Immortal Beloved..." LVII...
A shortie...
PG-13
Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!
It's all yours and ME's...
Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...
Summary:Various outcomes following "Girl In Question" and /or "Not Fade Away" on Angel...
Ok, I lied about stopping at 50...But me poor ole mum would just say, "so long as I like it, it's ok..."
Sides, after the last one, I had to do another nice one to balance things out...And there was that mistake with the numbers earlier...I mean there's no choice but to press on (over your pleading screams to desist, no doubt...)
***
Night...LA, the alleyway of the just-ended battle with the Senior Partners...Who'd just retreated back to their hell portal in panic as reinforcements had arrived to bolster Angel and his associates in the nick of time...
"Where is he, Angel?!..." Buffy in despair, pulling barrels, ripping out boards in the alleyway walls, looking for any place where a badly wounded individual might have crawled for protection...Or a body might have been dumped...
The battered Angel, in rough shape himself, but as determined as his companion to find his...What the hell, yes...Partner...he noted to himself, shook his head slowly...Wincing a bit at the pain...
"Dad..." Connor's worried tone... "We've gotta get you to a hospital..." "Later..." Angel waved a hand...
"Angel...Ms. Summers...!" a cry from back up the alleyway...
Illyria...They turned to find her supported a wan-looking, stumbling blonde... "William!!..." Buffy ran back... "William!!!..." she grabbed at him...
"Buffy?..." he stared... "You came...They said you'd come..." he staggered a bit...
"Yes, yes...Will...Oh, William...I came as soon as I could after I heard...Just a leetle problem with the Immortal, that bastard...He was working with the Partners to keep us apart...He..."
"My God!..." she put a hand to her mouth... "You...You're...Human..."
Yeah, fraid so...he smiled wearily... "Apparently, my good deeds filled the stamp book...I was with the Guardian of the Prophecy after I'd thought three of the Partners had finished me..."
"Next thing I knew...After what seemed like five years of trials...Here I was..."
"Oh..." Buffy eyed him...Then Angel...Uh...
"That's...Ummn...Great..."
"You said..." he leaned on her arm a bit... "The Immortal?..."
"They sent him to keep me busy...They knew I'd learn you were back...And he played every trick...Angelus was never half so good...Uh...Sorry, Angel..." she turned to him...It's fine, he smiled...
But gave William a strange look...Sympathetic, somehow...He staggered a bit...
"Connor, you better take your dad to the ambulances..." Buffy noted...Yeah...Connor nodded... "I'm..." Angel began... "Come..." Illyria dragged him off... "I am very weak and in need of care and will need you to guide me through the LA hospital system..." she lifted him over her shoulder as Will and Buffy stared, Connor following...
"So the Immortal..." Will began... "Played me like a harp..." she sighed... "But it was the redemption, remorse song that got me..."
I thought you were gone forever, Will...And Willow's in hot water with Osiris since she blasted him after Tara...There was no way to get you back...
"Forgive me?..."
"Buffy...There's nothing..."
She whacked him one... "The Hell there's nothing to forgive!...Why the Hell didn't you call me?...What kept you from hoppin' on a plane the day you went solid?!!...Oh, I know...Your pure sacrifice...Wow...So...Angelic..." she rolled eyes...
I know...she sighed...Looking down... "You never believed me for a moment...You let yourself die thinking..."
Will, how could you?...she shook her head...
"I believed it, Buffy...For that one moment...But..."
"But?!...You son of Drusilla!...Bastard!!...Do you know what I been going through?!...What I was willing to do to be with you?..."
Hell, you are Goddamn-lucky I got Andy to spill the beans and caught on to the Immortal's little game in time...she glared...
"Else I wouldn't be human-souled now and this would be ending very differently..." she took demon-face...
"Buffy?!..." he stared in shock...
"After I realized what was up Immortalwise, I figured nothing would prove it better than to go along with part of his little scheme..." she smiled fondly... "Of course Willow thought it was a modified happiness-permissable curse for Angel...Not something for me, although I am giving it to him to see if it can help..."
And it...Would've...Eased me of the last block between us...Having to have you watch me rot and die...
A sheepish grin...Guess it works out though really...
"The family can hardly object to you now..." she grinned...
"You're a vampire..." he shook his head in wonder... "Let the Immortal turn you..." With soul, she insisted..."You can check me out and Angel will vouch..."
"Well..." he eyed her coolly... "Fine mess you've gotten us into now, Summers..."
Me?...She glared... "You and your macho noble quest...Proving you could outdo Angel..."
I did say, provin'...You heard that?...she grinned...Though for poor Angel's sake I will never say it except between us...
"What?..." She stared at his shaking head...
"Well, I sure as hell don't want you now, Summers...You're a filthy beast of the night and I'm a human being again..."
William?...
"Now, after a bath...And if you'd brush those fangs..."
***
"So..." Will eyed her as they strolled arm-in-arm down an alleyway filled with the dead and...Well, pretty much all dead...The Slayer takes no chances with her honey...Enemy...
"Just what gave you this brilliant idea to let His Lucky-to-be-Dustiness transform you...?"
Hey guys!...a newly arrived Dawn ran up from where she'd been held back by Willow...Who frowned from down the alley at Buffy the rather sheepish Vampire...
Hey, Wil...she waved... "Found him, alls..." "Suicidial Jerk!!..." Willow politely replied, shaking a fist...
"So my idiot sis with you know what for brains show you the new face...?" Dawn frowned...
"Guess Spike must be chortlin' inside there somewhere..." she eyed William...
He's...Ummn...Human...Buffy noted, biting a lip...(Sucking the blood down as discreetly as possible...)
"Really?...Great...Lovely...Gotta hand it to you, sis..."
"Buffy?...What in God's name made you do this without speaking to me about it?..." Will sighed...
Hey...The Summers girls gave a united glare...Personal matter of choice here, pal...
"Well...I thought of you..." Buffy sighed... "All alone...Forever...Even if I got you to believe what I'd said before..."
I wanted to give you a Gift, Will...Like the Gifts you've been giving me...A love token...
"Been reading O.Henry, eh... 'Gift of the Magi'?" he eyed her...Oh, yeah...Buffy nodded hastily...Exactly...
Oh, please...Dawn rolled her eyes...
"Or maybe you watched 'Shrek' one night?...The princess' 'true love's form' speech...?" he grinned...
Well...That's romantic too...he smiled at her somewhat crestfallen face...
***
"Look...This is strictly against procedure and twenty thousand years of custom..."
The interdimensional reception room of the Guardian of the Prophecy...Where Willow had brought William, Dawn, and vamped Buffy...
"What's the big deal?..." William frowned... "We just want one additional transformation to Humanity...And God knows, Buffy Summers has certainly earned it..."
Aw, Will...she beamed...
"This is strictly against procedure!..." the floating head of the Guardian fumed... "And if you're thinking of trying what you tried with Osiris, Ms. Rosenberg...I am not physical..."
"Oh, the Night...Is my world..." Buffy began singing in low voice...Doing vamp face at Dawn..."Ooooh...Dawnie, lookie at fiendish Buffy..."
Knock it off, sis...a hiss... "She's kinda out of it, it's been a long day for her..." she explained to the frowning head...
And judgin' by her breath, she took a few belts on the plane in from Rome...she hissed to William...
"C'mon..." Willow sighed... "If you can't approve it, just let us speak to the guy over you..."
"Take us up to the Top Gent, if you like..." William nodded...
"Wearin' white...As I'm walkin'...Down the street of the soul...Oh, I...I live among the crea-tures of the Night..." Hey, Dawnie...Dawnie...low voice... "I vant to suck your blood..." demon-face...
"Will ya knock it off?..." fuming hiss... "You're the Greatest Slayer for cripessake...And you're embarrassin' your boyfriend..."
"Am I Will?..." "Nah, cut loose while you got the chance, love..."...he grinned... "With luck this won't take long..." he turned to glare at the Guardian...Who fumed...Hey, kid...I bent the rules for you already...
Lota help you are...Dawn groused.at William...Letting your girl act like this in front of a biggee...
"My fiancee is just dealing with a tense sit..." he explained to the Guardian smoothly...
"City lights, painted girls..." Buffy resumed...Then paused... Ummn... "Say, guys...About that vanting to suck blood?..."
I was kidding, ya know...But I am just a teeny-weeny...Lil'...Bit...she eyed them...William passed a blood packet... "Had a couple left over..." he smiled...Thanks,honey...a contented beam... Uh... "Wil, Dawn...Don't look for the next minute or so..." she eyed Willow and Dawn...
Bon appetit...Dawn glared...Turning away...
Whoa!...A scream... "William!?..." He whirled...As Willow moved onto laying out her threat potential to the Guardian...I can reach right into your home dimension...she began...And... "You and what Wiccan army...?" he sneered...
"William!...Fiancee!?...Are you askin'?!...'Cause hot damn if you are, I'm acceptin'!!.." Buffy cried out happily...
Oh, that's some way to ask my sis, the Greatest Slayer of ever...Dawn glared...
"Sorry, it slipped out...I really did want to do it the more formal way..." he sighed... "Screw the formal way, we done waited long enough!...Though you can ask again me at a restaurant or a party with the guys later on..." Buffy beamed...
"I can call in power reserves from the Council of Watchers..." Willow frowned... "Pfffft...'The Council of Watchers', gee...Now I'm scared..." the Guardian chuckled coldly... "You people got ten to vacate or I call in my guards..."
"This is just gonna take a few, guys..." Willow called back...
"Oh-oh-oh...Oh-oh-oh...Oh-oh-oh...Oh-oh-oh..." Buffy resumed her song...Strutting round as she sang... "Oh, the Night is my world..." The Guardian grimacing...Must she keep singing?...It's hurting even my disembodied ears...
"Are you critiquing my fiancee's singing, mate?..." Will glared...Lord, even I can't take much more, Willow thought...
A first-rate place...You can afford it on your salary with Angel now...And you're gonna do the bended knee, the ring, the flowers...Dawn hissed to him...And a half-decent poem...
"You know the Slayer can keep at this all night if need be..." Willow solemnly nodded...
"I know the Night is not as it would seem!...I must believe in somethin' so I'll make myself believe...Tonight will never go...Oh-oh-oh!..." Hah!...she donned demon face...
"Geesh, and I used to think this would be my worst nightmare..." she grinned at William... "It's kinda fun, actually..."
"Excepting the bloodlust tearing at my soul of course...Driving me to the edge of..." she gave another hah! and snarl...
"That's not funny, Buffy...Think of William...You're dredging up..." Dawn began...
OH!... "God, honey...I'm sorry!...That was so stupid!!..." Buffy hurried over... "I didn't mean it, just kiddin' round..."
"It's fine, pet..."
"And you know what I could do to you!..." the Guardian glared at Willow who'd resumed the 'threat potential' approach...
"Look, mate..." Will went over to them... "Now, you must've been considering a possible scenario where Angel and I both would show here..."
"City Lights, Painted Girls!!!..." Buffy began again...Ohhh...the Guardian winced...
"And you could make it four additional transformations while you're at it..." William smiled...
Hmmn?...Willow and Dawn stared...
Four?...Oh...Buffy beamed...My sweet, thoughtful Champion of a poet...
"Buffy, Angel, Dru, and Harmony..." he explained...
Ah, c'mon...The Guardian frowned... "Two of 'em don't even have souls...That's pushin' my...And my superiors' benevolent nature, pal..."
"Like you didn't expect we'd be dragging Dru and Harmony in later?..." Will eyed him...
Isn't he wonderful?...Buffy gushed to Dawn...So compassionate?... "Shut up..." Dawn made a sour look...Hey...Buffy glared... "That's your brother-in-law and surrogate dad you're talkin' about..."
"I'll never get four additional passed upstairs..."
"Well, then..." William beamed... "Lets settle in for another chorus..."
"Ok..." the Guardian sighed... "Anything to get her to stop...I'll speak to my people, hang on just a minute..." the head faded out...
"...I'm livin' in the forest of a dream!..." Hah!!...Snarl...
"The answer's No!..." the head returned...
"WEARIN' WHITE...!!...AS I"M WALKIN"...!!"
"We're talkin' all night long..." Willow noted, eyeing Buffy happily strutting about the room in demon-face...
"Lemme try one more guy!..." the head vanished...
***
