she should be worried. She wasn’t. She remembered how she had told Willow yesterday about destiny and things feeling right. This felt like destiny. This felt right.

At least it felt right to her. She found that this dark handsome man completely impossible to read, and reading people had always came easy to Buffy. For all she knew, he didn’t care about her at all, and was just some friend of Giles. But, somehow, Buffy was pretty sure he wasn’t.

She took a deep breath, "Why do you care?"

She saw something go through his eyes then. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was *something* and Buffy was thankful for that.

He looked at her intently and Buffy felt herself blush.

"Maybe I like you."

Buffy unconsciously wet her lips. She could feel her heart pounding and the blood rushing through her veins. She wanted to scream that she liked him, too. That she liked him *a lot.*

Of course, the vampire chose that moment to spring out of nowhere. Buffy was surprised to find herself on the ground with the vampire looming over her with his fangs near her neck. Before she could react, the vampire burst into dust. Buffy blinked and the world slowly swung into focus again.

Angel reached out his hand to her and Buffy gratefully accepted it. He looked at her with concern in his eyes and Buffy felt her heart skip a beat.

"Are you okay?" He asked in that silky voice of his that was beginning to drive Buffy crazy.

Buffy could only nod.

"You have some dust in your hair," Angel reached over and brushed his hand over the blonde locks. Buffy closed her eyes and shivered at the contact.

Angel cupped her cheek in his big palm and Buffy could feel her knees start to weaken. She hadn’t known that it was possible to feel like this. She opened her eyes and found herself looking into his big chocolate brown ones. Suddenly, she wanted him to kiss her. Badly.

"I’m older than you," Angel said, causing Buffy to jump a little.

"You can’t be that much older." Buffy was surprised that she had managed to say anything considering it was pretty much the Sahara Desert in her mouth.

"You’d be surprised," he said darkly.

Buffy barely heard him. All she could think about was how near he was and how much closer she’d like him to be. Without thinking, Buffy leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

Buffy felt Angel flinched at first and she feared that she had made a huge mistake, but soon he deepened the kiss and his tongue sought his way into her mouth. All coherent thought was gone, and all Buffy could feel were his hands on her and his soft lips against her own. She felt dizzy, like she might fall over, but she felt like she was flying and would never fall to the ground.

Suddenly, he pulled abruptly away. Buffy opened her eyes at the loss of contact to find the glowing amber eyes of a vampire staring back at her.

Buffy screamed.

 

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