SUMMARY: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Buffy, happy birthday to you!
SPOILER: Slightly everything but life stopped after Amends as far as the show goes. Buffy and Angel have always been happy and he never went to LA.
DISTRIBUTION: Sandee, of course - My site - - Crystal and Butterfly if they want it - A Soul's Redemption - Anyone else - sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-PG
DISCLAIMER: Asshole Joss owns all. Stupid brilliant bastard that he is. Lyrics belong to Savage Garden.
DEDICATION: This is a response to Ryan's challenge, so this is for you. I couldn't add the song 'cause I couldn't find the lyrics but if you email them to me, I'll do one special with them. =) And as for the challenges, do another one, I like creativity....

"No peeking."

"Please?"

"No."

"Angel, why not?"

"Aren't you familiar with the concept of surprises on birthdays?"

"Unfortunately, I am. On my sixteenth, I became a Slayer. Number seventeen, you lost your soul. Eighteen, Dad bailed on me and a demon kidnapped my mother, *plus* Giles lied to me and was poisoning me. Oh, and on my nineteenth, someone burnt down an entire dorm because they thought I lived there, my mother moved to France and Giles got engaged to that woman we barely knew. Now that I think about it, they've been married three months and I still don't know her."

"Buffy?" Angel turned the car off and unlocked the doors. "This birthday will only have good surprises, I promise."

She sighed and began playing with her thumb ring while Angel came around to her side of the car and opened the door, taking her hand and helping her out.

"If this blindfold messes up my hair," she warned.

"Don't worry, you look beautiful."

"You think I look beautiful when my hair is in rollers and I'm wearing a mud mask."

"True," Angel smirked. "Step up here."

Buffy could smell the sterling silver roses before they even entered the mansion. She was positive that was where they were by the way the tree branches had cracked under her feet. She walked through the doorway and the roses seemed to fill the air, making her feel amorous all of a sudden.

"Angel," she ran her hands over his chest, pulling his shirt out of his pants. "Let's--"

"Not now." he laughed. They'd been giving each other oral sex for the past year to substitute for the fact that they couldn't make love. It wasn't what they wanted, but until they could find a cure for the curse, which Willow was positive they would, it would have to be enough. "Stand here for a second, then I'll take off the blindfold."

Buffy reached a hand out and grabbed his leather-clad ass. She grinned. "I thought you might be wearing those."

"It's only for tonight," he said as his voice faded away.

Buffy stomped her foot in aggravation, wondering what she was waiting for. She could peek, but would it really be worth it? Angel had obviously gone to alot of trouble, she should just wait the last few minutes.

"But I can't," she let her hands rest on the scarf but couldn't bring herself to pull it off.

"Okay," Angel came back in and Buffy heard him set something down before coming over to her. He kissed her and then pulled off the blindfold.

They were at the mansion, and Angel's living room was covered in the roses she'd been smelling since they arrived. There was a plate of quesidillas, Buffy's favorite food, on the floor by the fireplace.

She also noticed that he had an envelope in his hand. He handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Open it." he looked nervous so Buffy quickly tore into the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of heavy pale gray paper. In Angel's handwriting was a poem.

"I sort of just wanted to tell you how I feel," he said, going over to sit on the couch so he wouldn't have to watch her face while she read it. He wanted to know her initial reaction, and yet not. It was his first time really writing anything and he didn't want her to hate it, but he didn't want her to lie either.

Maybe it's intuition
Somethings you just don't question
Like in your eyes
I see my future in an instant
And there it goes
I think I've found my best friend

I know that it might sound more than a little
Crazy but I believe

I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life

There's just no rhyme or reason
Only the sense of completion
And in your eyes
I see the missing pieces
I'm searching for
I think I found my way home

I know that it might sound
More than a little crazy
But I believe

I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life

A thousand angels dance around you
I am complete now that I've found you

I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life\\

"Angel, it's beautiful." Buffy said when she finished reading it. She joined him on the couch and kissed him passionately, running her hand under his shirt and getting more and more turned on by the second.

"That's not all," he smiled at her. "I wasn't going to tell you this, but I know Willow knows I'm gonna so it won't matter."

"Tell me what? And why does Willow know and I don't?"

"She did a spell for me." he began. "You remember that night last week when you wanted to go out and I told you I needed to run an errand for Giles?"

"Yeah, some sort of book in Venice Beach he needed." she shrugged.

"I wasn't running an errand, I was with Willow and Amy and Anya. They cast a spell to protect my soul, and it worked. We can make love, Buffy. Finally, we're free."

"Oh, Angel." she started to cry. She hugged him and kissed him, then suddenly she got angry and pushed him away, hitting his shoulder.

"How could you keep this from me?" she demanded.

"It was only for a week," he said quietly.

"I don't care! I can't believe you did that." she folded her arms. "Maybe I should be mad at you now."

"I bought you something too," he said with a smirk.

"Okay, I'm not mad anymore." she smiled and reached for the box he held out. She opened it and took out a diamond cut silver cross with a small heart at the center.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"No, I hate it, what do you think?" she took off the small one she'd been wearing and held up her hair so he could hook it around her neck. They kissed again and then he pulled away, glancing at his watch.

"Come on, we're gonna be late." he pulled her off the couch.

"Why, where are we going?" she asked.

"Surprise," he said. "But I'll leave the blindfold out this time."

"You'd better," she remarked.

*****

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up in front of the huge new Star Theatre just outside of Sunnydale. Angel had valet park his car and he led her inside, not stopping to purchase movie tickets.

"What are we doing?" she asked. "You hate going to modern movies."

"This isn't about me," he mumbled. Angel took a key out of his pocket and pushed it into a door marked "private". He opened it and let Buffy walk in.

It was a theatre, of course, and when she eyed the seats she saw only six other people.

Xander and Anya, Cordelia and Doyle, Willow and Spike.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked Angel, grinning.

"They're holding a special screening here just for us. It's for a special trilogy."

"Not Star Wars," her eyes were begging him to say no.

"Nope. Guess again."

"Indiana Jones?" she made a face.

"Nope."

"I give up."

"SCREAM, SCREAM2 and SCREAM3."

"Really?" Buffy's eyes widened.

"Would I lie to you?" Angel asked.

"I love you." she gave him a hug. Then she ran up and joined her friends in the middle of the theatre. "Hey, pass the Junior Mints!"

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