A Day in The Life
Human. He couldn't believe it. After over two and a half
centuries,
suddenly he could taste and smell and hear like he never had
before. He could feel his heartbeat, pumping the blood
through his
veins, and though some of his senses were duller for lack of
vampire
enhancement, Angel thought that the sudden glories of
humanity more
than made up for it. He got it now. He got why Cordelia went
so
nuts over certain foods, and there were so many things that
he
couldn't wait to try. They didn't even HAVE ice cream when
he was
alive. Sure, he had tried the yogurt, and that wasn't so
good, but
at least now he got to find out for himself.
Angel was on top of the world. He didn't care WHY or HOW he
had
gotten this gift. The only thing that mattered to him was
that he
had it. He had been fighting a demon, killing it, and then
suddenly,
he felt it…his heartbeat. Plain and simple, Angel was alive.
He was
a living, breathing human being, and he figured it was safe
to say
that at that moment, he was the happiest one on the planet.
`Welcome to Sunnydale.' God, that sign had never looked so
sweet.
His smile broadened as his car sped through the city limits,
bringing him that much closer to the one girl that he couldn't
wait
to share his news with. It was still bright out, though the
sun
would be setting in a just a few short hours. Angel had gone
back
and forth a dozen times about whether or not to come here
and tell
Buffy about his new-found mortality. What if it wasn't
permanent?
What if she didn't care? What if she had moved on? So many
concerns
plagued his mind, the biggest of which was that nagging
feeling that
HE might have moved on. He wasn't quite willing to admit
that to
himself just yet. After all, Buffy WAS the love of his
unlife…
Unlife…as in, his past life…When he wasn't truly
living.
Shaking the thoughts away, he continued to head toward the
college.
They had just been apart for too long, and he had spent too
many
nights brooding in the dark, drilling it into his head that
she
could never be his. Angel knew that the minute he saw her,
though,
it would all come flooding back. It always did, and he
figured that
it always would.
Pulling up to the building, he jumped out of the
convertible,
reveling in the feeling of the sun on his face, and
practically
skipped his way up to the door, throwing it open with a
bright smile
and heading in.
~*~
Country music. The
music of pain.
suggesting once that listening to copious amounts of country
music
would help to ease the pain of heartache. She had listened
to a
whole heaping earfull, and though she thought that she now
thoroughly understood the pain of your drunken letch
boyfriend
loving his truck more than you, she didn't feel any closer
to
finding resolution on her abandonment. Oz was gone, and
still as mopey as ever. She was trying to keep the moping to
a
minimum, and indulged mostly when she was alone in her room.
Of
course, that was more and more frequent these days, what
with Buffy
seeing Riley, and Xander seeing Anya, and Giles
seeing…whoever it
was that Giles was off seeing. Everyone seemed to have a someone
except her, and the redhead knew that it was the sheer
loneliness
and feeling of being unwanted that hurt as much as the loss
of Oz
itself. Maybe even more so. After
all, it wasn't as if his leaving
was all THAT sudden. She had gotten a sense that things had
been
changing, shifting.
it left her feeling empty and alone.
Hearing a knock at the door,
She had learned the hard way that you don't call out an
invitation
to just anyone in Sunnydale. Sitting up, the young witch
glanced
out the window, seeing the bright sunlight streaming in and
smiled
to herself. No evil vampires would
be knocking at her door this
early in the day…chip or no chip. In the last few weeks,
begun to wonder if living with Buffy had really been such a
good
idea. Demons were constantly gunning for the slayer, and it
seemed
that some did, indeed, make house calls. Hearing another
knock at
the door, she shook her thoughts away and called out an
invitation.
"Angel?"
shocked to see the dark-haired vampire before her. "Wh-what are you
doing here? Is something wrong? Did your friend have another
vision
about Buffy?"
"
the redhead into a tight hug, startling her and squeezing so
tightly
that it left her breathless.
"Uh, Angel?"
He heard her muffled words and finally pulled back
slightly, his hands still on her shoulders, refusing to
completely
let go, and a wide grin spread across his face.
him with shocked unease.
"A-are you alright?" She asked uncertainly, taking
a step backwards
and eyeing him nervously.
"I'm wonderful," he told her honestly. "Is
Buffy around?"
legs hitting the bed frame. "No, she's, uh, not here right
now.
She's on a date."
"A date?" The smile
melted from his face at her words.
"Um…Angel, are you evil again? I…I mean, I know we just
had this
conversation, like, a week ago, a-and you were here to help
and be
protective and all, but…um…are you evil?"
Angel shocked the girl by laughing heartily. "I'm not
evil, Willow,"
he told her, still grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Why
would you
think that?"
"Well, it's just that you're acting very un-Angel-y.
Not that I
don't like the more happy Angel, it just throws a girl off,
and…"
Angel laughed again and she pointed at him, her eyes
narrowing
slightly. "See? That, there! You! With
the laughing and the smiling.
It's…well, it's strange, and mildly unsettling,
and…and…Angel, why
are you here?" The witch let out a sigh, sitting down
on the bed
and holding her head wearily.
"Can you keep a secret? If I tell, you can't say a word
to anyone
else," he said, taking a step closer and looking around
conspiratorially. Angel was practically bursting to tell
someone
else his news, and since Buffy wasn't around…
"Oh man!" She exclaimed, startling him slightly.
"Keeping things
from Buffy? I'm not that good at it, and she tends to get
more than
just a little miffed, especially when it comes to you. When
she
found out that I knew you were here during Thanksgiving, she
was
down right ticked, a-and when she's mad, she has a tendency
to hide
things. Buffy's surprisingly petty that way. I still can't
find my
blue binder OR my new hairbrush. And I…" Looking up at
his amused
face, the redhead let out another sigh and waved a hand at
him. "Go
ahead, tell away."
Angel moved quickly to sit beside her on the bed, and
grabbed her
hand, lifting it up and putting it against his chest.
slightly at his actions and gave him a confused look.
"Um, Angel?"
"Feel
anything…different?" He asked with a smirk.
"Um, have you, uh, been working out more or something?
I mean,
you've always been pretty buff, with the vampire physique
and all,
but I don't really feel…"
Angel chuckled again and held her hand tighter to him.
"A
heartbeat," he whispered.
thumping below.
"Angel!" She gasped, pulling her hand away but
still staring at his
chest. "You're alive!"
"I know!" He smiled back. Before he could say
more, the redhead
launched herself at him, wrapping him in her arms and nearly
knocking him to the ground. Angel hugged her back, surprised
at how
good it felt to have her body pressed against his. He felt a
twinge
of disappointment when she finally pulled back, but chose to
ignore
it.
"You're alive! You're human! Why aren't you off telling
Buffy that…
oh." Her excitement
suddenly faded and her shoulders hunched
slightly. "Right. The date thing. Oh, Angel, I'm sorry. It's all my
fault. Blame me entirely."
Angel laughed again and shook his head. Same old Willow. Always
taking on the burdens of others. "
not your fault," he told her.
"Well, true, e-except for that fact that I kinda helped
to set it
up, but only because he asked and he's a friend, and really
nice, a-
and good for her. Oh! But maybe you'll get lucky and he'll
end up
turning into an evil demon like the rest of the Sunnydale
men, and
Buffy'll slay him, and it'll be business as usual on the
hell mouth."
Angel chuckled again at her strange optimism. "He's
good for her?"
He asked softly.
"That's good," he told her. "That's what I
wanted for her. A nice,
normal guy that could give her a nice, normal life."
"But you ARE a nice, normal guy now, Angel,"
you could give her that."
Angel shook his head. "It never worked between us. I
thought maybe,
now…But as soon as I got here, I knew…it just isn't meant to
be.
Besides, I may still be human, but there are still all sorts
of bad
things out there that are not. What kind of life would I
give her?
She'd worry about me at the wrong time and end up getting
herself
killed."
being right very seldom acted as much of a consolation for
anyone.
"So, what are your big plans for your new found
humanness?" The
redhead asked, trying to perk him up again.
Angel smiled at her. "I don't know. Haven't really
given it much
thought yet."
"Well, um, what have you always wanted to do?" She
questioned.
There were probably a million things that she took for
granted on a
daily basis that the former vampire would love to do. He
could walk
in the sun, swim in the ocean…during daylight hours, finally
see his
reflection, and a very nice reflection it was too, run down
the
street and feel his heart pound as the adrenalin rushed
through him,
tan at the beach, see the sunset…
"I think I'd like to try ice cream," he stated
finally.
arched an eyebrow at him. Try ice cream? He had just become
human,
and the first thing that came to his mind was trying ice
cream? A
moment later, she shrugged. Ice cream WAS pretty good, she
had to
admit. Standing up, she held out her hand, pulling him up to
stand
beside her, and moved toward the door.
"Then ice cream you shall have," she proclaimed,
grabbing a coat and
opening the door as the brunette followed her out, a content
smile
on his face.
~*~
"I can't believe how good this is! I mean, I had
always heard…but…I
never knew it was THIS good," Angel told
lick of ice cream into his mouth. Opening wide, he took a
large
bite, shivering slightly as the cold cream filled his mouth.
"And
cold," he added with a grin.
"I can't believe you ordered eight different
flavors," she laughed,
licking at her small cone.
"You try to decide between chocolate, chocolate fudge,
chocolate mint
swirl, mint chocolate chip and chocolate cocoa cream when
you've
never had any," he reminded her.
haven't tried yet," she admitted.
"Really? Which ones?"
piled cone, and Angel grinned as he held it out to her,
offering her
a taste. The redhead leaned forward, taking a small bite.
She
giggled as the yummy treat slipped past her lips, and turned
her face
away a bit, accidentally brushed the cool cream with her
cheek.
"Hey, you got a little bit," Angel began, as he
reached out with his
free hand and gently wiped the ice cream from her cheek, his
fingers
lingering on her now heated flesh.
ducked her head a little in embarrassment.
"Thanks," she whispered, looking away. Had she
kept her eyes on him,
held upon her.
When she finally looked back, she seemed to stare at him for
a long
time in awe. "Seeing you in the sunlight," she
told him. "It's so…
strange."
"Strange?" That wasn't exactly what he had been
expecting her to say.
Of course
"Well, you know, I'm used to seeing you all dark and
broody, at
night, with your big billowy coat, and…This is just a nice
change."
Her smile following those words was genuine, and brought one
to his
lips as well. He seemed to have been doing quite a bit of
smiling
since running into
had to do with his being human.
When the ice cream was finally finished,
sky, sighing. "Sun's starting to set," she told
him. Angel
nodded. "I know a place where we could go. I mean, if
you wanted to
watch it…i-if you didn't have other plans, I mean," she
stammered,
suddenly worried that she had already taken up too much of
his time.
"
sincerely. "Can't think of anyone
else I'd rather share that with."
The redhead ducked her face down a bit and blushed again at
his
words, before standing and leading him away.
~*~
"You're right," Angel told her as they sat on the
grassy hill. "This
is perfect." The sky was painted with oranges and
purples and golds
now, though Angel surprisingly found his eyes more drawn to
the red
tresses framing the sweet face next to him.
He recognized the bluff they sat on as the place where he
had nearly
killed himself, waiting for the sun to rise. The First was
trying to
manipulate him, and Buffy had stopped the vampire from
dusting
himself. Those were less than pleasant memories, and Angel
was more
than a little happy that he was now replacing them with a
much more
fond moment with
"So, did you enjoy your first day of being human?"
turning his attention once again back to the girl beside
him.
"I did," he told her honestly. "It was all I
ever dreamed it would
be."
what with the lack of Buffy and all, but figured she's let
it slide
for the time being.
Upon his questioning,
circumstances behind his leaving. Angel knew that the girl's
confidence in herself, which had been fragile at best
before, was now
completely shattered, and it left him feeling more than a
little
angry at her former boyfriend. He had seen
shy girl into a powerful woman, able to take charge in the
midst of
the most difficult situations. Now, she looked lost and
weary. Even
when she smiled, it was never complete and always had an air
of
sadness to it, and Angel though it almost seemed as if she
was simply
waiting in limbo, holding out hope that Oz might come back
for her.
"What are you going to do next?" She questioned
curiously. Secretly,
vampire. They had probably talked more in the past few hours
than
they had in the entire rest of the time that they had known
one
another, and the redhead was surprised at how much she was
enjoying
being with him. Angel was actually quite funny and charming,
when he
wasn't all broody or evil.
"Well, I've been thinking about that," he told her
with a slight, sly
grin. "There's a little plan I'm working on. There's a
girl I want
to seduce, and I'm hoping that you might be able to help me
out."
go for Buffy after all, and now, to top it off, he wanted
her help.
A beautiful, wonderful guy wanted Buffy and was asking for
help…Nothing new there.
"Well, what's your first plan of action?" She asked, her tone flat
and her eyes missing the sparkle that had been there just a moment
before.
"This," he whispered, leaning forward and taking a
deep breath,
before cupping her face in one hand and brushing his lips
against
hers. He heard her gasp softly, and felt her body tense
slightly,
before the redhead leaned further into him, opening her
mouth to his
questing tongue and returning his growing passion with her
own.
When Angel finally pulled away, allowing them both a needed
breath of
air,
desire that she found there. Running a hand along her cheek
and
tracing it down over her jaw, Angel brushed his thumb over
her lips,
which were now red and slightly swollen.
"So beautiful," he whispered.
accustomed to his compliments, but Angel's hand on her cheek
stopped
her movement, and he brought his fingers to her chin,
tilting her
face upwards to look at him once again. "Don't know how
I missed it
before," he told her sincerely. "But I'm glad I
got to see it now."
something that she had never expected to happen. Angel, he
was
Buffy's, and kissing him…It was wrong. She was breaking the
most
sacred code of friendship. That thought
the very act itself. Angel…he had kissed her, but had it
actually
been the blonde slayer that he had been thinking of at the
moment?
As if reading her thoughts, Angel leaned in, kissing her
lips softly,
before speaking to her in low, hushed tones. "I'm here
with you,
The redhead searched his eyes, as if desperate for
validation of the
truth. "Why?" She whispered, a sob escaping with
the word.
Brushing a stray tear from her cheek, Angel smiled down at
her. "Anyone that knows you,
one. It seems pretty obvious to everyone that isn't
you." At that,
he leaned in, once again claiming her lips with his own,
determined
to drive all insecurities and self-depreciating thoughts
from her
mind. Tensing for a moment,
pulling her closer, and finally she relaxed into the
embrace,
allowing herself to become lost in the emotion that he was
creating.
The world became hazy, and consisted of nothing more than
his lips on
hers, his hands caressing her body, his fingers sliding
along her
arms, under her shirt, across her stomach, up her back, his
breath
against her own, his heartbeat
pounding in time with her own.
Watching her expressions intently, Angel became entranced
with the
redhead before him, never taking notice as the sun set
behind them,
sinking below the horizon and shrouding them in deep purple
and dark
red hues.
Moving faster than two humans should have been able to, the
couple
found their way back to
utter blur of stolen kisses and caressing fingers. Shutting
the door
with a clumsy slam, Angel eagerly claimed
passionate kiss, gently nudged her backwards until she was
sprawled
below him on the bed, a feast before his eyes, her red hair
fanned
around her head like a fiery halo. The young witch arched up
slightly
as he lifted her shirt from her, breaking the kiss for only
a moment,
before resuming their fevered explorations. As his fingers
danced
expertly over her soft skin,
running her hands up under his shirt, her nails scraping
lightly
along his back, pulling him in impossibly closer. Within
seconds, his
own shirt was removed and they both reveled in the feel of skin
against skin.
With barely restrained need, the rest of their clothes were
torn from
them, both completely oblivious to anything of the outside
world.
Nothing existed beyond the two new lovers and the passion
that was
building between them, as each diligently explored the
other's body.
The former vampire was panting slightly, unaccustomed to the
need for
breathe, and awed by the woman below him. Sliding down
slightly, he
began a trail kisses over her neck, across her chest and
further
down, working the redhead into a heated frenzy as she kissed
any bit
of skin that would come within reach, and eventually pulled
at Angel,
urging him back upward and claiming his lips in a kiss so
fierce it
would rival the most expert lover.
"Please, Angel," she whispered, the only
encouragement he needed. In
one fluid motion, Angel filled her, swallowing her scream in
a
claiming kiss, before taking up a steady rhythm, driving
them both
quickly to the edge of all reason or thought. Feeling her
body tense
with the oncoming waves of ecstasy, Angel leaned down to
kiss the
redhead again, feeling himself
finally give in and allowing his
climax to wash over him, just as he felt her grip him
tighter and
shudder with her own.
Willow snuggled closer to the man holding her, still shaking
slightly
from the sheer power and emotion of what had just happened.
"What happens now?" She questioned in a tiny
voice. Angel wasn't sure
how to answer that. She lived in Sunnydale. Her life was
there, and
his was in L.A. He knew his feelings for the girl ran deep,
but just
how deep, he wasn't sure. Everything had happened so
suddenly, and
after all, what kind of life could he offer her, being a
vamp-…
Pausing in his thoughts, Angel reminding himself of
the recent
changes in his life…joining the living.
Old habits died hard, he
supposed, but the former vampire began to wonder…Did his new
found
mortality mean that he no longer had to fight in the dark?
After all,
he still knew of the things that went bump in the night,
more so than
most, and despite his recent reprieve from an unlife of
brooding and
serving as a champion for the powers that be, Angel still
felt
compelled to fight the good fight, help the helpless. That
just left
him with one nagging question…Where did he and the beautiful
redhead
beside him go from there?
Angel's thoughts were interrupted by a funny jingling sound,
coming
from his coat on the dorm room floor.
"Angel?" Willow mumbled sleepily against his
chest. "Do you have a
cell phone?"
"What? Huh? Oh yeah…I hate that damn thing," he
groused as he pulled
himself from the redhead's warm embrace and stood up. Willow
watched
through hooded eyes as he made his way across the small
room.
"I'm not too fond of it either, right about now,"
she mumbled, though
she had to admit, the view he created was nothing to
complain about.
"Hello?" Angel answered with a growl.
"Whoa. Hey there," Doyle responded, his voice
slightly broken up by
static.
"Doyle?" Angel glared at the phone before pressing
it back to his ear
and squinting slightly, as if that would help him to hear better.
"The Mohra dem-…It regen-ated -ore than -ust -ou,"
Doyle explained to
him, his voice breaking up.
"What?"
"I had a vision," he yelled into the phone.
"It regenerated itself."
"Where?" Angel
questioned.
"-unnel -ere you fou- it.
Then it was in some -emetery. I –ink…
Sunnydale."
Angel began pacing back and forth as he spoke in a hushed
tone into
the phone,
you sure?"
"Yeah, man, and it was pretty damn angry if I might
mention," Doyle
told him. "-ink it might...after the slayer?"
Angel shook his head, though Doyle obviously didn't hear his
response. "I'll have to kill it again."
"Yeah, but -re -uman now. They
released y-," Doyle reminded him, the
static on the phone getting worse, as Angel began to pick up
the
frequency of some Mexican radio station.
"Look, Doyle, I can't let that thing roam free. I'll
take care of
it," Angel muttered, before shutting the phone and
slipping it back
into his coat pocket. He looked up toward the redhead,
smiling
weakly.
"Trouble?"
She questioned with a soft smile.
"As usual," he told her. "I hate to leave,
but there's a…thing that I
have to…well…kill.
long and I can come back and…"
"I'm coming with you," she told him, standing up
and wrapping the
sheet around her slight frame.
"What? No. No,
"Hey, Mr,"
of free will here. I'm. Coming. With. You."
Angel saw the look on her face and knew what it meant. He
wasn't
going to win this argument.
"I don't want you to get hurt," he told her,
leaning in and kissing
her softly.
When he pulled away she smiled at him. "And I don't
want YOU to get
hurt. You're human now, Angel, and between the two of us…No
offense
here, but I have the magic behind me. A-and okay, so it
isn't always
full proof, but it's better than nothing, and I'm going
whether you
like it or not."
With a crooked grin, Angel leaned down, capturing her lips
once again
with his own.
"I love you, you know that?" He mumbled against
her mouth, his eyes
widened a second later, along with her own, as he realized
that he
had just spoken out loud.
"You…you…" She stammered, her face turning red and
her eyes wider
than he had ever seen.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud,"
he told her.
"But…you meant it?" She asked in a tiny voice, the
words falling
somewhere between a question and a statement.
Angel simply looked into her eyes and nodded. "I can't
explain it. I
didn't see it coming, but…"
needing to be said between the two.
~*~
Angel stalked quickly through the cemetery,
keep up as she pored through one of the demon anthologies
she had
grabbed on the way out the door.
"Angel, this is bad," she called to him.
"I know," he answered back over his shoulder.
"I can't believe it
followed me all the way to Sunnydale."
"No, I mean…this thing, this demon, it doesn't JUST
come back. It
comes back bigger and stronger." She paused for a
moment,
contemplating what she had just said. "Huh. Nice power
to have."
Angel stopped walking,
around, staring at her incredulously. "Unless of course
you're the
enemy," she added quietly.
They resumed walking once more,
former vampire. She couldn't help but muse to herself that
he was
still surprisingly fast for a human.
"Angel, this isn't your ordinary, run of the mill
demon. Maybe we
should try to find Buffy, and…"
"No! Look, I know what I'm doing," he interrupted,
his tone gruff.
harshness.
"
thing for good the first time around, and now I've put you
in
danger, and after tonight, I…"
"You don't want Buffy to know what happened," the
redhead whispered
sadly, looking toward the ground, the book slipping from her
hand
and hitting the soft ground with a dull thump.
"What? No! That's not…" Angel let out a sigh,
running a hand through
his hair, before grabbing her shoulders and waiting for her
to look
up at him. "This isn't a Buffy thing," he told
her. "Me and Buffy…
Well, there is no more me and Buffy. Thought I'd made that
clear
earlier tonight. You're the one I'm thinking about
now."
"I know, Angel, I just…"
"Don't believe me," he finished.
but he quickly quieted her. "I know you don't, and
that's alright,
because I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving it to
you."
She smiled softly at him and Angel leaned down, kissing her
forehead. "Right now, I have to prove that I can still
do this,
still fight the fight. Just tell me how to kill this thing
so that I
can get it done and then take you back to bed where you
belong."
"Oh!"
watched, grinning slightly. The witch always was happiest
when she
was needed. "Uh…'It
regenerates until the dark future it envisions
is upon us.' Huh…Well that can't be good," she
remarked. "I'm
guessing his dark future doesn't involve fluffy kitties or
heapin
scoops of ice cream, and…Right, not the point, sorry."
Upon his
quizzical and slightly impatient stare, the babbling redhead
looked
back to the book again. "Oh! Oh! `Okay, to kill the
beast, one must
bring darkness to one thousand eyes.' Humph. They never make
these
things easy, do they? A thousand eyes," she scoffed.
"Funny, I only saw two," the former vampire
dead-panned.
"I see you're still with the glib,"
It makes me feel like we have a chance. Like the olden days,
when…"
bodies, both
"The blood," Angel choked out, covering his mouth.
different when you're human I guess."
"I'm going to kill that thing," he ground out.
"Just, uh…remember that it's brutal, a-and deadly, and,"
paused, looking up, "here!"
At her exclamation, the Mohra demon jumped out in front of
them,
beginning to spar with Angel. Trying to get him away from
the
quickly weakening ex-vampire,
ground, several feet away, the wind knocked out of her.
Ignoring the fallen girl, the Mohra once again began to
attack
Angel, easily overpowering him. Finally able to move out of
the
demon's reach for a moment, Angel turned to run, praying
that it
would follow him and forget about
vampire was no match for the powerful demon, and the Mohra
caught up
to him quickly, throwing him to the ground and pressing a
foot to
his neck.
"The end of days has begun and can't be stopped,"
the demon told a
struggling Angel. "For any one of us that falls, ten
shall rise."
"Ten to one. Those are pretty
good odds, but I think mine are
better." Both the Mohra and Angel turned and looked at
the redhead
standing behind them, her arms out-stretched and her eyes
blackened.
"A great darkness is coming," the Mohra stated.
"Oh. So you noticed," she replied with a cocky
smile, just before
releasing a bolt of energy, knocking the demon several feet
back.
The Mohra quickly stood up and moved toward the redhead as
Angel
struggled to get up. Just before the demon reached her,
loose with another bolt of energy. This time, the demon only
swayed
on his feet,
her. Suddenly, Angel noticed something.
"The light of a thousand eyes," he muttered,
staring at the
demon. "The jewel in its forehead!
Looking up, Willow saw the gleaming object and shut her
eyes, using
the last of her energy to float the book she had been
carrying, and
sent it hurling through the air. It smashed the jewel and
she
heared the demon scream in pain a moment later, before it
disappeared with a flash of bright light.
The redhead fell to her knees, thoroughly exhausted and no
longer
able to support her own weight. A second later, Angel was
kneeling
by her side.
"Willow, are you…"
"I'm okay, Angel. A-and you're alive, and…" Her
voice trailed off as
she clutched at her head, panting slightly. "And I
could really use
a couple…bottles of aspirin…and maybe a bed."
Angel chuckled slightly as he slowly stood and helped her
up. "I
think that's an order I can fill," he told her, kissing
her gently
before lifting her in his tired and aching arms, heading
back to the
dorms.
"When did you become so strong?" He asked softly,
a question really
meant more for himself than for
her.
"I've learned a few tricks since you moved out of
town," she
murmured with a smile, leaning into his chest. "Still
not that
strong, but I'm getting there."
"You're the strongest person I know,
bringing a proud, if not sleepy smile to her lips.
Looking down, he noticed a trickle of blood seeping from a
small
wound on her head, the sight more than a little
discomforting to
him. Only yesterday that would have been more temptation
than Angel
could handle, but now, today, it was something else
entirely. It was
her life, the one he had not been able to protect.
~*~
"You're asking to be what you were, a
demon with a soul, because of
the witch?" The female oracle questioned. Angel nodded, thinking of
nothing but the girl he had left sleeping in her dorm room.
"Oh, this is a matter of love. It does not concern
us," the male
stated dismissively.
"Yes, it does," Angel insisted. After taking
leaving her to sleep, he had come back to the oracles,
performing
the spell that Doyle had done earlier that day. He had made
what was
surely the most difficult decision of his life. He was
asking to
have this gift taken away, to be made a demon again. After
the
attack that night, he had realized something…He could not
turn his
back on the cause, and he could not serve it in that state.
Not only
had he nearly gotten himself killed, Angel had not been able
to
protect
have died that night, and THAT was something that he knew he
could
not live with.
"The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause
- and it
succeeded. I'm no good to you like this. I know you have it
in
your power to make this right. Please," he begged.
"What is done can not be undone," the man told
him.
"What is not yet done can be avoided," the woman
contradicted with a
soft, knowing smile.
"Temporal folds are not to indulge in - the whims of
lower beings,"
the man stated harshly.
"You are wrong. This one is willing to sacrifice every
drop of
human happiness and love he has ever known for another. He
is not a
lower being." Her words were softly spoken, and meant
in kindness,
though they stung Angel more than he would have expected.
"There is one way. But it is not to be undertaken
lightly," the man
yielded.
"We swallow this day, as though it had never happened.
Twenty-four
hours from the moment the demon first attacked you in LA, we
take it
back," she explained.
Angel contemplated that for a moment. "Then none of
this happened,
and
again? Won't I just fight the demon, become human
and..."
"You," the woman explained with a sad smile.
"You alone will carry
the memory of this day. Can you carry that burden?"
After several
moments of thought, Angel finally gave a solemn nod, turning
away
from the two higher beings. It was, he knew, for the best.
~*~
Quietly entering the small, dark room, Angel made his way
over to
the bed and carefully sat down, not wanting to rouse the
sleeping
redhead. He watched her face for several moments, before
running a
hand through her soft hair and then pulled back, seeing her
stir,
regretting waking her.
"Angel?" She mumbled.
"I'm sorry, Willow," he whispered, pressing a kiss
to her
forehead. "Go back to sleep."
Hearing the pain and sadness in his voice, she opened her
eyes and
struggled to sit up. His shushing did nothing to deter her
as she
glared at him with a knowing look.
"What's wrong? Where did you go?" She questioned,
resolve face
firmly in place.
Knowing that he couldn't lie to her, Angel looking
down as he
spoke. "I went to see the
oracles."
"The ones that told you about the
whole being human thing?" She
questioned. "Why?"
"I asked them to turn me back," he told her
quietly, his voice
catching in his throat.
"What? Why?" She questioned, starting to push him
away before he
grasped her hands tightly, refusing to let go. "Why
would you…"
"Because I love you," he interrupted in a harsh
whisper, looking up
and directly into her eyes.
"No," she whispered, refusing to believe what she
knew was
true. "No, you don't. You can't, Angel, not if…"
"
Tonight…I couldn't even protect you!"
"Protect me? Angel, in case you didn't notice, I wasn't
really all
that needing of protection tonight. Remember the whole
powerful
witch thing?" Her voice was growing more urgent with
each word as
she clung to him.
"I know,
be a liability to you. We wouldn't be helping anyone."
"So, what…Because I'm a witch, a-and I happen to have a
little power
going…Does that mean I can't be with someone who ISN'T a
superhero?
Cause, you know, the choices are kinda slim in that
department, and
the last time I tried dating someone with a demon
side…didn't work
out that well."
filling her angry eyes.
"I can't be with you, knowing that I might cost you
your life,"
Angel told her, hating to hurt her so much, "or the
lives of others.
The fight, it's never easy, and I wouldn't be able to stand
by your
side."
"So I lose. I lose because I chose to stay here and
fight evil and
do good? This is what I get?"
Angel pulled her somewhat resistant body into his, wrapping
his arms
tightly around the redhead. "I couldn't tell you,"
he whispered. "I
wasn't sure if I could do it. If I woke up with you by my
side for
just one morning…"
repeated her question from earlier that evening.
"The Oracles are giving us back the day, turning back
time, so I can
kill Mohra before his blood makes me mortal," he told
her.
"When?"
She asked in a tiny voice.
Angel glanced at the clock by her bed. 8:58. "Another
two minutes."
"A minute?" Willow cried, tears free flowing down her flushed
cheeks. "No. No, it's not enough time!"
"We don't have a choice. It's done," he told her
mournfully.
"What am I supposed to do now?" She questioned,
wiping at her
eyes. "I just got you, a-and now…What am I supposed to
do,
remembering…"
"You won't." he interrupted. "No one will
know but me."
"Everything we did," she gasped.
"It never happened," he told her.
Willow's face suddenly turned hard and she looked down. He
knew,
immediately, what she was thinking, that he WANTED to erase
what
happened. That he regretted what had transpired between
them. That
becoming a vampire again was the better alternative to being
with
her.
"I get it," she mumbled. "It's a Buffy
thing."
"No. Willow, no, I told you before, it's not a Buffy
thing. This has
nothing to do with her. This is a Willow thing."
"I didn't ask for it to be a Willow thing," she
told him.
"You didn't have to," Angel whispered in response.
"Don't just say what you think I want to hear,"
she demanded
harshly, wiping at the tears on her face.
"What do you want, Willow?"
"The truth. I know, it sounds
like a crazy notion, but there's this
fun little game I like to play every once in a while, where
I ask
someone a question and they tell me the real answer,"
she replied
bitterly.
Grasping her face in his hands, he looked her in the eyes as
he
spoke, his voice filled with emotion. "Willow, I will
always
remember. I love you, please don't doubt that. This is about
you and
me and nothing else. It's a Willow thing."
The redhead simply diverted her eyes, biting her lower lip.
"I felt
your heartbeat," she whispered, choosing to ignore what
he said.
Both of them were now freely crying. "I felt it."
"Shh, please. Please," he begged softly, holding
her close. "I'm
not pushing you away, Willow. I'm doing what I have to, to
keep you
safe and alive. I'm so sorry."
The redhead simply continued to cling to him, crying into
his
chest. "I love you, Willow. Please, please believe me.
Say you
believe me. Please believe me," the brunette sobbed
desperately.
"I believe you," Willow whispered suddenly,
leaning up and kissing
his lips. "I'll never forget. I'll never forget,"
she mumbled over
and over as they clung to one another and the numbers on the
clock
flipped to 9:00.
~*~
"Right, man, so I says to the guy, if you want the job
done, your
goin ta have ta shell out a little for it," Doyle
stated. Angel
blinked several times. He was back in the office and
slightly
disoriented. It was the previous day and it took the vampire
a
moment to get his bearings.
"And do you know what he said?" Doyle continued
talking. "He said he
planned to send the check, and he didn't mean to…"
"Forget," Angel mumbled.
"Well, yeah. How'd you…" Before the Irishman could
finish, the Mohra
demon, whom had been the one to make Angel human, crashed
through
the window, screaming. Angel turned, grabbing a clock from
his desk
and easily smashed the jewel in the demon's head with it,
watching
as it disappeared with a bright flash of light.
"That was…wow. You're really good man," Doyle
stated in stunned
surprise. "I mean, not to say
you weren't good before, but…you must
really be honin in on your instincts. I mean…how did ya know
how ta
kill it?"
"It's a Mohra demon," Angel told him, his
expression blank and his
voice empty. "I…I had a lot of time to catch up on my
reading
recently."
"Yeah, okay man, whatever you say."
At that, Angel turned and walked away, desperate to find a
nice,
quiet, dark little room to brood in for the remains of the
day.
~*~
The sun was just setting.
Angel could feel the familiar tingle that
let him know that night was nearly upon them, and all he
could think
of was the redhead with the little spot of ice cream on her
cheek,
and the big smile on her face, and the huge heart…which he
had
broken. Sure, she didn't remember now, but her anguished
cries just
before he left haunted him.
Hearing a small knock at the door, Angel let out a small
sigh before
calling out an invitation. His eyes widened and he jumped up
from
his chair as the redhead came into view.
"
The redhead raised an eyebrow. "That's the greeting I
get?"
"Sorry, I just…I'm surprised that…" Angel was
flustered and had no
ideas what to say or do. Fortunately,
his misery, interrupting his stammering.
"So, were you really willing to just pretend that none
of it
happened?" That question left the vampire completely
dumbfounded. He
sputtered for several moments before finally trying to ask
how she
remembered.
"Funny thing about witches.
We can see through magic, when we're
strong enough, and I seem to remember someone telling me
that I was
the strongest person he knew."
"
"Well, I'm glad I do," she told him, just before
taking a step
forward and kissing the stunned vampire. "You know, I
never got the
chance to tell you that I love you," she murmured
against his lips,
bringing a smile to both of their faces. Keeping his arms
tightly
around her, Angel leaned back slightly, giving her a
questioning
look. "You said you loved me, and I told you that I
believed you,
but I never got to say it back."
"But…but now…I'm a vampire," he told her sadly.
"I sorta noticed that," she responded with a grin.
"But like you
said, I'm not Buffy. I'm not a slayer. I'm a witch…A witch
who
happens to be looking for a superhero to fall in love with. Any idea
where I might find one?"
Squeezing her tightly to him, Angel smirked down at her.
"I think I
might know one," he whispered, before once again
pulling her into a
passionate kiss that promised to never end.