Author: **Heidi**

Disclaimer: Joss is the owner of all, I am just a puppet of the left over strings that he leaves dangling.

Spoilers: Completely AU set in 1940s Germany. Angel is an officer in Hitler’s SS and Buffy is a young Jew stuck in the midst of this dark world.

Distribution: Anyone can have it, just let me know first.

Author’s note: This is my first fic, I hope that you enjoy. Also I wanted to dedicate this fic to Amy. Love you chica, even though you can't spell my name right.

Feedback: Please, I beg on my knees.

Rating: PG-13 to R, somewhere in there, I don’t know quite yet.

Prologue

One born of darkness and touched by the light. One born of the light and touched by darkness. In a world full of darkness, two souls found each other in the worst of circumstances. From two different worlds, they saw each other for who they truly are—not just an officer in Hitler’s SS or a Jew, but of two persons wanting to see if good and light still existed. They saw beyond first appearances and broke all the rules. Their love was inevitable and no one could stop them from loving every breath, every whisper, every heartbeat of the other. From this love sprung the hope that this world is a better place than previously perceived, the hope that love will lead the way to the better. Nothing can stop hope for when all else fails, hope was the only cure for these two lovers almost lost in darkness.

Part I

September 7, 1940, a young Jewish family was trying with all their might to live in this cruel world created by the German government. Attempting to make-do with what they had, their lives were put on halt so that they could hide away and hope that no one will find them. They had lived in a tiny attic for a couple of weeks before the oldest daughter could no longer stand it.

“Mother, what are we going to do?!” Buffy nearly shouted.

“Buffy,” her mother said, “now’s no the time to be loud. I can hear the SS troops downstairs and we can’t let them hear us.”

Buffy began to whisper now. “I have to leave the attic sometime. We need food and Dawn needs a winter coat for the next couple of months.”

“I can’t let you do that. If you were to be caught, who knows where you would be sent. If you wear the star, you will be found quite quickly,” Buffy’s mother, Joyce, implied.

“Mother, trust me. I can look the part that they want me to play. No one will hat to know that I am Jewish. NO ONE,” Buffy paused for a moment before continuing. “Look around you. We can’t live like this forever.” Buffy pointed to the barren room around the small family. A few pieces of simple furniture added little comfort and homeiness to this world so full of hatred and utter despair.

The one bedroom apartment had kept the Summers family safe as best as can be expected. Hiding from the wrath of Hitler’s army, the family attempted to shelter themselves from the harsh, real world.

“The hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it. I need to live,” Buffy pleaded. Joyce looked deep into her daughter’s eyes and knew that she was right. “Ok, I will let you go outside but only for the bare necessities. As soon as you get them you come right back here. I mean this young lady.”

“Yes, mother,” she retorted.

“You can go tomorrow.” Joyce smiled at her daughter. Buffy returned that smile but she knew that her mother smiled only to veil her hear of losing her daughter. To comfort her mother and relieve some of her own fear, Buffy reached up to hug her. “I will be alright,” she whispered in her ear.

Part II

“Hiel, Hitler!” the new recruits all shouted with their right arms raised to the sky.

“When are we going to get out of here?” a young blonde man whispered to the officer next to him.

“Shut up, Riley. You are going to get into trouble if anyone else hears you,” the dark officer chastised.

“Oh, come on, Angel. No one can hear me.”

Angel, the dark officer, turned to face Riley and loomed over the blonde man. “Don’t mess with me boy!” Angel gave Riley a burning glare, which made him slowly quiver down in fear. Angel returned back in line while Riley still feared his superior officer. Every person in Germany’s SS knew not to have a confrontation with Colonel Angel Heheman. His tall figure and broad shoulders intimidated many men among the ranks. A harsh, cold feeling of pain and severity radiated from his big brown eyes; a pain that could only be his reminder of all the cruelty and that he had witness for so many years.

~ ~ ~

Buffy Summers silently slipped out of her hidden attic to meet her friends, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris.

She waited patiently on the corner of her building for her friends. She attempted to act somewhat calm but nothing could overcome the fear that encased her whole body. “Come on, guys,” she whispered to herself.

Buffy felt eyes staring at her from all directions, especially from the soldiers marching down her narrow street. Suddenly behind her, someone grabbed her shoulder and whispered, “Hey, Buff, we’re here.”

Buffy’s heart jumped into her throat and she came very close to punching the person who grabbed but she stopped when she saw the face of her attacker.

“Xander,” she exasperated, “you scared the living shit out of me. I could kill you right now!”

“Sorry,” Xander apologized with a smile on his face. He tried to hold back his laughter but against his better judgment, a small laugh rose in his throat.

“Don’t laugh at me!” Buffy started to smile in spite of herself.

“Your face was completely classic,” he said. “I will never forget that.”

“It was pretty funny,” Willow stated coming out from behind him.

“Ha ha,” Buffy sarcastically said. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Starting to walk down the dust-laden street, the three continued on laughing on what happened before.

“What are you laughing at?” a gruffled voce came from behind them.

The three stopped dead in their tracks, frozen in fear of who was behind them. Almost at the same time, they turned toward the voice with their eyes down to the ground.

“Boy, let me see your papers,” the voice commanded.

Xander fumbled in his pockets to retrieve his identification paperwork. He was the most calm out of the three and he was able to actually look up at the man with the gruffled voice. Buffy took her eyes off the ground momentarily to glance over at Willow. She saw Willow was quite nervous because her eyes darted from left to right and then just decided to close.

Turning her gaze back to the ground, Buffy caught a glimpse of the man’s shiny black boots. ‘That’s the only brightness that this country will allow,’ Buffy thought. She focused entirely on those black boots that she didn’t realize that the man directed his attention at her.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, missy.” He grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to make contact with his face. “Well, well, well, aren’t you a pretty girl,” the man said.

Buffy studied the face that belonged to the black boots. He was a decent looking man, blonde hair, blue eyes, and masculine jaw line—everything she would expect from a member of the SS.

“Mmm, mmm, you are probably a really good lover, too, I bet.” The officer stepped closer to Buff and reached around to harshly pull her into him.

“Hey!!” Xander finally shouted and pushed into the officer.

“What are you going to do about it?” “Something damn manly,” Xander retorted but as soon as he said it, a fist being slammed into his face quickly silenced him.

“PRIVATE RILEY FINN,” a voice yelled from across the street.

Suddenly the officer stood erect at the sound of this yell.

Buffy was able to sneak down and join Willow at Xander’s side.

“Finn,” the new man said, “one more incident like this and I will personally kill you. Now go back to the ranks.”

“Yes, sir,” the blonde man quickly responded.

“Ma’am, are you ok?” Buffy looked up to see the new man’s hand lowered towards her willing to help her off the ground.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she responded as she was lifted from the ground. She didn’t want to look into his face and kept her eyes averted to the ground.

“Don’t worry, miss, I don’t bite.”

Buffy smiled and lifted her eyes to the man’s face. He was a head taller than she with deep brown eyes and dark brown hair. Something in his eyes caught her attention for a couple of seconds. A deep sense of pain that he seemed to try desperately to conceal.

Buffy was shocked that this man was giving her a half a smile. “I thought it was illegal to smile when you work for the Nazis,” she smiled to herself.

“What are you smiling at?” he asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“Oh, nothing,” she said trying to hide her blushing but couldn’t.

“Well, umm… Ok, let’s get your friend off the ground.” This new man bent down to assist getting Xander and Willow to stand.

“Thanks,” Buffy whispered and he responded, “You’re welcome. I have to go now. Goodbye.”

“Thanks again,” Willow joined.

While walking away, he turned back to Buffy and gave her that little half a smile that intrigued her so.

“Well, that was interesting to say the least,” Buffy turned to her friends.

“Tell me about it,” Willow sighed, “considering which officer came to be your knight in shining armor.”

Confused, Buffy looked toward Willow, with her brow furrowed deep in her forehead, “what??”

Xander finally found his voice again, “that was Colonel Angel Heheman, on of the high commanders of Hitler’s SS.”

“Are you sure?” Buffy asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Both Xander and Willow nodded.

The three began to walk down the street yet again before they were abruptly stopped. “I was always afraid of that man,” Willow stated as they were walking. “I’ve heard some of the worst things about Angel. Many people I have referred to him as the ‘Scourge of Europe.’ His very name strikes fear in the hearts of many people.”

“Oh,” Buffy muttered under her breath.

“Buffy, are you alright?” Xander asked.

“Yeah,” Buffy responded but she still didn’t understand. She had looked in his eyes and she saw no malice or hatred, just deep pain, but nothing that would definitely display the evil that was supposedly carried out in his name.”

Part III

Once private Finn got back to his ranks, another private confronted him. “What happened back there?” the new man asked with a smirk.

“I need a date for tonight, Spike, and that girl appealed to my particular tastes.”

Private Wilhelm von Blutig, Spike to everyone in the SS, shook his almost bleached blonde head at the stupidity of his fellow soldier. “Dream on, Fish Boy, you would never get a girl like that one I saw back there. I imagine that she likes a little demon in her man. Probably a little bumpy in the forehead caused by the presence of a broad, stiff hat of a superior officer.”

“What are you talking about?” Riley asked confused.

“Come on, Finn. You wear that uniform now to cover up the fact that you are a no name nothing from He-Haw-Land, Germany. You would never have a chance with her.”

“What do you know? You know nothing about that sort of thing. Look at your wife for example. She should have been sent to Bedlam a long time ago. People are constantly saying that they see her outside almost everyday playing with a little doll. Yeah, Spike, you really know what women are like.”

“Ahhh, Drusilla,” Spike whispered dreamily. He held stars in his eyes every time the thought of her came to his mind. “Yes, she may be a little out of her mind but that’s what I love most about her. How could I not love her?"

“Yeah, sure,” Riley rolled his eyes.

“By the way, the doll’s name is Miss Edith and I quite enjoy our short tea times together.” Spike smirked.

“Are you two girls quite finished with your jabbering?” a strong voice came where Colonel Heheman was sauntering back to his troops.

“Yes, sir!” both Spike and Riley shouted as they quickly made their postures straight as arrows.

“Good, because we have our new orders from the general and each and every single one of you will have a different job to do.” At first, Angel’s speech was directed at Riley and Spike and then later to the entire division. No one moved from where they were standing.

“You heard what I said,” Angel began shouting, “Let me say it again, MOVE!!” At that all the men standing in front of Angel ran, in somewhat an organized fashion towards headquarters of the SS to receive their new orders.

“Riley Finn!” Angel yelled, “Stop.”

Private Finn halted from his jog and looked forward. Just before the troops were out of sight, Spike turned around to see Private Finn one last time. Seeing Riley standing there with a slight look of fear in his face, Spike felt the overwhelming urge to smile at him. Riley was able catch a glimpse of this smirk and glared at Spike.

Right before Spike was lost from Riley’s sight, Spike’s shallow laugh reverberated across the buildings that rose along the streets like pickets in a fence.

“You know if looks could kill, Spike would probably be dead right now.” Angel commented behind Private Finn.

Riley relaxed a little and smiled, “I wish that were true.”

“If that were true, then I would probably drop over dead right now because that ugly mug of yours is absolutely killing me now,” said Angel matter-of-factly. “What did you think you were doing back there with that woman?”

“I was just trying to have a little fun. Why do you care?” Riley asked still with his figure erect and eyes forward.

‘Why did I get so upset over that?’ Angel thought to himself but then to cover his reverie, he said, “You have been stepping on a lot of toes for the past couple of months and then was not the time to start instigating something with those three. So, I am going to be watching you closely for the next couple of days, much to my disliking. Those are your orders. Do you understand private?” Angel asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“I wouldn’t want to spell it out for you in order to make it understandable for you. And remember, Finn, that threat of killing you still holds true.”

~ ~ ~

“Buffy, are you alright?” Willow asked.

Buffy was so lost in her thoughts of Angel that she didn’t hear her friend talking to her. “Buffy?” Willow asked again.

“Huh?” finally Buffy responded.

“What’s it like where you are?” Willow inquired with a smile on her face.

“Tell me something, Will. Do you believe that someone who is thought to be evil can be a really good person?”

“Are we talking about Angel here?” Buffy nodded her head at Willow’s comment.

“Are you out of your mind?” Xander asked flabbergasted.

“Probably,” Buffy whispered but then spoke up. “God, I don’t know. I looked into his eyes and I just can’t believe he could be who everyone says he is. I don’t even know why I am still thinking about this.”

“Buffy, this problem is very simple. You’re a Jew; he’s sent to kill Jews. I think you know what you should do,” Xander commented.

“Well for right now, I know that I have to be getting home now. My mother will be wondering if I am dead right now.”

“We should probably get going then,” Willow agreed.

Willow, Xander, and Buffy began walking back to Buffy’s secret attic passing many people and building on their way. Buffy attempted to keep up with the conversation that Willow and Xander were having but her heart and mind weren’t into it.

Finally coming to the alley to get to the hidden door to the attic, Buffy came into the conversation.

Willow asked, “I wonder when they are going to tear down that condemned building over there.” She pointed at the dilapidated house across the street from Buffy’s attic. The brickwork on the outside was crumbling horribly and not too many of the windows were left intact in that old house.

“I’m not sure,” Buffy said. “I thing that the Nazis haven’t torn it down yet because they want to use it as a trap to lure Jews into it; Jews that were hoping to hide. I see troops walk in and out of that house millions of times a day. I fear that the next people that go inside will be greatly shocked when the roof crashed on them and the floor falls beneath their feet.”

Part IV

“Why don’t we check that house next?” Riley asserted to Angel. “That could be a wonderful hiding place for Jews.”

“That house is just about…” suddenly Angel stopped talking and looked around.

“What’s wrong?” asked Riley.

“Nothing. To continue what I was saying is that that house is just about to collapse. No one in their right mind would want to live there.”

Angel could sense someone, other that Riley, was around him. Turning around to face the building across the street, he caught glimpse of a beautiful woman’s face in the upstairs window. He had a bizarre feeling when seeing her, not just because she was almost spying on them, but something down inside his gut told him that if he was placed in a dark room with her, he could find her. If he were blind he could see her. He was taken back by this feeling and he didn’t know how to think or feel about this.

“Come on, let’s go in,” Riley interrupted his thoughts.

“Finn, wait,” Angel commanded but Riley had already started entering the building. He decided to follow him into the house.

Every step that Angel took caused the floor to groan under his weight. “Riley, we need to get out of here.”

“Are you scared now?” Riley insulted Angel. “It’s not that bad here. I am going to see how much it takes.”

“PRIVATE FINN, DON’T!!” Angel yelled out but Riley paid little to no attention to this plea. Riley began jumping up and down on the wood floor and for some unknown reason he began singing at the top of his lungs.

The house began rocking and pieces of wall were crashing to the ground.

“Join me in this song,” Riley yelled, “come on.” But his foot slamming through the floor abruptly stopped him.

“I think we should go now.” But it was too late. The entire floor began to buckle beneath them. Once strong, hardwood floors quickly splintered and crumbled. Angel went straight down through the floor while Riley was able to jump out of the way and barely escape the breaking floor.

Leaving Angel pinned inside the collapsing house, Riley ran as fast as physically possible from the scene. He refused to turn back even though he heard the guttural scream from inside underneath the fallen debris.

~ ~ ~

“Buffy, get away from the window before someone sees you,” Joyce Summers scolded her daughter.

“Yeah, Buffy,” Dawn had to have her two cents in worth. Buffy glared at her but that brought an evil smile across her sister’s face.

“So did anything happen today while you were outside today?” Joyce inquired.

“Not much,” Buffy lied in order to keep her mother not too worried. “It was good to walk around town with Willow and Xander. I miss being able to do that.” Sadness swept over Buffy’s face as she remembers what life was like before the Nazis came into power. She thought to herself, ‘That day that I had to live in fear and seclusion, I felt like something died inside of me.’ To try not to cry, Buffy turned back towards the window again and opened up the shades to look out at what the world was like now. ‘I wish I didn’t have to settle looking out the window to see what this world has become. I feel so trapped here,’ she thought. Again her mind would remember the time that she would walk out on the street with all the people so carefree and happy. ‘I wonder if they knew how lucky they were but now there is no hope to get a world like it was before.’

Buffy looked across the street at the worn down house and noticed two men standing in form of it. She recognized one of those men as the dark officer with the brown eyes. She quickly hid behind the shade trying not to let him see her but as soon as his back was turned, she averted her attention across the street. She watched him as he followed the blonde man into the house and continued on staring at the door after they were fully inside.

Suddenly from behind her, Dawn yelled, “MOTHER, BUFFY’S BY THE WINDOW AGAIN!” Buffy didn’t ever respond to her sister’s scream, she just stared at the horror that was going on across the street. Buffy saw the house move and shake and then she saw the blond man run form the house just a few seconds before the roof collapse.

“Oh, my God,” Buffy breathed.

“Buffy, what did I…” Joyce started to say.

“Mother, something happened across the street. I’ll be right back in a second.”

“Now’s not the time.”

“I have to mother. I think someone may be in trouble.” She sprinted out the door before her mother could say another word.

As fast as her legs could carry her down the stairs, out the door and across the street, she ran towards the house. Reaching for the door, she peered inside to see anything. “Is someone in here?” she yelled. Buffy looked down to see the enormous hole that was once the floor.

“Hello?” Buffy yelled again. She heard no response; all she could hear was the shallow sound of breathing coming form the basement.

Dust was all around the basement floor and she could see nothing. It began to settle, and then from out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hand underneath a splintered piece of wood.

“Hold on!!”

Part V

“Hold on,” Buffy shouted again. “I’ll help you.”

Buffy ran to the back where she found the cellar doors. She grabbed onto the handles and pulled with all her might but the doors refused to budge. The door hinges had rusted through from their many years and nothing seemed to be strong enough to break through.

Desperate to find something that will pry the doors open, she entered back into the house to find a broken piece of pipe lying among the rubble. Running back around to the rear entrance of the house, she jammed that pipe into the handles. With great effort, slowly the doors began to creak open and Buffy was able to cautiously step inside. She found the man’s hand again and held onto it.

“I’m going to get you out. Just hold on.” Buffy gently squeezed and luckily she felt that action returned.

Releasing his hand back down, she quickly began to throw the splintered debris off of his body.

“Buffy,” someone said behind her.

“Xander, what are you doing here?” Buffy jumped.

“Dawn ran to my house and told me that you ran across the street. She said that you had seemed to be upset and I didn’t want to let you get caught in this house if it would fall down. I just decided to come on over to see what happened. Seems I was a little late to see it fall.”

“He is trapped, we need to get him out of here quick.”

“He who?” Xander inquired.

“Angel,” Buffy muttered under her breath.

“ANGEL!!” Xander screamed. “We should just leave him here.”

“We can’t do that. Xander,” she pleaded, “I really need your help. Please.”

“No, I won’t,” Xander refused then turned his back.

“He could be a potential friend,” she attempted to reason with him again but saw that her efforts would not work. “Fine, leave then and I will get him out myself.” Buffy returned her attention back to the pile of rubble on the floor.

Removing more and more pieces from Angel, Buffy would let nothing stop her from getting him out of there. After a few seconds, Xander relented and began to help her. Buffy looked up at Xander and whispered, “Thanks.”

Xander shrugged, “Maybe he could be a friend but I still don’t like him.”

The minutes were passing with incredible slowness as Buffy’s fear of not getting to Angel in time caused her hands to tremble with fear. Shaking off her fear, she began to work quicker than before.

Moments later, Buffy and Xander were able to uncover the still, dust masked form of Angel. He was lying very still on his back with his face turned to the side; the only sign that he was still alive was the slight stirring of dirt on the floor around where his breath hit.

Angel turned his head and opened his eyes to see his rescuers. Everything around him was blurry except for her face. That beautiful face, framed by golden hair with emeralds for eyes.

“Help me,” Angel whispered before shutting his eyes again.

“Xander, you get under that shoulder. I got the other. We have to get him out before the rest of this house crashes on us.”

Buffy and Xander lifted Angel off the floor carefully and then began dragging the barely conscious man out the doors.

“What are we going to do with Dead Boy here?” Xander huffed under the weight of the man he was carrying.

“The closest place would be my attic. We should take him there,” Buffy answered. “And don’t call him that.”

“That is not a good idea, Buff. What will you tell you mother and Dawn?”

“What else should we do, I can’t just leave him here.”

“Sure we can, all we have to do is drop him out in the middle of nowhere and leave him for dead.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? It’s not like you’re in love with him.”

Buffy threw Xander a “maybe” look but then a resolved face quickly concealed it. “Because if we do, I will beat you to a bloody pulp,” she said in a way that she was partially serious and part humorous.

Xander took the hint. “That’s reason enough for me.”

Buffy smiled and they began to walk towards Buffy’s home.

“We should take him to the floor right below our attic. No one’s living there and mother only comes down there to take a break from the bickering between Dawn and I.”

Xander nodded and as soon as they got into Buffy’s building, the three began climbing their way up the stairs as quietly as possible.

Laying Angel on a cot left by the previous owners, Xander and Buffy thought they were in the clear. It seemed like everything was going smoothly and that nothing could go awry, but they were badly mistaken. Suddenly from the opposite side of the room, someone saw what they were doing.

“Buffy??” Dawn asked confused.

“Oh no,” Xander and Buffy mouthed to each other.

~ ~ ~

“What am I going to do??” Riley thought to himself as he ran towards headquarters. “I can’t tell them that I caused the house to collapse on Angel and then I ran away.”

Riley just ran and ran until he accidentally bumped into Spike.

“Hey, mate. What’s going on?” he asked.

“They got him. I barely escaped with my life,” Riley panted.

“Whom are you talking about?” Spike’s voice heightened in concern.

“ANGEL,” Riley tried to sound credible and it seemed that Spike was buying the lie. “You are so stupid,” he thought to himself.

“Who’s got Angel?”

“I don’t know,” he whined. “They jumped us both. I barely got out with my life. They are probably torturing him right now.”

Part VI

“Dawn, please don’t say anything to Mother. I need you to help me. Could you go and bring me a bowl of warm water and some towels?” Buffy asked.

“And why should I do this?” Dawn smugly replied with her arms crossed in front of her chest and one eyebrow lifted in curiosity.

“Blackmail, ok? Please do this for me,” Buffy pleaded. “Please Dawn.”

“You will owe me big time,” Dawn nodded and ran up the stairs toward the attic.

“Xander, I need you to go get Willow for me. She knows a little about medicine and I need her here as soon as possible.”

Just as Xander was leaving the room to retrieve Willow, Dawn entered to find Buffy kneeling beside the injured SS officer. She placed the warm water next to Buffy and backed away. “You better bring that back upstairs when you are done.” Dawn pointed to the bowl. “She might come down here to find it and what a surprise she will find if she sees you here with him.”

“Thanks, Dawn.” Buffy returned her attention back to Angel and then remembered something. “Hey Dawn!” she called.

“Yeah,” Dawn said turning back around to face her sister.

“Do me a favor?”

“Might as well,” Dawn shrugged.

“Go upstairs and do what you do best.”

Dawn stared at Buffy in confusion. “Now what would that be?”

“Annoy the heck out of mom and keep her busy so that she doesn’t come down here.” Buffy smiled at her sister.

Dawn smiled back, “My pleasure,” she muttered as she walked out the door leaving Buffy alone with Angel.

Placing one of the warm, clean towels in her hand, she slowly and carefully began to clean off Angel’s dust covered face. Very tenderly, she stroked his cheeks and forehead. Most of the dirt had been removed and Buffy was grateful to see his skin start to have a pale glow to it.

Putting the towel down temporarily, she decided to strip some of his torn and tattered clothing off his body. She slipped off his boots and began to unbutton his shirt, revealing a sculpted chest.

Buffy returned her attention back to the bowl of water not realizing that Angel was slowly lifting his hand to caress her cheek. Surprised by his gentle touch, she moved to come closer to him. “I didn’t think you were awake yet,” she whispered in his ear.

“I didn’t startle you, did I?” Angel whispered back.

Buffy shook her head and looked deeply into his eyes. “Actually I’m glad you’re awake. I don’t want you to go dying on me,” she joked.

He smiled meekly. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, umm… Buffy, Buffy Summers,” she stumbled.

“Thank you, Miss Summers,” Angel recited as he still held his hand up to her face, his fingers caressing the curves of her cheek. Her smooth skin sang under the light pressure of his loving touch.

“Buffy’s fine. You don’t have to thank me, you helped me earlier, I just thought that it would be nice to return the favor.”

Angel looked at her in recognition. “No one should be treated like that.”

“You remember me from before??” Buffy sounded shocked that he would remember her after such a small encounter.

“How could I forget a face as beautiful as yours,” he smiled as she blushed from his comment.

Abruptly, Willow and Xander burst into the room, arms full of all different type of medical supplies to help Angel. Laying all the supplies on the floor, Willow joined Buffy in kneeling on the ground.

“Ah, Will,” Buffy giggled, “You didn’t have to bring enough gauze and tape to heal a whole army.”

“I was enjoying a cup of coffee when Xander came to get me,” she fidgeted. “It made me kind of jumpy.”

“Angel,” Buffy turned back to him, “this is my friend, Willow Rosenberg and him, over there,” pointing to Xander, “is Xander Harris.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Angel projected his voice.

“You are Colonel Angel Heheman, right?” Willow asked with a slight hint of fear and curiosity in her voice.

A sigh escaped his lips and Angel nodded then placed his head back down on the cot. Buffy noticed that he seemed to dread hearing his own name and that baffled and intrigued her. Something about him drew her to him. No logic or reason behind these emotions, her heart just ached for him.

Willow fidgeted in nervousness. “Ooh, Xander, I forgot something. Will you come with me to get it?”

“Sure,” he answered.

“You are going to be ok,” Buffy assured to Angel in a soothing voice. He took her hand gingerly in his and brought it to his lips. The brief kiss lingered on her skin as brilliant warmth traveled up her arm to encase her body.

~ ~ ~

“Ok, Finn,” a superior officer began speaking, “I need you to tell me exactly what happened this afternoon.”

“Colonel Heheman and I were walking down 6th street about an hour ago and we were jumped from behind by at least 20 big, burly men. I was hit in the back of the head several times with a large metal hammer and they took the colonel away. I barely got out with my life,” Riley pretended to be upset.

Skeptically, the superior officer listened to Riley’s rambling of what happened earlier. Then turning to another man, he said, “We will sweep that area of town to find him. Until then, Finn you will take charge of Colonel Heheman’s duties till we find him.”

Riley could barely suppress the smile that was crawling towards his lips. ‘How to succeed in business without really trying,’ he thought and almost skipping out of the room.

“I don’t believe him,” the superior officer said. “Angel is too stealthy to be ambushed in that particular part of town. I think Riley is trying to cover up something.”

“What do you want us to do, General Wesley?” the man behind him said.

“Watch, him closely Lieutenant Gunn. Knowing his stupidity, he will probably go back to where he left Angel. Find out what that bastard is up to.”

Gunn left the room and began to follow Riley.

Part VII

Not once did Buffy leave Angel’s side that day, not saying much, just gazing into each other’s eyes. Angel wanted to know everything about his savior and Buffy desperately longed to know what his eyes were hiding.

They knew that it was finally time to talk and at the same time, they began, “So… Ha” they both smiled at their mutual mistake.

“So, how are you feeling right now?” Buffy asked quickly.

Angel answered, “If I can go a day without having some type of building falling on me, I should be fine.” He smiled that half smile that Buffy found herself falling in love with.

“What’s the chance of that happening ag..?” Buffy started to say but never finished due to the irony of a piece of ceiling falling to the floor. She jumped into his body at the sound and her heart began to race.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she stated having jumped into him and placing her face dangerously close to his. “Maybe the Powers that Be up in the sky are trying to tell us something,” she joked while moving closer to kiss him but he backed away from her.

Sitting there in awkward silence, Angel couldn’t even look into her eyes right now for fear that he will be lured in by her enchanting face.

“Ummm… Well, it’s getting late,” Buffy broke the silence. “I think I am going to head up for bed.” She was quite saddened by the idea that he didn’t want to kiss her and she felt that he wanted her to leave the room.

Angel looked back at her with a great amount of pain in his eyes because he felt her heart breaking in her chest throughout his entire body. “Will you stay with me tonight?” he asked.

At first she was confused by his request but then she understood that her heart and soul were singing with the sound of his voice. “Let me go and find some blankets and I will be right back down.”

Relieved, he sighed and smiled at her. Buffy left the room to retrieve the blankets, leaving Angel alone to bask in his thoughts. ‘I want to tell this girl so much but I don’t know how.’ When Buffy returned, she changed into her pajamas. Even in those, Angel found her to be the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. “You even look pretty when you sleep,” he said aloud.

Buffy blushed, “When I wake up that is an entirely different story.”

“You take the cot,” Angel tried to get up quickly but his sudden movements caused him to feel more of the effects of the earlier events.

“No, you’re injured, you should take the cot.”

“Believe me, I‘ve had worse,” Angel smiled at her hoping it will convince her it was alright for him to sleep on the floor. Thinking to himself, “Anywhere I sleep next to you, I feel completely comfortable.”

“Thank you,” she said as he rolled onto the floor and she lay down on the cot.

“Goodnight,” they said in unison and their eyes closed to welcome the calm stillness of sleep.

But the room was not calm. The air was filled with the light and warmth that their bodies radiated. Those of which seemed to grow, as Angel and Buffy got closer to one another. The sound of heartbeats played the serene lullaby, which made both slip into the folds of their dreams.

~ ~ ~

Gunn had followed Riley all night until his journey ended watching Riley through the glass windows of Riley’s house. He continued watching him for a couple of minutes more, trying to see if he is doing anything suspicious. One acute observation that he witnessed was when Riley took off his uniform jacket; dust slowly seeped from it and clouded the area around him. Then he noticed that Riley was removing small pieces of splintered wood from his hat and pants.

“Why would he be removing wood chunks from his clothing if he was nowhere near any wood products?” Gunn thought. “The general should hear about this.”

Waiting until the lights were extinguished before leaving, Gunn left to run through the midnight black streets until he reached the doors of headquarters.

Bursting through the doors, he found General Wesley waiting in his office for him. Greeting Gunn with raised eyebrows, General Wesley listened to Gunn’s story while stalking Riley in the shadows.

“I don’t think he can be trusted with his story, general. I find great difficulty in believing him.”

“I agree, lieutenant. Tomorrow, I want you to go with Riley and his ranks to wherever they may go. Criminals always go back to the scene of the crime. Let’s see where he takes us tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Gunn responded.

“You may go now. Heil Hitler.”

“Heil Hitler,” Gunn stated as he turned to leave the room.

“Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day to say the least.” Smirking to himself, General Wesley sat at his desk and elevated his legs to lean on his desk. “An interesting day indeed.”

~ ~ ~

Slowly stirring awake from a sleep filled with many dreams, mostly erotic ones that involved Buffy, Angel began to climb off the floor to see her. Lifting his shoulders off the ground, his bruises that covered the many parts of his body began to scream in agony. ‘Well at least seeing her face will give me some comfort,’ he thought but he would be shocked to see that Buffy no longer was laying beside him. In her place was a letter, which Angel’s name was delicately written on the front.

Pain encased his whole body when he attempted to stand up. But that pain didn’t affect him nearly as much as the pain that was radiating from his aching heart. Noticing this, Angel laughed to himself, ‘It hurts worse to wake up and not see her face than have a house fall on top of you.’ Before picking up the letter, he tenderly ran his fingers across the blankets that were still warm from her slumbering body. The tips of his fingers caressed the warmth of the blankets and all he could think of was that the wanted to take her warm body in his and never, ever let go. He wanted his lips to overpower hers, their tongues to do battle inside their mouths, his hands entangle in her golden hair. ‘Snap out of it,’ he told himself, abruptly stopping his dreams before he can’t escape them.

‘Escape, no one can escape,’ his heart told him. ‘Escape is just an imaginary word that is not possible in the real world. I can’t escape.’ A downpour of images flooded his mind of all the atrocities that he committed in the SS. One image had strength over all others. Angel could almost smell the burnt flesh, hear the bloodcurdling screams, see the little girl… “Oh my God, the little girl,” he said out loud as a solitary tear stained his cheek. The abandoned young girl haunted the back of his eyelids, the image of her standing in the middle of the street, watching the fire consume the building in front of her. He could never escape that image; she was his worst nightmare that plagued him even when he was awake.

More tears cascaded down his cheeks as he reached over to pick up Buffy’s letter. Unfolding it gently in his hands, Angel began to read the exquisitely scripted words of her letter.

>> Dear Angel, I am running to the market to buy some groceries that I forgot yesterday. I’ll be back soon so don’t try to run away from me.

Yours, Buffy>>

‘Don’t run,’ he smiled a little to himself. ‘Believe me, Buffy. I can’t.’

Angel started pacing the room trying to wait patiently for her return. He couldn’t hold still for a moment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a few coats hanging up on the wall across the room. Walking over to them, he lifted one up and put it to his face. This cost smelled of her—a slight smell of vanilla tickled his senses. Moving his fingers to get a better hold of the coat, he came upon a rough patch sewn on the coat. Turning it around to see it, he unknowingly stumbled upon something that his eyes truly didn’t want to see. The gold Star of David tattooed on the lapel of the coat was staring him back in the face. It took a few moments for this to sink into his mind and when he threw the coat across the room.

“Oh my God,” he whispered to himself.

Part VIII

The rhythmically sounds of feet marching filled the streets with their song. Private Riley Finn led his troops onward across the city in search for Colonel Heheman. Maneuvering his ranks in an orderly zigzag pattern, Riley believes that he could lead everyone on a fruitless search for the lost officer.

“Hey, Fish Boy,” a voice from ranks called out. “When are you going to stop leading us on a wild goose chase and get us to where you last saw Angel?”

“Shut up, Spike,” Riley yelled behind him, “No one asked for your opinion or you to speak for that matter.”

“Oh, come on. My favorite radio soap opera is on and if you make me miss it, I’ll…” Spike was interrupted by the sight that he saw down the street from where everyone was walking. “My God, what happened to that house?”

Riley quickly answered, “Probably nothing important, we should skip this street and go to the next one.” Lieutenant Gunn observed Riley while making this statement. He knew that Riley was trying to cover something up.

“Private Finn,” Gunn began saying, “we really should check that street out, who knows who could be hiding something there.” ‘Maybe you,’ he thought to himself.

Cautiously, Riley lead the ranks toward the condemned building which he hoped and prayed would house the dead body of Colonel Heheman. ‘If he is dead, I could just say that he must have been brought here and was killed when the house fell on him,’ he thought to himself. ‘Then I will get total control of this army.’

Securing a perimeter around the collapsed house, the soldiers carefully began to search for possible signs of someone having been there previously. A couple of men were sent inside the house to find anything but they quickly came out with nothing.

‘Where did he go?’ Riley thought to himself and for a couple of moments he became quite nervous. ‘What if he got away? He will destroy me if he tells anyone the truth of what occurred there the day before.’

Gunn noted that Riley seemed to be looking confused at the moment the soldiers found nothing in the building. “Looking for something?” Gunn asked with his eyebrows pointing toward the sky.

“No, nothing,” Riley quickly responded. Turning around in a circle, he attempted to see if there could be any signs of Angel’s escape from the house. All he saw was a few scuffmarks left on the ground, nothing that could be a telltale sign that Angel had been there, but something did catch his eye. Across the street he saw a very familiar blonde woman enter through the side entrance of the building. ‘Wonder what are mystery neighbor is doing across the street?’ he asked himself.

“Private Graham, Sergeant Doyle, come with me to check out across the street. Something seems suspicious over there,” Riley commanded and leaded the two other officers across the street.

As silent as possible, the three soldiers opened the front doors to the building and stealthily crept inside. Staying against the walls, they searched the first level of the house. Finding not much, Riley began ordering their retreat out of the house but then the sound of a voice caught his attention—a feminine voice.

“Sir, I think I hear something upstairs. We should probably check it out,” Private Graham whispered to Riley.

“Take Sergeant Doyle and go get the rest of the troop,” Riley whispered back, “We might be in some need of backup.” Following their orders, the two soldiers left the building to join the rest outside. As soon as the two others left, Riley crept up the stairs to eavesdrop in the conversation. Through the tiny crack in the door, Riley was shocked to see what was unfolding in front of his eyes.

“Oh shit,” he whispered to himself seeing Angel inside the room talking with the blonde girl. “We everyone comes back in the building, this should be fun.”

~ ~ ~

Staring numbly at the coat crumbled up on the floor across the room, Angel could not believe what his eyes were trying to tell him. ‘She’s a Jew,’ he thought to himself. His knees trembled uncontrollably and the wall was his only source of support. ‘I can’t stay here anymore,’ he decided and started heading out the door as quickly as possible.

The exquisite blonde woman that glided through the doors just as he was about to leave abruptly stopped him. Not having the strength to look her into the eyes, he glared at the floor right beside her feet.

“Angel, where you going?” Buffy asked him.

Not responding to her question, he retreated across the room back to the wall that was the only source to brace himself from the truth about this woman.

Concerned by the look in his eyes, Buffy confronted Angel, “What’s wrong?” But he just stood there in silence. “Talk to me, please,” she pleaded.

The only way he could think to react to her inquiry was to look over to the coat that was still lying on the ground. She followed the movement of his eyes and beheld the coat lying on the ground.

All color was lost from her cheeks because she knew what Angel had just discovered about her identity. “Angel let me explain.”

“I have to leave. You are not safe when I am around you.”

“What are you taking about?”

“The SS will find me here and I don’t want to think about what they would do to you if they found out who you are.” Angel paused a moment to finally look at her. “Wherever I go, pain, danger and loss always follows.”

“You are still hurt, I just can’t let you leave here,” she resolved.

“I can’t be around you,” his voice raised, “because I can only hurt you and that could be more than I can bare.”

Stepping towards him, Buffy looked deeply in his eyes and was confronted again with the pain that radiated from his dark eyes. “Angel, talk to me. You can tell me what is wrong.”

“I can’t be around you because whenever I am I feel how badly I want to kiss you,” he admitted, stepping closer to her.

Slowly and tenderly, their lips met in an unsure kiss. Their lips danced with each other as their passion was rising more quickly with every passing second. Moving her arms around his shoulders and neck and entangling her hands in his hair while his hands crept along her back pulling her closely into his chest.

Like a thick, dense haze their emotions filled the room around them. The world faded away and the only thing that existed was their passion. Too entranced in their kiss, they didn’t notice the wandering eyes that caught glimpse of this moment from the small crack in the door of the stairs.

~ ~ ~

Riley strategically planned his entrance into the room while watching the event that befell his eyes. After a few moments, Doyle, Graham, and 10 other soldiers waited patiently against the stairs for the signal to enter the room.

A strong sense of jealousy rose in Riley’s mind as he watched Angel and the blonde woman sharing their intimate moment. ‘How come he gets all the girls?’ he thought to himself.

Waiting for the couple to break their embrace, Riley sat there with the rest of his soldiers.

Noticing that they ended their kiss, Riley shouted to the men scattered down the stairs. “NOW!!” he yelled.

Plowing through the doors of the room, the soldiers quickly overcame their first feeling of shock when seeing their colonel standing next to her. Running towards them, the soldiers went straight to Angel thinking that they were saving him from torment and torture.

“What’s going on here?” Angel asked his men.

“Explain this,” Riley stated holding up the coat that once was lying on the ground. “I wonder who this belongs to.”

Three soldiers quickly came up behind Buffy and held her down to the floor. Riley sauntered over to her and shoved the coat in her face with the gold emblem facing upwards.

“Are you the only one in the house?” he leaned down to ask her.

“Yes,” a muffled sound seeped from her lips that still held the warmth of their first kiss. A tear ran from her eye and began to cascade down her cheek.

“Stand her up,” he ordered, “take her away.” The three men began to drag Buffy from the building leaving Angel to stare blankly at the scene in front of him.

“Were you having fun in here, Angel?” Riley asked as a smirk traveled across his face.

“Where are they taking her?” Angel yelled in desperation. Harshly grabbing Riley by the collar, Angel easy shook him with his own hands.

“Why should I tell you?” Riley laughed.

Part IX

“I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO ASK AGAIN!!!” Angel shouted in Riley’s face, gripping the man’s collar tighter and tighter. His knuckles bleached white from the firm grip he had on Riley.

Seeing a mixture of hatred and fear, Riley laughed straight into Angel’s face. “Why do you care?” he smiled.

Releasing his grip for a moment, Angel’s fist met Riley’s face in a fierce punch. Riley slumped to the floor with his badly damaged ego. Ignoring the pain that was caused by him crouching down to the floor, Angel got closer to Riley to stare him blankly in the eyes. “Where are they taking her?” he asked for the last time.

“Fuck you,” Riley whispered angrily as he felt the inside of his mouth filling with blood from the wound opened on the lining of his cheek. Not wanting to seem intimidated by Angel’s action and intense stare, he spit that blood on the floor next to him and returned the stare.

“Wrong answer,” Angel stated as he harshly grabbed Riley and drug him to his feet. “You should have told me because now, sorry to say, I have an overwhelming urge to torture you.” Taking his already tattered shirt, Angel ripped it into several long strips of cloth to tie up Riley. Violently tying his hands behind his back, Riley’s fingers began to go numb for loss of circulation.

After being tied, Angel threw Riley across the room, slamming him into the opposite wall. “This would have been a lot easier if you would just tell me where they are taking her.” Slowly drawing a dagger from his boot, Angel pressed the blade to Riley’s cheek. “Where is she?” he whispered calmly, slashing the knife along Riley’s white face.

“Jesus Christ,” Riley exasperated, “I heard you were all peaceable now.”

“I guess you heard wrong because I haven’t even begun to do you damage.” Angel quickly moved the dagger to the other side of his face and made an identical incision across the other cheek. “Now tell me where she is or I will be forced to remove all the skin from your face.” Thrusting the dagger in his face as a threat, Riley slowly began to succumb to his fear by laughing hysterically.

“TELL ME WHERE SHE IS,” Angel shrieked in his face as he plunged the dagger deep into Riley’s arm and slowly turning in circles.

Through his screams of pain, Riley finally confessed as to where the SS soldiers were taking Buffy. “They are taking her to the basement of the abandoned building on 10th street, then in two days, they are going to transfer her to Auschwitz.”

“Now was that so difficult,” Angel acknowledged calmly.

“What are you going to do now? Rescue her!! HA,” Riley laughed painfully. “Colonel Angel Heheman rescuing his damsel in distress from the clutches of enemy, HOW UTTERLY ROMANTIC. You know that the SS will never cease on trying to find you. They will hunt you down like some poor, rabid dog. I want to be there when they find you. I hope to find them stringing your little bitch out to dry and have you slowly watch the life drain from her body. Do you really want to put her in that type of danger?” Riley mocked.

For a moment, that realization sunk into Angel’s brain. Casting his eyes down to the floor, his mind wandered to the fact that he would put Buffy in danger if he would help her out.

Riley noticed his hesitation and decided to prey upon Angel’s feelings for his girl. “You would just love to watch her slowly dying in front of you, wouldn’t you? Watch the pink color of her skin drain to bring forth the blinding whiteness that her skin would turn. Looking into those eyes just to see her pain shining brightly. Knowing those same eyes would recognize you as her killer. Those eyes would haunt…”

Angel quickly silenced Riley with another punch across the face. “Fuck you, Riley,” he spat. Standing up to leave Riley in the room, Angel turned and began walking towards the door.

“What, are you just going to leave me here?” Riley asked.

“What do you think?” Angel answered, quickly turning around and throwing the dagger straight at Riley’s thigh. Before leaving the room, Angel saw how the dagger deeply embedded itself in Riley’s leg. Not caring if he lived or died, Angel left the room in contemplative silence.

~ ~ ~

Not knowing where she was, Buffy attempted to look through the blackness the covered her like a blanket. Seeing absolutely nothing, Buffy slumped to the floor as tears began teeming down her face.

“Hey there, cutie,” a voice pierced through the blackness.

Catching her off-guard, Buffy gasped. “Who’s there? What do you want?”

“Call me Spike,” he answered shortly. “I thought maybe you could use a friend right now.” Approaching the small figure curled up in a ball on the floor, Spike paused their conversation. “So, how was your experience meeting Angel?”

Hearing Angel’s name called, Buffy’s ears perked slightly. “Angel,” she whispered to herself.

“Yeah, ANGEL,” he teased, “you know, tall, dark, can’t go outside without his nancy-boy hair gel. You are actually quite lucky that we saved you from him before he did anything to you.”

Breathing deeply, Buffy sat there without moving a muscle. “Angel,” she whispered again.

“You said that before. What are you a broken record or something? But back to us pretty much rescuing you. Angel is notorious for committing the most brutal acts against you people. He likes mind games especially. Slowly taking you all out one by one. You have no idea what he could or would have done to you.”

“Why don’t you enlighten me?” Buffy looked up to where the voice was coming from.

“A couple of months ago, Angel led a group of soldiers to a synagogue where a bunch of Jews were hiding. Locking them inside, he ordered all to burn the building down with everyone still inside. The screams from inside could be heard for miles.” Pausing for a moment, Spike tried to hear some sort of response from the woman. “While the building was consumed by the flames, a little girl came up behind Angel and tried talking to him. He just turned and walked away.”

Feeling the tears rimming her eyes, all Buffy could muster was “Oh my God.”

“Yes, you are a VERY lucky girl,” Spike assured.

“I find that hard to believe,” Buffy said sarcastically. “I am never going to get out of here, am I?”

“Actually, you are. In two days we are transferring you to Auschwitz and what a party is it going to be there,” Spike laughed. “But, hey, don’t give up hope, pet. Maybe someone will try to get you out, you never know even though I don’t count on it.”

Feeling more and more hopeless, Buffy could only sit there and cry. ‘Angel, please help me,’ she thought to herself.

Part X

Running from the building and his memories, Angel knew that he had to get help to get Buffy free. His aggression towards Riley opened many of the still fresh wounds that plagued his mind. The many faces of the people that he terrorized came like bolts of lightning to his brain. He saw the weathered and worn faces of so many people. The strongest image that plagued him was the face of the little girl. The searing memory of that girl’s innocent gaze haunted his nightmares. Her sweet voice still rang in his ears and he couldn’t stop her voice even though he placed his hands around his head.

Angel slammed his back against the outside of the building and tried to make the world stop crumbling around him. He tightly closed his eyes in the hope that he could no longer see what he had done but nothing would cease the images. But then through all those faces came the most beautiful face he had ever seen—Buffy’s face. He saw her once shining skin marred with dirt and her cheeks stained with tears. The image was so real, he thought that he could just reach out and hold her tight against his chest.

“Buffy?” he whispered to himself and at first he thought that she could hear him speak. “Buffy?” he asked again.

“Angel, help me,” she pleaded and suddenly opened her eyes.

Opening his eyes at almost the same moment, Angel knew what he had to do.

Knocking on all the doors to the buildings down the street he knew that he had to find Buffy’s friend, Xander. From house to house he banged urgently of the front doors until he was fortunate to find him.

Xander opened the door and was shocked to find Angel standing on his threshold.

“What do you want?” he hissed.

“Can I come in?” Angel inquired politely.

“No,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Xander, they took Buffy.”

“Who did?” Xander sounded scared and angry at the same moment.

“The SS. They probably tracked me down and when they found her, they figured out who she was so they took her away.” Angel stared at the younger man with deep concern in his eyes.

“Then let’s go get her now!” he stated quickly.

“Whoa, you are way out of your league kid, the SS will kill you where you stand,” Angel informed Xander.

“How can I make this any more clear,” Xander walked closer to Angel and with a balled fist, struck his across the face, “I don’t like you and at the end of the day I think you’re a monster, but Buffy has this major yin for you, she thinks you’re a person. I want you to prove her right.”

“You’re in love with her,” Angel acknowledged.

“Aren’t you?”

~ ~ ~

“No, I don’t believe you,” Buffy said with confidence back to Spike.

“Believe me, pet,” Spike chuckled. “How do you think Angel got to be a colonel in the SS? Do you honestly believe that he is where he is today because he was nice? Excuse me for laughing.”

Buffy couldn’t respond to Spike. She just wanted to be numb and not feel anything. ‘Being numb to the world sounds so good right now,’ she thought.

Sitting in silence, she felt so alone. She shut her eyes again and felt the warm tears stream down her filthy cheeks but then something caught her attention. With her eyes closed, she saw Angel leaning against a building. Then she heard him calling her name and for a moment, she felt his presence right there with her. He had his eyes closed and his hands covered his ears.

Buffy wanted to reach out and touch him. She wanted to be folded into his body and be lulled to sleep with every heartbeat.

She saw his eyes flutter open and she whispered to him, “Angel, help me.”

“What was that?” Spike commented from the opposite side of the room, interrupting Buffy’s vision.

Opening up her eyes again, she had this gut feeling that Angel had heard her plea. Feeling a little sense of relief, she told Spike, “Nothing.”

“Well, pet. I hate to inform you that I am needed elsewhere so you will be without my company for the rest of the evening. Don’t miss me too much,” he laughed as he walked out of the room.

Buffy knew that Angel would be coming for her, but when, she only prayed that it would be soon. “Angel, please come quickly.”

~ ~ ~

“Xander, I need you to find Willow. Tell her to get Buffy’s family out of Germany and go to Switzerland.” Handing him some money, Angel continued, “this is for the train fare, tell them to get out of here as soon as possible. After that, phase two of the plan comes into effect.”

Xander turned and began to walk out the door, but then Angel stopped him for one last thing to say.

“Oh and Xander, please hurry. We don’t have much time.” Xander nodded and left to get Willow.

“Here we go,” Angel whispered to himself as the plan was just beginning to come into being.

Part XI

Angel waited patiently in the shadows of Xander’s front porch. Anxiously drumming his fingers, he prayed that Xander would return soon. Not knowing what was happening to Buffy, but more to the point what they were doing to her made his stomach churn and his eyebrows furrow into his forehead. Retreating back into his thoughts, Angel went over his plan to help Buffy escape in his head.

‘First, Xander and I…’ suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Xander’s voice.

“Willow, Joyce, and Dawn are on their way now. Willow is going with them to Switzerland to make sure they get there safe,” Xander panted from running.

“Good, now did you tell them where to meet us?”

“Yes, and I also told them that if we didn’t make it, then they should just run,” Xander paused, “but we won’t let that happen will we?”

“No, we need to get Buffy out of there but first you have to change,” Angel mentioned.

“Change?” Xander stared at Angel in confusion.

“Yeah, change. As in change your clothes.” Angel stated as he started walking toward the street.

Still standing exactly in the same place, Xander raised his voice to Angel, “Hey, what’s wrong with my clothes?” Xander opened his arms to reveal the obnoxiously bright shirt.

“Besides from the obvious, we need a little more conspicuous clothing to get you past the SS,” Angel smiled as he turned to look back at Xander.

“Oh, right,” Xander muttered sarcastically as he followed Angel down the street.

~ ~ ~

Buffy felt that she had been down in that dark room for what seemed to be an eternity. The darkness seemed to encase her entire body and not even the idea of her knight in shining armor coming to save her from the bad guys made her feel warmth again. ‘Come on, Angel,’ she thought to herself again.

Then the voice rang through the darkness again. “Hey cutie, you got a visitor.”

Buffy perked up with the thought that Angel was here. She knew it was he because she could feel his presence all around her. Only then did the room fill with a slight hint of warmth. Still sitting in darkness, Buffy tried to distinguish Angel from the two figures that hovered over her.

Then over her head, a light finally shone through the darkness. Adjusting her eyes to the fierce light, Buffy was relieved to find Angel standing close to her with the man she guess was Spike.

“I’m pretty sure you know each other already, so let’s skip the formalities here,” Spike said but Buffy barely heard what he said, she just longingly gazed into the deep pools of Angel’s eyes.

Through his eyes, Buffy could see that Angel was trying to tell her something and right away she knew exactly what was running through her mind. ‘Play along, ok?’ her brain heard his plea. Nodding slightly, Buffy knew that whatever happened next was not going to be all too pleasant.

Crouching down to meet Buffy’s gaze, Angel looked straight at her with a cold, steely look in his eyes. “So, how do you feel now?” he asked with harshness with his voice. Buffy could not look at Angel right now so all she did was watch the beam of light moving across the room from the swinging light.

Nothing came to her mind to respond to his question so she sat there in silence.

“I AM TALKING TO YOU!” he yelled and grabbed her shoulders with both hands. Angel’s touch sent an intense shock of electricity through her body. “What you torture me for a few hours and have nothing to say to me??”

Buffy looked back up into Angel’s eyes as her tears began to stream down her face again. She attempted to hold back her tears because she could tell that they were starting to break Angel from his mindset of actions. Forcing the tears back, Buffy stared blankly at Angel.

“No matter if you talk or not, it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you made me the man that I am today,” he sneered. Angel still held Buffy’s arms in his hands, squeezing hard enough to convince Spike that he was threatening her, but not enough to hurt her.

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed as she shirked off his touch. “What do you want with me?”

“I want to torture you. It’s been a long time.” Angel’s smile sent a cold chill running up and down her spine.

“Touch me and I will kill you,” she threatened.

Turning his attention back to Spike, he said, “Spike get out of here. This could get ugly.”

“But don’t you…” Spike began to protest.

“GET OUT, THAT IS AN ORDER!” he yelled. On that cue, Spike left the room leaving Angel alone with Buffy. Angel looked over his shoulder to see that Spike did indeed leave the room and as soon as the door slammed, Angel fell to the floor next to Buffy.

Wrapping his arms around her trembling body, he pulled her closer to his body. Whispering softly into her ear, “I am sorry, I am sorry, I am so sorry.”

Hearing his heartbeat and feeling his warm chest hugged tightly against hers, she let all her tears fall on his shoulder. “Angel, don’t ever leave me,” she beseeched.

“Never,” he assured stroking her golden hair. “I will never let you go for as long as I am alive.”

Keeping tight in their embrace, both souls were fearful of letting go. Their silence spoke words that no language could ever describe. The hearts beat with love, passion, pain, guilt and fear.

“We need to get out of here,” Angel whispered as he started to separate from her but she refused to let go.

“Before we leave, tell me the truth. What happened the day that the synagogue burnt down?” Buffy asked.

Breaking from their embrace, Angel slightly pushed away from Buffy. She could see the pain and guilt that painted his eyes at the sound of her question. “Tell me the truth,” she demanded.

“Sometimes, lies are necessary. The truth can hurt worse.” Angel’s eyes were cast down to the floor.

“I can take it.”

“Do you love me?” he questioned.

“What?” she asked him in confusion.

“Do you love me??” he asked again.

“Yes but I don’t know if I can trust you,” she admitted.

“Maybe you shouldn’t do either.”

“Let me be the one to decide that.”

A silence arose that was no longer welcome with warmth, but a silence that defined awkwardness. For what seemed the longest time, Angel contemplated on what to say to the woman that he loved.

“That was the worst thing I have ever done in my life…” Angel started on his story while Buffy focused on listening.

Part XII

“That day will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Angel continued sorrowfully on with the explanation that he knew Buffy would not want to hear. “I did many horrible things when I joined up with the SS, the burning of that building was the worst. My superiors commanded me that day to round up all those Jews and take them away. I trapped them all in that building and locked the door so that none could escape. I was just so young and stupid; I didn’t know what the real plans for that day were.

“I just did what I was told, I locked them up and walked away to go back to headquarters. I had walked a couple of streets when I suddenly took a whiff of the air. It reeked of smoke! I ran back as soon as I could but it was too late. The entire building had become engulfed in flames and I couldn’t do anything but stand there and stare. I didn’t know what to do, I was so scared,” a tear ran down his cheek, “but the worst part was the screams. The screams filled the sky with its song. Those screams, I still hear them, they will never go away. But more haunting then the screams is the sound of a little girl’s voice.”

Angel paused for a moment to look deeply at the woman he loved. Seeing a mixture of anger, pain, fear, and compassion all flashed in her eyes. Buffy just stared at him waiting for him to continue.

“This little girl came up behind me and took my hand in hers. Her touch, so soft, so innocent, grabbed my attention. Looking down at her, her eyes held a deep confusion. I saw the star on her coat and knew who she was. Softly she asked me, ‘What’s happening to my parents?’ She returned her attention back to the building and then her voice cried out to me, ‘Please sir, you need to help them, please,’ she begged. Her touch then burned me and I dropped her hand. After that moment, I just ran. I ran so much and never wanted to go back. I didn’t want to see what I had done, all the people that I had hurt.”

Finally finding her voice, Buffy asked, “Why did you go back, then?”

“I planned my escape every day since then. A couple of times I was able to get away but then something flashed through my head telling me that they will find me and until I come back, who knows what they would do to my family, my friends, everyone.” Angel’s tears were choked a little back when he continued, “I made a deal with myself that I would try to destroy the SS from the inside and then at the right moment, I would run and never, ever come back. I was waiting for the right time and a definite reason to leave and I think this is the time.” Angel ceased his story and sat there in absolute silence.

Not knowing what to think or feel, Buffy stared at the floor. Then looking back at Angel, she felt his pain and guilt. She felt his complete sense of loneliness and fear. All Buffy could think about doing was placing her hand on his face. Raising her hand slowly, she reached over and caressed his cheek, wiping away all his tears.

Feeling her warm touch upon his skin, sent a shock of electricity through his entire body. He looked back at her and was comforted by her presence. “Well, let’s get started on the escape. What’s the plan?”

“Here’s the plan…” Angel started to say.

~ ~ ~

“Do I know you mate?” Spike asked the new man that stood watch outside the door.

Not knowing what exactly to say, he responded, “Uh… Private Xander Harris, of the 23rd division.”

Xander kept his eyes forward the whole time that Spike circled him. ‘I will kill you, Angel if this uniform doesn’t work.’ Dressing in one of Angel’s uniforms, Xander stood outside the door waiting for the right moment to do his part in the plan.

“Well, that’s odd. I thought I knew everyone that worked here. When did you sign on?” Spike pried.

“Just yesterday, actually,” Xander didn’t totally lie. ‘Angel did give me the uniform yesterday.’ “I am a good friend of Colonel Heheman, he convinced me to come here.”

“Ahhhhh, well, keep an eye on that door. The girl in there is a little testy and with Angel not exactly at full strength, you may have to intercede in there.”

“Yes sir,” Xander responded forcefully. ‘I hope to God he is buying this.’

Spike left Xander alone to stand in front of the door. Growing impatient, he almost had the urge to run in there, just grab Buffy and run out of there. ‘Jesus, Angel, the crusades didn’t take this long,’ he thought to himself.

For a few more minutes, Xander stood there but then he heard the signal. Inside the room, Angel and Buffy began to yell and scream at each other. Spike came running back as he heard what was happening.

“We need to get in there,” Spike exasperated as he tried to push Xander out of the way.

“We wait to hear that Angel needs help,” Xander calmly told him.

Through the walls, Angel called out, “HARRIS, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!”

Both he and Spike burst through the doors to see Angel wrapping a body up in a huge blanket.

“What happened here?” Spike asked as his eyes widened with wonderment.

“She started pissing me off, so I snapped her neck,” Angel answered matter-of-factly. Lifting up the body, Angel flung it over his shoulder ready to carry it out.

Angel found little to no trouble in this action because she felt light as a feather. “Buffy, make sure you don’t move a muscle,” Angel whispered to her as softly as possible.

“Hey, wait a minute there. Shouldn’t we just leave her in here then?” Spike asked.

“Nope, the only thing that someone is going to find in here tomorrow morning is you.” Angel stated as he kept on walking.

“Huh?” Spike asked but before he could expand upon his question, Xander came up behind him and hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him unconscious.

“Ewww, that’s going to hurt in the morning,” Xander laughed as he stood over the still form of Spike.

“We need to go now! We need to get out of here before someone comes here,” Angel pleaded as he and Xander stalked out of the room carrying Buffy.

“That was fun, can we do it again?” Buffy said through the blanket.

Part XIII

“Is the coast clear now?” Buffy’s muffled voice broke through the blanket covering her body.

“Not yet,” Angel whispered back still carried her over his shoulder. “Remember, we aren’t in the clear yet, stay quiet.”

Walking in silence, the three crept farther and farther away from danger. Then ducking behind the side of a building, Angel put Buffy down on her feet. As she was soon released from her binding, she reached over and hugged Xander with all the strength that she could muster.

Angel stood behind her with a funny grin dancing upon his lips. The blanket that had once encased her body now caused her hair to reach to the sky with static electricity. Angel felt a chuckle rise in this throat.

Noticing this Buffy asked, “What’s so funny?” Then following the look of his eyes, she combed her fingers through her hair. Feeling her hair stick to her hands, she exclaimed, “This is not funny.”

“Actually, it’s a good look for you,” Xander said.

“Kind of like that uniform. Interesting color I must say,” Buffy giggled. “Not like you at all.”

“It grows on you after a while,” Xander commented. “But we need to keep on moving, we can’t get caught now.”

The three began to once again walk away from the building. Buffy walked next to Angel and even though she put on the façade of being calm and confident, inside her heart and soul trembled with fear. Angel felt her fear boiling inside of her and the only thing that he could think of doing at the moment was reaching down and taking her hand in his. Angel gently squeezed her hand in reassurance that he would be there for her and for the first time, she actually felt calm.

~ ~ ~

Limping through the doors of headquarters, Riley Finn tried to find anyone that would help him.

“SOMEONE HELP ME!” he yelled.

A couple of soldiers came to his aid as he crumpled to the ground. “General Wilkins, come and see this,” one of them shouted out loud.

“Who are you?” the general asked. “And what happened to you?”

“Private Riley Finn, sir,” Riley responded. “I was attacked by Colonel Angel Heheman yesterday.”

“Why?” the general inquired incredulously.

“He wanted to help a Jew to safety and I was the only one who could tell him where he could find her,” he said. “He probably got her by now and is on the run.”

Turning to face the rest of the soldiers around him, General Wilkins commanded, “I want you all to find him and bring him here to me. We need to solve this problem before it gets out of hand. Go NOW!”

At that command, hundreds of soldiers exited the building in a furious pace. With whistles in hands, their shrill sounds echoed around the city in the attempt to find their convicts.

~ ~ ~

Buffy was feeling the most release that she had in an extraordinary amount of time. Just being close to Angel and holding his hand, Buffy felt peace. When he was close, warmth wrapped around her blocking out this cold, harsh world. Nothing seemed to break that feeling.

Suddenly the skies filled with the piercing sound of whistles. Angel perked up to this sound and knew that the chase had just begun. Again the fear rose in her body as they began their sprint to find some place safe.

The streetlights cast an eerie glow upon the ground and randomly Angel could see the images of men’s shadows running through those lights.

“We need to split up,” Angel panted. “Xander, take Buffy with you. I am going to try to make them chase me. That way you two can get out of danger.”

Wanting to stop dead in her tracks, Buffy protested, “No, Angel, we can out run them together. We don’t have to split up.”

Running into an empty alley, Angel looked deeply at Buffy as Xander watched the street waiting to see if anyone was coming their way.

“Please Angel, I can’t leave you,” she pleaded with tears rimming her eyes.

“Buffy, you have to go. I won’t let them get you. If they catch me, I know you will be safe.” Angel lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek.

“No, I can’t let you do that. If you were to be caught, they are definitely going to kill you.” Buffy’s tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I love you,” he declared. “Not even death can change that.”

Before Buffy could respond, Angel ran from that alley into the open road. She wanted to run after him, but her legs refused to move.

“ANGEL!” she yelled but by that time, Angel was gone from here sight.

Almost falling to her knees, Xander caught her and said, “Come on, Buffy, we need to get out of here.”

Pulling her from that alley, Xander and Buffy ran with all their might towards the train station.

Part XIV

Even though Buffy was sprinting through the streets, her heart was still back in that alley with Angel. She was utterly numb; her body felt no warmth, just cold fear for Angel. She wanted just to fall on her hands and knees and never get up but she continued with the rhythmic pounding of feet on the hard pavement.

“Xander, where are we going?” she asked with no feeling in her voice.

Turning to look at her for a second, Xander answered, “The train station. Your mother and Dawn are already on their way to Switzerland with Willow and Angel wanted you to get there to join them.”

Knowing that her family was almost safe gave Buffy a slight hint of hope that she everything will be ok but then deep in the back of her mind, she was plagued with the image of Angel injured or killed. ‘I don’t want to live without him,’ she thought to herself, once again having the sensation of cold tears run down her cheeks.

To Buffy it seemed like they were running for hours but then she knew that one moment without Angel is like an eternity to her. Getting closer to the station, Xander once again put on the SS hat that he had been carrying in his hand.

Pulling Buffy into a shrieking halt, Xander began to slowly walk towards the guards that were stationed in the front entrance. They knew that these guards would be the last ones that they would have to fool and probably the most dangerous.

Walking up to the guards, Xander declared, “Private Xander Harris, transporting a spy to Dauchau for questioning.”

“Let me see your paperwork,” one commanded as Xander handed him so documents that Angel quickly drew up before they left.

Seeming to be fooled by the fake documents, the guards nodded their heads and per missed them to let them pass. Xander forcefully pulled Buffy past the guards into the open area of the train station.

“We need to get on the train now before anyone suspects something,” Xander whispered in Buffy’s ear.

All she could do was nod. She knew what Angel wanted her to do but she just didn’t have the heart to be assertive on her actions. She wanted Angel with her, not on the run for his life.

Stepping up on the platform, Buffy and Xander jumped onto the train. Xander released a sigh of relief because for the first time he felt safe and free.

Guiding them to a seat, Xander placed Buffy in on of the many seats available in the boxcar. Stopping for the first time to rest, their hearts began their decent back to a normal rhythm.

Sitting there in silence for a few moments, Xander finally said, “Buffy, I’ll be back in a second. Don’t go anywhere.”

Buffy nodded again and watched Xander leave her side. She felt so alone and she couldn’t even cry anymore. Her entire body was spent and not one more drop could fall from her cheerless eyes. She just stared straight ahead.

Trying to block everything from her mind, a song wafted through the air and hit her ears with relentless force. Buffy wanted to cover her ears and not hear anything, but the song just pulled her in.

“The very thought of you I forget to do Those little ordinary things That everyone ought to do I'm livin' in a kind of a daydream I'm happy as a queen And foolish though it may seem To me that's everything The mere idea of you The longing here for you You'll never know How slow the moments go Till I'm near to you I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you, The very thought of you, my love I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you The very thought of you, my love I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you The very thought of you, my love I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you, The very thought of you, my love I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you The very thought of you, my love I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you The very thought of you, my love”

Buffy felt the tears come again even though she thought she had nothing left to shed. ‘How can she be so happy?’ Buffy asked to herself. Raising her hands to her face covering up her sorrow and sadness.

“You know, a face as beautiful as yours shouldn’t be covered up,” a familiar voice embraced Buffy.

“Angel?”

Part XV

Opening her hands and looking up at the man that just spoke, Buffy thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her. “Angel?” she asked again.

Realizing his presence there, she suddenly jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms tightly around him. She never wanted to let go and her grip around him was a testament of that fact.

Not caring who may be looking upon them, Angel and Buffy’s lips met in a passionate kiss. Only then, in his arms and kissing his lips did Buffy feel entirely at peace and loved. Eyes bore into the backs of their heads but they paid no attention to the stares.

Breaking only for necessary breathe, Buffy looked at Angel longingly. She wanted to remember this moment for the rest of her life.

Returning back into their hug, she whispered in his ear, “I love you.”

“I love you,” he immediately declared in return.

Taking his hand in hers, she led him down to the seat next to her. “So how did you get away?” she asked with curiosity in her voice.

“Well, let’s say, I was leading them all on a wild goose chase around town to lead them back to a very special person.”

Buffy looked at Angel with confusion in her eyes.

“I had to go back to your house and my house for some supplies to keep the SS off my back for a while and then I made my run to this train.”

“My house, what did you need to get at my house?”

~ ~ ~

“This is such a shame, Finn had such potential,” General Wesley mentioned to his fellow general. The two generals watched as a few SS soldiers cramming Riley onto one of the many boxcars filled with people on their way out of Germany.

“THAT COAT IS NOT MINE. I AM NOT A GOD-DAMN JEW, I TELL YOU,” Riley screamed at his officers.

“Then how come we found it in your house along with several stolen documents from headquarters,” General Wilkins mentioned. “Come on, admit it. You are a Jew who became part of the SS to get an inside scoop on our operations. Then you stole the information that we were giving Colonel Heheman, when he was kidnapped and gave it to the enemy.”

“No sir, someone must have set me up. I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!” he exclaimed in desperation.

“Why can I not seem to believe you at the moment?” General Wesley stated as he shut the door to the open boxcar. “Have fun at Bergen Belsen.”

The train then began its slow march toward the concentration camp where Riley was being sentence for treason. The generals could still hear Riley screaming his innocence and then hear loud sobs come through the car.

“So what are we going to do about Angel?” General Wilkins asked General Wesley.

“Finn took all his papers so I see him as no threat to us. If he would become a threat, then we will have to find him. But for now, Angel never existed,” Wesley stated with his eyes still following the train ahead of them.

~ ~ ~

“The SS actually bought that?” Buffy asked with a slight laugh in her voice.

“I guess so. What can I say, I am the best actor in the world.”

Buffy’s eyes shone with hope and promise at their conversation. She loved him more than life itself and she knew that Angel felt the same way.

“So are we safe now?” Buffy inquired.

“Yes,” Angel assured, “the SS believe that someone stole all the secret documents from me so that I don’t have anything anymore. It is so ironic though, that I made myself some copies that they have no clue of.” Angel pulled from the back of his pants, a giant manila folder that carried some of the SS dirtiest and darkest secrets. “Now all I need to do is give these to the English or French, and I finally will be able to destroy the SS from the inside.”

Buffy was afraid that the SS would figure out what Angel had done and come after them, but she had a great hope that everything would work out alright in the end. Leaning over to kiss him yet again, a voice broke their reverie.

“Ah-hem,” Xander coughed with the slightest hint of jealousy. “When did you get here, Angel?”

“A couple of minutes ago. I wanted to find Buffy as soon as possible,” Angel stated to Xander but still looking directly into Buffy’s eyes.

“Good for you,” Xander said sarcastically. “So, now where to next?”

Leaning into Buffy and whispering in her ear, “It doesn’t matter, as long as you are with me. I will always, always love you.”

Buffy smiled at his declaration and met his lips in one more embrace as the train began its journey out of the darkness.

Epilogue Sunnydale, California 2001

“Grandma, Grandma! Tell me the story again,” a small child requested. “Tell me how you met Grandpa.” A small little girl sat on her grandma’s lap and looked lovingly into her eyes.

“Do you really want to hear that story again, Kristen?” an elderly voice came from the background.

“Yes, Grandpa, I do. I want to know everything. How you and grandma escaped Germany, how you were a hero of the Great War, how you got to America. I want to know EVERYTHING!” she directed her questions now to her grandpa standing behind her.

“Well, the hero part, will have to be saved for another day, but I can tell you the story again,” Kristen’s grandma said. “Let me first begin with the escape, what can I say?”

The grandpa finished the next part of his wife’s story, “Love Lead Me the Way.” The elderly couple still looked into each other’s eyes and still there was that spark of light that was ignited over 50 years ago.

THE END!!!!

~~~~So whatca think? You like?~~~~

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