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 back in 1916, Liam “Angel” is a young Irish revolutionary who is given the mission of kidnapping Buffy Summers, the daughter of a prominent English official, to further Ireland’s quest for independence.

Distribution: If you want it, take it. Just let me know where it goes!

Author’s note: I just want everyone to know that I am in no way a historian; this is just my own little imagination at work here. I just find this portion of Irish history kind of fascinating! So no one flame me on this particular story.

Feedback: Like it, love it, hate it, I want to know. Please, I beg on my knees.

Rating: PG-13 for now but probably will change.

Prologue

April 1916

The newly wedded American couple picked the wrong time to visit Ireland for their honeymoon. Leaving for what they believed a peaceful vacation in which they would be able to experience the Emerald Isle, they were sorely mistaken. Instead of seeing vast fields full of lush, green clover, they faced cobblestone streets covered with the blood of the many bodies that contorted on the ground. The couple was forced to hide inside their quaint bed and breakfast while a war was waged on the streets of Dublin. As they watched Irish revolutionaries square off with the finest of British troops, they sat in horror of what was happening outside.

For two whole days, the couple watched through their windows at the world around them. By the end of the second day, the British troops had stabilized the streets of Dublin around their bed and breakfast and they decided to test this shaky peace and leave their room to see Ireland for the first time.

Carefully the couple stepped outside the door onto the streets. The city was now stricken with a deafening quiet.

Turning towards her husband, the young wife whispered, “It sounds like the fighting has finally come to a close.” She smiled at her husband to ease some of the fear her heart held for these past days.

Her husband made no reply to her comment; he just kept his eyes focused on the streets ahead of him. His eyes held no emotion as he stared forward. The only movement that he made was the involuntary shaking of his body from the cold that seemed to seep through his clothes to caress his skin.

“It seems colder out here then when we first came,” she said as she turned towards him. Taking a deep look into his face, she saw no emotions crossing his countenance. Worried about him, she asked, “Honey, what is wrong?”

Wrapping his arms around his young wife, he felt her shiver from the same cold that he was subject to. Finally responding to her question, he said, “It’s not over yet.”

~ ~ ~

Part I Shenanigan’s Pub Dublin, 1916

“Come on, guys. We need to think of something. We can’t let their deaths go unanswered,” Xander Harris blurted out in his drunken stupor.

Liam Angelus Malone, Allan Doyle, Charles Gunn, and Daniel “Oz” Osbourne just stared at their friend with glazed over eyes. Sitting around the table, the five men tried their best to drown all the memories of what happened the past couple of days on the streets of Dublin; choosing a method quite fitting for themselves—many, many pints of Guinness.

“Oh, Xander, what can we do now? Did you see all the people that they arrested this morning? We wouldn’t even stand a chance,” Doyle slurred. Leaning over the table, Doyle gripped the temples on his head in order to stop the bodhran played inside his skull.

Suddenly standing on his feet, Xander yelled, “Hey, I got it…” But while he attempted to return to his seat, the chair moved backward causing Xander to tumble to the floor.

Staring at each other for a moment, all five men tried not to laugh but their efforts were fruitless. Bursting in unbridled laughter, the friends couldn’t control themselves. Loosing all refrain, they all ended up on the floor after they rolled from their seats.

Though his amusement, Liam asked, “Now what were you going to say, o graceful one?”

Thinking that that comment was the most hilarious thing they had ever heard, the laughter continued with even more force.

“Thank you, Angel. Thank you. I’ll be here till Saturday. Try the veal,” Xander joked to all his friends.

“Food, that's a good start for a plan. I say we attack the English with hummus,” Oz stated matter-of-factly.

At first everyone laughed at the comment but as the truth of it sunk in all their heads, they all turned to Oz in confusion. Silence blanketed over the table as all of them began to slowly and quite shakily rise from the floor.

Breaking the silence, Gunn asked, “So any one else have any ideas?”

“I’m leaning more towards the hummus offensive,” Xander admitted and shook his head in agreement.

“They’ll never see it coming,” Oz said stoically as the room yet again erupted into laughter.

Then Angel’s voice rang out through the loud bursts of laughter. Not really knowing exactly what he was implying due to his completion of his 10th drink, Angel began to shout, “Hey, I got it. You all know Hank Summers, the head English official of this town, well he has a daughter, maybe we should kidnap her or something.” Once completed, Angel burst into laughter but everyone else stared at him in silence.

“That could work,” Gunn admitted.

“What?” Angel inquired incredulously.

“Your idea,” he continued, “they would listen to the Sinn Fein if we would do that.”

“You are honestly considering kidnapping someone to further our cause. That’ll work,” Doyle added sarcastically.

“No, really. That could work. I say tomorrow we tell it to the officials,” Xander finally spoke up.

Due to their inebriated states, all five men nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well, what do we do now?” Doyle asked.

“I propose we get really, really drunk.” Angel moved his glass toward the pitcher that sat on the tabletop. “Who agrees with me??”

All agreed by downing yet one more drinks from their glasses.

Part II

“Dearest Buffy. What are our colors for the wedding?” Riley Finn asked his fiancé.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy turned away from him. “I don’t know yet,” she said. “I have been exceptionally busy lately and I haven’t had time to truly think about it.”

Sitting closer and placing his hands over top of hers, he quietly assured, “Take as long as you want, darling. I will wait for you.”

Buffy turned toward him with a smile on her face. Her smile seemed to give Riley confidence on her feelings for her but her heart told her another story. Thinking to herself, Buffy said, “You are going to be waiting a long time then because I plan to never marry you.”

After hearing her heart’s statement, she quickly removed her hands form under his and stood up to walk a few steps away from him. Putting on the act of being tired, Buffy forced a yawn from her mouth and said, “Riley, honey. Today has been a very tiring day and I think I am going to retire to my quarters for the rest of the evening.”

Standing up from his seat, he took her hand and gently brought it to his lips. “I will see you tomorrow,” he formally bid her farewell and exited the room.

After noticing that Riley was plainly out of view, Buffy quickly wiped the back of her hand on the fabric of her skirt hoping that she could remove any remnants of Riley’s slobbery kiss left there. Yet again lost to her thoughts, she told herself, “Why am I still here. Over in America, women right now are marching for their basic rights and here I am lacking the basic freedom of choosing a marriage out of love not political alliances. And why does it have to be with Riley Finn of all people, he couldn’t even find his way back to his village desperately calling for it’s idiot to come back.”

Sitting and slouching back down where she sat before, she felt so alone at that moment, but then she became resolved. “I think it is time for me and my father to have a little heart to heart,” Buffy said aloud as she swiftly began her search to find her father in her large home.

~ ~ ~

“So what were we talking about before?” Angel asked again as his speech was even more significantly slurred by the alcohol he had consumed.

All of his friends stared at him in confusion. “Were we talking about something?” Xander finally asked with his voice muffled by the cold, hard surface of the table that his forehead rested on.

“We were talking about something?” Gunn asked, “Because I don’t remember a bloody thing.”

Everyone felt the exact same way that Gunn did and they shrugged their shoulders at the question.

“We should probably get going, it’s getting pretty late and I don’t want to walk home in the dark with all those British soldiers patrolling the streets,” Doyle stated as he stumbled to get out of his chair.

Taking a few minutes to steady on their feet, all five friends began their slow, swerving attempts to walk out the doors of the pub.

“I’m pretty sure with the massive hangover I will have tomorrow to figure out what we all planned to do tonight,” Angel commented while he leaned over onto Xander hoping that he could hold his huge framed body from collapsing on the floor. “I know we talked about something.” But nothing came into his mind.

~ ~ ~

Searching throughout the entire house, Buffy could not find her father anywhere. Turning towards the stairs to the upstairs, his bedroom was the last place that she had left to search through.

Only the long skirt that fell to the floor inhibited her attempt to sprint up the flights of stairs. “Father, I need to talk to you,” she yelled when she was at the top of the stairs, not caring if he was there or not. If he was, she wanted to get started on the topic at hand.

“Pet, I don’t think he is there,” a voice came from behind her in the shadows of the hallway.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, Buffy turned quickly to the place where the voice and the hand sprang. Startled by the voice and the shock of the hand that grabbed her, Buffy’s foot swiftly kicked the figure between the legs.

Bending over in pain, a bleached blonde man came out of the shadows. Buffy finally recognized the person who the voice belongs to.

At first she wanted to be apologetic, but then thought otherwise. “Spike, why on God’s green earth are you here?” she said in annoyance.

Still kneeling on the ground in pain, Spike’s started talking to her through gritted teeth. “Apparently I am here to finally come to the conclusion that I will never be able to have my own children.”

Buffy just stared down at the floor at him with her arms crossed across her chest. “No, really why are you here?”

Finally being able to stand, Spike rose from the floor. Staring her straight in the eyes he commented, “Come on, love. I know you are happy to see me.” Stepping closer to her, she promptly stepped back away from him.

Buffy rolled her eyes and just stared at him with raised eyebrows.

“No really, I am here to see the man about trouble on the streets this morning,” he told truthfully. “But seeing you is always an extra bonus in my day.” Spike yet again approached Buffy to trap her against the wall.

Finding her voice Buffy forcefully said, “Well, if he isn’t here then I suggest you get out of here.”

Slamming his hand into the wall next her head, Spike leaned closer her. “Come on, I am so much better then the imbecile that you are engaged to. How’s a little taste of it.”

Spike inched towards her face as she slammed her knee into his crotch. “How about I permanently make your voice a few octaves higher for you.” While Spike slid down to the floor Buffy found her opportunity to escape from her perpetual stalker. While walking away with a slight skip in her step, she wanted to get as much distance from him, he heard her say, “Sorry I can’t talk too much right now, I really need to find my father.”

Spike landed on the floor in pain yet again, placing his hands on his groin. “I think she likes me,” he squeaked to himself.

Part III

Night past as the dark sky filled with glittering stars gave way to an azure sky beckoning the suns rays to rise above the horizon. The young husband had been awake for an hour just watching the light reflected off the dew-covered fields. His wife still lay sleeping in the bedroom; he made his way to the windowsill and stared yet again at the waking world.

Nothing seemed to break his ruminations all kinds of thoughts until he heard the soft, pleasant voice of his wife. “Honey, can we go on a walk right now?” the young wife asked her husband as she placed her hands in his. He sat motionless for a couple of seconds just staring through the window.

Turning to face her, he caught glimpse of the bright smile that was spreading across her face and the sparkle in her eyes. He still had fears on what they were caught in, but then he relented his thoughts after looking into her face. Lightly squeezing her hand, he rose to his feet and said, “Let’s go.”

Walking hand in hand, the young couple left eh building and began to breathe the cool fresh scent of the early morning hours. The dew that covered the plush grass quickly soaked through their shoes as they strolled leisurely through the town.

“Oh my, I just got these shoes before we left. Now look at them,” she pointed to her shoes. Laughing softly, he husband looked over at her and found himself no able to suppress a slight chuckle.

While looking over to her, he saw a brief image at something only a few meters away. Squinting his eyes to get a better look across the field, he saw something that made him laugh a little harder.

“What’s so funny?” she giggled and looked into his face seeing for the first time in this trip a relaxed look on his face.

“You think you have problems with your shoes? Just look at the five bodies lying in the grass over there, they are wet all over.”

At first she was nervous at his comment thinking that he was talking about more deceased bodies lying around. Turning to where he was looking, the young woman saw what caught her husband’s glare.

Five men sprawled themselves out on the grass a couple of meters away from them. Their entire figures were covered in dew as they probably had lain out in that field since last night.

She began to laugh aloud at the sight of the unconscious bodies lying there. Walking over to them and watching their chests rhythmically rise and fall with each breath, the couple’s laughter increased.

“Should we try to wake them?” she whispered softly through her giggles.

“Nah, they seem ok here.” Looking up at the sky above them, the husband noticed that little clouds started to gather in the sky over their heads. Pointing above their heads, “Let the rain wake them up, then they can be killing two birds with one stone right here.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Great wake-up call and a nice shower.” He turned to his wife again and was amused by the look in his wife’s face. “Wonderful things early in the morning.”

“They look so peaceful now,” she turned her attention back to the men sprawled on the ground. “They aren’t going to be so happy when the rain comes down.”

“Maybe the rain will help them remember their experience last night of having a little too much fun,” he smiled and took his wife’s hand yet again into his.

Starting to walk away from them, the couple still held slight chuckles in their voices.

~ ~ ~

All night Buffy searched for her father and couldn’t find him. Finally she did find him the next morning in his office. As soon as she stepped through the door, her argument with her father burst with an uncontrollable fire.

“Father, please listen to me. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to…” Buffy pleaded but her father stopped her.

“Buffy, it’s not whether you want to marry Riley or not, it is your duty to do this. This is what proper women have done for a long time and will remain as long as that young women lives under my roof.” Hank Summers refused to listen to his daughter.

“I don’t care about duty or the fact that this is how it always has been done! Welcome to the 20th century, not the 5th. I want to make my own decisions about my life,” she begged.

“You can make your own decisions, just you will be doing that married to Riley Finn,” he told her.

“Father, please. I can’t do this,” Buffy felt quite resolved in her feelings but her father just didn’t listen.

“You can, and you will,” he stated firmly looking her straight in the eye. “No more complaining about this either.”

“Father, PLEASE!”

“Oh, and by the way,” he interrupted her again. “Your mother and I were talking last night and with recent events as they are on the streets, I don’t think it is safe for you to be alone so when Riley isn’t calling on you, I have employed Spike to watch you.”

Hatred soon filled Buffy’s eyes as he looked at her father. She prayed that looks could kill right now for he would have been dead yesterday for what he just said.

“Spike?? You have to be kidding with me?” she sounded annoyed.

“Your mother was the one that brought it up. She was talking to him over their random cups of cocoa and marshmallows, and he said something to her about looking after you.”

Buffy felt an overwhelming urge to either punch her father or Spike, she couldn’t decide which one would be better. Clenching her fists into tight balls, she felt so angry and had to leave the room before she did hurt him.

Sprinting from the room, she heard her father yell out to her, “HE IS COMING OVER IN 30 MINUTES, SO DON’T GO ANYWHERE!”

~ ~ ~

Lying face down in a field of clover, Angel got a big mouthful of grass as he slowly woke up with the feeling of rain sprinkles across his body.

“What happened?” he asked aloud as the other four began stirring.

“Where are we?” Xander quickly asked as he began to prop himself up on his hands. He was caught by the surprise of the slick ground that he placed his hands upon. Quickly slipping out from under his weight, his face yet again met the wet clover on the ground.

Everyone began laughing at Xander but after a few chuckles they all moaned as their heads throbbed in agony.

“I remember walking out of the pub last night really late, but I don’t remember falling asleep out here,” Doyle admitted.

“I think past out is the correct word in this instance,” Gunn corrected Doyle. Nodding his throbbing head at his friend, Doyle smirked at him.

Shakily arising from their resting positions, all five men came close to falling down again multiple times before they were securely on their feet.

“I think I know. Someone must have kidnapped us, robbed us blind and left us out here to die,” Xander thought aloud.

Pulling his wallet from his pocket, Oz shook it in front of his face. “I don’t think so,” he said stoically.

“Ok, well not robbed us blind but definitely kidnapped us,” he came back quickly.

All stared at him in confusion, except for Angel. Thinking to himself, “Kidnapped? What about kidnapped?” but then the realization hit him like a locomotive. “We weren’t kidnapped, we were planning to kidnap the Summers girl,” he abruptly said.

Slowly they all remembered the topic of last night’s conversation and they began recalling what was discussed.

“Aye,” Gunn stated, “we talked about bringing that idea to the Sinn Fein. We should probably do that today.” All nodded but didn’t move any muscles to go anywhere.

“I think before we do anything about this, we all could use a shower right now,” Angel mentioned to his friends.

“Rain just doesn’t do it for ya, does it?” Oz asked.

“Not really,” he stated as he began to walk towards his home. ‘“If we do end up kidnapping her, I want to look my best for you,’ he pretended he was talking to the pampered, snotty little girl they were planning to kidnap later on.

Part IV

Tears began streaming down Buffy’s face as she raced from her father’s room. Thinking to herself, ‘Ok, first I am forced against my will to be married to Riley, now I have to be babysat by my demented stalker. I am leaving and I am NEVER coming back!’

Lifting the bottom of her skirt off the floor, she found a greater opportunity to run faster. The tears choked her eyes as she ran towards the front entrance of her grand home. She couldn’t see anything nor did she want to.

Her world was a blur and nothing seemed to make any sense. Not paying attention to anything around her, she just ran. But suddenly standing in her way was her stiff butler, Rupert Giles.

Running smack dab into him, her quest towards the front door was abruptly ceased. The force that she bumped into him caused her to tumble backwards onto the floor.

Shocked and surprised at who ran into him, Giles quickly turned towards the figure sitting haphazardly on the floor behind him. Reaching his hand out to help her off the floor, he apologized, “Miss Summers, I am so sorry about all of this. Please forgive me.”

Taking his hand in hers, she hoisted herself off the ground and told him, “You don’t have to be sorry for anything, Giles. I ran into you.” She bent over and started to dust off her skirt that had touched the ground.

“No Miss, It was my fault. I…” he started apologizing again but was quickly stopped by her.

“Giles stop,” she finally looked up into his face. “It was my fault, and you have known me since I was a baby, you can call me Buffy when I am not around my father and mother.” She stood in front of him and stared demandingly into his eyes.

“Sorry, miss…”

“Buffy,” she insisted with raised eyebrows.

“Ok, sorry m-m-Buffy,” he stumbled, “but I have to ask you, what’s wrong?” Giles noticed her eyes were rimmed red and large tear tracks marred her white cheeks.

Looking away to the floor, Buffy attempted to hide her face from him, but he knew better. For all her 18 years, he had watched her. Giles had witnessed her first steps, her days at school when she would come home and complain that all history tests are unfair, every scraped knee, every tear, and every smile. Giles knew something was wrong.

“Nothing,” she said turning away from him only to wipe away her tears.

Placing a tender and loving hand on her shoulder he attempted to turn her to face him yet again. “What’s wrong?” Giles asked again.

Buffy felt more hot tears running down her cheeks, as his presence seemed to pull her out of the shell that she has just built. “I don’t know what to do, Giles. I feel so trapped here and I can’t get out.”

“What happened?” he inquired.

“I just talked to my father upstairs. He won’t listen to anything I say. I can’t marry Riley, I can’t be made to love him.” Pulling her into his embrace, Buffy leaned her head onto his shoulder. “I feel like a prisoner here,” she cried, “even more now since my father employed Spike to baby-sit me all day.”

“You know he loves you…” Giles stated to say but was quickly stopped.

“Love me, LOVE ME!” she exclaimed stepping back from his touch, “He doesn’t love me. There is something implanted in his brain telling him that he loves me, it’s not real. No matter how much my father and mother like him, Spike is a soulless bastard who is evil down to every fiber of his being!” Finally ceasing her rant she yet again looked at Giles but was confused at the smile that crept across his face.

“I meant your father,” Giles chuckled lightly.

“Oh,” she whispered and blushed at her outburst.

“So, I am guessing Spike thinks he’s in love with you. How can he? He is so beneath you,” he assured to Buffy.

Buffy felt her smile spread across her face at Giles’ words and presence. “Thanks Giles for listening to me here. You are always going to be more of a father to me than that man upstairs could ever be.”

“You’ve always been like a daughter to me, Buffy. You know I love you,” he said as he pulled her again into his hug.

Buffy and Giles stayed in that embrace for quite a long time and she felt safe and loved there. But then a voice came out of nowhere to yet again make her tense.

“Awwwww. Look at them, that is so cute,” Spike mocked. “Sorry, Giles. I have to take away the little missy here. I promise to take good care of her.” Spike looked at Giles with malice in his eyes and he stepped closer to Buffy to take her from his embrace.

Holding her tighter in his arms, Giles leaned down to whisper in her ear. “As soon as I let you go, run out the door. I will take care of Spike for the time being.” Feeling her nod her head into his shoulder, he carefully let go of her.

Feeling his grip loosen on her, Buffy quickly broke away from Giles and ran towards the door. Spike tried to reach out to grab her but he was suddenly stopped by Giles’ fist slamming into his face. Buffy successfully ran out the door and onto the street as Giles stood triumphantly over Spike.

Looking up in hatred at Giles, Spike threatened, “I will get you for this!”

“Don’t worry, Spike. She just left to get some air, she will be back soon,” he smirked at the man lying on the floor. “But for now, you better leave my sight before she comes back.”

Getting up off the floor, Spike stood up to stare at Giles in the eyes. “You can’t protect her forever,” he whispered.

“Neither can you.”

~ ~ ~

Angel slowly stumbled into his house after his brisk bath outside on the field. He knew that he had to shower before he did anything that day but for some reason he had the hardest time in finding his bathroom and then getting to it.

Finally finding it, he turned to the bathtub and started the warm water flowing. Shedding his rain-soiled clothing, he stepped into the shower to feel the hot water spread over his muscular body. He felt the dirt and grime slowly fall away as the tension in his shoulders began to relax. Angel just stood in that shower with his hands pressed against the wall in front of him, just letting the water relentlessly falling onto his dark brown hair.

‘I can’t wait to meet this girl. This is going to be very interesting, seeing a pampered princess cry for her parents,’ he smiled to himself at his thoughts.

Finally stepping out of the shower, Angel grabbed the closest towel to him and began to wipe off all the tiny droplets of water that still clung to his skin. It felt so good to be clean.

Angel walked out of his bathroom and into his bedroom where he had some of his clothes rumpled up into a ball on the floor. Picking them up, he tried to smooth out all the wrinkles before putting them on and was somewhat successful. He looked all around his room for his shoes but then remembered that he didn’t even have them on when he walked into his house. Angel had taken off his shoes before he entered his house without even knowing exactly what he was doing.

Walking down towards the front door, he opened the front door to find his shoes lying out in the middle of the street instead of right next to his door. Walking out bare feet into the muddy street, he leaned over to pick up his shoes but before he reached them, a small form slammed into his body. The force didn’t cause him to fall down but it surprised him anyway.

Turning toward the person that just ran into him, he heard her exclaimed, “OH BLOODY HELL, how many times can I run into someone today!”

Lying on the ground was the most beautiful woman Angel had ever cast his eyes upon. Her honey golden hair seemed to glow even though the sun wasn’t shining all that brightly at the moment. The many folds of her dress spread out on the ground encased her small frame.

“Do you need some help there?” he asked as he leaned over to help her up.

Brushing off his assistance, the young woman stood up on her own with a confidence that shook the very ground that Angel was standing upon.

“Actually no. I don’t need your help,” she snapped. She looked into his face then and Angel saw the most captivating green eyes that he had ever seen. He felt himself getting lost in them as quickly as she looked up at him. He was promptly brought out of his reverie by her walking away from him.

He couldn’t find his voice for the longest time but then he finally did. “You don’t have to walk away so fast. I don’t bite,” he joked.

Stopping in her tracks, she turned and smiled at him. The tension between them slowly faded away as they both just stared at each other.

“Where were you going in such a hurry?” he asked with a smile still on his face.

“Anywhere but here,” she responded abruptly. “I thought I would be able to get out of her without the slightest tarnish but look at me now. Water will never get these mud stains out.” She tried to brush some of the caked on mud that covered her dress.

“If you want to,” Angel offered, “you can come into my house and we can try to get you cleaned up a little.”

Knowing that he was her only hope, she nodded her head and stated, “Thank you.”

Angel extended his hand out to her as she started to walk towards him. She took it and felt his warm touch throughout her entire body.

Leading her into his home, Angel finally asked, “What’s your name?”

Feeling lost in his touch for a moment, she didn’t here his question right away. “My name?” she asked herself out loud, “Buffy. My name is Buffy.”

Part V

“Come on in,” Angel led Buffy inside. “Go ahead into the parlor.”

“Where are you going?” she quickly asked as he turned to walk away from her.

“Just going to get some hot water and some towels,” he smiled at her blushing face.

While Angel left her in the parlor, Buffy still tried to talk to him. “Nice place you have here,” she commented while walking over and picking up some his shirts crumpled on the floor. The shirts smelled of him—some scent that was intoxicatingly masculine.

Putting the shirt down on one of the chairs in the room, she began to circle the room, evaluating its contents. Nothing in particular caught her attention until she noticed a small bookcase full of books. Buffy knelt down to read the titles of some of the books in his collection. The case was filled with such titles as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Buffy was quite impressed at the wide range of books but his collection of numerous plays by Shakespeare truly caught her attention. Breezing through the titles she read Othello, Henry V, Midsummer’s Night Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and so many others but as soon as Buffy saw Romeo and Juliet her eyes concentrated on that play. Removing it from the shelf, she opened up the cover and started reading, “Two households, both alike in dignity/ (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene/ From ancient grudge break to new mutiny/ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. / From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ a pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives…”

“You like to read?” his voice surprised Buffy and she promptly dropped the book on the ground. Buffy quickly stood up and turned towards him while the book still lay on the ground. Angel had been watching her for a while. He was mesmerized by the soft glow she radiated and nothing could pull him from where he leaned against the wall or avert his eyes from her beautiful form.

Facing him now, Buffy breathed, “Oh, I didn’t know you were here already.” Her heart raced in her chest not only due to his sudden entrance into the room but also because of the seductive pull that she felt in her entire body towards the handsome man across the room. Buffy had never felt this way before, especially not a stranger whose name she had not heard.

Buffy felt her whole body glued to its spot as he slowly walked in her direction. She was hypnotized by the way his whole body seemed to surge forward like a stealthy predator and she was his ever-willing prey. Through his thin shirt and pants, she could see his long, sinewy muscles flex with great finesse. Taking her eyes from his body, she found herself trapped in the deep brown pools that were staring at her. Buffy came extremely close to losing herself in those dark orbs, only coming out of her reverie when she heard his deep voice.

“Romeo and Juliet, huh? That’s one of my favorites,” Angel admitted.

“What?” she nervously responded. “Oh, yes, mine-me too,” Buffy stumbled as her face turned a vibrant shade of red at her little mistake. “No matter how many times I read that play, I always cry at the final scene.”

Noticing the beautiful hue of pink her cheeks held when she blushed, Angel couldn’t keep his eyes off of her for any long period of time. Smiling to himself with the knowledge that a quote was popping up in his brain, he quoted, “For never was a story of more woe/ than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Surprised at his memory of those final lines, Buffy smiled curiously at the man standing within reaching distance from her. “Interesting,” she smiled at him, “couldn’t imagine you to be a person who would quote Shakespeare.”

“Sometimes people may surprise you,” he whispered in her ear.

Buffy felt this overwhelming urge to turn her face towards him and feel his warm lips upon hers but instead she stepped back a little and stared yet again into his face. Her breath caught in her chest and for a moment there, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Finding her breath and voice, she finally asked, “So are you ever going to tell me your name or am I going to have to make one up for you?”

“Liam,” he responded, “but almost everyone I know calls me Angel.”

“Angel, I like it. May I ask, how did you get through school without being made fun of with a feminine name such as that,” she teased with a smile upon her face.

Sensing her jest, he came back, “How did you do it with a name like Buffy?”

“Touché,” she laughed.

Leading her to a chair in the kitchen, Angel took her hand in his and felt a shock of electricity running through his body. In the kitchen he had set up an area on the table where he placed a tub full of warm water and swabs of cloth that he was going to be using to clean her up. Turning to face her, he placed his hands on her slender waist and lifted her up to sit on the table in back of her.

She felt as light as a feather but he knew by looking into her eyes, she was probably as tough as nails. “What were you running away from this morning?” he asked as he strained some of the water from the cloth and removed some of the mud from her skirt.

“Who said I was running away?” she smirked. “I consider it beginning my journey to freedom.” Buffy crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows at what his comment was implying.

“Freedom from what?” he wanted her to go on not only to find out more about her, but also just to hear her sweet voice roll off her tongue

“Nothing that couldn’t be solved by a little streak of violence.”

“Never imagined you to be the violent type,” he quoted her from earlier.

“Well, you never know. Some people may surprise you,” she smiled at him.

For the next couple of moments, the two were content with their silence. They felt absolute comfort and peace with each other. If comfort was needed, Buffy found it in his gentle touch while he cleaned the mud off of her.

“So, do you read all those books in there?” Buffy asked breaking their happy silence.

“Most of them. I have a lot of free time on my hands the day after I come home from the pub and my body really does not want to move anywhere.” Angel removed his eyes from her silk skirt to yet again gaze into her eyes that had now changed from hazel to a brilliant green. He removed the cloth from her skirt and placed it back into the warm water, ringing out some of the dirt that clung to it.

Buffy stared at his hands while he worked. ‘My God, those hands. I can feel them touching my skin and sending waves of heat across my body. Touching me…’ she abruptly stopped her thoughts. ‘I just met him, why do I feel this way?’ Her eyes followed his hands as they went towards the water.

Seeing the side of her face while she turned, Angel noticed the dirt that still clung to the soft, pink skin of her face. “You have a little mud here,” he said while he brought the newly cleaned cloth up to her face.

His fingers were so close to caressing her skin and Angel felt himself completely pulled to her at that moment. While his right hand still held the cloth, his left reached up to cup her cheek. Angel’s heart beat at an unprecedented speed as he touched her silky skin. Gently pulling himself closer to her sensuous lips, he saw her eyes close as she also pulled closer to him. Inches away from contact, some noise from the front door quickly caused them to pull away from each other.

Stumbling through the door, Xander Harris yelled, “Hey Angel. I got some good news!” Seeing Angel and some blonde girl in his parlor, he found himself saying, “Oh, hello. And who might you be?”

Speaking for her, “Xander, this is Buffy. Buffy the big goof over there is Xander.”

Blushing brightly over what Xander had almost witnessed between the two, Buffy responded strongly, “Nice to meet you.”

An awkward silence spread over the room as the comfort level greatly decreased. Hopping down from the table, Buffy started walking towards the front door. “I should probably be going now, you have a visitor and I don’t want to interrupt you two.”

As she walked away, Angel stopped her by gently grabbing her hand, turn her around to face him and placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. Closing his eyes while he kissed her hand, he imagined himself kissing her lips and feeling her warmth flow through his body. He opened his eyes to see her smile radiate back at him. “It was nice to meet you, Buffy. Maybe I will see you again sometime.”

“I would like that,” she winked as she turned to walk out the door past Xander.

Angel stood unmoved, watching her as she left his home. He felt his heart slowing to a normal pace with her absence.

“My, my, my. Wasn’t that a pretty girl?” Xander teased.

Not hearing him, Angel stood as still as a statue just staring out the door. To make Angel listen to him, Xander punched him on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Angel??” he asked. “Are you alright?”

“Jesus Christ, Xander. You have the worst timing of anyone I know,” Angel laughed.

“I see that now. So who was that girl?”

Not even looking at Xander to answer his question, he continued on staring out his front door. “The girl of my dreams,” he smiled to himself.

Part VI

Buffy never wanted to leave Angel’s house. She felt something with him that she had never felt with anyone else before and it felt absolutely right; perfect in every sense of the word. A smile crept on her face that she believed would never be replaced after everything with Riley, Spike and her father. With those people, she felt cold, but with one look into Angel’s eyes and the touch of his skin, she was set afire. Suddenly stopping her reverie, she thought, ‘Set afire?? What the bloody hell am I thinking? I just met the man for heaven’s sake! Love at first sight happens only with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and some Juliet, that never will happen to me.

‘Juliet,’ Buffy’s thoughts went straight back to Angel and his appreciation for that play. Her mind was telling her to stop with all these thoughts of everlasting love, but her heart sang with the romantic notion that these do exist and that she just witnessed that type of love in the making. ‘God, I never want to leave here.’

But she knew that she must but she definitely didn’t want to go home as of yet. Her encounter with Angel greatly reduced some of the tension that weighed on her small body and yet there was still anger and resentment that she felt in the pit of her stomach.

Turning from the direction to her house, Buffy decided to skip her way to the green fields that accentuated the background of Dublin. She whistled to herself as she made the trip and slowly sank into the plush clover that carpeted the fields green.

The clouds in the sky broke revealing the soft baby blue in the sky and shedding rays of warm light all across the land. Buffy sat in that field feeling the sun’s warmth spread over her whole body. Gracefully falling backwards, she lay completely sprawled out on the ground with her hair flowing over the clover and her smile still plastered on her face.

Hearing bird’s chirping and feeling the breeze softly blow across the field, Buffy felt utterly free. Free from her father’s oppression, free from Riley’s stupidity and annoyingness, free from Spike’s obsession, free to love Angel. ‘Free to love Angel?’ she laughed to herself. ‘What a dream!’ Her eyes closed with those dreams dancing across the inside of her eyelids.

For a few blissful moments, Buffy just laid there in absolute serenity and peace. Alone with her many thoughts, she felt happy. The warm breeze caressed her skin but then a solo gust of cold air sent shivers across her body.

“You know it’s not exactly lady-like to be seen lying around on the grass with you ankles showing under your skirt,” a chilling voice broke through her thoughts.

“Spike,” she sighed, “when will you leave me alone.” Refusing to open her eyes to see the blonde, extremely gaunt thing in front of her, she continued to lie there.

“Can’t, pet. I promised to look out for you with any means possible,” Spike leaned over to move his face closer to hers on the ground. Buffy opened her eyes at that moment to see his evil smirk spread from ear to ear.

Sighing again and quickly sitting up, Buffy tried to ignore him for a little longer. She even ignored the hand that he reached out to help her up with.

Standing up without his assistance, she began dusting off her dress. “Spike, I have a question for you?” she asked while busy at work.

“Fire away, ducks,” he answered.

“Do my parents pay you?” she inquired finally standing up to look him straight in the eye.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” he responded with confusion painted on his brow.

“I was just curious because it seems to me that you need to go out and eat something. Your cheeks are just too sunken in to be anywhere near attractive,” Buffy stated smugly.

Lifting his eyebrows several times to her comment, Spike said, “These cheekbones caught your attention didn’t they?”

Rolling her eyes at his statement, she began to walk out of the field towards her house. Spike walked right behind her and attempted to grab her arm but she harshly shrugged him off.

“I’m not a dog. You don’t have to put me on a leash for me to go anywhere,” she hissed with her eyes forward. “Don’t touch me.”

~ ~ ~

Angel found no sight of the blonde beauty when he exited his house with Xander right on his heels. Sighing in disappointment, he led Xander to the pub where they were going to meet the rest of the gang.

Walking close to complete silence, Angel and Xander met Doyle, Gunn, and Oz in the back of the pub. Everyone had seemed to be over the hangover that all had faced this morning in the field. All that is except for Doyle. Doyle still had on the same clothes that he wore the previous night and his hair exceptionally disheveled.

Noticing Doyle’s appearance, Angel couldn’t repress the chuckle that rose in his throat. “Tough night, Doyle?”

“What?” he turned toward Angel with a sluggish look on his face.

“Are you still wearing the same thing because you weren’t physically able to changes clothes or did Cordy refuse to do your laundry again?” At this comment, everyone had smiles on their faces.

Smiling at Angel’s mention of his wife, Doyle commented, “Probably a little bit of both. ‘Delia yelled at me this morning because I am too cheap to hire a cleaning lady.”

“That’s Cordy for you. Willful and a complete pain,” Gunn joked.

“That’s exactly the way I like it too,” Doyle admitted with a huge grin on his face.

Now officially walking away from the pub, everyone in the group was quick to notice the slight hop in Angel’s step as he lead them towards the Sinn Fein’s secret headquarters.

“What are you so happy about, Angel?” Oz asked while walking.

“Nothing in particular,” he smiled as the image of a beautiful blonde crept into his head with sparkling green eyes. “Guess I am just happy today.”

Xander turned towards the three other members of the gang that were behind Angel and whispered not to discretely, “He’s thinking of a petite blonde, supposedly the girl of his dreams.”

“Angel, you should have told us. It is about time you find someone,” Doyle laughed as he punched the back of Angel’s shoulder.

“That’s right. Angel, you seriously need to get some type of action in your life. I mean, I have Willow, Doyle has Cordy, and Gunn, well he needs someone too. You need someone too,” Oz agreed with Doyle.

Walking up to the back door of the headquarters, Angel rapt a couple of times on the door before the window on it opened up to reveal a pair of eyes glaring at him. Responding to Oz, Angel said, “I have plenty of action in my life. What do you think I am doing now?”

Opening up the door, the five men sauntered into the secret headquarters to discuss their plan.

Quickly after entering the door, Angel was recognized by one of the people that occupied this particular room. “Liam, what are you doing here?”

“Hello Penn. Have some ideas on what we could do next to further stress our cause.”

Nodding in understanding, Penn lead the gang to another room that was encased in darkness. Knowing that someone was there, Angel began speaking, “We have come up with a plan to convince the British to leave us alone.”

“Go on,” a raspy voice broke through the darkness.

“We kidnap Hank Summers’ child and hold her for ransom until the British listen to our demands.”

For what seemed like an eternity, the voice didn’t say anything. The gang began fidgeting in the awkwardness of this silence.

“Sounds like a good idea to me. Liam, you will be in charge of this and I don’t want it messed up like the last assignment that was given to you. I want you all to go now to his house and survey the area.”

“Sir, oh wise one, the MAN…” Xander bumbled quickly.

“Xander would you get to the point!” the voice rose.

“How will we know what his daughter looks like?”

“You will know. She’s his only child,” the voice answered. “Summers lives at 1630 Revello Drive. Now go, you have some work to do.”

The five men exited the room and walked back to where they met Penn the first time.

“How did it go?” Penn asked as soon as he saw Angel leave the dark room.

“Sorry, we can’t talk right now. We have some business to take care of,” Angel responded stonily as they exited the building towards Revello Drive.

Part VII

“So guys, umm, what’s the plan here?” Doyle asked after the gang left the headquarters.

“What ever we are planning on doing right now, it has to be quick. The band is playing at the pub tonight,” Oz responded stoically.

“How’s the band coming along?” Gunn inquired.

“Well, we reek royally but hopefully we can get to some point that we just stink.”

Laughing to himself, Doyle chuckled, “All you really need to do to fix that problem is talk the bar to decrease the prices of their drinks. Everything sounds heavenly when you drink yourself under the table.”

“Gotta agree with you on that one,” Xander concurred. “Also everyone looks good after they have one too many.”

“So that’s how you met Anya!” Angel laughed aloud while punching Xander in the shoulder.

Sneering at Angel’s comment, Xander turned to him and laughed mockingly, “Ha ha, very funny.” Now thinking of his soon to be wife, Xander smiled. “Anya is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met.”

“I know, I just was messing with you,” Angel said. “But she is not as beautiful as Buffy, I hate to say.”

“I don’t know what you are all on, even though I can’t speak for the girl of your dreams, but ‘Delia leaves everyone far behind,” Doyle stated with a huge grin spreading across his face.

All four other men turned to stare at Doyle. Responding at the same time they all yelled, “Nah,” and started bursting out into laughter.

“So when are you going to tell us about your little encounter with this girl you keep on smiling about?” Gunn asked Angel.

“When we aren’t so busy with are little assignment here,” Angel held back. “Well we are coming close to Revello Drive, has anyone thought of anything?”

Walking in silence, all four other men shook their heads in disappointment. “Let’s just face it, were at a dead end!” Gunn finally broke the silence.

“Not exactly,” Angel said as a thought hit his mind. “Xander why don’t you go and walk past the house and look for anything that could lead to finding out who Hank’s child is. We’ll stay behind over here and wait for you to come back.”

Nodding his head in agreement, Xander kept walking closer to 1630 Revello Drive while the others stayed behind a building on the opposite side of the street.

~ ~ ~

While Buffy and Spike walked back to her home, she felt so uncomfortable in her own skin. She hated it when Spike would randomly try to take her arm in his but she would quickly reject him by shrugging off his touch. Most of the trip was accompanied with awkward silence because she really didn’t want to talk to him.

Walking up the couple of steps up to her front door, Buffy gripped the banister as Spike inched closer to her one step below her.

“Ah, home sweet home,” Spike whispered in her ear as he shoved her through her ornate door.

“Ok, while I am in my own home, you don’t have to be around me all the time. Why don’t you go and occupy yourself somewhere away from me,” Buffy said smugly.

“Playing hard to get, I like that. But in all actuality, I am feeling kind of puckish so I am going to head over to the kitchen,” Spike stated while he left Buffy in the front entrance of her house.

“It’s about time you ate something,” Buffy muttered under her breath as he walked away. Moving further into her home, Buffy knew that she had to find Giles to tell him what happened to her this morning.

Searching through the lower level of the house, she found Giles inside the library with his nose shoved into a book.

Breaking through the silence that encased the room, Buffy asked, “Whatca reading?”

Quite startled by the sudden noise, Giles jumped in his chair. “Oh, Buffy, I didn’t hear you come in?” he breathed.

“I can tell,” she smiled as his fingers nervously stroked the hardbound cover of the book that he had just been reading. “Which book is that?”

“Ah, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens,” Giles said as he read the title from the front of the book. “This man is really into coincidences, I must say.” Giles removed his wire-framed glasses from his face and slowly began to clean them with his white handkerchief.

“I think there are no such things as coincidences. Everything happens for a reason, call it fate,” Buffy said as she removed the book from the table that he placed it on and smoothed her hand over its cover. “Or maybe destiny, who knows?”

Shaking his head in disagreement, Giles let a smile creep across his face. “I didn’t think you would be back for a while,” Giles quickly changed the subject.

“Aye, Spike found me and pretty much drug me back here. He is giving me now some moments to myself.”

“I could hit him again if you want me too,” Giles smiled.

“You hit Spike,” she burst out laughing. “No wonder he has that huge, red welt on his cheek. Great aim, I must say.”

Laughing along with her, Giles chuckled, “Well this cheekbones as prominent as his, they are kind of hard to miss.”

Both Giles and Buffy laughed so much that tears began to brim their eyes. She felt her knees buckle as she quickly found a seat to rest upon. Her laughter slowly ceased as she was just going to begin to tell him of her meeting with a tall, dark and handsome man but Giles’ calling bell began to chime.

“Excuse me Buffy. I am needed elsewhere,” Giles stopped laughing as he began to exit the room.

“Giles,” Buffy interrupted his exit. “Where is my father now?”

“He left the house after you ran, I have no idea where he went.” Giles shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, all right,” Buffy said. “You should probably get going. I will just wait for him at the front.”

Nodding to her, Giles left the room as Buffy made her way to the bay window in the front of her house where she could sit on the bench and look out at the street in front of her. From this window, she could see almost the whole town. But her eyes rested only on the green fields that she just came from.

~ ~ ~

Xander felt all stealthy as he crept towards Hank Summer’s large home. Thinking to himself, he said, ‘Now Angel isn’t the only one that can be all sneaky. I have officially joined the club.’

Walking towards the house he caught glimpse of a beautiful woman in the window of the house. Moving closer he felt like he recognized her from somewhere but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it exactly. Suddenly it hit him, ‘Oh my God, its Buffy.’

Too shocked by what he saw in the window, Xander didn’t watch where exactly he was walking. He rammed straight into the banister of her front porch and found himself lying on the floor underneath it writhing in pain. The banister hit him hard in the right spot as he pulled himself into a tight ball.

‘I have to tell Angel’ he thought as he slowly stood up still in a crouched position holding his hand over his groin. Limping slightly, Xander made his way back to where the rest of the gang waited for him.

Noticing Xander’s awkward position, Oz asked, “All went well I hope?”

“Just great,” Xander responded through clenched teeth. “I found her.”

“Ok, what does she look like?” Angel quickly asked as his eyes began to glow in curiosity.

Standing up straight to look him in the eye, Xander could only shake his head at Angel’s question. “You probably don’t want to know who she is?”

“Why?” Angel asked as confusion spread across his face.

“It’s Buffy,” Xander whispered, as Angel’s eyes quickly grew dark at his revelation.

Part VIII

Angel didn’t want to believe Xander, but something deep down inside his soul was screaming that Buffy was very close. “Are you sure?” he asked incredulously as his brow became deeply furrowed in his forehead.

“Uh, let me check,” Xander looked up at the sky pretending to be really concentrating on what he was about to say, “yep, it’s her.”

Walking out from behind the side of the building, Angel crept closer to the house. His stomach churned with the realization that Xander was telling the truth as he saw the radiant beauty that was perched in the window. Angel felt his heart hit the pavement below his feet and for a moment he actually felt nauseous. ‘What am I going to do now? I know what I am supposed to do, but can I really kidnap her? Why, God, does it have to be her of all people?’ So lost in his thoughts he didn’t hear Doyle walk up next to him.

“You know someone is bound to notice you gawking at her.”

Angel didn’t respond to him for a while, all he could do was look at her. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the way her hair shone its strikingly gold color or the way the window bent the light to place a vibrant rainbow across her lap as she sat there. He thought, ‘Was she thinking about him?’ as he saw a smile spread across her face as she used her hands to smooth out the material of her skirt the way that he had done, earlier that day.

Punching him on the shoulder, Doyle yelled, “ANGEL! SNAP OUT OF IT!!”

Finally turning away from her image, Angel sneered, “What was that for?”

“What do you think?”

Shaking his head in defeat, Angel turned to walk back to where the gang was. Doyle was quick to follow him back.

“See I told you so,” Xander chided.

Angel bent his head down towards the floor and refused to look up at them.

“So, Angel, what’s the plan?” Gunn asked.

“We have a plan?” Oz said.

After Oz spoke, the group went silent. No one could talk for they all knew that it was Angel’s decision on what to do. They all stared at him as Angel held his gaze firmly on the dirt-covered ground.

Angel was painfully aware of the rock and the hard place that he was sandwiched between. Lifting his head, he decided on what to do. Before talking to his friends, out of the corner of his eye he saw a small doctor’s office a block over.

Confidently ordering, Angel turned to Gunn and Oz, “You guys go to that doctor’s office and ask for a bottle of chloroform. We are going to need it as soon as possible.”

“What happens if the doctor says no?” Oz inquired.

“Just tell him my name. The doctor that works there, him and me kind of go back. I’m sure you won’t have any problems.”

Nodding, Gunn and Oz left to go towards the doctor’s office. While the rest waited, Angel told them the plan on how they were going to get her outside. Taking only a few minutes, the two returned with an old bottle of chloroform and a small rag to put it on.

Oz extended them out to Angel to show him what they had brought back and he nodded in graciousness. “Good. I am going to try to get her to come out of her house. I will lead her back here where one of you guys make sure you get her. Everyone understand?” Angel asked coldly.

Angel turned away from the group to yet again walk back towards the house.

Standing next to Oz, Xander turned to him and whispered, “Always the key guy. When will I ever be the key guy?”

Shaking his head, Oz couldn’t think of anything particularly monosyllabic to say to him. So they all just stood there in the shadows waiting for Angel to come out with their target.

~ ~ ~

Every step that Angel took his heart broke into smaller and smaller pieces. ‘Of all the hundreds of thousands of women in this world, must it be this one?’ he thought.

Sidestepping behind a tall bush, Angel found himself staring at the beautiful woman again in the window. His eyes and skin burned as her radiance reached and brushed against him. Her radiance also burned deep into his soul as it was screaming to him not to do this. Angel was torn in half. Heart telling him to run backwards, head telling him to continue forward, he was so confused. But he knew what he had to do.

Giving himself a few more moments of pleasure seeing her with her freedom, he stayed behind that bush. Sighing and talking aloud to himself, he said, “Things are going to get very interesting.”

Walking from behind the bush, he painfully made his way towards the girl of his dreams.

~ ~ ~

Buffy loved to sit in that window. She remembered as a little girl how she would sit there with her favorite stuffed animal and stare out at the birds that graced the sky with their flight. Hours and hours on end, she would stare out that window. It was her release because it helped her to imagine the day that she would too fly away. She would feel her wings completely unfurl and glide away with the warm breeze.

Glancing down at her dress she saw the colorful rainbow that was imprinted on the silken fabric. She smoothed the material down to get hopefully a full rainbow there. Placing her hands on the skirt, she remembered how Angel handled her so carefully and tenderly this morning. ‘Angel…’ she thought and a smile ran across her face. ‘I felt so free with Angel, just like I always wanted to do. He gave me a glimpse of my possible wings.’ Buffy’s smile got even bigger as her mind travel to, ‘Well that wasn’t the only thing that went through my mind when I saw him. I started to see… Stop that, Buffy.’

Returning her attention back towards the window, she watched as more birds flew across the sky. Suddenly, she felt something in the pit of her stomach. Not a bad feeling but one that she didn’t quite understand. Buffy felt that same way when she was with Angel and no other time did she feel it. She knew he had to be somewhere close.

Looking out she saw a tall, dark haired man walking down the street towards her house. Just by the way he walked she knew it was he. Not just the walk though, but the feeling told her the same due to its increase as he came closer. She felt completely drawn towards him and she knew that she had to go outside to talk to him again.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she stood up and ran out the front door. Buffy didn’t want to seem too overly excited about seeing him again, she tried to slow herself down but instead she ran into him again.

Angel wasn’t paying attention to anything besides his thoughts and Buffy only had her attention on him, not on stopping.

Falling on the ground again, Buffy burst into laughter. “Must we always meet like this,” she smiled up at him.

Laughing in return, Angel extended out his hand to help her off the ground and she took it. Again they felt that warm electricity run through their bodies just at the touch of one another. “We should work on this a little, especially since we just finished cleaning you up, now we have to do it again.”

Angel had never seen a smile so beautiful. “We’ll get it later,” she whispered to him.

“I was just out for a walk. Would you like to join me?” Angel asked as he found himself lost in her hazel eyes.

“I would love to,” Buffy responded as she wove her arm in his as he led her off towards the building where his friends stood waiting.

In silence they walked. That silence was only broken when Buffy asked, “So where are we going?”

Leading her a little bit more, Angel didn’t answer her question. As soon as they came close enough to the building, Angel said, “Nowhere in particular. I would go anywhere with you.”

Smiling up at him, Buffy didn’t notice the person that was coming close to her. Feeling an arm harshly grab her, Buffy pushed away from Angel. She began to fight back at the person that held onto her. Her foot connected with someone and she felt like she might have won, but the hand that covered her mouth with a clothe would tell her otherwise.

She felt her hold body go paralyzed as she started to slump down to the ground. Before shutting her eyes, she saw Angel standing there doing absolutely nothing. Feeling defeated, she succumbed to the black shroud of unconsciousness.

Hobbling over to Angel and rubbing his shin, Gunn stated, “Boy that girl put up a fight, no wonder why you like her so much.”

“We need to get her out of her,” Oz said bluntly.

Picking her up in his arms and cradling her unconscious form, Angel carried her away. Holding her tight, he said, “We got her, now we should go.”

Part IX

Angel held onto Buffy tightly in his arms as he and his friends made their way through the streets of Dublin. They all did their best to try to look inconspicuous and to their fortune, no one questioned what exactly they were doing.

“So, Angel, where should we take her?” Doyle asked walking up behind him.

Reaching down into the front pocket of his pants, Angel removed a piece of paper and handed it to Doyle. “First, I need you to go back and slip this under her door.”

Doyle took the note from his hand and turned back towards the house. Now rotating towards Oz, he directed a question, “Oz, can we use your house for the time being?”

Oz responded to his request with a nod and he led the gang straight towards his house. “Willow won’t be home for a while, so that should be fine.”

The rest of the trip was carried with a comfortable silence from that moment. Everyone was comfortable, all except Angel. He felt like he was being torn in half. Part of him was screaming to let this woman go and yet the other part couldn’t get enough of her presence resting in his arms. He felt her strong heartbeat against his chest and through its rhythmic beating; he felt his own heart increase its speed. But with every beat, his heart also shattered into smaller pieces because he knew that she would never look at him the way she had before, ever again. ‘What am I going to say to her?’ he questioned himself over and over again.

Once reaching Oz’s house, Angel walked straight into his spare bedroom where he laid Buffy gently down on the bed in the middle of the room. His body shivered with cold as her warmth was taken from his arms, but he couldn’t completely let go of her. As she lay there sleeping peacefully, he held her small hand in his and massaged the back of it with the soft pad of his thumb. Angel knelt on the floor next to the bed and just watched her sleeping form.

Rapping quietly on the door, Gunn entered the room to find Buffy lying on the bed with Angel holding her hand that he placed on his lips. “Hey Angel man, what are we going to do now?” he asked quietly.

With Buffy’s hand still placed across his mouth, he muttered, “I don’t know.” He shook his head and refused to take his eyes off of her. “One thing I do know is that I am going to stay here with her until she wakes up.”

Nodding his head, Gunn agreed and silently left Angel with her. Gunn knew by the sound of Angel’s voice that he was being torn up inside. Just before leaving the room, he turned back toward Angel and said, “Are you sure you want to stay with her until she wakes up? I already got a taste of her fire and anger when she kidnapped her and I am afraid that when she wakes up, that fire is going to blow up in your face.”

After saying that, Gunn turned and walked out the door. Once hearing the door shut behind him, Angel whispered to himself, “The fire, that’s one of the things I like so much about her.”

~ ~ ~

After enjoying a wholesome lunch, Spike finally exited the kitchen in the hopes of finding Buffy. He had last seen her sitting in front of the window, so he began his search there. To his complete lack of surprise, he didn’t see her sitting there anymore. Thinking to himself, he said, ‘If I don’t find that girl, Hank is going to have my testicles in a vice,’ so he decided to go upstairs to hopefully find her in her room.

Entering it, the smell of her was all around him. The light sea green walls screamed her name as he scraped his fingernails across them walking towards her dresser full of clothes. Knowing exactly which drawer he wanted to open, he went straight for the drawer that her undergarments were placed in. Picking up a pair of soft pink underwear, he placed it underneath his nose to breathe her scent inside. Spike couldn’t help to hold down the smile that spread across his face as her image danced in his mind. ‘She will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine,’ played in his mind like a broken record stuck on the same exact verse.

Suddenly the door opened in on him and he quickly hid her underwear behind her back. Spike was startled by the image of Riley bursting through her door with shoulders hung low and a frown on his face.

Once seeing Spike standing alone in her room, Riley’s frown changed to a scowl as he asked, “Spike, what are you doing here?”

“None of your business,” Spike quickly responded with a smug look running across his face.

“Where’s Buffy?”

“She’s around here somewhere. What are you doing here?” Spike asked trying to stealthily slip her underwear back into her drawer without him noticing.

“That is not of your concern but just in case if you really want to know, I have been drafted to fight in the Great War and I wanted to tell Buffy that we will have to postpone our wedding for a while,” Riley said while he looked to the floor. “I know that she will be upset about it and I wanted to break the news to her gently.”

Sauntering out of the room and brushing his shoulder into Riley, Spike quipped, “Oh yeah, she will be devastated.”

Not catching his mocking, Riley agreed while he followed Spike out, “She was looking so forward to our union, I don’t know if she will handle this well.”

“Whatever Captain Cardboard, you can probably go now, I will break the news to her.” Riley followed Spike down the stairs into the front entrance when he saw a small piece of paper lying on the ground right in front of the door.

Leaning over to pick up the paper, Riley opened up the note and began to read its contents. His eyes opened in shock as his eyes followed the words that were written there.

Crudely in scripted on the paper, the note read, “WE HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER. WE WILL CONTACT YOU LATER WITH INSTRUCTIONS. DO ANYTHING RASH, AND SHE DIES.”

Riley’s eyes shot up from the paper and tried to find Spike. Seeing him not too far away, he yelled, “Spike, what did you do?!”

“What are you talking about, mate?” he said as he walked back to Riley.

Grabbing him by the throat, Riley spat, “Weren’t you supposed to protect her and now looked what happened.”

Spike was barely able to respond as Riley’s hand constricted around his neck. “What are you talking about?”

Releasing his grip and throwing the paper in his face, Riley waited for a response from the other blonde man from the room after he read the note.

The only words that came from his mouth as he read the note was, “Oh bloody hell.”

~ ~ ~

Every minute that went by during Buffy’s unconsciousness felt like an eternity to him. Angel refused to leave her side and wouldn’t let go of her hand. He just held it and muttered soft prayers to himself the whole time. Some of the prayers were begging forgiveness while some prayed that she would soon open up her beautiful eyes.

One of his prayers was answered as he felt her limp hand finally begin to squeeze his hand a little more. His heart increased its speed as she slowly stirred from her slumber. The palms of his hands became a little sweaty as she opened her eyes and turned them toward him.

Angel saw the confusion in her eyes as they made a connection with his. Her eyes were asking so many questions, most of which Angel really didn’t want to answer.

“Where am I?” she asked softly.

“A friend’s house,” was the only response that Angel could think of at the moment.

“What happened to me? The last thing I remember is seeing your face as someone grabbed me from behind.”

“Don’t worry, Buffy. We won’t hurt you,” Angel assured hoping that she would cease her questioning of him.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” she asked as she removed her hand from his and quickly sat up in bed.

“We kidnapped you,” he whispered bluntly.

Hearing this Buffy became enraged. “KIDNAPPED ME? WHAT FOR?” she screamed.

“For the independence of the Irish Republic. It is kind of a long story,” he said.

Crossing her arms across her chest she sneered, “Let me guess, you are an Irish revolutionary who was given a mission that involved me and you came a runnin’.”

“I guess not that long,” he looked toward the floor after her response. “I am sorry Buffy, I truly am. I never thought that my mission would involve you.”

Snapping back at him, Buffy said, “Save your apologies, I don’t want to hear them.” Buffy turned away from him and looked toward the wall across the room.

Using the bed as a support, Angel raised himself off the ground. Standing on his feet, he started to walk away from her. While walking away, he proclaimed one last time, “Buffy I am so sorry.”

Buffy didn’t watch him leave the room and shut the door behind him. She didn’t watch but she felt the coldness of the room right after he left. The cold seeped into her chest as he heart cried out for Angel to return. Buffy’s head was telling him good riddance but her heart was sobbing. Angel had betrayed her trust but she couldn’t hate him no matter how hard she tried. The only thing that she resolved to do now was to make sure to not to let Angel know how much he had hurt her. ‘I will make his life hell,’ she vowed with slight hatred in her thoughts.

She resolved not to show any weak emotions but for now, she decided to give herself a break and let the tears rain down her face.

Part X

Spike raised his head from the note to look back at Riley. “You are going to tell Hank, right?” he asked.

“She was your responsibility to look after and protect,” Riley accused.

Raising his voice at Riley, Spike yelled, “SHE’S YOUR BLOODY FIANCE, YOU DEAL WITH IT.” Spike slapped the note back at Riley.

Returning the gesture, Riley shoved the note back at Spike and yelled, “You!”

“No, you!!” Spike responded quickly.

“YOU!!!” Riley screamed again throwing the note back.

The Summers’ household for the next few minutes was filled with the screams of Riley and Spike from downstairs. Their argument was only broken up when they heard a soft voice beckon from the stairs.

“Boys, boys,” Joyce Summers scolded, “what is going on here?” A small smile flickered on her face with the sight in front of her. Joyce came down the stairs just in time to see Spike holding Riley in a headlock lowered closely towards the ground. “What happened?” she asked.

Quickly breaking apart and standing up straight, the boys looked sheepishly at the ground for their actions that she had witnessed.

“Nothing, ma’am,” Riley said with a slight rustic accent. “Me and Spike were just wrestling in a peaceable manner and things just got a little out of hand.”

“Spike,” Joyce raised an eyebrow, “is that true?”

Nodding his head and still looking at the floor, Spike responded, “Yeah.”

Joyce knew that they weren’t telling her what really happened but she just was not in the mood to press the issue any further. Looking down at the watch that adorned her wrist, Joyce exclaimed, “Spike, it’s cocoa time. Riley do you want to join?”

“No thanks, ma’am, I should probably be heading out,” Riley declined.

“You are really missing out, the cook just went out yesterday and bought a brand new supply of marshmallows,” Joyce added.

Spike perked up a little when hearing about the marshmallows. Turning towards Riley and slapping him in the shoulder, he said as a smirk traveled across his countenance, “Oh well, soldier boy is just going to miss out on all the fun. Too bad for him.” He walked away from Riley and put an arm around Joyce leading her towards the kitchen.

While Spike led Joyce away from Riley, a question suddenly came from her mouth. “Have you boys seen Buffy anywhere?”

Spike stopped suddenly in his tracks as Riley’s posture turned ramrod straight. “Buffy?” Riley whispered as he felt the tattered and torn piece of paper burning in his palm.

“Yes Buffy, my daughter. Have you seen her lately?”

For a few awkward seconds not a sound came from anyone’s mouth. Spike tried to get Riley’s attention by shaking his head at Riley’s look that he was going to give Joyce the note.

“Come on, boys, where is she?” Joyce asked with tension in her voice now. Seriousness saturated her face as she saw Riley extend his hand with the note towards her.

Taking it from his hand, she opened it up to read what was inscribed on the crumpled piece of paper. As she read her eyes widened in shock. Her hands trembled as she gripped the paper tighter and tighter. The trembling was too much and she felt the piece of paper slip from her fingers and slowly drift towards the floor.

Collapsing against Spike, Joyce cried, “Oh my God, my baby! We need to find Hank.”

~ ~ ~

Everyone saw Angel’s pained face as he exited the room that Buffy was kept in. He looked so tired, more tired than they had ever since him.

Walking up to him and placing a firm hand on Angel’s shoulder, Doyle said, “It’s ok man. Don’t worry about her.”

Angel took his eyes off the floor for only a moment to stare icily back at Doyle’s. “Whatever you say,” he said sounding completely dejected. “Could someone go in there and see if she’s ok?”

Gunn stepped forward and nodded his head at Angel’s request. “Sure, I’ll go.” Before walking towards Buffy’s room, Gunn heard Angel sigh loudly and hang his head a little lower.

“Hey man, don’t worry. It will be ok,” Gunn said as he turned the knob of her door and entered it.

Angel felt so old at the moment. Every part of his body ached with the knowledge that he had hurt her. Shuffling across the room, Angel found a chair to sit on and he crumpled down into it.

When Gunn entered her room, he saw Buffy’s small form sitting on top of the bed with her head resting upon her knees. Buffy heard him enter and she lifted her head to meet him revealing a wet part of her skirt soiled with the tears that she had been shedding ever since Angel left the room. Buffy wanted it to be Angel who came through the door and was disappointed to see a dark skinned man enter instead. Feeling more tears coming, she lowered her head again on her knees.

Walking over to the bed where she was, Gunn went over and sat down beside her. The both sat in silence before Buffy softly spoke, “You aren’t from Ireland are you?”

“Nope, born and bred USA. The name’s Gunn,” he answered.

Lifting her head up to look at him, she said with excitement lacing her voice, “America! Oh, how I wish I were there. Why are you here now?”

“Why do you think?” he asked but then quickly answered his own question, “THE DRINKING, OF COURSE!” Buffy couldn’t help but to smile after his comment.

“No really why are you here?” she asked with more seriousness in her voice.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” he admitted.

Looking from her right to left, she said, “It’s looks like I have plenty of time to hear it.”

Smiling at her, Gunn began his story. “Well, where I grew up, I didn’t get much opportunity to do anything with my life. I felt completely trapped due to the color of my skin. I would walk down the street and people would give me this stares just waiting to accuse me of some crime. I hated it and I knew that I had to do something. I left Los Angeles, where I am from, and went to Washington D.C. to see if I could talk to someone about this but no one would listen to me. But no one would listen to me no matter how loud I shouted! The only politician that gave me the light of day told me to just give up because it is worthless to fight discrimination. I left him and went straight to a bar in the hopes of drowning my sorrows in a big bottle of whiskey.” Gunn paused for a moment there to look back at Buffy where she was sitting there listening intently.

“At that bar, there were a few people who were trying to get a group together to play poker. I, being exceptionally intoxicated at that time, decided to join even though I couldn’t really read the values on the cards all too well,” Gunn laughed as his memory of that day came back to him. “One of the guys at the table who was Irish ran out of money really quickly and in one hand he decided to put his ticket back to Ireland as a wager. Well, I won that hand, took the ticket, stumbled out the door and got on the slow boat to Ireland.”

“And here you are?” Buffy smiled.

“Yep. I met all the guys at a pub one night when I was just about to get pummeled by some big hairy guy that I spilt a little ale on. Angel and the others saved me from a few bruises and broken bones. Until I got my own place, Angel let me stay at his.”

Buffy’s face grayed as she heard Gunn mention Angel’s name. “I guess he’s your guardian angel then?” she asked.

“You could probably say that,” Gunn said as he saw the same pain on her face that he saw on Angel’s when he left the room. “He helped me to get on my feet here and helped me escape from all the stuff that was going on in America.”

“That makes us equals then,” Buffy said with confidence as she looked at Gunn.

Looking back at her in confusion, he asked, “What?”

“Escape. Angel just helped me escape a pretty confining situation that I was stuck in.”

“Really, what’s going on in your world?” he inquired.

“Arranged marriage in a few weeks,” she admitted.

“Oooooh, evil. I am sure he is very glad to help you with that one.” Thinking to himself, ‘As a matter of fact, I am sure he is glad to do that because he couldn’t handle you getting married to anyone else besides him.’

Laughing to herself, Buffy said, “I just hope that I can stay kidnapped and I don’t ever have to go back. Are you going back to America anytime soon?”

“Why? You looking for a ride?” he chuckled.

“If you are offering, then that is a definite yes,” she said with hope in her eyes.

Shaking his head at her, Gunn said, “Nope, I don’t plan to go back for a long time. Sorry.”

Bowing her head again, she whispered, “That’s ok.”

“I like it here too much. I don’t really want to leave. Just call me a ‘Smoked Irishman’ for the rest of my life,” he laughed as he saw a smile spread across her face at his nickname.

“’Smoked Irishman?’ I like,” she admitted looking back at Gunn.

“I am just letting you know that we are probably going to go to a pub later on this evening and I think you should probably come along,” he offered.

Sighing at his request, “Watching over me?”

“Not me. I know Angel would want to make sure you were alright.”

“Angel? Why would he care? I’m just his prisoner.”

“No you’re not. Just call yourself our honored guest for the time being,” he laughed. “Come to the pub with us. At least there you can get Angel really drunk and make him do whatever you want to do to him. When he is drunk, he would do anything you tell him to do.”

Thinking of the possibilities of all the things she could do to him, she relented and shook her head. “I would be happy to go,” she accepted.

“Good because I will need your help to think of new ideas for pranks to do to people,” he laughed.

“It would be my pleasure,” she said as many different ideas flew through her mind over what she would do that night.

Part XI

With confidence radiating from each step, Buffy followed Gunn from out of the room to meet the rest of the gang. Her eyes traveled from right to left, evaluating each person until her gaze met the form of a crumpled man across the room. Angel sat there in that chair and stared blankly at the floor, he didn’t even acknowledge her presence when she exited the room.

Buffy stood frozen where she stood, her eyes not moving from Angel. He looked so tired and worn; her heart ached just to see him. She desperately wanted to run towards him, wrap her arms around his robust torso and never, ever let go. Tears began forming in her eyes, but then she heard someone say something to bring her out of the abyss of her thoughts.

“Xander,” he approached the petite blonde.

“What?” Buffy asked with her eyes still fixated on Angel.

“Xander,” he repeated his name, “is me.”

Finally looking at the dark haired man, Buffy greeted, “Hi.”

Gunn, who still stood behind her, pointed out Doyle and introduced the two. “That’s Allan Doyle, but everyone and their mothers call him Doyle,” Gunn said. Doyle, hearing his introduction, tipped his hat to Buffy.

Continuing, Gunn said, “Oz is somewhere around here. This is his house.”

“He’s the one with the red hair, right?” Buffy asked.

Answering for Gunn, Xander said, “Red this week, next week who knows.” Xander turned his attention to the man across the room, “And Dead Boy over there is Angel. I think you two have probably already met.”

Buffy’s eyes met Xander’s with confidence and she stated, “No introduction necessary.” Now turning to the whole group that waiting in Oz’s living room, “Hi, I’m Buffy, but you all probably knew that already.”

“Please to make your acquaintance,” Doyle said to her.

After all the introductions were made, the room blanketed itself again in a deafening silence. No one knew what to say and all Buffy could do is continue to stare at Angel and chew on her lower lip in nervousness.

“So,” Xander said breaking the silence, “what do you like to do? Tell us a little about yourself.”

“What is this interrogation time for the hostage?” Buffy quipped quickly back at Xander.

“We’re sorry about that, just to let you know it isn’t personal, it’s just business,” Doyle apologized.

“Well, you know, ‘To business that we love we rise bedtime, and go to't with delight,’” Buffy shrugged.

Looking to her with utter confusion in his face, Xander responded, “I think I speak for everyone here when I say huh?”

From across the room, Angel joined in the conversation with a whisper, “A Shakespearean quote. Buffy likes reading his plays.” Finally releasing himself from his near catatonic stage, Angel rose from his chair to move closer to her. His heartbeat increased with every step he took towards the woman of his dreams.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” she tossed back at him not intentionally sounding condescending but that’s how her words came out. As soon as the words left her mouth, Buffy saw the pained looked that Angel had written on his face. She wanted to say she was sorry but she would not, for now, give him the benefit of her wrong. “So when do we leave?” Buff said, suddenly changing the subject.

“Leave?” Doyle asked, “For where?”

“I invited her to go with us to the pub tonight, I hope you don’t mind,” Gunn said to the group. Elbowing her lightly in the shoulder, he smiled, “Just call her my date for the evening.” Angel could not help the wave of jealousy and anger that rose in his throat at Gunn’s implication of being Buffy’s date. He forced himself to repeatedly clench and unclench his fists in the hopes that this action would decrease his chances of reaching out and murdering his friend in cold blood, right then and there.

Noticing Angel’s body language, Buffy felt a smile spread across her face. ‘He’s jealous,’ she thought to himself, ‘he is so cute when he is jealous.’

“We can go in a few minutes,” Angel muttered behind gritted teeth.

“Oh, we have a party now,” Xander joked, “This ought to be fun!”

~ ~ ~

Running as fast as her legs could carry her, Joyce ran upstairs to find her husband screaming the entire way. “HANK! HANK!”

Joyce let no door shut as she slammed open every single one in the hopes of finding her husband inside one of the rooms. She needed to find him quickly and as one door after another opened to reveal nothing but an empty room, she felt more and more despair in her heart. The last door in the hall was the only one left and to her great fortune, there sat Hank Summers’, sitting at one of the desks reading another one of his books.

“Hank,” she panted from lack of breath, “didn’t you hear me call for you?!” Joyce was quite surprised when he didn’t respond right away to her question. “Didn’t why don’t you answer me?!”

Slowly putting a folded piece of paper inside the book and closing it, Hank made eye contact with his wife. “Sorry, I wanted to finish the rest of the page. What is it now?”

“It’s Buffy,” she said with great concern.

“What about her?” he responded with forced distress. “What’s wrong?”

Briskly walking over to her husband, Joyce shoved the note under his nose. “They have her.”

Reading the note and not paying to much attention to his wife’s last comment, Hank’s eyes flickered with the slightest hint of hatred. “WHAT?? Where was Spike in all of this?”

“He was in the kitchen. He said that Buffy must have walked outside for a few seconds and they took her then.” Joyce spoke with fierce quickness in her voice and she was yet again confused at her husband’s silent response to her heightened emotions. “What are we going to do?”

Suddenly getting overtly angry, he yelled, “Don’t worry. I will put a letter in the newspaper about her disappearance and hopefully someone will respond to it with her whereabouts. And when I find out whoever did this, be certain, I will have their heads for this.”

~ ~ ~

Finding a table at the pub that evening for some reason was quite a difficult task. The pub seemed to be busier than usual that night for some unknown reason.

Carrying back a couple of drinks from the bar, Xander slammed into at least 20 people on his way to the table. “My God, what the bloody hell is going on tonight?” he panted as soon as he placed the glasses down on the table.

“It’s a mad house in here,” Gunn said while he sat down at the small table. “Is this table ok?”

“Well, since it is the only one that is open, I guess it will have to do,” Doyle answered bluntly as he moved around the table. “We will just have to cram on in.”

Buffy, with her small size, was very efficient in scooting across the bench towards the opposite end of the table. Pushing herself towards that direction, she was stopped only by the presence of a large body that got in her way.

“Angel,” she whispered as her body trembled just from bumping into him.

“Buffy,” he said feeling the same as she.

“So, Buffy, what can I get you?” Doyle asked getting up from his seat to walk towards the bar.

“I don’t think that is a good idea,” Angel answered for her bluntly. “Just get her a water.”

Insulted by his intrusion, “Excuse me? Did he ask you?” she said while turning towards Angel with mock anger. Returning her attention back to Doyle, “I’ll have whatever you were going to have.”

“Are you sure about that Buffy?” Gunn asked with concern in his voice. “Doyle drinks some pretty potent stuff.”

“I can handle it,” she responded confidently. “Whoever said a rich girl can’t drink?”

Not believing her argument, all the guys sat there and shook their heads.

“You don’t believe me, do you? How much you want to bet that I can drink more than any of you?” she asked with her eyebrows raised to the sky.

“Do I feel a challenge here?” Gunn always is willing to take a challenge. “I say you are on, little girl!”

Buffy nodded her head at his acceptance of the challenge and looked up just in time to see Doyle bring back a couple of shot glasses and a monstrous bottle of some type of liquor that she had never recognized before.

Doyle placed the glasses in front of his friends and himself and began to pour the liquid out of the bottle into the glasses.

Quickly snatching one up in her hand, Buffy cheered, “Bottoms up!” Her first drink burned her throat as it flowed down. Hacking harshly and putting a hand to her chest she prepared herself for another shot.

The rest of the gang quickly joined her in this little game that she had just initiated.

Not that long later, the whole gang had already finished off at least two bottles of this unknown liquor. Buffy was definitely feeling it too. Nothing seemed to stay in the same place as the world around her twisted and contorted into unusual and interesting shapes.

Slurring slightly, Angel asked, “Buffy, how many is that for you?”

“Uh, I’m thinking only six,” Buffy responded then lifting up five fingers to wave in front of his face. Unable to control where her head was going, she suddenly leaned against Angel’s shoulder to hopefully stop the world from spinning from a few moments.

“Wow, Buffy,” Doyle said with his forehead on the table, “I am quite impressed with how many of those you have put away.”

Lifting her head, Buffy garbled, “You see I know how to handle my liquor.”

“Yes, you, can,” Xander said as he punctuated every word. “You drink like you are a man.”

Buffy stumbled a little when she attempted to stand up and face Xander. “But I’m not a man am I? No, I’m a lady.”

“You are no lady,” Xander said, too drunk to fully understand what he was saying back to her.

Punching him in the shoulder, she became a little unbalanced on her feet and almost fell on the ground. Seeing this Xander burst into uncontrollable laughter. Feeling embarrassed and wanting Xander to stop laughing at her, Buffy stood up straight and punched Xander straight in the cheek, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

Watching the little fight in front of them, Angel, Doyle, and Oz fell to the floor in an uproar of laughter. Joining in their laughter, Buffy fell to the floor and landed right on top of Angel.

Through his laughter, Oz said, “Someone should pick him up, we need to get him out of here.” Oz’s knees almost buckled underneath him as he got up to pick Xander’s unconscious body off the ground. Doyle joined him and the two of them did their best to lift him from the ground.

“We are going to take him home. Angel, you and Buffy should probably go back to your house tonight,” Doyle grunted slightly as he and Oz lifted Xander out towards the door.

“Sure thing, I will take good care of her,” Angel responded while trying to get off the ground himself. Once he got to his feet, he lowered his hand to Buffy on the floor to help her up but while she was doing so, she almost brought him down with her.

To steady her, Angel had to quickly grab her and place her against his chest. Her lips were so close to his face and they seemed to call to him to place his securely over hers.

Buffy felt warmth go through her entire body as Angel held hers close to her chest. Her head was screaming to her to keep a distance between them but with the alcohol in her system, she wasn’t lucid enough to pay attention. Without much hesitation, she placed Angel’s face between her hands and pulled his lips down to hers in a searing kiss.

All control left both of their bodies as their tongues dueled inside their mouths. Emotions ran high, as Angel’s hands slowly caressed the sides of her body and the increasing itch that was present between his legs.

Buffy relished the feelings that Angel caused to grow inside her body. She loved the feel of her hands softly caressing the short hairs on the back of his neck that stood on end. She never wanted to break this kiss but her desperate necessity for oxygen told her otherwise.

Breaking quickly only to catch their breath, the two met each other in another passionate kiss. This kiss was broken for a few seconds periodically, only to catch their breath. All the way to Angel’s house, the two were entangled in each other and nothing seemed to break down their passion.

// Denotes dream// Part XII

The sun rose the next morning just like any other, slowly jarring the young American husband from his peaceful slumber in the arms of his new wife. Entangling her from his body, he lifted himself from the bed to go to get the daily newspaper. A small smile spread across his face as he heard his wife grumble softly and turn over in the hopes of not having to wake up from her sleep.

Shuffling quietly away from the bed, he exited their room and retrieved the paper that was laid out on the doormat of their outside door. The young man quickly unfolded the front page and had to adjust his newly awoken eyes to the small print that was scattered on the front. Blinking several times to take the tiredness from his face, he caught sight of the large print that was placed in the center of the page. Rapidly skimming the article under the large heading, fear rose in his body as his hands began to tremble. Whispering aloud to himself, he read, “KIDNAPPED!!”

He quickly folded the paper back in half and ran back to where his wife still lay motionless. “Honey, honey, you have to read this,” he said while placing a gentle hand on her shoulder trying to make her open her eyes to greet him. “Honey, please.”

Grumbling in a sleepily fashion, “Just five more minutes, Dad.”

“Come on, sweetie. I need you to read this,” he said as he moved the newspaper closer to her face.

She groggily opened her eyes to look at her husband that was sitting on the edge of their bed, trying to wake her up. “What’s so earth shattering that you need to wake me up from my beauty rest?” she smiled at him weakly.

“A young British girl was kidnapped yesterday afternoon,” he read from some of the first lines in the article. “It is believed that Irish revolutionaries were the ones that did this.”

The wife heard what her husband was saying and suddenly she was jarred awake by his words and the fear behind those words. “Does it say what happened?”

Skimming the article one more time, he answered, “No, not really. It just says that a lot of the British community in Dublin is outraged by this act and want blood.”

“Just over some girl?” she asked in confusion.

“Not just any girl. Buffy Summers was kidnapped. She none other than the only daughter of Hank Summers,” he responded bluntly.

“Hank Summers, as in THE Hank Summers. The lead British official in Dublin?” she asked with surprise and fear in her voice.

“The one and only. The article says that with the uprising a couple of days ago brought a whole slew of British soldiers here and they are going to be commissioned soon to start sweeping the streets to find her,” he said while looking at the paper.

“That can’t be good. There is going to be a lot more bloodshed on these streets if that happens.” Fear was quite evident in her voice. “And I feel so sorry for Buffy. She must be so scared right now.”

~ ~ ~

//Warm heat spread throughout her body as she felt his searing touch upon her skin. This was her first taste of heaven in his arms. She found herself completely lost in his embracing kisses that he traveled from her supple lips, across her cheek to the back of her ear, down the length of her silky throat, to her chest where he placed soft kisses in the valley between her breasts.

She moaned in ecstasy as he took her turgid nipple in his mouth and swirl his well-educated tongue around the tip. She arched herself towards him enticing him to maintain his sensual administrations to her body.

She ground her hips into his body as his lips and hands completely took over all of her thoughts and feelings. She felt his firm gentle hands slowly make their path down to her dripping wet heat where he began to brush lightly against the naked lips of her open sheath. One then two fingers dipped into her body as she began to shudder under the glorious feelings that his touch created in her. He tenderly massaged her engorged clitoris, making the heat of her body rise to blistering proportions.

Her peak was rapidly approaching as her hands reached down and started caressing his raging erection. Very carefully and softly, her fingertips caressed the its rounded head and down its turgid, tumescent shaft. She could hear a soft moan come from his mouth as he arched himself into her small hand.

“I need you inside me,” she whispered breathily into his ear as her tongue swirled around all of its crevices.

Moving his hands away from her tight heat, he grabbed onto her small hips and positioned her legs so that his body rested between her warm thighs. She opened herself wider and wider preparing her body for his entry. She felt him slowly entering her compliant body with such grace and love. Her body was screaming in euphoria as his length filled her completely.

The pain of his entry in her wet sheath was quickly overcome by the powerful pleasure that radiated through her body as he slowly and methodically began to move in and our of her. She wanted to scream in utter bliss as every one of his thrusts jutted him inside her body and flush up against her cervix. Never had she felt this way before, completely whole. She had absolutely no idea where he ended and she began as they performed their erotic dance.

Both their climaxes were coming in earth shattering force as he began to thrust harder and harder into her body. She met every one of these thrusts by slamming her open hips into his. Her arms wrapped around his strong torso and she grated her fingernails harshly across the smooth skin of his back leaving dark red trails in their wake.

Just one more strong thrust and it would be it for them. The heat that radiated from their supple bodies was too much and it caused an explosive feeling that spread throughout both as his warm seed flooded her insides. She felt completely lost in all the emotions that coursed throughout her body as every fiber of her being sang for joy.

Not removing himself from her tight heat, he caught her smooth lips in a passionate kiss. Tongues dueled inside their mouths mimicking the dance that they bodies had just performed.

Coming up for a moment for breath, she heard his velvety voice whisper into her small ear. “I love you,” she heard him say.

“I love you, too, Angel.”//

Buffy’s eyes shot open as she felt her chest heave up and down. She shut her eyes again and the images of her dream played on her closed eyelids with complete clarity. Her body felt the heat that was coursing through her veins and her mind whirled with confusion over what the dream was telling her.

They seemed so real but she knew that they had to be a dream, only in her dreams were anything that close to perfection. Buffy did not remember what happened last night as so many things slammed into her mind. ‘How much did I drink last night,’ she thought and smiled to herself as a headache slowly began to pound inside her skull.

If it was just the dream or what happened last night, Buffy found herself completely content laying there peacefully. With a smile on her face, she started to stretch out all of the sore muscles that ached in her body. Her eyes closed yet again as her back arched backwards.

But a muscular wall blocked her stretching movements. Her eyes suddenly shot open as she felt the warmth radiate from the naked chest that her back was leaning against. Only then did she feel her nakedness under the covers of this bed. She moved her hand from where it lay next to her face, down towards her thighs and hips. Reaching behind her, she felt a smooth leg flush against her naked backside.

Then suddenly she felt a strong arm wrap around her small waist and pull her closer to the body that lay, also naked, behind her. This arm brought her small body flush against his and she felt herself unintentionally molding to the form that held onto her tightly. At his touch, the pleasure that she felt in that dream yet again began to radiate through her body and she felt her eyes close again under the safety of his embrace

Her heart felt completely content but then her mind caught up with her. “Oh. My. God,” she whispered to herself as she felt his warm breath travel across her skin making her whole body trembled.

Part XIII

“Oh. My. God,” were the three words that Buffy kept on muttering under her breath. She didn’t want to leave his warm and loving embrace but she couldn’t force herself to stay there either. Her heart was content where her head stirred with fear and confusion. This confusion was not helped by the fact that her head was still swimming with its hangover of last night’s drinking binge.

Buffy began to squirm under his strong arm trying to release herself from his grasp, but with every motion, he held onto her tighter. “Don’t go,” she heard him whisper behind her still deeply asleep.

“Angel,” she said while turning inside his embrace. “Angel, you need to get up.” Buffy commanded Angel to open his eyes with a soft whisper, but he paid no attention to her command. With her head laying gently on the muscular surface of his chest, she reached around him with her hands and tried to nudge him awake but that didn’t even work. “Maybe if I beat you over the head with a shovel, you would wake up, but then I have to get up to get a shovel which you won’t allow me to do,” she chastised him.

For a couple of seconds after trying to nudge him awake, she laid there peacefully with her head resting forward against his chest. She enjoyed listening to his strong heartbeat and deep breath while lying there next to him. There seemed to be nothing that would wake him from his slumber but then Buffy decided that drastic measures are needed to wake her sleeping lover. Moving her face from his chest, she met his warm lips with her own in a gentle, insecure kiss and slowly he began to respond to that kiss. Buffy knew that he was waking because he started to move his hands up her back to entangle themselves in her golden tresses.

Both felt the kiss deepen dramatically as he groggily opened his eyes to greet the young woman that slept at his side. Angel felt like there had to be some drummer inside of his brain that was causing the rhythmic sounds that played there. The pounded was so distracting that he at first didn’t realize whose hazel eyes were gazing up at him.

Angel had to blink his eyes numerous times to understand what was going on around him. “Buffy?” he mumbled.

“Good morning,” she responded not moving her lips that far away from his.

“What’s going on?” he asked in confusion.

“I think the alcohol last night got the better of us,” she stated with a bitter tone.

Moving his face down to look at their blatant nakedness then looking back up into her eyes with astonishment. “Oh. My. God!” he accentuated breathily. “What happened last night?”

“I think it is pretty obvious,” she admitted.

“Oh my God, Buffy. I am so sorry,” he apologized with sincerity in his voice. “I am so, so sorry.” Angel released his hold of her as she moved away from him on the bed.

She kept her eyes on him the whole time he apologized and she was quite moved by the sincerity in his voice and the gentle look that was in his eyes. As she lay there she fell deeper and deeper into the abyss of his dark eyes. Reaching her hand up to caress the side of his face, she smiled in forgiveness.

Noticing her forgiveness, a smile spread across his face. They laid there on that bed in silence just enjoying their closeness. Finally breaking the silence, Buffy asked, “So, uh, what do we do now?”

Angel shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

Staring into his eyes, she started saying, “Angel, I lov…”

He quickly interrupted her, “This was a mistake. We can’t ever let this happen again.”

Tears began to brim her eyes as she heard his words. Buffy’s heart was breaking into a million pieces for the second time in the past couple of days. “Um, yes, I agree.” Then an uncomfortable stillness spread between the two lovers. “Can I use your shower,” she asked quickly.

“Sure,” he said then arose from the bed, leaning down to the floor to find his pants that were crumpled there from the night before. “I will get you a towel,” he mumbled not looking back at Buffy who wrapped herself in the bed sheet and started walking behind him towards his bathroom.

Picking up a towel in his hand and turning to give it to her, Angel refused to look into her beautiful green eyes. “Here,” he said still looking towards the floor and moving out of her way so that she can take a shower.

Angel turned around and walked out the door, shutting the door as he left. ‘Why did I just tell her that?’ he thought to himself as he heard the water start to run. He wanted to run back into his bathroom, take her in his arms again and never let go. Moving towards the farthest away spot away from the bathroom door, he leaned up against the wall and muttered, “God, Buffy, I love you.”

He could barely remember what happened last night, but what he did remember was the feeling of absolute perfection. Lying there in her arms was where he wanted to be and without her, he felt so cold and lonely.

He shuffled through his house in an unconnected state from the world. Nothing seemed real anymore because he had lived the dream of her. Only in that dream was there reality and now since he had made the mistake of calling what they did a mistake, his reality crumbled.

Alone with his thoughts he wandered the house not able to stand still until an unexpected visitor came through his door.

“Where is she?” Xander asked with a sense of fury written all over his body.

“Where is who?” Angel naively said, trying to hide her because he saw what Xander looked like when he stepped through Angel’s door.

“You know who I am talking about. Buffy!! Where is she?” Xander asked again with a heightened voice.

“She’s in the shower,” Angel answered nonchalantly. Turning to face his friend, Angel’s brow furrowed into his forehead, “What are you doing here, Xander?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think it may have been the fact that when I woke up this morning I had no idea what happened last night. I thought I must have gotten into some big fight or something because my jaw bloody hurt. I went over to Doyle’s house and asked him what happened. And do you know what he did?” Xander asked with excitement in his voice.

“I have no idea,” Angel admitted not really paying attention to his friend.

“He fell to the floor laughing at me. He told me that Buffy punched me last night and knocked me unconscious.”

“Oh yeah,” Angel remembered a little bit of what happened at the pub then started laughing at Xander.

“Yeah, yeah very funny,” Xander said in annoyance.

“And you came over here to do what?” Angel asked through his chuckles.

Stopping and thinking to himself for a moment, Xander admitted, “I don’t know. I guess I thought I would come and give her a piece of my mind!”

“I would probably curb that impulse because you never know she might get angry at you and knock you unconscious again.” Angel turned away from his friend and started to walk towards his kitchen to get some breakfast made for him and Buffy as soon as she got out of the shower.

Watching Angel as he turned from him, Xander yelled, “Jesus, Angel. What did you do to piss her off last night, too?”

Turning swiftly on the balls of his feet, Angel looked at his friend with wide eyes. “I, uh, we, nothing,” he stumbled trying to cover up what was going through his mind. “Why do you ask?” he abruptly asked.

“I don’t know. Your back is all scratched up and everything. It looks like you got in a fight with a very large cat or Buffy decided inside of using fists, she used her nails,” Xander exclaimed stepping closer to his friend placing a hand on his back.

“Oh, those,” Angel tried to think of something that would cover up the truth of where those scratches came from, “Buffy passed out last night and while I was walking her back to my house, I stumbled backward and fell onto a bush.” He looked Xander straight in the eye trying to cover up his really obvious lie.

“Those aren’t tree branch scratches those look like my back after Anya and I…” Xander started saying but then was interrupted by the presence Buffy wrapped only in a towel coming into Angel’s living room.

Buffy was walking toward Angel with a tattered dress in her hand and was going to start to say something but then quickly stopped after she noticed the other man in the room. Jumping back a couple of feet and feeling her heart and breath quicken, she panted, “Xander, what are you doing here?”

“Just coming over to give you a piece of my mind,” Xander said matter-of-factly. “Why did you punch me last night?”

“I PUNCHED YOU!?” she asked with a shocked tone to her voice. “I don’t remember doing that, if I did I am really sorry,” Buffy said with a smile spreading across her face. For some reason she found this situation that she was in completely hilarious. Her she is standing in the middle of her kidnapper’s house, wearing only a towel and looking at a poor man with a bluish-black welt raised across his chin line.

Buffy saw Xander’s uneasiness as she stood in front of him and decided to lighten up the room a little. “If I did punch you like that, I am sure you probably desired it.”

Angel laughed at Buffy’s comment and Xander found him staring at her icily. “You probably did deserve it,” Angel nodded agreeing with Buffy.

Xander looked down and noticed Buffy’s ripped dress in her clenched hand. “How’d your dress get all torn like that?” he asked quickly changing the subject.

Buffy’s eyes got wide in fear as Xander asked his question. “Well, uh, when Angel was walking me home, we, uh…” she said but was interrupted by Angel who began to answer for her.

“She fell in the bush with me too. My back is all scratched and her dress got torn,” he covered for her. Buffy turned towards him and gave him a look that radiated, ‘THANK YOU!!”

Xander totally went along with both of their lives even though he knew that something was up. He didn’t know what exactly, but he was pretty sure that sometime, someone would just burst and out would come everything.

TBC...

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