Series: LoveOdyssey
Distribution: Anyone who has permission for any of my other stories may have this too. Others, ask and I will most likely give permission.
Feedback: I love it more than I love Angel chained to my…um…I love and desire feedback.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to God (aka Joss), the WB, Mutant Enemy, FOX, Sanddollar, I guess UPN now too, and whoever else came up with them. If they belonged to me the show would be drastically different. Songs belongs to NSYNC, who perform them wonderfully, and whoever wrote them for the group. Please don't sue, I'm only a high-school grad without a job anyways.
Rating: Same as the TV show.
Spoilers: This takes place the summer after the fourth season. None of Buffy S5 or Angel S2 has happened. Parts from BtVS's or Angel's might be mentioned, but they will be brief references with no real spoilery issues.
Author's Notes: This is my newest series. It begins a few weeks after "Restless" and "To Shanshu in LA" and goes on from there. Stories will sort-of be self-contained, meaning that none will end with huge, huge cliffhangers, but you're gonna get confused if you read some and not others. As is probably obvious from the name of the series, I had a huge inspiration for this series. I went to the NSYNC PopOdyssey concert in Milwaukee, WI on June 26, and realized for the first time just how many of their songs can be used in some way to fit B&A stories. So each story in this series will be based on and quote one of their wonderful songs. And yes, I realize that some people don't like NSYNC, maybe even hate them, but that doesn't mean you won't like this series. I'm not gonna use the whole songs or anything, and the lyrics are really very beautiful if you just listen to them and get over your dislike of the boys themselves. I hope everyone enjoys these stories.
Dedication: Obviously to Justin, Lance, J.C., Joey, and Chris for inspiration. Also to all the people who continue to give me feedback, which is more inspiration than anyone who doens't write themselves can possibly know.

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Love: To feel a passion, devotion, or tenderness for a person.

Odyssey: A long wandering marked by many changes of fortune as you attempt to reach a place.

LoveOdyssey: A long wandering relating to a person that you feel passion, devotion, and tenderness for and want to find your way back to.

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-- An Angel Thinks of His Lady

~I lie awake~
~I drive myself crazy~
~Drive myself crazy~
~Thinking of you~

Angel tossed restlessly on his bed, turning over yet again and pulling a pillow over his head to try to shut out all the noise. That only made things worse, because much of the noise was coming from inside his head. It was almost noon, and Angel should have been asleep hours ago. He still slept through the lightest part of the day, staying up all night to be out on the streets helping people.

This day however, he just couldn't find sleep.

Truth be told, he hadn't slept well for the past week.

~Made a mistake~
~When I let you go baby~
~I drive myself crazy~
~Wanting you the way that I do~

His thoughts were full of a little blond Slayer. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Buffy's face. Whether it was smiling at him, pouting in that irresistible way she had, or scowling in the way she did whenever a vampire interrupted one of their "patrols," Angel just couldn't stop seeing her face. Which wasn't a new thing, really. Angel saw her face all the time; he had always used her as his reason for fighting. Every girl he saved had her face; many of the guys did as well, which was sometimes disturbing.

Angel sighed, conceding for yet another day that he wouldn't get any sleep. Getting up out of his bed slowly, Angel walked over to the closet and slowly reached up to the top shelf. He pulled down a cardboard box that he had stuffed up there what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Setting the box gently on his bed, Angel opened it slowly and let the memories begin.

~I was such a fool~
~I couldn't see it~
~Just how good you were for me~

The scent of vanilla drifted over him as soon as the box was opened, and Angel closed his eyes for a moment, as he always did when he smelled her scent. He wasn't sure what perfume it was, he only knew that it was a fairly popular one, for he smelled it on girls all the time. And each time he did, he stopped and did a double take, wondering if somehow Buffy had come back to him. He knew she hadn't; he knew it wasn't her. He just couldn't stop hoping.

~You confessed your love~
~Undying devotion~
~I confessed my need to be free~

Angel knew it was his own fault; he had pushed her away. In an effort to keep her safe, and to keep himself sane, he had dumped her and told her he didn't want to be with her anymore.

It was a bald-faced lie, really.

He was pretty sure that somewhere, deep down, she knew that. When she said that she had Riley, and that she trusted and loved him, it was only because she was trying to get back at him for hurting her.

She sure knew what buttons to push, he thought wryly.

~And now I'm left~
~With all this pain~
~I've only got myself to blame~

Angel pulled one item after another out of the box, still shaking his head in disbelief that he had actually kept all this stuff.

Pictures of the two of them together, the rose-pink garter she had given him after Prom, a jacket she had left at his mansion, a notebook that proclaimed "Buffy&Angel Forever" for all the world to see, a ticket stub from the one movie they had gone to, the list of things went on and on.

Each thing made Angel a little sadder, until at last a few tears trickled down his face.

It had been like this for the past few weeks.

Ever since Angel found out about his Shanshu, his reward. Turning human was something he had never imagined, but had dreamed about a thousand times.

Just as he knew Buffy had.

Now, knowing that someday that would be a possibility, his mind refused to lose hold of the idea that it would happen while Buffy was still alive, and that he would be with his beloved once again.

Pulling two rings out of the box, Angel felt another tear fall from his eyes.

~Now I cry alone in the dark~

"Buffy." He whispered out loud, his soul crying out for its mate.

For one brief second, he thought he felt her presence.

But then it was gone and he was alone again.

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