DISCLAIMER: Characters not mine, never mine, I'm resigned to this fact.
DISTRIBUTION: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/Erana4568/index.html (Shameless
plug, I know, I'm terrible!) Everyone else, please just ask me first. :)
RATING: PG.
CONTENT: B/A fluff ... with a happy ending. :)
SPOILER: Tonight's episodes of Buffy and Angel ... I'm not sure of the title,
but it was the big crossover and all.
SUMMARY: In a moment of incredible depression over the events of tonight's
episodes, I had to make things right. So be warned, if you're looking for
angst, look elsewhere. I've had enough angst for one night. But if you're
looking for a quick-fix and hopefully a slight mood-lifter, you're in the
right place. :)
******
It was all a dream.
Buffy Summers sat up in bed, staring at the sunlight streaming through the window, and repeating that mantra in her mind. It couldn't be real, after all. Just wasn't possible. How could she have forgotten?
It had to have all been a dream.
"Buffy? Are you alright?"
Willow's soft voice broke through her haze, and Buffy cast startled eyes in her roommates direction. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, trying to ignore her quickened heart beat.
"You're crying, Buffy," Willow said quietly, her worry clear. "Is it about Angel?" Buffy had only returned from Los Angeles that morning, after all, and when questioned she'd completely avoided giving an answer about what she'd said to the vampire.
Lifting a finger to her face, Buffy was amazed to find her cheeks wet. She had been crying. "It ... it was just a dream," she said, needing to hear herself say it aloud. "It ... it COULDN'T have been real, right? I mean, there's just no way all that happened and I didn't remember it. It ... it HAD to have been a dream."
"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.
The slayer stood, walking towards the dresser and opening the drawers hastily. "Nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm talking about nothing because it did NOT happen ... but, Oh GOD, Will? What if it did happen? What if it happened, and ... ohh, he must be so upset! God, he should have TOLD me that it happened!" Her eyes filled with even more tears, and she slumped down against the dresser, her legs unable to support herself. "He would have told me, right? If it had happened?"
Willow stared at her friend, trying desperately to understand her rambling, and casting her a confused look. "What exactly did or didn't happen here?" she asked.
Buffy had pulled herself up from the floor and was once again looking through the dresser drawers, her movements filled with purpose. "I gotta find out," she said flatly. "If Giles, or anyone, really, asks ... would you tell them that I went to Los Angeles?"
"AGAIN?!" Willow exclaimed. "Buffy, you just left there!"
"Don't you understand?" Buffy practically shouted, turning on her friend. "I have to know! I have to know if it happened!"
"What IT?"
"Look, I'll explain it all to you when I get back, okay?" she impatiently replied, removing her nightgown and putting on a shirt. "Would you just be sure to tell him?"
Willow sighed, was about to protest further, but one look into the Slayer's determined expression and she knew all protests would be vain. Instead she decided the best thing to do would be to admit defeat. "Alright, Buffy. I'll be sure to tell him. But ... be careful, okay?"
"Of?" Buffy queried, puzzled as she pulled a pair of jeans out.
"Just be careful," Willow repeated. "I don't want to see you get hurt again, that's all. Hurt in ANY way, not just a physical way."
"Thanks, Will, but I'll be fine. Don't worry. And if it WASN'T just a dream ... " Buffy trailed off, smiling, and leaving Willow even more confused than she had been before.
* * *
For the second time in as many days Buffy found herself right outside Angel's building. Only now the hesitation was beginning to set in. What was she going to say? 'Did you become mortal a little while ago, and then make me forget it?' And if it was just a dream, she was really going to feel like an idiot.
But if it wasn't, she needed to know.
Because if it wasn't, she had to be with him.
Hell, even if it was just a dream, it had been a vital one. It had woken her eyes to something she'd been denying ever since Angel had left town so many months ago.
The simple fact that she didn't want to live without him.
Sure, she *could*. And she had, and she'd thought she was beginning to move on. There was Riley, and he was a nice, sweet guy. But it wasn't fair. Wasn't fair to him that she was using him so blatantly to try and forget Angel. She hadn't even realized she'd been doing it until that morning, when she woke from a dream that seemed all to real.
Cordelia and Doyle were nowhere to be found, so Buffy stepped into Angel's inner office, expecting to see them there.
Not only were they not there ... Angel wasn't either.
"Great!" Buffy exclaimed sarcastically, walking around his desk and sitting down. She picked up a pen and nervously began to play with it, twirling it between her fingers as she waited for Angel to arrive.
It didn't take long.
The door opened, and Buffy stood, turning to face him.
"Buffy?" he whispered, and although she knew it was impossible, she could have sworn that he paled a little at the sight of her.
"I know," she replied, voice equally as quiet. And seeing him there, she knew she did. It hadn't been a dream, not at all, and she wasn't quite sure why she'd thought it had been just one in the first place. It all seemed so clear to her now.
"Know?" Angel looked confused for a moment before realization set in and his eyes widened a bit. "How?"
Buffy shrugged one shoulder, still playing with the pen in her hands nervously. "I had a dream ... it was a bit too realistic for it to be anything but real," she answered.
"They said you'd forget," Angel murmured, obviously surprised.
She stepped away from his desk, closer to him, and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. "How could I EVER forget something like that?"
"You ... you SHOULD have, though ... I ... " he trailed off, pulling his hand away from hers. "This can't happen again."
Buffy rolled her eyes heavenward, exasperated. "You know what, Angel? Not only can it happen again, but it's going to happen again. Plenty of people love one another and can't have sex. Plenty of people survive long distance relationships." She reached for his hand again. "And I'm willing to bet all those people have never loved anyone as much as we love each other."
"This is a bad..." Before he could finish his sentence Buffy's mouth was on his, her tongue finding a way inside through his parted lips. Resistance was futile, so he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him and returning her kiss with equal passion and ferocity.
Buffy pulled away for a moment. "What was it you were saying?" she asked.
Angel shook his head. "The words just flew right out of my mind," he answered, bringing his lips down once again to meet hers.
"I hate it when that happens," Buffy breathed when they finally broke away once again. "So, listen, this is how it's going to work, m'kay? One weekend I visit you, the next you visit me, and for the super massive evils, we get together and party."
Smiling, Angel shook his head. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"No," she replied honestly. "But I do know that we've had far too many unhappy endings. And I'm tired of it." She paused for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you?"
He nodded, kissing her once more. "Incredibly," he agreed.
"So then there it is," Buffy said, giving him a half smile. "This time ... we're going to make our own happy ending."
*The End*