Angel sat down nervously. It had been three long years. What would he
say
to her? He didn't have to worry about that.
Buffy was eyeing him carefully, trying to look into his soul. She knew
that he still had feelings for her. Angelus would probably be very
possessive now that Angel was around. What she wouldn't give to see the two
of them on Celebrity Death Match.
Angel cleared his throat gruffly, still trying to come to terms with
the
fact that the love of his life was married to his alter ego.
"It's nice to see you again."
"Yeah, I'm really glad you guys were up in the area. I've missed
everyone
from Sunnyhell, err, Sunnydale," said Buffy. She would have to stop
listening to Spike so much.
"Look, Angel, this is *very* awkward, that's a given. So let's just
cut to
the chase and stop with the small talk," said Buffy. She had a lot to say
to
Angel, quite a bit of work to do, two children to take care of, and a
husband who hated to cook.
"Okay, that seems fair enough. I know it not really my place to ask
this,
but right now I'm so pissed off that--"
"Excuse me? *You're* pissed off? What right do you have to be 'pissed
off'?!" shouted Buffy.
"Hmmm, lets think. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that
you're fucking my evil twin, who, need I remind you, tormented you, killed
your friends, hell, who killed half of the damn neighborhood! And here you
are, *married* to the bastard, having his children, and acting like he's
some kind of saint! Why do you think I'm so pissed off?"
"Look Angel, I know this is going to sound like déjà vu but could you
contemplate getting over yourself for just a minute?! There is no 'us'.
I'm
sorry if I was supposed to wait for you. God knows I didn't know you were
ever coming back, but guess what? I moved on! And, believe it or not,
Angelus is like you, but with more sides and diversity. We can have kids,
make
love, fight like hell, and Angelus is everything you weren't and more. And
he sure as hell won't admit it, but he has all of your traits too, so I get
the best of both
worlds. You don't even exist to me anymore, Mister
'the-world-revolves-around-me', and what did you expect me to do?
Wait
around for you to come back from the depths of hell? Sorry, I have a
life."
Angel felt like he'd been slapped in the face and had his heart torn out
and
stomped on. Angel thought for a minute and tried not to show Buffy how
much
that had hurt him.
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute! You didn't have to just take off! What
about your friends? Your mother? Your watcher? Didn't you think about them?
And what kind of person jumps town because their boyfriend dies?!"
sputtered
Angel. Buffy smiled up at him. Something she had learned from Angelus, to
smile when going in for the kill.
"I sure as hell wasn't gonna pass up an opportunity like that."
"What're you talking about, slayer?"
"Oh please! Look, if you were a little kid and your mother said to
you
one morning 'Oh, sweetie, you look sick. Do you want to stay home from
school today?', and you felt perfectly healthy, would you say 'No, Mom, I
feel great!'."
Angel shook his head, even though he knew a response was not
necessary, they both knew the answer. "Of course not, I'd have jumped at
the
opportunity to miss school. But what the hell's your point?"
"My point is, that this was my chance to get out of the hellmouth and
I
took it."
Angel frowned. She had used his death to her advantage? The thought
upset him, but he had to give the woman credit. She was smarter than he had
thought. *And Angelus is the one who gets to experience her intelligence*,
he thought bitterly.
"Ang, you okay?" asked Buffy. Although she no longer had feelings for
him, she did consider him a friend, and she was concerned.
Angel noticed the look on Buffy's face. She cared for him. Not as a
boyfriend, but as a friend. He hated that thought, she was *his*. But he
decided to work with it, to act like a friend in order to learn more about
her, so that he could work his way back into her heart.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, do you wanna just start over, as *friends*?" he
asked.
Buffy smiled. Things were starting to look up. She stood up and hugged
Angel. "Nice to have you back," she said. "Yeah, you to," he said.
They walked out of the office. Angelus looked up, searching each of
their faces for any sign of what had went on in Buffy's office.
On Buffy's face, he saw that she looked to Angel as a trusted friend, and
that she loved him the way one loves a friend. On Angel's face, he saw love
and lust. The same things that he, Angelus, felt for his wife.
Angelus walked over and kissed Buffy passionately, to stake his claim.
Buffy responded to the kiss, knowing full well what her husband was doing,
and loving every minute of it.
Buffy looked at the now wide awake Shawn and frowned at Angelus. He
looked away, not wanting to be the victim of her angry look.
Buffy Kinney walked over and picked up Shawn, hoping to make him
drowsy.
Angel felt jealousy swelter up inside of him. That should have been his
baby Buffy was trying to get to go to sleep! She should have glared at
*him* for allowing the infant to get so hyper. Damn that Angelus. Now he
knew how Xander had felt.
Back to the stacks
Part 6, Here I Come!