Summary: Buffy/Angel romance and angst... Hey, I love writing it. :)
Spoilers: It breaks off from the series' at IWRY.
Disclaimer: Joss. Evil man.
Rating: The first two parts are *very* NC17.  Sexual content.
Thanks to Tracy, for beta-ing.
Author's Note: This is a bit complicated... But hopefully, easy to figure
out. The story goes like this. Angel's pov, Buffy's, someone else, ect...
For the first three parts. And then it's Angel's and Buffy's, and third
person. ~ ~ ~ denotes a change in point of view, and * * * denotes a
simple change in scene. It takes place in I Will Remember You, and then
breaks off from there. Hope you like! :)

* * * * * * *

They watched her when she first arrived, when the two warriors shared their
love by sharing a silent pain that could never be fully expressed. They
watched the fight, watched her land on top of him and watched them lock eyes
with a hidden passion that they could never speak of again.

It was clear and easy to come to the decision. Those without the wisdom of
They could never comprehend how easy it was, that decision. But, looking at
the two of them look at each other, they decided.

And it was as simple as that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was the one thing missing from my day, the day I had with the Ring of
Amara in my possession. I had always thought of that, hoped for it, but even
when I finally had it, it didn't seem real to me. Like a dream, floating on
the edge of my vision, or a word that one knows well but can't remember in
the moment the word is needed most.

So I went into the sun, this time not marveling at the light on my face, but
rather the light on hers. I saw her walk with her arms around herself in a
lonely fashion, and I wanted to be the one holding her. I stepped out of the
shadows and saw her turn as though she sensed me there; which she probably
did. Her face held uncertainty, but also an unbelievable... wonder. Her
eyes followed me as I approached, and then slid closed as I pulled her into
my arms with a strength I would reserve only for her.

Our mouths met, and it was hungry and eager as it always had been, but the
silent worry that we never talked about had disappeared in me. She seemed to
understand that without saying words, and so she relaxed under my touch, my
mouth, trusting me with everything she was. I continued to kiss her,
relishing in the feel of her body molding to mine, the scent of her, the
taste.

Like excited, hormonal teenagers, who are just discovering what love can do
for them, we continued to touch and kiss in the middle of that courtyard by
the sea. Her hands snaked up my chest and then up to my neck, locking there
firmly as she nibbled on my lips. I groaned, pulling her even closer, and
tasted her lips and tongue with a feeling of... revelation, like I had never
kissed her before.

Finally she broke away with a soft cry, and pulled back. I sucked in some
breath and placed my finger on her lips, wanting nothing more than to get her
back to my apartment, to take her into my bed, to be as close to her as I
possibly could be.

She nodded, kissing my fingertip softly, and didn't ask anything, though her
eyes were full of questions. I would explain it all later.

For now, though, we needed to go someplace private.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Human. I looked at Angel with whole new eyes when he told me that. It was
like every dream and wish I had ever kept a secret from him was coming true.
Of course I wished he was human. And of course I never told him.

How much would it have hurt him if I had?

Instead, I had to be content with what I had in him; And I was. More than I
can ever describe, I was content. I love him, and always will.

Which was why it was hard for me to listen to him offering me platitudes
about waiting and being mature. In my fantasies, it was never like that.
No, it started out with the kiss, which happened-- and beautifully, I might
add-- and worked its way into bed, just me and him, laughing and talking and
being together. Comfort. Certainty.

Finally he stopped talking about being mature and said, "I'm really sorry I
kissed you like that."

That shocked me. I wanted to yell at him. "You are?"

"Oh, not for the kiss itself," he assured me quickly, and I could tell he was
being honest.

I smiled, relieved. "Good. I- I mean because, as far as kisses go, I
thought it was well above average."

He nodded. "It was incredible," he said, almost in awe. "I just... I think
maybe we'd be asking for trouble rushing back into things. ...But, not that
I don't want to... Rush. I do! Believe me."

I believed him. But it wasn't easy.

So we talked a little while longer, deciding to go ahead with the mature-plan
and stay away from each other for a while, keeping in contact through the
phone and mail and that sort of thing. And then I laid my hand over his, as
a goodbye, and found myself in his arms again.

He crushed me to him, and I was filled with not-bad lusty thoughts. As he
lifted me, against the refrigerator, I wound my legs around him tightly and
heard him grunt in satisfaction as he hardened. Walking me back over to the
table, he reached out one arm and swept the dishes onto the ground with a
satisfying crash. Then he laid me on the table and climbed after me.

I worked at getting off his shirt without having to stop kissing him, and
when that didn't work, we kissed through the material until he was
bare-chested and I could lay my hand against his heart and feel it beating.
He grinned hotly at me, lifting me up long enough to remove my shirt and bra,
and then he littered kisses all over my body.

He lifted my hips up to help him take off my pants, and I helped him,
unbuttoning his as he unbuttoned mine, frantically, almost desperately. We
wanted to be close, so close, and these clothes were getting in the way.
Finally, after struggling with his uncooperative zipper for a moment, I tore
his pants down the hemline, and muttered a breathless, "Sorry," as they slid
to the floor.

He smiled again, his eyes dark, managing to say, "If you hadn't done it, I
would have," before his mouth was on mine again, licking and sucking and
doing everything that a person with an oral fixation knows how to do.

The sight of him, swelled and ready, nearly made me blush, except that I was
just as ready, and he could tell as he placed his fingers against me, making
me tremble with excitement. My voice came out as a growl.

"Now, Angel."

He nodded, not wanting to wait either, and entered me with a force that made
my mouth open in a silent scream. He stilled, worried, and I shook my head
to him, letting him know that I was all right; better than all right. He
smiled, and we began the rhythm that had made our first time the things that
dreams are made of.

That smile. If I forget everything else about this moment, I'll always
remember that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And then I was inside of her, rocking back and forth, and it was ferocious
and somehow gentle at the same time. She touched my hair, my lips, with her
hand as beads of perspiration started on her brow, and I licked at her
finger.

She squeezed me at the same time with her legs and her well-trained vaginal
muscles, and I had to slow down again, grunting, "I'm not a vampire anymore,
Buffy."

She looked a little hurt. "Did I hurt you?"

I watched her move beneath me, and was disappointed when she loosened her
legs around my waist. "No," I assured her quickly, wanting to feel every
part of her against me like I had a moment ago, "I just don't think I have as
much... control... As I used to."

Her eyes became wide and delighted, that beautiful blue, and she placed her
legs back around me, setting the soles of her feet on my back as I moved my
hips back and forth. I reached down to play with the sensitive part of her,
and watched in pleasure as she bucked under my hand, crying out. She reached
up and bit my shoulder, and I could have laughed except that...

Well, it hurt.

But it was a good kind of pain.

I leaned down and kissed her breasts, her nipples, and felt them pucker
underneath the attentions of my tongue. Buffy was wriggling back and forth,
lifting up to smash our pelvises together in a way that I knew would bring
both of us pleasure, and finally she arched her back, yelling. Her hands
lifted my face from her breast and pulled me up to her, kissing me with such
intensity that I couldn't keep control anymore than she could.

As she spasmed around me, I thrust into her, harder and faster, watching her
eyes close and her brow furrow in pleasure and concentration.

I felt the creak, I didn't hear it.

As I was about to finish inside of her, the table toppled over, two of the
legs breaking. We went down in an illicitly tangled heap, and I felt her
gasp as falling off the table made me propel into her harder than I had meant
to. A dreamy smile wandered over her face as I finished with that push,
spilling inside of her.

We were still on the floor, wrapped in each other's arms. Sweaty and
trembling, we were relaxed now but still unsatisfied. But Buffy kept looking
at me as if in awe.

I laughed. "No, I can't do that again."

She gave a charming giggle that sounded like a sigh and waited as I gently
pulled out of her and helped her stand up. Her panties were tangled around
her right foot, and the rest of our clothes laid strewn about the kitchen.
She looked around.

"Was the table expensive?" she finally asked, her eyes sparkling.

I grinned; it felt so good to smile. "I can replace it."

"We'll just break the next one, you know," she smiled.

I nodded; she was right.

Holding her little hand in my grip, we started for the bedroom. She yawned,
stretching languidly as we fell onto the soft blankets, and I brushed her
hair aside as her eyes found mine. "That was a new experience."

"Not so new," I joked gently.

"Well, the table thing," she compromised, and grinned when I nodded
emphatically.

We laid in silence for a while, content to touch each other, to be so close
as we were. Her hands wandered up and down my spine in a drifting fashion,
feather light, and I stroked her hair, adoring the softness, the gold in it.
Her body was pressed against mine, our arms around each other, and I felt
that this was the best that things could get; I loved that moment, when we
were chest to chest, hip to hip, and toe to toe. Every intimacy we had ever
hoped for was now realized.

She giggled again as she heard my stomach growl. "Hungry?"

"We just burned a lot of calories," I defended playfully, nipping at her
mouth.

She smiled. "Do you have anything besides blood in the fridge?"

"Lots of things. Cordelia got them. I haven't had a chance to really look
through them yet," I told her, wondering myself what Cordelia had bought for
me.

"Go check," she said, her eyes alight.

I nodded and got up, not wanting to leave her for any length of time but
knowing that I couldn't attach myself to her every waking hour. She smiled
as I walked farther away from her, her hand slipping in my grasp.

I watched her as I left the room, watched her eyes slide over me, and I felt
the stirring of desire again, the desire that would never be sated, as she
sat up, completely oblivious to her glorious nudity and stretched again, like
a cat.

I left to get food, knowing that if I didn't leave at that moment, she would
never be able to kick me out of that bed.

She heard me open the refrigerator and called out, "Well?"

"We have..." I trailed off, trying to process all of the food now stored in
my fridge. "A lot of things. Strawberries... I didn't think those were in
season. And little chocolate bars. And ice cream. There's some sort of ice
cream topping in here, too."

"Bring it all," she told me, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "Do
you have any cookies, by any chance?"

I looked. "Yep. Oreos?"

"Bring 'em. And peanut butter! Preferably crunchy!"

I stuffed an Oreo in my mouth and nodded, though she couldn't see me.
Chewing rapidly, I yelled a muffled, "Got it!" and finished loading the food
in my arms.

Then I shut the refrigerator firmly. There was no way I was leaving the room
again for at least a week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I saw him walk into the room quickly, his arms loaded with food, and dump it
all on in front of me as he hopped into bed. I saw he was disappointed, at
least a little, with my having covered up in an old shirt of his, but I
didn't want to explain right then that I had done it to be able to smell the
scent of him while he was gone. And anyway, it wasn't buttoned. His eyes
roamed tantalizingly down the front, and I smiled.

I looked in the food. Had Cordelia forgotten *anything??* I grinned. "Mmm.
A perfect yum."

Angel spooned up some ice cream and held it in front of me like an offering,
and I laughed, opening my mouth. He lifted the spoon just a little closer to
me, making me scoot closer to him to catch the ice cream before it dripped
off. I savored the taste for a moment, closing my eyes. "Mmm." I opened my
eyes, met his gaze with a smile. "This is a dream. You're human for, like,
a minute, and already there's cookie dough fudge mint chip in the fridge."

He smiled like a little boy. "God, I love food."

"Food is good," I agreed, smiling back, and dipped one of the little
chocolate bars in some peanut butter, holding it up to him. He bit into it
eagerly, and then smiled, leaning closer for a kiss, which I was all too
happy to oblige him with.

When I pulled away, he looked at me curiously. "Why didn't you ever tell me
about chocolate and peanut butter?"

I shifted until I was against the pillows, lying next to him again. I slid
my knee between his thighs and he looked at me, with a dangerous smile.
"Well, I figured that if your vamp taste buds couldn't really savor it," I
explained, "Then it would only hurt you to know." I paused, running my
fingers through his hair. "By the way? I'm over that whole
needing-to-be-mature thing. That time you just spent in the kitchen? That
was enough time apart."

He smiled softly. "Too much."

I kissed him, pawing at his face like a little girl, and just as he deepened
the kiss, he pulled away with a laugh. "Oh! Okay. Mortal coordination
leaving something to be desired."

I looked, saw that he had dripped cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream on
his chest. I shook my head. "Wrong. That's just right."

I leaned down, licking it off his chest, and savoring the taste of him as
well. I heard his laugh and then he pinned his arms around me in an
almost-tickle, and I laughed too, bringing my head up to kiss him. "If you
think I loved food before," he informed me with solemnly, "Just wait and see
what happens."

That remark intrigued me, and I let myself lay beneath him as he pushed aside
his shirt and showered my breasts with fluttering sorts of kisses, licking
and nibbling at whatever part of skin he paused on.

I touched the back of his hair, and he raised his eyes without raising his
head. Our eyes met over my skin, and I saw his smile.

And then, I was too swept away for words.

CONTINUE