Amusements
by Cynamin
Once again, I’m coming in at the end of an episode. This time it’s "Parting Gifts."
Note: I know absolutely nothing about amusement parks anywhere near L.A., if there are any. I’m a Florida girl. Hence why I’m being really vague about the park. For the nitpickers: I noticed when watching the episode again that Wesley wasn’t wearing any leather in the final scene. I didn’t want to rewrite the beginning of my story though - it’s funnier this way.
Eager to get out of Sunnydale, Buffy arrived at the front door of Angel Investigations late Friday night. Actually, Buffy realized as she looked at her watch, it was early Saturday morning. Well past time when everyone should be asleep.
Quietly, Buffy let herself in using the key Angel had given her. As expected, the office was completely dark, but she was aware of voices as she descended the stairs to the apartment below. Sounds like I’m not the only one having a late night.
Still, she was not expecting the sight that greeted her when she reached Angel’s apartment. Angel was leaning over the stove, cooking eggs. Two people were seated at the table. One was obviously Cordelia, but Buffy had no clue who the man in the leather jacket with his back to her was.
Buffy was about to clear her throat for attention when Angel turned away from the stove and saw her. He smiled and gestured towards the cooking eggs. "Breakfast?" he offered.
"No thanks. I had a late dinner," Buffy said, smiling as she entered the kitchen.
The leather-clad man turned in surprise, and Buffy almost burst out laughing. "Wesley?" she said in surprise. The leather was definitely a new look - and the wrong one.
"Hello Buffy," he acknowledged. He watched her as she crossed the room to Angel’s side.
Angel gave her a small kiss when she reached him before putting the finished eggs on a plate. The two of them then joined Cordelia and Wesley at the kitchen table. Buffy nodded at Cordelia in greeting, who smiled back but said nothing as she ate her eggs. Wesley, on the other hand, was staring at Buffy, so she turned her attention to him.
"So, Wesley," she said with a smile, "what are you doing here?"
"I go wherever evil lurks," he declared proudly. "I am a rogue demon hunter, now."
It was so hard not to laugh at him. Instead, Buffy forced herself to say, with a completely straight face, "Uh huh." After a moment, a thought occurred to her. "The Watcher’s Council fired you, didn’t they?"
Wesley looked decidedly flustered at that. "Why does everyone keep asking me the same thing?!"
This time Buffy couldn’t help but chuckle. "They did!"
"Well, yes."
To Buffy’s surprise, Angel spoke up on Wesley’s behalf. "Actually, he was very helpful with our last client."
Cordelia snorted at that. "Client! The guy sold me at an auction!"
Buffy’s eyes went wide, then she laughed. "I hope he paid you before you killed him," she teased.
"He did, right?" Cordelia demanded. She wasn’t teasing.
Neither was Wesley. "You do this for pay?"
Before the conversation could deteriorate, Buffy silenced Angel’s retort by changing her seat for Angel’s lap and giving him a passionate kiss. After the first moment’s surprise, he returned it whole-heartedly. They would have continued for a while like that, but Cordelia reminded the two of them that they weren’t alone.
"God!" she exclaimed, drawing their attention, "Get a room!"
His arms around Buffy’s waist, Angel laughed lightly. "This is my room, Cordelia," he replied.
Cordelia stood quickly. "Alright, Wesley, I think that’s our cue to leave. I’ll see you tomorrow, Angel."
Angel pulled his attention away from Buffy for a moment. "It’s the weekend and you need it," he said. "Go home!"
"Thank you," Cordelia said, already leaving. Half way up the stairs, she called back to him, "I’ll call you if I have a vision!"
Buffy looked at Angel oddly. "Vision?"
Angel nodded, but his attention was on Buffy again, Cordelia forgotten. Buffy, however, remembered that they still had an audience. "Wesley," she said, "don’t you have some lurking evil to go find?"
Wesley stood quickly, his chair clattering on the linoleum floor. "Yes, of course," he muttered, and quickly left the room.
But at that point, Buffy and Angel were beyond caring.
When Angel awoke several hours later, Buffy was not beside him. He rolled over, not quite awake, wondering where she had gone. The mystery was solved a moment later when he heard his bathroom door open.
Buffy was standing in the doorway, dressed in his black robe with a towel around her hair. "Morning, sleepyhead," she said with a grin, coming to sit beside him on the bed.
Angel sat up smiling. "Hey."
"So, I was thinking," Buffy said suddenly. "I’ve had a really bad week. Or weird, but that’s Sunnydale. And I see you, who apparently has had to deal with Cordelia, who’s having visions, Wesley, who’s Wesley, and the usual demons and stuff, so I’m thinking you’ve had a bad week, too."
"Which is L.A.," Angel replied. "What’s your idea?"
Buffy quickly explained her plan.
"An amusement park?!"
Buffy laughed at the completely befuddled look on Angel’s face. "Yeah. You know, roller coasters, junk food, and people in stupid costumes. Have you ever been on a roller coaster?"
"Um, no, can’t say I have."
"Then you don’t know what you’re missing!" Buffy replied, practically bouncing.
Angel laughed slightly. Buffy was obviously determined, so Angel knew he wouldn’t be getting out of this. So, even though the idea sounded rather childish, he smiled and climbed out of bed to get dressed. No matter what they ended up doing, it would be another, very human day with Buffy.
"So, this is how we do this," Buffy said as she led Angel through the park’s gates. She held a map unfolded in front of her showing all the rides and areas of the park. "First, we have to figure out what rides we want to go on, then figure out the best place to start. We want to end up here-" Buffy pointed at a building near the center of the map, "which is the only real restaurant in the place, for dinner. We’ll probably eat lunch as we go - this is junk food heaven." She looked at Angel, who hadn’t said anything since they entered the park. "So," she said, "what do you want to go on first?"
Angel looked at the map and shrugged. "I don’t know. What’s your favorite?"
Buffy laughed and pointed to the largest roller coaster on the map. "I think you’d better start with something smaller," she said. "So, this one." The ride in question was and old fashioned wooden coaster. With that she took Angel’s hand and led him into the park.
"Okay," Angel muttered, his head in his hands, "now I feel sick."
Buffy shook her head. "I told you not to eat all that cotton candy before going on another coaster," she said. "Besides, you’re the one that wanted to go on two coasters in a row."
Angel groaned. "Don’t remind me," he said. He liked the cotton candy Buffy had convinced him to try, and the roller coasters were a lot of fun, but the combination, it turned out, did not agree with his stomach one bit. He felt worse again thinking about it.
Buffy put a sympathetic arm around his shoulders and sat beside him. "You’ll feel better in a minute," she said gently.
Angel nodded.
"You know," Buffy said after a moment, "there’s a nice, calm ride near here. It might help you feel better, and it’ll certainly be more fun than sitting here and feeling miserable."
Reluctantly, Angel stood and went with Buffy. This time she led him to a quieter area of the park, away from most of the people. An artificial stream ran here, with a large boat just pulling into the side. There was barely anyone in line, so Buffy led Angel right onto the boat. They took a seat at the back and the boat pulled away from the dock.
Buffy was right, and Angel did feel better quickly, so he began to pay attention to ride they were on. After several moments of looking at very fake animatronics animals and listening to the "tour guide" make silly, scripted comments, he sighed. "This is boring, Buffy," he whispered.
"Then we make our own fun," she replied, and drew his attention with a kiss.
Miraculously feeling perfect now, he returned her kiss whole-heartedly. They held each other in the very back of the boat, ignoring where they were and the people around them. Now Angel understood why Buffy had sat them all the way in the back. The ride forgotten, they kissed each other again.
They forgot all about where they were until a loud, fake cough drew their attention. Buffy and Angel separated and looked at their "tour guide" sheepishly. Except for him, they were alone on the boat, which had docked while they weren’t paying attention.
He looked at the two of them with an amused grin. "You enjoy the ride?"
"Yeah, it was a blast," Buffy replied as she and Angel stood.
"Have a nice day!" he called to the two of them as they got off.
"Oh, we will!"
The park did not calm as the sun set. In fact, as the evening came to a close some parts became even busier. After dinner Buffy and Angel walked together down the main street of the park. They wove through the crowds, barely registering the sounds of the holiday parade.
"Did you have a good time?" Buffy asked with a smile.
Angel grinned. "Yeah, I did. You were right."
Buffy found herself watching Angel for a moment in silence. The night would always be the setting she pictured him in, but even in that familiar light she could not forget the changes that had befallen the both of them lately. All good changes, as far as she was concerned. The genuine smile that even now graced his face was still an unfamiliar, but always welcome, sight. She couldn’t help but smile in response.
Okay, she could also have been smiling at the very un-Angel-like t-shirt he was wearing. They had gone on the rapids ride, and poor Angel had somehow managed to catch the brunt of every splash of water. He’d been forced to buy a t-shirt at the gift shop to replace his own soaked one.
Actually, Angel looked almost like a normal guy tonight . . ..
Angel noticed Buffy’s attention and returned his smile to her. "What?"
"Oh, I was just thinking."
"About?"
Buffy couldn’t come up with the words to say what she was thinking about. At that moment the holiday parade drew Buffy’s attention, though, and gave her a new thought. She listened for a moment as the band played "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." She squeezed Angel’s hand and smiled. "Did you know that both Christmas and New Years are on Saturdays this year?" she asked after a moment.
"Actually, I didn’t realize," Angel replied. "Things have been very busy and I don’t usually give much thought to holidays anymore."
"Well," Buffy said with a sigh, "maybe it’s time you started again. We - Mom and I - would love to have you over for Christmas."
Angel looked surprised at that. "You would?"
"Of course! Actually, Mom made a point of asking me when we were discussing Christmas dinner whether you had any plans."
Eyes wide, Angel looked just as surprised as Buffy had when her mother had asked. "Really?" Then after a moment he continued reluctantly, "But . . . isn’t that more of a family time? Wouldn’t I be imposing?"
Buffy shook her head. "It’s about friends, too. People as close to us as family. And that will always include you." She smiled at him reassuringly. "And you know," she said, "everybody’s kind of assuming that you’re going to be there for New Years. Willow mentioned it, and so did Xander."
"Really?"
Buffy smiled. "Yeah." Then, slightly concerned, "You will be coming, won’t you?"
"I wouldn’t miss it for the world."
"Good."
read the next story in series, I'll Be Home For Christmas