DISCLAIMER: Not mine, don't sue
RATING: You watch it? You can read it.
DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive.
FEEDBACK: I crave it. It's like cigarettes, ya know? Just when I think I've quit…AngelicVampyre2@aol.com
SPOILERS: 'What's My Line Pt. 2'
NOTES: This is another little piece inspired by watching too much Buffy with not enough sleep.

My Slayer loves a vampire.

It's against everything that I've ever been taught to believe in, yet I suddenly find that I cannot regret it. Not when the love that they feel for one another is so strong, so clear to anyone that sees them together.

Tonight I witnessed an event more profoundly touching than anything that I have ever - could ever - imagined. A vampire, wounded and vulnerable, relaxing into the arms of the Slayer with utter trust, while that same Slayer cradles him in her arms as tenderly as a devoted mother would her new-born child.

Despite the chaos, the destruction all around them and the pain Angel must have felt, as their eyes met and aura of peace seemed to descend around them, spreading out through the old church until even the roar of the flames was silenced by it. It almost seemed like an intrusion when Kendra broke the silent communication between the two lovers in order to help get Angel out before the church collapsed. Not that I'm criticising her, far from it, we barely made it outside before the roof caved in as it was and I don't think that I could have disturbed them, I was too caught up in the magic of that moment.

As we stood on the grass outside the still burning remains of the church I quickly checked that the others were unharmed and had a way to get home safely before offering to drive Angel home. He was barely conscious and leaning so heavily on Buffy that without her Slayer strength she would have been crushed by him but she seemed unaware of his weight as she looked up at him, her eyes searching his with tender concern. They were focused upon one another to the exclusion of all else, the strength of the bond between them clearly the only thing keeping Angel conscious.

I don't believe that either of them even knew that I was there, they certainly didn't respond when I spoke. Rather than trying to get them to listen to me, I simply urged Angel forwards with a firm hand on his shoulder and, as I had expected, they automatically followed as I led them towards my car.

I didn't bother to ask Buffy if she would be staying with Angel, it was blatantly obvious that nothing short of an act of god would induce her to leave his side and, on reflection, I'm not convinced that even that would have done it. I shudder to think how Mrs Summers is going to react if she finds out that Buffy has stayed out all night but at the time, her mother was the last thing on Buffy's mind.

I tried to help get Angel down to his apartment but the two of them were holding each other so tightly that there was little that I could do other than go ahead of them to open the doors.

I might have been part of the furniture for all the attention that they paid me as Buffy gently lowered Angel onto the bed. He was visibly shaking with a combination of pain, relief & exhaustion but his arm shot out to catch hers when she tried to move away from his side.

Murmuring words of loving comfort she bent down and kissed him so tenderly that the sight of it brought tears to my eyes. When she straightened he reluctantly released her arm and she slipped from the room returning less than a minute later bearing a first aid kit, some bandages and two bags of blood.

I knew that my presence was no longer needed or even, had they been aware of it, welcome but I was unable to tear my self away. The love between the two of them was so strong, so bright that it shimmered in the air like a rainbow, yet more hypnotically beautiful than even that lovely phenomena could ever hope to be.

I stood watching as, blinking back tears, she gently washed and bandaged his wounds and encouraged him to eat, behaving so matter-of-factly about the whole thing that, after his first instinctive protest, he had no chance to become self-conscious about her watching him as he bit ravenously into the bag.

When he had finished eating she threw the bags into the bin, then seated herself on the edge of the bed and bent down to kiss him. He tried to turn away from her but she refused to allow it, holding his face in her small hands and deepening the kiss until he could do nothing except respond.

When the kiss ended he stared at her in wonder and tried to speak but she hushed him tenderly, saying as she kicked off her shoes that he needed to rest and they could talk later. The she lay down beside him on the bed and curled up against his side, reaching out to clasp his uninjured hand in both of hers. "Sleep now, Angel," she murmured softly, "I'll be with you when you wake up again."

Shifting slightly so that she found a more comfortable position against his side, he raised her hand to his lips and murmured something too quietly for me to hear as he finally allowed himself to surrender to his exhaustion.

Only then did I reluctantly turn away and head towards the door. When I reached it I glanced back over my shoulder at the two of them, lying peacefully in each other arms, two warriors who had found a safe harbour in which to rest.

As I left the apartment I knew that the Watcher's Council would be outraged if they knew that I was quite happily leaving my charge in the arms of a vampire but I couldn't bring myself to care. I have not the slightest doubt that there is no where in the world where Buffy is safer than where she is right now. There's a magic between those two that's unlike anything that I have ever known; a true union of souls and, somehow, I know that no matter what the future holds, their love will never die.

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