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: The next best thing to having Angel chained to my…um, never mind.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss, the WB, Mutant Enemy, (the evil)FOX, and whoever else came up with them. Please don't sue, I'm only a high-schooler without a job anyways.
Rating: R (mostly for bad language, although sexual sitches may figure in near the end.)
Spoilers: Pretty much everything Buffy season 5, especially "The Gift." If you haven't seen this episode, you may not want to read this. Although I do change the ending, so it may not matter a whole lot. I'm just letting you know so I can't be accused of ruining it for someone.
Premise: What if Dawn had closed the portal as she wanted to?
Author's Notes: This story isn't the best I've ever written, but the premise grabbed at me last night and just wouldn't go away. I guess my muse was trying to tell me something. Also, I'm getting a little tired of all the different stories about Angel or the Scoobies dealing with Buffy's death, so I thought I'd try to write things a little differently.

Part 1

"Buffy, you have to let me do this." Dawn pleaded as she looked in her sister's eyes as they stood atop the tower that Glory had constructed.

"Dawn, I can't do this again. I can't lose someone I love to…" Buffy started to cry slightly.

"You won't be losing me, Buffy." Dawn smiled. "I'll always be with you, just like Angel is."

"Dawnie…"

"I know you've never forgotten him, Buffy. You still say his name all the time when you sleep." Dawn said sheepishly. "It'll be the same with me." Buffy's tears came harder, and Dawn put an arm around her. It was as if their roles of big and little sister had suddenly reversed.

"You know it's the right thing to do." Dawn whispered. "The world needs you."

"I know, that's why it's so hard." Buffy could barely speak. Suddenly her voice hardened. "It's too hard." With those words, Buffy turned and started to run towards the end of the plank, as she had come to think of it.

Dawn watched her take off and knew she couldn't allow this to happen. She ran after her sister and tackled her to the ground.

Buffy was on her feet and facing her in an instant, but that was all Dawn needed. She gave Buffy a hard shove, causing the Slayer to fall to the lower level of the platform.

"I love you Buffy, I'm sorry." Dawn called down to her as she leaped off of the plank and fell into the opening portal.

"DAWN!!!" Buffy screamed as her sister dove into the opening hole in the universe. "NO!!!"

**

The Scooby Gang looked up in shock as Dawn's body came crashing through the now clear sky, the portal gone from sight. The others couldn't believe it.

"Dawnie." Willow whispered as the others started in shock.

Several minutes passed before they realized that Buffy hadn't come back down from the tower.

Spike was the first to notice it, and he immediately headed up the tower. By the time the others had collected themselves enough to go after Buffy, Spike was already coming towards them, carrying the blond Slayer in his arms like a dead weight.

"She won't move or talk." Spike said softly as he approached them.

"Buffy…" Willow whispered as she came over and put a hand on Buffy's arms, which hung limply down from her body.

"There's nothing left to say." Buffy whispered as Spike slowly lowered her to her feet.

"What Dawn did…" Giles took a step closer.

"Was what had to be done." Buffy said woodenly. "I know. I also know it was the last thing a Summers will ever do for the Powers."

"What?"

"I'm done." Buffy said softly. She then repeated herself at a yell, facing the heavens with her arms spread wide. "You hear that? I'M DONE! I'm never slaying another vamp, or killing another demon, or averting another apocalypse just so you can come and throw something ten times worse at me."

"Buffy," Xander said softly.

"No, I'm done." Buffy repeated. "It's like some cosmic game. Let's see how much we can fuck with her life before she breaks. Let's throw everything at her that we can and see how she handles it. I'm the Slayer. I'm supposed to fight for the Powers. And they're supposed to be in charge of the universe. And I have the worst possible life ever. That just doesn't add up. So I quit."

"Buffy, whatever you may think now, the universe is not out to get you…" Giles tried again.

"Merrick, Daddy, Jesse, Ford, Ms. Calendar, Angel, Riley, Mom, and now Dawn. That's nine people that have either died or just left me in the five years I've been Slayer. And that's just the major ones!!!!" Buffy ticked them off on her fingers morbidly. "And as long as I'm alive, no other girl is gonna be called and go through this bull. No other girl who has to grow up way too fast, no other girl who has to lose herself to a job that no one even knows she does."

"Buffy…"

"The Powers that Be wanna screw with me? Let's see how long they can get along without me." Buffy let that final line go with a devastating calmness, as if all emotion had been completely drained from her.

"Can I drive you home?" Willow said softly from her side. Unlike the others, she realized that now was not the best time to argue with Buffy.

Buffy gave a small nod of her head and the two girls headed away slowly, Willow giving Tara one last look as they left. Tara nodded her approval. Everyone stood there for a moment, before Xander started moving again. "I'm gonna get Anya to the hospital."

"Quite right." Giles replied. "I'll drive you."

"I'll come with." Tara trailed after them.

Left alone, Spike walked slowly over to where Dawn's body lay. Taking off his coat and laying it over her chest and head, he started to cry softly. Then he pulled out his cell phone. Grimacing in frustration when an answering machine picked up on the other end, he started to speak into it.

"Angel, are you there? No, well, as soon as you hear this, you bloody well better give me a ring. It's about your girl." He said the last bitterly as he hung up his phone.

Then he gently picked up Dawn's body and carried her back to his place. He could find out what Buffy wanted to do with the body later.

Part 2

"I don't wanna talk about it Willow." Buffy said softly as Willow turned down the covers of her bed like a worried mother.

"Buffy, it might help to…"

"Nothing's gonna help, Willow." Buffy whispered miserably. "There's nothing left to fight for."

Willow caught the way she said the last words, as if there was something significant to them. "What do you mean?"

"Angel," Buffy replied brokenly. "I asked him one time why we should bother to fight, when we were never going to win. He said we fought because there were things worth fighting for. I fought because of him. And because of Dawn. Now that they're both gone, what's the point?" Buffy lay down on her bed and turned so her back was to Willow.

"There's always a point." Willow whispered quietly. "And you'll find it soon." Willow headed for the door, chanting softly a chant that would allow Buffy to sleep.

She left the room, and Buffy fell into an uneasy sleep.

She kept seeing Dawn's face.

*

Buffy woke suddenly a few hours later, but couldn't determine what had made her wake up. She lay there for a second, confused, when suddenly she felt the reason why.

"Go away." She whispered without opening her eyes.

There was no response, and Buffy suddenly wondered if she had been mistaken about what she felt. She opened her eyes, which were still red from crying in her sleep, and turned to face the window. She had been right. "Go away, Angel." She repeated.

But Angel didn't leave. He only came closer to her, moving from where he had sat in her windowsill to stand beside her bed. "I heard what happened."

"So, what? The Powers sent you to tell me I can't give up?" Buffy said sarcastically, taking out her anger at not being able to save Dawn on the nearest available target: her soulmate.

"Give up? What are you talking about?" Angel asked. "I meant about your sister…"

"Well, your source obviously wasn't very informative." Buffy said, turning away from him again and pulling her knees closer to her chest. "Yeah, Dawn's gone. I'll deal, just like I always do."

"Buffy," Angel sat cautiously on the side of her bed, hearing the accusation in her voice.

"The bigger news," She continued as if he hadn't spoke, "is that I'm not the Slayer anymore. I told The Powers That fuckin Be exactly where they could shove it!"

"Buffy, it's not their…"

"It certainly is their fault." Buffy turned on him, her voice growing louder. "They're in charge of the universe, aren't they? They're the ones who decided that fifteen-year-old girls should be called to fight all the monsters and then die before they ever really got to live. They're the ones who decided that people get to die of tumors, and cancer, and hemorrhages." Tears were rolling down Buffy's face as she yelled, half to him and half up to the heavens. "They're the ones who turned some ancient Key into a person, and then fucked with my memories so I loved that person. And then they took her away from me, just like they've taken so many people that I love." Buffy said the last softly, finally collapsing into Angel's waiting arms.

Angel pulled her tightly against him, whispering nonsense in her ear as he tried to calm her.

Buffy sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes, and Angel continued to speak softly and rub her back soothingly. After what seemed like an eternity of watching his love in so much pain, Angel was relieved what she finally started to calm down. He continued whispering things to her, not even paying attention to what he was saying.

"A roon mo khre?" Buffy finally spoke, pronouncing the unfamiliar words slowly. "You know, you'd be a lot more comforting if you spoke in English."

Angel pulled back slightly to look into her face, and despite all the pain he still saw there, he saw the ghost of a smile. "A rún mo chroí." He repeated the words he had said, his accent thick in his memory. "It means 'O, love of my heart.'" He whispered softly.

The smile appeared, however small. "What else were you saying?" She curled up against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder.

Angel searched his memory, but couldn't think of a single thing he'd said. "I don't even know. I wasn't thinking about it; I was just talking." He stayed with her change of topics, knowing she'd get around to the other things she had told him when she was ready.

"But not in English."

"It's Gaelic." Angel said, his hand trailing up and down her arm comfortingly. "My native tongue. Sometimes, it just comes out when I'm not thinking. Wesley says I use it whenever I'm really upset or if I talk in my sleep or something. I don't even think about it."

"Um…you said something about wouren and eoneen." Buffy pronounced the words slowly.

"Mhuirnín" Angel smiled at the first word she said, pronouncing it slightly different than the way she remembered it, but still close. "It means sweetheart. And ionúin is beloved."

"You still…I mean…" Buffy trailed off in confusion.

Angel didn't answer, but when she looked up into his face, the desire she saw in his eyes replaced any doubts she had that his feelings had changed. He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Who called you?" Buffy asked finally, his love a crutch that held her battered emotions together in some semblance of normality.

"Spike did, believe it or not." Angel said, still not sure of the reason himself.

"I believe it." Buffy said after a second of hesitation. He felt her heartbeat quicken slightly, as if she was nervous about something.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"Spike, he…he has a crush on me. And he was always like a big brother to Dawnie…" She trailed off as she spoke her sister's name, tears filling her eyes again.

Buffy felt Angel tense up as she mentioned Spike's crush, but to his credit he refrained from any nasty comments about his Grand-Childe.

"I could never love him back, obviously, but he's been so nice to us all these past months, and I honestly don't know what I would have done without him." Buffy's voice took on a slightly accusing tone. "He was here for me when I needed someone, someone who didn't expect me to be The Slayer." She said the title importantly, as if she had just named herself the most powerful woman in the world. "He understands me more than I ever expected, which scared me at first, but then it was nice, and it was familiar, and it reminded…"

"It reminded you of me?" Angel offered cautiously when she trailed off. He felt her head move fractionally up and down against his chest.

"After we found out about Dawn, he'd go patrolling with me sometimes. He said he needed to release all his energy since he couldn't hunt people anymore, but I know he was just looking out for me. He knew I was so worried about Dawn that I was distracted most of the time, and he wanted to make sure I didn't get killed or something. Angel, there were times when he'd put his hand on my shoulder, or take my hand, or something little like that, and if I closed my eyes for a second it was like you were there again." She pulled away from his chest slightly, looking up at his face and reaching a hand up to stroke his cheek. "With Riley, I could never pretend that, no matter how much I wanted to, because he was so hot and…" She trailed off, in tears again. "But Spike is cool, just like you. I closed my eyes, and for a moment, you were there and everything was okay."

Angel pulled her more tightly against him, shifting their positions on her bed to get them as close as possible while they were still sitting. "I'm sorry." Each word came slowly, as if wrenched from his very soul. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you when you needed me. I'm sorry I made you doubt how I felt about you. I'm sorry that…"

"Shh." Buffy reached up and put her fingers to his lips. "You're here now. That's all that matters."

"But maybe if I had been here…"

"Nothing would be different, Angel." She whispered sadly. "The only way for Dawn to be alive would be for me to have died in her place, and I don't think you'd have let take her place."

"You could have?" He whispered. Now he understood where a good deal of her guilt came from.

"The blood of the Key opened the portal, so it was needed to close it." She whispered.

"This is sounding way too familiar." He said under his breath.

She heard him nonetheless. "Tell me about it." She said wryly. "Anyway, since they made Dawn from me and Mom, it was Summer's blood that could close the portal. It didn't have to be her, but she wouldn't let me...she said I was still needed in the world."

"And she's right, Buffy." Angel whispered, wishing he could shield her from the horrible truth that her sister was a necessary sacrifice for a cause Buffy wasn't even sure she believed in anymore.

"I know." Buffy flashed back to her last words with Dawn. "I told her that's what made it so hard. And I told Willow that there's nothing left for me to fight for, to hope for."

"Yes, there is Buffy." Angel pulled away from her for the first time since she'd fallen into his arms. He moved away just enough to look her in the eyes. "I know you don't exactly like prophecies, but there's one that you need to know about."

She eyes him warily. "What?"

"Wesley found one, a little while ago, that talked about me." Angel admitted. "It said that when I fulfilled my destiny, I would Shanshu."

"You would die?" Buffy questioned in horror.

"How did you…" Angel started to ask, but he noticed quickly that her eyes weren't looking at him anymore. She was staring blankly ahead, as if remembering something.

~Death is your gift~

Buffy heard the voices in her head, speaking in English as far as she could tell.

But she also heard, for the first time, echoes underneath of a much older language, one the Slayer in her had interpreted into a language she could understand.

~Shanshu aiel siedi alcarn~

~Death is your gift~

No, wait. That wasn't right. The Slayer in her suddenly grasped something.

~Shanshu~

~Death~ ~Life~ ~Rebirth~

It meant all of those things, and yet none of them.

"What is your destiny?" She asked softly, still not looking up at him.

"I don't know." He still looked at her strangely, but answered her question honestly. "The Oracles said something once about my saving the world. They also once told me that together, we are powerful."

Buffy caught the hidden 'but' in his statement. "But what?"

"Together, we're powerful." He repeated. "But alone, we're dead." He said, so quietly only her supernatural hearing allowed her to pick it up.

"When did they tell you this?"

"Over a year ago." He hung his head, unable to look at her.

"Then why have I been alone this past year?"

Part 3

He gaped at her bedspread. "Buffy, you're not alone. You…"

"You know what I mean." Her hand went to his face again, this time taking his chin in her hand and forcing him to look at her.

"You know why we can't be together, Buffy." Angel whispered, tears coming to his eyes. "If I'm ever truly happy, and I know I would be with you…it's just too great a temptation."

*Because I wanted to. Because I want you so badly. I want to take comfort in you, and I know it'll cost me my soul, and a part of me doesn't care.* Angel's words from that one miraculous Christmas came back to her full force.

"But Willow's a really good witch now, maybe she could work some way around it, or…"

"Buffy, even if she could, that's not the only thing that stands between us. I'm a vampire, and I'm not going to shanshu -which, by the way, means live, not die-until I earn my redemption. If I stayed with you, it would be all too easy to give up the fight, just like you did." Angel said sadly, part of him hoping he could bring her around to being the Slayer again.

"How can you fight for them, after all the things they've done to us?" She asked.

Angel thought back to one certain day, knowing they had done more to the two of them than Buffy even knew. "Because I have hope that they're fair and just. They have to be Buffy; it's the only hope I have left." Angel bared the deepest part of his soul. "If I didn't believe that someday, somehow, somewhere, that I'd make love to you again, I don't think I'd make it through each day. If I thought that our love was over, I wouldn't fight. But despite everything, they've given me the hope that when I make amends for what I've done I can be with you again. And that's worth any price."

Buffy stared at him silently throughout his whole speech, her eyes continuing to widen and gleam with tears. Unlike all the others she had shed that evening, these were tears of love and joy.

"You're not really fighting for them, are you?" Buffy asked as realization finally dawned on her. "You're fighting for me. For us." The thought was the most humbling she had ever had.

He nodded, taking both of her hands in his. "For us."

Buffy managed another small smile. "If you can fight for us, I think maybe I can too."

He looked at her with amazement in his eyes. "You can?"

"For you? I would do anything." Buffy's smile grew. Despite all the pain and grief still in her at the loss of Dawn, Angel's presence and love brought her a comfort and strength she had been missing for far too long.

"So, you're still the Slayer?"

Buffy nodded her head, leaning up to kiss him softly on the lips. As she did, a vision suddenly went through her. She pulled back in shock, hands rising to clutch her head as a searing pain went through her temples. Angel looked at her in alarm, catching her before she fell off the bed. This was way too much like one of Cordy's visions, he thought grimly.

~Did you save the world? Avert an apocalypse?~

Buffy saw a blue figure dressed in a toga ask Angel these questions condescendingly.

An image rushed into her mind of just that, an apocalypse. She saw Giles, Willow, and Xander laying dead in the ruins of Sunnydale High, the Hellmouth wide open and spewing it's demons and monsters galore into the world. Without her, they hadn't been able to stop whatever demon had tried once again to open it. She saw people dying by the thousands, and the Old Ones taking over the world, ruling it as they had before man was there.

That image blurred together with that of Angel talking her back into being the Slayer, reminding her that the world needed her.

She then saw a very different outcome of the future; a beautiful world where there were no vampires, no monsters, and no demons. She saw all of her friends, old and happy. Angel and her played on the beach with their grandchildren, the bright sun shining down upon them.

'Angel just fulfilled his destiny.' A voice screamed in her head. It hadn't been saving the world himself, as he seemed to think. It had been being with her and talking her into continuing to fight the good fight, something no one else would have been able to do.

The figure from the beginning of her vision, the blue woman, suddenly appeared. She spoke right to Buffy, speaking what Buffy knew to be the words of the prophecy Wesley had translated. She also knew they mustn't have the whole thing, or Angel would have realized what it meant.

~When he fulfills his destiny, bringing about a world that will have no end, the souled vampire will live again. Yet the fallen one's rebirth can come only from inside himself. The Chosen alone can teach the lesson that must be learned. Redemption cannot be attained where no deserving is felt. He alone stands between himself and the sunlight~

"Buffy. BUFFY!"

She suddenly became aware of a very panicked Angel shaking her and calling her name.

"I'm okay." She came back to herself and looked up at him.

"What the hell happened?"

She moved slightly away from him, alarmed at the anger in his voice. Then she realized just how worried he must have been. "I, um, I had a vision. I think it was from TPTB." Buffy reached up and caressed his cheek.

"What did it say?" He was used to Cordy telling him things like this.

Buffy's mind was whirling. She knew if she told him straight out, he wouldn't believe it. Or even if he did, there'd be a slight grain of doubt, and that would ruin everything.

"Basically, that they're glad I'm back." Buffy fudged the truth. That had been what the vision meant in a way, because without her the world would be destroyed. But it had also told her something much more.

Angel had already made amends for all he had done, and he had just completed the second to last part of the prophecy by giving her a reason to fight again. Now just one thing was left, but it would undoubtedly be the hardest part for him.

"Angel, something they showed me…I want to ask you something."

"You can ask me anything, ionúin." Angel said as he took her hands again.

"Why don't you think you're worthy of redemption?" She let drop a bombshell, and then watched his face carefully as it exploded.

"Who said I don't…" He trailed off however, knowing she knew his last secret.

"Angel, you're the purest soul I know." Buffy whispered, her hands coming up to cup his face. "If anyone deserves forgiveness, it's you. Especially since you didn't really do anything wrong."

"Didn't do anything wrong?" Angel said bitterly. "You know what I've done, or enough of it anyways to know…"

"I have a twin sister." Buffy spoke softly. Angel looked at her in shock. "She breaks into my house, locks me in my closet, and proceeds to kill every family member of mine that steps into the room. Eventually she widens her targets, cutting a bloody path through half the continent."

It became clear to Angel what Buffy was trying to do, but he still shook his head at her.

"One day, she kills the relative of a witch, and the witch decides to do the worst thing possible to her. She locks her up in the closet, and sets me free. Am I responsible for what she did?" Buffy posed the question, it's answer so obvious he would look stupid if he answered it any way but with a resounding "no."

"In that situation, no you're not, but Buffy…"

"Don't 'but Buffy' me," She said angrily. "Why have I always been the only one who sees that you and Angelus are two different people? Not only can my friends not see it, but you can't see it yourself."

"Buffy, in that nice little situation you just gave me, you weren't there when your 'twin' killed all those thousands of people. You don't remember everything she did."

"You're right." Buffy seemed to relent. "But I have just as much control over her actions as you have over Angelus's." She said firmly.

Angel just stared at her, unable to come back with a retort.

Buffy saw that she was finally getting through to him and continued to press. "Angel, I've seen the good in you. How you risk your life for the people you love. I know how kind, and gentle, and loving you can be when you're with me. Angelus could never be like that. Think of just the things you've told me tonight; would he ever say any of those things? Would he ever hold me while I cried? Would he know just what to say to make me smile on one of the worst days of my life?"

"Buffy…I…"

"I know you remember what he did, Angel. But you also have to remember the fact that you were watching HIM do it. Maybe you felt what he did, maybe you even felt as if you were doing it. But you know in your heart that it wasn't you. Because you know what you're capable of, Angel. And that kind of darkness just isn't a part of you."

"I used to think that, Buffy. Once, long ago. But now…" Angel tried to pull away from her but she held on to him with all her Slayer strength.

"Remember the first time you were in my bedroom?" She asked suddenly.

"Of course."

"We started kissing, and the next thing I knew you were vamped out, and…"

"And I ran away from you. I could hear your heart pumping, the blood whirling faster and faster in your veins. And the demon wanted that blood, that rich, Slayer's blood, but…"

"But you're stronger than the demon." Buffy finished his sentence this time. "If Angelus ever had me that close and that defenseless, do you think he'd just leave me alive?"

"Of course not, but…"

"No buts, Angel." Buffy brought her face closer to his. "If you don't believe anything else I've tried to tell you, believe that I love you. And do you think I could ever love someone if I thought they had done the things Angelus did?"

"No." Angel said. Buffy waited for him to add something to that, but he didn't.

"So you really believe that nothing Angelus did is your fault?" Buffy held her breath. She'd know if he was lying.

"Like you just said, he did it. Not me." Angel answered in a soft tone, a look of wonder in his eyes. She had the privilege of seeing the years drain away from his eyes, the haunted look leaving them at last. Her angel was free. In more ways than he knew.

Part 4

Suddenly, Angel's eyes grew wide with wonder. He took her hand, still held firmly in his own, and moved it over his upper chest.

Buffy felt his heart beating beneath her hand and grinned, launching herself into his arms.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou…" She repeated over and over.

"Buffy, what? I mean, how?" Angel stuttered.

Still clinging to him, Buffy repeated the words of the prophecy she had been told by the female Oracle.

"You had to believe you were worthy." Buffy finished her explanation. "Otherwise, they could make you human, but you'd still wonder why they had done it. You'd want to understand exactly what you had done that made your amends, or why there were a set number of things that made you righteous; when the truth of it was that there wasn't a certain thing. They knew there was nothing for you to make amends for, because you didn't do anything wrong. But until you believed that in your heart, you wouldn't have believed them if they had tried to tell you."

Angel still looked at her in amazement, and Buffy slowly turned his head so that he faced the mirror that was opposite her bed. As far as she knew, he hadn't seen his own reflection in over 240 years.

"Now do you see why I fell in love with you?" She teased as she curled up in his arms, their reflection mirroring her every move.

"I see one of about a hundred reasons why I fell in love with you." Angel replied as he picked up a piece of her hair and brought it to his nose. He scented vanilla more strongly than ever, as well as that other scent that was uniquely Buffy.

Buffy melted even closer to him at his words, placing small kisses upon his neck, where her head just happened to be cradled. She worked her way slowly towards his mouth, trailing kisses up jaw and finally to his now hot mouth. It was a totally new sensation, kissing him and feeling heat. When their mouths opened and his tongue trailed lightly over her teeth before meeting and dueling with her own, she thought she would ignite from the inside at the new sensations coursing through her.

Kissing Angel had always been wonderful. Kissing Riley, or Parker, or any other human boy had been nice in a way because they were warm, like her senses all told her they should be, but there was never that spark of true passion that she and Angel had.

Now she had the best of both worlds.

Angel's hands came to rest on the bottom of the white sweater she hadn't bothered to change out of. He pulled away from her slightly, as if asking her permission. The gestured made her melt just as it had the other time he'd done it.

"Make love to me." Buffy whispered against his mouth, melding herself back against him.

Angel kissed her deeply then, both of them reaching and passing the point of no return with no concern whatsoever.

Pulling her up against him, Angel sank lower and buried his face between her breasts, his breath hot against her skin, even through her sweater. His hands were still at her waist, and he pulled away from her long enough to pull her sweater over her head. Her hands reached for him at the same time, ripping the buttons on his black silk shirt in her impatience to get them undone and run her hands over his naked, warm flesh. She finally succeeded in getting the shirt off of him, and was amazed at how much more muscular he was than the last time she had seen him. Her hands ran over the curves of his muscles in a worshiping caress; he was even more beautiful than he had been, which had to be a sin.

Angel's hands reached behind her even as he felt his shirt being ripped away, and he rid her of her bra in one easy yank.

Buffy let out a gasp and then sucked her breath in sharply as the rasp of his palms against her sent tendrils of flame spiraling through her.

Angel made a choked sound in his throat as she touched him in a fashion similar to how he was touching her, and he pulled away from her slightly and gasped for breath.

"Breathing again takes some getting used to." He said ruefully as she continued to run her hands and lips all over his body.

Buffy chuckled slightly, moving her hands towards his belt. His breathing slightly more normal, Angel moved to finish undressing her as well.

In the hours that followed, they learned once again all that there was to know of each other; body and soul, heart and mind, flesh and spirit, all combining and permeating every centimeter of both of them.

They complimented each other, flowing together smoothly and seamlessly to become one. Everything else fell away from then, and there was nothing in the room, in the city, on the planet, or in the universe except for the two of them.

The pressure built beyond the ability of either of them to contain it, and they clutched at each other as they floating on waves of bliss, melding their bodies, at least for a brief moment, as strongly as they had melded their souls.

~There's a time for us~
~Someday, a time for us~
~Time to give and with time to spare~
~Time to look, time to dare~
~Somehow, somewhere~
~We'll find a new way of living~
~We'll find a way of forgiving~
~Somewhere~
~There's a place for us~
~A time and place for us~
~Hold my hand and we're halfway there~
~Hold my hand and I'll take you there~
~Somehow~
~Someday~
~Somewhere~
from "West Side Story"

So, how'd I do?

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