DISCLAIMER: Two words - Not. Mine. Joss own's them.
RATING: G/PG - nothing serious.
SUMMARY: Buffy has a bad day (I felt like Buffy should go through the bad stuff - Angel's been through enough *g*) Angel makes it all better ;)
NOTES: To everyone who sent me feedback - thankyou SO much!! :)
NOTES2: Keo, and everyone who was there on Wednesday...and Trappett - being picked up and falling on grass and being squashed has never been so much fun *g*.
DISTRIBUTION: Please do, but *ask first*.

-1-

Buffy sat curled up in one of Angel's big, soft loungechairs. Her knees were up close to her chin; and even though it was only 6pm, she was already dressed in her pajama's after a long, hot bath.

In the kitchen, Angel was fixing some kind of hot drink; chocolate, tea, coffee or some other special brew. Hopefully chamomile so that she could just fall asleep and her day could finally be over. She *had* been in bed already, but Angel had made her get up again, insisting for her to allow him to make it better.

It was damn hard denying him anything when he wanted it badly enough. So she'd dragged herself from the bed and collapsed into a couch, refusing to move.

"Here, sweetie. Drink this." He made room beside her and sat down, pulling her up next to him. "What's wrong?" He asked finally, after she'd had a few sips.

She gave him a look. "Which part? The part where my day *sucked* or the part where my day was just plain awful?" Softly, Angel ran a hand through her hair, just letting her get it all out.

"What happened?"

Dropping her head back onto his chest, she sighed. Everything had gone wrong. "Well, firstly, I got onto campus and Willow came up and *forced* me to keep some exchange student company for an hour, which was sheer hell. He didn't speak any English, except 'hello', 'goodbye' and 'where is'."

"He?" Angel repeated. Buffy nodded, neither noticing nor caring that Angel had gotten that slightly jealous look about him.

"Yeah. Then she got back late, so, of course, I got to class like two seconds late and the lecturer screamed at me so loud and wouldn't let me go and sit with Tara, who's in that class, so in the end I just gave up and walked out."

He sighed. She still hadn't learnt that in college you couldn't just walk out and skip classes without getting behind. "Buffy, you-"

"Shouldn't. I know," she pressed her forehead to his. "But it's so hard, Angel. She hates me so much, and I can't take any of it in."

Angel took pity on her, put the mug on the coffee table and pulled her into his arms, keeping her nestled close to him. "Hey, shh." he murmured softly into her ear. "Don't cry over it, sunshine. What else happened that made this day so astoundingly worse?"

She gave him a questioning look. "Are you *sure* you want to know? I mean, it's probably just me being all...ugh."

He didn't need to answer her, instead, he just smiled at her, his love shining through to her soul.

"Fine, fine! Some girl took the last spinich and filo pastry, and then dropped an *open* tub of yoghurt on my new cherry skirt. Thats not the last of it, either!" she cried, kicking her foot and sending her slipper flying across the room into the wall. "My new CD fell out of its case when I was walking across the quad, and now it has a huge scratch in it and won't play - it just skips all the time." she frowned. "And then I came home and you weren't here, you were out doing whatever it is that you do, so I had to run my own bath and didn't even get my usual bad-day back rub."

Angel looked down at her and was confronted with the full kit of Buffy's weapons against him - teary eyes, pouty lips, low lashes and puppy dog or little girl eyes. He was completely defenseless against that.

"Roll over," he said, moving beneath her.

"I'm not a dog, Angel," she muttered, doing so nonetheless.

-2-

"Magic hands," Buffy declared as she woke up once he'd finished. "I'm all better and ready to play!"

Angel gave her a look. "Play? Does that involve what I think it does?" he smirked.

"No!" Buffy said, laughing. "At least, not yet anyway." She sat up. "Play involves me getting all my angry energy out by running around your living room tackling you."

She growled playfully, and Angel got to his feet, leaping behind the lounge. "Buffy, if we break something..."

Buffy ignored him. Instead, she ran around the furniture, diving to grab Angel's ankles and slid across the floor as he ran, trying to shake her off. He stopped momentarily, which gave her the chance to execute her move; she jumped to her feet, and leapt onto his back, locking her feet around him, and her arms wrapped around his eyes. She flung her slight weight backwards, making Angel stumble in that direction, eventually falling onto his back on the loungesuite, squashing Buffy beneath him.

"Ow!" she cried. "Ouch! You're squashing me, Angel! I'm all squished!"

He ignored her, pinning her underneath him. "You think that just because I love you I'm going to let you up?"

She felt her leg start to get pins and needles. "Angel!" she whined. "Please! My legs have gone to sleep, and I can't breathe!"

Angel wasn't letting her off so easily. Reaching around, he tickled her with nimble fingers. All her most ticklish spots were attacked. He laughed mercilessly as she squealed and writhed in vain attempts to seek relief from his hands. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, and her ribs and stomach was sore from laughing, she used all her Slayer strength, and pushed him off with a loud thud.

"Ha! Beat you!" she declared, standing in a position of victory; arms crossed, legs set apart with a playful grin on her face. "Where's my prize?"

Angel stood up slowly, level to her. "This," he whispered, leaning in and kissing her.

"That's all?" she asked as they broke away, both breathless and dishevelled. "Don't I get anything more?" She wormed her slender arms around his neck and pulled him down closer to her. They stayed there, kissing and just enjoying being in each others arms until Angel straightened up and gave her a crooked smile.

"Did I make your day better?" He asked softly, brushing back a single strand of hair.

Buffy leaned into his arms and let him hold her up. "Of course," she whispered. "You always, always do."

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