Rainfall And A Fairy Tale

SPOILER WARNING: Innocence be damned--it never happened.
RATING: PG-14
CONTENT WARNING: A little sexual innuendo, nothing too bad though.
SUMMARY: During a rain storm Buffy and Angel spend some time together. It's another in the Fluff Series.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy and Angel. Joss and the WB do. I wish that I owned Angel but what can you do?

"Stupid rain." Buffy muttered as she barely missed stepping in a large puddle in the middle of the sidewalk. It was almost dusk, the sun would be going down if it weren't obscured by black and gray clouds. As she did almost everyday at that time, she was going over to Angel's apartment so they could spend some time together.

She'd done her bit for the world that day already, she decided. She had trained with Giles for a few hours after school, had somehow managed to complete her homework, and had planned to go hunt vamps after spending a little time with her favorite one. But Sunnydale's unpredictable weather had decided otherwise by dumping an inch of rain in the last hour without any sign it was letting up.

Before leaving the library on her way to see the vampire, she had listened to the weatherman on the radio say that it was expected to rain all night long. Giles had conceded that slaying in the rain was probably not the smartest, or healthiest thing for her to do, she was absolved of responsibility at least for that night.

She'd been so eager to get to Angel's by dusk that she had forgotten her umbrella at the library. The slayer figured that she could run to Angel's and get there before she really got wet, but she was only half way there and already soaked to the bone. "I hate the rain." she grumbled quietly to herself as she surveyed the damage to her outfit.

The Chosen One rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try and warm up from the icy cold rain. She silently concluded that she would probably catch pneumonia before she even made it to Angel's apartment. She quickened her pace and began running once again, knowing the faster she ran, the faster she would be in Angel's warm, dry apartment.

Angel woke to the loud rhythmic sounds of heavy rain falling outside. He would have been inclined to stay in bed and just listen to the storm brewing outside but he knew that Buffy was probably already in his apartment waiting for him to wake, as she often was. He pulled himself out of bed and quickly slipped on a black robe before walking into the living room to seek out his true love.

He was slightly surprised to find that he was alone and that she hadn't arrived yet. He knew that the sun had barely set so he was sure she hadn't been attacked by vampires, so he concluded that she was running late. Since punctuality wasn't her strongest suit, he shrugged off her absence and went to eat before she arrived.

He had just finished his second bag of blood when he heard the door open. "Buffy?" he called as he made his way to the living room. He discovered her standing in the door way, resembling a drowned rat that was having a bad hair day. She was soaking wet. Her clothes were dripping water into a puddle that was forming on the floor and she was shivering.

"Strange weather we're having." she commented as Angel instinctively went to the living room closet to find blanket to warm her. It took a little digging past a few pieces of artwork but eventually he found an old down blanket buried behind an old painting.

He draped the blanket over her shoulders and guided her to the couch to sit down. "Good news/bad news. Good news is that because of the rain I don't have to hunt tonight. Giles said something about vampires not liking to hunt in the rain."

"We're sensible that way." Angel confirmed with a nod of his head as he surveyed her.

"The bad news is I got caught in the downpour on my way over here. I'm totally drenched as you can see." she stated as she rubbed her arms under the blanket in an attempt to warm up.

He watched her for a moment, unable to take his eyes off of the slayer. Even in her disheveled state, she was still breathtakingly beautiful to him, and he couldn't look away. "Change into something dry, okay? And then come to bed." he stated softly, surprised that he was able to find a voice as he stared at her beautifully tousled appearance.

Buffy nodded her head and still shivering walked to the bathroom to change into her robe that hung on a hook on the back of the door. As soon as she got out of her freezing cold shirt and skirt and mud covered boots, she already felt a little better. Once she slipped the dry cotton robe on, she walked to the bedroom to find Angel.

He had raised the shade that was usually permanently closed over the window so that they could watch falling rain and the accompanying lightning. On the table by the bed, a number of candles were burning, casting a strange glow over the vampire, making him appear hauntingly beautiful in the light. "In bed, now." he ordered.

"I didn't know you were into that--" she began coyly but was silenced by a glare from the vampire.

"Quit while you're ahead--I meant for you to get in bed and wrap yourself in that blanket before you get sick." Buffy did as requested. She certainly wasn't about to argue with wrapping herself in the warm down blanket that Angel had given to her.

The pair laid down together on the bed and wrapped the blanket around themselves. The slayer rested her head against Angel's shoulder as his strong arms wrapped around her, nestling her in warmth.

"I opened the shade so we could watch the rain." he said as he adjusted the pillow behind his head. She glanced up at the window above them and noted a flash of lightning in the sky.

"And the candles?" she joked.

"My romantic streak getting away from me again. I just can't control it sometimes. Besides, the storm looks like it's going to get worse. The power could go out." he reasoned as he ran his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm her further.

"Romantic and practical. You *are* the perfect man." she smiled as she nestled in further against his chest, kneading her head into his shoulder gently. Absently he brushed back the strands of her damp hair away from her face.

They were silent for a moment, just enjoying the feel of the other. A loud crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning startled them both, neither expecting it to be so loud or so close. "Did I ever tell you that when I was young I was scared of thunder?" he asked the slayer, she smiled and shifted so she could look up at him.

"You were scared of thunder? That's so cute. Do I get to hear any other little tidbits about your childhood?" Buffy asked with a playful grin.

"Nope--that's all you're going to get." Angel resolutely replied.

"You're no fun." the slayer pouted. "You're not very warm either." she commented. He shrugged indifferently and without warning moved away from her to the other side of the bed. Because she was laying on top of him, she was dropped unceremoniously to the mattress. "Hey!" she complained immediately, missing the feel of him against her almost instantly.

"You said I wasn't very warm--" he reminded her playfully as he turned onto his side so that his back was to her, taking part of the blanket with him. Buffy stared wide-eyed for a moment before tugging the blanket back, taking far more than Angel had originally taken with his shifting of position. "You're hogging the blanket." he grinned as he tugged back slightly.

"Well, I'm cold!"

"So noted, that doesn't mean you get all of the blanket!" Angel argued, a humorous light in his eye as well as in hers, as he tugged so that he would be given at least a few inches of the blanket from the cover-hungry slayer on the other side of the bed. The two began tugging on the blanket, each pulling with most of their strength in a playful game of tug-of-war over the blanket. Finally, with an evil light in her eyes, Buffy released her end of the blanket. Unfortunately and unintentionally, the vampire went tumbling over the edge of the bed, taking the covers with him.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked with alarm as she crawled over so she could see over the corner of the bed. The vampire was laying on his back, sprawled on the floor, laughing.

"I'm fine...you know, this all started because you said I wasn't very warm...." Angel reminisced as he stood up and climbed back into the bed, taking the blanket with him and using it to cover the couple once again. The slayer crawled back into Angel's willing arms, not about to say anything about the coolness of his skin.

Wrapped in each other's arms, laying on their sides with Angel's chest against her back as she rested against him. The vampire spoke as he shifted the couple to get a little more comfortable, "This is much better."

"This is almost where we were before...." Buffy reminded him.

"Until you said I was cold and started that entire argument." he also reminded her.

"Details, details." she shrugged as she turned her attention to a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning outside.

The pair laid in silence for a long time, just enjoying the other's company. Finally, Angel broke the stillness of the room and spoke, "Why don't you try and sleep? You should really rest, I don't want you to get sick. My mother always said that resting kept you from getting sick." Buffy groaned and shook her head, noting that the clock on Angel's bedside table read that it wasn't even nine o'clock yet.

"I'm not tired, I can't sleep." she insisted, but a look from Angel told her that he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. "I know, you can tell me a bedtime story...a fairy tale. That might help me to fall asleep." she said in a completely serious deadpan voice. He simply stared at her in wonder for a moment.

"A fairy tale? Are you kidding me?!" he asked, his jaw dropped in shock. She shook her head once causing a loud sigh from the vampire. "I don't know any fairy tales...." he hoped that would be enough to convince her to just fall asleep rather than have 'story hour.' She wasn't buying it.

"Yes, you do. Now tell me a story." she insisted as she snuggled closer to him while he thought. It took him a minute but finally his eyes lit up and a small grin appeared on his pale lips.

"Okay...I know one. Once upon a time...." he began but was quickly cut off by a short laugh coming from the vampire slayer.

"What a stereotypical beginning!" Buffy groaned as she interrupted but was quickly silenced by a glare from the vampire who was holding her in his arms.

"Would the lady have preferred "In a galaxy far, far away?"" he asked with a slight, playful smile as he carefully brushed back a damp strand of her hair away from her face.

"Okay, fine, I get the point. Just go with 'Once upon a time.' "

"Can I continue?"

"Please." she giggled.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. In a far away land there lived a girl by the name of Princess Buffy. Princess Buffy was very beautiful. Beautiful didn't even describe her--she was elegant, strong and absolutely perfect."

"Oh, Angel...." Buffy gushed as she snuggled closer to him.

"You're doing the interruption thing again." the vampire warned. "Anyway, she lived in a far away land called Sunnydale--which was just a few miles outside of Oz and on the highway that goes to Cinderella's place. But Sunnydale wasn't a very nice place to live. Besides the fact that it only had one Starbucks, the village was also ridden with monsters and dragons who had really bad attitudes. The evil dragons and monsters...." he opened his mouth to speak once again but was once again interrupted by the overly inquisitive slayer in his arms.

"What kind of monsters were they?" she asked eagerly.

"Some were ugly monsters with three heads, ten eyes and scales but some weren't. Some looked like people until their faces changed, then they looked like demons. There was a wide variety of kinds of monsters in Sunnydale. There were so many species of monster that, really, they all had only two things in common--one was the fact they liked to destroy and kill, and the second was that they were all in the union." Buffy giggled quietly, Angel couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Oh...okay, thanks for clearing that up." she made a hand motion for him to continue before placing her hand on top of his.

"Anyway, they didn't like Princess Buffy very much because she was the only one that could kill them. And she did. And she was very good at it and if the people of Sunnydale weren't so stupid and so inept that they didn't know what was going on, they would have thanked her. One night, Princess Buffy met a man by the name of Angel...." he stopped, knowing that Buffy would interrupt, and he wasn't wrong.

"Was he a handsome prince?" she asked with a bright smile.

"He was a prince, and I suppose he was relatively handsome." Angel replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"You don't give yourself, I mean, "Prince Angel" very much credit." she whispered before placing a kiss on top of his hand.

"Anyway...Prince Angel fell in love with Princess Buffy the first moment he saw her. But there was a problem, a big one. Prince Angel was actually a monster--he was a vampire. But, you see, he was a nice vampire who wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone beautiful Princess Buffy. But he wasn't sure he could make her see and understand that so he avoided her. He would warn her of bad things that were going to happen and then slip away into the night and go back to his castle in the mountains. He was afraid that no matter how much he loved her, they couldn't be together."

"That's so sad...." Buffy sighed.

"It gets better. But one day, Prince Angel worked up the courage to tell Princess Buffy what he was and that he loved her...."

"That's not how it happened! Talk about a lapse in memory! Are you losing your memory in your old age? Is this vampire Alzheimer's setting in?" Buffy asked quickly with a laugh.

"I am merely writing it as I wish it would have happened. Besides, it's my damn story and I have creative license. Can I continue now?" he asked a little impatiently. She nodded her head, giving him permission to continue with the fractured fairy tale. "As I was saying, he told her that he loved her, and she said those words back to him. You see, despite their differences and despite the fact that they had all the reasons in the world to hate each other, they didn't. Prince Angel and Princess Buffy sealed their love with a kiss and decided that from that day on, Princess Buffy wouldn't be alone anymore in her duty of destroying demons and making Sunnydale a nice place to live. Every night, when Princess Buffy went out hunting, Prince Angel went with her. Even if she didn't see him, he was always there watching over her."

"Did they live happily ever after?" the slayer inquired.

"As a matter of fact, they did. But first, Prince Angel had to pass a test to prove that he was worthy of Princess Buffy--he had to meet Queen Joyce, Princess Buffy's mother. But he was well liked by the queen and she permitted Prince Angel to marry Princess Buffy in the biggest wedding Sunnydale had ever seen." he paused briefly, causing Buffy to look up.

"Is that the end?" she questioned.

"No, there's more. After they got married, Prince Angel and Princess Buffy moved into Prince Angel's palace in the mountains...."

"After 'Princess Buffy' did a little remodeling of 'Prince Angel's' overly dark and melancholy decorating tastes...." Buffy interjected, causing a slight laugh to erupt from her 'prince.'

"Right--after that. They had maids who cleaned the palace so that Princess Buffy never had to get dish-pan hands and a groundskeeper by the name of Snyder the Dwarf, who, as you probably guessed, was a dwarf, that Prince Angel hired to fertilize the garden."

"Nice touch." Buffy stated with a wide smile.

"I thought so. Prince Angel and Princess Buffy opened a chain of yogurt stands all along the coast and made a fortune...."

"I don't like yogurt." Buffy interjected.

"Stop interrupting." Angel replied.

"You paused." the slayer pointed out. "Can you make it fruit juice stands or something?"

"Fine, fruit juice stands it is. Anyway--Prince Angel and Princess Buffy often invited their friends, Duke Xander, Duchess Willow, Queen Cordelia, who, by the way, was a self proclaimed queen, and Sir Giles the Wise, who was never without a book and spent much of his life in the Cave of Knowledge, also known as the Sunnydale High School Library, over for cocktail parties and to watch 'South Park' on Princess Buffy's big screen TV. Prince Angel stayed with Princess Buffy as she grew old and gray, but she only became more beautiful in his eyes as the years passed. Because he didn't age, the princess and her prince were the subject of *a lot* of hot gossip at the retirement community but they lived happily ever after anyway. The end." Angel finished.

"I liked that story." Buffy turned slightly so she could place a kiss on Angel's cheek.

"Good. Now I told you a story, go to sleep. You need to rest unless you want to get sick." he mumbled as he shifted to make them a little more comfortable. Buffy sighed quietly but decided to heed to Angel's request and sleep like he'd asked.

"Okay, fine, I'll sleep." she whispered as she snuggled in closer to Angel's chest before shutting her eyes.

"Goodnight, Princess." he softly said, a small smile playing on his lips as he spoke.

"Goodnight, my prince." she quietly replied as he placed a kiss on her temple. Within a few minutes, the slayer was fast asleep against the vampire. Having just woken up a little while before, he wasn't yet tired enough to go to sleep so he chose to lay awake and watch the beautiful girl in his arms in a peaceful slumber.

As he watched her sleep in his arms and listened to the rain that was still falling, the vampire couldn't help but think that sometimes, just sometimes, happy endings really do come true.

The End