Though he didn’t want to, Angel slept soundly once Buffy left. He’d taken quite a demon when fighting the Mohra demon, and his sore body wanted nothing more than to lie still despite his raging thoughts. So it seemed to be only minutes before Buffy was once again at his side.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed beside him, her hand on his shoulder when Angel awoke. He blinked sleepily, smiling at her presence. She smiled back, all signs of her previous tears gone. “Hey,” she whispered, “how are you feeling?”
“Okay,” Angel replied, sitting up. His back complained painfully. “A little sore. You . . . do what you had to do?”
“Yeah.”
“What . . . did you have to do?” he added, reluctantly curious.
Buffy smiled. “I spoke to the oracles.”
Angel sat up straighter in surprise. “You did?” Buffy nodded. “Well, since you look happier than I did when I last spoke to them, I suppose you got a better answer.”
Buffy nodded again. “They said you have your strength back. That you are a ‘warrior’ once again.”
“But still human?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Angel pulled Buffy close for a passionate kiss. It would have progressed further, but Buffy pulled away after a moment. Angel made a small sound of distress, and Buffy smiled slightly, staying close. “As much as I’d love to stay right here all day,” she explained, “we’d be in a very embarrassing position when my dad shows up.”
Angel sat up straight again in surprise. “Your dad?”
Buffy laughed slightly. “Yeah. Remember yesterday when I said I was in town visiting my dad? Well, apparently he was wondering why I hadn’t shown up, and called around to find me. He’s on his way over here.”
A slightly stricken look on his face, Angel climbed out of bed quickly. He swayed for a moment on his feet, and Buffy quickly put a supporting arm around him. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Angel replied, chuckling slightly, “I just stood up too fast.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because that’s something that hasn’t happened to me in nearly 250 years.”
Smiling, Buffy and Angel went to meet Buffy’s father.
Mr. Summers didn’t know quite why he’d agreed to go with Buffy and her boyfriend on this strange shopping trip. Well, he had a couple of ideas of why he might have done it. One, he hadn’t seen Buffy in a while, and was feeling perhaps a bit guilty for that. The more obvious answer, though, was that he wanted to check out Buffy’s boyfriend whom she had apparently spent the night with.
That alone was enough for Hank to distrust this new boyfriend. Or old boyfriend, he wasn’t too sure on that point. But he was older; older than Buffy, another point against him. Still, watching the two of them, he caught himself smiling once in a while. Yesterday, when Buffy had said she was going to see a friend first, she’d been unhappy about something. Actually, the last several times Hank Summers had seen his daughter she’d seemed unhappy about something. Today, however, she was happy, nearly bouncing off the walls. She’d seemed eager to have her father approve of the man she was seeing.
So Mr. Summers was doing his best. First, they had gone to a department store and bought a wall mirror – for Angel’s apartment, Buffy insisted with a grin. Next, lunch for the three of them, where Hank tried to get to know Angel a little better, but gave up when he answered all questions as briefly as possible between mouthfuls of food. Finally, the grocery store, where Buffy dragged her boyfriend into buying enough to fill his refrigerator and every bit of cabinet space his apartment could possibly have. Oddly, Angel only smiled at the attention, and let her.
They were happy. That was the only sure conclusion Mr. Summers could come to. He wasn’t entirely happy, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Except maybe to find a way to be happy for them.
Smiling slightly, he threw a disposable camera in with the groceries. He wondered if Joyce knew about Buffy’s long distance boyfriend.
Yesterday, Buffy had stood here to be alone. She had stood on the boardwalk, looking at the people walking along the beach, feeling lonely and convincing herself not to go back to Angel’s.
He’d come to her instead. She’d felt him behind her, and there he had been, stepping into the brilliant sunlight and pulling her into a passionate kiss. For a moment, Buffy thought Oz had been wrong about him destroying the Gem of Amara. Then she had felt the newly reborn heart beating in his chest.
Arms wrapped around Buffy from behind, bringing her back to today. “What are you thinking about?” Angel asked, his breath stirring her hair.
Buffy smiled. “I was thinking about you, actually.”
“Me?” he laughed lightly, a good, if unfamiliar sound. His cheeks were slightly red from the afternoon spent on the beach.
“Uh huh. And standing here with you yesterday. Kissing you in the sunlight.”
“Watching the sunset.”
“Mmm.” Buffy grinned as she leaned back into his embrace. “This has been a perfect two days.”
“Yeah, it definitely has.” He chuckled slightly then. “I could have done without getting beat on by the Mohra demon, but the rest is perfect.”
Buffy looked up at Angel. He was watching the sunset with a wistful expression on his face. “Are you happy?” she asked softly.
Angel looked down at her in surprise. “Of course I’m happy. Are you?”
“Mmm, delightfully.”
They said nothing for several long minutes, enjoying the sunset. It lit up the sky in beautiful shades of red. It lit up their hearts as well, with the knowledge that it wasn’t going to be the only one they’d share. Setting over the water, the sun lit up the sand and water to equal degrees so that both seemed to glow.
“What are you going to do now?” Buffy asked as the sun finally disappeared.
“Now? Well, first I’m going to convince Cordelia not to have a going-out-of-business sale.”
Buffy looked at Angel sharply, surprised. “But . . .”
Turning Buffy so that she was facing him, Angel looked into her eyes, no longer smiling. “You spoke to the oracles, Buffy. They said I’m still a warrior, right?”
Buffy nodded.
“That means I still have a job to do.”
She felt a lump rising in her throat and swallowed hard. “Can’t you do it in Sunnydale?” she asked hopefully.
In response to that, Angel gently brushed her hair from her shoulder, revealing the side of her neck that bore his bite scar. He brushed it gently. “I’m not exactly the most welcome presence in Sunnydale.”
“You just helped save everyone’s lives two days ago! They’ll forgive you; they did before and they will again if necessary.” She frowned at him, scolding. “Whatever happened to ‘we’ll make this work’?”
“We will,” he assured her. “There are just some things I need to do here still. It’s not forever.”
“Good,” Buffy replied, “because you don’t have forever anymore. So you’d better work it out fast.”
“I want to. I want to be with you every moment I can. And even if I can only see you on weekends for now . . .”
“It’s still something,” Buffy finished, her brief anger gone. “It won’t be enough, though.”
“Being with you every minute wouldn’t be enough.”
Buffy smiled slightly at that. “Yeah.” She laughed slightly, suddenly. “You know, the gang’s going to freak when they find out what’s happened.”
An odd expression crossed Angel’s face. “Could you . . . not say anything about this immediately? I want to tell them myself.”
“That depends. How long can’t I talk about this?”
“Just a week. I’m coming to Sunnydale next weekend, I’ve decided.”
Buffy gave a mock frown. “Well, it’s going to be difficult . . .”
Angel smiled again, holding her close. “I know.”
“I won’t say a word,” Buffy said, smiling as well. “You’ll make up for it next weekend?”
“Next weekend.”
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