Rating: *sob* G, once more
Disclaimer: dude, so not mine
Authors Notes: Takes place directly after Welcome to Humanity. I realize there is a bit of a discrepancy in the time line, but alas. Those are the perils of fan-fiction writing. Thanks, as always, to Heather, also thanks to April, Sara-Lee, Ryan, and Kasiya for giving me the confidence to keep writing this series.
Buffy and Angel sat on the roof for almost two hours.
They sat watching the sunrise.
They sat watching the patrons of Los Angeles scamper off to their lives.
They watched as the city became alive.
They watched each other.
Buffy watched Angel become fascinated with life in the sun.
Angel watched Buffy, and how she moved about. He watched her as if he were memorizing her, detail by little detail and in a way, that's what he was doing. He had already memorized her in the darkness, now he wanted memories of her in the light to be burned in his mind.
"Come on," Buffy said as she detached herself from Angel's arms and began to pull him towards the stairs.
"Where are we going," he asked, only protesting slightly.
"Well, now that you've seen the sun, you've got millions more things to see."
"I've seen the one thing I want to see. I am a happy man," Angel told her with love shining in his eyes.
Buffy grinned at his comment, and even blushed slightly, "Oh no you don't. You can't get rid of me that easy."
"Never, so where are we going?" Angel thought for a brief moment of how is life had changed in the last 12 hours alone. He knew that he would never let Buffy go again.
"You will see," she replied with a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Well, how are we going to get there?" He questioned with a hint of amusement and a slight allusion of fear at her next statement.
"You are going to let me drive your car," he was informed, and he flinched slightly even though he knew it was coming.
"I am?"
"Yes you are."
"And why would I do that?" Angel inquired, though he knew he could never deny her anything, he thought it would be interesting to see what kind of response she could come up with.
"Because…because…" Buffy stumbled for the words; she just assumed that he would let her. She was afraid that if she said what she wanted to that he would laugh, or worse, deny it. Even though she loved him and he told her that he loved her, she was still a little apprehensive.
"Because I love you and trust you?" He supplied, knowing that he had hurt her in the past, and realistically, she was just protecting her self from getting hurt anymore. What she didn't realize was that he would do anything to keep from hurting her again.
"Yep, that would be the reason," Buffy smiled on the outside, but on the inside she felt like she was going to burst.
He really did love her, not that she really had any doubt but she figured once you have been burned it is very difficult to trust again. Yet she knew, looking at the man she loved more than anything in the world, that he felt the same way and just as she knew he would do anything for her, she would do the same for him.
Buffy stopped grinning like an idiot long enough to give Angel a searing kiss. She pulled away quickly, leaving him to wonder if he had imagined the whole thing.
She once again began pulling him towards the stairs, this time with more strength and with a huge grin on her face.
By the time they made it back to the main hall of the hotel, they were both grinning like idiots.
"So where are we going?" Angel asked hoping to maybe sneak it by her while he was searching for his car keys, which were perpetually lost.
Buffy hopped on the counter swinging her feet back and forth, "We're goin—HEY! That wasn't nice of you," she half yelled half laughed.
"Yeah, but—AHHA!" He stopped mid sentence to return triumphantly from under the counter, keys in hand.
"But what?" Buffy asked before proceeding to get the car keys from Angel.
This started a mini-war. Buffy was, of course stronger than Angel, but he still had a good foot in height on her, which he used to his advantage. Buffy struggled to get the keys, unsuccessfully hoping up and down, eventually jumping on Angel, straddling him. This put them eye to eye and the keys were forgotten as the pair engaged in a passion filled kiss.
They broke apart, both out of breath, but the quiet lasted only a pause before Buffy grabbed the keys, detached herself once more from her love and when flying out the door, the aforementioned love hot on her heels.
Seconds later, the horn started honking followed by a laughing Buffy yelling, "Hey Hurry Up we don't have until eternity you know!"
This statement paired with the site of the tiny blond sitting in his big, black convertible gave him the giggles. He was laughing so hard that he had to stop and bend over to collect his breath. He then marveled at having to catch his breath.
Buffy, meanwhile watched the scene with much amusement and astonishment. Not only was she once again back with her soul, he was human. That in its self was cause of astonishment.
As Angel finally collected himself and climbed in the passenger's side, Buffy spoke, "I'm glad I provided you with so much amusement," she paused, "you have a nice laugh, I expect to hear it more often," she finished in a commanding voice before starting the car.
"Anything you wish Madame," was the reply, letting just a slip of Irish brogue out.
Angel watched as Buffy slowly maneuvered her way out of the small parking space, "You do have a drivers license right?"
Buffy stopped long enough to swat good naturedly at him, "Yes, I do. I am just not used to driving such a big BOAT. Couldn't you have gotten a smaller car?"
"Well if you would tell me where we are going, I would be more than happy to drive. And no I couldn't have gotten a smaller car because I like this one. Maybe we will just have to get you one which begs the question how did you get here?"
As Angel stopped talking, Buffy once again reflected on how little she ever really heard him say, sure he talked, but it was usually in short cryptic sentences or they were shouting at each other. She shuddered at the memory and answered his question.
"I have a car," she started, as she eased unto the road, "it's right there," she said as they passed a black Jeep Cherokee.
"Then why aren't we taking your car?" Angel asked.
"Because I wanted to see if you would let me drive your car," she responded with a slight tone of laughter in her voice.
"Oh I see."
The minutes that followed were spent in silence as Buffy drove and Angel drank in the sights around him, thanking the Powers that granted his humanity every time he looked at Buffy or saw something that just amazed him.
"What?" Buffy asked as she noticed Angel staring at her, "do I have something on my face?"
"No, nothing at all," he answered with a grin which caused her to laugh.
Buffy turned off the freeway, onto a smaller piece of land that rode alongside the beach.
"Are you taking me to the beach?" Angel questioned.
"Why, you have gotten very astute in your old age," was the amused reply.
"Ha Ha, that was just hilarious."
"Yeah, well, I try."
Buffy pulled the car into an empty parking lot and turned it off.
The two got out of the car and began walking hand in hand to the shore; they stopped just at the edge of the water.
Angel once again gathered Buffy in his arms as they sat watching the sun play along the waves. It was late in the afternoon so the beach was virtually abandoned.
Buffy braced herself against Angel's chest, and just enjoyed being in his arms once more.
Suddenly she felt herself being raised off the ground, Buffy shrieked and squirmed but to no avail and she soon found herself being unceremoniously dropped in the water and soon Angel followed as she knocked him down.
A small wrestling match began, neither really winning, neither really trying to.
After they grew tired, they sat in the water, giggling once more.
"That, mister," she began, pointing a finger in Angel's direction, as they walked back to the shore "was not very nice of you."
"No. But it was fun," he answered as they sat down on the sand.
"Yeah, it was."
Buffy once again crawled in Angel's lap, craving the contact that had been long denied. They sat, Buffy situated between Angel's legs, leaning on his chest, his arms around her, and watched the sun set, just as they had watched the sun rise together.
All too soon, it was once again dark, but they couple had yet to move from their spot.
Angel noticed that Buffy had begun shivering, "Cold?"
"Yeah."
He wrapped his arms more tightly around her, in attempts to warm her, "do you want to go?" he asked gently.
"Not really. Its too perfect out here."
"Ok," he answered, placing a kiss to the top of her head.
She twisted around in his arms to return his kiss, before turning back around to face the water.
After nearly an hour of just sitting on the beach enjoying the company of the other, they began to walk back to the car.
Angel climbed into the driver's side, and an exhausted and nearly asleep Buffy did little to protest, but rather climbed in with him, promptly curling up next to him with her head on his shoulder, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.
Send feedback to Lisa
Back to the Fanfiction Archive